Westtown Church
Westtown Church
Reformation Sunday: Justification by Faith Alone
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During the 16th Reformation, church reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and others brought the church back to the clarity of the biblical gospel--the gospel of "justification by faith alone." It is one thing to know God forgives sinners but how can I know God has personally forgiven me? It is one thing to know that God graciously gives sinners the free gift of righteousness but how can I as a sinner personally receive that free gift? We'll look more deeply at Romans 1:17 this Sunday to answer these questions and continue our reflection on this very important Bible verse in church history.
The Gospel and God's Righteousness
Speaker 1Good morning . I am thrilled that as a Presbyterian pastor I have finally gotten to see Dancing in the Isles . Maybe you saw that precious child there this morning . I'd like to invite you to turn to Romans , chapter 1 . Romans , chapter 1 . Romans , chapter 1 . Normally we just or at least through the years , I've just done one Sunday for Reformation Sunday . But there was just a little bit more I wanted to say last week and I thought , why not ? We'll just turn it into two Sundays before we get into the holidays . And so this morning I want to briefly review last week as an introduction .
Speaker 1You may remember , if you were here , that in Romans 117 , a transforming verse for Martin Luther , what we saw in that verse is there's three different ways you can take that phrase . The righteousness of God , that's the phrase he wrestled with , that's the phrase he was stuck on . He couldn't quite grab hold of what it meant . And of course what we have seen is that . Or what we saw last week is that the righteousness of God in the Bible can refer to the character of God , simply that he always does what is right and you see that in the gospel , most certainly . But then also it can refer to the saving character of God . There are some parts of the Bible , like in the Psalms and the last 26 , 27 chapters of Isaiah the prophet , you can see that his righteousness and his salvation are virtual synonyms . They mean virtually the same thing , and those both are true in the gospel . God doesn't violate his character in the gospel and he certainly is about saving his people . But there's a third thing that really makes the gospel good news when it comes to this phrase the righteousness of God . And it's what Luther rediscovered from St Augustine , who realized it , from St Paul , that the righteousness of God is that which he provides for his people as a free gift . And so we spent a good amount of time on that last week , and you may recall that it's interesting how Paul puts it in Romans 1.17 , that in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed . It's fascinating that he doesn't say , like you or I might've written it , that the love of God in the gospel is the love of God revealed , or the mercy or forgiveness of God , or the kindness or the grace of God . All those are true , and the Bible even describes the gospel in those terms . But here he's making clear that in the gospel it's the righteousness of God . That's revealed , and I think this is a very relevant thing for us to realize , especially in our own day . We have mass confusion about love and what it means to love someone . And here we see how God loves in the gospel , and it'll help us understand not only how he loves us and therefore how we love him , but also , I think , it'll inform us of how we're to go about loving other people .
Speaker 1John Piper says , by stating the gospel this way , the righteousness of God is revealed there . It keeps us from turning the gospel into sentimentality , just loving feelings , vague , mushy feelings . We're just supposed to love people , we hear in our day . We're just as they are , no matter what , and certainly there's some truth to that . However , what people often mean by that goes beyond how the Scripture itself would want us to understand it . Because , yes , we are to love people , but like God , not in a way that ignores the righteousness of God , not in a way that ignores his holiness or downplays his holiness or justice or righteousness , as if that doesn't matter . And so God's love is a holy love , and so , therefore , it's a holy and just gospel . A loving gospel , yes , but also a holy and just gospel . And by putting the gospel . This way , the apostle Paul helps us , as Piper says , get inside the love of God to see precisely how it is that God loves us , how he loves us , to see how it operates , to see what it had to overcome , to see what God's love refuses to dismiss , and namely God's love refuses to dismiss his righteousness , the fact that he is just . And our culture wants to speak about love and dismiss the righteousness of God , and that is a false love , it is a pseudo love and it is a love inspired not by heaven but by hell .
