The sermon by James Lundquist, titled 'The Gospel in Habakkuk,' explores the themes of justification and faith as presented in the Bible, specifically focusing on the message of Habakkuk and its New Testament interpretations. The speaker emphasizes the holiness of God and the sinfulness of humanity, explaining that justification by faith is a central tenet of the Gospel, affirmed by Paul's writings in Romans, Galatians, and the book of Hebrews. Lundquist discusses the nature of saving faith, which encompasses knowledge, assent, and personal trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. He highlights the contrast between human sinfulness and God's purity, asserting that only through God's mercy and the righteousness of Christ can salvation be attained. The sermon draws on various biblical examples to illustrate how the just shall live by faith, encouraging both Christians to deepen their faith and non-Christians to seek a transformational understanding of these concepts.

Good morning. Please turn to Acts Chapter 13. Sermon text is found in Acts 13, 28-41. And though they found no cause for death in him, they asked Pilate that he should be put to death. Now, when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

But God raised him from the dead. He was seen for many days by those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses to the people. And we declare to you glad tidings that promise which was made to the fathers. God has fulfilled this for us, their children, in that he has raised up Jesus as it is also written in the second Psalm, you are my son today I have begotten you and that he raised him from the dead no more to return to corruption he has spoken thus I will give you the sure mercies of David. Therefore, he also says in another psalm, you will not allow your Holy One to see corruption.

For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised up saw no corruption. Therefore, let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins, and by him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets come upon you. Behold, you despisers, marvel and perish.

For I work a work in your days, a work which you will by no means believe, though one were to declare it to you." You'll have to wait about another 35-40 minutes before we get to Acts 13, but we will get there. It's a long reading. I wanted it read there at the beginning. Let's pray. Our God, we thank you for your gospel.

We wouldn't be here without it. If you had not been so merciful and gracious, We'd have no hope. Maybe people gather like people gather in other places worshipping idols and wood and thoughts and good sayings. But God, we're here because of your mercy and grace and the Gospel that's found throughout all of your word. You are the Holy One.

So God, please, may this be worshipful to you. Would it proclaim the truth of Scripture, especially on justification and faith? Who you are, who we are, who we are in Christ. Oh, this be so encouraging to your children. Holy Spirit, please bring power to this time, speaking and hearing.

In Jesus' name, Amen. This is the last message in Habakkuk. Last one. I get a privilege of one. This is my favorite one of them.

It would, Jason would probably say the same thing as we talked about this. This last message in Habakkuk, then we'll have two weeks in Haggai, then we'll have one to two weeks of Topical, and then we get to spend several months in Ephesians, is where we're going next. Before we get there though, before we get too excited. I'm excited about Ephesians, Jason is excited about Ephesians, we love it, lots that will be there, and we have this message. So this title, the Gospel in Habakkuk as quoted in the New Testament, The focus for most of this, the very first point isn't a quote from the New Testament, but the focus of this is what Paul and the writers of Hebrews say about Habakkuk.

They're quoting Habakkuk and they're looking back and giving us more information about what Habakkuk means by when he says, the just shall live by his faith. They're giving us more context. It's all there. Everything you need to know about the just shall live by his faith was there for the Old Testament. For people, it's all they had.

And when Jason preached on that verse, he pointed specifically to Abraham and other things. So it is there, but God has given us His full Word, and we're going to use Scripture to help us interpret Scripture. So Christian, Christian, Please, this is a time for you to build your faith. I'm going to talk a lot about just and faith. Build your faith, build your trust, build your hope, build your joy, build your humility.

And to soak this in a message that's really focused from beginning to end on the Gospel. Soak it in. We should love this. I loved it so much that I dug into that I was like, wow, God, this was amazing to spend all this time digging into the Gospel was amazing. Soak that in.

Non-Christian, you're going to hear words that you may be familiar with in some ways, maybe intellectually, justification, propitiation, even faith, and some other words that we'll be saying like most weeks, but may God give you ears to hear for the very first time what those words really mean and how they are life-giving words, how it is the mercy and grace of God. Would you leave here with a repented heart and with true joy for the first time. And God from that head knowledge to a heart of faith. And I will talk about that. The first point, in Habakkuk, turn to Habakkuk 1, 13.

The first point is God is pure righteousness. Now, the New Testament isn't quoting this anywhere verbatim, but when I'm going to talk about the gospel and we're going to talk about the just shall live by his faith, We have to start here with God. And that's where I'm starting. And Habakkuk gets to that real close here at the beginning of this. And in Habakkuk 1, 13a, the first part, you, you God, are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness.

