Well, that's a good way to start
out. Great is the Lord's faithfulness to a message called living by
faith. And as you can see, I had to
add a little subtitle here. I told somebody earlier, I think
I bit off more than I could chew. I got, I had more to say than
I can get in one message. So we're going to have to look
at this in two, two different times. So today we're going to
be looking at living by faith. Who are the justified? That's
the primary subject we'll be dealing with. And if you're going
to follow along with me in the scriptures, the first one we'll
look at is Galatians three. So if you want to turn there,
go ahead. Three times in the New Testament
and once in the Old Testament, we see a statement. The statement
is, the just shall live by faith. Now we're going to look at these
three contexts that hold this statement, the just shall live
by faith. And as I said, we're going to
be talking about who are the justified. Who is this that shall
live by faith? It's the just. It's those who
are declared righteous by God. They're justified before God.
They're righteous in God's sight. They stand infinitely and unchangeably
righteous in the sight of a holy God. They're just and they're
righteous and they can never be otherwise. That's an amazing
thing. Their legal standing before God
is fixed. Their standing is unchangeable,
not based on anything they've done, not based on anything they
will do, but based entirely on the work of Christ for them. It's based on Christ's righteousness
imputed, charged to these sinners' accounts. They're justified because
they have a surety who said to his father, This is language
from Philemon, but this is what Christ said to his father in
eternity, before the world began. If they have wronged you, any
one of these have wronged you, or owe you anything, put it to
my account. I will repay it. These are justified
because Christ assumed their legal debt in eternity and because
he came in time and paid that debt in full. Now that's who
they are in a general sense, but we're going to look at the
scriptures as they defined these who are justified and distinguish
them in this world. The justified are first of all
the spiritual children of Abraham. They are those who've been delivered
from the law, from the curse of the law. Look at Galatians
3 and we'll start in verse 6 and we're going through verse 11.
This is the first scripture that holds that statement, the just
shall live by faith. Look at verse 6 here. It says,
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness. Now, if you wanted to read about
the justification of Abraham, go to Romans chapter 4. There's
a whole chapter there that deals with this statement and many
more concerning the justification of Abraham. He believed God. He believed that God would send
a Messiah, and that based on the work of that Messiah, God
would justify him and all who believe like him. That's what
Abraham believed. And the work of Christ is what
was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. Look at verse
7. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith are those
that believe the same thing Abraham believed. Those which are of
faith the same are the children of Abraham. Now he's not talking
about children in a physical sense here. He's talking about
children of Abraham in a spiritual sense. Verse 8. And the scripture
foreseeing that God would justify the heathen, that's the Gentile,
through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying,
In thee shall all nations be blessed. So we see here, he's
not talking about anything that God promised Abraham in a physical
sense. In thee shall all nations be
blessed, that's a spiritual promise, because that can only be done
through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It won't
be done through Abraham's physical offspring, but through his spiritual
offspring. Verse 9, So then they which be of faith
are blessed with faithful Abraham. And then we see a contrast here
in verse 10. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. So you have those that are of
faith and are blessed with Abraham, but those that are of the works
of the law and under the curse. And for them it is written, Cursed
is everyone that continues not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them, but that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall
live by faith. All right, what is, it says,
as many of the works of the law are under the curse. What is
the curse of the law? Well, It's pretty simple. The
law demands something that no sinner can ever measure up to.
The law sets a standard that's far above any obedience that
can be rendered by a sinner. It demands perfect continual
obedience. You see there in verse 10? Cursed is everyone who continues
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. Perfect, continual obedience to the law. That's what the law
demands. That's what it requires. And
to all who don't measure up to that standard, the justice of
God demands punishment. It demands the eternal wrath
of God. The eternal separation from God.
