Good evening. I trust everybody
had a safe weekend and a lot of fun. All right, let's open
tonight's service with hymn number 27 from the Soft Backed Hymnal,
number 27, Pleading for Grace. And let's all stand together. you Sovereign ruler, lord of all,
prostrate at your feet I fall. You are holy, wise, and just. I'm a creature of the dust. All things move at your command,
governed by your mighty hand. Heaven, earth, and hell I see,
Fulfill all your wise decree. Dares a man resist his Lord,
Stand against the sovereign God? I will bow before your throne,
Seeking grace in Christ your Son. through his blood and righteousness. Lord, I plead with you for grace. If you will, you can, I know. Grace and mercy to me show. Will you, Lord, my soul forgive? Grant this sinner grace to live. I've no other hope but this,
Jesus' blood and righteousness. Now I'm conquered by your grace. In the dust I hide my face. Give me Christ or else I die. I upon your grace rely. O for mercy now I plead Grant
me, Lord, the grace I need Turn, O turn to me and say All your
sins are washed away In my Son your debt is paid He for you
the ransom made Please be seated. Cody Henson is going to lead
us in prayer. If you will turn with me in your
Bibles to Galatians. The book of Galatians chapter
1. Galatians chapter 1, we'll start
reading in verse 6. This is Paul writing unto the
churches of Galatia. Verse 6, I marvel that ye are
so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but there be
some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel
unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed. As we said before, so say I now
again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that
you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade
men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For
if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
of me is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. For ye have heard of my conversation
in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God and wasted it, and profited in the Jews'
religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more
exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me by
His grace to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among
the heathen. Immediately, immediately, I conferred
not with flesh and blood." We'll stop there. Let us pray. O God,
our Heavenly Father, how we thank You for this blessed portion
of Your Word. Lord, we often hear such foolish
things walk in the streets of this world. Lord, but we have
a more sure word of prophecy that you have given unto us.
Lord, thank you for being gracious to a sinner like me, stopping
me in my mad rush to hell and revealing Christ in me, the only
hope of glory. Father, I pray that you would
do for others here what you have done for me. Father, I pray that
as Brother Greg stands up here to preach the gospel to us, that
you would enable him, enable him to speak from the heart,
enable him to share what he has experienced, what he has seen,
what you have done for him, Lord. Would you do that for us? Would
you cause your name to be lifted up and exalted this night? Don't
let us leave this place looking to Greg, but looking to Christ.
Father, forgive us of our many sins and cause us to live our
lives in a way that would honor you and bring glory to thy name.
Amen. Let's stand together again and
sing hymn number 225 from the hardback, 225. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Come unto me and rest. Lay down, thou weary one, Lay
down thy head upon my breast. I came to Jesus as I was weary
and worn and sad. I found in Him a resting place
and He has made me glad. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
Behold, I freely give. The living water, thirsty one,
Stoop down and drink and live. I came to Jesus, and I drank
of that life-giving stream. My thirst was quenched, my soul
revived, and now I live in Him. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
I am this dark world's light. Look unto me, thy morn shall
rise, and all thy day be bright. I looked to Jesus and I found
in him my star, my sun. And in that light of life I'll
walk till traveling days are done. Please be seated. Thank you, Cody. Cody and Dennis are going to
be preaching over in Sarasota next Sunday. I think most of
you all know that. Pray for them, and I hope some
of you will be able to go over and encourage them. I'm so thankful
for these young men. I really am. That was a real blessing. God's word makes it clear that
there are but two kinds of people in the world. There are those
that he calls just and those that he calls unjust. Paul said in Romans chapter one,
he said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to
the Greek." And then he goes on to say, the just, the just
shall live by faith. The just man lives only by faith. We're going to be in Habakkuk
chapter 1 if you want to try to find your way there. It's
one of those little Old Testament prophets. To be just before God, to be
justified, to be declared innocent before God, without sin before
God, clear of all charges of the law, He must make it to be
so. He must make us to differ. What's
the difference between the just and the unjust? The grace of
God, the sovereign will and purpose of God who separates some to
be just and leaves others unjust. Paul said in Galatians chapter
2 verse 16, a man is not justified by the works of the law, but
by the faith of Jesus Christ. by the faith of Jesus Christ. If we're going to be just before
God, it will be by the faith of Jesus Christ. You've got your
finger there in Habakkuk. Turn with me to Romans chapter
1, because I didn't quote that verse in its entirety,
and I want you to see something here. In Romans chapter 3, Paul
says that we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus. So if we're going to be just
before God and not unjust, it'll be by God's free and sovereign
will to choose us and to place us in Christ and to count the
faith of Christ as the hope of our justification, to count the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ as the covering for our sin.