Speaker 1And so I want to invite you to stand , if you would , this morning . I'm going to read just a few verses from Romans , chapter 1 . I'm going to begin in verse 15 . This is the inerrant , infallible , inspired word of the living God . It's holy . The apostle Paul , inspired by the Spirit , writes . So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome , for I am not ashamed of the gospel , for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes , to the Jew first , and also to the Greek , for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith . As it is written , the righteous shall live by faith . The grass withers and the flowers fade , but the word of the Lord endures forever . God's people said Amen , you may be seated , father , we come to your word . What a privilege it is , god , for us to come , hear you speak to us in and through your word , and I pray now that you would help us understand , show us the glory of Jesus Christ not just to our intellects , but shine your light , the light of the gospel , into our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit . In Jesus' name , we pray Amen .
Speaker 1Well , there's really three things that I wanted us to see from verse 17 . And last week we only really got to the first one . The first one was just the gospel is good news precisely because righteousness is from God , and it's from God in the sense that it's a gift . It's not something we establish , it's a gift from him . But there's a second and third reason , and I want to spend our time today just looking at these last two points that I wanted to get to . Secondly , the gospel is good news because it's received by faith alone . Not only does it come from God as a gift , but it's received by faith alone , and we see here in verse 17 , how this free gift of God's righteousness is received . This righteousness of God look at what it says is revealed from faith for faith , from faith for
Justification by Faith Alone
Speaker 1faith .
Speaker 1I don't know about you , but that's kind of a clunky phrase , isn't it ? It's a little bit clunky in English . From faith for faith . It's literally out of faith into faith , out of faith into faith . And if you have you look at the different English Bible translations , they're getting at this from a little bit different angles or saying a little bit different way . But ESV , from faith for faith . You'll notice , if you have an ESV Bible English Standard Version , in the footnote it says it could be translated beginning and ending in faith . So it would sound like this for in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed , beginning and ending in faith .
Speaker 1If you have a New American Standard or King James , it's from faith to faith or from faith unto faith , as the King James would put it . Some translate it by faith from start to finish . If you have an NIV , new International Version Bible , by faith from first to last . And similarly there's a Reformed theologian , john Murray , really respect that exegete by faith through and through or , as Martin Luther translated it , by faith alone . You see this kind of language in Psalm 84 and in Jeremiah 9 . Psalm 84 , verse 7 from strength to strength . Jeremiah 9 3 from evil to evil and over . In 2nd Corinthians , chapter 2 , we hear it speaking about Christians as the aroma of Christ , and how the fragrance of Christ to one is a fragrance from death to death . To the other , it's a fragrance from life to life . Same terminology , from faith to faith or from faith for faith .
Speaker 1Whatever we want to make about all of that , the most basic idea here is that the righteousness of God , which comes as a gift to sinners in the gospel , is received by faith alone , by faith alone . That alone , by the way , is ruling out the merit of good works . It's ruling out the merit of good works . It's not faith plus anything , it's faith in Christ alone . This is the Reformation doctrine of justification by faith alone .
Speaker 1Now , when we hear this word justification , that's not a word theologians made up , that's a word that the apostle Paul is using in the Bible , a word God wants us to understand , a word that the apostle Paul is using in the Bible , a word God wants us to understand . When you hear the word justification , think of a judge in a robe in a courtroom behind a bench in that black robe . When you hear the words like justification or justified or justifies , it's the kind of a term that a judge is going to use in a courtroom . So Paul's taking us , in a sense , into the heavenly courtroom with God as judge when he's using this kind of terminology . And God as the judge in the Bible is either going to declare a sinner condemned or justified . Those are the only two categories in the end condemned or justified Judges , you know , don't make criminals guilty , right ? They don't make them guilty or they don't make them not guilty . They declare them guilty or not .