Eternal death to the soul that sins. The wages of sin is death. Now it says that these things
here in verse 11, it says that it's evident. That no man is
justified by the law in the sight of God, that's evidence. Well,
that's not evidence to us by nature. That's something we have
to be taught, that no man is justified. Because by nature,
we're all trying to work out our own righteousness by the
law. But we're talking about the sinner, the justified sinner,
living by faith. The justified have been redeemed
from the law's curse, the curse of the law. It demands something
we can't meet, and the justified are those who've been delivered
from that curse. How so? By the death of Christ. Let's
look on in Galatians 3, verse 12 through 14. The just shall live by faith,
but the law is not a faith, but the man that doeth them shall
live in them. In other words, if you do what
the law says, if you could do what the law said, you could
live based on your doing, but you can't do that. So there can
be no sinner justified by their doing or by the law. Verse 13,
Christ has 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, that's salvation
conditioned on Christ. the eternal spiritual blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Someone, someone
right now, someone in this world, someone in every generation has
been delivered from the curse of the law by Christ. And that
someone consists of every sinner that Christ represented in his
death. Christ has redeemed a multitude. He has redeemed the justified
from the curse of the law. These sinners are not condemned.
They cannot be punished for their sins. All their shortcomings,
all their sins have been answered in the death of Christ, their
surety and their substitute. But Although the justified have
been redeemed from the curse of the law, they're still born
under the law. Now, I'm going to have to explain
that a little bit because that might sound confusing, but it's
not. Like all other sons and daughters of Adam, those whom
God has already justified by the righteousness of Christ are
born looking to the law. They're born looking to their
obedience, their reformation, their character and conduct.
In other words, something found in them. They're looking to those
things as a means of righteousness and acceptance before God. And
they stay that way until the law stops their mouths and brings
them in guilty. Look at Romans 3, 19-20. Now
we know that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them
who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God. Therefore, by the deeds
of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for
by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law is speaking. It's speaking in this world anytime
it's read. It speaks to those who are under
the law. Now who is that who's under the
law? Every one of us by nature is under the law. By nature we're
all looking within ourselves for righteousness and acceptance
with God. None are looking to the righteousness
that God has provided in Christ. See, we start out our religious
journeys in this world looking within. What can I do? The Philippian
jailer said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And that's
all of us by nature. That's what we think. By nature,
none are righteous. And by nature, none are seeking
God. That's the language of the scripture. All are under the
law. All are seeking righteousness
by their works. So then, how are the justified
distinguished from everyone else in this world? If we're all born
under the law seeking righteousness, how are the justified distinguished?
Well, the mouths of the justified are stopped. Stopped from what?
stop from justifying themselves based on their law keeping. Stop
from justifying themselves based on their obedience. They're brought
in guilty before God. In other words, they're made
to see that they're worthy of God's eternal wrath based on
the very best obedience they can render to the law. That's
what the justified are made to see. Under the gospel, they see
and are persuaded that Christ's death has put away sin and provided
righteousness for every sinner he was given. In other words,
they become dead to the law by the body of Christ. They become
that way. They don't start out that way.
They become that way under the gospel and through the spirit
and regeneration. Look at Romans chapter 7 and
verses 4 through 6. It says, wherefore, Paul is writing
to believers here, he says, wherefore, my brethren, you also are become
dead to the law by the body of Christ, that you should be married
to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we
should bring forth fruit unto God. Let me stop right there. That wherefore takes us back
to those first verses here in Romans chapter 7, where he's
talking about the married woman is under the law of marriage,
under the law of her husband, as long as that husband lives.
But if that husband dies, she's no longer under that law of marriage.
She's no longer under that law to her husband. And we were under the law. We started
out under the law, but we become dead to the law when God sits
us down under the gospel, shows us what Christ has done in satisfaction
to the law and justice of God, in putting away the sin of His
people and bringing in that righteousness, and causes us to see our need
of being found in Him and in Him alone. Look on to Romans
7 and verse 5. It says, For when we were in
the flesh, the motions of sins which were by the law did work
in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now you
are delivered from the law, that being dead, or being dead to
that wherein you were held, that you should serve in newness of
spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. The justified
are those who, like all others, are born under the law. They're born looking within for
righteousness and acceptance with God. You see back there
in verse 5, it says they were, when we were in the flesh, that
means when we were under the law, when we were trying to work
out a righteousness before God based on our obedience, And during
that time, we were bringing forth not good fruit, evil fruit, fruit
unto death. So what distinguishes the justified?
They're not left that way. They won't be left in this mindset.
