Now let's turn in our Bibles
to the book of Habakkuk, Habakkuk chapter one. Now I'm gonna do something a
little different tonight. Instead of, I am gonna read the
first four verses of Habakkuk chapter one. We've been going
through the minor prophets, studying them, and we're gonna continue
to do that, although I'm not really gonna begin a verse-by-verse
study of Habakkuk tonight. What I want to do tonight is
go to the major theme of this prophetic book. And the mainstay
of my message tonight is going to come from the book of Hebrews
chapter two, actually. So we'll be working our way over
there. Not everything is in between
Habakkuk and Hebrews, so don't get scared tonight. But I do,
that's where I'm going to stay with mainly. And so I'm just
gonna briefly give you some things about Habakkuk by way of introduction,
and then next week I'll come back and we'll start our verse-by-verse
study in the book of Habakkuk. It's an amazing book. You know,
we've seen that about every one of these minor prophets, haven't
we? How it's just an amazing book. It's a book like all the
books of the Bible. It's a book of Christ. It's a
book of faith, that's what I'm going to talk about tonight.
In fact, the title of the message tonight is this. What is your
faith? What is your faith? And I'm asking
myself that question too. What is my faith? Good question. I've been thinking about that
issue for several weeks now because I'm planning on preaching a message
for our television program on that because so many people are
confused about this issue of faith. What is your faith? That's a question we all need
to consider, take inventory of. But let's just look at the first
four verses of Habakkuk by way of introduction here. Habakkuk,
you know, we don't know a whole lot about him personally, but
look what he says. He says, the burden which Habakkuk
the prophet did see. Now that's the burden of truth.
Anytime the prophet calls a message a burden, it's a heavy message.
This is a serious message that weighs on the heart, weighs on
the mind. This is not something that you
can overlook, and this is a burden which Habakkuk, the prophet,
did see because God gave it to him, God showed it to him. This
is a message from God, and it's that burden that God put upon
him. And here's what he says. Now listen to what he says here.
He says, Oh Lord, how long shall I cry? And thou wilt not hear. Strange, isn't it? How long shall
I cry? God, how long do I have to cry
out for help before you hear me? You say, that doesn't sound
like a very faithful prophet, does it? He says, he says, even
cry out unto thee of violence and thou wilt not save. I cry
to you about violence. There's violence here. That's
what he's saying. He's talking about violence in
the land and you won't save, you won't help. Verse three,
he says, why dost thou show me iniquity? Calls me to hold behold
grievance. Why Lord? Why do you show me
and make me look at evil? And why do you idly? Stand by
you be you behold grievance. You just it's like God's doing
nothing. That's what the Prophet is complaining about here God's
doing nothing He says, for spoiling and violence are before me and
there are that raise up strife and contention, there's destruction
here. Now he's talking about the land of Judah. That's where
Habakkuk prophesied. It's where he preached. It's
where he complained. The land of Judah. Destruction
and violence are breaking out. Quarrels, that's what strife
is. Quarrels and divisions, fights all over the place. He says in
verse four, he says, therefore the law is slack. You know what
he's saying there? The law is powerless to do anything. Boy, that's a message in and
of itself, isn't it? The law can't help them. The
law can't cure this. Well, we know that, don't we?
By deeds of law shall no flesh be justified. The law cannot
save you. The law cannot make you holy
or righteous. Therefore, the law is powerless. He says, and judgment doth never
go forth. Justice is never done. There's
no justice in the land. He says, for the wicked doth
compass about the righteous. The wicked have surrounded the
righteous. Now, you know who the righteous are. When he says
the righteous, he's talking about God's people, believers. sinners
saved by the grace of God. And he says, therefore wrong
or twisted, you might have in your concordance arrested, wrong
or twisted judgment proceeded. Justice is administered in a
perverted way. That's what he's saying. Well,
you read those first four verses of the book of Habakkuk and it's
not hard for, it's kind of like stating the obvious. to say that
Habakkuk was a man with questions. He was a man who had a complaint. He was disturbed about what he
saw in Judah. He was disturbed not only about
what he saw, the evil, the violence, the division, the wickedness
in Judah, the land of his home and his upbringing, but he was
disturbed about what he saw, the way he viewed it now. This
is the way he saw it. He was disturbed about what he
saw as God's indifference to the sin of Judah, his own people.
