The gospel is founded upon faith. Faith is central to the gospel
both in how it is wrought and how it is received and how the
believer lives in the light of it. Paul says in Romans, while
I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God under salvation, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall
live by faith. The just shall live by faith. Without faith then we are dead. The unrighteous, the wicked know
nothing of faith. They do not live by faith. They
do not have faith. By nature we are not born with
faith. We do not live by faith because
we have no faith. Faith is not something common
to all men. in which they place their faith
in this or in that. Belief of the gospel is not to
place faith that you have by nature in the message of the
gospel or in Jesus Christ. Whereas some others put their
faith in something else. Belief in the gospel is to be
given faith of God to believe the gospel. We don't have faith
without the gospel. The just shall live by faith.
The unjust shall perish in their sins, seeing nothing, blind,
dead to the things of God. The just shall live by faith.
The gospel is founded on faith. The gospel was wrought by faith.
The righteousness of God, it says in the Gospel, is revealed
from faith unto faith. Well, if it's revealed unto faith,
it's revealed unto the faith of the believer. But it's revealed
from faith unto faith, then out of another's faith. It is revealed
out of the faith of Jesus Christ. under his people, to whom he
gives by his power the same faith to look under him and believe.
It is faith which unites us to our Saviour. It is faith which
revealed the righteousness of God, which made it manifest,
which brought it to light. It is faith which causes dead
sinners to be brought to life, to be made just, to be washed
of their sins. It is faith which led Christ
from Bethlehem to Golgotha, to free hours in the darkness, hanging
upon a tree, under the wrath of God justifying his people
as God laid upon him their sin, their sins, their corruption
and poured out his judgment upon his own son. It is faith that
took Christ to that place and it is faith that brought Christ
through that place He could not have endured the cross. except he looked unto his God
and Father by faith and trusted and rested in that eternal covenant
made with his Father in which he had promised to take his people
upon his heart to that place of execution and to bear all
their sins and to bear the wrath and judgment of God against their
sins that he might take those sins away that He might deliver
them from judgment, deliver them from death, deliver them from
hell, deliver them from corruption, that He might make them in Him
to be the righteousness of God, that He might make them in Himself
to be perfect, that He might wash them and cleanse them. It
is faith that caused Him to endure the hours of suffering upon the
cross in their place. It is faith that made him suffer
as even his own father forsook him because of what he bore and
what he was made to be in their place. It is faith which wrote
the gospel. It is faith which manifested
the righteousness of God without the law, that righteousness of
God which is in Christ Jesus alone, which is made his peoples
in him. It is faith which wrought the
gospel It is faith that caused the just one to live. It is that
by which Christ lived. Every day that he journeyed in
this world was a journey of faith. Every step he took through life,
heading for the cross, was a step of faith. He walked a walk of
faith. He lived a life of faith. He
looked up from his outward circumstances. threw into the glory of heaven
unto his father and no matter how dark the world was around
him, no matter how painful the rejection of men, no matter how
terrible the trial, it was faith which led him through. Satan
soon after Christ's serfly ministry began, took him aside to tempt
him, took him outside the city and he tried him in every way
that he could try him with a perfect temptation, mind, body and soul
he tried to lead the Son of God astray. But it was faith which
kept him. The scribes, the Pharisees, the
Jews that should have received Christ that should have known
Him, that should have received Him as their Messiah, turned
against Him. They rejected Him. They tried
to stone Him. They engineered His execution
in the end. They gave Him up unto wicked
Gentiles, unto the Romans, with a mock trial and said, crucify
Him. We will not have this man to
reign over us. It was faith. which caused Christ
to stand. Under such opposition, in such
trials, you and I would be broken. Any man would be broken. But
Christ, when all men hated him, looked up under his guard and
trusted. We see this faith exemplified
in some of Christ's disciples. Stephen was stoned, Stephen knew
Christ, he knew him by faith, he'd had his eyes opened, he