You have your Bibles open in Romans chapter one, look at verse
17, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. In the gospel,
the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, from faith
to faith. Not from faith, for faith. That's what most folks think.
Most folks think it's from the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus
Christ, but it is for your faith. It's the reward, the righteousness
of God, the salvation of your soul is for your faith. God says it's from faith to faith. Faith we know is the gift of
God. Faith is that which receives the truth of the gospel. It's
not the cause of our salvation, it is in fact the result of our
salvation. And he goes on to say, for the
just, you see that? For the just, for as it is written,
as it is written, the just shall live by faith. Now the reason
I wanted you to go to Habakkuk is because that's where Paul
is quoting from when he says, for as it is written. It's written in Habakkuk chapter
two at verse four, behold, his soul, which is lifted up is not
upright in him, but, but, but the just, those who are justified
before God, their life, their whole life will be by faith. It'll be by faith. And just as
the just live by faith, the unjust live by sight. Peter said in 1 Peter chapter
3 verse 8, for Christ also once suffered for sins, the just for
the unjust. So all that are justified in
Christ were once unjust. They were They were unjust before
God, they were without God. And Christ who suffered once
for sin, the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. So the justifier is the one who
must justify us before God. Job asked this question, how
then can a man be right with God? How can he be just, defied
before God? How can he be clean, who is born
of a woman? The moon and the stars are not
pure in his sight. How is an unjust man going to
be made just? Well, that's the answer that
we just read in Romans chapter one. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God, the gospel. the good news, the accomplished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's the only hope we have
for being justified before God. And he says, for therein, therein
in the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed. Men by nature
who is ignorant of God's righteousness go about to try to establish
their own righteousness. But he says in the gospel, the
righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. For as it is written, the just
shall live by faith. Paul goes on in Hebrews to say,
without faith, it is impossible to please God. For they that
cometh to him must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder
of them who diligently seek him. God's pleased with faith because
it's what he puts in the new man. It's the life of the Spirit
of God. Faith is as much the life of
the new man as breathing is for the old man. It's the life of
God that he breathes into the new man and enables him to believe. We walk not by sight. but by
faith. The unjust walks by sight. The
unjust man cannot see that the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
has been placed on the mercy seat. He can't see it. He might be able to see some
of the historical events that took place 2,000 years ago, and
he concedes to those things being true and believes that because
he holds to that historical event, that therefore he's a believer. He's justified before God. But
the just by faith, you know, the children of Israel, when
they were in their houses on that Passover night, They couldn't
see the blood. You think any of them went out
to check and make sure there was blood on their doors before
they, no, once they got in the house and locked the door, they
couldn't see the blood. You can't see it by the natural
eyes. You can only see it through the
eyes of faith. And that blood has been placed
on the mercy seat. A mercy seat in a tabernacle
that was not made with hands, but one that's in the heavenlies.
Faith is the only thing that can see that. We're not walking
by sight. We're walking by faith. We look at ourselves, we can't
see through the natural eyes our righteousness. We look at
ourselves, we see nothing but unrighteousness, and yet faith
believes that we have a righteous Savior who's seated in the heavenlies,
who presents himself on our behalf. We know that when any man sins,
we have the righteous one, the Lord Jesus Christ. The eyes of
faith see him seated at the right hand of the majesty on high,
ever living to make intercession for us, presenting his righteous.
We can't see it. We can't see it in ourselves.
