TOPIC: Faith; Grace, Imputation, Mercy, Perseverance, Relationship, Salvation
TITLE: RECKONED RIGHTEOUS – Why faith is the victory!
TEXT: Habakkuk 2:4
CONCISE OUTLINE
But scripture does tell us Abraham was reckoned righteous because he believed God when God promised to make his seed a great nation at a time when he was old and childless. And our selected text certainly supports the contention.
No matter how we interpret the salvation of Abraham or translate Habakkuk 2:4, it remains that the whole of Scripture teaches salvation by grace through faith. Whether we use the term faith or trust or belief, it is by the grace of God we are saved ... through faith.
It's not sacrilegious to ask, why through faith? Why not good works? Or love? Or profession [publicly saying we believe in God]? Why has faith been chosen?
Clearly, if God is God, He can do whatever He chooses. If He can have mercy on whom He will have mercy [Romans 9:15], He can likewise choose the vehicle for His saving grace.
God seeks the counsel of no man. If I'm having difficulty with one of my children, seeking the counsel of another is an admission that I'm unable to parent without the help of others. God doesn't have that problem; He needs no ones counsel … He is the perfect parent, etc.
But it's not wrong to seek God's help in understanding His truths.
FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: Why Must the Righteous Live By Faith?
EXPANDED OUTLINE
Now action issues from faith in two ways: first, all action is a function of faith (walking, eating, exploring, employment, athletics, teaching, banking, politics, etc.); second, faith in God is a function of the knowledge of His love for us, such knowledge prompts acts of affection on the part of the recipients of His love.
That heart invaded by God is saved from sin and urged onward to holiness, prayer, sacrifice and service.
Our love of God results in our loving our fellow man ... this, the Bible says, glorifies God and proves that we are disciples of Christ [John 15:8].
This loving faith results in blessings and James says,
Faith furnishes us with armor for this life and prepares us for the life to come. We are to walk fearlessly in our relationship with the living Lamb of God knowing what Paul knew:
TITLE: RECKONED RIGHTEOUS – Why faith is the victory!
TEXT: Habakkuk 2:4
“Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.”FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: Why Must the Righteous Live By Faith?
I. SUPERNATURAL LINK TO GOD NEEDED!TRUTH CLAIM/CONTEXT: The Old Testament doesn’t specifically mention salvation by grace through faith, as does the New Testament [“For by grace you have been saved through faith.” Ephesians 2:8a].
II. DIVINE GIFT NOT WAGES NEEDED!
III. A LASTING RELATIONSHIP NEEDED!
But scripture does tell us Abraham was reckoned righteous because he believed God when God promised to make his seed a great nation at a time when he was old and childless. And our selected text certainly supports the contention.
No matter how we interpret the salvation of Abraham or translate Habakkuk 2:4, it remains that the whole of Scripture teaches salvation by grace through faith. Whether we use the term faith or trust or belief, it is by the grace of God we are saved ... through faith.
It's not sacrilegious to ask, why through faith? Why not good works? Or love? Or profession [publicly saying we believe in God]? Why has faith been chosen?
Clearly, if God is God, He can do whatever He chooses. If He can have mercy on whom He will have mercy [Romans 9:15], He can likewise choose the vehicle for His saving grace.
God seeks the counsel of no man. If I'm having difficulty with one of my children, seeking the counsel of another is an admission that I'm unable to parent without the help of others. God doesn't have that problem; He needs no ones counsel … He is the perfect parent, etc.
But it's not wrong to seek God's help in understanding His truths.
FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: Why Must the Righteous Live By Faith?
EXPANDED OUTLINE
I. SUPERNATURAL LINK TO GOD NEEDED!APPLICATION/CHALLENGE: The half brother of Jesus said faith without action is dead.Because a supernatural link to God for man is required - faith is that link!II. DIVINE GIFT NOT WAGES NEEDED!
God has ordained faith as the conduit by which man receives His free gift of grace.[WATER] It never fails but that our little daughter gets thirsty the minute we are too far from the house to get her one; we do not have a conduit from the water source to our car. If we did we could satisfy her thirst.