knew what it was to be washed of his sins and he went about
preaching of this wonderful gracious saviour who'd set his love upon
him even though he deserved his wrath. He went about preaching
of this wondrous Saviour and His wondrous Gospel of free and
sovereign grace. He said, come see a man. Come
behold the Saviour, behold Him by faith. He may not be here
now, He may be dead, buried and risen, but behold Him by faith. He's opened my eyes to see Him,
look. Look who He is, look what He
did. Look at His salvation. And the
people were turned with hatred. And the scribes and the Pharisees
took up stones and stoned him. And in the midst of the suffering,
as the stones hit his body and bruised and broke his bones and
the blood came forth, Stephen looked up into heaven and trusted
by faith. Paul. Saul who stood alongside
as they stoned Stephen and consented to his stoning and condemned
him and hated him for his message regarding Christ journeyed to
Damascus to cause havoc in the churches, to put believers, to
put those who walk by faith into jail to persecute them to put
them to death and Christ himself met Paul met Saul on the way
and this blind sinner though he were religious though by nature
he should have known all this blind sinner had his eyes opened
And Christ spake unto him, and speaking unto him, he put life
into Saul's once-dead heart. And he put faith that he might
see a Saviour crucified for him. And that man, who'd consented
to Stephen's death, who'd persecuted Jesus Christ, who knew nothing
of faith, despite all his religion, from that day was called and
sent forth to preach the gospel. And he it is who said, as we
read in Romans 1, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God under salvation. It took him and delivered
him from his sins. And it took that power to do
it. And he said, for therein, in
that gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. For it is written, the just shall
live by faith. He knew what faith is. He was delivered by faith. He
was delivered by the faith of Christ upon the cross. He had
his eyes opened by faith. He was sent forth to preach by
faith. And he endured and lived until
his last day upon this earth by faith. And he was taken in
his final hour unto glory by faith. where he now lives and
reigns with Jesus Christ. And from whence the gospel which
he preached and wrote and had recorded in the scriptures, as
inspired and led to write by Christ and the Spirit of God,
is now preached down through the ages, down through the generations,
unto this day. Two thousand years later, here
we stand, upon the same earth, that Christ walked upon, upon
the same earth that Stephen stood upon, upon the same earth that
Paul stood upon, the same earth that the just walked and lived
by faith upon. Here we stand in the darkness
of this evil world and from heaven's glory Christ takes that same
gospel that Paul preached and sends it forth in power into
this world preaching by faith that sinners like you and I might
hear, might have our ears opened, might have faith put in our hearts
by the Spirit of God and that we like they might see and believe. upon Jesus Christ who was crucified
for sinners. Today God sends forth his gospel
in power. Today God calls sinners out of
darkness. Today God places faith in the
heart of those who are once dead. Today God says unto the souls
of dead sinners live and they live. and they look and the eyes
of faith are opened and the ears of faith are opened to hear and
they hear the voice of the Son of God. Today the gospel goes
forth in power. Have you heard? Has he given
you faith to see? Are you one of the just in Christ? But what by faith? If you are, then you will know
something of the suffering of Christ. Then you will know something
of the persecution of men and the hatred of men against Christ,
against his gospel and against his people. You will know something
of what Stephen endured, of what Paul endured, of what Christ
endured. You will know both the glory
of salvation in Jesus Christ, you will know the forgiveness
of your sins and the peace you have with God, the deliverance
from this world and all its ways and you will also know the trial,
the suffering, the persecution which you must endure as you
take your steps through this world until that day when God
leads you across the waters into eternal glory. You will know
something of what the life of faith is. Because having been
born again of God, having been given faith, having seen the
faith of Christ in the Gospel, having received the faith of
Christ as your own, that you might receive and believe on
Him, you will begin and commence a life, a journey, a pilgrimage
of faith. Where every step is a step you
take of faith. You will know the trial. You
will know the warfare. You will know the ups and downs.