It's almost like he's asking this question, God, how can you
let such wickedness go on? Why don't you do something? Why don't you put a stop to all
the suffering, all the violence, all the sin, all the idolatry,
all the injustice? Don't we say the same thing today?
You read the paper, watch the news, you hear of horrible crimes,
and why didn't God put a stop to it? Why didn't he do something?
You ever thought that? Or heard anybody say it? Yeah,
we all do. And it goes to a basic question
that any thinking person, if you read your scripture, if you
think about things you see in society, even think about yourself,
You might ask this question, how can a good and holy God permit
such evil in this world? Well, God has an answer, and
the book of Habakkuk, basically in three chapters from then on,
is the answer to that problem. And basically, he informs the
prophet Habakkuk of this, that he's in control, God's in control. Don't you worry, Habakkuk, I've
got it all under control. I'm working my will. God works
all things after the counsel of His own will. I know when
you look at it now, when you read the headlines and watch
the newscast, it disturbs you. It disturbs me. We have a lot
of questions, a lot of complaints. But listen to me now. God's not
idle. God hasn't left His throne. He's
not on vacation. He's still in control, He's working
all things after the counsel of His own will, and not only
that, not only that, He's working all things together for good
to them that love Him and who are the called according to His
purpose and for His glory. Now He works in mysterious ways,
mysterious to you, mysterious to me, mysterious to Habakkuk,
but not mysterious to Him. God knows exactly what He's doing.
And I love what Brother Scott Richardson said one time. He
made this statement. He said, if we knew what God
knew, we wouldn't change a thing. Think about that a while. If
we knew what God knew, we wouldn't change a thing. And God tells
Habakkuk that even at this present time, He's preparing another
nation, a nation called Babylon. You've heard of Babylon. has
its roots way back at the Tower of Babel. And that means confusion. Didn't start out meaning that.
You know, Babel doesn't originally, the word Babel really doesn't
mean confusion, but that's what it came to be. The confusion
of tongues and all that. And God tells Habakkuk that I'm
preparing a nation, another nation called Babylon, to punish Judah.
And who's gonna take them into captivity. And you know Habakkuk,
he even complains about that. He asked later on, he says, well,
why are you going to use Babylon? They're more wicked and more
pagan and more cruel than even Judah. It's worse over there
than it is here. Why are you going to use them
or any other nation? And God's answer is this, that
he was not unaware of Babylon's sins. He knew about Babylon and
that he wasn't through with Babylon. And he would judge Babylon eventually. Babylon would be destroyed too
by his justice. But as you and I both know from
the word of God, that he, not us now, He, God, works all things. I don't work all things, you
don't either. We don't have the power, we don't have the wisdom
or the knowledge to do this. This is why it's foolish for
a puny human being to make a statement like this. Well, if God saves
sinners, I'll just sin as much as I want to. Now let me tell
you something. God overrules our sin to bring
good. And if you don't believe that,
you don't believe this book. Talk to Joseph about that. Old Joseph, he knew about that,
didn't he? All the evil that was done to Joseph. And you know
what he said to his brothers when he could have just snapped
his finger and just wiped them off the face of the earth? He
said, don't be afraid, you're okay. You meant it for evil,
but God meant it for good. Now, I can't mean sin for good.
I can't do that and you can't do it either. But God can. And if you ever doubt that, just
think of the crux of redemptive history, the cross itself. Old Peter stood up there at Pentecost
and he said, you did this, you murdered the Son of God and you
did it with wicked hands. And I include myself in that
number and I hope you include yourself in that number too.