Speaker 1A declaration , that's a very important thing . So , in the end , god will , in the judgment , declare every person either justified or condemned . And I think it's very helpful , as we read our Bibles , to realize that justification is the opposite of condemnation , and condemnation , obviously , therefore , is the opposite of justification . If you're justified , you're not condemned . If you're condemned , you're not justified . But since a sinner is not righteous in and of himself or herself , if God is just and if God therefore always does what is right , how could a holy and just God declare us righteous or justified in his sight and still be a just God ? As Romans 3.26 says , god is just and the justifier . How is that possible ? Let me put it to you this way If you knew that there was a judge here in Hillsborough County or in the state of Florida and murderers and criminals were coming before him and thieves and whatever , and they came into his courtroom and he was just a jolly fella and he just kind of , I'm in a good mood , you're dismissed , you would not think he was a good judge because he's violating the principle of justice . And so it is with God . When God loves us , he doesn't violate his own justice .
Speaker 1Listen to it in Exodus 34 . There's actually a riddle . There's a riddle of the Old Testament . The entire Old Testament has a riddle . And in Exodus 34 , verses six and seven , this is what it sounds like On the one hand , here God , the Lord , is speaking to Moses , telling Moses what he is like , and so on the one hand he says that I will by no means clear the guilty . I , the Lord , will by no means clear the guilty . That's a principle I cannot violate , because God's a good and just judge . And yet in that same sentence he also says this that he is a God merciful and gracious , slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness , forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin . How can God ? He's by no means going to clear the guilty and yet he's forgiving and he's merciful and he's loving . How is that gap bridged ? What is the solution to the riddle ? And of course , in the Gospels , in the New Testament , we learn what that solution is .
Speaker 1It's the cross of the Lord , jesus Christ , where God both upholds his justice and yet he's able to extend forgiveness and his saving love to sinners . That's why , in verse nine of chapter one in Romans , paul calls it the gospel of his son . Rc Sproul used to say in the gospel we're saved by God from God . We're saved by God's love from God's wrath . He solves our problem for us . God can declare sinners righteous or justified , who receive his free gift of righteousness because of Jesus , christ alone .
Speaker 1Because of Christ alone , jesus , the son of God , he takes our sins upon himself . He pays the penalty for our sins upon that cross , not just physically but in his soul . And therefore , what happens ? Two things One , by Christ dying in our place , because the wages of sin is death , and not just physical death but eternal death . Separation from God , separation from all goodness and beauty and truth and blessing . But by Christ absorbing that penalty upon his body and soul and into his soul , he secured for us two things One , the forgiveness of our sins , every last one of them , past , present and even future sins .
Speaker 1But the glory of the gospel is better than that , because Christ not only think of justification as a coin with a heads and a tails , and the tails is Christ forgives us of all of our sins . But if you flip the coin over , there's another side to it . He also secured for us righteousness on the record books of heaven . He secured for us a legal righteousness in the courtroom of heaven . In other words , he didn't just get us back to zero on our record . Christ lived that perfect , sinless life that could then become ours as believers , next to our name in glory . It's as if we have fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law , inwardly and outwardly . And so Christ didn't just die for us , he also lived for us , and that's a very important thing Lest you will live your Christian life . He loved me , he loves me , he loves me not , he loves me , he loves me not , he loves me , he loves me not , depending upon the kind of spiritual day you're having . And so he came not just to die for our sins , but that we might be declared legally righteous in his sight forever . The gospel therefore sets us free . It sets us free to do what . It sets us free to grow to be more and more holy like the Lord Jesus Christ . Free to grow to be more and more holy like the Lord Jesus Christ . But we can do it in peace , secure in our heavenly father's gift , that gift of righteousness that he's given to us . The gospel , dear Christian , I say it again , it's not a second chance , it's eternal security in the justification of God . And that's all the difference .
The Nature of Saving Faith
Speaker 1That's why we can live in peace .
