here in Romans chapter 1 verses
16 and 17. Particularly on verse 17. Let me go ahead and I'll just
read the scripture first. Paul writing here this opening
of the letter to the Romans, the Christians in Rome. And I
think really Again, like I said this morning, I don't know how
much I really have to say this morning, and hopefully my thoughts
aren't too scattered that it just makes a mess of things,
but may the Lord give me utterance. First thing we gotta remember
is this is a letter to Christians, as is all the letters in the
scriptures, as is all the things in the scriptures. They're all
written to the people of God, right? But as we see here, in
Paul's opening to the letter, it says, to all that be in Rome,
beloved of God, called to be saints. So this letter is to
those who are called to be saints, the beloved of God. OK, so on
the outset, we see that the context of this letter is something that
is written to and his audience is the people of God, the beloved
of God. That's who he's talking to. So
whenever he's giving all this stuff from Romans 1 to Romans,
what is it, 15, 14, 16, to the last of the letter, it's all
directed to and involving those audience members, okay? The beloved
of God. That's who this primarily is
to those who are in Rome. I believe it also has some meaning
for us today. We're the blood of God as well,
but particularly those who are in Rome. So he's writing this
to them. He's longing to come to them,
to see them, to impart unto them a spiritual gift. Not that he's
going to convey a work inside of them that's going to cause
them to be able to do a spiritual gift, but he is going to convey
and impart unto them some spiritual gift that God has given him to
convey the gospel, convey comfort to them, right? So Paul's whole
writing here is the fact that I want to come to you that are
in Rome. I'm the apostle to the Gentiles. God has called me to
be the apostle to the Gentiles, and that just so happens to be
who you are. You are the people, the beloved of God, Rome, not
in Jerusalem, not in Israel, but in Rome. You are the Gentiles. So I long to come to you and
to impart to you some spiritual gift. But Paul says in verse
15, so as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to
you that are at Rome also. Now he just said that he was
a debtor both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, to the wise
and to the unwise. So he's ready to preach to anybody,
to everyone that will listen, that will hear. He's ready to
preach to them. But he says, but I am ready to
preach the gospel to you that are in Rome also. And again,
we can't pull that away from his context. Those who are the
beloved of God who are in Rome. That's who he's talking to. I'm
wanting to come to Rome to preach to you, the audience that I'm
writing to. The gospel. So the preaching
of the gospel that is in context here is the preaching to those
who are already the beloved of God. Okay? Those who are already believers.
Those who have already been called to be saints. The church that
is at Rome. Those people that have already
been quickened of the Holy Ghost, that have already been given
faith and given repentance, where they have turned from their false
beliefs and their false gods and their idol worship, and have
turned to Christ and have believed upon Christ, they are the saints
of God. These are the ones that He is
talking to. And these are the ones that He
is desiring to come and preach the Gospel to. He didn't say,
I come to preach on your street corners to all those who don't
know and is not the beloved of God, that is not called to be
saints, that are not the church. He didn't say that. He said,
I desire to come to preach to those of the beloved, those who
belong to him. I come to preach the gospel to. But notice if you would, he goes
right from that into verse 16 and 17, which in my opinion,
verse 16 and 17, particularly 16, is a very misunderstood
verse, a verse that is often used in the defense of gospel
regeneration, gospel salvation, that we are saved by preaching,
by men's preaching, okay? But he says, I'm desiring to
come to you and preach the gospel to you For I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth." The gospel is not the power of
God unto salvation to the unbeliever, to the one who is not already
a believer. And this is where people get
this mixed up, I believe. is they preach that this, that
the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. That if you preach
the gospel, the unbeliever will become the believer and then
they will be saved. They will be justified by their
believing. That's what we hear on almost
every church corner that's out here today. But brethren, this
is saying that number one, this gospel he desires to preach,
he's going to people who have already become believers. So this gospel is for the one
who has been made, brought to, granted, given belief already. So that means they've already
been quickened. That means they have already been converted.
