Well last week we started looking
at the prophecy of Habakkuk and the title of the message was
living by faith in a fallen world. We saw it, this world is fallen.
And the title was to live by faith in a fallen world because
all around the world gives you no encouragement to believe the
things of the living God. but I want to linger a bit longer
on this point at the end of verse four of chapter two the just
shall live by his faith and to explore a bit more what it means
to live by faith in this fallen world. What is it to live by
faith? First of all, the very first
thing to say is it is not to live irresponsibly. In some circles,
it used to be regarded that the very spiritual people, they didn't
bother going to work. They were living by faith. They
trusted God that the loaf of bread would come through the
letterbox and they didn't have to be responsible. That is not
the teaching of scripture. The teaching of scripture is
that we must be responsible. that we must take care of those
that we have responsibilities for. Paul says to Timothy, if
a man doesn't go to work and care for his family, he's worse
than an unbeliever. So don't think for one minute
that living by faith is acting in an irresponsible manner. Yes,
we know God controls everything, God brings us everything, but
that gives us no excuse whatsoever to sit back and live irresponsibly. No, to live by faith is to live
with a completely different mindset to the world around us, and especially
the religious world, but also the irreligious world, a completely
different mindset. And what does it mean to live
by faith? It's so important, it's the absolute
vital core of true Christian experience, of truly believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ, of truly trusting in God. And there
is so much error and there is so much confusion around. This
year particularly, is the 500th anniversary of when Martin Luther,
the Catholic monk, he nailed his, was it 92 theses, or was
it 90, I can't remember, never mind, somebody will correct me,
no doubt, but lots of errors of the Catholic church, he nailed
them to the door of Wittenberg Cathedral in Germany. And it's
500 years since. And Luther majored on the key
doctrine of the reformation and of the true gospel which is justification
by faith. He read the epistle to the Galatians
in detail and he concluded that all of the doctrine that he'd
been taught by monks and by popes was a complete lie and the truth
of scripture was justification by faith. We see we need to be
just with God. You know the question the most
fundamental question that the scriptures answer. Job 9 verse
2. How should a man be just with
God? And that means of course a woman
and a boy and a girl. How should we be right with God? Justified with God? In a right
relationship with God? Accepted by God? And not condemned
by God? And the answer that Luther gave
was it's by faith. We are justified by faith. You
see, naturally we think we're justified by being better than
others, by not doing bad things and by trying to do good things.
That's what all religion, all religion, apart from the one
true religion of the gospel of Christ, all of it gives that
as its answer. A lot of it that calls itself
the true Christianity, true orthodox Christianity, You listen to their
preaching, and more often than not, what they're actually preaching
is law works. They're preaching, how should
a man be just with God? Ah, you have to live with the
law of God as your rule of life, that's how you make just with
God. That's what they preach. That's what they preach. But
here's the question, how does faith justify a person. How does faith make you right
with God? You see, what do these religious
folk understand by this? Well, it goes something like
this. This is what they say. They say, ah, well, the commandments
require us to live perfectly righteously before the law of
God, and the law of God will judge us, and it is our responsibility
to live absolutely just and righteous before the law of God, and that
if we don't, we're condemned, but that's such a hard thing
to do, that's such an impossible thing to achieve. Hey, but listen,
listen, the Bible has given us an alternative, and you know
it's dead easy. This is what these religious
folks say. This is a thing called faith. And yes, you can't keep
the law, you can't keep, you know, you're a sinner, you cannot
keep the law, but hey, the Bible tells us that if you believe,
then that's, in God's book, that's as good as, if not better, than
keeping all those commandments. It's a work that you do. Faith
is a work that you do that cancels out all the sin that you've committed. That's what they think. And they
point to Abraham, and they say, well look at Abraham. It says
Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
And so they say, Abraham's faith, the faith that Abraham welled
up inside him and exercised, that faith made God consider
him to be righteous, even though we know Abraham was a liar. Abraham
would, do you know, unfair? No, no. You read the account
of Abraham. He lied about Sarah being his
sister and not being his wife when they went down into Egypt.
