with the Lord's help I would
like to draw your attention to that passage of scripture that
we read together just a few moments ago and particularly to the opening
clause of verse 38 where we read now the just shall live by faith
now the just shall live by faith We're all aware that this year
is the 500th anniversary of the nailing of the 95 faeces by Martin
Luther to the door of the Church of Wittenberg. It was a call
for a debate on the question of indulgences, but it wasn't
until sometime later than 1517 that Martin Luther came to recognize
and to see this wonderful doctrine of the justification of the sinner
by faith and by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ. I was looking back at my records
and I found that I spoke from this text some nearly 20 years
ago in this chapel but as the congregation has somewhat changed
I think there is only perhaps 5 people here that were present
on that occasion so I think it is an opportune moment to reiterate this teaching of the scriptures
on the doctrine of justification by faith. We're aware, of course,
that this phrase, the just shall live by faith, appears four times
in the scriptures of truth. First of all, it appears in the
book of Habakkuk. where we read in chapter 2 and
verse 4, Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in
him, but the just shall live by his faith. this book Habakkuk
the name Habakkuk of course means the wrestler or one that wrestles
or embraces and it reminds us of course of the occurrence in
Genesis 32 where Jacob wrestled with God where he wrestled with
a man when Jacob was left alone and there wrestled a man with
him until the breaking of day and he would not let the Lord
go until the Lord touched him and he gave him this blessing
thy name shall be called no more Jacob but Israel for as a prince
hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed as
a prince thou hast prevailed and Habakkuk is writing of his
own experience that he has been reproved I will stand upon my
watch he says and set me upon the tower and will watch to see
what he will say unto me and what I shall answer when I have
reproved he wrestles He is one that wrestles and embraces God,
and he is told of this vision. For the vision, he says, he is
told, the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end
it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come. It will not tarry. And the apostle
Paul takes this up in the 6 and 37 thirds of this chapter,
for ye are in need of patience, that after ye have done the will
of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while,
and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. Paul, of
course, is quoting here from the book of Habakkuk chapter
2. And then Habakkuk is told then that even though he is reproved
and his soul might be lifted up, but he is not upright in
his own heart but there is only one way in which a person can
be upright in the sight of God and that is through the mediatorship
of the Lord Jesus Christ through his being the saviour of sinners
through that atonement that he has made and so Habakkuk speaks
here about the just living by faith and then if we turn over
to the book of Romans chapter 1 and verse 17 we also have this
word written in verse 16 the apostle Paul writes to the Roman
Christians I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is
the power of God and to salvation to everyone that believeth to
the Jew first and also to the Greek for therein that is in
the gospel in the gospel therefore therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written that just
shall live by faith referring back to Luther you probably have
watched that film that was put out by the Lutheran Church Missouri
Sonnets many years ago in the 1950s and there is that a scene
where Luther is reading this first chapter of the epistle
to the Romans and he has his quill in his hand and in the
margin at the side he underlines this phrase, the just shall live
by faith and in the margin at the side he writes the word alone,
sola, alone There is nothing to be added
to the faith of God's elect. The Church of Rome, of course,
says that they believe in justification by faith. They make great noise
and they want to know why there has been such a rift in the visible
church. the rift is caused by that one
little word alone in the canons of the Council of Trent tell
us that if anyone preaches that a man is justified by faith alone
he is anathematised, he is cursed the Church of Rome tells us quite
clearly that a man is justified by faith plus the endeavours
of the saints plus the intercession of the saints and of Mary plus
the intercessions and the works of the church and the works of
merits and of course we dispute that the scriptures quite clearly
tell us that Christ is the alone saviour of sinners that we are
justified by faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ alone through
grace alone revealed in the scriptures alone nothing else rightly did
top ladies say, nothing in my hand I bring, simply till I cross
I cling, naked come to thee for dress, helpless look to thee
for grace, foul I till a fountain fly, wash me saviour or I die. So Paul quotes to the Roman church
the word from Habakkuk The just shall live by faith. He's speaking
here of course about who can be just. We'll come on to this
later. The question that Paul is seeking
to answer is who is the one that can be just in the sight of God? And then, if we turn over to
the third chapter of the Galatians, we find the Apostle Paul making
the same comments. But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall
live by faith. Quoting again from Habakkuk chapter
2 and verse 4, there is that statement that justification
comes through through the faith that is imparted to the believer. That faith that is given, indeed
Paul writes to the Ephesians, for by grace are you saved. There
in chapter 2 and verse 8, for by grace are you saved through
faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. What is
the gift of God? It is the faith that is the gift
of God. For by grace are ye saved through
faith. And it is God, by working by his Spirit in our hearts,
gives us that faith to look to Christ and view him as the only
Saviour. If we look to Christ in our own
natural sense, We will come away with a view of Christ that is
not a true view of Christ. Newton asks in his hymn, what
think you of Christ, is a test to try both your state and your
scheme. You cannot be right in the rest
until you think rightly of him. As Jesus appears in your view,
is he his beloved or no? So God is disposed to you and
mercy or wrath is your lot. We need to be right upon the
Lord Jesus Christ. Is he the only saviour of sinners?