That means they have already been preached the gospel before
and have began to believe the gospel and are living in the
belief of that gospel. And he is desiring to come and
to preach that same gospel to them. And it says here, he's
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Now remember, the gospel
of Christ is the good news, right? That's what gospel means, good
news. It's the good news of Christ. It's not the good news of good
news. Which, the people that believe
in gospel salvation, gospel regeneration, They are basically saying that,
that the gospel is the gospel of good news about good news. The good news is that if you
believe the good news, then you can be saved. So the good news
is the good news that you can hear and believe. See, we're
not, nobody, nobody, listen, I pray that you hear this and
understand this and take it to its not only logical conclusion,
but its biblical conclusion. Men, women, children, the elect
of God are not ever saved by preaching the gospel, hearing
the gospel, reading the gospel, They are not saved in a legal
sense before God, justified. They are not set in favor in
righteousness before God by believing this gospel. This gospel is the
good news about their salvation. So whenever we talk about the
gospel of Christ, it's the good news of Christ, not the good
news that you can have Christ or not the good news, not the
good news that you believe on Christ and then you get something.
No, it is the good news of Christ. And what does that mean, the
good news of Christ or the gospel of of all the work that Christ has
done. The person and the work. Now we talked just a few weeks
ago about the testimony, remember? The testimony of Christ. Paul
talked about that in Corinthians. About that the Holy Spirit has
established in the heart of every child of grace the testimony
of Christ, his person and his work. Well, Paul is saying the
same thing here. He is not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ or the testimony of Christ because it is the power
of God unto salvation. What is the good news of Christ?
That there is the power of God unto salvation. It's not the
power of the good news unto salvation, it's the power of God unto salvation. I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. What is the gospel of Christ?
The testimony of what He has done, who He is. He is not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God. What
is the power of God? That inward work. of changing the heart, that inward
work of giving faith and repentance where the natural man cannot
have faith and cannot have repentance apart from that quickening of
the Holy Spirit. It is the power of God. We see
it all throughout the Scripture. Stay with me right there in Romans,
but look back again at Isaiah 53 and verse 1. You've heard me say this many
times. Isaiah 53 and verse 1, it says,
Who hath believed our report? And then he follows that up with
a second question. However, that second question
actually reveals the answer to the first question. Who hath
believed our report and to whom is the arm or the power of the
Lord revealed? The one who believes the report
about Jesus Christ is the one unto whom the power of the Lord
has exerted Himself upon. The one who believes the report
is the one unto whom the arm of the Lord has revealed who Christ is and what Christ
has done. That's who believes. The Bible says that my people
shall be made willing in the day of His power. Right? So the believing of the
report, the believing of the testimony, the believing of the
gospel, the faith of the elect that they have on the Lord Jesus
Christ is not something that is inherent in them, that is
not something that comes because they hear a magical message and
then that magical message does some magical work in their heart
and now they have all of a sudden had this enchantment as C.H.
Spurgeon calls it, this enchantment of the Holy Spirit, which by
the way I disagree with C.H. Spurgeon and what he said about
that. It is not an enchantment. It
is not magic. It is not the gospel itself that
does the work. It is the object of the gospel
that does the work. Christ is the one who did the
obedience for us. Christ is the one who did the
dying for us. And in that, the obedience and
the dying, therein is the righteousness of God revealed. Christ's righteousness,
the only righteousness that God ever, ever accepts, the only
righteousness that ever exists. There is no other righteousness. There is no righteousness in
you or me or anybody else out there. Facebook land or YouTube
land or sermon audio land, there is no more righteousness to be
found. There is only righteousness found
in Christ Jesus. He is righteousness and He has
procured righteousness on our behalf. He is righteousness. And so the
righteousness of God that is revealed is not Christ in you,
working in you, working out a righteousness in you, because the Bible says
that our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. So you can't
say that Christ is working righteousness in me so that others may see
the righteousness of Christ because God says our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Now that word righteousnesses
is not our unrighteousnesses. A lot of people think that when
God said there is none righteous, no not one, and all of our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags, they take that to mean that Well that's
talking about all of the good works that we try to do for God
or in God's place or something like that. That's not counting
the work that God is doing through us. No, brethren, listen, it
says all of our righteousness. That means all of the good deeds,
all the good works, all the wonderful things that we do, all the things
that we put forth before God or before man to be considered
as righteousness. God says it's filthy rags. And
Paul says the reason that it's filthy rags is because that in
me dwelleth no good thing, and that all my righteousness are
filthy rags, that everything that I do is tainted with sin,
therefore everything that I do is not of faith, it is of works,
it is me trying to do something, and everything that I try to
do in the flesh is nothing but unrighteousness. So that's what
Paul defines for us, that is what Paul gives for us as righteousness
is not our inherent righteousness because of God working in us.
