Our text tonight is found at
the end of the chapter that we read in Hebrews chapter 10 at
the last two verses, verses 38 and 39. Now the just shall live
by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure
in him. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition. but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul. Here at the end of this 10th
chapter, Hebrews chapter 10 and verses 38 and 39, Now the just
shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall
have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe. to the saving of
the soul. In these words we're evidently
reminded of something of the nature of saving faith, justifying
faith. And what we see amongst other
truths is that such a faith is that faith that endures. And
that is the subject matter that I want to speak on this evening,
enduring faith, enduring faith. We spoke this morning from John
chapter 12 and verses 37 and 38 concerning the impossibility
of faith. That for anyone to believe is
a miracle. To believe in the first place
is a miracle. And to continue in that life
of faith is also a miracle. In every sense then, The believing
child of God is a walking miracle. The importance of this faith
that endures, think of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, he
that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. We can probably, the older ones
amongst us, recall some that we knew in times past, Those
who were our friends, those who maybe made a profession of faith
certainly appear to have some interest in the things of God
and we often wonder just where they are today. Telling all those words of the
Apostle, ye did run well, who did hinder you? It's not just
the beginning of the Christian life, it's the continuation,
it's not just the beginning of faith. It's the enduring unto
the end. And now we see that even in the
days of the apostles there were those who must have made a profession
and yet alas they fell away. And we have solemn portions in
this epistle to the Hebrews. You're familiar I'm sure with
the words that we have back in chapter 6. Searching words there at verse
4 following Paul says it is impossible, it is impossible for those who
were once enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and
were made partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good
word of God and the powers of the world to come, if they shall
fall away, to renew them again unto repentance. seeing they
crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to
an open shame. Those, he speaks then, of as
such as do not endure, they fall away. And again here, in this
10th chapter, verse 26, he says, if we sin
willfully, after we have received the knowledge of the truth there
remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but a certain fearful looking
for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. All these portions both in that
sixth chapter in this tenth chapter also how searching they are we
know that those who are truly saved, those who are brought
to a genuine faith, can never fall away. Once in Him, in Him
forever. Thus the eternal covenant stands,
says good John Kent. And the Lord Jesus himself, and
of course Kent's hymns are rooted and grounded in the Word of Scripture,
the Lord Jesus, speaks of the safety and the security of those
that the Father has given to him all that the Father giveth
me shall come to me he says he that cometh to me I shall in
no wise cast out and he speaks there in John's Gospel as that
one who is the Good Shepherd and what a gracious ministry
what a care the Good Shepherd has of the sheep throughout that chapter The Lord
Jesus is constantly speaking of that care that He has towards
those who have been given to Him of the Father. They hear
His voice, He says. I know them, they follow Me,
I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither
shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave
them is greater than all. No man is able to pluck them
out of My Father's hand. I am My Father, are one, for
there is that double security for those who are truly the sheep
of the Lord Jesus and yet we read these passages in the epistle
to the Hebrews which seem to suggest that there might be those
who are the sheep and yet they fall away we know that such obviously
were never truly in the Lord Jesus Christ if they were they
would never fall away These passages are left on record and they're
left on record for the good of us as we come together tonight
under the sound of God's Word. Now we have to examine ourselves.
