Welcome to the preaching of the
gospel. We've already heard it, and I trust that you'll hear
it again in this message. You can see the title of my message
is Living by Faith, Part Two, and I'll explain to those who
weren't here last week, I did preach last week on this subject,
living by faith. This is the second part of that
message. Last week, we talked about how, we talked about the
justified, who they are, mainly. Today, we're gonna talk about
how those justified lived. We're looking at this statement,
the just shall live by faith out of the scriptures. And last
week, as I said, we saw the justified of those sinners whom God chose
in Christ before the world began. gave them all spiritual blessings,
justified them based on the righteousness Christ would work out in time. And we saw last week that justified
in time are those delivered from the law. Delivered from the curse
of the law by the death, the body of Christ. And delivered
under the gospel from being under the law as a means We're delivered
from that in this world. We're delivered unto the righteousness
of God revealed in the gospel. That's the hope of believers.
That's the hope of the justified. Ultimately, we don't start out
in that hope, but the justified must each one end up in the hope
of the righteousness of Christ imputed. The justified are the
ones who shall live. The just shall live by faith. They're the ones who must live.
They're the ones who must be given life. Look at John 10 verses
14 through 16. Christ said of these who are
justified that he must, not that he might, he must bring them
to life. He must bring them into the fold. He says here in verse 14, John
10, I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of
mine. As the Father knoweth me, even
so I know the Father, know I the Father, and I lay down my life
for the sheep. And other sheep I have which
are not of this fold. He's talking about the Gentiles
there. They're not of the Jewish fold, but other sheep. of every
kindred, tribe, and nation. Them also I must bring, and they
shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd."
If you notice that last verse that Brother Jim Byrd wrote in
here. That time of love arrived in
that last verse of the song in your bulletin there. That time
of love arrives for every one of God's justified in this world.
We're going to be brought to the shepherd. We're going to
know who the shepherd is. We're going to rejoice in his
righteousness alone. There's going to be one fold
and one shepherd only. So the just must live. They shall live. It's certain
they will live. Now our concentration today is
going to be on how the just will live. It's certain they'll live. It's just as certain that they're
going to live by faith. What is this faith by which these
who are justified shall live? That's the main subject today. Look at Romans 1, 16a and 17.
Paul writes, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. As it is written, the just shall
live by faith. The righteousness of God is revealed
from faith to faith. Literally that reads out of faith
and into faith. We see two faiths there, two
different faiths. The first is objective faith. This faith is outward. It's the
doctrine which sets Christ forth. It's the gospel that declares
Christ and Him crucified to the world. It declares how God is
just to justify ungodly sinners based on the righteousness of
Christ alone. The righteousness of God is revealed out of the
faith. It's revealed out of that body
of truth that declares Christ. That's the first faith. The second
faith here is subjective faith. This faith is inward. This faith
is given to sinners in regeneration. This is the belief in, the rest
in, the dependence upon Christ, the true object of faith for
all of salvation. The righteousness of God is revealed
out of the outward body of truth that declares Him. declares Christ
and it's revealed into the inward belief or rest in Christ alone
for all of salvation. Two faiths, body of truth and
the belief, the faith given to sinners to rest in the Christ
revealed in that body of truth. Now no sinner can have the right
object of faith until that sinner hears the gospel. How can they
call on Him in whom they've not believed? How can they do that?
How can they believe in Him in whom they've not heard? And how
shall they hear without a preacher? That's Romans 10, 13 through
14. You can't believe in Christ until you hear of Christ. Now
the book of Hebrews gives us the scriptural definition of
faith. Look at Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 1. It says, now faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is
the substance, and faith is the evidence. We see in this verse
two different, two distinct faiths, but although they're different
and distinct, they're inseparable. First, faith is the substance
of things hoped for. This first faith is outward objective
faith. It's what the inward faith looks
to and rests in. He says the substance of things
hoped for. What things are sinners commanded
to hope for? Now we don't know the right answer
to that question until God sits us down under the gospel and
shows us the right answer to that question. Are we to hope
for eternal life and blessedness from God based on something found
in us, the sinner? Well, that's what we think by
nature, and that's what the religion of this world teaches us by nature.