And in all sorts of other things. Clearly, Abraham was a sinner,
like everybody else that was born. He was a sinner. But they
say, ah, Abraham's faith, which he exercised, made God reckon
him righteous. But you know, that's to confuse
law and faith. Galatians 3.10, the law is not
of faith. Faith is not a law work accepted
in place of the sinless obedience that is required by the law.
But faith is vital to acceptance with God, faith is vital to eternal
life, faith is what those who are justified, counted just,
reckoned just, judged just, judged without any sin to answer for,
that is what they are said to live by. Faith, the just, those
who are justified, shall live by his faith, says our text.
What does this mean? This is what I want to get to
this morning. This text is quoted three times by Paul in the New
Testament. He quotes it in Romans chapter
1, verse 17, the just shall live by faith. In Galatians 3, 11,
the just shall live by faith. In Hebrews 10, 38, and yes I
do think Paul wrote Hebrews, Hebrews 10, 38, the just shall
live by faith. Did you spot the difference?
Did you spot the difference? Habakkuk 2.4, the just shall
live by his faith. The just shall live by faith.
The just shall live by faith. He misses out the his. He misses
it out. We'll get to the bottom of that.
Let's think about the context of Habakkuk's prophecy. And that's
why I had us read the same reading again this week as we had last
week. At the time of Habakkuk, which was about 600 years before
Christ came, God had promised again and again that the Jews
would go into captivity in Babylon because of their sin. And their
sin, their primary sin, the one that was called out against them
over and over again was the sin of idolatry. False gods. False gods. Gods of their own
imagination. You look at what calls itself
Christianity all around us. Idolatry. Gods of their own imagination. The Jews hadn't believed the
gospel. You say, well the gospel wasn't
preached then was it? 600 years before Christ? Oh yes
it was. Do you know it was preached all
the time. In Jerusalem the gospel was preached every day in the
temple. Because in the temple was the
very symbol of the relationship between a holy god and his people
and the basis on which god who is holy and of purer eyes as
we read in verse thirteen of chapter one purer eyes than to
look behold evil and canst not look on iniquity how can a god
like that have fellowship with people who are sinners on the
basis of atonement, on the basis of redemption, on the basis of
the law being satisfied, on the basis of blood being shed, because
without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins.
And in the temple sacrifices, although the blood of bulls and
goats never ever took away one sin, yet what he pictured in
a pattern, it pictured in a pattern, in a design, how God would save
his people from their sins. But the Jews didn't believe it. In general, the majority did
not believe it. They didn't look to those temple
sacrifices as pointing to Christ. You know right back from the
beginning, you know Abel? Why was Abel's sacrifice, why
was Abel accepted? Because he brought a lamb, a
slain lamb, and that pointed to Christ. Cain wasn't accepted,
his brother Cain brought the works of his own hands and was
not accepted. No, Abel looked to Christ. True believers always looked
to Christ, but these Jews hadn't looked to Christ. They'd followed
idolatry, and God had rejected them, and removed them. They
had stumbled, turn to Romans chapter 9, at the end of Romans
chapter 9 and verse 33. These Jews of 600 years before
Christ came, as in so many other ages, they had stumbled. Look
what it says, Romans 9, 33. as it is written behold this
is in the scriptures Isaiah 8 verse 14 and 28 verse 16 behold I lay
in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock of offense and whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed because who is that stumbling
stone who is that cornerstone over which religious folks stumble
you know to the the jews a stumbling stone to the to the greeks to
the gentiles foolishness this is the gospel of of of the lord
jesus christ as paul says in one corinthians chapter one to
the Jews it was a stumbling stone, they couldn't get their heads
around how this is how it worked, this is how God made men and
women righteous in the doing and dying of a Messiah who would
come. He's a stumbling stone but whosoever
believes on him shall not be ashamed. How are you ashamed?
You're ashamed when you're judged guilty of sin. in the final judgment. But the people of God in Christ
will not be ashamed. Brethren, he says, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. This is Paul, who was a Jew himself. For I bear them
record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge. These Jews of their day, they
had a certain religious zeal, but not according to knowledge.
For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, They had a false
view of what was the righteousness of God. And they went about to
establish their own righteousness, and had not submitted themselves
unto that which God requires, the righteousness of God. For,
what had they not submitted themselves to? What had they stumbled over?