If we say that men can be saved by other means, if we say that
there are other things to be added to the work of Christ,
then we have not a correct view of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the only Saviour. We cannot repeat it too often
that He is the sole Saviour of sinners. He is the alone Saviour
of sinners. The world will tell us there
are many Saviours. they will point to all these
other religions they will point to the Islamic faith they will
point to the Buddhist faith they will point to the paganism that
is rife in this world of ours today and they say, well these
people are sincere they are sincere in what they believe and therefore
God will look upon their sincerity no, that's not true that is not
true God will not look upon their sincerity. God looks only upon
the Lord Jesus Christ. So it is imperative that we have
that sure foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, what think
you of Christ is a test to try both your state and your scheme.
Unless we are right in him, Unless we have a right view of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and unless we are trusting in Him, cleaving to
the Lord Jesus Christ, then all our hopes will be dashed. And so we're dependent upon that
gift of grace, for by grace are you saved through faith, that
gift of faith, I should say. and that not of yourselves we
can't stir ourselves up to faith we cannot work ourselves up into
a state of grace but we are solely and wholly dependent upon that
faith that is given that faith of God's elect it is, says the
Apostle Paul, the gift of God so the Apostle Paul speaks here
in Galatians of the of the life that is being lived he is saying
to the Galatians that we live our lives not through our Christian
life that is we live our lives not through the keeping of the
law the law doesn't bring us salvation the law doesn't bring
us sanctification the law brings conviction When the Apostle Paul
wrote about his own experience, and it's there in the 7th chapter
of Romans, he speaks about how he was alive when the law came. when the law came he was condemned he became dead
as it were for I was alive without the law once but when the commandment
came sin revived and I died he said I saw my state before God
I saw that I was in a state of spiritual death spiritual langar
and that I had no spiritual life whatsoever but of course here
is a paradox when we are without God and when we are without hope
we have no spiritual life and we are completely ignorant of
it but when the Lord quickens us and you have been quickened
he says to the Apostle Paul who were dead in trespasses and sins
then we realise then we are brought to see that we are brought to
see spiritually that we have been dead and that there is no
life in us and how we long for that life how we long for that
spiritual life, how we are brought to long for the presence of the
Lord Jesus Christ, how we are brought to desire his presence
and his life within our hearts, or that we might indeed know
him and the power of his resurrection. So the law is there, and Paul
says that the law is good if a man uses it lawfully. The lawful
use of the law is that we might be brought into a conviction
of sin, that we might see our state and our standing before
God. And so here in Galatians, Paul
is writing about the living of the child of God, that he doesn't
live by the law, he doesn't live by circumcision, he doesn't live
by the keeping of these things. No, he lives by Christ. he lives
by dying to self and living to the Lord Jesus Christ and this
is what he says earlier in this book in chapter 2 and verse 20
he says I am crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not
I but 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." By faith in Christ, by living in
Christ, and the Lord Jesus, you remember, said, I am come that
they might have life and have it more abundantly. By living
in the Lord Jesus Christ, by living near to the Lord Jesus
Christ, then we have that faith in Christ by receiving Him as
our Lord and our Saviour. And then the fourth time that
this phrase is mentioned is here in chapter 10 of Hebrews, in
verse 38. Now the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. He is writing then to Hebrew
Christians that have got this problem as to what happens with
the law, what happens with the old covenant. They have been
brought by faith out of Judaism into the liberty of the gospel. they've been brought into that
experience of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ they've been
brought up under the terms of the old covenant they've been
brought up with the law they've been brought up having heard
Moses expounded week by week in the synagogues that were scattered