But the gospel turns our minds to different things. It turns
our minds to a different hope. It turns our minds to salvation
conditioned on and accomplished by Christ and Christ alone, without
any contribution from sinners, without us doing anything in
order to be saved. In other words, as the cause
of salvation. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. Now, until
we've been given the right substance of things to hope for, until
we see Christ as He's revealed in the Scriptures, as He's revealed
according to the Scriptures, then we don't have God-given
faith. We may, we do. We not may, we
do. We believe something. We believe
in someone, but it's not the Christ of the Scriptures, not
apart from the Gospel. The second faith is inward, subjective
faith. Now, I'm going to be talking
about this a lot more. This is just kind of a brief
overview of what I'll be saying. I'm going to be talking about
these two faiths in a lot more detail. The first faith is, the
second faith is inward, subjective faith. It says in this verse
here, faith is the evidence of things not seen. The Gospel reveals
what sinners are commanded to hope for, those things that God
commands sinners to hope for. The Gospel reveals that. Then,
in regeneration, under the Gospel, the Spirit of God gives faith. He gives that inward faith, that
subjective faith. This faith opposes the faith
which we all have by nature. Because as I already said, we
all believe in something before we come to the gospel. We all
believe in someone before we come to the gospel. But we don't
believe in the something, we don't believe in the someone
revealed in the gospel. We don't believe in Christ, in
Christ alone. Let's take a look at these two
faiths as they're identified and distinguished in the scriptures.
This is what we're going to see. We'll see that the first faith
is the source of spiritual life, and the second faith is the evidence
of that life. The just shall live by faith.
Now this statement literally reads, the just shall live out
of faith. Out of, that x is the same word
we saw in Romans 117. Out of faith, into faith. This
is that first out of. They will live out of the truth
as opposed to the lie. Now, this is the lie that began
all the way back in the garden. Satan told Eve, you can be like
God. Adam and Eve, they believed that
they could be like God. They could set their own standard.
Well, every lie comes out of that lie. That's the lie. That's
the lie spoken of in Romans chapter 1. The truth as it opposes that
lie. That's what we're looking at
here. It's out of that faith. The justified
will live out of the incorruptible Word of God. The truth is the
substance of the things that God commands sinners to hope
for. And the truth is the source of the life which the justified
will be given. Look at 1 Peter 1, 23-25. We're
looking at that first faith. The just shall live out of faith. The truth as it opposes the lie.
1 Peter 1.23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. For all flesh is as grass, and
all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withereth,
and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord
endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel
is preached unto you. Born again, not of corruptible
seed. What's a corruptible seed? It's
any message that doesn't tell sinners about Christ. It doesn't
declare unto them how God is just to justify sinners based
on the imputed righteousness of Christ alone. Any message
like that, that's corruptible seed. It's being sown just like
the incorruptible seed. But the incorruptible seed is
that Word of God. And you can see in that last
verse, it's the gospel. It's the gospel. Paul said, we
once, Peter said, I believe, we once delivered unto the saints.
Now, as I said, this is the truth as it opposes the lie. What makes
the truth the truth? What distinguishes the truth
from the lie? Well, the lie, ultimately, bottom
line, the lie will always point sinners in, inward, at something
I do, something God enables me to do, as part of my acceptance
with God. The truth always points sinners
outward. It points sinners to Christ.
It points sinners to His doing and dying alone, His righteousness
alone, as all of salvation, as that which alone makes the difference
between saved and lost. If we look back at Romans 1,
16a and 17a again, Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, It's the power of God to salvation, and it's the
power of God in salvation for one reason only, for therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. The truth
always reveals the righteousness of God. That's what makes the
gospel the power of God in salvation. If it doesn't talk about the
righteousness of God, if it doesn't tell sinners how God is just
to justify sinners on the basis of Christ to work alone, then
it's not the gospel. It's not revealing the righteousness
of God. This truth always confronts the
righteousness of man. It always confronts what's in
our minds by nature. You see, when we come to the
gospel, we think we already are accepted by God. We think we're
already in the favor of God. We think we already believe.