You will know the puzzlement of knowing that your sin has
been judged. Of knowing that your old man
in Adam has been crucified with Christ. Of knowing that all your
sins past, present and future have been blotted out. of knowing
that in Christ you are the righteousness of God, that you stand in him
perfect. You will know the puzzlement
of knowing where you are in Christ and yet every day feeling the
workings of sin in your flesh pulling you down. You will know
what it is to walk through Roman 7 and to know how Paul felt When
the good that you would, you do not do, and the evil that
you would not, that you do. You will know what it is to have
your old man rearing its ugly face every day. You'll know how easy it is to
give in to his beguiling ways. How easy it is to walk in sin
how easy it is to walk both in the natural sins of the flesh
and the sins of religion that the natural man concocts to delude
sinners that they are all right with God when in fact they are
still in darkness oh the natural man has a way of getting to God
and every day he says oh do this Oh go here and he'd lead us astray. You will know as a believer this
struggle of faith, this life of faith, this walk of faith
and the puzzle that so often it is. But you will also know
those wonderful desires which God has put in your heart to
long for that which once you hated. to seek for that which
once you ran from, to hear that which once you could not hear,
to see Him who once was hid from you. You'll know what it is to
have a heart that loves Christ. You'll know what it is to have
a heart that desires Christ. that longs for Christ, that hears
Christ, that loves to hear his voice. You'll know what it is
to have a heart that hungers and thirsts after righteousness. A heart that's weary with this
world. That's weary with the self-righteousness
of false religion. That's weary with the entertainment,
the riches, the pleasures, the delusions of this world. That's
weary with the filth and the corruption of this world. A heart
like Lot that is grieved and vexed. at the evil communication,
the evilness all around, that longs to be delivered from this
world, that longs to be delivered from the bondage, that longs
to be delivered from the effects of the old man and the flesh
within. You'll know what it is to have
a heart that longs for heavenly things, which has its affection
upon heavenly things, that desires to be rid of this world and to
be with Christ, which is far better. As Paul says, for to
me to live is Christ, but to die is gain. The day that I go
to be with Christ will be a wonderful day. But he knew that he could
not go until God said come, because God had placed him in this world
for a reason. For a reason. to declare and
to preach unto others the glory of salvation in Jesus Christ,
to speak of the faith, the life of faith, the justification by
faith, the salvation by faith, to speak of faith unto others
and to speak of the Saviour, Christ is Lord, who wrought by
faith His salvation. He knew He would not go to be
with God, He would not go to heaven, He would not be taken
from this journey until his work was done, until God's work through
him was done. Believers are placed upon this
earth as beacons of light. God will make known his light
in the darkness, he will preach his gospel and though it's a
trial to be here and though every day can be a struggle and though
we know the hatred and the persecution of others, It's for God's glory,
it's working out his purposes, it's shining forth his light
in a dark world. The believer is not selfish. Though he himself may long to
be delivered from the pain and the darkness and the weariness
of sin in this world to be with Christ, he knows that once he
was like others in the darkness. And he longs for Christ to build
his kingdom and to deliver others from the darkness. He longs to
see them forgiven as he himself has been forgiven. So he knows
that God's timing is perfect. He knows that the life of faith
which he walks now is meant to be and works out the purposes
of God. Christ is building his church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it and he's building
his church by saving souls and by causing them as those who
live by faith to preach that faith in this dark and evil generation. in this dark and evil world unto
this present generation to preach that faith. So they know the
struggles, they know the trials but they glory and rejoice in
Christ their Saviour and they glory in that message which they
declare unto others. Why are they persecuted? Why
is their life a struggle? There was a day when others didn't
hate them. There was a day when they were
sinners like all others, when they were children of rough as
others, when they went to the same excess of riot as everyone
else, when they fitted in. There was a day when the world,
when their colleagues at work, when their friends at school
went all around them, patted them on the back and enjoyed
their company. and they all indulge in the same
iniquity to the same degree but then there comes this day
when God has intervened and God has taken them out of the darkness
God has plucked them out of the gutter God has made himself known
unto them and no matter what they may try or do no matter
how they may compromise no matter how they may attempt to keep