throughout the Roman Empire they've been brought up to sit at the
feet of Moses but now they've been brought to faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So what happens to the old covenant,
they say? This is what Paul is trying to
address under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. And what
he does is that he sets forth the superiority of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, he says,
is superior to the angels in that he opens this epistle by
saying that the Lord Jesus Christ is the final revelation of God
God who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time
past unto the fathers by the prophets hath in these last days
spoken unto us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all
things by whom also he made the worlds and he is saying that
here is the final revelation if we would know God if we would
be in the presence of God if we would seek to have an eternity
in heaven with God with the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost
then it must be by and through the Lord Jesus Christ there is
no other way, as I mentioned earlier there is no other way
whereby we can approach unto God it is by the Lord Jesus Christ
He is the way remember how it tells us in the Gospels how the
Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and it tells us that when the
Lord Jesus was crucified he spoke those words when Jesus therefore
had received the vinegar he said it is finished and he bowed his
head and gave up the ghost. That's what John says. But of
course, the other three Gospels, they tell us the other things
that happened. When the Lord Jesus said that
final word, it is finished. And Luke, for example, tells
us and it was about the sixth hour and there was darkness over
all the earth until the ninth hour and the sun was darkened
and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst the veil of
the temple was rent in the midst and one of the other Gospels
tells us it was rent from the top to the bottom in other words
it wasn't man that did that the veil of the temple of course
was so thick that it would have been impossible for one man to
actually take it by the hem and to rend it from the bottom to
the top but in this case it was rend from the top to the bottom
showing that there was access to God And the access to God
was no longer through that high priest as a representative of
the children of Israel wearing the breastplate of righteousness
and going there into the Holy of Holies with the blood to be
sprinkled on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat wearing
those high priestly garments. No longer was that necessary.
But the means of access was through that finished redemption. Remember
the words that I read from John's Gospel. It is finished. It is
finished. Words that are taken from the
last phrase of Psalm 22. where the psalmist says they
shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people
that shall be born that he hath done this or that he hath done
the word this is in italics it's not there in the original Hebrew
that he hath done, that he hath finished the Lord Jesus Christ
finished the work of redemption meaning that we have access to
God and if we would have access to God If we would know God,
if we would know the Triune God, the Lord Jesus said, and this
is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. If we would know God, it
is through the Lord Jesus Christ that life that we live. is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. The just shall live by faith. It is by faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. So the Apostle Paul is setting
forth the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ in this epistle. First of all, superior to the
angels, then superior to Moses, and then the Lord Jesus Christ
is superior to the law. and of the offerings, and this
chapter deals with this question of the offering of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 12, but this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool, for by one offering he had perfected forever
them that are sanctified. them as a set apart those who
are called those who are called by God's grace those who receive
this precious gift of faith those who are brought to the Lord Jesus
Christ they are perfected but you look within your own heart
and you can say and you've learnt that verse of scripture from
being a child up there in Jeremiah the heart is deceitful and desperately
wicked above all things and who can know it? It's deceitful and
desperately wicked. Don't we feel the sinfulness
of our hearts? Don't we feel the corruption
of our hearts? Where is that perfection then? There is no perfection in me.
