I'll be speaking today from the
book of Hebrews, chapter 10, verse 38. And our subject is
the just shall live by faith, or living faith. Now, next Sunday
morning, I'm going to preach on the forgiveness of sins. Will
God forgive sin? And I think that message will
be a blessing to you also. Now, these messages, the one
this morning, living by faith, and the one next Sunday morning
on the forgiveness of sin will be on the same cassette tape.
I wanted it that way. I want you to have these two
messages on the same tape. Let's pray that the Spirit of
the living God will give me some wisdom and liberty to deliver
these messages and that the Spirit of God will give you ears to
hear the Word Eyes to see the beauty and glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ and a heart to embrace Him, to receive Him, to love
Him, to believe on Him. Now, if you will, take your Bible
and open it to Hebrews chapter 10, the 10th chapter of Hebrews,
verse 38. And let me read it to you, Hebrews
10, 38. Now, the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in
him. But we're not of them that draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul. Now, I've preached from this
text many, many times, and I expect to preach from it many more times. And I'll give you four reasons
why I've preached so many sermons from this one text. The just
shall live by faith. First of all, because it occurs
so many times in the Word of God. Did you know that this one
statement, the just shall live by faith, occurs four times in
the Word of God? You'll read it in Habakkuk, chapter
2, verse 4. You'll read it in Romans, chapter
1, verse 17. You'll read it in the book of
Galatians, chapter 3, verse 11. And you'll read it in Hebrews
chapter 10 verse 38. Now a text repeated so many times
in God's Word is sufficient justification to preach on it quite often.
The just shall live by faith. This was the verse of Scripture
that the great Martin Luther read and was used of the Holy
Spirit to convince him that a man could not be saved by works.
Martin Luther was a monk in a monastery, cooked up in a small cell, trying
to establish a righteousness before God. He was trying to
find acceptance with God by the deeds and works which he performed. And studying the Bible, he came
across this verse of Scripture, that just shall live by faith. And he read it. And then he went
on reading other parts of the Scripture, but his mind kept
coming back to this verse of Scripture, because he wasn't
living by faith. He wasn't trying to find redemption
by faith. He wasn't looking to God by faith.
Martin Luther was depending upon his works, the deeds of the law,
his religion, to present him to God Almighty, to find acceptance
with God Almighty. And it wasn't until the Holy
Spirit made this one verse of Scripture, that just shall live
by faith, it wasn't until the Holy Spirit made it effectual
to his understanding that this man came to any peace or joy
in Christ Jesus, that just shall live by faith. It occurs four
times in God's Word. Another reason why I preach often
upon this passage of Scripture, that just shall live by faith,
is because faith is the foundation of all graces. The graces of
God are love, and peace, and joy, and longsuffering, and patience,
and meekness. But the foundation of all these
graces is faith, because without faith it is impossible to please
God. And our Lord Jesus said, he that
believeth on the Son hath life. He that believeth not the Son,
whatever else he has, he may have some degree of love or some
degree of joy or some degree of kindness and humility and
these things, but if he hath not faith, he hath not life. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath life. He that believeth not the Son
of God shall never see life. So faith, is the foundation of
all grace. It's the beginning. Without faith,
it's impossible to please God. He that cometh to God must believe. He doesn't say ought to or should. It'd be better if he would. He
said he must believe. He must believe. That's the foundation
of all grace. Our Lord Jesus Christ told the
Apostle Peter that he would deny. And yet, he finished with this
remark, but I prayed for you. But I prayed for you. that your
faith fail not. That's the main foundation. That's
the very ground of all other graces. And then the third reason
why I preach so often on the just shall live by faith is this.
The Word of God is written that we might believe. That's the
purpose of the Word of God. Now, the Bible is not just a
scientific book. I think the Bible is scientifically
accurate. I believe one of these days that
we're going to look back over the Word of God and see that
it was scientifically accurate. The Word of God is true, and
the Word of God is a book of history, accurate accounts of
what happened in the past. The Word of God is a book of
philosophy and a book of love, but the Word of God was written,
not that you might study the subject of science or philosophy
or a book of proverbs or good sayings or or morality, but the
Bible was written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in his name.