in with the world or their colleagues or their school friends or the
world if they so desired there is that inevitable difference
within them and the world knows it even more than they do the
world sees suddenly you're not the same as us the world says. Suddenly this one doesn't fit
in like they want fitted in. Suddenly you're beginning to
speak of things that the world doesn't like. Suddenly you're
beginning to criticize things that the world loves. Suddenly
you're walking a different way, there's a different life. And
the world hates it. The world hates it and the believer
knows the consequence and I tell you if you don't know the consequence
if you profess Jesus Christ and you continue to fit in and all
men speak well of you then there's a question mark over your head
because even without trying the believer will begin to be seen
to be different and the world will turn Christ came unto his
own, and his own received him not. They saw a difference. Outwardly, they were of the same
race. Outwardly, they had the same
religion. But those who didn't know faith,
didn't know the life within Christ, and they hated it. You can be
a churchgoer, fitting in with the religion of this world Christian
or otherwise but when the gospel takes you and delivers you you'll
find even the company of professing believers in these churches becomes
difficult you find those that claim to be Christian turn against
you because suddenly there is life within you which isn't within
them there is faith which they haven't got. And they're stirred
up in enmity. The believer is not like others.
He's not like he was. His taste, his desires, his heart
has changed. They change. His is a life of
faith. He lives by faith. But what is this life of faith?
How do we walk by faith? There is much in the New Testament
which is written and addressed to believers. Much which is written
to those who know faith. Many exhortations regarding the
walk of faith. If you read any of the epistles
that Paul writes, they tend to follow a pattern. read Romans,
Ephesians, Colossians and so on, they tend to follow a pattern
where he opens the epistle with the foundational truths of the
gospel and how Christ has delivered us from our sins and our position
and standing in Christ and the glory and grace of God in delivering
sinners. and having presented to the gaze
of the hearer or the reader the glory of Christ in his Gospel,
Paul then encourages them to walk in the light of it. He moves
on to exhortations to walk as those who are children of light
and not the children of darkness. He encourages us to walk in a
manner in which our old man is mortified and laid in the dust
and in which the new man looks up by faith and rests in Christ
in glory. He encourages and exhorts and
we see these exhortations throughout the New Testament. But how often
do the religious take these things and confound them and confuse
them and take them out of context. These exhortations are always
in a context. The gospel, the truth of our
standing in Christ comes first. These follow on in the light
of it. You cannot take them out of the
context of where we are in Christ in the gospel. You cannot extract
them and set them forth as dry commands and neither can you
take the gospel and ignore the consequences and the effects
and the results that it brings about in the life of faith. Paul knew the danger that the
gospel embraced in the carnal mind would encourage those who
took the facts of the gospel to twist it and corrupt it unto
their own ends. For in Romans, having presented
the glories of Christ's deliverance of his people, of justification
by faith, of the substitutionary death of Christ, in the first
five chapters, in Romans Paul, in chapter 6, asks this question. That all being so, Christ having
died for us, Christ having delivered us from our sins, Christ having
judged our old man Adam at the cross, Christ having done all
the work, our justification being entirely by grace and not by
the works or the will of man, that all being so, What shall
we say then? Shall we take that truth and
say, well in that case if all my sins past, present and future
have already been paid for, if Christ has already died for everything
that I might do past, present and future, surely it doesn't
matter then how I live. What shall we say then he says
shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? If all of that's true then it
won't matter how I live because my sins have already been paid
because the price has already been paid they've already been
judged then what I do today won't matter and if it doesn't matter
Shall I just carry on and sin then? Why don't I just live a
life of pleasure and ease in this world knowing that I'm already
justified? And so he takes a truth which
is true and responds to it as the carnal mind would respond. Because the carnal man who loves
to sin would see this as an open door to sin. The carnal man who
really knows nothing of faith or the life of faith will see
this gospel of grace and say well then I can live as I like
and I'm still saved. And so he takes the gospel and
uses it to his own ends. He goes off and he eats and he
drinks and he's merry. And he does all the same things
that the world does. He indulges in the same pleasure.
