Let us turn again to God's word
in that portion that we've just read in the prophecy of Habakkuk
and turning for our text to the last verse that we read in chapter
2 and verse 4. Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse
4. Behold his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him but
the just shall live by his faith. It is evidently a contrast being
drawn in the words that we've just read, indicated by that
little word, but in the first part of the verse we see the
self-righteous, the man who is lifted up with pride, upright
in his own eyes, very much of the spirit of the Pharisee behold
his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him. He imagines
that he has a righteousness that will prevail before God and does
not understand that his righteousness is but like filthy rags. Remember how the Lord Jesus speaks
of the prayer of the Pharisee, how he comes before God only
to congratulate himself. I thank the that I am not as
other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as
this publican, he says, compares himself with others, and then
goes on to boast, I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of
all that I possess, and yet the man is one that is condemned. Here he is then in the first
part of this verse, but then in contrast on the other hand
we see something of the humble believer in God, but the just
shall live by his faith. And I want us to concentrate
on those words for our text, in particular tonight, and to
seek to discern something of the evidence of that true spiritual
life that is being spoken of. Here is a man who is truly alive,
he lives, and he lives, it says, by his faith. And we can consider
that spiritual life in this man in two areas. In particular,
he has an experience of justification. He is the just man, the justified
man, and then also wants us to look more particularly at his
faith and what his faith is expecting and anticipating and looking
and watching and waiting for. First of all then, to consider
the experience of justification. The just shall live by his faith. He's described to us then in
these two words. He is the just. He's justified. Now remember that to justify
is really a judicial term. we might say that it belongs
to to law courts. We certainly see that in the
Old Testament scriptures when we take account of the responsibility
of the judges that were appointed throughout Israel in the book
of Deuteronomy and there in the opening words of Deuteronomy
25 God says through Moses 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. They are to make a righteous
judgment, they are to pronounce innocent those who are innocent
before the law, they are to justify the righteous man and they are
to be careful to condemn the wicked man. But the amazing thing
is, of course, that when it comes to this great doctrine of justification,
though there it's plainly stated what are the duties of the judges,
and they must not condemn the righteous, and they must not
justify the wicked. That would be a perversion. That's
true with regards to those judges, but as I say, the amazing thing
is, when it comes to the gospel of the grace of God, we're told
quite plainly by Paul in Romans chapter 4, that God justifies
the ungodly. Instead of condemning, God justifies
the ungodly. We might ask the question, how
can this be? Isn't this so contrary to what we've just read there
in Deuteronomy chapter 25? Well God justifies the ungodly
by imputation. We have to come to terms with
another technical word then, imputation. What does that mean? Well it is the Lord Jesus Christ
who has come of course to stand in the very law place of his
people. Are we not told by the Apostle
in Galatians that he is made of a woman but he is also made
under the law. When the fullness of the time
was come God sent forth his son. Paul says made of a woman. He
is the seed of the woman that was promised back in Genesis
chapter 3 where we read of the sin, the fall of our first parents. He is that seed of the woman,
he is made of a woman, but also he is made under the law, Paul
says, to redeem them that were under the law that we might receive
the adoption of sons. Christ has come then to occupy
the place of those who are the transgressors of the Holy Lord
of God. and in his life, of course, he
has fulfilled all righteousness. We have to take account of his
work, the work that the father gave him to do. He must be about
his father's business. There was a work to be performed,
the righteousness to be accomplished, and we speak oftentimes of that
righteousness in terms of his active obedience and his passive
obedience. The Prophet Isaiah says the Lord
is well pleased for his righteousness sake he will magnify the law
and make it honourable. He's under the law, he's subject
to the law and he magnifies the law, he makes the law honourable. Now what was it that God required
with regards to his law? Well the law must be observed
The law must be obeyed, that is what righteousness is. It's
obedience to God's holy law, God's holy commandments. At the
end of Deuteronomy chapter 6, it shall be our righteousness,
says Moses, if we observe to do all these commandments before
the Lord our God as he has commanded us. Here is righteousness. It's the observation, it's the
doing of all the commandments that God has commanded. And that's
what the Lord Jesus Christ has done. He must work the will of
Him that has sent Him. He must finish that work and
His obedience throughout His life. He fulfills all righteousness
and not only in life, of course, also in death. The Lord is pleased
with him not only in the way in which he lives but also in
the manner of his dying being found in fashion as a man we
are told how he humbled himself and became obedient unto death
even the death of the cross there in his death upon the cross he