What sort of faith is that faith that we profess to possess? Is it that faith that endures? Is it that faith that is truly
justifying faith? The just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but
of them that believe to the saving of the soul. First of all then,
as we come to the words of the text, we see that this faith
is clearly linked to life. The just, it says, live, and
they live by faith. Life is one of the signs of faith,
that is spiritual life, that new life, that life which is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who possess this faith
are brought to believe the truth revealed to us in Scripture concerning
our own condition. How the Scripture reveals to
us what man is by nature. Man made in God's image, created
after God's likeness and yet man fallen in Adam. Man a great
sinner. How so soon do we read it there
in the history of humankind We only have to come a few chapters
into the book of Genesis and we see how evil abounded in the
world. Chapter 6 and verse 5, God saw
that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, continual. How this verse contains a remarkable
Hebraism. Every imagination of the thoughts
of his heart only evil continually. The margin says the whole imagination. The Hebrew word signifies not
only the imagination but also the purposes and desires. All that the man is is sinful. Man is a fallen creature, no
more as he was when God set him in the Garden of Eden. Alas,
how all that image of God has been defaced, despoiled by man's
sin. And when we read the Scriptures,
if the Lord opens our eyes, if the Lord communicates that true
life, we see ourselves We see ourselves in the mirror of God's
Word. We see what we are as sinners. We feel what we are as sinners.
When Paul writes to the Ephesians, he says, You are the quickened
who were dead in trespasses and in sins. All that quickening.
You know, that gracious work of the Spirit of God in the soul
of the sinner when the sinner is born again. When he's born
from above. When he's born of the Spirit. There is no spiritual life And
paradoxically, the first sign of that life is that the man
feels, and he feels the deadness of his sin. What a paradox it
is. There is life now, and that spiritual
life manifests itself in this, that that person, that sinner,
feels himself to be dead. Spiritually dead in his sins. Paul knew it. He was once a self-righteous
man, a Pharisee, and he imagined that touching the righteousness
of the Lord of God he was a blameless man. But then when the Lord began
to deal with him, he says, I was alive without the Lord once.
The commandment came and sin revived and I died. I died. Well, he felt what he
was. He felt the deadness of his sin.
He was made then to see that he had no righteousness of his
own. No righteousness in himself. Well, he was brought to see that
all his righteousness must be in the Lord Jesus Christ. What
was that that came to him, that life? It was evidenced in justifying
faith. The very faith that we read of
here, that just shall live by faith. How he expresses his great
desire to the Philippians to be found in him, to be found
in the Lord Jesus Christ, he says, not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. But what
do we see here concerning this enduring faith then? It is that
faith that is justifying. The just shall live by Faith. Now, that word is first given
in the Old Testament. We find it in the book of the
prophet Habakkuk, in the second chapter at verse 4. That's the
first appearance of that word in the Scriptures, back in the
Old Testament. The just shall live by faith. But then we find it three times
in the New Testament. We find it here in our text tonight,
Now the just shall live by faith. But we also find it when Paul
writes in the opening chapter of his epistle to the Romans.
He says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. as it is written, the just shall
live by faith. Paul quotes it there in Romans
1 at verse 17, but then we have it again when he writes in the
epistle to the Galatians. No man is justified by the law
in the sight of God, he says, it is evident, for the just shall
live by faith. It is then a most significant
statement. We have it in the Old Testament
and then on these three separate occasions in the New Testament
the word is repeated four times. We're told concerning that true
faith that it is justifying faith. So we have to say something with
regards to this truth of justification that faith has to do with. Well,
justification, as we said on previous occasions, is really
a judicial term. It's a term that belongs to the
law court. It has to do with that criminal
who is standing at the bar and is he to be condemned or is he
to be justified? We see how there was a task given
to the judges back in the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy, chapter
25. Paul speaks of the work of the
judges in Israel. If there be a controversy between
men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them,
then they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. There is the task of the judges
then. The man who is innocent before
the law is the man who is justified, acquitted, free from all guilt. And the wicked man is the man
that is to be condemned. And that is just. How unjust
it would be for the innocent parted to be condemned and for
the guilty party to be justified but the remarkable thing when
we come to the gospel is this that God is the one who justifies
the ungodly that's what it says Romans chapter 4 and verse 5
God justifies the ungodly how can that be? how can a just God
do such a thing as that? declare the person righteous
who is of himself only a guilty sinner. Well, it is all through
the blessed work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know this. Though