That's what it says in John chapter 20, verse 31. These things are
written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the
Son of God. And I would say a word to you
who teach Sunday school and to you who preach. When you're preaching
on the Ark of Noah, that Ark is a picture of Christ. When
you're preaching on Israel being delivered from Egypt and the
Passover lamb being sacrificed and the blood on the door and
the lintel, that blood is Christ. The high priest of old was a
type of Christ. The tabernacle where God met
men and men met God, that tabernacle is Christ. That rock in the wilderness,
when Moses, when the people were thirsty and had no water to drink,
and God told Moses to smite the rock, which he did, and water
came out of the rock. Well, the Bible clearly says
that rock was Christ. That rock was Christ. And our
Lord said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth
on Him should not perish but have eternal life. That serpent
is a picture of Christ. As Jonah was three days in the
belly of the whale. You know, people talk about,
sit around and argue about whether Jonah was really in the belly
of a fish or he wasn't. And they spend all their time
talking about the marvels of being in the whale's belly and
so forth. The whole reason for that story
is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. As Jonah was three days in the
heart of the earth, so the Son of Man shall be three days And
Jonah was three days in the belly of the fish, so the Son of Man
shall be three days in the heart of the earth. It's a picture
of the burial of Christ and the resurrection of Christ. So this
Bible is not just a book of proverbs or a book of science or a book
of history or a book of philosophy. It's a book of life. They're
called the words of life. The words of life. And they're
written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ. Now,
notice what this text says and what it doesn't say. It says
the just shall live by faith. It does not say, now note this
carefully and this will help you, it does not say the just
shall live because of his faith. We don't live spiritually because
of our faith, on account of our faith. Christ said because I
live, ye shall live. We live because Christ loved
us and gave himself for us. Eternal life is not in my faith. It's in the object of my faith.
It's in Christ Jesus, the Lord. Christ is the hope of glory.
When we end this life and our bodies are buried and our souls
go to be with God who gave it, the song of the redeemed is going
to be unto Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His
own precious blood. We're not going to sing the praises
of faith. Or the praises of repentance,
or the praises of the church, or the praises of the ceremonies
and the law. We're going to sing the praises
of Christ. Because I live, ye live. We don't live because of our
faith. Faith is not the cause of life.
Christ is the cause of life. Faith is not the begetter of
life. Christ is the begetter of life.
He is our life. Christ in you. When Christ, who
is our life, shall appear, then shall we appear with Him in glory. So that needs to be established.
This text is not saying that just shall live because of his
faith. This text also does not say that
just shall live upon his faith. We don't feed on faith. I'll
tell you this. If I had to live on my faith
and feed upon my faith and draw my nourishment, spiritual nourishment
and strength from my faith, sometimes I'd starve to death and you would
too because our faith is so small. We feel like the centurion of
old who said, Lord, I believe, you know I believe, but God help
my unbelief. My friends, we don't feed on
our faith. We don't have faith in our faith. We don't rest upon
our faith. We don't draw our nourishment
and peace and strength from faith. We draw it from Christ. Our Lord
said, I'm the bread of life. I'm the water of life. Oh, everyone
that thirsteth, come unto me, and out of your belly shall flow
rivers of living water. Christ is the water of life.
Christ is the bread of life. And he said, he that cometh to
me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. So this needs to be established
as we begin this message on the just shall live by faith. Not
because of faith. We live because Christ died for
us. We live because Christ intercedes
for us. We live because Christ is our
substitute and our sin offering and our great high priest and
our mediator with the Heavenly Father. Our life is in Christ. Our life is not in our faith.
It's in the object of our faith. the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
our life. And then we don't live upon our
faith. We don't draw from our faith any strength. We draw our
strength from Christ. We don't get any nourishment
or strength or grace from our faith. Faith may be strong today
and weak tomorrow, but Christ is the same. I may be on the
mountaintop of joy and happiness today and tomorrow in the valley
of doubt even and fear and darkness, but Christ is the same. And whether
I'm on the mountaintop or in the valley, I draw all of my
life and strength from Him. I live because Christ lives. And I feed upon Christ. And ye
that hunger and thirst, he said, come to me. You'll never hunger
and thirst. But it says this, the just shall
live by faith. By faith. Now, what do we mean
by that? First of all, we live a life
of justification before God by faith. In Romans 5, verse 1,
the scripture says, Therefore, being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you know
what it means to be justified? It means to be completely without
sin. It means for all sin, to be taken
away, blotted out, covered over, removed, remembered no more.
Someone gave this definition one time. He says, to be justified
means just as if I had never sinned. Can you imagine such
a thing? And yet, that's exactly what we have in the Lord Jesus
Christ. We are justified before God,
justified in the sight of God. We are justified not by our words,
If I say I have no sin, I'm a liar, and the truth's not in me. If
I justify myself, my own mouth will condemn me. We're not justified
by words or claims. We're not justified by works.