By nature, we're all looking within ourselves at our obedience,
our reformation, our character and conduct, our faith. for at
least some part of our acceptance with God. The righteousness of
man has always stood in opposition to the faithfulness of Christ. Look at Habakkuk 2.4. You can
see this is the text I chose for today, but it's just one
of those contexts in which we find the statement we're looking
at, the just shall live by faith. Habakkuk 2.4 says, Behold, his
soul, which is lifted up, is not upright in him, but the just
shall live by his faith. Now you see I underlined some
things there. The soul that's lifted up is
the soul lifted up in pride, in self-righteousness, in the
works of men's hands. It's the soul imagining himself
or herself in the favor of God. by anything found in them, ultimately
by anything but the imputed righteousness of Christ. The soul lifted up
is the soul who is ignorant of Christ. They're ignorant of His
faithfulness. They're ignorant of His righteousness
as that alone which enables God to justify ungodly sinners. The
soul lifted up is the soul going about to establish their own
righteousness in opposition to the righteousness of God. Now
that soul, which is all of us by nature, all of us before we
come to the gospel, it says that soul is not upright in Him. That soul is not upright in Christ.
That soul looking within, it's not upright in Christ. It's upright
based on something it thinks it's found in itself, that soul
is. That soul imagines himself upright
by something other than Him. or in addition to Him, but not
by Christ and Christ alone. But the justified are those who
are delivered from their own uprightness. They're delivered
into the one uprightness they find in Christ alone. They're
those delivered from their own obedience, from their own faith.
The justified are those who shall live by His faith, it says in
that verse. That's by Christ's faith. He's
not talking about living by His faith, the faith the sinner has
in Him. He's talking about living by the faith of Christ. That's
how the justified live, by Christ's faith. Christ's faithfulness
is the source of spiritual life. The justified must and shall
be given that life in time. The justified are those who will
live out of the faith of the Son of God. Look at Galatians
2 and verse 20. Paul writes to the Galatians,
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. He said, I live by the faith,
by the faithfulness of the Son of God, by the faithfulness of
Christ. Christ's faithfulness to do what
his father sent him to do, that's the gospel. I mean, if you know
of Christ's faithfulness to do what His Father sent Him to do,
you know the Gospel. That's the light that reveals
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's all that
Christ has done to make it right for God. to deal in mercy toward
sinners. It's all that he's done. Now
we're going to take a few moments and consider Christ's faithfulness.
What was he faithful to? What was he sent to do? Did he
do it? Let's think about those things
for a minute. Look at Hebrews 3, verses 1 and 2a. Wherefore,
holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the
apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who
was faithful to him that appointed him. God the father appointed
him and he appointed him to do some things, to come to become
incarnate and to accomplish some things for his people. Christ
was faithful to fulfill the trust that his father placed in him
from all eternity. The Father entrusted His redemptive
glory to Christ. Look at John 17 in verse 1. We're
talking about Christ's faithfulness here now, to do what He was sent
to do. These words spake Jesus and lifted up His eyes to heaven
and said, Father, the hour has come, glorify Thy Son, that Thy
Son also may glorify Thee. From all eternity, God the Father
entrusted Christ with his glory, the honor of his character in
the redemption of sinners. He entrusted that glory to his
son, and Christ was faithful to honor that glory. He said,
Glorify thy son that thy son also may glorify thee. He's talking
here just before he goes to the cross and speaking of his impending
death on the cross. So, the first thing Christ was
faithful to was to uphold the Father's redemptive glory in
the salvation of sinners. That's the first thing the Father
entrusted to Christ. He also entrusted the complete
salvation of his elect to Christ. Look on at John 17 and verse
2. It says, as thou hast given him
power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him. Now, I've told you about that
word there, as thou hast given him. That word means those that
you entrusted to him. Those whose salvation you entrusted
to me, Christ is saying. It's time for me to give eternal
life to all those that you entrusted to me. So Christ is also faithful
in the complete salvation of the elect. The complete salvation
of every sinner who was given to him in eternity. Chosen in
him and justified in him based on his work from all eternity.