I trust we're familiar with these things. When the Lord Jesus Christ
is born into this world, He is made of a woman. That is the
great promise that God had given in Genesis. where we read of
the four and how Eve, the woman, is first in the transgression
and yet it is through the woman that salvation comes. The promise
of the seed of the woman who will bruise the head of the serpent,
bruise Satan's head. The Lord Jesus, the seed of the
woman, He has no human father. Why? He is conceived of the Holy
Ghost in the womb of a virgin when the fullness of the time
has come God sent forth His Son made of a woman always the fulfillment
of that promise the woman's seed made of a woman but then also
made under the law He is under the law He is subject to the
law He is bound to the law He is to obey the law He is to fulfill
the law. This is the work that he comes
to do, to honor, to magnify the Lord of God. And he does it. He does it in that sinless life
that he lives, that life of full, complete, perfect obedience to
every commandment of God. And this is what God requires
you to do. it requires a perfect righteousness. Again there in
Deuteronomy chapter 6 and the end of the chapter we read, it
shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these commandments
before the Lord our God as He has commanded us. Here is righteousness,
to observe and to do all the commandments of God And if a
man keeps the whole of God's Law, James says, and then offends
in one point, he is guilty of all. No, the obedience is to
be complete and perfect. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done. He has honoured and magnified
that Law of God by a life of full obedience. Oh, He has woven such a robe
of righteousness. And it's that robe of righteousness
that is reckoned to the sinner's account. The sinner is clothed
with the righteousness of Christ. He is the Lord our righteousness. But you know, He didn't only
honor the law in respect to all its precepts, all its commandments. Why? He magnified it in dying
also, because there upon the cross he suffered the penalty
of the broken law. All that sin that had been committed
by his people, it must be punished and he was punished in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He dies as their substitute. It is passive obedience as well
as his active obedience. He is obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. This is justifying faith. The
just shall live by faith. All these who are trusting in
the Lord Jesus Christ are saved. And they are saved for time,
and they are saved for all eternity. They shall obtain eternal life.
Instead of suffering eternal death and endless punishment
in hell, that can never come upon them. That could never come
upon them. The payment has been paid by
the Lord Jesus Christ. Payment God cannot twice demand,
says Toplader, that great hymn on the atonement. Payment God
cannot twice demand. First at my bleeding shortest
hand, and then again at mine. There's no justice there. Or
here is that justification then, that justifying faith. The just
shall live by faith. That this life that we read of,
they live, they live by faith. Can we not also understand this
life of faith in terms of a life in which they are separated from
all the ways of this wicked world? Their life, the very principle
of their life is the Lord Jesus Christ. Their faith in Christ
is that that governs all that this person says or does. I am crucified with Christ, says
Paul, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. and the life which I now live
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. The whole of this life you see
is lived in the Lord Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Thus it is written,
He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Lord Christ is all
this life All this life centers in Him. Therefore, if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things have passed away.
Behold, all things are become new. He doesn't conform to this
world. He doesn't follow the fads and
the fashions of the world. No, his life is different. Paul
reminds the believers there in the Church of Rome, he sets before
them in the opening chapters, as you know, the great doctrines
of the Gospel. There in that epistle Paul has
so much to say with regards to the great truth of the doctrine
of justification. And then when we come to the
closing chapters from chapter 12, he spells out the implications
of justifying Christ. it will affect your manner of
living if you're living by faith I beseech you therefore brethren
he says by the mercies of God that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable
service and be not conformed to this world be not conformed
to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you may prove what is that good and perfect and acceptable
work of God this is the life that these people are called
to live there is a separation a separation from the ways of
the world why it was so evolved in the faith of Abraham and Sarah
and Isaac Do we not see that in what he goes on to say in
chapter 11? He's speaking of faith. He's
spoken of the faith of Abraham and the faith of Sarah. He's
made mention of Isaac also. And then he says this, verse
13 in chapter 11, these all died in faith. not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded
of them and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers
and pilgrims on the earth." They were strangers. They were pilgrims
on the earth. They did not conform to the world.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man loved the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. He is not of the Father,
but is of the world," says John. This is the believer's calling.