But faith believes it. The unjust, in order to be assured
of his salvation, because he has no faith, has to look for
some evidence of righteousness in his own life. And so he pretends
to be something that he's not. And he competes with other religious
people to see who's more righteous than the other. We're not looking
for righteousness with the natural eye. The faith, the just, the
unjust live by sight. The just live by faith. We can't see the hand of God
in the providence of things. We can't. We don't know what
God's doing. He said, I'm not gonna let you
see my face. I'm gonna let you see my backside. We don't know
where the Lord's gonna take us. We just don't know. But faith,
faith lives on Christ and knows that he can do nothing but that
which is good for his people. Faith knows that He is working
all things together for good, for them that love Him, those
that are called according to His purpose. Faith believes that. Faith believes that He hath done
whatsoever He wills, that what He does is right and good, and
it's for the salvation of His people and for the glory of Christ.
Faith believes that. When, but sight, those that the
unjust are like, how many oftentimes were like Jacob? You remember when his sons came
back and they left Simeon back in Egypt because Joseph demanded
that Benjamin come. And so Joseph held Simeon until
they brought Benjamin back. And when they got back to Jacob,
Jacob said, I'm not sending Benjamin. He said, here's what Jacob said.
He said, I've lost Joseph, I've lost Simeon, and all this is
against me. Why? Why would he say such a
thing? Because he was looking at his circumstances through
the eyes of the natural man. He didn't know that those things
which he thought were against him were actually, in fact, working
together for him. For him. Isn't that the way it
is for us? Oh, Lord, I believe. Help thou
mine unbelief. Oh, that father who brought his
son to the apostles and the disciples and they couldn't heal him and
he brought him to Christ and he said, Lord, if you can do
anything, please help me. Please help us. That's what he
said. If thou canst do anything, please help us. And what'd the
Lord say? If thou canst believe, All things
are possible to him that believe it. And immediately the father
cried with tears. The scripture says, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Your old man's never believed
anything from God. And the new man believes everything.
He just does. The just shall live by faith. When is it that faith is necessary? And when is it that we live on
faith? I'll tell you when. When all
other options have been put away. When we've got, how many times
you heard somebody say, Well, you know, there's nothing we
can do now but pray. We've done it. Well, if you haven't prayed
yet, then you haven't shown any faith. You know, we do everything
that we're capable of doing in the power of our own flesh. And
when we come to the end of ourselves, when we come to the end of ourselves,
we have no other options. You won't believe the gospel
unless you have no other options. And you won't trust God. You
won't trust God for your circumstances. until you run out of options.
That's the only time faith is real. Faith is only real when
we can't do anything else. Habakkuk. Behold, verse four, This is the
verse that Paul was quoting. It's also quoted in Galatians
chapter 3 and in Hebrews chapter 10, four times this verse. The
just, those who are justified by God, those who are justified
before God by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, their
life, their spiritual life, their life is by faith. For the just shall live by faith.
Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him, but
the just shall live by faith. His soul which is lifted up is
not right in him. I've got a man who often lifts
up his head in me. It's not right in me. He's proud,
he's self-righteous, he's unbelieving. He's just not right. I've got
another man who lives off the bread of life, believes God,
and has real faith, real faith. Go back with me to Habakkuk chapter
1. I want you to see something here.
The man who's lifted up thinks too highly of himself. The man
that's lifted up is self-righteous. The man that's lifted up is proud. The man who's lifted up can't
be corrected. Only the new man can live by
faith. Look what the prophet says in
Habakkuk chapter one, the burden which Habakkuk the prophet did
see Oh, and this gospel is a burden because of these two natures
that we have. Oh, Lord, how long shall I cry,
and thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto thee of violence,
and thou wilt not save. Does this not sound like what
the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 7 when he said, when
I would do good? Evil is ever present with me.
Matter of fact, go read on. Why dost thou show me iniquity,
and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are
become me, and there are that rise up strife and contention. Lord, I'm a contradiction to
myself. I'm always in conflict. My worst
enemy is right inside of me. Therefore, the law is slacked,
and judgment doth never go forth, for the wicked doth compass about
the righteous, therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. There's a wicked man in me, that
which I would, I do not, and that which I would not, that
I do. And it's just, he's can pass
me about all the time. Look at verse five. Behold ye
among the heathen and regard and wonder marvelously for I
will work a work in your days which you shall not, which you
will not believe though it be told you for lo I raise up the
Chaldeans. Now I looked up that word Chaldeans.