You did it with wicked hands, murdered the Son of God. But
God was working His will the whole time. And we can't figure
all that out and work all that out in our puny minds, but we
just simply do what? We'll turn to Habakkuk chapter
two. God is always just. He does things
his way, in his own time, and by his own wisdom. And incidentally,
that little episode back in Genesis with Joseph was a picture of
our salvation and redemption by Christ. Did you know that?
In fact, Joseph told his brothers, he said, you meant it for evil,
but God meant it for good to save much people alive. This
is how God, through their evil and overruling that evil to his
glory and our good, this is how God preserved the nation Israel.
When they went into captivity in Egypt and in bondage, else
they would have been destroyed, wouldn't they? Pharaoh would
have destroyed them. But God had a greater purpose
and a greater plan, His glory and the good of His people in
salvation by Christ. And that's why God, in His determinate
counsel and foreknowledge, not just in His permission now. I've
heard preachers say, well, God permitted that to happen. Well,
Peter said He did it by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge. brought the Son of God incarnate
and put him on that cross. And the Bible also says it pleased
the Lord to bruise him. It pleased the Lord. Now why
did he do that? To redeem his people from our
sins. Isn't that amazing? to satisfy His justice and His
law, His holiness, to bring forth righteousness and to preserve
His glory in the salvation of sinners like us. That's why grace
is so amazing. That's why it's really amazing.
God does things His way in His time and His wisdom for His glory
and the good of His people. Well, look here, now look at
verse one of chapter two of Habakkuk. He says, he says, I will stand
upon my watch and set me upon the tower. In other words, he's
the watchman now. He's watching out, he's looking
out for something. He's saying, I'll take my stand
at my watch post and station myself on the tower and will
watch to see what he, that's God, what God will say. I've
got all these questions and these complaints now. I've got all
these issues I've raised, I can't figure this out, so I'm going
to stand to watch, I'm going to get up on this tower and I'm
going to look out and see what God will say unto me and what
I shall answer when I am reproved." Now that's typical human arguing
there. That's what it is. And you know,
usually that's why it's usually no good to debate and argue people.
Cause usually when you're trying to state your point of view,
they're not listening to your point of view. They're just trying
to figure out what they're going to say next. And you do the same thing.
I do the same thing. And he says, I'm going to see
what God has to say, what answer he'll give me. And then I'm going
to think about what I'm going to say when he reproves me, when
he, when he presents that argument. And he said, look at verse two,
he says, and the Lord answered me and said, now here's the Lord's
answer. This is what he says, write the
vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth
it. What he's saying there is write
this vision, write down my answer, the vision being the revelation
of God. This is what I'm going to tell
you. Here's how I'm going to answer
you. Here's the answer. Here's the only answer you're
going to get. And he says, he says, put it on plain tablets,
write it down so that nobody can deny it so that he may run
who reads it. He'll run with it. And that what
he's talking about, he'll spread this around. He'll give this
around. And he says in verse three, for
the vision is yet for an appointed time. In other words, this vision
awaits an appointed time. In other words, God's going to
give it when he wants to give it in his appointed time. It's
not up to you and me. And he says, but at the end it
shall speak and not lie. It hastens to the end. It will
not lie. This is no lie. And he says,
though it tarry, wait for it. It may seem slow in coming, but
you wait for it. Wait on the Lord. That's what
God's saying. He says, because it will surely come, it will
not tarry. In God's sight, it may seem like
a long time to us, but in God's ways and God's wisdom and God's
time, it's a short time. It won't tarry. And so what does
he say here? He says in verse four, behold,
listen intently. His soul which is lifted up is
not upright in him. Behold, he's talking about the
natural man there. His soul is puffed up. It's not
upright within him. Look at that man bloated by self-righteousness
and self-importance. He says lifted up, his soul is
not upright in him. He's empty in his soul. But,
look at the last, the just, the justified, the righteous shall
live by his faith. The just, the justified shall
live by his faith. His faith. His faith, that's what it says,
isn't it? The justified lives by his faith. Where did he get that faith?
