with the Lord's help I'd like
to draw your attention once more to that verse of scripture that
we were considering this morning Hebrews chapter 10 and the opening
clause of verse 38 where we read now the just shall live by faith
we looked this morning at the phrase as a whole we looked at
where this phrase appears elsewhere in scripture that it is there in Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse
4 and then it also appears in Romans chapter 1 verse 17 and
Galatians chapter 3 and verse 11 and each of these cases the
apostle Paul was using the phrase the just shall live by faith
in a different context first of all he was speaking to the
Romans that in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. And because the righteousness
of God is being revealed in the gospel, the just shall live by
faith. And then when he comes to speak
to the Galatians, the Galatians of course were a church that
were being plagued by those who were bringing in the view that
it was necessary for the law to be kept, for the Christian
was required to keep the law. but of course we've been delivered
from the law and as you turn to Galatians chapter 5 and verse
1 you see the position that the child of God is to take where
Paul says stand fast and therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke
of bondage. You see the Judaizers that came
into the church at Galatia, they said, well, faith is insufficient. The life that we live has to
be lived in accordance with the law. Yes, we're Christian believers,
but in order to become holy, in order to be sanctified we
have to keep the law of God and therefore we have to go back
to the Ten Commandments we have to go back to the Jewish ritual
we have to go back to the act of circumcision all these things
are necessary in order to be a holy Christian says the Apostle
Paul that's not so that is not so Christ is our life. And as Paul writes into the Galatians,
he's talking about the life of the Christian, the just shall
live. What a mercy it is that we live by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. The just shall live by faith.
And I referred this morning to Galatians 2 and verse 20 as to
what Paul says about the Christian life. He says, I am crucified
with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I. that Christ liveth
in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me." So everything to do with the Christian life is seated
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is as true today as it
was in the first century AD. Everything is in the Lord Jesus
Christ indeed. Paul says, and I'm sure you will
probably become a little tired of my referring to 1 Corinthians
1 and verse 30, where the apostle Paul says, but of him are ye
in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. That, according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Everything is in
Christ. And we've ended our reading, you'll recall, at the end of
chapter 11, but we could have gone on to read the first two
verses of Hebrews chapter 12, where we read that we're to run
the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith and again there you see that everything is in
the Lord Jesus Christ it is in the Lord Jesus Christ who is
the author of our faith because he wrote it in his incarnation
and in his redemption that he accomplished upon Calvary's cross
and he finishes it it is applied and it is finished in our hearts
and lives and we can turn over to the book of the revelation
where the apostle John sees the Lord Jesus Christ on when he's
there in exile on the Isle of Patmos. And he says to John in
verse 11 of that first chapter, I am Alpha and Omega, the first
and the last. Of course, you're aware that
Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek
alphabet. He's the first. Any interest in salvation that
we have any experience of salvation that we have it originates in
the mind of God it doesn't originate with us if it were left to us
we would never seek God if we were left to our own devices
we would be on that broad road that leads to a lost eternity
we would never seek the narrow path we would never seek that
path that leads to heaven No, it is the Lord Jesus Christ and
Almighty God says previously in verse 8, it is not actually
the Lord Jesus that is speaking in verse 8 of chapter 1 of the
Revelation. I am Alpha and Omega. the beginning
and the end, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and
which is to come, the Almighty." It's not the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking separately, it is the Triune God speaking as one, saying
that God is the Alpha and Omega, and the Lord Jesus then in verse
11 says, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last if we
have any interest in salvation if we have any interest in the
things of God it is because God has commenced that work in our
hearts and lives and then he says I am the first and the last
and again when we are brought safe to heaven when we are brought
safe into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ it's going
to be through that work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember how
the Lord Jesus Christ spoke to his disciples there in the 14th
chapter of the Gospel according to John. He says, I go to prepare
a place for you. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there ye may be also." Again, there is that
bringing forth of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he
is everything, that he is the beginning and the ending of our
salvation. Indeed the Hymnwriter puts it
like this, Grace, all the work shall crown through everlasting
days. It lays in heaven the topmost stone, and well deserves the
praise. So in Galatians, when the Apostle
Paul says the just shall live by faith, he is speaking about
the life of the Christian. Now, is our life by faith? Are we living and feeding upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. If we profess the faith of God's
elect, if we profess the Christian faith, are we resting solely
and wholly in the Lord Jesus Christ? Or are we endeavouring
to do our little bit? Are we endeavouring to add to