This concept in verse four, Christ is the end of the law, is the
end of law works for righteousness, is the end of doing your best
to be right with God, is the end of that to everyone who believes. He's finished it. He's ended
it. It's finished. There is no more. There never
was. There never could be. The only
reason the law was given was to condemn and to bring us in
guilty. So they thought they could establish
their own righteousness but they missed Christ as the end of the
law for righteousness to all believers. But their unbelief
didn't frustrate God's purpose. You see their unbelief didn't,
don't think for one minute it did. These were the nominal people
of God and they didn't believe and they were going into captivity.
But that didn't frustrate God's purpose which has always been
the same. In chapter one and verse five we read, behold ye
among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously. For
I will work a work in your days which you will not believe, though
it be told you." What is that marvellous work? We were thinking
of it last week. That marvellous work is the salvation
that is accomplished by Christ. Christ said that He was the stumbling
stone. Christ said He was, and He said
it is marvellous in our eyes. In verse 3 of chapter 2, This
is the vision that Habakkuk was to write down. The vision is
yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and
not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come. It will not tarry. There is a
vision, there is a marvellous work that is coming. and it is
definitely coming, and it is certainly going to happen. And
what is it? It is Christ coming to redeem,
to make satisfaction to the law. While judgment, which is just,
falls on all who reject God's gospel, Christ is still coming
to save his elect. This is what it's meaning here
in chapter 2. This is the vision. Christ is...
Look, judgment is going to fall on this people. They're going
into captivity for their idolatry and their sin. But, let it never
be forgotten for one moment. God is not frustrated. He is
not frustrated. He's Christ. He's Messiah. God
himself, becoming man, is coming to save his elect. He shall call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And when the fullness of the
time was come, Galatians 4 and verse 4, when the fullness of
the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem those who are under the law, to accomplish
this vision. That's what he did. He sent him
to accomplish this vision. And as the promised judgment
falls, as it did in those days, 600 years before Christ, even
at the hands of the Chaldeans, this wicked people, this fierce,
brutal people that we read about in chapter 1, as God's judgment
falls at their hands, God's justified ones, we read at the end of verse
4, shall live by His faith. The just shall live by his faith. And that begs a question, doesn't
it? Whose faith? Whose faith shall these justified
ones live by? And is the answer not clear? Is it not clear? Is it not Christ's
faith that they shall live by? Is it not the faith of Jesus
Christ? What faith do I mean? His faithfulness. to the mission that his father
gave him. When he became a man, oh how he laid aside his glory. He was made for a little while,
33 years, lower than the angels. He was made for that little while
lower than the angels. Why? For the suffering of death. That he might be the firstborn
amongst many brethren. His faithfulness You know, he
was faithful. It says in Philippians, doesn't
it, about him being faithful, being obedient. How far was he
obedient to his father? Not my will but thine be done. Faithful unto death. What sort
of a death? Even the shameful death of the
cross, because that's what was required. For cursed is everyone
that hangs on a tree. His faithfulness even to death
to make satisfaction to the law of God. Sin, rebellion, it goes
on. Judgment proceeds. God opens
his seals, the seals that we saw in the book of Revelation.
You know, the four horses, the white horse, the red horse, the
black horse, the pale horse, the other things that come. He
blows his trumpets of Revelation. He pours out his vials of wrath
on sin. But throughout, There is a people
that are called the just, the justified ones, the elect of
God. The just shall live by his faith. How do they live? They live by
the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, of what he has accomplished.
So, as Abraham was justified, As Abraham was counted righteous,
not by his believing, a work that he did, but by what he believed
in, so are all the just. They're justified by what they
believe in. And what do they believe in?
They believe that Christ came and satisfied the law of God
for them and took their sin and paid its penalty. But how is
it applied and made effective to me? We're trying to get at
this, the just. Are you amongst the just? Am
I? How shall we live by his faith? Let's think about Paul's quotations.
