May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
epistle of Paul to the Galatians and chapter 3 and we'll read
the last clause in verse 11. The epistle of Paul to the Galatians
chapter 3 and reading the last clause in verse 11. The just shall live by faith. It is a great blessing if all
of us come within this text to know that we are amongst the
just and that we are living by faith. It's a great blessing
to be granted true living faith. The Apostle, when he wrote to
the Hebrews, gave a definition of what faith is. And the first
verse in the 11th chapter tells us, now faith is the substance
or the ground or confidence of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. And it really means that the
Lord enables us to believe the great truths of the gospel. and therefore to recognise that
God has given us faith, living faith, to believe in the Word
of God and to believe what it says and how it speaks to us. What a blessing it is if we have
the evidence that we do possess this great and wonderful gift
of faith. It is a gift, it's not something
that you and I produce ourselves and the Apostle again tells us
this in the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians in the second chapter
and the eighth verse I hope it's a familiar verse to you but it
tells us this for by grace are you saved through faith and that
not of yourselves it is the gift of God it's the only place in
the Word of God where it speaks specifically about it being a
gift but it is and it's a wonderful favour to receive this important
gift. Without it we will never enter
into heaven and how we therefore need to receive this wonderful
gift of faith and as we mentioned in prayer we're told without
faith it is impossible to please God that's not something which
is just a theoretical statement it is a great and glorious truth
and faith is mentioned so much in the Word of God we might think
well it's probably only mentioned really in the New Testament when
it's not of course it is mentioned in the Old Testament and we know
the wonderful illustration of faith in the Old Testament was
God's servant Abraham we read about it a little in this chapter
about Abraham and we were told Abraham believed God and it was
accounted to him for righteousness and Abraham believed God in that
which naturally appeared to be a complete impossibility so we
should never think that there are impossibilities with God
because God is able to do far more exceeding abundantly than
we can ask or even think. We have a great God. We have
an almighty God. And it's a blessing if we have
some understanding of the greatness and the power of God that exceeds
anything that you and I can visionize naturally. Our God reigns. He reigns eternally. He always
was and is and always will be. This is the God, by the grace
of God, we worship. What a blessing it is if we worship
this great and wonderful God tonight. Well, Paul realised
the great truth of his statement. The just shall live by faith. And of course, we're not just
in and of ourselves. We are unjust because we are
sinners of the earth. and we need to receive this blessing
of justification and the Lord does grant it to us as he blesses
us but with the wonderful favour of his righteousness now we have
to learn that we are by nature unrighteous that means there's
nothing in ourselves which commends us to God because what we are
are sinners of the earth and it's a good thing when the Holy
Spirit shows us we're not little sinners but that we're great
sinners that we're black sinners that we're vile sinners and therefore
we need a great salvation and we have no righteousness of ourselves
indeed as the Word of God tells us all our righteousness is as
filthy rags not worth anything but my friends the righteousness
of christ is what we all need indeed what we all must have
because unless we possess that we will not be just we will not
be justified and we will never reach glory at last and so what
a blessing if you and i have a concern about these things
you see the Apostle addressed the Galatians as we commence
our reading tonight by saying O foolish Galatians who hath
bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth before whose
eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you
well it's not only the Galatians who were foolish my friends by
nature we are foolish we've been bewitched the devil has attacked
us he's deceived us never forget the devil's aim is to deceive
that's his great aim to deceive us in the things of God and to
tell us the Bible is not true to tell us that we shall never
receive God's righteousness because we're so bad ourselves well the
Lord Jesus came to seek and to save that which was lost he came
to seek the worst of sinners and we can tell the devil that
you see if we are able to do just that it really is resisting
the devil and in that position he flees away because he is a
beaten he's a vanquished foe the Blessed Saviour vanquished
him when he gave his life upon that cross at Calvary. And therefore
this verse tells us, before whose eyes Jesus Christ has been evidently
set forth, crucified among you. Well, the Lord Jesus has been
set forth before us all. None of us will be able to stand
before that judgment seat of Christ and say, well, I was never
told. I was never warned about these
things. Everyone here has been warned
about this great and solemn truth. It's been evidently set before
us, the great need to know that Jesus Christ has indeed been
crucified for us. In the previous chapter, towards
the end of it, In the 20th verse we read the Apostle telling us,
I am crucified with Christ. That means he was in union with
Christ. That means he was privileged
to be aligned with him in his sufferings. Nevertheless, I live,
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now
live the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved
me and gave himself for me.' Just think on that. That is an
amazing statement. Who loved me and gave himself
for me. The Apostle Paul had a humble
confidence of it because he had testified of the grace of God