Christ was faithful to finish the work his father gave him
to do. Look on at John 17 verses 3 and 4. And this is life eternal,
that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the
earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do."
Finishing the work. the work that he was prophesied
to do. In the language of Daniel 9,
which prophesied of Christ's work, Christ was faithful to
make an end of sin and to bring in everlasting righteousness.
He was faithful to save every sinner he was given. He was faithful
to honor his Father's glory as a just God and Savior. And he
was faithful to pay the debt that he obligated himself to
in eternity. I quoted this verse last week,
let's look at it in Philemon chapter 17 and 19a. Now Paul
is writing here and he's talking about, he's writing to Philemon,
a wealthy man who had a slave who ran away, Onesimus, ran away
and Paul found him and he was converted under Paul's preaching
in the gospel. And Paul is writing back to Philemon. He said, If thou count me therefore
a partner, receive him, receive Onesimus, as myself. If he hath wronged thee, or oweth
thee aught, put that on mine account. I, Paul, have written
it with mine own hand. I will repay it. Now although
this language spoken by Paul here to Philemon concerning that
runaway slave He's talking to a person here
and he's talking about a runaway slave, but it's importance is
the language of a surety. You see, before time began, there
was a covenant between the Godhead and between the members of the
Godhead, the triune God, the Father, Son, Spirit. And this
is the language of Christ to his Father. If you count me a
partner, you receive these that you've given me as myself. If
any one of them has wronged thee, or if any one of them owes thee
anything, put it on my account. Charge it to me. I will repay
it. That's Christ speaking of the
elect. That's Christ speaking of his sheep. That's the language
of assurity. What Paul said back in Galatians,
the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith
of the Son of God, by the faithfulness of the Son of God. In other words,
Paul is saying he saw Christ's faithfulness as the source of
his spiritual life. And he saw anything short of
that understanding to be a denial of grace, a frustration of grace. Look at Galatians 2 and verse
21. Paul said, I do not frustrate
the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. I do not frustrate the grace
of God. It means I do not disesteem or
seek to nullify grace. I do not disesteem the salvation
that's conditioned on Christ alone. I do not disesteem the
faithfulness to put away sin and to establish the one righteousness
by which God freely justifies every elect sinner. I do not
seek to nullify the salvation that Christ alone has accomplished
for those he was given. The justified shall live. They'll
be given life. And Christ's faith, his faithfulness
is the source of that life. And this is the faith that believers
are exhorted to contend for in this world. Look at Jude 1 in
verse 3. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for
me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."
That's the gospel. That's the declaration of Christ
in the day that Paul is writing to Jude. And then in Philippians
1 in verse 27, He said, only let your conversation be as it
becometh the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you
or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand
fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the
faith of the gospel. That's that objective faith.
That's the source of life. The incarnate word who is declared
in and spoken of concerning by the preached word, he is the
source of spiritual life. The justified will live out of
faith. They will live out of the faith
which always reveals the righteousness of God. That faith, the body
of truth, the revelation of Christ, The righteousness he worked out,
the gospel, is the source of spiritual life. Faith is the
substance of things hoped for. But look back at Hebrews chapter
11 and verse 1. That's the first faith. Now let's
look at the second faith. It says, now faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The second
faith, the righteousness of God is revealed out of faith, out
of the truth, and into faith. The second faith is just as necessary,
just as vital as the first faith, not as a source, but as an evidence. The righteousness of God is revealed
out of the gospel that declares it, and it's revealed into the
faith which receives and rests in Christ for all of salvation.
It's the second faith that gives evidence that sinners are alive
spiritually. How do you know you're alive?
