Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Neidert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyvert. I'd like to read a verse of scripture
from Romans chapter 1. I'm going to read verses 16 and
17. If you have a Bible, it would be good if you could follow along
with me. Paul says in verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. For it, the gospel, is the power
of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just
shall live by faith. I've entitled this message, The
Just Shall Live by Faith. Now, this verse of Scripture
is quoted four times in the Bible, one time in the Old Testament,
the other three times in the New Testament, and it is such
an important verse. There's no understanding of the
gospel or of God apart from this verse of scripture. Now let me
read these verses to you as they're found in the scriptures. In the
book of Habakkuk, we read in chapter two, verse four, behold,
his soul, which is lifted up is not upright in him, but the
just shall live by his faith. And then in Galatians chapter
3 verse 11 we read, But that no man is justified by the law
in the sight of God, it is evident, for the just shall live by faith. And then in Hebrews chapter 10
verse 38 we read, Now the just shall live by faith, but if any
man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him, And
then the passage I just read from Romans chapter 1 verse 17,
now the just shall live by faith. Now when I'm trying to preach
on this message, I do so with fear. I don't want to darken
counsel with words without knowledge. I want to be very clear as to
what this passage of scripture means. It was Martin Luther,
who said that a church stands or falls on what it believes
about this verse of scripture. The just shall live by faith. Now a mistake here is a mistake
on life. The just shall live by faith
and it would prove to be fatal. Now faith is the salvation grace. I'm not saved by my knowledge.
I'm not saved by my zeal. I'm not saved by my works. I'm
not saved by my courage. I'm not saved by my love. I'm
saved by faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Faith is the gift of God, not
of works, lest any man should boast, and all other graces hang
on this thing of faith. Paul put it this way in Galatians
chapter 5 verse 6, for in Christ Jesus And beloved, that's where
I want to be found is in Christ. I don't want to be found anywhere
but in Him so that all God sees when He sees me is His Son, Jesus
Christ. And the only way that will be
is if I have this God-given faith to look to Him. For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision avails anything nor uncircumcision,
but faith which worketh by love. Now, we would do well to consider
the definition of these terms. What does the Bible mean by the
just? What does the Bible mean by shall
live? And what does the Bible mean
by faith? First of all, what does the Bible
mean by just? The just shall live by faith. Well, the just are the justified. those whom God has justified. Now, if I'm justified, that means
I have never sinned. It means I have a perfect righteousness
before God. It means that when God looks
at me, He sees no sin. I am just in His sight. If I have a spot of sin, if I
have one sin on me, I cannot be just before God. You see,
God's perfect, and He cannot accept anything short of perfection. How good do you have to be for
God to accept you? You have to be good as God. You
have to be perfect and without sin. That's what justified means. The just, those who are just
before God, those who are righteous before God. Now, there are two
kinds of people in this world, the just and the unjust, the
righteous and the wicked, the saved and the lost. Those who are just are those
who are perfectly righteous, without spot, without blemish
before God. Those who are wicked have nothing
but sin. That's all they are before God. When God looks at them, He sees
nothing but sin. Genesis chapter 6 verse 5 says,
And God saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only
evil continually. Now, there's only two kinds of
people. You and I fall into one of those groups, the just and
the unjust, the righteous and the wicked. Now, I'm going to
tell you something now that's amazing. All of the righteous,
without any exception to this rule, all of the righteous believe
themselves to be wicked. And all of the wicked believe
themselves to be righteous, or at least have the potential to
be righteousness if everything works out the way they think
it should. I want to repeat that. All of
the righteous, believe themselves to be wicked, and all of the
wicked believe themselves to be righteous. Now how can a man
be just before God? The just, the scripture says,
the just, the righteous, how can a man be just before God?