In the first one, in Romans chapter 1, verses 16 and 17, Romans 1,
verses 16 and 17, Paul there says he wants to come to Rome. to preach the gospel to them
because he says I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. It is. The gospel
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes because
in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith
as it is written the just shall live by faith. Those justified
in God's sight live it and know it by faith. Faith is what their
soul sees. Their faith is what apprehends
the faithful doing, dying, and rising of Christ, making satisfaction
to offended justice. Their faith is what receives
the blessings of Christ's redemption. Habakkuk 2.4, his faith is Christ's
faith that the just live by, but in Romans 1, the just shall
live by faith is their faith, which looks to that faith of
Christ. Their faith, your faith is that
which, it doesn't justify you, but it receives the justification
that Christ has accomplished. Galatians 3, and verse 10. Galatians 3, verse 10, turn over
there. where Paul has been establishing
about Abraham's justification and he says in verse nine so
then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham
right now here he gives his reasoning for As many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse. If your relationship with God
is defined by the law of God, you're under a curse because
you haven't kept it. And he is holy and absolutely unbending
in his justice and cannot look on sin, cannot look upon iniquity.
He cannot in any way clear the guilty. God is just. He is angry
with the wicked every day. And he says, cursed is everyone. that continues not in all things
well can't I have a good try? No, all things written in the
book of the law to do them for a little while? No, all the time
but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God
it is evident for the Bible says Habakkuk wrote the just shall
live by faith the just shall live by faith and the law is
not of faith The law is not of faith. But the man that doeth
them, the law works, he shall live by them, he's bound by them,
he's got no way out. But Christ, the one that Habakkuk's
prophecy promised, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of
the law. That just curse of the law. How
has he done it? by being made a curse for us,
substitutionary atonement. He has made himself the substitute
of his people, and in the covenant of grace he struck hands with
the Father and the Spirit that he would come and stand in the
place of the people the Father gave to him to be his bride from
before the beginning of time. He stood in their place, he bore
their sins, he paid the penalty, he satisfied the law's demands
that the soul that sins it shall die by dying in the place of
his people. And therefore, God is pleased. God is pleased. He has pleasure
in that, for his law is satisfied. His justice is satisfied. Christ
was cursed on that cursed tree. And he was cursed that the blessing
of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles through Christ Jesus. So Galatians 3, 10 to 13 were
not justified by law, but by faith. Faith of, look back to
verse 16 of chapter two, knowing that a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. That's why we use this version
of the scriptures. Others, nearly all of them, say faith in Jesus
Christ. It isn't. It's the faithful doing
and dying and rising again of the Lord Jesus Christ that justifies
anybody who is justified. He's justified by that, not by
something they do, even believing. Nevertheless, you must believe.
You must believe, you must apprehend it, you must see it. Everyone
that is saved by Christ, before they die, they come to a knowledge
of it. Even the thief on the cross next
to Christ. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. Verily, verily, truly, truly,
I say to you, this day, this day, you shall be with me in
paradise. He believed it. Before he died,
he believed that gospel of God's grace. The faith that the believer
lives by is that soul sight that sees and grasps the blessings
of Christ's faithfulness. Because as chapter 2 verse 20,
as I quoted last week, but it's worth quoting again, says, I
am crucified with Christ. nevertheless I live yet not I
but Christ liveth in me and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and
gave himself for me next one Hebrews chapter 10 Hebrews chapter
10 in Hebrews chapter 10 right towards the end verse 36 he's
been talking about not falling away He's been talking about
not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as is
the manner of some. He's been talking about the need
to keep going. And in verse 36 he says, 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. Now, the just
shall live by faith. but if any man draw back my soul
shall have no pleasure in him but we are not of them who draw
back to perdition to lostness but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul." We need patience, says Paul. We need
patience to keep going to the end. Christ will definitely return. And these verses, did you notice
a similarity? He's quoting Habakkuk chapter
2, verses 3 and 4. Keep going to the very end. Keep
believing. The way to keep going is by faith,
not drawing back to unbelief, but by keeping on believing.
Now, the key question is, am I among the justified ones who
live by faith? Am I one of those who believe
Christ one day, or say they do, and go away the next? Because
no one who truly believes Christ goes away. Is my faith mere assent? or is it living commitment? There
were those who followed Christ and it says many believed on
him but he didn't commit himself to them or he didn't believe
on them. Why? because it wasn't true faith
that they had. Their faith was superficial.