It means clog breakers. I guess they were dirt farmers.
I don't know. Where'd your old man come from?
Where's he going back to? Is this not the enemy that we
face? Is this not the cry of the believer's heart when he
bewails his condition with his old man who's ever so present,
this civil war that goes on inside of him? Look at verse 12 of chapter 1. Art thou not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, mine Holy One? Lord, the only hope I have is
that you've established a covenant of grace from before time ever
began, and that you change not, and that you're from everlasting
to everlasting. That's the only hope I've got. If my salvation
is determined by anything in my old man, I'm in trouble. The fact that you are from everlasting,
the fact that you change not, therefore, we shall not die. Oh Lord, thou hast ordained them
for judgment, and oh mighty God, thou hast established them for
correction. What's that old man do? Wayne,
what'd you tell me tonight? He drove you to church, didn't
he? He got you here tonight. The older shall serve the younger. Jacob, Jacob. He's brought to Christ by old
Esau, isn't he? And God's meant it to be that
way. He's established the Chaldean nation in your flesh for judgment
and for correction. That old man is what causes you
to recognize your need for grace and your love for Christ. He's
the presence of that old man. That's sinful. It's what causes
you to loathe yourself. to conclude that you're vile,
that all your comeliness is turned into corruption, and that the
only beauty and hope of salvation can be found in Christ. That's
who He is. And God says, I've meant it this
way for judgment and for correction. You're not going to die. You're
not going to die. Verse 13, thou art of pure eyes
than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Lord, don't
look at my old man. Don't, don't reckon me to be
just before you by what you see in my old man. Your eyes are
too pure to look upon my evil and the iniquity of my flesh.
Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously and holdeth
thy tongue when the wicked devour the man that is more righteous
than he? Lord, I feel like sometimes my sin is ever before me. I feel
like my new man is being devoured by my old man. Lord, how long are you going
to let this go on? and make us men as the fishes
of the sea and as the creeping things that have no ruler over
them. I've got a beast within me. And he's just, he's hard
to be controlled. Lord, you're gonna have to do
something about it. They take up all them with the
angle. They catch them in their net and gather them in their
drag. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. Oh, that old man,
he schemes, he figures out ways to gratify himself and pleasure
himself. And he's glad, he takes pleasure
in sin for a season. Therefore they sacrifice unto
their nets and burn incense unto their drag, because by them their
portion is fat and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore
empty their net and not spare continually to slay the nations?
Lord, don't let my old man win this battle. The flesh wars against
the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. Lord, you've got to. You've got to defeat him. And
so look at the next verse. I love these next couple of verses.
I will stand upon my watch. That's all I can do, is come
to the watchtower. What is the watchtower? It's
the place where we view and see the enemy and we see the deliverance
of God. And so I'll stand upon my watch. I'll come and I'll hear about
the gospel of thy free grace in the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I'll rejoice in what you've
done in giving me a new heart. I will stand upon my watch and
set me up upon the tower and will watch to see what he will
say. Now in my Bible, there's a little
marginal reference to that little word unto, and it says in. The word unto there would be
better translated in. Yes, he does speak unto us, but
I need for him to speak in me. When it pleased God, Cody, who
separated me from my mother's womb and revealed himself, where? In me. In me. I need you to do an effectual
work of grace in my heart. I don't want to just hear something
with the hearing of the ear. I want to know that you're speaking
to me. I'll go to the watchtower. Lord,
would you speak effectually to my heart? Would you reveal yourself
to me? I'm the sinner in need of grace. I'm the one who's got this battle
going on with the Chaldeans. I need some help. Lord, I'm the
one that's got the unbelief in the old man. I'll go to the watchtower
and I'll listen to see. Don't you love it? I'm gonna
listen to see what the Lord's gonna say in me. Lord, speak
to my heart. Speak to me. Don't just teach
me some lessons. Speak effectually to my heart. Comfort me, encourage me. Let
me know that I have a Savior. Let me know that this covenant
that you established before time began, Lord, we know that thou
art from everlasting. Everlasting to everlasting. Let me find in Christ His faith
and give to me faith so that I can receive this gospel because
I'm the sinner. Help me to believe that Christ
came to save sinners of whom I am chief. Nobody's got more
of a struggle with sin than I do. And every believer says that
about themselves. Every believer says that about
themselves. Every believer believes themselves to be in need of grace
more than anyone else. That's why believers are not
pretentious. That's why they're not judgmental. That's why they
don't go around acting pious and self-righteous. Because they're
sinners. And they're crying for mercy.