because he knew that he had received the grace of God. The Lord had
come to him on that Damascus road and given him faith to believe
it was the Lord Jesus Christ who was indeed speaking to him
and so he was able to come and declare who loved me and gave
himself for me. Now it's a big question Would
be good tonight, wouldn't it? If asked this, has God loved
us? Has Jesus given himself for us? Can we humbly say, by personal
experience, yes. By the grace of God, I am what
I am. What reason there is to praise
God? we're able to make such a statement
especially as we realize how utterly unworthy we are of the
Lord taking any notice of us there's nothing good was there
all we can bring before our God is failure failure what a mercy
it is that we have such a kind and gracious God and so to realize
that we have been made righteous to realize the Lord Jesus Christ
has indeed died for us and he's given to us an exchange for our
sin his righteousness it is an amazing truth that the Lord Jesus
Christ has had imputed placed upon him our sin and in exchange
he has imputed to us, he's given to us his righteousness an exchange
which to the natural mind is just unbelievable but it's through
the grace of God what a mercy tonight if we have the evidence
that we are the possessors of this great and glorious righteousness
of the Saviour. You see no pardoned sinner comes
to glory without this great blessing of the Lord's righteousness. It is indeed a robe given to
us to cover our nakedness. What a mercy then to have such
a great blessing and because of that we are made just. Very humbling, isn't it? Very
humbling to think that we, such bad people, are made just before
God. An infinite mercy. An infinite
blessing. And so, this statement then is
true. The just shall live by faith. There is no other way. That's
how we live. Believing the great and glorious
truth of God. This word, the just, that shall
live by faith, occurs four times in the Word of God. It occurs
in the Old Testament, which may be a surprise to you. It occurs
in the prophecy of Habakkuk, in the second chapter. And it's
interesting that this chapter starts with Habakkuk telling
us, I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and
will watch to see what he will say unto me and what I shall
answer when I am reproved I wonder if we're willing to stand where
Habakkuk stood and recognise the truth of such a statement
and the Lord answered me and said write the vision and make
it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth it For the
vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall
speak, and not lie or tarry. Wait for it, because it will
surely come. It will not tarry. In the things of God, sometimes
we need patience. The Lord tells us, your time
is always, but my time is not yet. And God has a perfect time. his timetable to do for that
which we and I cannot do for ourselves and so he then comes
and says it will surely come it will not tarry what we need
therefore is faith to believe and that's just what the Lord
tells Habakkuk behold his soul which is lifted up is not upright
in him but the just shall live by his faith. So you want to
know that we're not lifted up with our own pride, we're not
lifted up with our own imaginations, we're not lifted up with our
own little plans. You see we may think that we
have a good plan, we may think we have a plan which will bring
honour and glory to God. But the important thing is not
to have our own plan, but to submit ourselves to God's plan. Because God's plan is perfect. And God's plan will be for our
best. And more importantly, God's plan
will bring honour and glory to Himself. Whereas our plan will
bring honour and glory, at least in part, to ourselves. God is
a jealous God. God is a holy God. God will not
release his glory. He will have his glory. Therefore, you and I have to
come as we are, as undone sinners, believing the Lord will look
upon us, believing the Lord will come and bless us, believing
the Lord will come and grant us this wonderful favour of being
clothed with His righteousness the just shall live by faith
well it's a word isn't it in Habakkuk some of these wonderful
statements are tucked away as it were in the Word of God and
we need to read the Bible right through don't pick and choose
about parts of it and think well I'm not going to read that and
I'm going to skip over that part you know some people's Bible
consists of the New Testament and the Psalms well of course
they miss out great and glorious soul-strengthening truths in
the Old Testament don't be tempted by that read the whole of the
Old Testament read the whole of the New Testament and as I
often say read it consecutively through you'll find it beneficial
you may not find it easy the things we've got are not easy
but it's really worthwhile doing and then continue continue reading,
read it again and again never give up reading the Bible don't
skip reading it and don't skip reading a reasonable amount put
the Bible first on your list don't put it last because these
are the important things these are the things concern our eternal
soul and so the Apostle says the just shall live by faith
well tonight I wonder whether we can look into our hearts therefore
and find the evidence of it we read in the Corinthians this
great truth by faith and not by sight if we walk by sight
if everything was very easy for us it wouldn't bring glory to
God but God tests us to walk by faith and in that walking
by faith the result brings glory to God that is the whole purpose
of our life on this earth it's not to live our life as we please
It's not a go about doing what we want to do. We should be subservient
to the great and glorious will of our God and desire to be found
serving him every day in our life and concerned that our lives
bring forth honour and glory to our God. Faith is a wonderful
gift. Faith laughs at impossibilities
and says it shall be done. I dare say most of you have heard
of a man who lived in the 19th century called George Muller.