There is no perfection in any of us. And even when the Pope
tries to speak ex-cathedra and say that his words are perfect
and infallible they are not so because all the words of men
come from fallible lips and from a fallible mind and they are
not infallible but the perfection there is in the Lord Jesus Christ
for by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified
when God looks upon us he sees if we are a child of God if we
have been called by his grace if we have been born of God's
Spirit he looks not upon us but he sees us in the Lord Jesus
Christ says the Apostle Paul elsewhere ye are complete in
him all our completion everything, everything in the Lord Jesus
Christ I referred earlier in prayer to the Shulamite maiden
leaning on her beloved and that's our position if we're justified
by faith if we've been given that faith to look to Christ
then we lean upon our beloved and the picture of course is
that of a bride leaning on her groom she comes into the church
by herself for the wedding service she comes with her father or
whoever is going to give her away she comes in with her old
family but she goes out of that wedding
service having promised that she would be faithful
to her husband and vice versa the husband having promised that
he would be faithful to her they go out together the one leaning
on the other and the Shulamite leaning on her beloved. So are
we leaning? Are we leaning on the Lord Jesus
Christ? Remember how it is in Deuteronomy,
isn't it? Where the blessings of Moses
are given and Moses says that the eternal God is thy refuge
and underneath are the everlasting arms, yes, it's Deuteronomy chapter
3 33 and verses 26 onwards, there is none like unto the God of
Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his
excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms, and he shall thrust out
the enemy from before thee, and shall say, destroy them. And
then he goes on to say, happy art thou, O Israel, who is like
unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, saved by the Lord. How I should say, because of
that justification that has been wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ. So the Lord Jesus, as says the
Apostle Paul, his offering is superior to all the mosaic and
Aaronic offerings. then he goes on from verse 19
to draw these very necessary conclusions and applications
from these and typical of the Apostle Paul he writes the doctrinal
part of his epistles first and then he applies the doctrine
and says there are very practical applications from these things
and he gives us first of all the foundation of our approach
to God what is our ground of acceptance? he says, having therefore
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus the ground
of our acceptance before God is not the repeated sacrifices
of the mosaic economy Indeed, as Isaac Watts says, not all
the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain could give the guilty
conscience peace or wash away his stain. But Christ, the heavenly
Lamb, takes all our guilt away, a sacrifice of better blood and
nobler name than they. Here is the first ground of our
acceptance, the blood of Christ And on Calvary's cross, the blood
of Christ was shed for a multitude that no man can number. It was
shed for all those given in covenant bond to the Lord Jesus Christ. It was shed for the church, for
Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. And here is the
ground, the first ground of our acceptance. Not the blood that
was shed in ages past, or down all those years. but on the blood
that was shed once and for all and therefore because the blood
has been shed we have that power and authority and boldness if
we are a child of God to enter into the presence of Almighty
God and then the second ground follows in verse 20 which is
a natural progression by a new and living way which he has consecrated
for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. There is
this new and living way. The priests under the old covenants,
under the old economy, under the mosaic economy, they went
repeatedly, year after year, into the holy place to make intercession
for the people of God. But here, says the Apostle Paul,
is a new way. Here is a living way. You see,
the high priests, they died, and they passed on their priesthood
one to the other, down the generations. There's a time, and it's recorded
for us in the Book of Kings, when Israel separated from Judah,
that Jeroboam appointed others to be priests. and all these
ways were unable to bring a sinner into that personal relationship
with God of assurance of faith it could never finally do away
with sin but this new and living way has been brought in by the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ by shedding his precious blood
the ruby red blood of the Lord Jesus Christ flowing down that
sacred temple of the Lord Jesus Christ caused by the crown of
thorns piercing his skin the blood flowing from his hands
and his feet caused by the nails that were thrust through his
hands and feet when he was nailed to the cross the blood and the
water flowing from his side let the water and the blood from
thy riven side which flowed be of sin the double cure. Cleanse
me from its guilt and power. So the first ground of our acceptance
with God is the blood of Jesus. Then the second ground is because
of that new and living way. And the third ground is in verse
21, and having high priest over the house of God. I mentioned
just a few moments ago how the priests they took up their priesthood
and then they died and handed it on to their sons all down
through the generations Well, says the psalmist and then quoted
by the Apostle Paul concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, thou art
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. A priest that
has a man, the one who has an unchanging priesthood. He continues
ever. Remember how Paul goes on to
say in the in the 13th chapter of Hebrews Jesus Christ the same
yesterday and today and forever he has an unchanging priesthood
without beginning of days without ending of days one who never
dies, the one who is alive and is alive forevermore as he says
to John as he is there on the Isle of Patmos John Revelation
chapter 1 and verse 17 and 18. Fear not, I am the first and
the last. I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am
alive forevermore. Amen. and have the keys of hell
and of death. These are the necessary conclusions
and applications that Paul draws from the superiority of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then he goes on to say, very
practically, because of this acceptance, let us draw near.