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ? I remember some short while ago
a lady knocked on the door and she wanted to speak to me about
religion and of course I said immediately to her well you are
a member of the Watchtower group and I said to her I hope you
don't mind my saying this but you look up in the face of the
Lord Jesus Christ and you say to him your sacrifice is not
sufficient and she was quite offended at what I said and I
tried to explain to her well you say that the sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ is insufficient because you say that in order
to be saved you have to be a member of the Watchtower Saints in order
to be saved you have to do good works you have to do this and
that in other words you have to add to the work of Christ
and then in the end you won't get to heaven according to your
religion you'll inhabit the new earth and even though she was
quite offended she had to admit that what I said was the truth
if we would go to heaven if we would be a partaker of that salvation
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ we must rely upon him wholly
and solely it is only in the Lord Jesus Christ the life that
I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God
who loved me and gave himself for me and then we took up not
only the word in Romans 1.17 and Galatians 3.11 but we also
looked a little at Habakkuk chapter 2 about the one who had been
reproved and in his being reproved he was brought to see that the
just shall live by his faith Then we went on to consider something
of the context of Paul's epistle to the Hebrews. I do accept the
Pauline authorship of Hebrews. There's too much internal evidence
to deny that Paul was not the writer. Too much to deny that
Paul was the writer, I should say. And then we noted that after
the setting forth of the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
Paul set out certain grounds of our acceptance. And because
we're justified by faith, we have boldness, verse 19, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. We have boldness
because the blood of Christ has been shed. The children of Israel
had boldness to borrow from the Egyptians and they had boldness
to leave that land in which they had been held captive for many
a long year they had boldness because of the blood of the Passover
the blood of the Passover had saved them from the death of
the firstborn in every household and they had been preserved until
that day of deliverance And the child of God, likewise, is preserved
by the blood of the Lamb, by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is saved from death. He is
saved from eternal death through the sacrifice that has been made
by the Lord Jesus Christ. He shed his precious blood. 1
John 1 and And verse 7, if we walk in the
light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another
and the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanseth us from all
sin. The blood has been shed and therefore
we have that boldness to enter into the holiest of all by that
blood that has been shed. and we are made partakers and
so there is that ground of acceptance the blood of Christ and then
the ground of acceptance is that new and living way that has been
wrought by the Lord Jesus and then we have that great high
priest made forever a priest after the order of Melchizedek
and so we can approach unto God and again the consequences of
drawing nigh to God are that we draw near we draw near James
I think it is that says draw near to God, draw nigh to God
and he will draw nigh unto you oh he draws near to us what a
mercy it is that God in Christ draws near to us when we are
brought low when we are brought to an end of ourselves the Lord
Jesus Christ draws near he drew near to one that was set down
from the roof of that house they brought this man sick of the
palsy born of four and they couldn't get near to him and so they went
upon the roof removed the roofing tiles and let him down to the
feet of the Lord Jesus the Lord Jesus drew near to him and he
said, son, thy sins be forgiven thee what a mercy if the Lord
Jesus Christ draws near to us and whispers his peace in our
hearts and he speaks to us, let us draw near then let us hold
fast the profession of our faith and we went from verse 23 to
verses 38 and 39 but if any man draw back my soul shall have
no pleasure in him there are those that do draw back but the
assurance that Paul gives the Hebrew Christians is that we
are not of them who draw back unto perdition we mentioned this
morning the parable of the sower how the seed fell into unprofitable
ground and there was growth in one place that growth died because
of lack of root and there was no water for that plant to grow
and the other that grew was choked by the thorns and the thistles
and the briars there are many who make a profession and we
spoke a little bit about the difference between profession
and possession this morning do we really possess the Lord Jesus? is he our saviour? or that we
might examine ourselves that we might examine our own hearts
Examine yourselves, the scriptures say, to see if you be in the
faith. But we are not of those who draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul. And then the third consequence
of having a ground of acceptance is, let us consider one another
to provoke and to love and to good works we didn't have time
this morning to consider that verse but we are to bear one
another's burdens says Paul to the Galatians and so fulfil the
law of Christ to esteem each above ourselves we are to walk
in humility broken hearts and humble walkers rights hearts
these are dear in Jesus' eyes tinkling sounds of disputation
naked knowledge all of them every soul that gains salvation must
and shall be born again or do we consider each other as a church
and congregation now it's not my business to interfere as a
visiting minister it's not my business to interfere in your
internal workings as a church but I can lay this rule before
you that we should consider each other we should esteem each other
in love and we should be always on the lookout for how we can
help each other I remember when I was at Bible College we used