Where did he get that? He didn't have it naturally.
The Bible teaches that. The Bible says, the natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he
know them. Man left to himself won't believe. There's no spark
of goodness in man, we're run. That's where it's centered. Spiritually
dead, that's what the scripture teaches. We have a conscience,
we have a morality, but they're just as fallen as everything
else under the ruination of Adam. The justified, though, shall
live by his faith. Where you get it? Well, the Bible
teaches it's a gift from God. For by grace are you saved through
faith. That not of yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of
works, lest any man should boast. But it's his faith. That's what
the scripture says there. Look over there at Matthew chapter
9 in Brother Stan Redd. A couple of interesting phrases
in there. He's talking about our Lord.
He walked on this earth and he performed miracles. There was
a man there, a ruler, whose daughter was dead. He came to Christ seeking
healing for his daughter. He believed that Christ was able
to heal his daughter, and Christ healed his daughter. And then
there's this woman with the issue of blood. You can read about
her and all in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Mark says that she
went to doctors, all kinds of doctors, and she came away worse
off than she was before. But here it says that she just
wanted to touch the hem of his garment. The hem of his garment. And she
said in verse 21, Matthew 9, if I may but touch his garment,
I shall be whole. But Jesus turned him about, and
when he saw her, he said, daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith,
your faith, hath made thee whole. Your faith has made you, now
what was her faith? And then over there in verse
27, these two blind men came to him. And they said, Thou son
of David, have mercy on us. What does that mean? They believed
him to be the Messiah. That's what that meant. They
believed him to be the Messiah. You wouldn't call anybody the
son of David in that way unless you believed them to be the promised
Messiah, the woman's seed. And he asked him in verse 28,
and they were asking for healing. And he said in verse 28, Believe
ye that I'm able to do this? And they said, yeah, yeah, Lord,
we believe you're able to do it. Verse 29, it says, then touched
he their eyes, saying, according to your faith, be it unto you. What was their faith? According
to your faith. What was their faith? Their faith
was in him. That was their faith. Their faith was not in their
faith. And you know what people do when
they go to passages like this? The preachers will tell people,
say, well, now all you got to do is believe. Just believe. And I always want to just stop
and say, believe what? It's not just believe. It's not
just believing. It's not how much you believe
or how long you believe. What is your faith? The justified
shall live by his faith. What is the faith of the justified?
What is his faith? Look at Romans chapter 1. That
verse in Habakkuk 2 and verse 4 is quoted three times in the
New Testament. First of all in Romans chapter
1. What's it connected with? I'll tell you exactly what it's
connected with. It's connected with the gospel. the good news
of the glorious person and finished work of Christ." Now here again,
we saw in the book of Nahum how the Holy Spirit led us to certain
passages to show us what these words mean. Here's the same thing,
look at verse 16 of Romans chapter 1, for I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, and he'd already identified Christ as the God-man
over here. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth." Believeth what? The gospel. Not just believing. Not just
some kind of an inward feeling or entity that's out there like
it's some kind of elusive butterfly by itself, but it's the faith
of God's elect. It's the faith of the justified,
which has an object. Faith without an object is nothing
more than wishful thinking. Today they call it the power
of positive thinking. But it's not the faith of the
justified. He said, Everyone that believeth
to the Jew first and also to the Greek, verse 17, for therein,
in that gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed. Now over in
Romans chapter 3, he says that that's what the prophets preached.
Read it in Romans 3, 21, 22, 23, and 24. This is what they preach, the
righteousness of God. How? Through whom? Through the
promised seed, the Messiah. And faith lays hold of that.