He has the same ambitions. He speaks with the same tongue.
He watches the same filthy things. He listens to the same filthy
things. He speaks with the same filthy tongue. He indulges in
the same jokes and the same humor to get the attention of others.
He dresses in the same manner as the world does in order to
gain the attention of others. And he says it doesn't matter
because my sins have been washed. Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? Indeed he can even take this
and think that he is magnifying the grace of God by so doing.
The more he shows himself to be a sinner, the greater his
saviour must be. Paul has no time for this because
the believer would not respond so. Faith will not take the reality
of what Christ has done and use it as an occasion for sinning. Faith will not say all right
then I'm free to sin as I like. Faith says it hates sin, it's
vexed by sin, it wants to be rid of sin. Faith looks to a
saviour who paid the price for sin and feels the pain and the
suffering which he endured for it. Faith says I don't want to
add any stripes to his back. I know he's been there already
but it grieves me to think of what he suffered for me. Faith
hates and runs from sin and every day that we fall, every hour
that we fall, every moment that we fall, every evil utterance
that comes from our lips, every wrong decision we make, Every
time we feel our heart growing cold, every time we wander away
and feel the Lord's presence depart, we grieve over because
we long to be with Christ. We long to taste of heavenly
things. We long to walk in a manner befitting
our profession and calling. It's not that the believer thinks
that anything he does earns him righteousness or that anything
he does is a worthy service under his Lord. It's simply that he
longs for Christ and he hates the fruit of the old man. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? In the gospel we've been crucified
with Christ. Our old man has been slain. And though we feel the old man
in our body still, though he still causes us to sin every
day we know that Christ has judged him and we don't want to walk
in the old man we want to walk in the new. We have no desire
to sin that grace might abound. Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection, knowing this that our old man is crucified
with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed
from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ,
We believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ,
being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death have no more dominion
over him. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise
reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should
obey it in the lusts thereof. Why would you? Why would you
want to? It's been slain. Our old man
has been crucified that the body of sin might be destroyed. He's
died and we're risen with Christ then why would you feed his desires? Why would you let sin reign in
your mortal body? Why would you still do that which
you once did before faith came? Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness under sin but yield yourselves
unto God as those that are alive from the dead and your members
as instruments of righteousness unto God for sin shall not have
dominion over you. For ye are not under the law,
but under grace. For ye are not under the law,
but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because
we are not under the law, but under grace? If we're not under
the law, if there's no law to restrain us, if there's no law
to which the believer is accountable, are they going to sin? No sir,
because they love to walk in righteousness. Now you take a
false professor, you take the one that claims to follow Christ,
who has no faith, and take the law away, and you'll see what
that man is. He will indulge, he will sin.
You bring that law to bear on him. and you'll see the sin but
you take the believer and deliver him out from the law which is
where he is because that law brought his penalty upon Christ
and you won't see him sinning you won't see that because the
law has gone that he sins all the more you'll see one who wants
to live by faith. Yes he falls, yes he stumbles,
yes sin is there, because the flesh is there. As Paul is exhorting,
don't let sin reign in your mortal body. Reckon ye yourselves to
be dead indeed under sin. Mortify the deeds of the flesh. Consider him dead, reckon him
dead. Don't give him any space. Don't
feed him what he wants. Look unto Christ. Walk in faith. Walk in the Spirit. Yes, there will be sin when the
flesh isn't mortified. But it's not because he's not
under law. His walk will be as that which is under grace. Grace
will restrain him. Grace will deliver him. Grace
will lead him aright. What then shall we sin because
we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid. Know
ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey,
his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death
or of obedience unto righteousness. But God be thanked that we were
the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form
of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from
sin you became the servants of righteousness. I speak after
the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh.