Let us draw near. Oh, what a mercy it is if we
are brought to draw near to the Lord Jesus Christ. What a mercy
it is if we are brought near to him And the apostle gives
us three ways in which we draw near to God. First of all, in
full assurance of faith. That assurance of faith. And
then in the second place, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. these
are the three ways in which we are to draw near and then the
second thing that is required of the child of God is that he
holds fast let us hold fast the profession of our faith without
wavering for he is faithful that promised and here towards the
end of this chapter In verses 38 and 39, Paul writes,
but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. There are those that do draw back, there are those, and
it is easier to make a profession of faith there are many these
days that make a profession of faith and yet is that faith a
genuine faith? is that faith the gift of God?
is it the faith of God's elect? or is it that people have just
adopted a religion? and so they carry on in that
religion if any man draw back, says Paul my soul shall have
no pleasure in him there are those that draw back Lord Jesus,
you remember spoke in the parable of the sower the sower went forth
to sow and he cast his seed some fell upon the wayside there was
no fruit there whatsoever the birds came and ate the seeds
up immediately but others fell upon the stony ground and it
sprung up immediately but because there was no depth of earth it
soon withered and died when the sun scorched and then there was
other seed that fell among the thorns and the briots and then
the growth was choked to death and this is a sign of an outward
profession without an inward possession it behoves us to examine
ourselves it behoves us to look into our own hearts and to ask
the Lord to search us. Remember how the psalmist spoke
in Psalm 139, O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down-sitting
and mine uprising. Thou understandest my thoughts
afar off. And he goes through the wonderful providences of
God in the way he deals with his people and then he concludes
the psalm search me, O God and know my heart, try me and know
my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead
me in the way everlasting how we need the Lord to search our
hearts and to show us whether our faith that faith by which
we are justified is a genuine faith you can go to a jeweller
and you can buy a gemstone and it looks so much like a diamond
you put it under a microscope or you do a chemical analysis
of it and it's made of the same material to all intents and purposes
it's a genuine diamond but it's a fake it's a copy it's a cubic
zirconium it's not the genuine thing And what's more, that jewel,
that cubic zirconium that you buy from the jeweller is a lot
cheaper. It's a lot cheaper than the genuine
diamond. It's not genuine. Is our faith
genuine? Is it a genuine diamond or is
it the cubic zirconium? Oh, to all intents and purposes,
to the outside world it is genuine. But to the Lord who tries the
hearts, It's just an outward show. How far can we go then
in an outward profession without possession? I would like to answer
that. but he behoves us to seek the
Lord that he might search our hearts and that he might lead
us in the way of everlasting life but if any man draw back
my soul shall have no pleasure but Paul gives them the assurance
these Hebrew Christians and every child of God everyone that has
been truly born of God's Spirit but we are not of them what a
mercy what a mercy if we are brought by the Spirit of God
to be enabled to enter into those words we are not of them what
a mercy if we are good ground-hearers what a mercy if that seed that
is sown is planted in the hearts and brings forth fruits unto
life eternal some 60-fold, some 80-fold, some 100-fold what a
mercy, but we are not of them who draw back unto perdition
but of them that believe to the saving of the soul so here is
Paul setting forth again and on the third occasion that now
the just shall live by faith our time has gone this morning
we haven't had time yet to actually look at the words that are contained
in this phrase but Lord willing in the evening hour we will continue
looking then at this phrase, the just shall live by faith.
God grant that he might indeed instruct us in the faith of God
elect and that we might be pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Lord have his blessing. George, number 59. 303. Sorry, I always get a bit
blurry. Oh, I'm looking at the evening
hymn, I'm terribly sorry folks. It is 303 and the tune is Hollingside,
so that's number 514. Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to thy bosom fly, while
the raging billows roll, while the tempest still is high. Hide
me, O my Saviour, hide, till the storm of life is past. Safe
into the halem guide, O receive my soul at last. He turns to the man upon the
storm, and it is