Faith believes that. Faith submits to His righteousness,
to Christ. That's what it says. He says,
revealed from faith, that's the preaching of the gospel, the
truth, to faith. to our believing by the power
of the Holy Spirit as it is the gift of God. As it is written,
the justified shall live by faith and as Habakkuk put it, by his
faith. It's my faith. You know how it's
mine? God gave it to me. He gave it
to me. And then look back over in Galatians
chapter 3 that we read earlier. Galatians chapter 3. And here it's quoted again. And
here it's quoted in the context of how God justifies the ungodly. How God justifies a sinner. Now
what did Habakkuk say? He said the justified shall live
by his faith. Well, how does God justify a
sinner? Well, he says it's not by works, verse 11. of Galatians
3, but that no man is justified by the law, no man is made righteous
by the law, no man is forgiven by the law, no man is saved by
works of the law in the sight of God, that's evident, for the
justified shall live by faith, and the law's not a faith. The
law doesn't command you to believe, the law commands you to do. And so what is the object of
faith? What is the foundation of faith? What is the subject
of faith? Verse 13, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of
the law. How did he do that? He was made
a curse for us. That's how he was made sin, right
there. He was made a curse for us. Somebody draw me a curse. Or somebody go out and get me
a bag of curse and bring it to me. Can't do it, can you? What is it to be cursed? It's
to be condemned justly under the law of God. That's how Christ
was made sin. He was condemned justly under
the law of God because he was made a curse. He was made sin.
He bore our sins on the tree as God made. What is the object
of faith? He was made a curse for us, for
it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree, that
the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through
Jesus Christ. That's justification by the blood
and righteousness of Christ. And he says that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. Now, what has the Spirit
promised? Well, the Spirit is the sovereign agent, the third
person of the Trinity who brings us under the preaching of the
gospel of God's grace in Christ and gives us faith and drives
us to Christ as sinners seeking mercy. That's the promise of
the Spirit. Look over at Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews chapter 10. Here's the
third time. that that phrase is quoted by
the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. And here he's talking about perseverance
in the faith. This is the context here. Not
only that God saves us and we live by faith, but He keeps us
by faith. And he says here in verse 38,
he says, Now the just shall live by faith. Now what is that faith? looking to Christ. He says, but
if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.
Draw back unto perditions, what he's talking about is that is
totally reject and leave Christ, apostatize. And he says, but
we're not of them who draw back. Now, who's not of them who draw
back unto perdition? The justified who live by faith. If you're a justified sinner,
justified by the grace of God in Christ, washed in His blood,
clothed in His righteousness, regenerated by the Spirit, looking
to Christ, living by faith, you're not of them who draw back. That's
what he's saying. But of them that believe to the
saving of the soul. Believe what? Turn to Hebrews
2. Now let me just read through
these scriptures and I'll show you exactly what I'm talking
about. Now, listen to this. Now, this tells you about the
faith that is ours. If God has given me faith, what
is your faith? What is my faith? This tells
you about it. He says in verse 1 of Hebrews 2, Therefore we,
who's the we? That's believers, sinners saved
by grace, the justified who live by faith. We ought to give the
more earnest heed to the things which we have what? the things
we've heard. Now what does the scripture say
about this faith? In Romans 10 and verse 17. Faith comes by what? Hearing. And hearing by what? The word
of God. We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things
which we have heard. What have we heard? We've heard the gospel.
We've heard of Christ, who he is. What he did, why he did it,
where he is now. His glorious person. He is God
and man. in one person. What a glorious
message. That means he's able to say,
just like those blind men said, he said, do you believe I'm able
to give you sight? They said, yay, Lord. Here's
what this issue of faith presents to us in the gospel that we hear.
Do you believe that he's able to save you? Well, the Bible
says he's able to save to the uttermost them that come unto
the Father by him. Somebody said, well, I don't
doubt his ability, but I doubt mine. Well, you ought to doubt
yours. In fact, you not really, you shouldn't even doubt yours.
You should just out and out reject yours. Because doubt kind of feels like
you're wavering. Can I or can't I? No, you can't. I can't. Somebody said, well,
I don't doubt Christ, I doubt myself. Well, you ought to doubt
yourself, because you can't save yourself, you can't keep yourself,
you can't make yourself righteous. But do you believe He's able? There's faith. That's what my
faith is. I believe He's able to save me. I know Christ is able to save
me. Somebody said, well, I know He's
able, but is He willing? Well, he said, come unto me all
ye that are laboring or heavy laden, and I'll give you rest.