For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to
iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members servants
to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants
of sin, ye were free from righteousness. All you did was sin. You were
a servant of sin. There wasn't one shred of righteousness
in anything you did because you were a slave, a servant of sin. But now, you are a servant of
righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those
things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is
death. But now being made free from
sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit under holiness,
and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life. through Jesus Christ, our
Lord. So the believer does not take
the gospel, does not take the reality of justification by faith
and say, well, in that case, I can do what I like and it won't
matter. In that case, I shall sin and
grace will abound. He doesn't want to sin. He knows
that when he does sin, that all is well, for God has forgiven
him in Christ. He knows in Christ, as Paul goes
on in chapter 8 of Romans, that there is no condemnation. He
knows the wonderful reality of the Gospel, that because he's
in Christ, because Christ has taken his sin, all his sin is
gone, there's no condemnation. And every day that he sins, and
every day that he falls, and every day that he fails, he knows
that none of it brings condemnation upon him. He knows that grace. which has delivered him. He knows
that nothing shall separate him from the love of Christ, nor
his failings, nor his sin, nothing. But he won't sin, that grace
might abound. He won't take that truth and
abuse it and say, I'll do what I like, for it doesn't matter.
and he won't when he reads Paul's exhortations and the scriptures
exhortations to faith fight against them because he loves them and
he loves what's exhorted he loves what he's encouraged to do that's
exactly how he wants to be that's exactly how he wants to walk
and he knows that that life is the life which will permeate
through the Church the life which will encourage the free course
of the Gospel in the Church when the Apostle exhorts him to turn
from the works of the flesh he receives it he knows he has no
strength to respond but the Spirit of God within him the new man
of grace says Amen he knows he cannot walk in that way in the
strength of his flesh but he doesn't want to walk in the strength
of his flesh the flesh must be mortified the flesh is crucified but how easy it is to take these
things and set them against each other how easy it is to take
our place in Christ and set it against the exhortations and
encouragements of the Gospel or how easy it is in the flesh
to look to those exhortations or to look to the law and say,
oh very well I will live like this when we don't know faith. There are those when you listen
to them who will speak entirely of how they live of how the believer
should live entirely of fleeing this sin and that sin and doing
this work and that work and you never heard the gospel you never
heard what Christ did you never heard the free grace of God their
entire focus is on trying to be righteous and they take the
exhortations and turn them into a law and all they're doing is
making the outside of the person look righteous when inside they're
filthy. They're like the Pharisee that
cleans the outside of the plate out of the platter and makes
it all look clean when inside it's filthy and disgusting and
full of death. and there are those others in
the flesh also who take the gospel and say it doesn't matter how
we live and the ones constantly pitted against the other as a
polarisation when all these things are one we walk a life of faith
because of the gospel which gave us faith we mortify the deeds
of the flesh because we know that at the cross Christ crucified
the flesh. We walk in the new man and turn
from the old man because we know that the old man was judged.