So throughout the whole Bible, God is called the Holy One. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, you look at they're called the Holy One. And Habakkuk here is describing the Holy One. You have purer eyes than the behold evil. And when you're talking about the holiness of God, and you're talking about justification by faith alone, one author you should be well acquainted with on that besides the reformers more modern day is the late R.C.

Sproul. He is one I'd highly commend to you on either of those topics." He spent a lifetime really digging into those topics. He says about this, the word holy as it is applied to God refers to his purity, his absolute moral and ethical excellence. So when you're thinking about, when you see this in the back, like you're pure eyes, you should be thinking about the holiness of God, His excellence. When we were reading through the attributes of God by Pink, we talked about how holiness is like his top attribute that describes all his other attributes.

It's his holy sovereignty, his holy power, his holy faithfulness, His holy goodness, His holy graciousness, His holy mercy, His holy love, His holy justice. That's His top attribute. He is of pure eyes. Now, not only is it said there, but it is going to be sung. It is being sung in heaven, and it is going to be sung for all of eternity out of the song of Moses.

When we look at Revelation 15 verses 3 and 4, it's saying this is heaven. John is looking into heaven. They sing the song of Moses. This is being sung now, it will continue to be sung. We are going to know that.

Whether you have memorized it now or whatever, you are going to sing it and we are going to know the tune of whatever it is. The servant of God and the song of the Lamb saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the saints. Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy, and all nations shall come and worship before you, for your judgments have been manifested." This is important ground you need to know about the holiness of God before we can talk about justification and why we need to be justified and why we need faith.

1 John 1, 5, this is the message which we have heard from Him, from God, from Christ, and declare to you that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. And then John 1, in him was life. Now we're talking about Christ, so God is one. We have to connect God's holiness, Christ's holiness, because they are one God. Here's John 1, 4 and 5, In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Connect that back to 1 John 1. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Continuing John 1, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. Jesus is God. God is pure.

God is holy in all his ways. Therefore, because he is perfectly holy, perfectly holy, he is holy perfect, holy pure, get back to the abacic, God cannot behold the evildoers. They cannot stand in His sight. Oh, He sees you. It's not that He's afraid of being in front of you, right?

No, you can't be in front of Him and live. You cannot. God cannot behold evildoers, the wicked, those less than holy, pure. Who is that? All of us in our natural state.

Leviticus 11 and 1 Peter, we are commanded to be holy as God is holy. And everyone in their natural state is not holy. And we can't get there because we are evil. We are dead at dry bones. These are words of Scripture, how we are described in Scripture without salvation.

We are dead dry bones. We are children of wrath. We are lawless. We are blind. We have hearts of stone.

We are wicked. We are enemies. We are haters of God. We, without salvation, are the wicked ones that God cannot behold. And you cannot do anything to change that.

You can't make yourself alive. You can't change your heart. You can't give yourself a new heart, you can't change your desires, your affections. And any sin short of perfection, any sin causes an infinite distance from the Holy God. Any sin, the smallest sin, you are not pure.

God is holy pure. And any sin means you are not holy pure, you cannot stand before Him and live. You can't stand before Him with any defense of why He should be merciful to you. The Holy, pure God is the Holy, just God. Everything He does is just and right.

And because of our sin and because He is just, There is that deserved payment for sin. You know what that is? You know it well? The wages of sin is death. It's treason.

You're treasonous against God. You're saying, God, your ways are not good. Your ways are not right. I know better. So what have you done?

You've committed treason against God. You deserve death. You deserve the full wrath of God. You've earned that wrath. So then where's your hope?

Where is your hope? Let's go back to Habakkuk and look at Habakkuk 3 verse 2. O Lord, I have heard your speech and was afraid. O Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make it known in wrath, remember, mercy.

We were, if you're a Christian, you were, or if you're not a Christian, still are dead children of wrath needing mercy. That's your hope. Your hope is in mercy. Your hope is that God gives you something that you don't deserve. You don't deserve to have your sins overlooked.

Have your sins paid for by someone else. And the Holy Judge being merciful is your only hope. It's the only way to true peace, to eternal life, is the mercy of God. But because God is just, the price must still be paid. And if you don't pay it, who will?

And why would he? Why would anybody pay for your sins? Why would anybody pay for my sins? I'm not too bad of a guy. I'm not too bad of a lady.