Speaker 1I remember I was just talking to Pastor Morgan this week Scott Mulwiney , who's going to speak at the men's retreat this year . His dad , dr Alan Mulwiney , had him for seminary back in the day and I'll confess , some of those classes were quite difficult , they were quite humbling . And I remember Dr Marwini's gospel class . I had him for Greek too , but his gospels class I remember . One year he said well , on the final you're going to have to know the content of the 88 chapters of the Gospels and that'll be 20% of your grade . And so he said , you know , I might ask you Mark 2 through 7 , or I might ask you give me Luke 8 through 13, . Or I might ask you give me Matthew 21 to 26 . Well , you either know it or you don't know it . Well , that was one class we had , that was pressure .
Speaker 1But then there was another class with Steve Brown from Key Life , I remember I don't know . Some of you may know Steve Brown from Key Life . If you do kind of give me one of these , do you know Steve Brown from Key Life ? There we go . Yeah , no , you think about that , that's how he always sounds . But anyway , in Steve Brown's class he was there to try to just talk to us greenhorns going into ministry , having no idea what we were getting into . And he said to us at the beginning of the semester , in the very first day of class you have an A plus . Okay , just relax and learn now . It was the only class that was like that . It was the only one .
Speaker 1Why am I saying that ? Because if we don't understand clearly the gospel and what Christ has done , that it's not only forgiveness but we have this gift of righteousness . We will live our Christian life facing the final judgment with all the pressure that 20% of our grade is memorizing 88 chapters of the Gospels and knowing the content , and I hope I do okay , but that's not the Gospel . The Gospel is the Christian . When you come to Christ , you have an A+ . You have an A+ Now . Just strive to please your Heavenly Father . Just strive to please him , not to earn his love , just strive to grow . I remember Steve Brown saying and I think he's right I've never known a true Christian who didn't want to be more like Jesus . God knows , you want to be more like Jesus and we have to know what he's done for us . That's what frees us up to strive in peace and joy .
Speaker 1And so we have this phrase here , from faith to faith . And , by the way , the word you'll come across again and again in the scripture is that Christ , that God has taken this righteousness of Christ , and he uses an accounting term . Where's Dave Meister when you need him ? Dave , I think he's first service . But that righteousness is accounted to our account . It's accounted or counted or credited to us , or imputed is sometimes the word that you'll see . It's credited to us . We didn't earn it , it's just credited . Christ earned it for us .
Speaker 1And so here we have this phrase now notice from faith for faith , or by faith from first to last , or by faith through and through , however you want to look at it . But if you see verse 16 , notice this word for faith is believes for everyone who believes , and notice the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes . Believes here is a present tense verb . It's ongoing . It's ongoing . That's important to see , because what that tells us is the kind of faith that saves is that its very nature is that once we have it , once we have true and saving faith , it will continue to believe . It will continue on by the grace of God . He who began a good work in you will bring it unto completion at the day of Christ Jesus .
Speaker 1And so a true believer begins to have faith in Jesus and keeps on having faith in Jesus all the way home to glory . He doesn't just make a mere profession and then go about his life as if nothing happened . He doesn't have a great spiritual experience some weekend and then just move on with whatever else he was doing . He believes in Christ , he trusts in Christ and he keeps on trusting in Christ on the way to glory . Now it's very important to understand we see this in Romans 8.30 from God's perspective , those whom God justified by faith alone he also glorified . You see , our glorification will be in glory , with no sin in us , will be not in the presence of sin ever again . In glory , it is so certain it'll happen that he speaks about it in past tense . Those whom he justified he also glorified . And so there it is from God's perspective .
Speaker 1But why do we need to know this ? Because sometimes our faith is going to be very weak and get battered . It'll be filled at times in the Christian life . If you live long enough , it'll be filled with doubts . There's times that our faith in Christ can whittle down to a mustard seed . There's times it even lacks assurance before God , wondering if God even loves us . But true faith , for all of its struggles , it just keeps on believing . It keeps on believing . It's like you ever get in the pool and you take one of those you know beach balls and you try to shove it up underneath the water . It just won't stay there and though our faith may go underwater , it's always going to come back up . That's the very nature of saving faith . It keeps on rising back to the top . It refuses to drown , it perseveres .