Now, does God work in us? Absolutely, He does. I am not
denying that. Is God in there to infuse righteousness
in you so that you in and of yourself become righteousness?
No, I am not saying that. I am not saying that. God works
in you and the righteousness that God works in you is not
for you to be more holy and obedient to the law, but it is God working
in you to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ who obeyed the law. That's what the righteousness
that God is working in you. He's working the righteousness
of faith in you, which is looking unto Jesus, the author and the
finisher of our faith. It is looking to Christ as our
obedience. Looking to Christ as our substitute. not as looking to Christ who
is our helper to accomplish righteousness, to be righteousness. No, it is
to completely and totally debase ourselves of any type and any
ability for righteousness and to trust solely on the one who
is our righteousness. That's what faith does. That's
what faith is given to us on. Not faith given to us so that
we might muster it up ourselves so that we can grasp hold of
Christ and that we might follow after Him and follow after His
example and do like He did. No, that's not what that is for.
Faith is given to us to receive the testimony of Christ. Faith is given to us so that
we might receive, believe, and live upon the faith of Christ. Not our faith. and the upworking
and the outworking of our faith, it is to live upon Christ, His
faithfulness, His work that He has done. So when Paul comes
here and says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God. What? The Gospel of Christ, the
testimony of Christ, is the testimony of the power of God unto salvation. Christ has come and actually
saved. He's not saving people. He has
saved His people. Christ is not in time, onesies
and twosies, coming along to anyone who will believe in saving
them, saying, OK, if you believe on me, OK, I'm going to save
you now. I'm going to save you now. OK, you're justified. You're
justified. You're justified now. No, it
was a corporate work that God did on our behalf. Just as it
was a corporate work that we all died in Adam, right? As in
one man all became sinners, so also in one man all became justified. It was a corporate work, a corporate
event. The cross of Jesus Christ is
the place, is the subject matter. The cross of Jesus Christ and
His work and the finished work, and that entails His obedience
prior to the cross, which by the way, the obedience before,
prior to the cross is what qualifies Him to be the one to die on the
cross. So the obedience can never be,
can't never be divorced from The work on the cross, I hear
some people, we use the term passive and active and passive
obedience, his active obedience and his passive obedience and
everything. y'all can argue all that out
all you want all I know is this is that without the obedience
there can't be the sacrifice and the sacrifice is only there
because of the obedience the obedience is always connected
with the sacrifice the spotless lamb is the only one that can
be slain so there has to be a spotlessness first before there can be a sacrificial
lamb that is of any importance okay so the obedience and the
death are all tied together as is the resurrection. Obedience,
death and resurrection, they are all tied together. That is
the gospel of Christ. That is the good news. The good
news is that Christ has accomplished salvation for his people by the
power of God. That people are quickened by
the power of God. That faith and repentance is
given by the power of God. That perseverance is by the power
of God. Everything is about the power
of God, not the responsibility or the response of man. It's
all about God. Man doesn't have any responsibility
because, listen, God is at the heart of everything. Whether
it's the legal aspect of salvation or the experiential aspect of
your outflow of salvation, what comes the fruit of salvation,
Your experience, your knowledge, your understanding, your quickening,
your repentance, your faith, your perseverance is all by the
power of God, not inherent in you. So therefore, even our experience
of that legal salvation is all by the sovereign hand of God
who works it, who does it, who completes it in us. And we can't
take any credit for it. It's not our responsibility,
it's His responsibility. It's Christ's responsibility
to give me faith. It's Christ's responsibility
to give me the measure of faith. It's Christ's responsibility
to quicken my heart. It's Christ's responsibility
to cause me to repent and turn from thinking that I have a righteousness
of my own that can come out of me and looking to Christ alone.
It's Christ's responsibility to keep me and to hold me and
to preserve me. That's his responsibility. So
this whole issue of balancing God's sovereignty and responsibility
is ridiculous. Because man cannot respond to
God, much less have a responsibility to do anything God would, because
the natural man can do nothing but sin. The only thing that
can be of any value is what Christ did in our place. And if it's
about us doing it in us, and God accepting that, then Christ
died in vain. Christ died for no reason. And then that, my
friend, is no good news. The good news of Christ is no
good news if Christ isn't the one who actually accomplished
salvation. If he just made salvation a plan, made it possible, then
that's not good news because there's a possibility that the
plan might fail. There's a possibility that I
might not achieve that salvation. It's not good news. I've used
the illustration before. I think back, I can't remember,
I think it was Brother Royce that gave this illustration one
time in a sermon I heard him preach. It may have been somebody
else, if it was, I'm sorry, whoever it was. But he gave the illustration
that getting the mail, most people
do, we don't get them anymore. We used to get them all the time
when we were younger. But you used to get in the mail
all the time these publisher clearinghouse things. You could
win, you know, all this stuff. Millions and millions of dollars,
right? And everything. And man, that would be exciting.
