Twenty-One Sermons on Hebrews 10:20-24 in Volume III of the Works of Robert Traill (Available from Reformation Heritage Books or free here) - Read Sermon VI.
At the beginning of today's sermon Traill winds up what he didn't get to say last week, that God is faithful to his promises because he is:
(i) holy;
(ii) wise;
(iii) love.
Then Traill proceeds to his third point that he has observed from the words in Hebrews 'He is faithful that promises'. Traill seeks to show us that the believer's faith should answer God's faithfulness.
To do so, firstly Traill tells us why the believer's faith must answer God's faithfulness:
(i) faith and God's faithfulness are relatives;
(ii) divine faithfulness is the ground of faith;
(iii) God's faithfulness is the author of faith;
(iv) faith is God's appointed way for the performance of his promise.
Secondly Traill explains how our faith ought to answer God's faithfulness by:
(i) a sudden taking of God's word of promise and resting on it;
(ii) taking the least hint of God's word for our encouragement;
(iii) believing in length and breadth, according to the largeness and wideness of the promise;
(iv) laying all our weight upon the promise of God;
(v) avowing our faith to God and men;
(vi) constant keeping upon this foundation.
What grabbed me
Traill gave us some important cautions about having unrealistic expectations of our faith: 'Neither doth a believer answer God's faithfulness with faith as he ought. We do not pay all the faith that we owe to the truth of God. It is as impossible for a believer to perform the obedience of faith required in the gospel perfectly, as it is for an unbeliever to perform obedience to the law perfectly. Indeed an unbeliever can obey nothing. Even the obedience of faith, the obeying of the gospel, by believing of it, need's gospel-grace for the forgiveness of the sin of believing, or the sin in believing. There is never a believer that believed at first, but there was sin in that believing : there are none that do rely upon the word of God so firmly, as that noble sure foundation deserveth.'
Sadly, even our faith is imperfect.
Next week's reading
Read Sermon VII.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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