The Promise of Justification adapted from PCC Prayer Meeting Exhortation on 4 March 2010. “Behold, his soul which is lifted up isnot upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4) The book of Habakkuk beginswith the prophet Habakkuk complaining to the LORD that Judah, the people of Godof old was apostatising. They were lawless and had little regard for the gloryof God and the plight of the righteous. Habakkuk was perplexed at why the Lordwas delaying to chastise His people: “O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thouwilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!”(Hab 1:2) The Lord’s reply was not onlyunexpected but utterly shocking to Habakkuk: He was going to raise theChaldeans or the Babylonians, that cruel and hasty people to punish Judah. Habakkukwas astounded: how could it be? “Thouart of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity:wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thytongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?” (Hab1:13). How could God, who isinfinitely holy and hates sin with a perfect hatred, make use of a nation thatis more sinful than Judahto punish Judah?Habakkuk seems convinced that there can be no satisfactory answer to hisperplexity. He says in chapter 2, v. 1— “I will stand upon my watch,and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, andwhat I shall answer when I am reproved” (Hab 2:1). Well, whatever that actuallymeant, the Lord’s answer came sooner than Habakkuk had expected. It was ananswer that not only convinced Habakkuk. It became also the foundation of theChristian church in the New Testament, and the theological torch that setaflame the Protestant Reformation of the 16th Century. What did the Lord say? Well, the gist of His answer isfound in Habakkuk 2:4— Behold, his soul which islifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. The rest of the chaptercontains the prophecy that elaborates and applies this thesis statement in thehistorical setting of the day. Thisevening, the Lord helping us, we must consider this thesis statement as part ofour study of the great and precious promises of God found in the Bible. Andthis statement, you must realise is at once a declaration and a promise. Wecan infer 3 thoughts from it. First, all men fall short of God’s righteousness.Secondly, the wages of unrighteousness is death. Thirdly, the just shall liveby faith. 1. All Men Fall Short of God’sRighteousness 4 Behold, his soul which is lifted upis not upright in him… a.It is clear from the context,that the LORD has the Babylonian invaders as an example of this generalstatement. The Babylonians were proud andpuffed up. Their desires were not upright. This is not merely a statement offact. It is, we must realise, a statement of condemnation. The Babylonianswould be judged because they were proud and self-reliant, and failed toacknowledge God. They thought themselves to be alaw unto themselves and right in what they did. But all men fall short of God’sglory and righteousness (Rom 3:23).Therefore the Babylonians fall greatly short of God’s righteousness. In fact,in that they thought themselves to be great and glorious without regard to God,they added pride and arrogance to their sin of presumption. But now, what is true of theBabylonians is actually true for all men. Satan had tempted Adam and Eve totake of the forbidden fruit by promising them god-like autonomy. “You shall belike God,” he claimed. It was a lie. Nevertheless, every natural descendant ofAdam has since swallowed the lie, hook line and sinker. He resents God’sauthority. He hates to think that there is anyone with authority over his will.He believes that he is a law unto himself. He does what he wants to doaccording to his free will, or so he thinks. Therefore the fallen man is by naturearrogant, proud and self-righteous. His desires are only for his own glory andpleasure. He has no regard for God his Creator who is all-seeing andall-knowing. His soul is lifted up. He is not upright at all in the sight ofGod. As the Babylonians stoodcondemned, so the natural man stands condemned. This leads us to our secondpoint, which is that… 2. The Wages of Unrighteousness is Death This is implied in our text,because when the LORD says, “but the justshall live,” he is implying at the same time that the unjust shall notlive. The unjust or unrighteous shall die. This agrees with the doctrinerevealed to us in the New Testament. Paul say: “The wages of sin isdeath” (Rom 6:23a); and John says: “All unrighteousness is sin” (1Jn 5:17). Therefore the wages ofunrighteousness is death. What death are we talkingabout? Not just physical death, but spiritual and eternal death. We arefamiliar with physical death and the sickness and bodily suffering associatedwith it. What is spiritual death? Spiritual death is essentially being dead insin and trespasses. Because of spiritual death, the natural man cannot do anygood. All his righteousness are filthy rags in God’s sight. What about eternaldeath? Eternal death involves separation from God today and for all eternity.The natural man therefore cannot enjoy God’s love and fellowship. Instead, hedeserves God’ wrath and curse for all eternity. When Adam and Eve ate of theforbidden fruit, they brought death to all mankind descending from them bynatural generation. Man’s desire for freedom from God together with his faithin the devil has brought untold miseries to himself down the ages. All the badthings of this life—deaths, illnesses, sorrows, tears, disappointment, pain,evil, injustice, separation, quarrels, wars all arose from sin, especially thesin of pride and arrogance. And man cannot extricate himself from the sadsituation that he is in for there is none good, no, not one. And there is nonethat seeks after God, no, not