They won't be left going about to establish their own righteousness. The justified are those who become
dead to the law by the body of Christ. They're those who are
delivered from the law. They're those delivered from
being under that law as a means of righteousness. They serve
in newness of the Spirit, you see there in verse 6. In other
words, they find their acceptance before God, all their acceptance
before God, in Christ's work, in His work alone. And they're
delivered from the oldness of the letter. In other words, they're
delivered from their supposed acceptance by their doing. I
used to think I was accepted, I would have said, by the blood
of Christ. But it took my faith to appropriate
that blood. It took my faith, my repentance,
my making that dedication to make the real difference between
saved and lost. And when I was doing that, I
was bringing forth fruit unto death because I was serving in
the oldness of the letter and not in newness of the Spirit. The justified see Christ's satisfaction
to law and justice and the righteousness that resulted from His perfect
obedience to the law and sinless death. They see Christ as the
end of the law for righteousness. They're going to see that in
this lifetime. Look at Romans 10 and verse 4. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believes. Christ is the
fulfillment of the law. He has met its demands in precept
and penalty. He fulfilled all its demands
for obedience and satisfied all its demands for justice. as a
representative, substitute, and surety of His people. The only
way for any sinner to be free from under the law, in other
words, under that law, seeking righteousness by that law, the
only way for any sinner to be free from that is in Christ's
fulfillment of the law. Even those whom God has justified,
justified in eternity, justified based on the imputed righteousness
of Christ, even before the world began. But even those whom God
has justified, they're born under the law. They're under the law
in their mind. Now, if you haven't read the
article, don't take the time to read it now, but be sure to
read that article by Gary on the back of your bulletin because
it's talking about exactly what I'm talking about right here.
justified from eternity by Christ's work, but in our minds we still
need to be delivered from the law. The justified are under the law
seeking righteousness until Christ ends the law for righteousness.
He didn't end the law. The law is still in effect, but
He ended the law for righteousness. He ended the law as a means for
sinners to be just before God. It never was a means to that
end, but that's how we saw it in our fallen nature. And Christ
ends that law for righteousness to all who believe the gospel,
to all who look to him for salvation, to all who are justified. The
justified are those redeemed from the curse of the law. It's
demand for their eternal death, and they're redeemed by the death
of Christ, their substitute and surety. And they're delivered
from being under the law as a means of acceptance. They're delivered
by the gospel, which declares Christ as the end of the law
for righteousness to every sinner that looks to him alone for salvation. The justified are those who live
by faith. They're those delivered from
the law. delivered from its curse, and delivered from being under
it as a means. And it's that second deliverance
there, that delivered from being under it as a means of salvation,
that identifies and distinguishes, one of the things that identifies
and distinguishes the justified in this world. Who are the justified? They're
those delivered from the law. Okay, let's look on at the justified. They are those who are delivered
unto the righteousness of God. We'll see the second scripture
here which holds our statement, the just shall live by faith.
Look at Romans 1, 16 and 17. Paul says, for I'm not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God and the
salvation to everyone 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. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ because in that gospel, in that message, the righteousness
of God is always revealed. It takes something powerful to
deliver sinners out from under the eternal wrath of God and
into the eternal unchangeable favor of God. It takes something
powerful. It takes something powerful to deliver sinners from
being under the law as a means of acceptance. It takes something
powerful to deliver sinners from thinking that we can do something
to be right with God. It takes something powerful.
It takes the righteousness of God. What makes it right for
God to justify one sinner and not justify another sinner? How
can he do that rightly? What makes it right for God to
declare one sinner righteous in his sight and not another?
What makes it right for God to forgive and pardon the sins of
one sinner but leave the other sinner under sin? What makes it right for God to
love Jacob and hate Esau, which he says he does in Romans 9.