is still in that law place of his people. He is dying in their
room and in their stead. His death is a substitutionary
atonement. He's bearing that punishment
that was their desert, made of a woman, made under the law to
redeem them, to redeem them that were under the law, to pay the
ransom price that the law has demanded without the shedding
of blood. there is no remission of sins
and Christ has paid that great price by the sacrifice of himself
and so there's the obedience of a sinless life and there's
also the oblation that he makes in that sin atoning death upon
the cross and it is all this work of the Lord Jesus Christ
that he imputed to the sinner reckoned to the sinners accounts. That's what impute means, to
reckon to someone's accounts. And in that sense, you see, God
justifies the ungodly. That decree of justification,
it's an eternal decree in the mind of God. The expression of
Dr. Gilius is an imminent act of
God, it's an act of God in himself. He has purposed to justify, but
who will he justify? The ungodly, but Christ comes
in time and he does all that is necessary in order to the
justification of that people and that work of the Lord Jesus
Christ is reckoned to the account of those who are in him in that
eternal covenant of grace but they must come in their own experience
to realize what that justification means. In Romans chapter 4 then,
remember in this great chapter Paul is speaking of the faith
of Abraham. Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. was counted, it was imputed to
him for righteousness he believed in God and it is the object of
his faith that's accounted to him for righteousness and so
see how Paul continues here in Romans 4 verse 4 now to him that
worketh is a reward not reckoned of grace but of debt but to him
that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. And again, it's very much the
object of that faith that is counted for righteousness. And the object of that faith
is Christ. Christ in his person, Christ
in his work. And so, Paul continues, verse
6, Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto
whom God imputeth righteousness, without works, saying, Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Here it is said. The Lord Jesus
is the great object of faith. And what has the Lord Jesus Christ
done? He has answered all the demands of God's holy law. What
has God done in Christ? Why? He's taken the sins of His
people and He's imputed them to Christ. He's reckoned them
to Christ to count. And Christ has paid the penalty.
Christ has suffered in their room and in their stead. He has
made Him to be sin, who knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. But not only is the penalty of
their sin paved by Christ in his dying in their room and stacked
as if he were the sinner. But they are also accounted righteousness. His righteousness is imputed
to them. They're covered with that robe
of his righteousness. This is the blessed exchange
in the gospel. And this justification is experienced
by faith. This is what the Apostle is saying. They come to experience this
by faith just as Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him
for righteousness. This salvation is not of works,
it is altogether of grace. And this was the great message
of course that we see the Apostles preaching in the Acts Acts 13
verse 39, we have Paul preaching at Antioch in Pisidia, and what
does he say concerning justification? Acts 13 verse 39, By him, that
is by Christ, all that believe are justified from all things
that they could not be justified from by the deeds of the Lord. They couldn't justify themselves,
their debtors to the Lord. They are debtors to the whole
Lord and they have transgressed the Lord, they have broken the
commandment and the least breach of the commandment means death
if a man is obedient in all things and just offends in one point,
James tells us, he is guilty. Their obedience must be a full
and a perfect obedience and that is not possible. They cannot
justify themselves, but there is justification by faith, by
trusting in that great work of the Lord Jesus Christ. By Him,
all that believe are justified from all things that they could
not be justified from by the deeds of the law. And this is the man, you see,
that is being spoken of here in the text, the just, the justified
man. shall live by faith. And that statement which we find
for the first time in scripture here in the book of Habakkuk
is then repeated some three times in the New Testament scriptures. Three times we find it in the
New Testament. And at the mouth of two or three
witnesses, remember every word is verified. The threefold cord
withheld by the preacher in Ecclesiastes is not quickly broken. And in the New Testament we have
this threefold reference into these words of Habakkuk. In Galatians, in Galatians chapter
3 and verse 11, we just turn to that passage and see how Paul
quotes the text and the context in which he is quoting it there
in Galatians look at what he says from verse 10 the verse
previous and the verse after the quotation verses 10 to 12
then in Galatians 3 Paul writes for as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse for it is written curse is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them. You see, what the law requires,
as we've said, a full, perfect, complete obedience to every single
commandment. And the man who does not live
up to that standard is cursed. Cursed is everyone that continueth
not in all things, in all things, which are written in the book
of the law to do them. they've got to be done but that
no man is justified by the law in the sight of God it is evident
for the just shall live by faith and the law is not of faith but
the man that doeth them shall live in them if a man should
do the law do it perfectly completely he will live in them but of course