I'm not too bad of a child. I'm not that bad. My dad would take a bullet for me if someone came in. Well, that's not the same thing. A dad or a husband taking a bullet or getting in the way of danger is nowhere close to the same thing as somehow your wages for sin being paid.

Not even close. Not even on the scale of measurement. That makes anything, those are good things, but it's not even on that scale. So turn to Luke 18. There's one last on this before we get to these direct quotes.

Listen to this, Luke 18, we have this parable, you probably know pretty well, this parable of A Pharisee and a tax collector, Jesus tells. It's a parable. Starting in verse 9, Luke 18. Also Jesus spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a task collector.

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this task collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess." And the tax collector, standing far off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast saying, God, be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Two of the key points of this parable is that we need mercy. And in order to have that mercy, we need justified.

Which leads us into point number two. Let's talk about then what it means to be justified. So point number two, starting reading in the Habakkuk 2.4, especially the second part of Habakkuk 2, 4, but I'll read it. Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. Where I'll spend most of the rest of this is in this section.

The just shall live by his faith. This verse, or at least the second half, the bottom part of this, the just shall live by his faith, is quoted in Romans, in Galatians, and in Hebrews. So quoted by Paul and the writer of Hebrews. Paul and the writer of Hebrews gives us two different views of how to interpret. It's one view, but two ways we need to look at this.

We're going to get to both of these. I'm going to spend most of my time really talking about how Paul talks about this. So before we get to putting the just and the faith together, let's Take these two words, just and faith. Let's lay out this foundation. You need to know these words, what they mean, and why they're important in here.

So let's talk about this. The just. The just, just as Jason said when we were going through chapter 2, the just are the justified. It's those that have been made just, that have been made innocent, that have been made guiltless. That's what you need to be made.

Let's talk about how we get there. That's important. So remember that wage of death that you've earned, your sin, any sin, name the smallest sin you can imagine. The one that you put out there, they say, well that's not that bad. Well that is that bad.

That does deserve the full wrath of God. And because God is holy, just payment must be made. Here's how R.C. Sproul talks about this. He says, the doctrine of justification addresses the most serious plight addresses the most serious plight of fallen human beings.

Their exposure to the justice of God. Our biggest plight, our biggest problem, is being exposed to the justice of God. God is just, but we are not. As David prayed, if you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? The oracle question, nobody, nobody could stand before the Holy God.

The just God being exposed to his pure justice, his pure righteousness, his light that exposes everything and how dark you are no matter how good you may think you are. Luther, when we talk about Habakkuk 2, 4, the just shall live by his faith, You've got to think of the Reformation. You've got to think about Luther. At least you should. And before he became a Christian, this is what started leading him down.

He was looking at this, and then he was consumed by this question. How is a sinful man made right before a holy God? How is a sinful man made right before a holy God? How is a sinful man made right before a holy God then? How is that possible?

And with our own human intellect, it's not possible. It's not possible. But God has the answer for this. He tells us this. Turn to Romans 3.

Turn to Romans 3. Lay these out, justice, just, and faith, and we'll get to the direct quotes. But Romans 3, 23 through 26, starting with a famous verse here we all know well, God helps us out through Paul on how this is possible. That sinful man can be rayed right before a holy God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

That's what I've been talking about. You've all sinned, fall short. Don't let that phrase fall short fool you into thinking, well, I'm so close, I'm just right there. No, you're not. You're infinitely away.

That Anything short of God's pure holiness is eternity be away. Infinitely away. For all of sin and falsehood of the glory of God, being justified, wait, whoa, I can be justified freely? There's nothing I have to give for this? Well, how?

By His grace, grace, I'll be given something I don't deserve. So I can be justified by being given something I don't deserve. What is that something? We've talked about it already. Mercy, grace.

Well how? How does that happen? Because the price has to be paid through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Whom God set forth as a propitiation, I'll come back to that word, by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God has passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So going back to this, we sin, but we can be justified through the redemption of Christ Jesus.

Well, how does that pay that price? Well, here we go. God set forth a propitiation by blood. That just means, propitiation just means that Christ satisfied the requirements that God has for sin. And that God accepted Christ giving those requirements.

What are those requirements? That one perfectly holy would become sin for you. He who knew no sin became sin for us. And that He would be treated as if he was the sinner, not you were the sinner, and God would pour His wrath on him and he would die the death you deserve. And then conquer.

That's not it. If he was still dead, Our faith is dead. We have nothing. And then rose from the dead, conquering the last enemies of sin and death. And that action by Christ is propitiation, which means God accepted that sacrifice on your behalf.

