Romans chapter 1. Two Sundays ago, with two messages
from that day, we looked at the first half of Romans chapter
1. Today, if the Lord is willing, between this Bible study and
the message that we're going to have in a moment, I'd like
for us to look at the second half of Romans chapter 1. focusing on what is being said
in verses 16 and 17. Let's read those two verses. For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to every
one that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek,
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall live by faith. For this Bible study, I want
us to consider what is living by faith? What is living by faith? The
last line in verse 17 says, the just shall live by faith. What is living by faith? The just live by faith. All right, let's start with this
right here. What is faith? You have to just live by it.
What is faith? I'll tell you what man naturally
thinks faith is. And then I want us to see what
God says faith is. Man naturally thinks that faith
is an inner strength that he possesses. An inner courage. That's what man thinks faith
is. Even though the odds may be stacked
against him, something is in here. He can go in here and find
something that will pull him through. I saw a celebrity interview one
time, a long time ago, and this woman celebrity had just gotten
out of drug rehab. And the interviewer asked her,
what got you through it? And she said, my faith. She said, I just had to dig down
deep and find my faith. And what she was saying in that
was this, I believed in myself. That's what she was saying. I
just believed in myself. I looked. to my inner strength
and I trusted in myself that I was able to get through it.
That is not faith. That is not faith. Faith is not an inner anything. And I really would like to stress
this part right here. Everybody, when they think of
faith, they think of something inside here. Faith is not an inner anything. Faith is an outer thing. Faith does not look within. It
looks without. Faith does not look within. It
looks without. It does not look to itself. It does not trust in itself. Faith, in more accurate terms,
is An inner weakness looking to an outer strength. An inner weakness looking to
an outer strength. Turn with me if you would to
Galatians chapter 2. Galatians 2 verse 20 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." Emphasizing the word of. I live
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself
for me. That means it's His faith. That's what it means. It's His
faith. It's not Gabe's faith. It's Christ's faith. If we are going to look within
something or if we're going to look within someone to find faith,
we have to look within Christ. We have to. If we're going to
find true faith, we have to look within Christ because that's
where all faith is found. It is all in Him. It is all of Him and it's all
unto Him. Alright, turn with me over to
Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians 2 verse 8 says, For
by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. That means it doesn't come from
us. It doesn't start in us. It's
not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. Faith is the gift of God to sinners. If He does not give it, they
will never possess it. They'll never have it. And if
He does give it, if God does give faith to sinners, A sinner
will know who gave him the faith and what that faith is producing
in him. If God gives it, that sinner will know who gave it
to him and what it's doing in him. That sinner will know where
to look and who to trust. Look with me, if you would, at
Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews 12 verse 1 says, Wherefore,
seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set
before us, looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ. The author and
finisher of our faith. If that celebrity, that interview
that I heard, if that celebrity possessed true God-given faith,
she would not have been looking to her faith. She would have been looking to
Christ. When that interviewer asked her, what got you through
it? She would not have said, my faith. She would have said,
Christ. Christ did. She would have said
it's not a what at all. It's a who. It's who pulled me
through it. Christ did. So that's what faith
is. Faith is a gift that comes to
a sinner from God and it causes the sinner to stop looking within
and to start looking without. And I'd like to repeat that because
that's what it does. Faith is a gift from God to a
sinner and when it comes it causes the sinner to stop looking within
and to start for the first time looking without. Up until that
point it is always within. Always within. Well this says
this, boom. For the first time, they stop
looking within and they start looking without. They look to
one singular object, the Lord Jesus Christ, for everything. Whatever the need is, faith says
Christ. Generally speaking, you can just
substitute the word Christ for faith when you see it in the
scripture. When our Lord said, thy faith has saved thee, just
put Christ right there. Your Christ has saved you. Your
faith has made you whole. Your Christ has made you whole.