we cannot do that because we're born sinners We sinned in Adam. Adam's first transgression is
imputed to all those who were in him. We sinned in Adam and
as soon as we're born we sin in our own persons because we
have partaken from Adam also of a sinful nature. Now the context
then here in which the words of Habakkuk 2.4 is being quoted is the context of the law. The
law. Faith has to do with the law. Someone said there is but one
faith. The difference wholly lies in the objects and it's
when we are brought to see that the Lord is God's Lord and we
recognize that, and we believe that, then we feel the awful
condemnation of the law. This was Paul's experience, was
it not? He felt it. He thought he was
a law-doer. He was a Pharisee, he was a self-righteous
man. In many ways he is that man that's
spoken in the first part of Habakkuk 2.4. But when God took that man
in hand, when God began to instruct him, how different it was. By
the law, says Paul, is the knowledge of sin. How he was made to feel
the condemnation of the law. In Romans 7 verse 9 he says,
I was alive without the law once, but When the commandment came,
sin revived and I died. Or when there was life, when
he came to see and really believe and understand the Lord of God,
he felt the awful condemnation of that Lord of God, that it
only brought death into his soul. The Lord then Is that that God
takes his people to in the first place in order to show them what
they are as sinners? I know it says there in Galatians
3, the Lord is not of faith. But that expression, the Lord
is not of faith, is a reference to Christ who is the proper object
of saving faith. The law says nothing of faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. The language of the law is do
and live, do and live. But when we're brought to see
the spiritual nature of that law, we see that we cannot do
what God requires. It's not in us. And so, first
of all, there is that condemnation. But then again, besides Galatians,
we find Paul also making reference to this statement of Habakkuk
chapter 2 and verse 4 in the very opening chapter of his epistle
to the Romans and the epistle to the Romans of course is a great gospel epistle the
gospel as it really is to use that term employed as a description
of that little commentary by Stuart Elliot, I think it was.
The Gospel as it really is. This is what Romans sets before
us. In the very first chapter we
have the Apostle speaking of that Gospel. Speaks of his own ministry. Paul,
a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, separated onto
the Gospel of God. And he speaks of that Gospel
as concerning his son. Jesus Christ our Lord which was
made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to
be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. And then he goes on at
verse 17 in this chapter to speak of the revelation of that righteousness Verse 17, therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, the
just shall live by faith. Now he's clearly speaking of
the gospel as we see in the previous verse, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believe us, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith." And then the words of Habakkuk 2.4, the just shall
live by faith. This text then clearly has to
do with the gospel and that faith that centers in Christ in his
person and his work that faith that is altogether looking to
him and trusting in him and resting in him who of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption
that he that glorieth must glory in the Lord. So here is a second
time in which the Words of our text are taken up by Paul in
the New Testament. But then I say there is a third
use also, which we find at the end of Hebrews chapter 10. Again he quotes Habakkuk 2.4. Verse 38 in Hebrews 10, 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. There is that true faith then.
The just live by faith. How do they live? They don't
draw back. There are those who persevere,
who press on. And then he goes on, of course,
in the very next chapter, chapter 11, to give the example of the
faith of those of the Old Testament. Through faith, by faith, and
we read of all these men and women of faith, how they lived
by faith, by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we can consider
two particular characters from the Old Testament. who are an example of the truth
of that that's declared in our text. The just shall live by
his faith. Think of Noah right at the beginning
of the scriptures. We read of him there in Genesis
chapter 6. And what are we told concerning
this man? Verse 8, Noah found grace in
the eyes of the law. How striking is that statement. Here is the reason why nowhere
is different. There is wickedness over the
whole face of the earth. And God saw it. 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 continually. And God will judge sinful men
but, it says, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. These are the generations of
Noah. Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations and
Noah walked with God. Why is Noah described here as
just and perfect? well he is not of himself he
is only a just and a perfect man because he found grace he
is that man who is walking with God he walks by faith not by
sight he has that faith that justifies him he has an experience
of justification God accounts him a just man and a perfect
man not because He is a sinless man in himself, but this is the
righteousness of Christ that is imputed to him, reckoned to
his account, that makes him different to all others. He found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. He is one of those, the just
shall live by his faith. And then, another of whom we
are told that he was a just man, is Job. And there, right at the
beginning of the book of Job, that's how we are introduced.