Boy, if we could just get all of that and everything. Now,
if I get a letter in the mail that says, you could win $10
million, if you will, and then fill in the blank, well, that's
really not good news. But what are the odds? If you
read down in those little words down at the bottom, the fine
print, you'll see usually the odds are like one in like 15
billion that you're gonna win this thing, okay? The odds are if you buy this
and buy this, or if you continue in this subscription or whatever,
all this stuff that you do, if you keep sending this in, then
you'll get to the next level, then to the next level, then
to the next level, then you get to the next level, And then the
big drawing comes, and then you could win the 10. If you do this,
you can win 10. See, that's not good news to
me. Now, if I get something in the
mail that says, you have won $10 million, and the full sum
has been deposited into your bank, that's good news. That's good news for you. Guess
what? I don't have to do anything. It's been given to me. It's been
deposited into my account. It's mine forever. I don't have
to do anything for it. Now, I know that's kind of a
silly illustration, but brethren, that's what we're talking about.
The good news is news of something that has been accomplished, not
that might be accomplished if conditions and terms are met. Terms and conditions. Don't you
hate to see that whenever you're reading through some legal work
and there's terms and conditions apply? Sign up for this nice
new credit card. Terms and conditions apply. Well,
what's the terms and conditions? After so many days, you're going
to be charged 50% interest on your credit card. What is the
condition? If you don't pay within 23 days,
then you're going to have this much added to it. Terms and conditions.
Oh, you mean I got a card that I can buy anything on? Yet terms
and conditions apply, though. Well, see, that's not good news.
It's good news with a caveat. You can have salvation, but you've
got to do all this. Well, guess what? To somebody
who has actually been spiritually awakened, spiritually alive,
that is given knowledge and understanding of the things of God, when they
look at the Scripture, they see the Scripture teaches, I can't
do that. What do you mean, I can't do that? So you say, I can have
that if I do this, but I can't do this. The terms and conditions
now have condemned me. There is no good news when there
is conditions. There is lots of good news when
the record says it's done, it's finished, it's over, and guess
what? It's yours, laid to your account,
already in your bank. already on your record. And it
can't be taken away. It can't be added to and it can't
be diminished. Boy, I wish I had a bank account
like that, right? Just a never-ending bank account
that never does diminish. But that's how it is with God's
righteousness. It can never diminish. But it
can't be ever added to either. It is what it is. It's a perfect
salvation. It's a perfect righteousness.
And Paul says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Not the gospel of our preaching,
the gospel of our good news, the gospel of what you should
do, but the gospel of Christ, the good news of what Christ
has done. For it is the power of God unto
salvation to every one that believeth and only to them and them only.
The gospel. That's why Paul wanted to go
preach the gospel to already saved people. Because he knows
that that to them is the power of God. That is the comfort that
gives them comfort. That is what causes them to rejoice. That is what causes them to rejoice
in the Lord, always. It's the hearing of their finished
salvation. Not the plight of the Christian
to maintain a salvation, or to grasp at a salvation, but it
is the work of a finished salvation. Paul has no shame to come and
say, it's not about your gods, it's not about this, not about
that. Everybody knows that. Nobody has, most Christians have
no problem coming out and saying, Buddha's not the one, Muhammad's
not the one, higher Christian's not the one, you know, all these,
the Pope's not the one, We don't have a problem with that, but
how many people can come out and say, that Jesus and that
God that you are saying that you are worshiping, that says
you can have salvation if you do this, how many people are
saying that's not the one either? That Jesus is not the Jesus of
the Bible that has made salvation possible, that's a false Jesus,
that's an idol. Paul says, I'm not ashamed to
preach the gospel of Christ, and the gospel of Christ is the
gospel that it is the power of God unto salvation, not the power
of man and his responsibility. Not the power of man and his
preaching. Not the power of man and his receiving, believing,
repenting, good works. It's not that that is the power
of God. The power of God is the power
of Christ. It's a finished work. It's done.
