I have just one verse as my text tonight,
one statement which is my topic. We read it this morning, verse
17 of Romans 1. Paul talked about, in verse 16,
I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power
of God and the salvation to everyone that believes it. to the Jew
first and also to the Greek, for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, that
just shall live by faith." That just shall live by faith. Now the importance of this statement
is enforced by the fact that it appears in the scripture four
times. This statement is in the word
of God four times. Here in Romans 1.17, then turn
to Galatians 3, and we find it again. The just shall live by
faith. Galatians 3, verse 11. that no man is justified by the
law in the sight of God, that's evident. For the just shall live
by faith. Then Hebrews 10, and verse 38,
he says, in verse 37, 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 that
draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving
of the soul. The just shall live by faith. The book of Habakkuk, towards
the end of the Old Testament, Habakkuk, Haggai, Zephaniah,
Haggai, Malachi, all right, fourth from the end. Now the prophet,
Habakkuk, had been pleading with the Lord on behalf of the people.
He'd been pleading with God, this prophet of God, had been
pleading with God. It starts off with verse 1 of
chapter 1, the burden, the burden which Habakkuk the prophet did
see. Another prophet called it the burden of the Lord, the burden.
And then he says in verse 2, O Lord, how long shall I cry
and you won't hear? Even cry out unto thee of violence
and you won't save. Look down at verse 4. Therefore
the law is slight. Offenders are not punished. Judgment
doth never go forth. The wicked doth compass about
the righteous, and wrong judgment proceedeth. Judgment is not only
slight, but it's perverted. Then verse 13, chapter 1. He's talking to the Lord here
about the situation. about his people, about the way
things are in his day. Verse 13, he said, Thou art a
pure eye than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.
Wherefore lookest thou upon them that do it treacherously, and
hold your tongue when the wicked devour the man that's more righteous
than he. Lord, you see what they're doing,
and you hold your tongue. And when the wicked devoureth
the man that's more righteous than he, nothing happens. And then at the beginning of
verse of chapter 2, chapter 2, now the prophet had been pleading
with God on behalf of injustice, and the fact that God seemed
to be totally withdrawn from the situation. He talked pretty
clean, hadn't he? And here in verse 1, he's prepared
to receive the Lord's answer. He's been rash with his mouth
now, and he admits it. He says in verse 1 of chapter
2, I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and
I will watch to see what he will say to me. And what I shall answer when
I'm reproved, I've been rash with my mouth. And God's certainly
going to reprove me. He's going to scold me. And I'm
going to get ready to see what I'm going to say when he says
what he has to say. All right. Verse 2, and the Lord
speaks. Now, this is 500, 600 years before
Christ came. Now, this is one of the last
of the minor prophets. This turn, the Lord answered
me, and he said to me, Write the vision, write the promise,
write it, and make it plain, make it clear upon the tables.
Write it plain and clear, that he may readeth it, or he may
readeth it but run, that he may easily read it, or he pass not. What I'm going to say, write
it, and write it plain and clear so that those who pass by can
read it. Where do you see that and hear
that day that passed by, back in the Old Testament? Words of
our Master, the Lord Jesus, when he said, Is it nothing to you,
all you that pass by? Is it nothing to you? Behold,
and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is
done unto me, wherewith the Lord God hath afflicted me in the
day of his fierce anger." Now, the Lord doesn't rebuke the Prophet,
does he? He says, you write what I'm going
to say. You write this promise, this
vision, you write it plain and clear so that the phallus hastening
down the road might easily read it. Here it is, verse 3. By the vision, and you can put
in there the word promise, the promise. The promise is yet an
appointed time. What promise is this? The Messiah
is coming. The Redeemer is coming. The judge
of all the earth is coming. He's coming. And he's coming
at an appointed time. The time's already set. It's
been set from all eternity. The vision is yet for an appointed
time. But at the end of that appointed time, he'll speak. He'll be called the Word of God.
He'll be the prophet. He'll speak. He's the Word of
God. And he cannot lie. Where'd you
find that before? Titus said, God who promised
eternal life He cannot lie. He's coming at an appointed time.
It's already set. And he'll speak the truth, and
he'll speak, but he cannot lie. Did you ever think about the
character of our God? He cannot lie. Let me give you
something to think about. Peter can deny Christ. Christ
can't deny Peter. Peter's a man. He can lie. But
Christ can't lie. That's his character. That's
his nature. He cannot lie. He's truth. He
says, I am the truth. And he's coming. He cannot lie. Now, and did it carry? My, my. It did carry. It seems so long
to some of them. Lord, how long, how long, how
long. Abraham walked across the desert
for years and years and years. Moses led them across the wilderness
years and years and years, through the kingdom of David and Solomon
and writings of Isaiah and Ahaz and Hezekiah and on and on and
on and on. It's tiring, but wait for it, because it will surely come.
