The Just/Righteous Shal Live by Faith

You can find the admonition that the just shall live by faith in Hab. 2:1-4, Rom. 1:17, Gal. 3:11, and Heb. 10:38. We are going to study it’s first mention today. Turn in your Bibles to Hab. 2.

The New King James Version (Hab. Chapter 2)

2 I will stand my watchAnd set myself on the rampart,And watch to see what He will say to me,And what I will answer when I am corrected.The Just Live by Faith2 Then the LORD answered me and said:“Write the visionAnd 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.

Habakkuk said, “I will stay up and seek God to hear what He will say to me and how I will respond to His correction.”

GOD had a word of correction to give to Israel and Habakkuk was waiting to hear it.

What made Habakkuk get up and wait on God for a word of correction? He saw that things were not right and new that God wanted to fix the problem. As sons of God, we do not despise the chastening of The LORD, Because the chastening of The LORD is present in our lives to fix problems. It trains us for success. Like a baseball coach corrects the posture of one of his players so that he can swing the bat in the most effective and powerful way.

What is going on in your life that needs God to correct it?

Sickness?

Lack?

Attack?

Blindness?

Deafness?

Get alone with God and wait on Him. Minister to The LORD and ask Him if He wants to fix it. I believe He does. Wait on Him until He speaks to you. His Word will bring correction to you.

It may correct your belief with a promise

It may correct your speech

It may correct your heart

It may correct your behavior

Whatever it corrects, it will require you to live by faith

It will require you to speak and act on a principle or a truth that has no visible or supporting proof apart from the word of God.

It’s important to pursue God for this word and not man.

It’s important to get this word from the spirit of GOD so that it stirs your heart with faith.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

God said to write down the vision so it could be easily understood and and easily shared with the ones who needed to hear it. We need to be able to refer back to the vision in times of doubt or trouble.

When the Spirit speaks to you (and He will), ask Him to give you at least two Scriptures that you can write down

Then memorize and meditate on them as you pray and declare the promise over your situation while the completion is tarrying.

When GOD gives us a word, the word requires us to live by faith because we do not know how long the word tarries in its completion.

The New King James Version (Galatians Chapter 2)

20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”Justification by Faith3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

In this passage, chapter 2 ends with Paul saying that I live by faith in the son of GOD who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Chapter 3 picks up from there and asks the Galatians why they stopped living by faith.

He asks them if the promises of God are fulfilled in there lives because they keep the law because of their faith in Jesus Christ.

We start by faith in Jesus Christ and His Word and we are perfected by faith in Jesus Christ and His Word.

We keep believing the promise even if it requires a miracle to be completed.

We keep believing in spite of all circumstances or contrary opinions.

The New King James Version (Hebrews Chapter 10)

38 Now the just shall live by faith;But if anyone draws back,My soul has no pleasure in him.”39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.By Faith We Understand11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.Faith at the Dawn of History4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Here is another passage that requires the end of the previous chapter to bring the complete thought of the statement into our understanding.

Always read to find the complete thought of the passage. Example: If you read the word “Therefor” read back and see what it is there for.

The end of Chapter 10 says the just shall live by faith and God takes no pleasure in those who draw back from faith prior to the fulfillment of the promise.

Chapter 11 picks back up with the wellknown verse, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”

And then verse 6 says that It is impossible to please God unless you believe in him and what He says and seek Him diligently which always results in a reward from God - presumably, the fulfillment of the promise.

Chapter 11 goes on to talk about the many people who received a promise or a warning from God and believed it and acted on it in spite of circumstances to the contrary. Many even died before seeing the promise fulfilled. Trust God and keep believing.