Speaker 1Think about drugs at the pharmacy . We like when they can come out with generic . We save a lot of money , kind of get the same benefits . That's good with drugs , but not so with faith . Generic is not good with faith . A generic faith does not save and it'll actually cost you something much more dear than money . It'll cost you , according to the scripture , eternal death .
Speaker 1Paul's not talking about a generic faith here , as if anyone or anything will do . Have you noticed in the media today everybody's talking about well , I'm a person of faith . Well , they're a person of faith . Well , they're a person of faith . They're a person of faith . And you almost get the sense that it doesn't matter what your faith is in as long as you have faith in something or someone . And the Bible does not teach that at all . The Bible says it's the gospel of God's son . It's faith in Christ that saves . Christ that saves . Jesus is the object of our faith . He's the object . What am I saying ?
Speaker 1We don't believe in faith and faith . We believe in faith in Christ . We believe faith in Christ saves because our faith in Christ , it's Christ that does the saving through our faith . It's not our faith that does the saving , it's Christ , through our faith , that does the saving . It's Christ , through our faith , that does the saving . It's not faith in faith . It matters , therefore , who our faith is in . If it's not in the only Savior , it's a faith that's in vain . We're saved through faith , but it's God doing the saving by the power of the Holy Spirit , it's through the gospel . The saving by the power of the Holy Spirit , it's through the gospel .
Speaker 1And so verse 16 here we see too , this saving faith is continuing . It's ongoing in the present reality . That's the point of the word believes , as I said , but I want you to see also in verse 17 , the words is revealed or , I think the NIV says , is being revealed . The righteousness of God is revealed or is being revealed . It's an ongoing , week after week , year after year , and I think this is more important than we may realize . I want us to think about this for a minute .
Perseverance and the Gospel
Speaker 1This is a critical thing , because this realizing that that's the nature of God's revealing , of this gift of righteousness , that he keeps revealing it it answers the question how does a believer persevere to the end ? Or , to put it from God's perspective , how does God preserves sinners who believe in Christ and who become saints all the way to the end . How do we persevere and how does God preserve ? Same question from two different angles . And why is that a legitimate question ? Well , it's because the Christian life is a spiritual war . It's a spiritual war and our faith is fought in the trenches of life . Our faith gets shot . It gets bloody , it crawls through the mud on the battlefield of life , does it not ? Eventually , as a Christian , you will find yourself being shot at from every direction . It can get brutal , and this is why we need the gospel , not just to get in a right relationship with God . That's why we need the gospel not just to become a Christian , but we need the gospel desperately within the Christian life . We need it all the way along , not just at the beginning , but all the way .
Speaker 1I love what John Piper says . In our war with sin , in our war with sin in the Christian life , we do not win enough to have peace in our consciences . You see when we're honest . You see what he's saying . In the Christian life I'll put it this way we will always find reasons in our failures . We'll always find reasons for God not to love us . We'll always find reasons to say well , maybe I'm not a believer , maybe I don't have true faith . We'll always find reasons .
Speaker 1The apostle Paul himself in Romans 7 , the godly apostle Paul , romans 7 , I do the very things I hate , wretched man that I am , who will save me from this body of death ? There are days every Christian will be right there . But you know , let's be honest , when you lay your head on the pillow at night at the end of the day and you ask well , did I love the Lord with all of my heart and all of my soul and all of my mind and all of my strength today , of my soul and all of my mind and all of my strength today ? Because see , that's the standard of righteousness . The law demands from us Not just outward conformity but a heart full of love for God . That's the first and great commandment . And the second slide , when we put our head on the pillow , did I love my family and my neighbor like Jesus today ? Did I love them like I myself would like to be loved At every single step of the way ? Not only the things that I did , but in the things where there are things I failed to do .