He's coming. Wait for it. And Isaiah wrote
about it, let me just read it to you. He said over here, listen
to this. And this shall come to pass in
that day, that it shall be said, Lo, this is our God, this is
our God, we've waited for him, and he'll save us. This is the
Lord. We've waited for him. Old Sinion
took him up in his arms and said, Lord, just let me die now. I've seen your salvation. We'll be glad and we'll rejoice
in thy salvation. Then here in Habakkuk, verse
4, the Lord continues. He describes the two sorts of
persons and their response. to this vision, to this promise,
to this coming of the Messiah, the promise of his coming. He
said, Behold, his soul which is lifted up in him is not upright. His soul which is lifted up is
not upright in him. Here's one group of people, the
Amplified Version says his soul is not straight. The proud, it
says in the Amplified, behold the proud. Behold the proud. Cannot humble himself before
the Lord. God resisteth the proud, giveth grace to the humble. Humble
yourselves under the mighty hand of God, he'll exalt you in due
time. But the proud, proud growth before destruction, a heart of
spirit before the fall, and six things God hates. Number one,
pride. The proud look. That's what it
says. He says behold the proud. This soul is not straight, it's
not honest, it's not right within him. He's lifted up with pride. And he's not going to have this
Christ, this crucified Redeemer. He's not going to have him. He
was in the world and they knew him not. He came to his own and
they received him not. Like we read this morning where
the Pharisees said to those soldiers who came back, They sent these
fellows to arrest Christ, and they came back without him, and
the Pharisees said, where is he? Boy, they said, no man ever
spoke like that man. They said, you deceived? Has
he deceived you? He hasn't deceived us. Do you
know any Pharisees and rulers that have believed on him? Those
common people don't know anything. That's the power. They won't
have him. But, it is. The first time it's in the Word,
after this, he says it three more times. The just shall live
by his faith. The just shall live by his faith.
Well, let's go back to Romans 1. Who is the just? Who is the just? Well, Paul described
him this morning. He's a humble man. I tell you,
the just man is a humble man. He says with Paul, verse 14,
I'm a debtor. I'm a debtor. I'm a debtor to
grace alone, of covenant mercies I sing. I fear not with my Lord's
righteousness on, my person and offering to bring. The terror
of law and of God with me have nothing to do, my Savior's righteousness
in blood hide all my iniquity from thee. And my name from the
palms of his hands eternity will not erase. My name on his heart
remains in marks of indelible grace. I'm a debtor." That's
a just man, he's a humble man. And then secondly, he's a man
who's not ashamed of substitution. He says in verse 16, I'm not
ashamed of the gospel. The gospel of Christ, that's
the gospel of substitution. One of my dearest friends, and
one of my greatest supporters, and one of our dearest elders,
who died about 10 or 11 years ago, Brother Charlie Payne, picked
up his Bible one day. He loved the Old Testament, he
loved the New Testament. He could preach the types of
Christ as well as anybody ever heard. I picked up his Bible,
and everywhere he could find They referred to the sacrifice
of Christ, he wrote on top of the page, substitution. Substitution. Substitution. I looked through
that whole Bible, and it was almost on every page. Substitution. That's the just man. He knows
substitution. He knows that he hath made him
to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God. Then thirdly, the just man loves
righteousness. Look at verse 17. For in that
gospel is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. What does that mean, from faith
to faith? From one degree of faith to the other. You see,
faith grows, grace grows, love grows. And God reveals this righteousness
of Christ and our dependence upon him and his righteousness,
he reveals it more every day. And this just man is a man who
can say with a hymn writer, the Lord, my righteousness, my treasure,
my boast, the Lord, my righteousness, then I can never be lost. For
all sin and all guilt Christ Jesus has set me free, the Lord
my righteousness. That's my song, and it always
will be. That just that man, a humble
man, a man who is not ashamed of the gospel, who believes in
substitution, and who rests and trusts and depends upon the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that man lives by faith. Here is my
next question. What does this mean, that Joshua
lived by faith? Well, I think this is the key.
He doesn't live upon faith. He lives by faith upon Christ. That's the key. In other words,
we don't find peace in faith. Now, the world tries to. They
said, get faith, and keep the faith, and don't lose your faith,
and you lose your faith, you lose your peace, you know. We
don't find peace in faith. Christ is our peace. He said,
My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives it. The
world can't give any peace. He's the King of peace. He purchased
peace by the blood of his cross. And we don't find rest in faith.