to have what was called the Fellowship Meeting and we always used to
finish it by singing two verses of a hymn with these words and if our fellowship in Jesus
be so sweet what heights of rapture shall we know when round his
throne we meet he bids us build each other up and gathered into
one to our high callings glorious hope we hand in hand go on in
other words walking together in fellowship one with another
esteeming each other looking after each other and if we see
something wrong or we feel that there is something wrong in the
life of a brother or a sister Christian we should lovingly
go and speak to that person and express our concern and not criticise
but to say, but I will pray for you or shall we have a word of
prayer together to love one another and to bear one another's burdens
let us consider one another to provoke and to love and to good
works and the fourth consequence of having a ground of acceptance
is that which we are doing here this evening not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some apes but
exhorting one another and so much the more as ye see the day
approaching so then the Apostle Paul sets this ground, this foundation
and he goes on to say that in the trials and tribulations of
life as we live before a watching world as we live in the midst
of a crooked and perverse generation we need patience oh we do need
patience it is easy to become impatient not only
with our brethren but also with our companions in the world it
is so easy to become impatient with them but says the Apostle
Paul for ye need of patience that after ye have done the will
of God ye might receive the promise and what promise is that? the
promise of the return of the Lord Jesus for yet a little while
and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. Oh, the Lord
Jesus Christ will return again. Remember the words that were
spoken to the disciples in the book of Acts, Acts chapter And
verse 11, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken
up from you into heaven shall still come in like manner as
ye have seen him go. And again to the Thessalonians,
he speaks about the final day when the trumpet of God shall
sound. And he says, so shall we ever
be with the Lord. wherefore comforts one another
or exhorts one another with these words what other is that? a ministry of comforts that we
each have to each other bringing the balm of the covenants to
each other and exhorting each other and comforting each other
in this day and generation. And then the apostle quotes from
Habakkuk chapter 4, the just shall live by faith. Well there
are three things very quickly that we would like to consider
this evening. First of all the just. Who are
the just? This was Martin Luther's problem.
How could he be just? How could he stand before a holy
God? He looked in his own heart and
he found that there was that problem of sin. He saw the blackness
of his own heart. He saw the wickedness of his
own heart. And who has been called by God's
grace doesn't know the wickedness of his own heart. We live in
a day and an age when a gospel that is preached by many people,
by many so-called churches, is that they don't deal with sin. That's the problem. They don't
deal with the blackness of the hearts of their congregations. Oh, come in, they say. Come in,
you're welcome. We want to make you happy. We
want to make you have peace. but they forget the very basis
of peace is that we must know our state and our standing Job
complained that his stroke was bitter even
today is my complaint bitter, he says my stroke is heavier
than my groaning he said, oh that I knew where I might find
him that I might come even to his seat and the one who is burdened
with sin cries out in a similar manner, oh that I might find
him that I knew where I might find him and he goes on to say
I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments
but he says I cannot find him behold I go forward but he is
not there and backwards but I cannot perceive him on the left hand
where he doth work but I cannot behold him he hideth himself
on the right hand that I cannot see him but there is that promise
there is that knowledge given to the child of God the one who
has been quickened by the grace of God the one who has been quickened
and made alive but he knoweth the way that I take when he hath
tried me I shall come forth as gold, and all the people of God,
they come forth as gold. Their sin is dealt with, their
sin is washed away. Again, Micah says something similar,
Micah chapter 6 and verse 6, Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord, and bow myself before the High God shall I come before
him with burnt offerings? will the Lord be pleased with
thousands of rams? and then he receives the answer
he has shown thee, O man, what is good and what doth the Lord
require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly
with thy God what does Micah say? he says the Lord that we
are to do justly now what is it? how do we do justly? well
we look at ourselves we see our own state and standing we see
the corruptions of our hearts we see like the Apostle Paul
the good that I would I do not and the evil that I would not
that I do O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from
the body of this death he sees that we are brought to see the
justice of God that God would be just in banishing us from
his presence to do justly to see our state and standing before
God and we will never do so of our own selves we need the teaching
of the Holy Spirit of God he it is that comes into our hearts
he it is that quickens us and makes us alive he it is that
brings us to see our state and our standing before the law of
God but how can I do justly to love mercy? oh what a mercy it
is if we are brought to see mercy if we are brought to see the
mercy of God we see the justice of God in the death of Christ
The sins that I have committed, my sinful nature, the sinful
nature I inherited from my father Adam was transferred onto the
Lord Jesus Christ. He who knew no sin was made sin
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. My sinful acts
were laid upon Christ. All my iniquities on him were
laid. He nailed them all to the tree.