There's one answer to all these questions. It takes the righteousness
of God. God has provided a righteousness
that makes it right for him to show mercy to those of his choosing. Christ established this righteousness
by his obedience unto death. He fulfilled the law, obeyed
it perfectly. He satisfied God's justice, suffering
all the demands of that justice against those sinners he was
given. God charged him with the sins of his sheep, and he's charged
them, the sheep, with the righteousness of Christ. The results of his
obedience unto death is the righteousness of God, and they are justified. In other words, they stand and
are declared righteous in God's sight. because of Christ's righteousness
imputed alone. Now we could talk on and on about
the righteousness of God. We have and we do in every gospel
message. We could spend a week or so here
probably talking about that particular thing, but for the sake of brevity,
the justified are those in every generation who are delivered
from being under the law. They're delivered from thinking
that they need to do something to get right with God. They're
delivered unto the doing and dying of Christ alone for all
their rightness, all their acceptance with God. They are delivered
unto the righteousness Christ worked out, charged and imputed
to them. They're delivered unto the righteousness
of God. They live by faith. They rest
in Christ's righteousness imputed. That's all their salvation. That's
why What makes it right for God to be just and justifier? The
imputed righteousness of Christ alone. That's the heart of the
gospel. That's why we talk about that righteousness so much from
this pulpit. Okay, who are the justified? They're those who are delivered
from the law, they're those who are delivered unto the righteousness
of God, and they're those who persevere in the faith. This
is the third context in which we'll find the statement, the
just shall live by faith. Look at Hebrews 10 and verse
35. Cast not away, therefore, your
confidence, which has great recompense of reward. For you have need
of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you might
receive the promise for yet a little while. And he that shall come
will come and will not tarry. The writing here is encouraging
these believers to just be patient. God is not slack concerning his
promise to return. He's just bringing his elect
to the gospel. He's calling sinners out of darkness
by the message unto Christ. He's not slack. He will not tarry.
Now the just shall live by faith, verse 38. But if any man draw
back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we're not of them
who draw back into perdition, but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul. The justified are those who persevere
in the faith. They persevere in the gospel.
They persevere in the righteousness of Christ imputed alone. We are
not of them who draw back unto perdition. Having been delivered
from the law and having been delivered unto the righteousness
of God, the justified will continue. to find their confidence before
God in Christ's finished work, and they're alone. They'll have
no confidence in the flesh that is in their doing. Okay, in these
three contexts, we've answered this question, who are the justified? The justified are those chosen
in Christ and made righteous in him before the world began.
But they're made known in this world in each generation by their
doctrine. by their God, by their gospel,
by the righteousness they rest in. They're delivered from being
under the law. They're delivered unto the righteousness
of God. And they're those who persevere
in the faith. The just shall live by faith.
Now, we've spoken at length about who the justified are and how
they're identified. But the statement says, those
whom God has justified shall live by faith. They shall live
in time. They shall live throughout eternity. The justified shall live. They
must live. What is this life? Well, it's
not the physical life that we're born into this world having.
It is rather a life that we must be given after our physical birth
into this world. It's spiritual life. It's the
new birth. It's the life imparted to a sinner
in regeneration. Christ told Nicodemus, you must
be born again. It's that life. This is the life
that is the quickening from the dead. Ephesians 2 and verse 1
says, for you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and
sins. Born spiritually dead. We must
be made alive. Contrary to our thinking by nature,
we're not spiritually alive in any sense of the word. Not in
any way to any degree. We're dead. By nature we think
and we're taught that there's just a little spark of goodness
in all of us. We just need to fan that little
spark into a flame so that you can stand. accepted by God. That's our thinking by nature.
But the scripture says there's none good, no not one. There's no goodness in any of
us based on anything found in us. That's the language of the
scripture. By nature we all think that we're seeking after God,
the true and living God, apart from and before we learn about
the righteousness of God. But the scripture says that none
are seeking after God. It doesn't say they're not seeking
after a God. We are seeking after a God, but
we're not seeking after the true and living God. We're not seeking
after a God who justifies ungodly sinners such as we are based
on Christ's finished work and on that basis alone. The scriptural
example of spiritual deadness is Lazarus. Not as he was alive,
but as he lay in the tomb dead. It's a corpse. already put into
the grave. Now you can fan a corpse as much
as you want to and buy whatever you want to, but that corpse
is not going to move. It's dead. The justified shall
live. They will be made alive. They will be given life, but
they can't be given life on the basis of anything found in them. Not their faith, not their reformation,
not walking in an aisle, not anything else. Why not? Because
they're dead. They don't have life. They can't
have faith. Upon what basis then are such
sinners given life? They're given life on the basis
of Christ's righteousness imputed. Christ's righteousness charged
to their account. God has charged to them the righteousness
Christ worked out by His obedience unto death. God has justified
them on that basis, and they're given life on that same basis. They're justified, and they're
given life, spiritual life. which is the fruit and result
of Christ's righteousness imputed. Justification necessarily precedes
life as certainly as life precedes faith. Now that's a mouthful,
and I'm going to explain it a little bit. In order to have faith,
you first have to have life. You can't have faith without
life. And in order to have life, you must be justified. You must
stand righteous in God's sight. That's the basis of life. In
order to be justified, you must have Christ's righteousness charged
to your account. Now we can see this faith, this
life, this justification manifested in the scriptures all the way
back to Genesis, to Abel. Look at, I said Genesis, but
we're going to read about Abel in Hebrews chapter 11 and verse
4. It says, by faith, That's inward
subjective faith, able, offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice
than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous. He was justified. He obtained
witness to that. God testifying of his gifts,
and by it he being dead, yet speaketh. Abel brought a more
excellent sacrifice than Cain. He brought the blood he was commanded
to bring. He brought the blood of the sacrifice.