It is over. In 2 Timothy chapter 1, we see the purpose of the Gospel
is not to get people saved. The purpose of the Gospel is
to not get people quickened. There is a 2 Timothy in this
Bible, I'm sure of it. Timothy chapter 1 and look at verse 9. Who have saved us and called
us with a holy calling not according to our works but according to
His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. Brethren, it was finished before
the foundation of the world. Salvation was finished before
the foundation of the world. You keep wanting to say people
are getting saved and now. Well, I don't have a problem,
necessarily, with people saying that. I kind of cringe just a
little bit because I wonder what they mean by it. But if you mean
saved from error, saved from wrong knowledge, then I will
agree. The Lord is saving people from
the darkness of their own understanding. Now, in time, He is giving them
knowledge and understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ and His
gospel. He's given them understanding of their finished salvation in
Christ Jesus. So He is saving them from error. He is saving them from their
pursuit of unrighteousness and giving them a pursuit of trusting
on Christ and His righteousness alone. In that regard, He is
saving people. But whenever it's talking about
they are unsaved as far as before God, their salvation, their justification,
Their sanctification before God is something that is a fluid
thing and that is in time waiting to be happening. No, that is
not happening. That was before the foundation
of the world because it says right here, He has saved us past
tense, called us past tense with a holy calling, not according
to our worth, but according to His own purpose and grace. That's
how we were saved and called, according to His own purpose
and grace. But what was the substance? His own purpose and grace of
salvation was always, always, always, even though it was in
eternity, even though it was done before the foundations of
the world was laid, it was a done thing. It still was based upon
the substance of Christ and Him crucified. Yes, Christ had to
come, Christ had to die. We believe that just because
we believe in eternal justification, because we believe in eternal
salvation, because we believe in everything predestined and
finished before the works of creation, just because we believe
that does not negate the fact that Christ had to come in time
as God had purposed that in the In His day, in His time, His hour
had come. There was a time allotted for
Christ to come, and we see that. Verse 10, but is now made manifest. What is now made manifest? The
saving, the calling before the foundation of the world that
was in the purpose and grace of God that was given to us.
is now made manifest. The fact that God saved us and
called us past tense, it's a done thing. All of God's decreed things
were complete. He's not decreeing things now.
He decreed them all from the beginning. That's why the Bible
says, known unto God are all His works, the end from the beginning.
That He has decreed all things, declared all things. But now they're being made manifest.
There is a revealing of these things. There is a pulling back
of the curtain to show us what was already in eternity. To pull back and show us what's
already been given us, what's already been accomplished for
us. And he says right here, but is
now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
who hath abolished death and hath brought life, and immortality
to light through the gospel, not to life through the gospel. The gospel does not bring people
to life. The gospel does not bring people
into salvation. It manifests. It reveals. It opens up the curtain so that
you might see what all has been done behind the veil. Remember that veil used to be
closed and nobody could see what was going on behind the veil.
But what was going on behind the veil? What went on behind
that big giant curtain that separated that inner court or the Holy
of Holies from the rest of the tabernacle? What went on behind
there? Well, that's where the high priest
went in with the blood. After he had purified himself,
he went in with the blood and he sprinkled that blood on the
seat of mercy. He offered that to God and God
received that sacrifice. Listen, that was behind the veil.
It was unseen. People didn't see what was going
on back there. The priest is the only one who knew what was
going on back there. But that veil has been rent in too. We
now can see and we can know and we can experience what was going
on behind the veil all along. And the Bible says in Hebrews
that Christ entered into that tabernacle not made with but
that heavenly tabernacle and offered up that sacrifice and
God accepted that sacrifice and the Bible said that he was as
the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. The Bible says
that that tabernacle of this earth was patterned after the
one that was in the heavenlies. My only thought can go to that
was what God had already purposed before the foundation of the
world And even though Christ had not yet in time come and
died on that cross, He stood as that Lamb slain with the blood
in the altar there before God, before the foundation of the
world. God saw and purposed all of that, and it was so, even
though it had not yet been. That's why it says here, He has
saved us and called us before the foundation of the world in
the purpose and grace of God, but is now made manifest, and
the gospel is what brings this to light to everybody. This is
what manifests that to us. This is what Paul's saying, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believes it, to the Jew first and then also
to the Greek. And here it is in verse 17. For
therein, therein what? The gospel. The righteousness
of God, therein is the righteousness of God revealed The Gospel reveals
the righteousness of God. It doesn't impart the righteousness
of God. It doesn't impute the righteousness
of God. The Gospel doesn't impute anything
to you. God imputes righteousness to
you by the power of God, by the decree of God. See, imputation
is a declaration. Imputation is not impartation. They are two different words,
brethren, that people often mix up. We are imputed righteousness. We are not actual righteous.