Faith says Christ. Now I believe this is the best
definition of what it is to live by God-given faith. I believe
this is the best definition. When God puts His faith in a
center, That faith will convince the sinner of some things. I
mean, it'll convince a sinner of some things. That sinner will
walk in and live believing and trusting and confessing what
God has convinced him of. And there are four statements
in the scripture that are connected with this line right here. Okay,
here's the line. The just shall live by faith. That phrase is in the Word of
God four times. It is in four verses. It's in
Habakkuk 2, Romans 1, Galatians 3, and Hebrews 10. Okay, four
verses say the just shall live by faith. But that's not the
whole verse. There's something else in the
verse with it. And the statement that is connected
to it gives the best definition we'll ever know of what it is
to live by faith. All right, I want to go through
those four verses and we're going to see according to the word,
what is it? Go with me to Habakkuk chapter two. And if your Bible's
like mine, it's page 1162 in the Old Testament. Toward the end, it's after Jonah
and Micah. It's just three or four books
before the very end. Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4. It says, Behold, his soul, which
is lifted up, is not upright in him, but the just shall live
by his faith. That's the first time the phrase
is mentioned in the scripture. The just shall live by his faith. The statement that goes with
it is, Behold, His soul, which is lifted up, is not upright
in Him." Whose soul? Whose soul is lifted up and not
upright in Him? The soul of every man, woman,
boy, and girl on this earth. Every soul, including the soul
of the sinner who is living by faith. And he's the one who knows
it. That's the difference. He is
the one, the soul who is living by faith. He's the one who knows
it. By God given faith, he knows
what he is. You know, without faith, men
and women do not know what they are before God. They do not know. The soul that is living by faith
has looked within and has seen what he truly is. And that's
what makes him want to look without. Once he gets a hold of what he
truly is, That's what makes him want to look without. When true
faith and trust in Christ comes, the first thing that it does
is it slays all faith and trust in self. That's the first thing
it does. It makes a man cry and really
mean it for the first time. I'm a sinner. That's all I am. I'm just a sinner. Our Lord said,
whenever my Holy Spirit comes, I will send the Comforter. And
when He comes, He will convince of sin. First thing He'll do. I am a sinner. I acknowledge
what I am to you. I acknowledge my pride. I acknowledge
my unrighteousness. That's why I'm looking to you. All of my faith is in you because
I'm convinced it can't be in me. I'm just convinced. It can't
be in me, it can't be in any other man. So that's the first
thing that a man will get a hold of who is truly living by faith. That's what he'll believe and
live, who is truly living by faith. I'm a sinner. I'm only
a sinner. Alright, turn with me back to
our text, Romans chapter 1. This is the second time our phrase
is mentioned in the Scripture. The end of verse 17 says, The
just shall live by faith. And the statement that goes with
it is the beginning of verse 17. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith. Faith sees I am unrighteous
and Christ is all righteous. He is all righteousness. He is all that is right. He is all of the perfection. He is all of the holiness. He's all of the purity. He's
all that there is. He is all that there is. He's all that I need. This is
what faith cries. He's all that I need. And faith
also cries. He's all that there is. He is all my righteousness. I stand in Him complete and worship
Him. That's faith. That is living
by faith. I am completely sinful. He is
the only righteousness I have before God. Therefore, go with
me to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians 3 verse 11 says, But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall
live by faith. That's the third time the phrase
is mentioned in the Scripture. If I'm completely sinful, if everything that I do is tainted
with sin, And if He demands absolute perfection because He is absolute
righteousness, then this statement just has to be so. Verse 11,
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
it is evident. That is the heart of the man
who is truly living by faith. It is evident to that heart that
it could never do anything that would satisfy God, not in this
sinful flesh it's living in. Now, I want to ask this question. Are those who live by faith,
are they against the law? Do they reject the law and do
they ignore the law just because they know that they cannot keep
it in a way that will satisfy God? Absolutely not. Paul cried, God forbid. God forbid. David said, I love
your law. All who live by faith love His
holy law that He's given to us. All of them do. They desire one
day finally to be conformed to His image. This is our whole
goal. This is our whole desire. We want to be conformed to the
image of Christ so that we can perfectly obey the law. Sin is
transgression against His law. And I want to live without sin
from here on out. That means I will perfectly live
God's holy precious law. So we love the law. It's just
evident to us that we cannot keep it as long as we're in this
flesh. It is also evident to those who
live by faith that Christ perfectly kept it for them and gave it
to them. Christ did it all. So, faith
is what causes a sinner to absolutely trust in the fact that he was
justified in the sight of God by the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what faith does. His righteous work given. His
righteous blood shed. Verse 10 right here says, For
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse,
For it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them." You know, people have pet laws that they love. They
break everything, but they all have something. Now, you can't
do that. That's the one, you know, ignoring all these
other ones. If you don't keep all of them perfectly, you've
broken all of them together. Verse 11 says, But that no man
is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident,
for the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith,
but the man that doeth them shall live in them. What that means
is the unjustified, we're talking about how the just live, The
unjust, the unjustified shall live by the works of the law. That's how they live. They'll
live their life looking to the fulfillment of the law, that
accomplishment of the law, that God being satisfied, everything
being done within their own flesh. They will live by the works of
the law. But the justified live by faith
in Christ. that he fulfilled that work,
accomplished it, satisfied God, did everything that was required,
and then just freely gave it to his people. They just lived
by grace. They just lived by mercy. Verse
13 right here, it says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree. That the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith. What that means is, it's
either works or grace. It can't be both. And it's not works. It never
was and never will be. So turn with me to Hebrews 10. This is the last time our phrase
is mentioned in the Scripture. Hebrews 10 verse 38 says, Now
the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him." What that means is, it's
Christ or nothing. It's His work alone or it's no
work at all. The moment that we try to go
back, And every child of God can understand this. This flesh
has moments where it thinks, maybe I need to go back to the
law. Why am I doing this? The flesh has these weak moments. But if we try to go back, if
we try to draw back to the deeds of the law, to be just, to be
justified before God. The moment we add a little bit
of leaven to the lump, leaven represents man. The moment we
add the tip of the finger of man's work to Christ's work,
to what He did and He gave, we ruin it and God says, I won't
accept it. The moment we do that, He says, I won't have it. It
is grace alone It is Christ alone, and that's what it is to live
by faith. It's faith alone. I'm completely sinful. He is
completely righteous. He must do all the work, and
there's no buts about it. That's what it is to live by
faith. And I pray God will make us just. Cause us to live by
His faith. Okay, you're dismissed. Hmm.