He didn't say, I might if I have an ocean. He said, I will give
you rest. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save who? Sinners of whom I am chief. He says, we ought to give them
more earnest heed to those things, lest at any time we should let
them slip. Don't let go, don't let them
drift by you. That's literally what that means.
Don't let these things drift by you. Don't let them drift
by me. You know, let me tell you something,
folks. I'm very well aware, and Alan, you know this too, and
you men who stand in this pulpit, you know, and you who pastor
churches and preach and all, you know that it's just as easy
to let these things slip right here as it is sitting out there.
And I don't want that to happen to you or to me. Verse two, he
says, for if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, as the
messengers of the old covenant that he's talking about. And
remember, he told Habakkuk now, he said, I'm going to give you
this answer, Habakkuk, and I'm not lying. It's steadfast. It's
sure. He says, in every transgression
and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, God punished
sin. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation? Now there's our faith. It's not
in our faith, it's in this salvation. And where is our salvation? In
whom is our salvation? What Simeon say when he lifted
up the Christ child? He said, for I'm ready to depart,
for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. If you've seen Christ crucified,
risen again, you've seen God's salvation. To neglect salvation
doesn't mean that you're not trying to be saved. There are
a lot of people who are trying to be saved who are neglecting
so great a salvation. Because if you can save yourself,
that's not so great. In fact, that's a lie, isn't
it? But if you neglect this salvation, you're neglecting Christ. You're
neglecting you want to be righteous. Don't neglect cry. Don't neglect
this salvation He says which at first began to be spoken by
the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him Verse
4 God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and
with diverse or various miracles Gifts of the Holy Ghost according
his own way. He's this is referring to all
the things he did under the Old Covenant Verse five, for unto
the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come
whereof we speak? In other words, their word was
confirmed and sure, but he didn't put the world to come under the
leadership and governance of angels. But he said in verse
six, but one in a certain place testified, saying, now he quotes
from Psalm 8. Now listen to this. Don't let
this slip by you. He said, what is man that thou
art mindful of him? Now, when many people preach
that or study that, they speak of the majesty of God, and in
contrast to that, the very puniness of man. And certainly that is
true. When you compare what we are,
especially not only just as creation, created people, just as created
beings. But not only that, as sinful
created beings to the majesty of God, we're not even on the
map, are we? But that's really not the crux
of what he's saying here, not even in Psalm 8. Now listen to
what he's saying. He says, what is man that thou
art mindful of? Now how was God mindful of man? Well, he chose a people before
the foundation of the world in Christ. And then he sent his son into
this world to take into union with himself humanity without
sin. Or the son of man that thou visitest
him. That visiting him is not just
showing up at the door, that visiting him has helping him.
And who's he talking about? Look at verse seven. Thou madest
him a little lower than the angels. Now who's that talking about?
That's talking about Christ. He's not talking about us. He says thou crowns him with
glory. What's that talking about made
him a little lower than the angels? Talking about in his humanity.
The union of the human nature with the godly nature in Christ.
And crowns him with glory and honor. What is that talking about? That's not just talking about
his lordship, that's talking about his mediatorial lordship.
The fact that he was obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross, whereby God gave him a name above every name and set
him on high. And it said him over the works
of thy hands. Verse eight, thou has put all
things in subjection under his feet. Now what am I saying? This
is our faith, Christ. He says, put all things in subjection
under his feet. What does that mean? That means
all things are in subjection under his feet. That means he's king of kings,
lord of lords. Now listen to this. For in that
he put all in subjection under him. Don't miss it. He left nothing
that is not put under him. I thought about that preacher
I heard on TV. who made the statement he said that he said a lot of
Christians operate under a fallacy that they've been lied to for
so many years and it's this he said God's in control he said
no God is not in control well I'd like to just have him read
Hebrews 2 and verse 8 because you know what that just said
it says Christ is in control In other words, it says this,
read it again now, verse 8, Thou hast put all things in subjection
under his feet, for in that he put all in subjection under him,
he left what? Nothing that is not put under
him. There's nothing that he's not
in control of. Now you can go debate that, and
argue about it all you want. Listen, that's what the book
says. There's nothing that's not put under his feet. Now,
let me apply this to Habakkuk. You remember what Habakkuk said
in those first four verses. God, I've got such a heavy message
for this generation, the wickedness, the violence, and why are you
letting this go on? It's like things are out of control.