We are imputed with righteousness. That means that God has declared
us righteous, but He hasn't made us righteous. Christ is the righteousness. It's His righteousness that God
accepts, that stands before God. All these little bitty glimpses
of obedience and righteousness that we might show in this flesh,
they're filthy rags, and on the Day of Judgment, they're not
going to even come up. They say, well, wait a minute,
preacher, the Bible says that we all should stand before the
judgment seat of God, and to each man, they're going to give
an account for all the things that they've done in this flesh,
and they're going to give an account, and there's going to be things
that's going to be barked up, there's going to be wood, hay,
stubble, and all that kind of stuff. Brethren, listen, when
we stand before the Lord, we all are going to give an account.
The reprobate is going to give an account for all the works
that they have done, because the only works that they have done
on their behalf are the ones that they did, which is nothing
but wood, hay, and stubble. And it will be burnt up. It will
be shown as nothing. It will not save them. It will
not justify them. They will be cast into outer
darkness. But the child of grace, when
they stand, there is no works on their account that is in their
ledger. Their ledger, if it has works
of them, works of Christ, their ledger is empty on their works. There is no works of the elect
that is ever logged down in God's book. It's all the works of Christ. It's Christ and what He did on
their behalf. Every law Christ kept, that's
what's in my account. That's what's in my account.
So He did it all. So what account do I give when
I'm before the Lord? There's my account right there,
Christ. The one who ever lives to intercede
for me. The fact that He is there and
what He has done on my behalf is the account of every work
that I have done. Whatever Christ accomplished,
there's my works right there. We don't boast in anything that
we've done. We don't come and say, Lord, Lord, did we not do
this? Did we not do this in your name? In your name, we cast out
devils. In your name, we healed people.
In your name, we fed the poor. We fed the widows. And we fed
and took care of the orphans. And we sent money to the Ukraine.
We sent money to Israel. And we sent money to every other
third world country. And we cleaned up our neighborhood. And we did the highway pickup.
You know, we sold Bibles out on the streets for everybody.
No. When we stand before the Lord,
it's what He has done. In the Gospel, the righteousness
of God is revealed. Not the righteousness of man,
the righteousness of God. And brethren, the righteousness
of God that we have is not our faith. For the righteousness
of God is revealed from faith to faith. In the gospel, the righteousness
of God is revealed from faith, and I take that to mean from
Christ, who is not only the object of our faith, but it's faith
Himself. He is the faithful one. He is
the one who had the fidelity to God, not us. It was His faith
that justified, not ours. He is not only the object that
we trust in, but He is faith encapsulated. See, every bit
of faith that we have, it wavers. It's in part. But Christ, who
has the Spirit without measure, also had faith without measure.
He did never waver ever once in faith. His faith was perfect
and perfect always. His faith didn't come in measures. It didn't come a little bit here
and a little bit there. It was great today and not so
much another day. His faith was a perfect faith. Nobody on earth of all God's
let can ever say that our faith is perfect. Our faith is given
and measured. It's partial. And so, therefore,
our faith cannot be said to be righteous. The only thing that's
righteous is that which is perfect. And only Christ is perfect. Therefore,
He is the object of our faith, but He is faith encapsulated.
He is faith personified. He is faith. And that righteousness
is revealed from faith, His faith, His faithfulness, And our faith
is what receives what His faithfulness did. From faith to faith. Now some say it's from our faith
that is a gradually growing faith that becomes more and more and
more and more. So the righteousness of God is more and more revealed
to us the more and more our faith grows. But brethren, we are given
faith to receive what faith did on our behalf. It is revealed
from faith to faith. And he says right there, the
just shall live by faith. You know Paul is quoting Habakkuk
there? Look at it. It's Habakkuk chapter
2. Look through chapter 2 and verse
4. It says, Behold, his soul which
is lifted up is not upright in him, and to the contrast of that,
but the just shall live by his faith. Now that's kind of interesting
because Paul said the just shall live by faith. But in here, in Habakkuk, it
says the just shall live by His faith. Now, who is this talking
about? Who is Habakkuk talking about
here in the second chapter? Well, you read through this,
this is a vision that God gives to Habakkuk, and I believe it's
a vision that He has given that speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says the just
shall live by His faith. I kind of did a little digging
on some of this because I'm not a smart person. And so I did
a little digging and I looked at this and how it was looked
and translated in some of the earlier Bibles and in some of
the earlier works and it just so happens that in the Septuagint,
which Jesus and the apostles often referred to in the New
Testament, in the Septuagint, which is, the Septuagint is the
Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, that was translated into Greek. And that was before Jesus' time,
right? And often when quoting the Old
Testament, the apostles and even Jesus himself quoted from the
Septuagint. The Septuagint in this passage
says, the just shall live by my faith. Not just his faith, but my faith.