Faith doesn't give me any rest. My rest is in Christ. Listen
to Matthew 11, 28. All of you who are laboring and
heavy laden, I give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, and you'll find rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, and you'll find rest. The New Bible translations, and
I'm not being picky here, I'm trying to be honest, the New
King James Version records it this way. This is the way it's in the scriptures
here. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, and you'll find
rest. More rest. Of me. The New King
James says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, and you'll
find rest. That's wrong. I do learn from
Christ, but I learn of Christ. Christ is not only the teacher,
he's the subject. That's why we learn Christ, we
learn Christ. We don't just learn from him,
we learn him, learn of him. The NIV says that, Bob. It says,
take my yoke upon you and learn from me. A lot of people during
his lifetime on earth who learned from him who never learned of
him. They listened to him. They said, is not this the Messiah,
is not this the Christ? But they didn't follow him. But
the disciples learned of him. That's the difference. So this
just shall live by faith. We don't find peace in our faith.
We don't find rest in our faith. Christ is our peace, and Christ
is our rest, and Christ is our wisdom. As we grow in grace, we grow
in the knowledge of Christ. Not just the knowledge of doctrine,
it's the knowledge of Christ. He of God is made unto us wisdom. He's our wisdom, our righteousness,
our sanctification, our redemption. We don't find hope in faith.
Faith can't produce hope. Christ in you, that's the hope
of glory. The just shall live by faith
upon Christ. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I. I live by the faith
of the Son of God. who loved me and gave himself
for me. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall
we appear with him in glory." John Flavor, who wrote two of
the greatest books, I think we have one or both of them in the
bookstore. One of them is called The Method
of Grace. I think every preacher ought
to have that book, The Method of Grace. The second one is The
Fountain of Life. John Flavel had this to say,
four vital things. He said, everything that God
Almighty has for a sinner is in Christ. Everything. All spiritual
blessings are in Christ Jesus. And those, secondly, those spiritual
blessings are ours by union with Christ. That union is described
in the scriptures as he's the vine and we're the branch. When
you go by a vineyard, you don't say, look at the vines and look
at the branches. You say, look at the grapevines. The branches
are such a part of the vine that they don't live without it. He's the head, we're the
body. You don't take pictures of your
loved ones and have a hand over here on the wall and a hand over
there and a leg over there, just a head. There's a head, there
he is, there's my son. That's just a head, but that's
him, without that he's not a son, you know. Christ is our head,
we're the body. Flavius says everything God has
to use in Christ and it's used by union with Christ. God doesn't
have anything that's not in Christ. You can't have except if you're
in Christ. And thirdly, that union comes by faith. He that
believeth, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that
sent me hath life. He has it by faith. Union with
Christ by believing Christ. And then fourthly, how does that
faith come? Well, it comes by hearing the
word of God. It's so plain, it says, faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. That's how
we receive faith, by the word of God's foundation of faith.
David said this, he said, I believe, therefore I've spoken. And Paul
in the New Testament repeated it. He said, as David said, I
believe, therefore I speak. I can't speak except as the Word
of God speaks. That's where faith comes from,
the Word of God. The just shall live upon Christ by faith. Now then, I'm going to give you
these seven things in the next 15 minutes, this sevenfold relationship,
this relationship we have with him, the just who live upon Christ
by faith. Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not I, but I live by the
faith of the Son of God. Here it is, number one. Faith
lives on the name of Christ. If our young people can learn
those names, really learn them in their hearts and believe them,
they'll trust the Lord. If they can learn those names,
that's That's my name. There's none other name unto
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. He said, Whatsoever
you ask the Father in my name, he'll give it to you. You can
call on God in the name of Christ and he'll open the door. Ask
what you will in my name, he'll give it to you. There's no way for anybody here
to get in the presence of Almighty God. except through the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all. Forget anything,
or even be heard. God's not going to hear us, he's
not going to do business with us, he's not going to entertain
us, he's not going to bless us, except one way, for Christ's
sake. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake forgave you.