Jesus, the debt of my sinfully paid, he paid the ransom for
me. And the justice of God fell upon
the Lord Jesus Christ, the fires of God's justice fell upon him
for a multitude that no man can number, for the whole of his
election of grace, for the church, for Christ loved the church and
gave himself for it. What doth the Lord that require
of thee to do justice? To see the justice of God upon
Christ. in my place to know the justice of God in my own heart
condemned before the throne but to love that mercy that has been
displayed oh what a mercy it is to see that mercy the mercy
of God in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ to see
Him humbling Himself and being obedient unto death even the
death of the cross to love mercy to love that mercy that has been
exhibited in the Lord Jesus Christ and to walk humbly to walk humbly
for thy God or as the margin says to humble thyself to walk
to be brought low it says in one of the Gospels I think it's
John if memory serves me right that when the disciples went
to the empty tomb he stooping down he stooping down looked
in what a mercy if we are brought to stoop down and to look at
the Lord Jesus Christ conversely there was one who came to the
Lord Jesus Christ and she was bent double and her eyes were
firmly always fixed upon the ground she could see nothing
else but the ground immediately in front of us Again, that's
our position in nature. We can just see what's around
us, but when we're in grace, like that woman, she was straightened
up and she was able to look into the face of Jesus. What a mercy
it is if we're brought to look to the Lord Jesus Christ and
to walk humbly with him, and to walk in that fellowship with
the Lord. That's the one which blesses.
the just shall live by faith what a mercy it is if we are
brought to live in him to live in the
Lord Jesus Christ and what I would emphasis here is the certainty
we looked at the life of the child of God this morning and
a little in recapping this evening the phrase says the just shall
no ifs, maybes, peradventures or perhapses in the gospel of
Christ it is a gospel of certainties Kent in one of his hymns says
we're fenced in by Jehovah's shalls and wills firm as the
everlasting hills we literally shall live we live on this life
we live an abundant life in this life for the Lord Jesus said
I am come that ye might have life and have it more abundantly
but we are possessors of that life that abundant life and we
will enjoy that abundant life in heaven itself Peter says concerning
the believer and his relationship with Christ whom having not seen
ye love but then it will be face to face we will see him face
to face, we will see our Redeemer we will see that head that once
was crowned with thorns we will see those hands that were pierced
by the nails that nailed him to the cross we will see that
riven sight from which flowed the blood and the water we will
see these things and when that crown of righteousness has been
given unto us as the Apostle Paul tells us Henceforth there
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me, and not only me, but all
those who love his appearing. When we have that crown of righteousness
on our heads, as we approach the throne of God, we will take
that crown off and cast our crowns before him, till in him we take
our place, till we cast our crowns before him, lost in wonder. Love
and praise. Oh, we shall live We shall live. We live now, but we shall live
hereafter in that heavenly mansion that has been prepared for every
one of his people. And then, says the Apostle Paul,
we live by faith. We live by faith. In this chapter
that we read together we have the description of faith. Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. And verse
6, by faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh
to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. First of all we must believe
that he is, that God exists. Have we that belief? what kind
of faith do we have? you see the devils believe and
they tremble and there are many people that have got an intellectual
faith many people have got a confident faith but when troubles come
that faith takes flight there used to be a saying when poverty
knocks on the door love flies out of the window we can paraphrase
that and say when trials come when troubles come and knock
on the door the faith that some people have flies out of the
window they have no faith at all this is an intellectual faith
this is a too confident faith but the faith of God's elect
is often a weak faith it is a weak faith like the man who who said
to the Lord Jesus, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. He was
very conscious. Do you have faith, says the Lord
Jesus, that I can heal this boy? He said, I believe, help thou
mine unbelief. There is a battle going on in
his heart. There is a battle going on in
his life. Will Christ heal him? Will Christ be able to perform
this miracle? and no doubt in your hearts from
time to time there is that battle going on will Christ save me? has Christ saved me? has the
Lord Jesus? I have that faith Lord I believe
help thou mine unbelief in the Song of Solomon we read of the
question what will ye see in the Shulamite? what will ye see
in the Shulamite? I see, as it were, a company
of two armies there are two armies in our hearts there is the new
man of grace that's regenerate life that's spiritual life and