And because Christ did that, you can be justified freely by grace. You are given that justification by grace through the work of Christ. You can have that given to you. Not everybody gets that. We'll talk about that here in a moment.

That's what you have. Now one other point I want to bring up here, and I'll talk a little bit more on the Lord's Supper, but by doing this, the focus is on Christ, not even you, through His righteousness. To demonstrate His righteousness, without Christ being righteous, that's no avail. He just died for his own sins if he wasn't righteous and he's taken the wrath of God now. But he did not sin.

He is perfect. He is pure. And he demonstrated his righteousness. And it talks about how God has passed over the sins that were previously committed. Now, God cannot just pass over.

Now, that's what that means, that God just said, okay, their sins are fine. You have to look at the context here. When we hear the words Passover put together, you have to think back to Exodus. Before the Israelites left Egypt, they had the blood of the Lamb put on the doorposts and the lintel, and all that were in the house, the angel of death passed over. What he did was that blood was a shadow of Christ's blood purifying you, cleansing those people that were in those houses of all their sins.

So when the angel passed over, he didn't just say, oh, okay, yeah, those people are sinful. No, he looked on them as Christ, as God looks on you now, being covered by the blood of Christ, being purified by the blood of Christ. You're righteous. You are justified. Your wages were paid.

There are no more. I don't remember them no more because I see the pure blood of Jesus Christ and I accept that sacrifice. Those people are justified. Those people can stand before me because they have been made pure. Holy pure by the blood of Christ.

And at the end it says, therefore, Jesus is the just and the justifier. He could die for our sins because He is just. He wouldn't have to be made just because he is holy, pure. Back to Habakkuk. Jesus is that one.

And because he's that way, because of his death, his work justifies you. Now listen to this. Once justified, Once you have been justified by Christ and His work, it is done once and for all forever. Never wanes. Never wanes.

This is why you can be forgiven and continually forgiven. Because when you sin, when you sin, God doesn't say, oh, not justified, gotta re-justify them. No. Christ died for all of your sins. Every single one of them that you would ever have, for every person that would ever be saved, He took on the eternal wrath of God.

That's how powerful Christ is to be able to do that. That is how pure He is to be able to do that. Once justified, you are always justified. If you weren't, you couldn't keep going back and asking forgiveness, and He wouldn't forgive you, but He does. He does.

Hebrews 10 tells us, for by one offering, he, Christ, has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. If you're lacking confidence in justification, then you need help with your faith. Let's talk about faith now. Talk about faith. So, Sproul and the Reformers, the Reformers, Sproul learning from the Reformers.

When it comes to faith, talk about three elements of faith that are required for saving faith. My focus here is on saving faith. Hebrews talks about the context of faith in your life. I'm going to focus on saving faith right now. But on saving faith, one is you've got to gather information.

You've heard, maybe you've heard this saying that, no, you've got to put your intellect on hold and there's no reason in faith. No, there is a lot of reason in faith. You do not throw your mind away. In order to have saving faith, you start by having to gather information. There's information that you're gathering that are essential for Christianity.

What must I do to be saved? If somebody was to ask you, you have to recognize you're a sinner. God is holy. You're a sinner. With that sin, you deserve death.

You deserve the wrath of God. Jesus came, lived the perfect life in your place, died the death you deserve, rose from the dead, and for all who have faith in Christ alone for salvation they will be saved. So there's some data in there. So it's your gathering data, your reading, or maybe you're hearing it from somebody. That's the first phase.

The second phase is you start assenting to that truth. You heard that phrase when we were going through John. Saying, okay, I've read this, I've even read some history. I'm being honest with myself, yeah, I am a sinner and I have no idea how I could possibly go to heaven. Yeah, I do see how wretched my sin is.

And I do read and I do believe that Christ, that a man named Jesus did live. There were witnesses and I read through history and nobody knows. Some people say they don't know what happened. There's a lot of people who say, hey, they saw him. I know that I want eternal life, but I look it around and I don't see any hope anywhere else.

Congratulations, you've got as far as the demons to some extent. At that point, you're not saved yet. You're not saved yet. You've gathered some facts. You intellectually know some things.

But what the Reformers called fiducia, fiducia faith. Fiducia faith is the heart of saving faith. Now you're talking about a personal faith, a personal trust. It's an accounting term. It's a personal faith, a personal trust in accounting on where you're putting your money, where you're putting your resources.