That's the only reason he does it, for Christ's sake. Second,
we live by the blood of Christ. I want you to turn to several
scriptures here. First of all, Deuteronomy 10. Let me give you
this just as simply as I can. Deuteronomy 10. At that time,
verse 1, Deuteronomy 10.1, at that time the Lord said to me,
Here are two tables of stone, like unto the first the ones
you broke, Moses, and come up unto me and unto the mount, and
make thee an ark of wood, and I write on the tables the words
that were in the first tables, which you breakest, and I shall
put them in the ark." Make an ark and take the law and put
it in that ark. Turn to, if you will, Exodus
25. He says here, Now you make that ark, and then
he said, verse 17 of Exodus 25, and make a mercy seat of pure
gold. Two cubits and a half shall be
the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth. And I
shall make two cherubims of gold of beaten work, shalt thou make
them in the two ends of the mercy seat. and make one cherub on
the one end and the other cherub on the other end even of the
mercy seat, shall ye make the cherubims on those two ends thereof. And the cherubims shall stretch
forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat, which is on top
of the ark, in which the tables are found. And their faces shall
look one to another, for the mercy seat shall be the faces
of the cherubims deep. And thou shalt put the mercy
seat above upon the ark, and in the ark put the testimony,
the law I shall give you, and there I will meet with you, and
I'll commune with you from above the mercy seat." All right, we've
got the law in the ark, we've got the mercy seat, we've got
the cherubim. Now turn to Leviticus 16. One other most important
thing that's got to be put on that mercy seat. What is it? The blood. All right, Leviticus
16, verse 14. And Aaron shall, Leviticus 16,
verse 14, he shall take of the blood of the bullock, sprinkle
it with his finger upon the mercy seat, eastward. Before the mercy
seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.
Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for
the people, and bring him the blood, bring his blood within
the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the
sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat he
make an atonement." Well, who is the mercy seat? Well, Romans
3. Who is our mercy seat? Romans
3. Whose blood is it that that typifies? Romans 3, verse 25. whom, whom Christ God has set
forth to be a propitiation, what's that word? A mercy seat, a covering,
a reconciliation, through faith in his blood, to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins that have passed through
the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time,
God's righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of
him that believeth in Jesus. There it is, that's laid out
clear and plain. Take that broken law, put it in that ark, cover
it with the mercy seat, put the blood on that mercy seat.
Jesus Christ came and on the cross fulfilled that prophecy. We come to God, we live before
God through the blood of Jesus Christ on the mercy seat. Thirdly, our faith lives on the
flesh of Christ. Now I want you to listen to me
just a few moments carefully. We live on the flesh of Christ,
the body and blood of Christ. I listened to John 6, and I think
I've got some light on this, and I think I've been able to
help people who read this. The Jews heard him say this,
and they said, Well, how can this man give us his flesh to
eat? How can this man give us his
flesh to eat? They didn't understand what he
was saying. See if I can help us. John 6, verse 55. My flesh is meat indeed, my blood
is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. He dwells in
me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent
me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he
shall live by me. This is the bread which came
down from heaven. Now, here's a comparison. Not
as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He that eats my
flesh, this bread, shall live forever. All right, our Lord
used Israel as a picture. Israel in the wilderness is a
type of true Israel. Israel in the wilderness is a
type of the Church. How did they survive in the wilderness
physically? The wilderness didn't give them
a thing. The wilderness didn't contribute a thing. They didn't
grow a thing. They just kept wandering through
it. God provided manna, bread from heaven. That's what they
ate. God provided water from a rock. That's what they drank. So, as
they wandered through the wilderness, the wilderness supplied nothing
at all, contributed nothing to the life of those people physically,
who are types of us spiritually. And as we walk through this world,
our bread is Christ, the bread from heaven. We survive. Our
souls are fed, and our souls are nourished, and our souls
are strengthened by feeding on his flesh and his blood. And when we take the bread, this
is my body broken for you. Take the blood, this is my blood
shed for you. And that's our own link I only
symbol. That's the only symbol God permits,
is that bread and wine. Let me show you something on
that. Turn to Romans 1. Maybe later
on this month we'll look at these verses again. But Romans 1, verse
21 and 23, Romans 1, verse 21 says, talking about the people, the
heathen, the pagans. Romans 1.21, Because when they
knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were they
thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their
foolish heart was darkened. And professing themselves to
be wise, they became fools, and they changed the glory of the
uncorruptible, and the invisible, and the eternal into an image,
into a symbol, into a religious thing they could touch and see.
They changed his invisible, eternal glory into corruptible things,
made like them to corruptible man. What do you see today that's
pictures of Christ? They changed it. No man has seen
God at any time. And it talks about Christ whom
having not seen, we love, and though now we see him not, but
believe. There's the picture. That's a symbol. That's an image
that we're forbidden to make, to take, to hang. They've changed
the incorruptible, invisible glory of God into an image like
man, or birds. Half the Methodist churches in
this country have got that symbol outside that door. That flame
of fire and that bearer flying down with something in his mouth.