Speaker 1What am I trying to say ? Thank God that as Christians we live differently than the world . There's a marked holiness in God's people . There is a difference in how Christians live their life , and yet we have to be honest and say that even on our best days we are far from perfect . Even the best saints battle their sin , and you can see it in Paul , you can see it in David , you can see it in Peter when he denied Christ three times , when David committed adultery and murder of all things .
Speaker 1I like what Piper says If life hangs on perfect winning in the war with sin , we're going to despair and not persevere to the end . We'll simply give up because there's no use in trying . So then , what keeps us going and fighting so that we will live ? Romans 1 , 16 and 17, . He says the gospel is the power of God to save believers . Because in the gospel we can see revealed every day that our standing with God is not based on our own righteousness but on God's righteousness freely given to us . How , by faith . And when we see that over and over in the gospel , day after day , as long as we live , our faith is renewed and sustained and we press on in the fight , the fight for practical holiness .
The Assurance of Justification by Faith
Speaker 1Paul says in Romans 7 , 24 , wretched man that I am , who will save me from this body of death . And only two verses later , here's what we read Romans 8.1, . There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus . You see , condemnation is the opposite of justification . So if there's no condemnation , you're justified if you're in Christ Jesus . How are you in Christ Jesus by faith alone ? And then he says the same thing from the other side of the coin in Romans 5.1 , since we've been justified by faith alone . And then he says the same thing from the other side of the coin in Romans 5.1 , since we've been justified by faith . We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ . You know , in a sense the Bible calls us to strive to please our heavenly Father practically , in practical ways . We are to strive to please our Heavenly Father in our daily life . But we certainly don't strive to earn His love , we don't strive to gain His acceptance , we certainly don't strive to merit our salvation . Those are different things altogether . Our relationship with God is based upon faith and faith alone . It's based on faith from beginning to end and from first to last , by faith through and through , from faith for faith . It's not faith plus anything in you , but faith in Jesus Christ alone . I beat this to death because , as I said last week , it is amazing that people will go to church for years and not understand how to be right with God . I grew up my whole life going to church and I never understood how it was I could be right with God . The gospel is how God saves sinners . And the gospel is not only how he justifies sinners and brings us into a right relationship with him at the beginning of the Christian life . The gospel is also how he saves believers and sanctifies us all the way along and keeps us persevering in the faith . And the gospel is also how he brings us home freely , by his grace , to glory . Piper says the gospel saves believers because the gospel keeps believers believing On your worst day . Maybe you had a terrible week spiritually this week . Maybe you came in here and thought , man , I need a spiritual bath and really bad . What do you need to be reminded of ? Today ? You have an A plus . That's the glory of the gospel . Not just get back to work . Confess your sins . It's like flossing your teeth . Confess your sins , let's move on . Go on , christian . Press on to the upward call . As Paul says , you will always find reasons in you , but you're not the first to fall on your face . The great saints get back up . That's the thing . And so I want to just end with a few minutes on this . Third point the gospel is good news because it's righteousness that's from God , given to us as a gift . And secondly , it's good news because it's received by faith alone , not faith plus the merit of our good works or plus anything else , but just faith in Christ alone . But thirdly , the gospel is good news and we see this gospel revealed throughout the Old Testament . Good news , and we see this gospel revealed throughout the Old Testament . We can be assured that Paul is properly telling us what the good news is , because it was throughout the Old Testament . People were not saved by the law in the Old Testament and by grace in the new . People have always been saved by the gospel . You see in verse 17 , how Paul proves justification by faith alone . How does he prove it ? He goes to the Old Testament as it is written the righteous shall live by faith , and here Paul quotes the prophet Habakkuk . What a great name , habakkuk . Habakkuk , he was about in the sixth century , early sixth century before Christ , right around the Babylonian captivity . And Habakkuk , he's going to have this principle that he puts in his little book , that the only way to be in a right relationship with God is by faith alone , and that the only way to stay in a right relationship with God , especially when difficulties come , is by faith alone . Now , when we get we're not going to go there because this is not a serious pass today , but in Romans 4 , if you go over there you'll see Paul proves the gospel from the Old Testament and two other places In Romans 4 , you'll see he proves it from Genesis 15 , 6 with Father Abraham . That's 2,000 years before Christ . And then he goes a few verses later , quotes Psalm 32 . Those are the words of King David . So he's proven it from 1,000 years before Christ . But here in Romans 1.17 , he's proving it from the 6th century BC with the prophet Habakkuk . The same principle of justification by faith alone . And so what is he doing ? The same principle of justification by faith alone . And so what is he doing ? Look what it says Habakkuk 2.4 . Here that's quoted in verse 17, . The righteous shall live by faith . Some of you know Habakkuk's story , but basically God comes to Habakkuk . Habakkuk's been praying that God would intervene because there's so much violence in the streets of Judah and there's so much injustice in the courts of the land and there was so much wickedness throughout the land and people were worshiping false idols and just things were a mess . And Habakkuk's wondering God , are you going to make things right ? Are you just well , god , are you going to make things right ? Are you just well , be careful what you ask for ? God says oh , not only have I been noticing , but , habakkuk , I'm sending the Babylonians in to decimate Judah and Jerusalem . Habakkuk is stunned . But , lord , they're way worse than we are . We're bad , but they're even more wicked . And the Lord says yes , I know , but judgment begins in the house of the Lord . My people have my name on them . Judgment begins in the house of the Lord . I'll deal with them later . That's the context . So what does a righteous person like Habakkuk do when the judgment of God is coming and he's caught up in it ? The righteous shall live by faith . And what do you do when your country is overrun by wicked Babylonians and those in power are full of evil ? Do you do when your country is overrun by wicked Babylonians and those in power are full of evil ? The righteous shall live by faith . And what do you do when your prayers seem to go unanswered , like Habakkuk's prayers for justice in the land . The righteous shall live by faith . And what do you do when your dreams are shattered to pieces and you look around and things are decimated ? The righteous shall live by faith . And what do you do when you're a sinner , knowing the judgment of God is coming , knowing you have to give an account to God , knowing that your sins deserve eternal damnation ? The righteous shall live by faith . And the word live here is eternal life . It's not just physical life , it's eternal life , that quality of life in the presence of God , who's the source of all beauty , goodness , truth and justice and love and faith is not that faith of the devil that just knows about Jesus and what he's done and agrees those things are true . The devil has that kind of faith . He knows who Jesus is , he knows what Christ has done , he knows he agrees with it . All that it's true . Jesus is the Lord , he is the only Savior . But the devil's faith does not have one thing trust . He doesn't trust in the Lord , jesus Christ . And so saving faith in the Bible is knowing about Jesus and what he's done , agreeing those things are true , but then trusting in Christ . Have you trusted in Christ , true , but then , trusting in Christ , have you trusted in Christ ? Have you received from God what Christ has accomplished for you on that cross , namely the forgiveness of your sins , righteousness and eternal life ? We don't have time to get into it . There's two other places that Habakkuk is quoted in the New Testament . It's quoted here in Romans 1.17 , over in Galatians , 3.11 . Now it's evident that no one's justified before God by the law , for the righteous shall live by faith . There Paul is making clear we're not justified by works of the law , but by faith . Alone is the idea . And then in Hebrews 10.38 , the author of Hebrews is talking about the only saving faith is persevering faith . My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness . I dare not trust the sweetest frame , but wholly lean on Jesus' name , on Christ , the solid rock I stand . All other ground is sinking sand . All other ground is sinking sand If you're here today and you don't know if you're right with God . God makes it so simple . You trust in his son , jesus Christ , for your salvation . He'll bring you into his family , secure you in his love , keep you believing by his gospel and bring you into his family . Secure you in his love . Keep you believing by his gospel and bring you all the way home . That's his promise to you . You rest in that , dear Christian . You rest in that God loves you .