Well, I got to thinking about that. There's four times in the
Scriptures that this phrase is used, the just shall live by
faith. One is what we just read in Romans,
where Paul is saying that the gospel is revealed from faith
to faith and the just shall live by faith. Okay? Now some think that means the
just shall live by faith and there's going to be an outward
works of righteousness because they're walking in faith. Whenever
you walk in faith, you're walking in righteousness. You're going
to be obedient. You're going to do all the law. You're going
to do all these things and become a righteous person outwardly.
But it says here, the just shall live by faith. Now in Habakkuk
where he was actually quoting, where it is the first place this
is ever mentioned, it says, the just shall live by his faith. And the Septuagint translated
that as, the just shall live by my faith. Now, whenever we
look at the other places in Scripture, where this is found, which if
you look back at Hebrews chapter 10, you will find that Habakkuk
was talking and the vision that God was giving him was the vision
of Jesus. Look with me if you would at
Hebrews chapter 10. Now put your finger in that because
I want you to see something with me. And if I'm wrong on this,
I'll be glad to listen. But in Habakkuk chapter two. Starting in verse one, it says,
I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and watch
to see what he was saying to me and what I shall answer when
I am reproved. And the Lord answered me and
said, write the vision and make it plain upon the tables that
he may run that readeth it for the vision Now listen to what
he says here. For the vision is yet for an
appointed time, but at the end of it shall speak and not lie. Though it, what? The vision. Though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come, it will not tarry. So God is about to give Habakkuk
a vision, and this vision, he says, is going to come at the
appointed time. This vision is going to come
and is not going to lie. And though it tarry, he says,
to wait for it. And then he says, behold, his
soul, which is lifted up, is not upright in him, but the just
shall live by his faith. Whose faith? The believer's faith
or the one who is not going to tarry? The one who is going to
come at the appointed time. Pastor, you're kind of stretching
that a little bit. Well, look at Hebrews 10. Look at verse 36. For ye have need of patience,
that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the
promise. Verse 37. For yet a little while,
and he that shall come will come and will not tarry. This is a
direct quotation of Habakkuk. Paul in Hebrews is once again
referring back to Habakkuk 2. The promise of the vision in
Habakkuk, but now made clearer, the vision of he, for he that shall come will come and
will not tarry, now the just shall live by faith." See, he
quotes it again. So he's tying the just shall
live by faith to that quotation back in Hebrews, but that quotation
in Hebrews is in reference to the Lord Jesus Christ coming.
You see that in verse 37? I don't think I've drawn that
out to an illogical conclusion. The reference of Habakkuk, although
veiled, although in type, foreshadow, illusion, not clearly displayed,
is defined by Paul in Hebrews as being Christ. That's who Habakkuk
saw. That's who Habakkuk was told
about. And that his faith, the one who
will come, his faith is who the just shall live by. Now the just
shall live by faith, and if any man draw back, my soul shall
have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul, or believe to the saving of the souls, not that we believe
it so that we would be saved, but we believe to the saving or how we are saved. We believe about how we are saved
and the saving of the soul takes place. Or it could actually be
we believe to the full completion of our salvation which is in
Christ Jesus at the end whenever our soul is delivered from this
body of death. However it is, It's not us, it's
not our faith that we live by. We live by His. How do I live
day by day? I live knowing that Christ is
my obedience. I live knowing that I am justified
because of what He did, not because of something that I've got to
maintain. Now the fourth place that this is found is found in
Galatians. Chapter 3. So Paul quotes this
three times. Galatians chapter 3 and verse
11. I'm going to back up to verse 10. For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is
everyone that continueth not in all the things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. So see, your effort to
keep the law is asinine. Because if you can't keep it
fully, then you've broken it, and once you've broken it, there
is no restoring to that. You've broken it, it's broken.
