Habakkuk 2:4 presents two
different ways of living in strong contrast.
The way of the wicked is unbelief and defiant
disobeying of God’s revelation.
The other is the faith in God and obedience to His
Word. One is submissive to God,
and the other is arrogant unbelief.
One says, “I don’t need God.
I can take care of myself.”
The other says, “But the righteous will live
by his faith.”
The prophet wrote:
“Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is
not right within him; but the righteous will live by
his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4).
The “proud one” is puffed up,
swollen with pride. The Hebrew
expression is figurative of pride and arrogant
self-sufficiency.
This is the strong contrast the
prophet is drawing out in this chapter.
The wicked is puffed up and has no desire to
do what is right in God’s sight.
“He is greedy as the grave and like death is never
satisfied” (v. 5, NIV). Sheol or
death is compared to a voracious appetite that can
never be satisfied.
The other choice is living by
faith in the one who keeps us, not only from the
moment we first trust in Him as our Savior, but in
every moment of every day of our lives.
“But the righteous will live by faith.”
This verse in Habakkuk asks
some important questions for Christians today.
Who is this righteous person?
How did he become right in God’s sight? What
is the function of faith in the righteous person’s
life? How do you live before a holy God?
Habakkuk emphasizes, as does
the rest of the Bible, that we are not righteous.
We are unrighteous. We are
sinners. We cannot earn a
righteous standing before God because we are dead in
our sins and trespasses. We
cannot earn a right relationship with God through
good religious works, prayers, charity, fasting,
etc. “But the just shall live by
faith.”
Since no one can attain perfect
goodness, how then can we stand right before God and
be acceptable to Him?
The just person, or person
right in the eyes of God, has ceased in his own
efforts to attain this right standing before God.
He has turned to Jesus Christ instead for the
righteousness that God freely gives.
It is God’s gift to the believing sinner in
Jesus Christ. A Christian is a
person who is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for a
right standing with God. He or
she is not someone trying to earn salvation by good
works, but instead has received what God has done
for us in Jesus Christ. The very foundation of our
Christian life is not what we can do for God, but
what He had done for us in Jesus Christ.
Our entrance into the Christian life is not
by working but by a spiritual birth.
We receive God’s gift by grace through faith
in Christ Jesus. “The righteous
person will live by faith” (Rom. 1:16-17).
What is saving faith?
It is believing God and acting upon that
belief. Faith expresses itself in
obedience. It is faith in action.
It is not just a mental assent; it is
trusting the Lord Jesus Christ as the person who
died in our place and turning from unbelief and
following Him. It is a commitment
that begins in simple faith and continues through
out your life.
The apostle Paul stressed in
his letter to the Galatian church that we are not
saved by faith and then proceed to live by a
different principle. He
admonished, “The righteous will live [continually]
by his faith (Gal. 3:11-12). This
is the daily life of the Christian and all the days
of his life on the earth. “The
righteous shall live by faith.”
The only way to live the Christian life is to “live
by faith.”
Martin Luther put this great
truth in his own words. “Before
those words broke upon my mind, I hated God and was
angry with Him because, not content with frightening
us sinners by the law and by the miseries of life,
He still further increased our torture by the
gospel. But then, by the Spirit of God, I understand
those words – ‘The just shall live by faith!’
‘The just shall live by faith!’
Then I felt born again like a new man; I
entered through the open doors into the very
Paradise of God.”
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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Unless otherwise noted "Scripture quotations taken from the NASB."
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE" © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://www.bible.org/. All rights reserved.
Wil is a graduate of William Carey University, B. A.; New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Th. M.; and Azusa Pacific University, M. A. He has pastored in Panama, Ecuador and the U. S, and served for over 20 years as missionary in Ecuador and Honduras. He had a daily expository Bible teaching ministry head in over 100 countries from 1972-2005. He continues to seek opportunities to be personally involved in world missions. Wil and his wife Ann have three grown daughters. He currently serves as a Baptist pastor and teaches seminary extension courses in Ecuador.
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