Sermon Central
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Living A Life Of Faith Series
Contributed by Duane Smith on Jul 21, 2010 (message contributor)
Summary: The purpose of this message is to help us see the necessity of faith in the life of a child of God and encourage us to live by faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross.
LIVING A LIFE OF FAITH
INTRODUCTION:
A. Well we have come to the end of our study of the book of Habakkuk – today is our final message
1. And I hope you have come to understand what Habakkuk did – as long as we live in this world we must be Living A Life Of Faith!
2. The prophet had many questions – I am sure he had many more than we read about, but in the end faith brought the victory.
3. Do you remember the words of God found in Habakkuk 2:4 … the just shall live by his faith.
- Coincidentally, there is a parallel verse in the N.T. they are found in Paul’s letter to the Galatians – the just shall live by faith.
B. Interestingly enough there is another set of parallels: this time they are not in words but rather in thought.
1. The last three verses of our passage for today are Habakkuk 3:17-19 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.
2. Verses 17-19 is the O.T. equivalent to a passage found in Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
3. Both are very strong statements of faith – a life charter based on faith.
C. Living A life Of Faith is not something new for God’s people it has been around for a long time
1. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous,…. Hebrews 11:4
2. By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. Heb 11:8
3. Read through Heb 11 and you will find faith mentioned over and over again – it is not an O.T. versus N.T. thing it is a child of God thing!
4. And as we have already seen, it was something Habakkuk had to deal with for the just shall live by his faith.
D. Like it or not God’s people are to be Living a Life of Faith – this was understood by Habakkuk, by Paul and needs to be understood by us.
1. So this morning I want us to determine we will live a life of faith.
2. First we will look at some general principles concerning faith
3. Secondly we will look at how these might be seen in the life of Habakkuk and ourselves.
E. So lets pray and ask God to enlighten our minds and hearts to faith – and may He grant faith above measure to each of His children, that we might be Living a Life of Faith.
PRAY
If we are to be Living a Life of Faith we must know what we are talking about when we mention faith. Therefore I want to begin this morning by looking first at some
I. GENERAL PRINCIPLES CONCERNING FAITH
A. Faith is a hard thing for most of us to comprehend – even those who do not have a problem with it can’t really put their hands on it because it is not something you can reach out and touch.
1. The apostle Paul explained faith as, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
a. In other words, faith is living in absolute assurance of things that we cannot see, because of the evidence that is seen.
b. We believe in a God we cannot see, because we see how he has worked according to His word over the centuries.
c. Because God has been true to His word in the past we believe – that is, have an assured hope – that He will continue to do so.
d. A belief in God’s existence and an assurance that He will stand true to His word in the future, as He has in the past, is what faith consists of.
2. So how do we gain this type of faith? Well it does not come from out of nowhere.