Problem: how to get the water to her mouth to satisfy her thirst.
Solution: take her to the source of water or build a conduit for the water to flow from the source to her mouth.
Analogy: So too with God's grace; it's in heaven where we can not go at the moment, far from the thirst of our hearts.
However, God, who spoke the heavens and the earth in existence, has said that faith will be His divine conduit for His grace. What the conduit can be to our need for water, faith is to our need of God's grace.
So it makes no sense to seek another route ... there is only one link between heaven and earth and that link is faith in the Son of God.
[PROMISE] A little boy hears his mom offer him a Snickers candy bar from the kitchen window; all he must do is come to the back door and receive what she's promised.
If he believes she will keep her promise and desires the gift, why would he go to the front door or to the neighbor's door? Why would he expect to receive it anywhere but where she promised?Because grace is a gift of God and faith is not the basis of that gift!III. A LASTING RELATIONSHIP NEEDED!
How is it a gift of God? It is a gift of God in that we are prevented from playing any role in its acquisition lest the gift be seen as something earned, and our sinful, selfish pride vaunts itself.
In the water illustration above, it is necessary to understand that the conduit didn't create the water nor does it improve the water. The conduit is simply used to move the water from its source to its destination.
The conduit is not the basis of satisfied thirst, rather it is the instrument for its delivery.
Faith is the connection between God and man but not the basis of our salvation. The recipient of water doesn't thank the conduit for the water, neither does the born-again believer thank his faith for salvation.Because Christianity is a relationship not a religion; God initiates that relationship!
Faith links man, who is sinking in a sea of sin, to God who is our Anchor and our Hope. Our need for a link is to provide a way of salvation, once that link is established a relationship exists.[LIFE-LINES] The drowning man does not reject the life-line thrown from a rescue ship in order to grab a pallet floating by … why? Because the pallet offers only temporary deliverance, whereas the line to the ship offers permanent deliverance!However, it cannot just be a life-line, someone must be on board to pull the man from the water.
Likewise, God offers a life-line of faith in His Son, promising to reckon us righteous if we'll but trust Him.
[CABLE] Though faith seems a thin thread to many, it is in reality an unbreakable cable, held by the hands of Almighty God, whose infinite power slowly and surely draws all men to His heavenly shore. [paraphrase of Spurgeon]
There must, of necessity, be a relationship between the drowning man and the rescue ship.
Now action issues from faith in two ways: first, all action is a function of faith (walking, eating, exploring, employment, athletics, teaching, banking, politics, etc.); second, faith in God is a function of the knowledge of His love for us, such knowledge prompts acts of affection on the part of the recipients of His love.
That heart invaded by God is saved from sin and urged onward to holiness, prayer, sacrifice and service.
[FAITH] "What oil is to the wheels ... what wings are to birds ... faith is to all holy duties and services." [Spurgeon]
“… with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness.”God knows faith is the result of an understanding of His love which germinates in the heart, this understanding will result in right doing [i.e., righteousness].Romans 10:10a
Our love of God results in our loving our fellow man ... this, the Bible says, glorifies God and proves that we are disciples of Christ [John 15:8].
This loving faith results in blessings and James says,
"Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights."Earlier the same writer says,James 1:1 7
"Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial, for once he has been approved (i.e., perfected), he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him."In combination, this cycle of trials and blessings, prepares us for glory: strengthening our ability to persevere under testing, on the one hand, and strengthening our ability to resist temptation, on the other.James 1:12
Faith furnishes us with armor for this life and prepares us for the life to come. We are to walk fearlessly in our relationship with the living Lamb of God knowing what Paul knew:
“For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”Faith does what nothing else can do. Why then would anyone attempt another route into the sheepfold?2 Timothy 1: 12
[SAFE] It's a foolish man who labors on the door of a safe which holds the secret of eternal life, pounding and pulling, grunting and groaning … when the owner of the safe will provide the combination for free.Ill-informed sheep and shepherds are leading the lost to the wrong gate to the wrong sheepfold; I fear thousands will not see glory because lazy or careless witnesses did not understand sola fide.
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