The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

Romans 1:16-17 ESV

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

What is the gospel being spoken of here? Literally the word means “God’s good news.” And what is God’s “good news”? According to the Apostle Paul it is the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). It is the whole will of God or the whole purpose of God. So, it is not a partial or half-truth gospel. For he did not sell the gospel short of truth. It was not tampered with nor diluted nor altered to make it more appealing and acceptable to human flesh. But he shared the full gospel message. And what is that?

Well, Jesus said that if anyone would come after him that he must deny self, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and to self) and follow (obey) him. For, in essence, he said that if we hold on to our old lives of living in sin and for self that we are going to lose them for eternity. But if for the sake of Jesus we die with him to sin and live to his righteousness, then we will have eternal life in him. For it is not those who say, “Lord, Lord,” but it is those who are doing the will of God who will enter into God’s eternal kingdom.

[See: Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23; cf. Romans 6:1-23]

For Jesus Christ died on that cross to deliver us from our slavery to sin so we would now be slaves of God and of his righteousness. He died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. He died that we might now live for him and no longer for ourselves. And he shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our lives of sin so that we will now honor God with our bodies (Romans 6:1-23; 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:15,21; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Ephesians 4:17-24; Titus 2:11-14).

And it is by God’s grace that we are saved, through God-given faith, and it is not of our own doing, not of our own fleshly works. And what is faith? It is divine persuasion. It is authored and perfected by Jesus Christ, it is gifted to us by God, and it comes from God and not from ourselves. So, we can’t make it up ourselves. The Scriptures must define what that faith looks like, and what they teach is dying with Christ to sin, not just once, but daily, and walking in obedience to our Lord in living holy lives pleasing to him.

[Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Acts 5:32; Tit 2:11-14; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Eph 4:17-32; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Lu 9:23-26; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15,21; Matt 7:21-23]

And faith is also active and ongoing and continuous. For the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone believing, and believing is evidenced by obedience to our Lord in forsaking our lives of sin to follow him in living holy and godly and righteous lives in his power and strength. For we are to live by faith, not just profess it with our lips. So it isn’t something we do once and we are good to go to heaven. We must walk by that faith daily in dying to sin and in living to God and to his righteousness.

For, if we profess faith in Jesus Christ, and that we are in fellowship (relationship) with him, but if we are still walking in sin, making sin our practice, then we are liars. And if we claim to know God/Christ, but we are not obeying his commands under the New Covenant, then we are liars. And if sin is what we practice, and if righteousness is not what we practice, then we are not of God, we are not born of God, but we are of the devil, so we do not know God and we will not inherit eternal life with God.

[1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Galatians 5:16-21]

So, the gospel message is not that we are to “believe” in Jesus (not usually biblically defined belief), and now all our sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and now heaven is guaranteed us when we die, end of story, or regardless of how we live. For that belief involves dying with Christ to sin and living to God and to his righteousness, in practice, not just once but continuously in conduct and in practice until the day that we die. It doesn’t mean we are perfect, but that righteousness is our practice and not sin.

And not being ashamed of the gospel is not just about not being ashamed to share the truth of the gospel with others, but it has to do with not being ashamed to live out the gospel with your life in walks of obedience and in surrender to Christ as Lord in living holy lives pleasing to God. For Jesus said that if we are ashamed of him and of his word that when he returns he will be ashamed of us and he will deny us because we denied him by our lives.

[Matthew 10:32-33; Matthew 15:7-9; Luke 9:26; 2 Timothy 2:11-13; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Titus 1:15-16; 2 Peter 2:1-3; Jude 1:3-4]

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg 

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