Lord, I'll go to the watchtower. That's all I know to do. Why? Because faith comes by hearing,
and hearing comes by the Word of God, and the just can only
live by faith. By faith. It's the only life
they have. Whatever life they had that wasn't
of faith was just a pretense. That's all it was. Everything
we do in order to try to save ourselves outside of faith just
condemns us more. Everything we do to try to fix
our problems outside of trusting God only makes things worse. The just shall live by faith. I will stand upon my watch. I'll
be still and know that thou art God. Lord, open my ears, open
my eyes. I will see what he will say in
me. And what I shall answer when
I am reproved. Lord, I need to be reproved,
but I need to be exhorted too. And you can't have one without
the other. Exhortation, encouragement in Christ comes from the old
man being reproved, being exposed. This is not We're not just going around trying
to build people up, make them, no, the truth of grace can only
be seen in light of our sinfulness. And the Lord answered me. And
he always does. He always answers. The Lord answered
me. and said, write the vision, make
it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth it. Now there's two men that are
gonna run. Your old man's gonna run from it, your new man's gonna
run to it. This is a saver of life and a
saver of death. It's gonna slay that old man
and give life to the new man. What is the vision? The vision's
the gospel. Job put it like this. He said, oh, that my words were
now written and that they were printed in a book. Oh, that I
had an iron pen that I might write them in stone. Well, Job, that hope was fulfilled
because that's exactly what we have. David put it like this
in Psalm 45. He says, my heart is indicting
a good manner, a good matter. For I speak of things that I
have made touching the king. My pen, my pen is the pen of
a ready writer. I'm gonna write the things down.
Right there, that's what the Lord's saying to Habakkuk. Write
the vision. Make it plain. Make it plain. The gospel is so plain. It's
so clear. It's so simple. Christ is all. Salvation is of the Lord. God has to do it from A to Z. He has to choose a people according
to His sovereign will and purpose. He has to write the names of
those people in the Lamb's Book of Life. He has to be the one
who offers up his only son as a sacrifice for the sins of those
that he chose. He's got to be the one to give
to his son, the bride. His son has to pay the dowry
price in order to purchase that bride to himself. That price
is nothing less than the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In order for a sinner to be saved,
the Spirit of God must come. He must give him faith. He must
open the eyes of his understanding. He must enable him to hear the
gospel. He must cause him to come. And when he does, he causes him
to see himself as a sinner. And he must keep him. He must
keep him from falling and present him faultless before the throne
of God with much joy. Or if that sinner can fall away,
he will fall away. Salvations of the Lord. It's
all of God. And it's all through the righteousness
and the justice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Write it. Make it plain. My children are struggling with
the Chaldeans, but they're not going to die. They're not going
to die. He's not going to be He's gonna go back to the dust.
He's gonna go back to the place where he came from. I'm gonna
give you faith. And you're gonna live by faith. You're gonna live by faith. That
old man that lifts himself up, he's not right with God. And
he never will be. And he can't be. The new man. As he is, as Christ is, so are
we. Created in Christ Jesus, all
things become new. Look at verse three. Here's your
encouragement, child of God. For the vision, the gospel, is
yet for an appointed time But at the end, it shall speak. It shall speak and not lie. No lies of the truth. This gospel
can't be watered down. It can't be changed. It can't
be compromised. It will not lie. Though it tarry,
though you feel sometimes The agony of waiting on the Lord
and the struggle with your old man? Wait for it. Wait for it. This is the promise
of God. God cannot lie. This is Him speaking
to His children, those who are struggling with the Chaldeans. Though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come. It will surely come. How many
times does God have to say that? Now what does faith do? Faith
believes that. In spite of everything else that
it sees through its natural eyes, faith believes God. Abraham believed
God. He did not waver. He believed
that God was able to perform that which he had promised. I
know you're old. You see, when that man who brought
his son to the Lord cried, I believe, help thou mine unbelief, that's
every child of God. Lord, my new man believes. He
believes. He believes with all of his heart.