Many, many disciples followed him. You remember in John 6,
many, many followed him because they'd had a good feed the day
before and they wanted another one for free. That's so typical
of the nature of mankind, isn't it? No. Is my faith mere mental
assent to some facts or is it living commitment? What is true
saving faith? Stay in Hebrews. But chapter
11 verse 1, now faith is the substance of things hoped for.
The faith that we live by is the substance of things hoped
for. The evidence of things not seen, for by it the elders, the
patriarchs, obtained a good report. Through faith We understand that
the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By
faith, Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain. Why? Because he saw by faith. That's how he saw. He
saw by faith, the faith of Jesus Christ. And his lamb pictured
that, and he said, this is what I'm looking to, and this is what
I'm believing in. And trusting in that, he leaned
on it and rested on it. And therefore his sacrifice was
more excellent than Cain's. And he obtained witness that
because of what he looked to, he was righteous. Is that not
exactly what God said of Abraham? He believed God and accounted
it for righteousness. That's exactly the same. God
testifying of his gifts, for by it he being dead yet speaketh. Think, all these thousands of
years later, the faith of Abel stands as a testimony to us.
By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death,
and was not found because God had translated him. For before
his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. How did
he please God? He must have been a very, very
good man, mustn't he? Mustn't he have been a good man?
No, read verse 6, read verse 6, Without faith, it is impossible
to please Him. You only please God by faith. You only please God by the faith
of Jesus Christ that you look to. That's the only way you please
God. He that cometh to God must believe
that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
Him. And you could go on in Hebrews 11, exactly as all the patriarchs
did. who lived before the law was
given. How did they please God by their law works? No, Abel
didn't. He pleased God by faith, looking to the faith of Christ.
Didn't Noah please God by his law works? There was no law given.
Noah pleased God by his faith, looking to what God had said,
and he built an ark which was such a picture of Christ. Didn't
Job please God by being such a righteous man? No, Job was
shown that his own righteousness was filthy rags. That's what
Job was shown. And he abhorred himself and repented
in dust and ashes, and knew that his only righteousness was in
Christ. For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that I shall stand. Redeemer! He knew he needed a
Redeemer. And I shall stand at the latter day on this earth,
and though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I
see God. And Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,
and Joseph, and Moses, they all looked by faith. So then, do
I have the faith of God's elect? The just shall live by his faith. John 6 verse 40 says this, Jesus
speaking, this is the will of him that sent me. That's God
the Father who sent him. This is the will of him that
sent me. that everyone which seeth the
Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will
raise him up at the last day. Do you see the Son? Do you see
the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you see what he did at Calvary
in paying the penalty for your sin? Do you see that and seeing
it? Do you believe it? Do you believe
it? Has God, who shined light in
the beginning, when he said, let there be light and there
was light. Has God who shined in the beginning, as 2 Corinthians
4, 6 says, has he shined in your heart to give you the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God? Where do you get that? In
the face of Jesus Christ. Has the Holy Spirit of God enlightened
your sin-darkened soul? Has he shown you, John 1, 18,
no man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son who is
in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. Philip said,
show us the Father and that will suffice. Philip, have I been
so long with you and yet you have not known me? He who has
seen me, Christ said, has seen the Father. Hebrews 1 verses
1 to 3 says this, God who at sundry times and in divers
manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, whom he hath
appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds,
who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of
his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power,
when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. Have you seen that? Have you
believed that? Has he revealed knowledge concerning
God to you? Has he let you in on the secret
about the nature of God? About the sovereignty of God?
about the omnipotence of God, about His goodness, about His
justice, His grace, His holiness, and His mercy? Has He revealed
the redemption that Christ has accomplished? And have you agreed
with that revelation in your heart, and agreeing with it,
have you acted upon it? You act upon it by commitment,
by trust, by belief, by submission. You don't carry on doing what
you were doing. Your actions, your views, everything
in this world, in your life, is judged and formed and moulded
by this commitment and trust and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
and what he faithfully completed. Think of the woman in the Gospels
with the issue of blood. She didn't just go, oh yes, well
I believe this is a special man. She came and she touched him.