All it takes is the commission of one sin, and you're not just. So how can a man who is sinful,
who has committed sin. Is there anybody that can say
I'm without spot, without blemish before God, that I've not sinned,
I've been perfect in my life? Of course not. So how can a man
like this, a sinful man, be just before God? You know, Job said,
if I justify myself, my own mouth condemns me. For a man, a sinful
man, to be just before God, God has to make them that way. That's
a very simple answer. The only way you or I can be
just before God is for God to make us just before him. Listen to this scripture in Romans
chapter four, beginning in verse five. It says, but to him that
worketh not, He knows He can't be saved by His works. To Him that worketh not, but
believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly. His faith is counted
for righteousness, even as David also describeth the blessedness
of the man unto whom God imputes righteousness without works,
saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven. whose
sins are covered, covered in the blood of Christ, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. For a man to be just before God,
God has to justify them. Now, listen real carefully. Justification
is not something that God offers. What if a criminal stood before
a judge And the judge says, well, I'm going to give you your choice.
I'm going to offer you justification or guilt. Which one will you
take? You say, that would never happen. Not if he was a just
judge. You're right. That would never
happen, yet that's the way most people present the gospel. God
offers men salvation. God offers men justification.
It's up to you as to whether or not you'll accept it or reject
it. That's foolishness. There is no truth in that any
more than a judge would offer the defendant either justification
or guilt. No, if you're justified, it's
because God declared you to be just. Now how does that work?
Here's the only way it works. My sin, which is most real, God
lifted it up off me and placed it upon the Lord Jesus Christ
and it became His sin. That's why He died. He was guilty. Guilty as charged because my
sin, He is my substitute, took my place. And my sin became His
sin. And just as truly as my sin became
His sin and He died as my substitute, His perfect righteousness, the
righteousness of God, becomes mine. That's who the just are. those who are without guilt before
God. And the only way I can be without
guilt before God is for God to declare me to be without guilt. The scripture says in Romans
8.33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather that's risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. The just are the justified. It's what God declares you to
be. Now, the next thing our text says is the just shall live.
The just shall live by faith. Now, what does the Bible mean
by living? The just shall live. Now this
is not talking about physical life, the life that I experience
that comes from breathing in air and taking in oxygen and
my heart pumping and bringing the oxygen to the different parts
of my body and I live. That's not what that's talking
about. This is talking about spiritual life. You remember in the garden, When
God said to Adam, in the day, in the very day you eat thereof,
you shall surely die. Adam ate. You remember what took
place? Adam ate. He didn't die physically,
but he died spiritually. and that is seen in His conduct.
The Scripture says, when He ate, the eyes of them both were opened,
and they knew they were naked. Now they were naked before they
ate of the fruit, but it wasn't an issue to them. Why? Because
they were not spiritually dead, they were not evil. But once
they became spiritually dead, they became evil, and they knew
they were naked, and all the sin that's associated with the
wicked thoughts and so on that they had, and what did they do?
They ran and hid themselves from the presence of God. They no
longer wanted to be in His presence, they wanted to be away from Him.
And the scripture says they tried to take fig leaves and make themselves
a covering to hide their shame. That represents man's attempt
at salvation by works. He tries to make a fig leaf to
cover his own sin. But the Lord came to them. Thank God for that. He came to
them and He provided them a covering and gave them spiritual life. They knew they were naked and
He gave them spiritual life. Spiritual life, what is it? When
a man's dead, there are things that he can't do. A dead man,
spiritually dead man, can't believe the gospel. He can't love God. He can't repent of his sins. He can't believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. He can't even come to Christ.
He's unable to because he's dead in sins. Ephesians 2, 1 says,
and you hath he quickened who are dead in trespasses and sins. But when God gives life through
the gospel, you can do what you before could not do. The just
shall live. They have spiritual life. If you're a believer, you now
have spiritual life. The just shall live, the scripture
says, by faith. The just shall live Those who
are justified, those who have spiritual life, shall live by
faith. Now what is faith? What is faith? You know, that's
actually a very good question. Most people take it for granted, but
what is faith? Is faith believing the existence of God? Is it believing
that there is a God? No, the devil believes that.