The devil priest, Christ is our priest. That's a symbol. That's
an image. Well, that doesn't do any harm.
You wait a minute and I'm going to show you. I'm going to show you. He
said you change it to four-footed beasts. What do we have on Easter?
What do we give our children? Bunny rabbits. The Easter is the Passover. That's
what that word means. It's used once in the Bible,
only once. And it's the Passover, the blood of the Lamb. But we've
got chickens, eggs, four-footed beasts and creeping things. What's
wrong with this? Now listen carefully. People
say, well, these are but symbols. These are but reminders. I know. But the crosses, the crosses,
that's a symbol. But with the passing of time,
these symbols become more important, and more important, and more
prominent, and more visible, than him whom they're supposed
to represent. They become more... People, instead of thinking on
Christ to gain some spiritual growth, Look at the cross, one
around their necks. For good luck, they'll rub them.
A fellow gets up and does this before he hits the baseball,
you know. The symbol becomes more important than the person
it's supposed to represent. Symbolism. Now watch this. Christ
lifts up the symbol. The bread and the wine. What
do you do with it? You eat it and it's gone. And
he's there. You drink the wine and it's gone.
You don't save it, you don't look at it, you don't put it
up here in front, you eat it and it's gone. And your heart
and mind is on him. Do away with your symbols. For
just you live by faith upon Christ, his name, his blood, his flesh. Eat my flesh and drink my blood.
You have life. And then I've got to move on.
Let me just make this point. One day, this began the story. I've learned
a whole lot since then, not near enough, but by and large more
anyway. One day I was brought to see by birth and nature I
was an enemy of God, a prayed enemy of God. I learned that.
In my flesh dwelleth no good thing, S-I-N. Not what I've done,
but why I did what I did, what I am. A man doesn't become a
thief when he steals. He steals because he's a thief.
That's the nature. Secondly, I also realized that
my deeds and thoughts and acts had separated me from God. And
I found out from the Word of God that my efforts to produce
goodness and produce righteousness, to find The approval of God was
just the reverse. They threw me further away from
God. They were filthy rags in His sight. And then, fourthly,
I saw Him who is my righteousness. And God enabled me to lay hold
upon Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gives to me a perfect holiness,
a perfect righteousness. And that's how I live. I live
on the righteousness of Christ Jesus. I don't try, and you don't
either, do you? You don't try to, Lord, I'll
do this if you'll do this. We don't do that. We don't play
that game. It's Christ. Unworthy, undeserving. We came to him that way and we're
still that way. Fifth, the faith lives and feeds on the word of
God, on the word of Christ. Let me just read one scripture
over in Psalm 119. You'll enjoy turning over there
and reading this. Psalm 119, about 4 or 5 verses. Psalm 119,
verses 9 through 16. Psalm 119. Faith lives and survives
on the word of God. The word of God is a children's
bread. Psalm 119, verse 9. Wherewith all shall a young man
cleanse his way, by taking heed thereto according to thy word?
With my whole heart have I sought thee, let me not wander from
thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in my heart,
that I might not sin against thee. Blessed art thou, O Lord,
teach me thy statutes. With my lips have I declared
all the judgments of thy mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of
thy testimonies as much as in all riches. I will meditate in
thy precepts and have respect unto thy ways, and I will delight
myself in thy statutes, and I will not forget thy word." We live
on the word of God. Then, in the sixth place, we
live by the intercession of Christ. John said, My little children,
I write unto you that you sin not. Boy, what a wonderful thought! Never to sin? But alas, we do,
all do. But here's the good news, if
any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. Peter, you will fall, but I pray
for you. We have an advocate, our Lord
Jesus Christ. And Mr. Flavel said, I may be
condemned by the law. I may be found guilty and condemned
by the world. I may even be condemned by my
own conscience. Yet I shall carry the day in
the court of all courts, the ultra supreme court, the court
of heaven, because I have an Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous,
who is the Son of God, who is the Lamb slain, who is in the
midst of the throne. whoever lives, to make intercession
for me. And the intercessor, Christ Jesus,
always has the Father's ear. And he's never lost a client
yet. He's never lost a sheep. He said, of all that my Father
giveth me, I lose nothing. We live on that. And last of
all, we live on the offices of Christ. He's my prophet. to reveal my God, he's my priest
to redeem, he's my king to reign, he's my shepherd to provide,
and he's my mediator to intercede. To just to live upon Christ my
faith.