The Just Shall Live by Faith
Notes
Transcript
Intro; When we opened the study in Habakkuk, we saw the prophet praying for God to hear his cry over the wickedness that was taking place among the people of Judah. God’s people have gone astray!
When God did answer Habakkuk, it came out of left field. God was going to use a ruthless, vile, evil people to bring judgment upon Judah, something that no one would ever think God would do. [We may be experiencing that today in America].
At this Habakkuk reminded God that we are your people and the Chaldeans devour their enemies. How could You do this? [ref. Hab. 2:13]
I will continue to pray and wait for you to answer and tell me if I’m wrong. [ref. 2:1]
This morning I want us to look at God’s second reply to Habakkuk’s prayer, “The Just Shall Live by His Faith”
Text; Habakkuk 2:2-4
2 Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry.
4 “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.
1. Write It Down; 2-3
1. Write It Down; 2-3
God tells Habakkuk to write down what He’s fixing to show him in a vision about the judgment of Judah and the demise of the Babylonians later on.
Habakkuk was to write it on tablets to where it would be confirmed and then a runner was to carry that message to the rest of the people and provinces.
Having God’s Word in print is important. It makes what God says plain, understandable and you can share it with others without adding to it or taking from it.
Appointed time- God says there is an appointed time for Babylon to come and judge Judah, a time span of their judgment, and a time it will come to an end.
25 For I am the Lord. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass; it will no more be postponed; for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it,” says the Lord God.’ ”
1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—
2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
“God always says what He means and means what He said!”
2. The Just Shall Live by Faith; 4
2. The Just Shall Live by Faith; 4
It’s kind of a challenge to live by faith when you are being chastised/judged/persecuted by evil people! But faith is whats stands out like a shining light in the midst of dark days. But that’s what God is telling Habakkuk to do, even in their judgment. God’s Word is still true even in the tough times!
This statement is used three times in the NT, and I want to expound on it a little this morning that we can do the same as Habakkuk in the dark days we live in.
First, there is Faith in Salvation;
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
Paul reminds us that “salvation” is the gift of righteousness from God by faith!
‘Revealed from faith to faith’- God enables a person through the power of the Holy Spirit to trust God, to trust the work of Christ on Calvary and His resurrection! To trust the Gospel/Good News of Jesus concerning us!
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,
19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
All this is wonderful news, except we won’t trust it till God gives us “faith” to do so!
John 6:44 (NKJV)
44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Second, we are Justified by Faith;
11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”
Paul gives a history lesson to the church at Galatia in chapter 3, because some have been duped by Judaizers and were listening to another gospel. A gospel mixed with law and grace.
Paul used Abraham as an example of grace by faith alone;
6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Abraham simply by faith believed God and left Ur of the Chaldeans and came to a place he had never seen because he trusted God”s Word! He also trusted what God had promised in His covenant to make him a great nation with many descendents and that a Seed would come from him that would bless the world [Gen. 12:1-3] We are justified by God’s grace through faith/believing!
Paul used Moses and the law as an example of being justified by faith alone;
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
There were moral laws, ceremonial laws, dietary laws, civil laws and laws concerning certain festivals in the Old Testament that God gave the children of Israel through Moses. Paul states that the law can’t bring life, salvation nor the righteousness of God to anyone. The law does not justify. So what was the purpose of the law?
Galatians 3:19, 24 (NKJV)
19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator….
24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
The law was given to show us the weakness and inability of the flesh to be justified in ourselves.
Giving instructions to children is a good analogy to the law’s purpose. My son has a sinful heart, but that heart isn’t obvious until I give him a command. Until I say, “Son, do this,” and he looks at me and says, “No,” his sin isn’t put on display. The command brings his disobedient heart to the surface. Similarly, the law of God exposes the sinful heart in each of us.
Platt, D., & Merida, T. (2014). Exalting jesus in galatians (p. 62). Holman Reference.
Martin Luther summed this up when he said,
The principal point … of the law … is to make men not better but worse; that is to say, it sheweth unto them their sin, that by the knowledge thereof they may be humbled, terrified, bruised and broken, and by this means may be driven to seek grace. (Luther, quoted in Stott, Message of Galatians, 91)
Paul shows us we are justified in Christ and not the law;
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Under the law we are cursed because no man can keep all the law without breaking some of it. And if we can’t keep it all then we are cursed. Jesus not only kept the law perfectly, but fulfilled it so we wouldn’t have too! Jesus is our substitute. He took the penalty of all guilty lawbreakers, of whom we are the greatest!
18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,
The just are declared righteous by faith in Christ alone!
We are to Live by Faith;
36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
37 “For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.
38 Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”
The writer of Hebrews in chapter 10, is reminding the Jewish Christians not to fall back into their former ways under the law. They have been freed from the curse of the law through God’s grace by faith, but they were being persecuted for this new found faith.
We need to endure in faith, for this suffering won’t last forever. From the time of Habakkuk until the Lord returns, evil will be present and Christians will get discouraged. But just like God said then, He says now, “Be patient, I will work out My plans in My perfect timing.”
Don’t draw back from faith in God and revert to our old ways for God has no pleasure in one who does that.
We have been saved by faith, justified in faith, therefore the just should live by faith!
19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,
21 and having a High Priest over the house of God,
22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,
25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
Close;
JUST AHEAD
Around the bend, just a little further on, there’s a staging area where angels are standing ready and Jesus himself is poised for … history’s marvelous day.
It could be soon, and you could be part of it.
It will be powerful, and you need not fear it.
It must be coming, for God has promised it.
And everything you venture today can be done in the hope of it—Jesus’ return, just ahead. Keep steadfast in your faith and active in your worship and service for him. God’s very best still lies ahead.
Folks, regardless of what’s going on in this world today, the best is yet to come for those who live by faith!