In this, it's a faith that, alright, I'm going to go all in. Alright, I'm trusting you with my money. If you lose it, I'm in trouble. Now I'm trusting you with my life, Christ. You come to really believe.

Now I'm trusting you with my life. I have the utmost confidence in the truth that you are God, that you are Christ, only you could save. Edwards calls this, he wrote a book on it called Religious Affections. I embrace and I love and I adore Christ. I repent and I believe you Christ.

I believe you. I believe this is the only way to eternal life. Without this, I have the wrath of God coming upon me. It's the only way for mercy is through you and your grace alone and faith in you alone." So just laying those out in three points you might think, well, so what do I need to do to get this faith? Just study enough?

If I just study, if I just read enough, I'll get this faith. No you won't. No you won't and several people here are an example of that. Several people here are an example of that. You've read, you've studied, you've got Bible as part of your homeschool curriculum, you're here every day, you have family worship, and you still haven't.

But there's probably those here that are saved that could tell you the gospel better than somebody else that is saved. That's not a slight to the person that's saved. That's a slight to you, if you're in that boat. Now the only way you get it, the only way you get this kind of faith, Ephesians 2 tells us it's a gift of God. It's the only way you can have saving faith.

It's a gift of God that He would give that to you. You have no faith, no confidence in Christ without God providing it for you. Sproul talks about this this way. Anybody can believe in God. Alright, anybody can believe in God.

What it means to be a Christian is to trust Him when He speaks, which does not require a leap of faith. Stop there, a leap of faith. You might hear, well, I'm just taking a leap of faith on Christianity. No, you're not taking a leap of faith. A leap of faith, a Christian leap, there's no such thing as a Christian leap of faith for salvation.

A leap of faith, when you say that, you picture somebody that's like, I have no idea what's there, but I'm going to jump over this cliff and I'm going. That's not Christianity. Christianity, you know what's there. It's Christ. It's eternal life.

It's your shepherd who will never leave you nor forsake you. It's not a leap of faith. That's what Sproul's saying. Which does not require a leap of faith or a crucifixion of the intellect. Love that.

It requires a crucifixion of pride because no one is more trustworthy than God. When we do not trust God, getting to the heart of faith is trust, it is because we transfer to Him our own corrupt qualities. We're saying, you're not trustworthy, God. I know people, I know this, you can't be trusted here. But God does not have any of those corrupt qualities.

You can trust Him with your life. So now let's put this justification and faith together. When by faith alone, which is a gift of God lest you boast about it, when by faith alone you trust Christ's work alone for salvation, you repent and believe the gospel, Christ's righteousness is transferred to you and you are once and for all justified. Made innocent, made guiltless. Not just covered it up as if it's a sneaky trick.

No, you are made righteous. You are made guiltless. Understand that, Christian. Before God, that's who you are. It's so wonderful to park on.

So wonderful. There's also, when we talk about faith, I told you that focus was on salvation, faith for salvation, but there's also the Christian life in context here, of living a life of faith, living a life of trust in Christ. One that demonstrates their faith and trust in a life of obeying God, living by the word of God, the trustworthy one. We'll get to that when we talk about Hebrews. Remember a quote when we were going through Habakkuk 2 by Robertson, O'Palmer Robertson, he took that verse and he worded it this way, but the justified by his steadfast trust shall live.

Shall live, shall have eternal life, and shall live this life now with the steadfast trust in Christ. So now let's look at where Paul quotes Habakkuk. So turn to Romans 1. Very briefly, Romans 1 and Galatians 3. Paul quotes Habakkuk twice.

Romans 1, verses 16 and 17. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith." connection right to the Gospel. This is not a new interpretation of Habakkuk. It always was this way.

The Bible is true from beginning to end and agrees with one another from beginning to end. So let's now look at Galatians 3, 10 through 4, where Paul lays this out in much more detail. Turn to Galatians 3. Start in verse 10. For as many as are under the works of the law are under the curse.

How many is that? Everyone in their natural state. For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things, which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no one is justified by the law. You're not justified by the law.

The law condemns you. The law tells you you're not perfect and condemns you. It's also your tutor to bring you to Christ. It has a couple purposes. But you're not justified by it.

It doesn't save you. It doesn't make you pure. No one is justified by the law and the sight of God is evident for the just shall live by faith. Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for it.

Remember, he who knew no sin became sin for us. The wrath of God was laid on him. For it is written, cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, that The blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Paul's emphasis in both of these is salvation by faith, by trust in Jesus and his work alone to justify you. Galatians, our confidence, our full affection, our love and trust is not in the law to justify us.

