Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. The secret of all living is living by faith. Faith is the Christian's vital principle. "No man's religion," it has been said, "survives his morals"; and it is equally true to assert that no man's religion survives his faith, for the just shall live by faith, if he lives at all in the higher sense of the word. Other graces may be necessary to his comfort, to his completeness as a man of God, but faith is necessary to his very existence. 1. This faith by which the just are to live is to be in continual operation from first to last. The just shall live by faith, and that not at any one stage of their career, but all the way through, from the moment they leave the house of bondage till they plant their footstep on Canaan's happy shore. Faith is not to be exercised only occasionally. It is not to be kept for great occasions, or for dire emergencies. It is to resemble not the rushing torrent of Kishon's brook, sweeping all before it for the time, but the steady flow of Siloah's quiet waters, which make glad perpetually the city of God. 2. Faith as a principle of living is intensely practical. It is not a garment to be worn on Sundays, but the ordinary workday garb, which we are to wear in the farmyard and the field, in the shop and in the marketplace. 3. This principle of faith is exclusive of every other that may compete with it. There is not a word here in favour of living by feeling. Our feelings are too variable to rely on. Such a one must needs live jerkily, inconsistently, uncomfortably. But, behold, I show unto you a more excellent way. The just shall live by faith. That is a form of living which is not liable to the ebbs and flows incident to a state of emotionalism, for faith fixes on a Saviour who never alters, on a righteousness which is always the same, and on a promise which is forever sure. There is another class who are accustomed to live by experience. The same objection applies here. There are so many ups and downs, even in the best experience, that to build upon it is to build upon a quaking bog. The just have more stable comforts, for they live by faith, and faith walks above experience, singing of heaven's brightness when earth is dark around her, and boasting of pardon when sin makes itself felt most consciously. When Ralph Erskine lay upon his death bed one of the bystanders said to him, "I hope, sir, you have some blinks of sunshine to cheer you in the valley." The answer was: "I had rather have one promise of my God than all the blinks of sunshine that ever shone." "The just shall live by faith." 4. The faith here spoken of is applicable to all kinds of living. If the just are to live by faith, the faith must be capable of adjustment to every variety of life that the just may be called upon to lead. "We talk of human life as a journey," says Sydney Smith, "but how variously is the journey performed." Variously indeed. It is a Pilgrim's Progress to us all, but to no two pilgrims is the progress the same. (1) Whether it be high life or life on a lower plane it is to be lived by faith. I have seen a bird on the topmost bough of a tree, and very sweetly he sang. But I have seen another bird perched on the lowest bough of that same tree, and he sang just as sweetly. And so you may put the just person on the uppermost branch or the undermost, but in either position he will live by faith. (2) Whether life be ordinary and commonplace, or exalted and heroic, it is to be lived by faith. Those humble duties of yours — you must look up to Heaven for strength to discharge them with fidelity. Your little cares — you must cast them all on Him who careth for you. It has been beautifully said, that "while God is great in great things, He is greatest in little things." Take to Him, therefore, the ounces of trouble as well as the pounds and the tons. But assuming your life to be lived on a more elevated platform and on a much grander scale — what then? Living by faith is still the rule. If you are summoned to Abrahamic duty, you have need of Abrahamic faith. (3) Whether life is long or short it is to be lived by faith. Length of life is a great blessing, but it is also a great trial. To hold out is often a harder thing than to hold fast or to hold on. How the unjust get on with that problem I do not know, but as for the just — I can speak for them — they live by faith; and there is nothing so strengthening as faith. In the case of short life I do not alter the prescription. (4) May we not add to this, that life at its highest pitch is to be lived by faith. There are periods of inspiration when we are alive at every point in our character, when there is no death in us at all, and we feel forceful, triumphant. We are strong for service, we are brave for endurance. Faith provides the channel by which God's life flows into our life. It is the link between our weakness and His almightiness. 5. But it is time to ask the question, By faith in what? (1) I answer, first and foremost, by faith in God. "Sever my connection with God," says Prince Bismarck, "and I am the man to pack up my trunks tomorrow, and go back to my country residence." The great statesman feels that he cannot occupy his difficult position, unless he has God to fall back upon. (2) Do not the just live also by their faith in Providence? It would be a great mainstay to us if we could only resign all things into God's hands and sweetly rest upon the promise. During the American war a poor coloured soldier came to General Grant in a state of great anxiety and asked him, "How are things getting on, General?" The General's answer was, "Everything is going right, sir." These words acted like magic. They were passed round the whole camp as a watchword, and one soldier might be heard cheering his fellow soldier with the assurance, "Everything is going right, sir." Christian, let that be a watchword with you also. Cherish a stronger faith in Providence. (3) Do we not also live by our faith in prayer? (4) Above all, let us live by faith in the Son of God. When we can trust in nothing else we can trust in Him: and when no comfort can be quarried out of our own hearts, we can always find comfort at the Cross. (S. L. Wilson, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. |
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