She had to. She had to come. Blind Bartimaeus
didn't just sit there and say, oh, if he wants to heal my sight,
he'll do it. No. Lord, have mercy on me. What do you want me to do that
I might have my sight? Let me give you an illustration.
See that stool there? People tell me that it will support
my weight. Yeah, yeah, alright, I'll agree
with that. Do you know something? I believe that that stool will
support my weight. I really do. I believe that that
stool will support my weight. What are you going to say to
me? Go on, prove it. There you go.
I'm sitting on it. It's supporting my weight. Now
that is what it is. Commitment. You believe it, you
see it, and you act upon it. choose you this day whom you
will serve as for me and my we will serve the Lord committed
to him now then to underline this and I know this this is
going on and you're skipping around all over the place but
please just bear with me because I'm only going to read this with
little comment turn to 1 John chapter 5 first epistle of John
chapter 5 and in closing I'm going to just read with minimal
comment the first 13 verses because this is what it is to know that
you have the faith of God's elect and having that faith that you
have eternal life and that you know that God is true. Just read
it with me. Whosoever believeth that Jesus
is the Christ is born of God. That Jesus the man fulfilled
everything the Old Testament said about the Messiah. And everyone
that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of
him. If we love God the Father who did the begetting, we love
everyone who is begotten of him. We love Christ who is the only
begotten Son and we love every other believer because they are
begotten of him too. By this, we know that we love
the children of God. When we love God, and when we
keep his commandments, what commandments? Well, Romans tells us that love
fulfills the whole law. It fulfills all the commandments
of God. For this is the love of God,
that we keep his commandments. that we keep his gospel precepts. That's what it is, that we keep
that. And his commandments are not grievous. They're not a burden,
as Peter said at the Council of Jerusalem, that we nor our
fathers couldn't bear. No, they're not grievous at all.
These gospel precepts are the very fruit of the Holy Spirit
of God. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world. Do you hear that? If you're born
of God by the new birth, you overcome the world. You overcome
the bondage that is in the world by the power of Satan and evil. You overcome it. And this is
the victory that overcometh the world. This is the key to that
victory. What is it? even our faith, our faith in
Christ. What we see, that is it, that
overcomes the world. It's that, that in Hebrews 11,
you read verses 33 and 34 because it summarizes there, about Daniel
in the lion's den and all those great heroes of the faith. and
doing what they did, and acting upon what they saw, and Rahab
completely going against her whole society because of what
she saw by faith. That overcame the world, their
faith. Who is he that overcometh the world? But he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of God, and believing, commit to him,
and act upon it, and rest upon him. and know where you are safely
embraced in the everlasting arms. This is He, Jesus the Son of
God, that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ. What does
that mean? Well, the Old Testament worship was centred upon temple
washings and cleansings and the sacrifice of animals and the
blood. It was washings, water and blood,
and Christ came to fulfil all of the types of those temple
sacrifices, not by water only, but by water and blood. And it
is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
The Spirit of God is truth. For there are three that bear
record in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the
Holy Ghost. There's the Trinity, as clear
as you could have it. And these three are one. And there are
three that bear witness in the earth. The Spirit, and the water,
and the blood. The testimony of the gospel.
applied by the Spirit to the heart, these three agree in one.
If we receive the witness of men, if we believe what men tell
us, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God
which he hath testified of his Son. Listen to this. He that
believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that
believeth not God hath made God a liar, because he believeth
not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record,
that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his
Son. Who's the us? Look down at verse 13. You that
believe on the name of the Son of God. So back to verse 12.
He that hath the Son hath life. If you have the Son of God, you
have life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. These things have I written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God. Why? That
you may know. Wasn't that the question? How
do we know? That you may know that you have eternal life and
that you may believe on the name of the Son of God. Jump right
down to verse 20. And we know that the Son of God
is come and has given us an understanding that we may know him that is
true. And we are in him that is true, even in his son, Jesus
Christ. This is true God and eternal
life. That's what it is, to have the
faith of God's elect, to have assurance of peace with God,
to have overcome the world, by which we mean Satan, the God
of this world and all his schemes, to have done that by faith, that
is how the just shall live, by faith, without which, faith,
without which it is impossible to please God.