As I said, The law will condemn us. That is in Christ alone is where our faith is. Christ alone where our trust is for our justification. Romans 1, 17. We talk about, right?

The just shall live by faith. You think of the Reformation. You think of Luther. You should do that. Romans 1.17 was his big sticking point.

When we think of Luther in this life, we say, oh, he read this? And he was like, whoa! Look at this! I never knew this! No, that's not what happened to Luther.

He read Romans 1.17, the just shall live by faith, and he hated it. He argued with Paul, therefore argued with God, and said, it can't mean what I think it might mean. It can't mean that. And he argued with Paul over and over again. And later on when he's talking about these talks about how he looks back at that time and says, I hated God.

I hated Christ. Are we arguing that way? I didn't know. And I was therefore a hater because he wasn't a Christian. By definition, he was saying, but he's saying, I hated Christ at that point.

He couldn't believe that this was about God giving righteousness to people that have no righteousness on their own. By grace to the righteousness of Jesus, because He believed in justification by faith and works. He says that. He says that. We're not reading anything into the Catholic Church.

He was taught that. He was a monk. He was taught that. He believed that his justification is from Christ alone, but I have some righteousness in me. And I prove that out.

And then God will save me. Look at all the work. I became a monk. I pray. I do all these rites.

I do all these things. I go here. I go there. I've got righteousness in me. Why wouldn't God look at me and save me?

Because look what I'm doing. In Romans, those living by faith are the justified that have been made righteous by God through Jesus' work. Luther later then, once he saved, now his mind, He's been given a new mind, new heart. Now he said, salvation is a gift for the guilty, not a reward for the righteous. Back to the parable.

Back to the parable in Luke. Who's the one that was justified? That Jesus said was justified. The one that recognized they were a sinner and begging for the mercy of God. That person was justified.

Not the Pharisee who looked at themselves in their self-righteousness, their self-justification, saying all these things about how good they were. That person is prideful. That person has no justification. It's the one that understands they're a sinner and needs the mercy of God and begs for that mercy through faith alone in Christ Jesus. So now let's turn to Hebrews 10.

In the next place, this is quoted in the New Testament by the writer of Hebrews. So in Hebrews 10, the writer takes us through the shadows of God through the sacrifice. The shadows of Jesus as the Lamb of God talking about the sacrifices that are being made. And then he says in verse 11, and every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly these same sacrifices which can never take away sins. So the writer of Hebrews said that they can't take away sins, They were shadows.

Even the high priest is a shadow, is a type of Christ. But this man, talking about Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down at the right hand of God. So he talks about the shadows and the types and points to Christ who is the sacrifice for sins forever, once and for all. Then he continues to talk about the Christian life. So we were talking primarily about salvation that Paul was talking about in Romans and Galatians.

This writer is talking about the Christian life with faith. What continues to happen, Faith is not a one time, it continues to show itself and demonstrate itself. So he gets to this, then we get to verse 23 and 24. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. The one that gives you faith is the faithful one.

It's the trustworthy one. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Then we get to 37 and 38. For yet a little while and he who is coming will come and will not tarry. That's talking about Christ coming.

He will come again. Now the just shall live by faith but if anyone draws back my soul has no pleasure in him. It is the writer of Hebrews, through the power of the Holy Spirit, that is making this connection back to Habakkuk, to Jesus, who will come again as he promised, because he is faithful. Why can we completely trust him, have completely faith? Because he is fully trustworthy.

He is fully faithful. And the writer is focusing on how the justified live their life by faith, by trust, by confidence, full affection of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. And so he's talking about the Christian life, and then what comes right after? Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 comes right after this.

Example after example of the just living by faith. It is by faith, by trust in Christ alone that their works were done. Beautiful two chapters, 10 and 11, back to back, how kind of God to do that for us. Now, you've been saved by faith, right? And saved by faith, there is fruit of that salvation.

There should be evidence of that salvation. That's the point of ten, at least the second half of ten and eleven. There should be evidence. Not all people being martyred is the only evidence you have. There's lots more evidence that we should have.

The first evidence that you have of saving faith is just repentance. Simple repentance. Repentance and belief in the Gospel. It all starts with repentance. You're turning from sin and turning towards God in confidence that God's ways are right, are true, are good for you.

A hatred for sin and an affection for Christ. Next evidence, in Romans 5, Romans 5, 1 and 2, Therefore, having been justified by faith, you're a Christian, you've been justified by faith, trust in Christ alone, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." So what's another evidence of saving faith? You have a life of peace, you have a life of joy, you have a life of hope. Does that mean you go around with a smile all the time? No.