No man's justified by works in the sight of God. We're not justified
by law. We're justified by the obedience,
the righteousness, and the death of the Son of God. He who knew
no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. And before God, on our account,
the law is honored, justice is satisfied, and God is reconciled. God was in Christ reconciling
the world unto Himself. So by faith in Christ, listen
to me, by faith in Christ, we live a life of justification
before God, in the sight of God. We are totally justified. Because Christ Jesus bore our
sins in his body on the tree. By his stripes we're healed.
We live a life by faith of complete justification in the sight of
God. We are justified. There are no
charges against us. Who can lay anything to the charge
of God's elect? That's what Paul asked in Romans
8. It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? Christ
is died, is risen again, has ascended to the right hand of
God and makes intercession for us. We live by faith, not by
works, not by deeds, not by law, by faith. A life of complete
justification before God. That's happiness. That's peace
and that's joy. To know that our sins are forgiven. You know what Paul wrote in Romans
4, 7 and 8? Blessed is the man to whom God
will not charge sin. Blessed is the man, happy is
the man, to whom God will not impute or reckon any sin. Now, that's not performed by
us. We can't do a thing in the world about the sins we've already
committed, we're now committing, and we shall commit. But God
can do something about them. He can do it in a way that is
satisfying to His justice and honoring to His holiness and
in keeping with His righteousness. And that's by the death of His
Son. So we live, live by faith. We live a life of justification
before God. Secondly, we live a life of righteousness
before God. Do you know that every believer
is totally and completely sanctified in Christ Jesus? I know there's
a progressive sanctification. I know there's an eternal sanctification. We're just, we're sanctified
or separated or set apart by the act, the will, the counsel
or purpose of God Almighty. and we're sanctified by the Holy
Spirit, and we're progressively sanctified by the Word of God.
But my friend, there's a sense in which every believer is totally,
completely sanctified by the obedience, by the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a perfect righteousness.
The hymn writer put it this way, when I stand before His throne,
clothed in beauty, not my own, Then and not till then shall
I know how much I owe. How much I owe. Paul put it this
way in Romans 5, 19. He said, by the offense of one
man, by the sin of one man, many were made sinners. By the disobedience
and sin of one man, we were made sinners. By the righteousness
and obedience of Christ, we were made holy, righteous. So, we live by faith. This is
all by faith. It comes by faith. It's received
by faith. It's given by faith. We live
by faith, a life of complete justification. No charge, no
condemnation, no sin. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. We live a life of perfect righteousness
with His spotless garments on. We are as holy as God's own Son. And then we live a life of peace,
a life of joy. That's something the whole world
is trying to find peace and joy. You know where it's found? It's
found in Christ. He's the Prince of Peace. He
talked about my joy, that my joy might be fulfilled in you.
He said, come unto me, I'll give you rest. He said, my peace I
give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. You know, there are three things
I believe that every religious person's looking for. He's looking
for the way to God. I know a lot of them are trying
to find the way to God by the baptismal pool and the sacramental
tables and the communion tables, and they're trying to find the
way to God by works and deeds and laws and humanitarian efforts
and all these things. But Christ said, I am the way.
No man cometh to the Father but by Me. Do you want to know, sincerely
want to know the way to God? The way to God in mercy and salvation,
the way to God In reality, in communion and fellowship, Christ
is the way. I believe that most religious
people are looking for the truth. And I imagine lots of people
today are saying, I wonder if that preacher preaching right
there on that program is telling the truth. Is he telling me the
truth? Who's speaking the truth? Who's
preaching the truth? Everybody says they're preaching
the truth, and yet so many are preaching so many different things.
Who's preaching the truth? Christ said, I am the truth.
The truth is a person. It's not a philosophy, it's a
person. Christ is the truth. Christ is the truth. He's the
truth of God. No man knoweth the Father, but
the Son, and He to whom the Son will reveal Him. Would you know
God? That's what the disciples said. They said, Show us the
Father. And He said, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.
The words that I speak are not my words, they're His words.
The works that I do are not my works, but His works. Would you
know God? Would you know the truth? Don't look for the truth
in any living human being today. Look for the truth in Christ.
