Go with me if you would to the
book of Habakkuk if your Bible is like mine. It's page 1162
in the Old Testament Habakkuk chapter 2 I had a conversation with a brother
this last week. And we were talking about how
short this life really is. It is so short. Sometimes it
does not feel like it. Sometimes it feels like it's
just so long. But the reality is this is a
very short life. And we were also talking about
how insignificant this life is. All of the little details in
life are so important to us. We feel like they're, you know,
life and death issues. But the reality is, once that
day comes, it's nothing. It's nothing. Whatever we accumulate
is immediately nothing. Whatever that, you know, we get
that little piece of paper. This is what I got. Never touch it,
but this is what I got. It means nothing. It's over. It's insignificant. Completely
insignificant. There really is only one thing
that matters. This flesh really struggles to
get that and enter into that. But one day we will. One day
we'll see. Thank God. He allowed me to lay
hold of the only thing that actually matters. If the Lord would enable
us to just keep our eyes on Christ for a little bit longer, if he'll
just let us stay focused on Christ for just a little bit longer,
eternity is right around the corner. It's right around the
corner. After that conversation, this
verse of scripture became a nail in my mind and my heart. I just
could not get this verse off of my mind. The just shall live
by faith. The just shall live by faith. The just shall live out the rest
of his life on this earth by faith. Now that line is in the
scripture in four locations. That line, the just shall live
by faith, is in four verses in the Bible. Habakkuk 2 verse 4,
Romans 1, 17, Galatians 3, 11, In Hebrews 10, 38, those four
verses all contain the line, the just shall live by faith. Through those four verses, this
is what I'd like for us to find out tonight. Who are the just? And what is true faith? What
does true faith Believe the just are going to live out the rest
of this life on earth by faith What is true faith? What does
true faith? Believe now we can answer the
first part of that question right now the end of verse 4 Habakkuk
2 verse 4 it says the just shall live by his faith the just justified
that's what just means that's short for justified the just
are justified by faith by faith that is the evidence that a sinner
is justified before God that's the evidence just listen to these
two verses of scripture this is Romans 3 verse 28 therefore
I We conclude that a man is justified
by faith without the deeds of the law. Romans 5 verse 1 says,
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Justified by faith. Through that,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, there
are two types of people on this earth. Two types of people. The just and the unjust. The righteous and the wicked. In other words, the saved and
the unsaved. Two types of people walking this
earth. The unsaved do not possess true faith. They do not possess
true faith. They have a faith in something. They do believe something. They do have a strong conviction
over something, but they do not possess the faith, the one True
God given faith. They do not believe what true
faith believes. That's how we can tell who the
just are. They believe what true faith believes. That's who the
just are. They believe what true faith
believes. All right. So that brings us
to the second part of that question. What does true faith believe?
What does true faith believe? What is true faith in? What is true faith looking to? I want to begin this with some
scripture references. If you look in the margin right
here at Habakkuk 2, verse 4, you see how it says John 3, verse
36, next to, But the just shall live by his faith. John 3, 36.