He was a wonderfully blessed man and wonderfully able to set
up a lot of schools for poor children. He did very much good
in his life. He lived, an old man, 93 years
of age, he lived on one occasion I think when he was nearing 80
years of age, he was going across the Atlantic, and he came to
a place, the ship came to a place off Newfoundland, and it was
very foggy. So foggy, the captain just didn't
know what was ahead of him. It didn't have things like radar
in those days. And he was on the bridge for well over 20 hours
and never bunched from it. And he felt a tap on his shoulder. he turned around and it was George
Muller and it was Wednesday and George Muller said to him, sir
I need to be in Quebec by Saturday afternoon because I have a preaching
engagement to take and the captain said well I can't do anything
about that that's very unlikely and George Muller said well can
we go down to the chart room and pray so the captain said
yes we're happy to do that so they went down to the chart room
and George Muller prayed a very simple prayer but a prayer of
true wonderful faith and he asked the Lord that if it was his will
the fog might lift in the next five minutes the captain said
that the prayer was so simple it was a prayer like a child
would make a child of a Eight or nine. It was simple faith
in God. And when he finished his simple
prayer, the captain said, well, now I'll pray. And George Mulder
said, no, I don't think you should, because you won't believe that
the Lord would do such a thing, and therefore would be in vain.
And he said, in any event, there's no need for it, because you'll
find the fog's lifted. And the captain opened the door,
and the fog had lifted. and George Muller was able to
proceed and get to Quebec in time to take his engagement. And he said he'd had hundreds
and thousands of times when God had answered his prayer. He said
he was privileged to come into the presence of the King every
day and to seek for his guidance and for his blessings. Well,
some of you may have read the life of George Muller. It's a
very outstanding account. But it's good to realize that
here was a man, we might say in our age, blessed with such
faith. There was a need. He believed
God had given him that appointment to preach the gospel in Quebec.
And he believed God would therefore arise and appear for him. and when he'd come to the captain
and the captain said I don't think it's possible he'd say
well I think I better try and find another way his confidence
was great in his God well it's good for us today that you and
I may have like precious faith so this word is true the just
shall live by faith it is a wonderful blessing to have our prayers
answered, have natural prayers answered, and perhaps some of
you young children have had your prayers answered. Perhaps it's
been at school and God has answered prayers that you may have put
out for one thing or another. Those who are older, perhaps
at work, perhaps at home, God has heard an answered prayer,
perhaps in quite a remarkable way. Perhaps not in the way that
we anticipated. You see, God is able to do that
which you and I are not able to do. The prayer of faith, my friends,
is a wonderful blessing. And what a favour it is if you
and I are blessed with this prayer of faith continually. We all
need it, don't we? How often perhaps our prayers
are not in faith. The Bible tells us this, that
which is not of faith is sin. That's a sad consideration, isn't
it? You might think we prayed many
times and not had answers to our prayers. Is it because we
have not prayed in faith? Is it because we have not prayed
seeking God's will? That is a vital ingredient in
prayer, not to dictate to God. We live in an age when many people
today think they can tell God what to do. My friends, God tells
us what to do. We don't tell God what to do.