Believes the gospel. But the old man doesn't believe.
And I'm conflicted. Verse four, but his soul which
is lifted up is not upright in him. That old man's not right. And he never will be. But the
just man, he's gonna live by faith. He's gonna live by faith. Everything's gonna be by faith.
What is faith? when you've got nothing else,
no place else to go, nothing else to hold on to. Faith believes
God. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
three. I mentioned that this passage
from Habakkuk is quoted three times in the New
Testament Look at Galatians 3. Verse 10, for as many as are
of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written,
cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. If you're gonna live by
the law, you gotta be perfect. I mean perfect. Not just pretending
to keep the law. You gotta be perfect in God's
eyes. There's only one man that ever did that. For that no man
is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident.
It is absolutely clearly evident that you can't be justified in
the sight of God by keeping the law. You can't keep the law. For the just shall live by faith,
and the law is not a faith. The law is not a faith. Our sanctification, which is
what I was trying to speak to you as believers from Habakkuk,
is by faith. Our justification before God
is by faith. It's not by the law. Our perseverance, Hebrews chapter
10. Turn with me there. Hebrews chapter 10. Oh, child of God. If you're not a child of God,
I hope, I pray, You say, well, I don't have faith to come. Come for faith. But come. Ask God for faith. Don't come
with your faith and try to impress God with how much you believe.
Come for faith. Verse 35 of Hebrews chapter 10.
Cast not away therefore your confidence. Where's your confidence? I'm
persuaded. Here's my confidence. I'm persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him
against that day. My confidence is in Christ. My
confidence is not in my ability. My confidence is not in my law
keeping. My confidence through faith is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my confidence. For this confidence has a great
recompense of reward. What is the recompense of the
reward? That the old man is going to go back to the land of the
Chaldeans. He's going to go back to the
dirt from whence he came. and he's going to be made new. And when he's made new, he's
not going to be anything like he was. He's going to be perfect. He's going to look just like
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to see him as he
is and be made like him. That's the recompense of reward.
For you have need of patience, that after you have done the
will of God, you might receive the promise. Faith just believes
the promise. It believes the promise. For
yet a little while, and he that shall come will come and will
not tarry. Does that sound like Habakkuk
chapter two? Wait for it. Wait for it, child
of God. It'll come. He's coming. He will
not tarry. Now, verse 38. The just shall live. by faith. The just. There's two people in the world.
There's the just and there's the unjust. God makes the just
to differ from the unjust. The just live by faith. The unjust
live by sight. There's two people in you. Your old man still walking by
sight. And that's your problem, isn't
it? And your new man? He's living by faith, waiting,
believing. The just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure
in him. You go back, just means that
you're pretending to have faith when you really weren't. When
God gives faith, Faith doesn't go back. It just doesn't. What the Lord starts, he finishes.
The good work that he began in you, he will complete it. What's
the good work? It's faith. But we are not of
them who draw back under perdition, but of them that believe to the
saving of our souls. The just shall live by faith. from faith to faith. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we ask that you would bless your word
to our hearts, that you would speak effectually in us. that you would comfort us in
knowing that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ,
the righteous one. Comfort us in knowing, Lord,
that this struggle that we have with our old man is the struggle
that every child of God has had, and you have made it to be so
for judgment and for correction. We ask, Lord, that you would
complete the work that thou hast begun. Keep us looking to Christ,
who is our life. For it's in his name we pray.
Amen. Number 64 in the Sopect Hymnal. Let's stand together. you Faith is the gift of grace alone. My God, how can it be that you
should choose in saving love to give that gift to me? A fallen, guilty sinner, I deserve
eternal wrath. Helpless, I would not come to
Christ, could not escape my death. Great God, you sought this sinner
out. You called and now I live. You gently forced me to your
Son and caused me to believe. A sinner saved by sovereign grace. My praise I cannot Oh, hail sovereign,
free, unchanging grace, salvations of the Lord. Yeah, come on. Come on, let's go.