The devil believes that. As a matter of fact, everybody
intuitively knows that God is. Everybody deep down intuitively
knows that God is. They're born with that knowledge. It's not believing in the existence
of God. Faith is a reliance upon what
God has said. Let me illustrate this. The first
time the word believing is used, in Genesis chapter 15, verse
6, it says, Abraham believed God. That's what faith is. Belief
is the verb of the noun faith. Abraham believed God. God said
to Abraham, Abraham, and Abraham was an old man at this time.
His wife was an old woman who'd already gone through menopause.
He says, look at the stars. Can you count them? So shall
your seed be. You're going to have that many descendants. And
here Abraham is old. His wife is old. It was physically
impossible for them to have children. But yet he believed what God
said. He believed that God was able
to do what he said he was going to do. Scripture says Abraham
was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded
that what God had promised he was able also to perform. Faith
is a reliance upon what God has said. Now, I am relying on what
God has said concerning salvation. I'm relying on this. I can't
be saved by my works. I can't be saved by my feelings.
I can't be saved by my efforts. The only way I can be saved is
by what Christ did for me. And I'm relying on what God said. When Christ said, it is finished,
the salvation of everybody he died for was finished and completed. And I am relying on that. The just shall live by faith. Now, this is a very narrow statement.
It doesn't give us any wiggle room. It's a very comprehensive
statement, and it's an unqualified statement. The just, those who
are just before God, shall live by faith. No other way. Now, why is this so? Why is it that the just shall
live by faith? Well, first of all, because God
said it. That's enough of a reason, isn't it? God said it. I've heard people say, God said
it, I believe it, that settles it. No, God said it and that
settles it whether you and I believe it or not. Let God be true and
every man a liar. God said it and that settles
it. The just shall live by faith. Why is this so? Because there
is no other way possible. You see, we've already sinned.
That's a given. We've already sinned and salvation
by works is forever impossible for people like me or you. We've
already sinned and the only way we can be just before God is
because of this scripture, the just shall live by faith. This
is so, the just shall live by faith, this is what makes salvation
by grace. Let me read this scripture to
you in Romans chapter 4 verse 16. It says, Therefore it is
a faith, salvation, it's a faith that it might be by grace. You
know what the grace of God is? It's free. There's nothing you
do to earn it. There's nothing you do to merit
it. It's absolutely free, saving grace. Therefore it, salvation,
is a faith that it might be by grace to the end, that the promise
might be sure to all the seed, all that Christ died for, all
who believe. Now, grace. Salvation is by grace. Paul put it this way in Ephesians
2, 8, 9. By grace are you saved. Through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man
should boast. Salvation is by grace. That's
why it's through faith, because salvation's by grace. Saving
grace. Now, understand this. Grace isn't
something God offers you that you can accept or reject. God's
grace saves. Every object of God's grace is
saved by His grace. Oh, thank God for saving grace. By grace, He is saved. Electing
grace, redeeming grace, regenerating grace. Calling grace, justifying
grace, preserving grace, all of salvation is by the grace
of God. That's why it's through faith.
And my dear friends, this is perfectly suited for the sinner.
What if it said, he that is good and holy is not condemned? Where
would that leave you? What if it said, he that's perfectly
sincere and never lies or is never a hypocrite, he'll be saved?
Where would that leave you? It'd leave you. You wouldn't
have a chance and I wouldn't have a chance. But salvation, thank God, is
of the Lord. Salvation is by grace. The just shall live by faith. And in all four of those passages
of scripture that I read, there's a little bit different emphasis.