God is high and lifted up. And what a favour to have faith
to believe that He will do that for us which we need. He will
answer our prayers when they're needed. not in accordance with
our plan, but in accordance with His plan. So what a mercy it
is to be able to come and bow down before our great and gracious
God. The Apostle Paul reminds us of
the same statement when he wrote his epistle to the Romans. And in the 17th verse of the
first chapter, he tells us for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written the just
shall live by faith and of course he is referring there back to
the Old Testament and back to that word that we already mentioned
in Habakkuk the just shall live by faith and he tells us in this
chapter something of his He says, I am a debtor, both to the Greeks
and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the unwise. So
as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you that
are at Rome also, for I am persuaded, for I am not ashamed, rather,
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth. Well do we possess faith tonight
to believe this great and wonderful truth that it is the gospel is
the power of God under salvation to everyone that believe it and
to have the evidence that God has given us that faith to believe
in the truth of the gospel and the truth of the gospel is just
really simply this the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to
save sinners and as the Apostle Paul tells us of whom I am chief
well how do we feel tonight? how do we stand before God? do
we stand before Him as that situation, as that condition believing that
we are the greatest sinner the Apostle Paul says less than the
least of all saints and are we relying on God's power in our
hearts? you see we do need power to believe
we haven't got any power ourselves many people think they believe
but they believe with their head they don't believe with their
heart there is a great difference as we may believe in our heart
it comes down through our mind the Lord gives us that grace
and he gives us that living power to believe it's a wonderful thing
to receive this gift of faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ there was that occasion in the Acts of the Apostles when
there was that person who thought he could purchase the gift of
God with money but the Apostle Peter said that he could not
he was needful that he should believe in his heart how important
it is that you and I blessed with that and then farther on
in that chapter the Apostle speaks to us about or through the Word
speaks to us about the occasion of that Jailer that Philippian
Jailer a man who we perhaps would think well surely that person
will never receive the grace of God but the time came when
the Lord would reveal Himself in that wonderful way when the
earthquake would come And the prison doors would be opened
and Paul and Silas would be in the prison. You may remember
the jailer sprang out and would have killed himself. But Paul
told him not to do so because they were all safely there in
the prison. And then that jailer came and
heard the gospel. And he said, what must I do to
be saved? And the words were, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. and he received
that faith to believe and the result of course was that he
and all his house were baptised that same night they put on Christ
they were blessed with living faith what a mercy it is then
to receive this living faith the just shall live by faith
every true believer comes the situation and indeed lives by
faith. And when the apostle wrote to
the Hebrews, the wonderful account there where he was able to describe
the glory of faith, the glory of the gift of God and the high
priesthood of Christ. And in the 10th chapter of the
epistle to the Hebrews coming down towards the end, He tells
us, verse 35, cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great
recompense of reward. Don't thrust away, don't throw
away what you believe God has given you. You may think, well
it's not very much. A little that a righteous man
hath is better than the treasures of many wicked. He goes on to tell us, for you
have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God,
you might receive the promise. Some people expect to receive
the promise before they've done the will of God. They put it
back the front. No, the word of God tells us, therefore you
have need of patience that after you have done the will of God
you might receive the promise perhaps you are waiting for a
promise and perhaps you haven't done the will of God well ponder
the truth of these things and remember you and I walk by faith
and not by sight and it is the just shall live by faith and
this one is one of the examples that we have God gives us this
faith in this way do his will that's a great question isn't
it? to do God's will and then he says for yet a little while
and he that shall come will come and will not tarry the Lord will
come in his way in his appointed way now the just shall live by
faith that's the great truth isn't it? but if any man draw
back my soul shall have no pleasure in him you see the word of God
is full of glorious statements it's also full of wonderful warnings
to us and we often forget or at least don't want to hear them
and pass by them and so this is very true the just shall live
by faith but if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure
in him that means drawing back from doing the will of God and
these words are followed of course by the 11th chapter in the Hebrews
where there's wonderful examples of those that did the will of
God were blessed with living faith they didn't know what the
outcome was going to be but they did the will of God and my friends
that's our blessed privilege today to do the will of God and
so these words are true that after you've done the will of
God you might receive the promise all those patriarchs they received
the promise didn't they? but they venture forward in faith
believing that that which God had told them would come to pass
and we read in this 11th chapter without faith it is impossible
to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is
and that he is a reward of them that diligently seek him the
truth is that if we pray without faith then our prayers are of
no use and no benefit and they are as I've already said sinful
in the sight of God and it is impossible to please God without
this faith it means therefore that we venture forward in faith
it's a good position to be in you're not relying on what you've
done you're not relying upon what you're going to say you're
relying upon your God the Apostle Paul tells us the Philippians
he says I can do all things how through Christ that strengthens
me that's a wonderful word of encouragement for you and me
today to remember this we can do all things it's a very comprehensive
statement through Christ that strengthens us And what will
the result be? The result will be this. The
Lord will have the honour and the glory. And you will be able
to testify that the Lord gave you that faith to believe. He gave you that faith to venture
forward. He gave you that faith believing
that what He had said would come to pass. And this word is very true. He
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. It's a great blessing,
isn't it, to be amongst those who diligently seek God, in private,
between your soul and God. It's not vaunted before all the
world, but it's that which you have sought before your God,
and you've diligently sought Him. My friends, He won't turn
you away. Those that seek shall find press
on, press on believing the great truth of God and this 10th chapter
just revert into that for yet a little while and he that shall
come will come and will not tarry now the just shall live by faith
but if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him
and the apostle then says but we are not of them who draw back
unto perdition but of them that believe to the saving of the
soul. It's not a question, my friends,
of drawing back, is it? You might say, well, how should
I think? I'll tell you how you should
think. Look at the blessed example of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Did He draw back? When faced with crucifixion,
did he draw back? he went forward he went forward
yes and he knew what he had to endure and as we trace out his
footsteps leaving that upper room with his disciples where
he so gloriously expounded the great truth of the gospel and
then he came to that garden of Gethsemane and his sweat as it
were, great drops of blood, being in an agony. An agony. You might think, I'm in an agony. Compare yourself with the Saviour.