This is the believer's life. Oh, there is a conflict there.
There is a conflict with the world. Though the believer, you
see, is in the world, he is not of the world. and how his life
is different to the world, and what a terrible conflict there
is with that world that lies in the wicked one. Having spoken
of so many a faith in Hebrews 11, what does Paul say as he
comes to a conclusion? Verse 32, What shall I more say? For the time would fail me to
tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Japhthah,
of David also and Samuel, and of the prophets, who through
faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises,
stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire,
escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong,
waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. So he goes on speaking of all
that dreadful conflict that they had with the world and in the
world. Trial of cruel mockings and scourging,
shame all over, he says, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned,
they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the
sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins being
destitute, afflicted, tormented. of whom the world was not worth. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. These are
the faithful. These are the faithful. How God's
children, you see, they are despised in the world. How they are a
guising stock. That's what he says previously.
Verse 33 of this 10th chapter. partly whilst you were made a
gazing-stock, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly whilst
you became companions of them that were so youthful. You had
compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling
of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better
and an enduring substance." All this life, this life of faith,
It's justifying faith, but in a sense it's also a sanctifying
faith, is it not? The believer in this world, one
in conflict, fighting the good fight of faith, laying hold on
eternal life. The faith then is justifying faith, living faith,
but enduring faith, enduring faith. To come to that that I
said I wanted to lay before you as our main emphasis tonight. Now the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but
of them that believe to the saving of the soul. The words of the Lord Jesus,
He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved. Oh friends, what is our faith?
Is it that enduring faith, that persevering faith? Through faith
the life of God, deep in the heart it lies, it lives and labours
on the low though damped, it never dies. Or do we have that
undying faith? Is that the faith that we desire
to have? It's not enough, is it, to look
back to that faith that we first exercised when we came to trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It must have been an occasion,
if we are those who are of faith, when we came to trust in Him. The beginning of salvation, But
we need faith to die. We need a continual, a living
experience of faith. When people speak of their testimony,
they often speak of how they first came to know the Lord.
Well, that's good. But it's not enough just to speak of the beginnings.
Are we not continuing with the Lord? Do we not have a testimony
of what the Lord is doing for us now? Can we not speak of those
good things that the Lord has done for us in the past week? Not those things that God did
for us many, many years ago. The righteousness of God, we
read there in Romans, Romans 1 and 17, the righteousness of
God is revealed from faith to faith. from faith to faith, as
it is written, the just shall live by faith. You see, we need to be aware
that there is a great, great danger of drawing back. Look at what the Apostle says,
now the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. Now the word that he uses to draw
back also has the idea of shrinking back. Only not to shrink from the life
of faith. The character of true faith,
one of the characters of true faith is that it is a faith that
is always pressing forward, not drawing back, not shrinking back,
but going on. going forward. And that's really
underlined in at least two ways here in Holy Scripture, when
we think of the armour that the Lord God has provided for his
people. They are involved in a conflict,
as we said, there's that good fight of faith, they're soldiers,
and there is an armour, there's a Gospel armour that we read
of in Ephesians chapter 6. and you know the portion and
you know the various parts of the armour we've looked at this
in times past Paul says take unto you the whole
armour of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil
day and having done all to stand, stand therefore having your loins
girt about with truth having on the breastplate of righteousness
and your feet shied with the preparation of the gospel of
peace, above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall
be able to quench all the fiery dart of the wicked, and take
the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which
is the word of God." Now it has been observed that there is no
real provision of protection made for the backward part. There's no provision. for the
backward parts, because those who are these Christian soldiers
are such as are pressing onward, pressing forward. This is that
faith that endures you, sir. It doesn't shrink back. It goes on. But there's not only
that armour that God has provided. Remember how the life of the
Christian is compared to a rice. And now Paul having in chapter