I want us to consider what is emphasized when this glorious
statement is made, the just shall live by faith. In Habakkuk 2.4,
we read, Behold, his soul that is lifted up in him is not upright,
but the just shall live by faith. The soul that's lifted up. Literally
swollen. You know, when you're sick, you
become swollen quite often. Edema sets in. When you're sick,
when something's wrong with you, you're swollen. When you die,
people die, what happens? They become swollen. If you've
seen an animal on the side of the road, dead, if it's just
left there, it just swells and swells. What he's talking about
is human pride. The soul that's lifted up, swollen
with pride. God hates pride. Faith is contrary to human pride. God hates pride. God, the scripture
says, resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Six things
doth the Lord hate, yea, seven are an abomination to him, and
the first thing he mentions is a proud look and a haughty spirit. Pride goes before destruction
and a haughty spirit before the fall. Now that's what the scripture
says, that man whose soul is lifted up within him. I heard
one man say this, God hates pride. He hates pride of race. He hates
pride of face. He hates pride of place, and
he hates pride most especially. He hates pride of grace. Now
you think of that. Some man thinks that he's better
than somebody else because of the color of his skin or because
of the country he belongs to. God hates that. Someone is proud
because of their appearance and they think of themselves better
because of the way they look. God hates that. Somebody is proud
of their position in society and the power they have or something.
They have no power in reality and God hates that. But most
especially does He hate pride of grace. Like the Pharisee in
the temple who said, God, I thank Thee that I'm not as other men
are. God hates that, and faith is
opposed to that corrupt way of thinking. That soul that's lifted
up in him is not upright. Somebody walking in pride, they're
not upright. But the just shall live by faith. Now the second time it's mentioned
is in Romans chapter 1, the passage I originally read. Let me read
it to you once again. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believe it. To the Jew first and also to
the Greek, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness of
God revealed. From faith to faith, as it's
written, the just shall live by faith. Now, faith has something
to do with the very righteousness of God. If I have faith, I have
the very righteousness of God as my personal righteousness. Now, I wouldn't dare believe
something like that or even say it if the Word of God did not
teach it. Listen to this scripture. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21 says,
For He hath made Him, God the Father hath made the Lord Jesus
Christ, for He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no
sin. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. You see, the reason I will be
justified is because I have the very righteousness of God. The
righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it's written,
the just shall live by faith. Now, I cannot be righteous by
my works, but listen to this scripture.
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies
the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. The just shall
live by faith. And then in Galatians 3.11 we
read that no man is justified by the law on the side of God,
it's evident. It's clear, for the just shall live by faith. Now, here is the emphasis of
this passage of scripture. You cannot be saved by your works. You can't be justified by the
law. Now, what is meant by justification by the law? Listen real carefully.
It means more than just keeping the Ten Commandments. If any
aspect of salvation is dependent upon you to do something before
you can be saved, you believe in salvation by law. That's law. If any aspect of your salvation
is dependent upon you doing anything, that is salvation by law. Has
it ever become evident to you that if salvation is in any way
dependent upon you, you won't be saved? If that has become
evident to you, what a blessing of grace. God's taught that to
you. God's been your teacher. The
just shall live not by works, but by faith. And the last verse
of scripture is in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 38. Now the just shall
live by faith, but if any man draw back, Now that's a nautical
term, means you slacken the sails. You don't go quite so hard. Now
the just shall live by faith, but if any man draw back, God
says, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Now, to draw back means
you don't trust Christ completely. You draw back, you believe in,
you're not gonna go quite so strong in this thing of faith
only. You leave room for something
else. You don't look to Christ only. You look to Christ and.
And then you have some kind of ace in the hole in case that
doesn't work out. Now, you can't persevere that way. You can't,
that's drawing back. The only way you continue is
by continuing in the faith. Colossians chapter 1 verse 22
says He's made us perfect. He's presented us holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in His sight if you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled, and be not moved from the hope of the
gospel. What is the hope of the gospel?
My only hope is that Christ died for my sins and gave me His righteousness,
and I stand before God without fault, wholly because of what
He did. The just, the just before God,
shall live by faith, a complete reliance upon what the Lord Jesus
Christ has done. Now we have this message on CD
and DVD. If you call the church, write
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