Go with me over there to John chapter 3. John 3 verse 36 says, He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Faith is a belief that God puts
in a sinner. It's something that God puts
inside a center. It is a strong conviction. And like I just said, all people
have strong convictions about something. All people have very
strong convictions. People have their own beliefs
concerning everything. And when it comes to religion,
this is what is so sad to me, is everybody accepts their own
beliefs and other people's beliefs as okay. I can have mine, you
can have yours, we'll all end up together in the end. There's only one true belief. There's only one strong conviction
that God gives. Just because somebody is dogmatic
over what they believe, that does not mean they have received
God-given faith. There is only one true faith. It is a very particular belief. Verse 36, He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasting life, And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Now you'll notice in the margin
for right there, verse 36, he that believeth on the Son, you'll
see that that sends us back to Habakkuk 2, verse 4, where we
just came from. And it also sends us to John
chapter 1, verse 12, And it also sends us to John chapter six,
verse 40 and verse 47. Let me show you those. Go with
me to John one. John chapter one. Verse 12 says. But as many as received him. And what a blessing it is to
know this. As many as received Him, to them
gave He power, the margin says the right or the privilege, to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. On His name. Those that believe
on His name. Alright, look with me at John
6. John chapter 6. Verse 40 says, And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on
him may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. Everyone which seeth the sun,
everyone that sees the sun, everyone that sees the sun, sees the sun. Everybody sees the law. Everybody
sees the law. "'Everyone that sees the Son
and believes on Him "'may have everlasting life, "'and I will
raise Him up at the last day.'" Verse 47 says, "'Verily, verily,
of a truth, of a truth.'" This is Jesus Christ. I love it when
the Lord Jesus Christ says, this is the truth, this is the truth,
two times. I'm telling you the truth. God
is telling the truth right now. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. So true faith believes on the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this is what we're trying
to get to. Okay, this is the point of all
that. What does that mean? That's the question. What does
that mean? We can tell people the opportunity
can come to us and we can tell people believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. We can say that to people. We can tell people this is the
one thing needful. This right here is the one thing
needful. We can say, this is life eternal. Let me tell you God's message
in His book. This is life eternal. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. But if we don't know what that
means, how can we believe on Him? If we don't know what that
means. That sounds so simple, doesn't
it? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. We could go into any
church and stand up in any pulpit and say, believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And people could say, okay, got it. And then go on about
their business thinking they are. thinking that they are believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ, having no idea what it means to truly
believe on him. Most everybody believes in him. Most everybody believes in him.
We believe in him. Most everybody believes on whatever
they want to believe on. Most everybody has cast their
all on whatever they want to cast their all on. But what is
it to believe on Christ? What does that mean? What does
that mean? What does God's true faith believe,
really? In these four locations, in these
four verses of scriptures, that say the just shall live by faith. That line is in Habakkuk 2.4,
Romans 1.17, Galatians 3.11, Hebrews 10.38. In those four
verses the Lord tells us exactly what His faith that He gives
to His people believes in those four verses. Ephesians 4 says there is one
faith There's only one faith. And he gives this one faith to
every single one of his people. They all believe the exact same
thing. All of them. Exact same thing. And this right here is a full
definition of what it is to believe on Christ. This is what it means.
Go with me back to Habakkuk 2. Page 1162. Now we're going to look at these
four verses. They all say the just shall live by faith. But
they all say something in the verse with that. They all say
something different with that. That's what we're going to look
at. Everything it says along with that. Alright, this is what
true faith believes. Habakkuk 2 verse 4 says, Behold
his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him, but the just
shall live by his faith. Now this is where believing on
the Lord Jesus Christ starts. This is the first thing true
faith believes. My soul, which is who I am, my
soul is who, not just what I've done, who I am. My soul is lifted
up and is not upright in me. That's where faith starts. This is where believing on Christ
starts. My soul, me, the core of me, is lifted
up and is not upright in me. If a person is going to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, he or she, is going to have to completely
stop believing in himself or herself. That's where it starts.
They have to completely stop believing in themselves. They have to completely stop
casting their all on themselves. If they're going to cast it on
Christ, they have to stop casting it on themselves. True faith
believes, I am naturally so lifted up, so lifted up with pride, so lifted
up. Verse 4 says, Behold his soul
which is lifted up The entire being is lifted up with self. Lifted up with arrogance. Thinking
I am something. But here's what I know. This
is what true faith has taught me. I'm nothing. I'm nothing. This soul is not right. This
heart is not right. I'm not right with God. I had
A man tell that to me one time had a friend died. He said, Oh,
but he's right with God. This is what this is where true
faith starts. My soul is not right with God. It's lifted up. And it is not
right within me. It's not upright within me. That's
the first thing true faith believes. That's where it starts. All right,
go with me to Romans one. Romans 1, here's the next thing
that a sinner who truly believes on Christ believes. Now, verse 16 tells us that we're
talking about Christ. We're talking about the gospel
of Christ. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. Verse 17 says, for therein is
the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. I am lifted up and
not upright. There is no right in me. There is no righteousness naturally
in me. But when I see Christ, I see
my righteousness. When I see Him, I see everything
good concerning this soul. Everything good for this soul. I see everything that I need
to stand rightly before God Everything I see it in the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ What is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ?