No, but you can have that peace that surpasses all understanding in the roughest of times. Right? It is well with my soul. It is Habakkuk. Right?

You can have, Habakkuk had, At the end of Habakkuk, you better be saying, Habakkuk had peace. Habakkuk had joy. Habakkuk had hope. Even knowing what was coming. You can't talk about faith and works without turning to James.

That would probably be A huge oversight if that did not happen. So James 2, I want to start in James 2 and verse 17. James 2 verse 17. Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works.

Show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. Congratulations. How far you got there.

That's not saving faith. But do you want to know, oh foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Do you want to know that? You're foolish if you don't. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?

Do you see that faith was working together with his works and by works faith was made perfect? The works he did showed he could have complete confidence. He had complete confidence, obeyed, and not everything will always end up right like it did between Abraham and Isaac at that point. You may be killed, you may have death, not everybody ends up coming out of the fiery furnace like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Not everybody's going to come out of the lion's den without a scratch.

Read Hebrews 11. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. Faith without works is not saving faith. Faith without the evidence of repentance is not saving faith. Saying I trust Jesus with my life, but then you don't trust Jesus with your life is not saving faith.

Now, be very clear. Our works have nothing to do with Jesus justifying us. Be very clear. That's where Luther had it wrong for so long. It has nothing to do with it.

These aren't works that are making Jesus look on us and say that person is worth justifying. No, I'm talking about evidence of salvation works. Evidence. What about if my faith is lacking? And it will.

You had a show of hands. Has anybody had faith lacking ever? Yes. Does your trust ever wane? Yes.

I get fearful in some situations. That's a lack of faith. It's a lack of faith. Well, one is what you do with that is you acknowledge that. You ask God to forgive you and give you more faith.

Let me give you something more practical for that. Your faith will wane if you've been in faith for more than a few moments. Your faith will struggle at times. Romans 10, 17 says, faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. And that's mostly rightfully attached to how people are saved.

But it's also how you continue in the faith. Hearing the Word of God, Bible reading, praying, asking, seeking, repenting. Back to Gospel truth. Sing Scripture. Sing Gospel rich songs like we did this morning, like in Christ alone.

Sing these truths to yourself. Pray these things. In reality, a lack of faith and a lack of trust is from a lack of affection for Christ. That's what it really means for me and you. It's really not loving Christ.

We're not seeing that He loves us. We have competing affections. What are you, what am I spending time building up affections for that are competing with Christ affections? Turn to Habakkuk 1.5, the last point here. The last place we have a quote of Habakkuk in the New Testament is from Habakkuk 5, which was quoted in Acts 13, which was read at the beginning.

Acts 5, 1.5, look among the nations and watch. Be utterly astounded for I will work a work in your days which you would not believe though it were told you. And then we get over to Acts 13. Now in Acts 13, what we have here, we have Paul and Antioch in the synagogue. And while he's in the synagogue, they're reading the law and the prophets.

And the rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying, so they've been teaching about the prophets, they said, men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. So what does Paul do? He says on. He continues. He says, I'm going to take this opportunity and I'm going to tell him the Gospel.

And that's what he does. He works his way through the Gospel. He gives a brief history of Israel up to Jesus and then reading in 38. I'm going to start in verse 38. He says, Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins.

And by him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. There it is again. The law does not justify you. Only Christ in his life can justify you. Verse 40, beware therefore, lest what has been spoken in the prophets, what has been spoken in Habakkuk, come upon you." And he quotes Habakkuk here in verse 41.

Behold you despisers, marvel and perish, for I work a work in your days, a work which you will by no means believe, though one were to declare it to you. There are two ways that we have to look at this in him quoting this here. One is, he just told them the gospel. You've got to connect what he just said to the Gospel. Believe the astounding work declared to you.

Paul tells them of Jesus' perfection, of Jesus' death, of His resurrection, of His forgiveness, of His mercy, of His justification. All this to the Gospel. And then quotes Habakkuk 1.5. So he's saying, believe this astounding work that I just told you, the work of Christ to justify you. Your law that you are so prideful of will never justify you.

Believe this. This is astounding work that I've told you today. You are to believe that. Paul is also telling them that a judgment is coming. Judgment is coming.