You're done. So unless somebody has substituted
on your behalf and has kept it, and that keeping of that is laid
to your account, then there is no hope for you. There is no
hope for you. But if somebody has kept that,
for you, then live on that. Live on the fact that He has
kept that for you, and let that be your hope, not my hope in
that I hope that I obey today, I hope that I keep this righteousness,
I hope that I show forth the evidence of Christ today, I hope
I show Christ in me to others. Because you're never going to
show it because perfection is what is seen in Christ, and perfection
is never seen in you. Therefore, we live in faith of
what He has done. We live by His faith. I live
my life every day in faith that His faith has accomplished everything
that God requires and has made me pleasing in His sight and
is never going to count me out because I can't keep it. From
faith to faith. We live by His faith. from faith,
his faith, to our faith. What is connected between those
two? The finished work of Jesus Christ. We live on the finished
work of Jesus Christ. But that no man is justified
by the law and the sight of God is evident. The just shall live
by faith. We don't live by works. We don't
live by our keeping, upkeeping of righteousness. We don't live
by Christ working in us or righteousness out. It's an objective thing,
what Christ did outside of us that we live on, not what Christ
is doing inside of us. Is Christ doing stuff inside
of us? Absolutely he is, but that's not what we live on. We
live on what he did outside of us for us. That's what living
by faith is all about. That's how the just lives. We
live by his faith. It isn't a life that we live
in the faith that God counts as righteousness. Our belief
is never considered righteousness. Anyway, that's all I have to
say about it and think about it and hope it's not so jumbled. Those four places that I saw
where that phrase was used, the just shall live by faith, is
not ever talking about we live by our own faith and that we
live upon what Christ is doing in us. A righteousness that is
being worked out of us. It is us living upon a finished
and complete and perfect work on our behalf for us. I'm ashamed of any gospel that
says that I must or you must. I'm ashamed of that gospel, because
if I give you conditions, you're not going to ever meet them.
If I have conditions, I know I'll never meet them. And that'll
just bring shame to you, it'll bring shame to me. But Paul wasn't
ashamed of the gospel that said Jesus has done it all. All to
Him I owe. Sin had left its crimson stain,
but He washed it white as snow. He's not ashamed. Thankfully,
Christ is not ashamed to call us brethren. That's not because we follow
in his footsteps, but he's not ashamed to call us brethren because
he's imputed his righteousness to us. We are his seed. We are his children. We are the
recipients of his promise. All right. Anybody got anything
you'd like to add to that? Comment on? Corrections. Lord, we once again thank you
for the grace of God in Christ Jesus. We thank you for the gospel.
We thank you for the finished work of Jesus Christ. We thank
you, Lord, that you've given that to us by faith for us to
see and know that has been revealed to us that the gospel is preached
to us by the Holy Spirit in our heart. But even though man may
preach it outwardly until the Holy Spirit reveals and teaches
us inwardly, we'd never know the good of what we have. We
know that you give us the Spirit because in the purpose of for us to know what has been
freely given us. Again, we see that as what is freely given
us, Father. That's why you give us your Spirit.
That is why you quicken us so that we might know. Not to know
so that we might receive, but to get. We know it all is by
the power that you and you alone have. So we're grateful for the
full work of salvation from beginning to end. And Lord, we just want
to give you praise. We don't want to rely on the
arm of flesh. We do not want to exult in man
and his ability or what we think is an ability. But Father, we
want to rejoice that even though in our weakness and our inability,
Christ is made strong. is shown strong, is presented
as strong, exalted as strong, and by His mighty arm we are
saved. Thank you, Father, for showing
us that, for giving us that, comforting us with that today.
I pray it has been a comfort to your people wherever they
may be, whether it's here in this congregation now or whether
it be those who might be listening by internet or wherever they
may be. Father, we just pray that you just might be glorified
in all things that we do, all things that we preach, and all
things that we hold to. And it's only by your grace can
we ever hold to them. We ask that you keep us faithful
in those things. Be with these brethren as they
leave today, that you might keep them safe, Lord, and be with
them this week, that you might minister to them as the days
go by, as we wait for our coming Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
To abolish all this life and all that we know about it, to
put off this body of death, And so that we might be clothed in
a body like His, and that we might rejoice in the presence
of our King. And so in His name that we pray.