Cain brought the works of his own hands. Abel's sacrifice proved,
in other words, it gave evidence of his faith, which proved his
spiritual life. His sacrifice gave evidence of
his life by which he obtained witness or gave evidence that
he was righteous. In other words, his sacrifice
by faith proved that he was a justified sinner. He was justified And
therefore, he lived, and therefore, he believed. Now see, by nature,
we got that backwards. We think you believe, then you
live, then you're justified. No. No, that's all backwards. God justified us on the basis
of Christ's work alone. In time, we're given life and
then faith to lay hold of and plead Christ's righteousness
alone. God declared Noah not just able, but Noah righteous
in his generation. Look at Genesis 7 and verse 1.
And the Lord said unto Noah, come thou and all thy house into
the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. You could just as easily put
the word justified there for righteous. Thee have I seen justified. Thee have I seen righteous. In
every generation, it's the justified who live. It's the justified
who are given spiritual life because God has declared them
righteous on the basis of Christ's righteousness imputed to them.
It's the justified who shall live, and it's the justified
who must live. They must be given life. Christ
worked. His righteousness demands that
they be given life. Last of all, it's the justified
who shall live by faith. Now, I'm just going to get into
this point right here. This is where I had to, I told
you I had to break this message up, and this is where I had to
break it up. But I want to explain a little bit about this faith.
I'm going to have to bring another message on this part. It's the
justified who shall live, and they shall live by faith. What
is this faith by which those who are justified shall live?
Look back at Romans 1, 16a and 17. 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. Now you see I underline from
faith to faith. The literal translation there
is out of faith into faith. There are two faiths there, both,
and they're separate and they're different. The righteousness
of God is revealed out of the faith, in other words, it's revealed
out of the body of truth that declares Christ. It's revealed
out of the gospel. That's the first faith. That
has to come first. And it's revealed unto the subjective,
into the subjective inward God-given faith, second faith, different
faith. It's the faith which believes
the gospel. It's the faith that receives
Christ and His righteousness imputed for all of salvation.
First, there's that object of faith. The Gospel reveals that
object. It reveals the Savior. It reveals
the righteousness that He's worked out. And second, there is the
belief. There is rest in and dependence
upon Him, Christ, and His righteousness. No sinner can have the right
object of faith until he hears the Gospel. You see, we grow
up thinking we believed in Christ. I did that for 10 years under
a message of works. But I came to understand, I wasn't
looking to the Christ revealed in the scriptures, I was looking
to one of my imagination. No sinner can have the right
object of faith until he hears the gospel. And I'll have a lot
more to say about faith in another message. Let me summarize what
I said today and I'll be through. Who in this world in any given
generation will live by faith? The justified will live by faith.
Who are the justified? They are those in every generation
who are delivered from being under the law as a means of righteousness
and acceptance with God. They are those delivered unto
the righteousness of God. They lay hold of and see that
righteousness as the only way God can declare them just. They
are those given life on the basis of Christ's righteousness imputed
to them. And there are those who persevere in the faith, resting
in Christ alone for all their salvation, up to and including
final glory in heaven. Are you, am I, among those in
this world, in this generation, who are justified? Are you standing
with those who are walking and living by faith? Are you confident
that this message that declares Christ unto this world is the
only truth by which God justifies ungodly sinners? Are you walking? Are you living by faith?