We receive every exhortation and encouragement given to the
new man of grace because we hate and despise the fruit of the
old man of death. And it's a right view of the
old man and the new man which will give you a right view of
your life as a believer and your walk of faith and your standing
in Christ and how you journey through this world. This is why
in this chapter in Romans 6, Paul speaks of that old man being
crucified. He speaks of the flesh and contrasts
it with the new man. This is why in Colossians 2,
which we read from earlier, that Paul again speaks and contrasts
between the old and the new. if ye then be risen with Christ. Seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection
on things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead,
your old man is dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also
appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore your members
which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection,
evil concupiscence, and covetousness which is idolatry, for which
things take the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience,
in the which ye also walked some time when ye lived in them, when
ye lived in them. but not now. But now he also
put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication
out of your mouth, lie not one to another seeing that he have
put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new
man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created
him we're a new man a new man we've died in Adam we've been
crucified with Christ we're risen again in Christ and our affections
are on things above We have different desires, different loves, we're
looking up by faith, we're looking up by faith to the Saviour. Which is why you'll never walk
in these exhortations without the Gospel. Because you can exhort
a dead man to look up and set his affections upon Christ in
glory, but if he does not know Christ in glory, and if he never
hears of Christ in glory he'll never be looking up to that which
is true he has a vain zeal to walk in a self-righteous manner
but he doesn't know the Saviour he doesn't know his faith he
doesn't know his life and he doesn't know the deliverance
which Christ wrought but the believer does because the believer
who was once a child of wrath even as others who once walked
in these things as others did, who once loved the sin that everyone
else loved, heard the gospel, heard the voice of Christ, received
Christ by faith, and so walks in him. As Paul says in chapter
2 of Colossians, as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord,
so walk ye in him rooted and built up in him and established
in the faith as ye have been taught abounding therein with
thanksgiving as ye have received Christ Jesus you heard him by
faith you were born again by faith you were saved by the grace
of God not the works of man then walk by faith live by faith not
by your works not by your strength not by your striving to be something
that you're not but by mortifying the old man reckoning him dead
that you might be free to live with the life which you have
now That the old man might not get in the way. That the old
man might not pull you down. It's not a case of perfecting
the old man, of improving yourself, of making yourself better. It's
a case of crushing the old man that the new is brought to the
surface. It's a case of looking unto Christ
each and every day. That the old man should be starved. And the new man should be fed
and nourished and built up in the gospel. Where Christ is preached,
faith is kindled. And where faith is strengthened,
you have a people who live and walk by faith. Where works are
preached, faith is dead. Christ is never seen and you
have a people who walk and live in the flesh. At Galatia they
were led astray by those who would take these who knew faith
and would turn them back to the law to perfect their lives in
the flesh. And all they knew as a consequence
was the bubbling up again of sin. Was the exaltation of the
old man. Was sin and death. Faith was
set aside. The works of man were lifted
up. And they knew bondage. And Paul
has to write to them plainly. With this exhortation, O foolish
Galatians, who have bewitched you, that ye should not obey
the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently
set forth, crucified among you? You've seen him, you know him,
you've seen him by faith, then why are you turning aside to
works? Walk by faith. This only would
I learn of you received ye the spirit by the works of the law
or by the hearing of faith. Are ye so foolish having begun
in the spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh? Have ye
suffered so many things in vain if it be yet in vain? He therefore
that ministereth to you the spirit and work of miracles among you
do if he yet by the works of the law or by the hearing of
faith. Even as Abraham believed God
and it was accounted unto him for righteousness, know ye therefore
that they which are of faith the same are the children of
Abraham. Walk. by faith the law is not of faith
but the man that doeth them shall live in them that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God it is evident the just shall
live by faith so he takes them right back to where he was in
the beginning of Romans you've heard that gospel you've been
saved by that gospel it's faith that brought you here and it's
faith by which you will live, not the flesh, not works, not
the law, but a life of faith in the new man. The just shall
live by faith Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! We shall live by
faith. If ye be risen again with Christ
set your affection on things above. Look up, look up May the
Lord open our eyes by faith to see and to walk every day with
a gaze set upon a saviour who suffered to the uttermost to
set his people free. Free from sin, free from death,
free from the old man, free from the flesh, free from the lies
and the deceit of men, free. For he that is dead is free from
sin. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead, die if no more death, have no more
dominion over him. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once. But in that he live, if he live,
if unto God. Then look unto Christ alone. Shall we continue in sin? God
forbid. For the just shall live by faith. Amen.