Because you have this faith. What faith? The faith that looks
to Christ alone. The faith that rests in His finished
work alone. You won't look anywhere else. They will live out of the
faith which declares Christ and they will live into the faith
which totally depends upon Christ for all of salvation. Look at
Hebrews 11 and verse 6. It says, but without faith it
is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him." Without faith, inward faith, subjective
faith, it's impossible to please God. I didn't say this earlier,
but I should have. You can't have inward faith without
understanding the outward gospel, the faith that declares Christ
to write. You can't have inward faith apart
from that. We all believe something under
another gospel, but it wasn't God-given faith. You can't please
God unless you be in the truth. You must believe that God is,
it says in that verse. Now this is more than just believing
that God exists. In other words, that there is
a God. The devils believe there's a God and they tremble at the
thought. But that's not justifying faith. To believe that He is,
is to believe that He is who He says He is. As Bill said,
it's to believe what the Word of God says He is. It's to believe
who this Word says He is. It's to believe what this Word
says distinguishes Him, the true and living God, from idols. It's
to believe that God is a just God and a Savior, that He shows
mercy to sinners on one basis and one basis alone, and that's
the righteousness Christ worked out. Now you can't please God
while believing any other message. You can't do it. You can't please
God while believing the lie that opposes the truth. The lie that
God will save you if you'll just walk an aisle, conform your life,
believe something or other. Salvation, the source of it,
the cause of it, is not even in believing. It's in the work
of Christ and that alone. To believe God you have to be
under the gospel that identifies him and distinguishes him from
idols. He that cometh to God must believe that he is. And
you can't please God except you believe, except you have embraced
the gospel. except you're finding all your
confidence in Christ, in Christ alone. Christ sent his disciples
forth to preach the gospel. Look at Mark 16, verses 15 through
16. And he said to them, he's speaking
to his disciples, go ye into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be downed. Now I told
you before, Believing, this inward faith is vital to salvation.
That verse right there and many others like it will tell you
that. He that believeth and is baptized will be saved, but what
about the one who refuses to believe the gospel? What about
the one who won't submit to Christ? Well, he shall be damned. Believing
on the Son is evidence Not a source, but it's evidence that a sinner
has life. They're believing not the source of life, but the evidence
that that life has been given. Look at John 3 and 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 abides on him. The one believing on the Son,
he has life. Not because he believes. He believes
because he has life. He believes because God has given
him life. That's why he can believe. That's why you can rest in Christ.
Like Bill said, if you're resting in Christ alone, if you're trusting
Him and His righteousness for all of salvation, it's because
God's given you faith. Because He's given you life.
The justified are those who will be guided to Christ. They will
be guided into this truth of the gospel by the spirit of truth.
Look at John 16 verses 13 through 15. Christ said, howbeit when
he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth,
for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall
glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto
you, all things that the Father hath of mine. Therefore said
I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you. You
see, the Spirit leads sinners to Christ. Under the Gospel,
the Spirit testifies of Christ. He doesn't testify of a work
within, although if you're regenerated, there's some marvelous work been
done in you. You've been given life. You've
been given faith. You've been given repentance.
You've been given a love for the Gospel and for the brethren.
But the Spirit doesn't point you to any of that for your confidence
before God. He points to Christ. He guides
you into the things of Christ. He won't ever lead you anywhere.
If you're being led anywhere to find confidence before God
in anything but the work of Christ and that exclusively, you're
not under the Spirit of God. You're under an evil spirit.
Also, the justified are those who are sanctified. They're set
apart by the truth of the gospel. Look at John 17, verses 15 through
17. This is part of Christ's high
priestly prayer for his elect here. He said, I pray not that
thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth. It says you're the justified
of those who are delivered from the evil. That's Christ's prayer.
That's the same evil Bill was talking about in that message
we heard earlier this morning. It's the evil of a sinner thinking
like those miserable comforters that came to Job. A sinner thinking
that they're right, that they're in God's favor based on anything
but the work of Christ alone. That's the evil. Now the justified
are those sanctified or set apart in this world from that evil
to the truth. They're set apart by the gospel
they believe, by the God they worship, by the Christ they serve,
and the righteousness that's in that gospel always revealed.