there is the old man of nature that's sinful nature and there
is constant battling going on and sometimes the old nature
triumphs and other times the new man of grace triumphs the
faithful man triumphs what we see in the Shulamite I see as
it were a company of two armies that constant battle and there
is that weak faith but it is faith nonetheless Venture on
him, venture wholly, let no other trust intrude. Venture upon Christ,
and if you can just reach out and touch him as it were, as
the woman that came to the Lord Jesus did. If I can but touch
the hem of his garment, I shall be made whole. What a mercy she
was able to touch. the Lord Jesus felt that virtue
going out from him into her body when they asked that question,
who touched me? it wasn't as if he didn't know
he knew exactly who touched him but it was to bring this poor
soul to his feet to confess that she had that weak faith she'd
ventured on him she'd ventured so there's not only weak faith
but there is venturing faith those of whom we read in this
chapter 11 they all had venturing faith they ventured on Him in
order to be a child of God there must be that venturing upon Him
to venture upon the Lord Jesus Christ how was it that they were
able to venture on Him? look at verse 13 of chapter 11
these all died in faith not having received the promises then there
is the venturing but having seen them having seen them afar off
and were persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that
they were strangers and pilgrims that's venturing they saw the
reality of these things? Or have we been brought to see
the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation that
he has purchased for his church? Are we persuaded of these things? And if we're persuaded, then
we will embrace them. We will embrace them. And then
we will also confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. No man can truly
say that Jesus is the Lord. unless thou take the veil away
and breathe the living word it is that embracing and confessing
of Christ and confess that there were strange pilgrims in the
earth there was that venturing upon the Lord Jesus so there's
weak faith well there's intellectual faith first of all and overconfident
faith that we should shun but there is that weak faith and
there is that venturing faith there is also, the scripture
says, little faith faith like a grain of mustard seed
the little seed that when planted grows into a great big bush it's
wonderful isn't it when you see the tiny seeds that there are
and that you plant them and they with proper care and fertilization
and training with the sticks that hold up the plants and so
on I'm not a gardener as you can obviously tell from the way
I describe propagation but with proper care that seed grows into
some beautiful plants it's little faith but it blossoms that seed
will bring forth some of the most beautiful flowers that you
see in creation and a little faith when it is tendered tendered
by the reading of the Word tendered, watered by prayer and cared for
by the communion of saints and the fellowship of the congregation
that little faith brings forth fruit in the heart and the life
of the believer and there is also receiving faith we receive the Lord Jesus Peter
had that faith too to venture I've mentioned venturing
faith he was in the boats and he said to the Lord Jesus, bid
me come to thee walking on the water and he ventured and he
was walking on the water as long as he kept his eyes upon the
Lord Jesus but the moment he took his eyes from off the Lord
Jesus he began to sink in the waters but then he cried out,
Lord help me, Lord save me and he received that help from the
Lord Jesus the Lord Jesus lifted him up out of the waters and
he was back in the boat what a mercy when you and I fall perhaps
into backsliding or we fall into some sin that we find difficult
to conquer in our lives if and when we call upon the Lord Jesus
Christ lift us out of the sea of sin, the sea of temptation,
the sea of backsliding. He will lift us out of those
things. Now the just shall live by faith. Now do we have that faith? Examples
are given to us in this chapter 11. There is that embracing of
the Lord Jesus Christ Moses esteemed the reproach of Christ greater
riches than the treasures of Egypt. He sooner have Christ
than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. And Paul concludes
by saying these all, all these characters and many more besides,
these all having obtained a good report through faith received
not the promise. They didn't actually receive
the knowledge of Christ because they were looking forward to
Calvary they were looking forward to the coming of the Son of God
they were looking forward to the atonement but we look back
my faith looks back to see the burden that is there whilst hanging
on the accursed tree and hopes her guilt was there but Paul
goes on to say God having provided some better thing for us oh what
a provision has been made what a provision has been made for
us and that provision is here in verse 38 of Hebrews 10 now
the just shall live by faith God grant that we might each
be brought to that place where we flee from self where we flee
from dead works and that we flee to the Lord Jesus Christ Paul
exhorts Timothy lay hold on eternal life God grant that we ourselves
might be brought by the Spirit of God to lay hold on eternal
life. May the Lord have his blessing
to these few thoughts for his name's sake.