11 the chapter that follows our text spoken of faith in some
detail and referred to the lives of those of the Old Testament
who were in possession of that faith comes into the twelfth
chapter and he draws a conclusion, wherefore he says spoken of all
these characters, wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with
so great a cloud of witnesses. Oh, all these believers who have
gone before, and we're encompassed by them. And he says, let us
lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset
us, and let us run with patience the roads that he set before
us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and he sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction as
sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your
minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto
blood, striving against sin." What does he conclude then here
in this portion? Having spoken of that cloud of
witnesses from the Old Testament, the faithful men and women, we
also, he says, are to run with patience the race that is set
before us. And the word patience there,
the end of that first verse, is really endurance, let us run
with endurance. It's the same word that we find
back in chapter 10 at verse 23, let us hold fast the profession
of our faith he says without wavering for he is faithful that
promise again at verse 36 we have need of patience he says
or endurance that after you have done the will of God you might
receive the promise or we're going to be those receiving the
promises we trust how do we receive the promises? we are to persevere,
we're to endure were to hold fast the profession
of our faith. We are those who would look to
the Lord Jesus Christ at the beginning of our profession. Isn't that where faith begins? He says, look unto me and be
beside all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none
else how simple that fight is looking on to Jesus but as we
begin with looking on to Jesus so we are to continue with looking
on to Jesus as we just saw there at the beginning of chapter 12
it's looking on to Jesus who is the author and the finisher
of our fight our fight begins with Christ Our faith continues
with Christ. Our faith ends in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Or there is to be no drawing
back. And we need to be aware of the
great danger of drawing back. I say again, isn't this part
of the reason why the Apostle pens those solemn portions that
we've already spoken of back in chapter 6 and again here in
chapter 10. or the great danger if they shall
fall away, he says, it's impossible for those who were once enlightened
and have tasted of the heavenly gift and were made partakers
of the Holy Ghost and have tasted the good word of God and the
powers of the world to come if they shall fall away to renew
them again the danger ought to be those who are aware
of it conscious of these things those then who would persevere
in the ways of God and so here with regards to this enduring
faith we are to recognize the place of perseverance he goes
on to say in verse 39 we are not of them who draw back onto
perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the soul how
plainly he states it, real faith Real faith is that persevering
faith. When you think of those great
doctrines that were delineated at the Canon of Dort, we call
them the five points of Calvinism, and we remember them by the mnemonic
tulip. And you know the significance
of that tulip, total depravity, unconditional election, limited
atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints.
But it is interesting, isn't it, that when they speak of the
last of those five points, it's not the preservation. It's not
the preservation of the saints, it's the perseverance of the
saints. Their preservation is the truth. They are preserved. They are secure in the Lord Jesus
Christ. They cannot fall out of Christ. They are saved for time and eternity. But those wise men who drew up
those canons of Dort They spoke more particularly in terms of
perseverance and preservation. All you see there is to be perseverance,
diligence, persistence, striving. Here's the mark of those who
are in the narrow way. How the kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence and the violent take it by force. There's to be that striving,
that pressing forward. As I say, this word patience
that we find back in verse 36, you have need of patience. More literally, it is the word
endurance. You have need of endurance. That
after you've done the will of God, you might receive the promise. This is the only way to obtain
the promises. The only way to obtain the promises is through
faith. Again there in the next chapter,
chapter 11 and verse 33 we read of those who through faith obtained
the promises. Or they obtained them through
faith, but what sort of faith? Well it is this living faith,
this justifying faith, this enduring faith that is laid before us
here at the end of this particular chapter. or let us be those who
would look to ourselves and examine ourselves and prove ourselves
by the Word of God with regards to our faith that God would grant
to us that faith that is real and genuine that faith that is
persevering that faith that is enduring the just says the Apostle
the just shall live by faith But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him. But, and thank God for the
but, might he be true of you and true of me, but we are not
of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul. The Lord bless his word to us. Oh.