They rest there for all of salvation. The justified are given faith.
Faith is imparted to them in regeneration. And this faith
is evidence that those sinners are justified. It's not the source,
it's not the cause of justification, it's the evidence. And it's through
this faith that the justified begin to have peace with God.
Now we thought we had peace with God apart from this faith. But
we found out when we came to the gospel and God showed us
Christ, the faith, out of the faith, and gave us true inward
faith, we found out we didn't have peace at all. We had peace
that could be overcome by true peace. Look at Romans 5 verses
1 and 2. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Now, before
God saved me, I would have read that verse as the translators
wrote it here. Therefore, being justified by
faith, with being justified by faith. And I would have said,
well, when you come to believe, that's when God justifies you.
But there should be a comma after justified because he's been talking
about justification. Romans 4 is all about the justification
of Abraham. And the inverse is Christ was
delivered because of our offenses and raised again because of our
justification. And then he says, therefore,
being justified by the work of Christ, By faith, we have peace
with God. By faith, we understand how God,
how sinners are reconciled to God. It's by the death of Christ
and that alone. the justified begin to have peace
with the true and living God through the faith that we're
given in regeneration. And it's through this faith that
believers continue to have peace with God throughout the lifetime. As long as I remain in this world,
as long as I stay under the gospel, as long as I keep hearing of
the true Christ, I'll continue to have peace with God. Look
at Hebrews Trail 1 through 3. That's how we're exhorted to
have peace with God and to find confidence before God. We're
foreseeing we also are accomplished about with so great a cloud of
witnesses. You remember chapter 11, there's a whole list of witnesses
of the faith, by faith, each one of them. So we're accomplished
about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every
weight, anything that would hinder us from the gospel, anything
that would keep us from prayer, anything that would hinder our
fellowship, the weight and the sin which does so easily beset
us. The doubt, the uncertainty that
God's pleased to save us for one reason, because of Christ
and His work alone. He said, lay us out of every
way, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run
with patience the race that is set before us. Now, how are we
to run? Looking unto Jesus, the author, the beginner. He begins
in the gospel that reveals Christ, and the finisher of our faith.
All our hope is wrapped up in him from beginning to end, from
our initial beginning all the way unto final glory. Who for
the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is sat down at the right hand of the throne
of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of
sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your
minds. What will keep you from being
wearied? What will keep you from fainting? Look to Jesus, the
author and finisher of our faith. The justified are those who've
been delivered from looking within for confidence. The justified
are those who look to Christ alone and have no confidence
in the flesh. The righteousness of God is revealed
out of faith and into faith. It's revealed out of the faith
that declares Christ's righteousness imputed alone as the only way
God can justify an ungodly sinner. The Word of Christ, the Gospel,
is the source of spiritual life. And the righteousness of God
is revealed into the faith that rests in Christ's righteousness
alone for salvation. This faith is the evidence of
spiritual life. I'm about to wrap up. Are you
among the justified? Are you living by faith? Well,
if you're abiding in Christ you are. If you've got your bulletin
there, Look over at the last two sentences in Brother Jim
Byrd here's statement. If you're abiding in Christ,
if you're living by faith, your acceptance before God has never
been dependent upon you. but upon your surety from all
eternity. You're standing before God as
secure because you abide in Him forever. I'll close with one
verse. Look at 1 John 2 verse 28. John writes, And now, little
children, abide in him, that when he shall appear we may have
confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If
you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth
righteousness is born of him. If you know that Christ is righteousness,
if you know in all the universe there is but one righteousness
to be found, There's no righteousness within us. That righteousness
resides in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're righteous
because that righteousness is charged to our account. So if
you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth
righteousness, what is that? Abide in Him. Verse of prayer. If you abide in Him, you're doing
righteousness. So if you know that he is righteous,
you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him. The just shall live by faith.