to the patriarch. The very first verse in the book,
there was a man in the land of Oz whose name was Job and that
man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and one that
eschewed evil. Remember how God subsequently
draws Satan's attention to this man. Verse 8, the Lord said unto
Satan, hast thou considered my servant Job? that there is none
like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that
feareth God and escheweth evil. And then we see how that's repeated
again in chapter 2 and verse 3, as once more the Lord draws
Satan's attention to this man, perfect and upright, that feareth
God understeweth evil, and still he holdeth fast his integrity,
although thou movest me against him to destroy him without cause. Now, in what way is this man
different to all others in his generation? Why is he described
as being perfect and upright? Well, he is one of these characters,
the just man who walks by his faith. It's not his own righteousness
that makes him an upright man. Of himself he is a sinful man
and he is very conscious of that as we see from what we read in
the subsequent chapters here in the book of Job. In chapter 9 and verses 1 and
2, Job answered and said, I know it is so of a truth, but how
should a man be just with God? How can a man be just with God?
That's what he's concerned to know. He goes on later in chapter
14, and there at verse 4, to speak those familiar words. Who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. He is a
sinful man of sinful parents. He's a descendant of Adam. He's one of those then who of
himself is a sinner, not an upright man and a perfect man. And how
he's made through these experiences to feel what he is, how God is
dealing with him and teaching him and showing him. There may
have been a measure of self-righteousness in this man, and this is what
he's been stripped out of his life. But ultimately he's one
of those who is justified, who looks only to the work of his
blessed Redeemer. Remember the remarkable confession
that he makes in chapter 9, I know that my Redeemer liveth,
he says, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth,
and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes
shall behold and not another, though my veins be consumed within
me. He is looking to the Redeemer,
he is looking to the Lord Jesus Christ, he is living that life
of faith. The just shall live by his faith
both this man Job and also Noah and all those who have spoken
of there in Hebrews 11 they were justified by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is how they came to experience
that great doctrine of justification whereby God imputes the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ to those who of themselves are sinful
and ungodly. God justifieth the ungodly and
it's all by and through the work of Christ and that's what the
sinner is brought to. He must look to that and he must
live his life by faith in Christ in his person and in his work. But turning then in the second
place to what it says here concerning his faith. We have a description
of the man, the just, that he's the justified man. And he's been
made alive, alive to the Word of God, alive to the righteous
Lord of God. He's felt his sinnership like
Paul did. He was alive once, but the commandment
came, sin revived and he died. and then he saw that his only
hope was in the Lord Jesus Christ and he had to look to that righteousness
as he does in Philippians chapter 3 to be found in Christ he says
not having his own righteousness which is of the law but that
which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which
is of God by faith or he can only live by faith in Christ
he lives then by the faith of the gospel and he doesn't draw
back He perseveres in the ways of God, he seeks to live his
life day by day, moment by moment, as one who is trusting in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And so we come to this in the
second place, his faith. Observe what the text says. It's
easy to misquote these words. It doesn't just say the just
shall live by faith, it says the just shall live by his faith. his faith. Now Habakkuk is one
who has this faith and how do we see the faith evidenced? Well
Habakkuk is one who prays and cries and calls upon God. He sees the sin that is all about
him. He is very conscious of the situation
that pertains on every hand. See how we are introduced to
the Prophet in the very opening verses of the book, The Burden. which Habakkuk, the prophet,
did see. And then immediately we see that
this is a man of prayer. This is how faith is evidence.
Where there is faith there will be prayer to God, calling upon
God, O Lord, how long shall I cry? And thou wilt not hear. Even
cry out unto thee of violence and thou wilt not save. Why dost
thou show me iniquity and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling
and violence are before me, and there are that raise up strife
and contempt, and judgment of never goeth, for the wicked have
cussed about the righteous, therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. How these prophets