one. Left to themselves, mankind is doomed andheaded for eternal destruction. But thanks be to God, there ishope, for life is promised for all who walk by faith. This is the third andmost important proposition from our text, namely, that… 3. The Just Shall Live By Faith “But the just shall live byhis faith.” There is a sharp contrast between theproud Babylonians and the righteous or just amongst God’s people. These shalllive by their faith. The word ‘faith’ in our texttranslates is a Hebrew word (אֶמוּנָת) which means faithfulness and fidelity. But of coursefaith and faithfulness are related. One who is faithful is excercising faith ortrust to the object of faithfulness. Butthe crucial question is: What does Habakuk mean by the statement: “the just shall live by faith”? Well,there are some commentators who would say that Habakkuk means nothing more thanthat those who believe in God will enjoy a life ofsecurity, protection, and fullness. But this cannot be the meaningof the statement, as the Holy Spirit does not leave us to guess what the versemeans, for it is quoted three times in the New Testament! It is quoted inRomans 1:17; Galatians 3:11and Hebrews 10:38. Without going into a lot ofdetail, we can see by studying the quotation in the context that the HolySpirit intends for us to understand Habakkuk to be saying: “The person whowould live eternally must be justified by faith.” Or more accurately, “theelect of Christ will,—by faith in Christ,— receive and enjoy the benefits ofjustification, including eternal life.” We are all familiar with thedoctrine of justification. “Justification,” according to the WestminsterShorter Catechism,… “…isan act of God’s free grace, wherein He pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth usas righteous in His sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us,and received by faith alone” (WSC 33). What this statement essentiallyteaches us is that God alone can pardon our sins, undo the curse ofunrighteousness and receive us into fellowship with Him. How does He do so? Hedoes so, by sending the Lord Jesus Christ to take the punishment due to hispeople upon himself. Thus, Christ came to live, suffer and die for His people.Christ came, in other words, to purchase righteousness for his people. Why do we need righteousness?We need righteousness because the wages of unrighteousness or sin isdeath—physical, spiritual and eternal death. Unless we have righteousness, wecan have no fellowship with God and will instead suffer His wrath and curse. So we need righteousness, andChrist came to purchase it for us by His own suffering and death on our behalf.But how do we receive this benefit that Christ purchased for us? We receive itaccording to Habakkuk, or more accurately, according to the Holy Spirit, byfaith—even faith in Christ and all that He did. Saving faith is a gift of Godwhich He gives to His elect for whom Christ laid his life down for. By thisfaith, we receive a righteousness status before God, and therefore at the sametime, eternal life. Thus the apostle Paul says, “For therein is the righteousness of Godrevealed from faith to faith: as it is written, thejust shall live by faith” (Rom 1:17). But now, how does this thoughtfit into what Habakkuk was saying? Well, remember that Habakkukhad asked God how it could be that He could use a wicked nation to punish apeople more righteous than them? The Lord’s answer is: “Behold, his soul which is lifted up is notupright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” By this statement,the Lord is essentially saying to Habakkuk: Yes, the Babylonians are puffedup. They will be judged. You can expect that. But what about the Jews? Theunbelieving Jews are in the same boat. None may live and escape judgement butthose who trust in Him. Indeed, you are wrong tocompare the Jews with the Babylonians! Who is more wicked or righteous cannotbe measured by man’s standard, for by God’s standard both are guilty. In fact,in a certain sense, the Jews were more guilty—because to them were entrustedthe oracles of God. This is the doctrine ofjustification. It answers much of life’s perplexing question. It gives hopeeven to the chief of sinners. And it glorifies God, for none can boast thatthey are better than another. God has made it clear. All have sinned and comeshort of his glory. Yet, He will save whom He will save, and it is entirely byHis grace. Conclusion “The just shall live by faith.” This is perhaps the most importantpromise and declaration of God that fallen man needs to hear. Man is by natureproud and self-righteous. Because we are created in theimage of God, we have a sense of morality. Every man knows to some extent whatis right and what is wrong. This sense of morality distinguishes man from animals.This sense of morality is what causes revulsion and anger when we see or hearof gross wickedness in men—be it of the Babylonians, or the Assyrians, or theNazis, or the Islamists. But due to the corruption of our nature, we are notrepulsed and angered by our own sin.We fail to realise that in the sight of God, we are not at all righteous. Wefail to see that we deserve the same condemnation as the Babylonians or theAssyrians or the Nazis. Need we any proof that this is the case when we knowfrom the Scriptures that Christ suffered and died for his Church? If the Churchwere righteous enough, why need Christ to die? “The just shall live by faith!”O may the Lord grant us that that we may realise that this is not merely aspeculative theological proposition. Rather, let us appreciate how this is theone of the greatest promises of God. And let your hearts be filled withgratitude especially to Christ Jesus our Lord who purchased life for you by Hissuffering and death for you. Amen. Ω |
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