Have you ever thought that? Well, now, there are some things
we don't know. There are some things Habakkuk did not know.
Look at verse 8 again. Look at the last line. It says,
But now, right now at present, we see not yet all things put
under him. Now, all things are put under
Christ. All things are in subjection under His feet. We just don't
see it right now. You look at the headlines, read
them, and look at the newscast, and you see the awful things
going, it just looks like this is a big, balled-up mess, doesn't
it? It just looks like things are
just crazy. And we'll ask those questions. Those same things
Habakkuk asked. Lord, why don't you do something? Why don't you
put a stop to this? How could people act like that when in
reality we know, but for the grace of God, there goes me. Isn't that right? And we think
like that now. What's the problem there? We're
walking by sight. We're reading the headlines.
We're watching the newscast. And there are things we don't
know. But the justified shall live
by his faith. Look at verse nine. Now here's
what we do know. But we see Jesus. Now here's
who we do know. This is what we know. This is
what we live by. Here is our faith. We see Jesus. God. Our Savior. That's what
we see. I look at the world and it just
looks like a big mess to me and I'm ignorant. I don't know why
this happened over there and why that hope happens over here,
why it doesn't happen over here. But I see Christ. That's what
it is. The justified shall live by his
faith. What is my faith? What is your
faith? We see Christ, who was made a
little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. Why
did he die? He died for my sins. He was a
substitute. That's why He was made sin. He
bore my sins. He put away my sins. He's my
righteousness. He's crowned with glory and honor.
He arose again the third day and He ascended unto the Father.
He ever lives to make intercession for us. He is right now ruling
and reigning over all things for the glory of His Father and
the good of His people. that he by the grace of God should
taste death for every man." That would be better translated, every
son. The word man is not in the original. He's not talking about
all people without exception, because I'm going to tell you
something now. All things are not going to work together for
good to all without exception. Now that's so. You know that's
so. The Bible tells us that it's so. All things work together
for good to them that love God. And that love is a gift from
God. Herein is love. Not that we love God, but that
He loved us and gave His Son to be the propitiation for our
sins. To them who are the called, the summoned by the preaching
of the gospel and given faith to believe. Called according
to His purpose. that he might taste death for
every son, and then he begins to identify the justified who
live by faith. Look at verse 10, for it became
him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in
bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. What that means is Christ completed
the work through his sufferings unto death. And it says, for
both he that sanctified, God who set us apart, and they who
are sanctified, we who are set apart, are all of one, for which
cause he's not ashamed to call them his brethren. Saying, I
will declare thy name unto my brethren, there's our faith,
it's in his name. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. In the midst of the church, the
called out ones, The elect of God, the redeemed of God, the
justified, the regenerated. And he said, well I sing praise
unto thee and again I will put my trust in him. There's our
faith, our trust is in him. Whom to know is life eternal.
And again behold I and the children which God hath given me. That's what he thought. We see
that. A lot of things we don't see and we don't know. But we
walk by faith. not by sight and we don't see
why every little thing that goes on in this world why it happens
but we know this we know that it all from the most minor details
to the most to the broadest of events that it's all going to
redound to the glory of god in christ and the good of his people but we don't see it all right
now do we But we see Jesus. And that's our faith. The justified
shall live by his faith. That's the faith God gave you.
If you see Jesus, if you see the glory of the person in the
finished work of Christ, trust him for all salvation, you're
going to live by your faith, that faith that God gave you.