And if they do not believe the astounding work of grace to save and justify sinners, they will be judged under the eternal wrath of God. You hear being warned. You hear therefore being warned of despising, despising this message and perishing, despising the gospel message and perishing. If you have not repented, if you have not repented of your sins and trusted, had faith in Christ alone, his work alone, his atoning death alone, back to that word propitiation, his atoning death alone, and his resurrection by faith, by trusting him alone, you will have that same wrath of God come upon you. And you will not be justified and you will perish.

Paul is declaring that to the people. One last connection that's not a direct quote. Habakkuk 2.14, listen to this. Listen to this, Habakkuk 2.14. This is in the middle of the woes.

I think there's three woes before this and three after, or four and two. It says this in 2.14. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord." What does that mean, the knowledge of the glory of God, back here, back from 14, back to Habakkuk, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God." Back here, back from 14, back to Habakkuk, "...for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord." Paul says, "...to give light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. What is the knowledge of the glory of the Lord?

It is seen in Jesus Christ. His glory. His righteousness. The just and the justifier. Believe the words of God.

Believe the astounding work declared to you, the just shall live by faith. Two applications. Two applications. Christian, those that have been justified by Christ, is it evident that you are living a life of Steadfast faith, steadfast trust in God, is it evident? Steadfast confidence, affection, adoration, like the words of Scripture, these IM statements, that you know what you are having your steadfast confidence in.

The solid rock, the sure foundation of Jesus, the Holy One, your good shepherd, your bread of life, the light of the world, your true vine, your way, your truth, and your life, your resurrection. If you say yes, how is it evident? Think on that. How is it evident in your words, in your thoughts, in your deeds? We don't live for the affirmation of others, and I say this kind of thing often, but are others affirming that in you?

Or is it just your own blind, possibly, observation of yourself? It might be a right observation, I pray it is, But do you have others affirming that, helping you with that observation? A spouse? A friend? Maybe a brother or sister?

Good friend? But here's one. Right? On these observations, do you tell others their faith is evident and encourage them in the faith? Last scripture to read, 1 Thessalonians 3, this is Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy say, Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, And sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the Gospel of Christ to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith.

That no one should be shaken by these afflictions for yourselves know that we are appointed to this. Timothy was sent to encourage them in their faith. Not just because they were going through hard times. I'm sure that's not the only time they encourage people in their faith. It's not when you read through Scripture, or they're going through our times to encourage in their faith.

People need to encourage in their faith all the time. Be told, man, you took a stand. Or the way you're running your household, the way you're running your budget, or the words you're saying, the way you express yourself, the way I hear you encourage other people, the way your homes are organized, the way you school, what your wives do, a lot of this. We need to encourage one another. Had a friend do that to me this week.

And you don't know how encouraging that is until you hear it. It wasn't Jason, right? But I had a friend do that this week, and it was very encouraging. It was actually a voicemail only. It was very encouraging.

You don't know how encouraging that can be to somebody, especially husband and wives. Right? Take that. Second application, I want to encourage you through a hymn by William Cooper. A hymn by William Cooper, he had many hard times in his life.

And saying hard times is putting it lightly. Many hard times. He battled with a lot of things. The hymn I want to read to you is God Moves in a mysterious way. It's been re-recorded by Sovereign Grace, who pretty much goes by the same words.

I'm going to read the original words. They just modernize the language. William Cooper is also the author of the closing hymn today, There is a Fountain. So we're going to sing one of his. But listen to this.

God moves in a mysterious way. You read it. All I read, he doesn't say that he connects us to the Habakkuk, but it could be taken right out of Habakkuk. It's hymn number 88 in our hymnal. Don't know the tune, never sang that tune, I've only sang Sovereign Grace's tune.

Listen to this, just listen to this and may you be encouraged. God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable minds of never failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs and works his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take, The clouds ye so much dread, are big with mercy, and shall break in blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning providence he hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste, but sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err and scan his work in vain.

God is his own interpreter and he will make it plain. Let's pray. Our God, thank you that you would take enemies and justify us through your precious work, O Christ. And that you give us faith to believe that. That that is true.

And our confidence can be there. We can have eternal hope. That we can have a life of trust in You now. And You walk by our side. You will never leave us nor forsake us.

You shepherd us. You're our food. We can feast on you. You care for your bride. You have adopted us, O God, through Christ's work.

You are our Father. We are your daughters and sons. And we are yours forever. We are engrafted forever. Thank you for this wonderful, wonderful truth.

You are so merciful, so gracious, worthy of all our trust. Thank you. Amen. Thank you. Thank you.