What is the good news of Christ It's that on the cross He was
made to be my sin He was lifted up He was lifted up and made to
be my sin. He became not upright. Can you imagine how difficult
that is to even let that roll off the tongue? He made himself
to be my sin. my sin, the one who knew no sin. That's a very important component
of the gospel. He knew no sin. He was spotless. He was perfectly
righteous before God, perfectly upright in himself. But God made him to be my sin
so that I could be made his righteousness. I could be made upright in Him.
True faith believes, I am not upright in myself, but I must
have a righteousness to stand before God, and therein is the
righteousness of God revealed. And the just live believing that
Christ gave it to them. Christ has given it to us. His
own righteousness. His own uprightness. Alright, now look with me at
Galatians 3. Galatians 3, this is true faith's
conclusion if the other two things are so. This is what it truly
is to believe on Christ. 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. If nothing in me is upright,
nothing, and my only hope before God is that Christ would give
me his righteousness, if that's my only hope, then there is nothing
I can do to justify myself. Nothing. The just shall live
by faith. Justification before God cannot
be earned. It cannot be earned. That is
such a shocking thing for a sinner to hear, a sinner to come to
know. Justification cannot be earned. It cannot be earned. Not by us. It was earned, but
not by us. Somebody is gonna hear that and
they're gonna say but the law says do this and live The law
says if you do this You'll live if you obey this you'll live
eternity eternally. That's what the law says Here's
the answer to that. You are exactly right That's
what the law says That's exactly right. But have we done it? But the law says if you obey
all the commandments that you... That's right. That's exactly
right. I don't have a problem with that.
You obey the law perfectly and you will walk straight through
the gates of heaven. But have we done it? That rich young ruler, he came
to the Lord and he said, good master, what things shall I do
that I may have eternal life? And the Lord said, keep the commandments. He said, which ones? The Lord said, do not murder,
which the Lord had already explained that that goes all the way to
the heart. The anger of the heart. If you murder in the heart, that's
murder. He said, do not murder. He said,
do not commit adultery, which the Lord already explains begins
in the heart. That lust is adultery. He said,
do not steal. I can't even imagine how many
ways we steal in this life. Every time we slough off on the
job, we're stealing time from the company. Do not steal. He said, do not lie. How do we stack up on that one?
He said, honor thy father and thy mother. He said, and think about this,
love your neighbor as you love, how much do you
love yourself? How much do you love you? Love
him and desire to do for him. You have it, you have it, I want
you to have it. You know what this flesh is? I want you to
have it. This is who I want to have it.
Love your neighbor as you love yourself. You do that, you'll
walk straight through the gates of glory. Now, don't worry about
the rich young ruler. Forget about him. Don't worry
about anybody else. Just individually ask yourself,
how do I stack up? How do I stack up? If we've ever
gotten angry, if we've ever lusted, ever lied, if somebody says,
oh, I've never lied, they're lying. Can't stack up. This is what
true faith believes. This is what it is to believe
on Christ. It is to be fully persuaded that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God. Because I can't keep the law
in the sight of God. I just can't do it. Cannot do
it. The just live by faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. That absolute perfection. that
was shed and poured all over us to just live by faith. All right, now turn with me to
the last one, Hebrews 10. 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. This is what all four verses
say. My soul is lifted up and is not
upright within me. But therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. For by the law is no man justified
in the sight of God. And if any man draws back from
completely believing on Christ, if any man draws back from casting
his all on Christ and having all of his hope in Christ's righteousness
and in Christ's blood, totally, if any man draws back from that
and tries to add something with it, then God's Spirit will have
no pleasure in that man. It is Christ alone. Christ alone. Christ alone. Nothing added to Christ. Nothing
taken from Christ. That's what it is to believe
on Christ. Totally on Christ. It's to believe
that we are justified by Him, in Him, through Him, to Him. Totally Christ, the just live
by faith and they don't stop living by faith. They don't. They do not. It's Christ only
today. It'll be Christ only tomorrow. If the Lord is willing, we will
come back Wednesday night and it's going to be Christ alone,
Christ only. And it'll be there for all eternity
by God's grace that the just Those who truly believe what
faith, true faith believes. It'll be Christ only for all
eternity. May God make us just. May God
justify us in his sight. Cause us to truly believe on
Christ. All right, let's all stand together.