That put things in a right perspective. And the Lord Jesus Christ knew
how difficult that position was that was before him. He prayed
unto his Father, if it be possible, let this cut pass from me nevertheless
not my will but thine be done now I know not what is before
any of us but perhaps there are difficulties before us perhaps
there are trials remember this example of our Savior as he said
nevertheless not my will but thine be done the Father's will
was that he should suffer. The Father's will was that he
should be crucified. But the Father's will was that
he should conquer. He should conquer. He would not
be overcome. He did overcome. He overcame
all the power of Satan, who brought everything upon him that he possibly
could. But he failed. And today, by
the grace of God, we are more than conquerors through Him. Yes, more than conquerors through
Him. The just shall live by faith. And if we go in the strength
of the Lord God, you see, we are going in His strength, not
our strength. And it's because the Lord has
justified us. And the apostle tells us, I will
go in the strength of the Lord God I want to make mention of
His righteousness even of His only and it's a glorious subject
to think the righteousness of Christ and the glorious gift
it is to such unworthy sinners well then remember these words
of the Apostle he speaks it three times he knows the truth of it
May you and I be blessed with the right understanding of it. Because the Abraham who was blessed,
he was set forth as that wonderful example of possessing this God-given
faith, you know, you can read it, but to actually enter into
it is rather different. And the Apostle tells us what
Abraham did. He staggered not. and the promise
of God through unbelief it was strong in faith giving glory
to God he staggered not no it was a great thing wasn't it and
being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also
to perform and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness
the Apostle says now it was not written for his sake alone that
it was imputed to him but for us also it'll be a great blessing
won't it if even tonight we can recognise that this account that
the case of Abraham is recorded for our benefit so it is not
written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him but for
us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe, if God
gives us that faith, to believe on him that raised up Jesus our
Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our offences and was raised
again for our justification. It's a glorious gospel, isn't
it? Do you rejoice in it tonight? Do you thank God for it? You
see it's complete, there's no loose ends, it's sealed and as
the Apostle goes on to say in the fifth chapter, therefore
being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. Peace with God is a great blessing
and here is the wonderful way that it's brought about justified
by faith. God gives us faith to believe
and in that believing he brings us peace in our heart through
our Lord Jesus Christ, through that wonderful and gracious and
glorious finished work of salvation by whom also we have access by
faith into this grace where we stand and rejoice in hope of
the glory of God. Well, that will be the result,
won't it? Hope in the glory of God. Hope
to see the great glory of God in eternity. Faith to believe
that unworthy as we are, the Lord has come and loved us from
eternity past with an everlasting love. So that one day by His
grace, by that justifying faith that He's given, we shall be
with our Saviour in glory forever and ever and so the Apostle commenced
this verse this 11th verse by telling us but that no man is
justified by the law in the sight of God is evident you see you
and I cannot keep the law of God if we could we would be justified
in our own strength but we failed terribly and continually And
therefore, we are not justified by the law in the sight of God.
We failed totally and completely. That's why this word is so glorious. For the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, where
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. And the
Lord Jesus bore the curse for us. The curse was the soul that
sinneth, it shall die. The Lord took that curse, took
it away from us, bore it for us, suffered in our place. He
bore the punishment. instead. Well tonight my friends
I hope we have cause to praise God for such a statement as this
and to have the evidence in our own hearts that God has given
us living faith to believe that we are amongst those who are
just who have received his glorious gift of righteousness and therefore
to be able to agree with this great statement the just shall
live by faith. Amen.