THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY HIS FAITH HAB

“THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY HIS FAITH” (HAB. 2: 4)

“THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY HIS FAITH” 1. Habakkuk Puzzled by the Ways of God Ø 1: 1 -2 Not Understand God’s Patience Ø 1: 6, 13 Not Understand God’s Action 2. Fellowship with God Based on Total Faith in God, Not Ability to Understand All His Ways Ø 2: 1 -4 God Knew Babylon Wicked Ø 2: 19 -20 God Would Punish in His Own Time 3. 3: 17 -19 Learned Total Faith in God 4. Jews Had to Learn This Faith—Hope of Savior 5. All Must Learn & Apply This Faith!

Faith in God’s Promise of the Savior True Faith: Obedience to God’s Word • Gen. 12: 1 -3 Some Jews Trusted in Lineage, Not Obey Christ • John 3 Jesus Taught Nicodemus: Ä Vv. 1 -5 Enter God’s Kingdom by Spiritual Birth: Water Baptism & Message of Holy Spirit Ä Vs. 16 Faith Points to Obedience in Vs. 5 Ä Vv. 31 -36 United Message of Godhead: Faith (Obey) VS Disobey (Unbelief)

Faith in God’s Promise of the Savior Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament Defines the Verb “To Believe” (PISTEUO): “To think to be true; to be persuaded of; to credit, place confidence in”—“used especially of the faith by which a man embraces Jesus, i. e. a conviction, full of joyful trust, that Jesus is the Messiah—the divinely appointed author of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God, conjoined with obedience to Christ”—Jn. 1: 12; 3: 16, 36; Mk. 16: 16; throughout Romans as 1: 16; 10: 10

Faith in God’s Promise of the Savior Gospel Reveals God’s Plan of Salvation 1. Rom. 1: 16 -17 Believe Gospel=Saved, Live 2. Rom. 1: 5; 10: 16; 16: 25 -26 True, Saving, Comprehensive Faith Includes Obedience 3. Rom. 6: 3 -4, 16 -18 Baptism: Act of Faith in Christ, Death of Old Man, Begin New Life 4. Hab. 2: 4 “The Just Shall Live by His Faith”

Faith in God’s Promise of the Savior Faith in Gospel of Christ, Not Law of Moses 1. Gal. 3: 8 -11 Abraham Believed Promise Ø Vs. 10 Curse of Law: No Perfect Sacrifice Ø Vv. 24 -27 Obedient Faith in Christ, Not Moses 2. Hab. 2: 4 “The Just Shall Live by His Faith” Faith Steadfast to the End 1. Heb. 10: 36 -39 Patient Faith Rewarded 2. Hab. 2: 4 “The Just Shall Live by His Faith”

Faith in God’s Promise of the Savior Faith Stays with Truth, No Compromise 1. 2 Cor. 5: 7 Not Understand Why God Revealed Some Things, But Trust Him 2. Rom. 3: 4 Not Shaken If Prominent Men Waver 3. 2 Tim. 2: 14 -19; 1 Tim. 6: 20 Some Snared by: “Words to No Profit” & “Contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge” Some Stand for Truth & Some Embrace False Doctrine 4. Scruples & Judgments Test Faith, False Doctrines Test Faith

Faith in God’s Rule Over Nations True Faith Includes Faith in God’s Rule • Acts 17: 26 -27 God Rules So That Men Can Find Him • Prov. 14: 34 God Takes Account of Sin • Jer. 25: 31; Rom. 13: 1 -4 God Restrains Evil and Protects the Good • Dan. 4: 25 Raises Up, Brings Down Nations • 1 Tim. 2: 1 -4 Advance Cause of Truth • Hab. 2: 20; 3: 17 -19 Trust God’s Perfect Rule Ø Hab. 2: 4 “The Just Shall Live by His Faith”

Faith in God’s Care as We Face Personal Needs & Trials The Lord Was with Joseph in Many Trials • Gen. 37: 22 God Delivered Him from Death • Gen. 39: 1 -2 God Blessed Him Under Potiphar • Gen. 39: 20 -21 God Blessed Him in Prison • Gen. 50: 19 -20 Joseph Trusted in God, Then Understood Better Later in Life

Faith in God’s Care as We Face Personal Needs & Trials Matt. 6: 24 -34 God Provides Our Daily Needs Great Fear & Anxiety=Little Faith 2 Cor. 12: 7 -10 Grace of Christ Sustained Paul as Struggled with a Thorn God Greater than All Our Thorns Faith Looks at Problems thru God Total Trust: God Knows Our Problems, Does What is Best Hab. 2: 4 “The Just Shall Live by His Faith”

THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY HIS FAITH Christ Invites the Weary Sinner: To the Fallen Christian: “Confess your faults one to another” (Jas. 5: 16). To the Sinner in the World: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3: 5).