The truth about yourself and the truth about God and the truth
about justice and righteousness and love and holiness. The truth
is Christ. And then men are looking for
life, eternal life. Where is eternal life? Where
can I get eternal life? What can I do to inherit eternal
life? What must I do to gain eternal life? Christ said, I
am the life. The life is in Him. Eternal life's
in Christ. Eternal life's to know God and
Jesus Christ whom God has sent. Christ is the light. I can't
emphasize that strongly enough. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. And no man cometh to the Father
but by me. What is faith? The just shall
live by faith. What is faith? Alright, look
at Hebrews 11.1. Right down there Hebrews 10,
38 is our text, the just shall live by faith. Now drop down
just two verses there to Hebrews 11, verse 1. And it says, now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen. Now that's faith. Well, let's
look at that a little bit. Years ago, an old writer gave
this definition of faith. Faith is knowledge, confidence,
and committal. That's good. I know whom I have
believed. You can't trust an unrevealed
Christ. And I'm persuaded he's able to keep that, which I've
committed to him. It's knowing Christ. It's having
confidence in Christ. And it's a committal, a sincere,
earnest, eternal committal of myself to Christ. Not just my
talents and time and tithes, but committing my heart. My son,
give me your heart, God said. Give me your heart. If thou shalt
believe in thine heart, God raised him from the dead. Give me yourself.
It's a committal of self to Christ. But here's a scriptural definition
of faith. It says faith is. We're always
safer when we get scriptural definitions. You know, Christ
said eternal life is to know God. Our Lord said that. And
here Paul, writing on the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, says faith
is the substance of things hoped for. Well, what are the things
that we hope for? In order to understand this verse,
let's answer the question, what are the things we hope for? Well,
we hope for forgiveness of sins. We hope for righteousness before
God in Christ. He who shall stand in his presence,
he that hath clean hands and a pure heart. I want that righteousness.
I want to know that righteousness. And then I hope for eternal joy
and eternal Glory, I hope for the resurrection of this body.
I hope for deliverance from death and judgment I hope for eternal
fellowship with God. Those are the things hope for
Well, then he says faith is the substance or faith is the confidence
and the assurance and The title deed to these things at this
moment These things are our hope. These are the things we hope
for. Forgiveness of sin, righteousness, acceptance with God, resurrection,
eternal life. Well, faith is the ground of
that hope. I hope for those things. And
what is the substance of them and the ground of them and the
foundation of them and the title deed to them? It's to believe. Abraham believed God. Abraham
had the promises. He staggered not at the promises
of God, but he believed that everything God said, God would
do. Now, that's what faith is. It's believing just that. It's staggering not at the promise.
What a great promise is complete remission of sins, complete annihilation
of all curse and all condemnation and all guilt. What a blessing
is righteousness before God, to stand holy. Justified without
blame before God When our faith is the substance of that, it's
the ground of that. It's the it's the evidence of
it It's the assurance of it. It's our faith Abraham believed
God Abraham why are you leaving your home? I believe God Abraham
why are you why are you giving lot the plains and going to the
mountains? I believe God Abraham, why are
you sitting about waiting on a son in your old age? I believe
God. That's the substance of the whole
thing. I believe God. Who do you believe? And then
he said faith is the evidence of things not seen. Faith is
the proof of things not seen. What are the things not seen?
Well, there are a whole lot of things not seen in regard to
our relationship with God. Everything that happened in eternity
past is not seen. In the eternal counsels of God,
God established a covenant with His Son, with the Holy Spirit,
God purposed to save a people. All of that, Christ was the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. Everything that happens
in time was purposed in eternity. I haven't seen that. And then
in time, it says the Virgin was with child and brought forth
a son and the star hung over His birthplace and the angels
announced His incarnation. He walked the earth and lived
a perfect life and died on the cross, was buried and rose again.
I didn't see any of that. And then in time, the Holy Spirit
came and regenerated me and called me by His grace and revealed
Christ to my heart. Those things are not seen. And
then in the future, God's going to raise us and God's going to
receive us unto Himself and God's going to give us eternal glory.
These things are unseen. unseen, then what proof do we
have that these things are facts, not fiction? Faith. We believe God. The hymn writer
says, I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. I know
that He's living, whatever men may say. I see His hand of mercy. I hear His voice of cheer. And
just the time I need Him, He's always near. He lives. Christ
Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with
me along life's narrow way. He lives. He lives. Salvation
to impart. You ask me how I know He lives?
Faith. He lives in my heart. Faith is
the evidence of things not seen. The proof of it. The reality
of it in heart. And I tell you, faith will overcome
anything. Thanks be unto God who causes
us to always triumph in Christ. Victorious in Christ. Faith will
triumph over works as able sacrifice. Faith will triumph over death
as Enoch's translation. Faith will triumph over time
as Noah's long-suffering 120 years. Faith will triumph over
home and family as Abraham proved by leaving his father's house.
Faith will triumph over infirmity as Sarah proved bringing forth
a child in old age. Faith will triumph over natural
affection as Abraham proved with the sacrifice of his son. Living
by faith. Living by faith.