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[0:00] We are going to sing now to God's praise from Psalm 62. Psalm 62, verse 3.

[0:14] How long would ye against a man plot mischief? Ye shall all be slain, ye as a trochling fence shall be, and bowing wall. They only plot to cast him down, and from his excellency they draw in lies, with mouth they bless, that they curse inwardly.

[0:32] My soul wait thou with patience, upon thy God alone, on him dependeth all my hope and expectation. He only my salvation is, and my strong rock is he.

[0:44] He only is my sure defence, I shall not move it be. And so on. We are going to sing from verse 3 to 8, Psalm 62.

[0:54] How long would ye against a man plot mischief? In shalom. In shalom. In shalom. In shalom. In shalom. In shalom. In shalom. In shalom. In shalom. How long will it be against a man, Lord, Mishel, in shalom?

[1:21] In shalom. In shalom. as at all events shall be on the way one.

[1:40] They only flow to God's tender from His Excellency.

[1:58] A giant lies with the greatest a diversion or glee.

[2:13] My soul with the visions upon the Lord alone.

[2:33] On Him dependeth all my hope. Against the creation.

[2:51] The only heart of salvation is as my love broadcasts me.

[3:08] The only as my children I shall not know it be.

[3:26] In God my glory, blesses, and my salvation and my salvation and God the rock is of my sin my refuge for secure.

[4:01] Keep it The eternity If He Perry Thank you.

[4:40] I'd like us to turn just for a short while to the passage that we read in the New Testament. The epistle to the Hebrews chapter 10.

[4:55] And we can read again verse 38. Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

[5:07] But we are not of them who draw back into perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Now the just shall live by faith.

[5:21] I'm sure many of you, not all of you, are familiar with these words. They are possibly a quotation from the Old Testament.

[5:40] Most commentators suggest that they are the words that are taken from the book of the prophet Hapakuk. And the beginning of that chapter, chapter 2.

[5:54] Chapter 2. Towards the beginning of the chapter. It's either a direct quotation from that. Or a quotation that would be a paraphrase of other passages that we might find within the scripture.

[6:16] We know that the apostle Paul quotes these words. Or at least includes them in some of his own discussions on faith.

[6:29] And what we understand by these words is probably all important.

[6:42] Because essentially it tells us that those who have come to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. Those who possess saving faith in Jesus Christ.

[6:59] They inevitably demonstrate that fact by the way that they live their life. A righteous person, a person who is justified, is a person who lives by faith.

[7:18] The commentator A.W. Pink states the following. He who has been justified by God through the imputation of Christ's righteousness to his account, lives by faith as the influencing principle of his life.

[7:41] Now, I think we would all accept that and believe that would be the case. But it would be an interesting study for you all to find passages that make direct reference to this statement found in the book of Apocock.

[8:01] And then put them alongside quotations or references to that truth by the apostle Paul and others.

[8:15] Whether they are exact word for word quotations or simply a statement of the essential fact that that statement contains.

[8:27] And when you look at that passage, you look at the application of that truth. How that statement is introduced into the thinking or into the argument that the apostle is making.

[8:47] Or even an Old Testament prophet is making. Where that truth is central to their argument. And it's possibly a study that any one of us can enter into engaging.

[9:04] Because, you know, the statement can stand alone. It is a statement of fact. They're just. Those who are righteous. Those who are righteous because they possess a righteousness not of their own but of God's provision.

[9:21] That is what it speaks about. That is what it speaks about. The righteousness that God has provided through faith in Jesus Christ. They live a life that corresponds with that possession.

[9:36] Here in this passage. It corresponds to certain things that are true of their experience of their life of faith.

[9:48] Where their living by faith is something that helps them through their experience.

[9:59] Or through the experiences that are theirs. Chapter 10 begins with confirmation that the sacrificial death of Christ is a once for all event.

[10:17] Christ died for our sins on the cross. And that is not something that he is going to do again. That is not something that he did before.

[10:31] There came a point in his life where his death on the cross was something that was his experience for that moment alone.

[10:43] If you go back to chapter 7 of this epistle and read in verse 25. Verse 25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

[11:00] For such an high priest became as who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners made higher than the heavens. Who needeth not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice.

[11:13] First for his own sins and then for the people's. For this he did once when he offered up himself. His death was at once a once for all time event.

[11:27] Unlike the sacrifices that are referred to that were repeatedly offered. The offerings of bulls, of sheep, of goats, of whatever description.

[11:41] They were all offerings that had to be brought again and again. So what the apostle is at pains to explain is that while their faith saves, he goes on to insist that it does not exclude them from the life events that can be a challenge to their faith.

[12:03] They need not think that by coming to faith in Jesus Christ, which is a once for all experience. And the aftermath of that is in the way that they live their life in the world.

[12:19] The experience doesn't allow them to mention that they will never have to encounter what will be a challenge to that faith which was delivered to them.

[12:33] Through the gospel. In this particular instance, they are those who because of their faith have to encounter challenges to their faith in the way that their faith brings persecution and brings resistance to what they believe in a very direct and a personal way.

[13:02] The commentator John Brown suggests, I think, if I remember rightly, that what the apostle has in mind here when he's writing these words is the death of Stephen or the death of James, who died because of Herod's enmity towards them.

[13:25] That they suffered because of their faith. And their faith did not take away their suffering. Their faith didn't allow them to avoid that persecution.

[13:41] If anything, it brought persecution to bear upon them. Now, just a few words about this faith, which are obvious, I hope, to us all, but we need to understand where the apostle is coming from.

[13:57] Now, the faith that concerns him, that he wants his people, the people he's writing this epistle to, the faith that concerns him is the faith that saves.

[14:12] Because it is our faith in Jesus Christ. We've said recently that we live in a society that has many faiths and no faiths, but they are not saving faith.

[14:23] And that faith that saves is only in and through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the position the apostle has.

[14:34] This is the position that he wants them to possess. That their faith is in the person of Jesus Christ, who died for them on the cross.

[14:46] And they believe that his death was for them. His death was to deal with their sins. His death ensures that they will not be judged for their sins.

[14:56] Because he has suffered as the sin bearer, judged by a holy God, who looks upon the sin bearer and condemns him for their sins.

[15:12] Now, if we read back in this passage, we look back at verse 21, for example, we find there, They have access to God because of their faith.

[15:39] This is the only way that they can come to God. And he goes on.

[15:52] And so on. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful as promised. And so on. There are a number of things there that he insists on that accompany the experience of faith, the practice of faith, the possession of faith.

[16:10] These things are theirs because they have faith. They have access to a throne of grace. They have the assurance that their faith will deliver them from the penalty that their sin is due.

[16:27] They have the assurance and the confidence that what they possess as believers is a privileged possession.

[16:38] It's not the right of any other person but those who are faithful, those who have the faith that Christ Jesus has endowed them with.

[16:48] And they share that with others and they possess that privilege with others. And that's why he counsels us to continue to meet together.

[17:03] Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is. But through this coming together, it is a means by which that faith is encouraged and strengthened and confident.

[17:20] And furthermore, he goes on to say that these people of faith are those who have faith and who are beneficiaries of the work of the Holy Spirit in them.

[17:37] The work of the Holy Spirit taking them to the person of Jesus Christ. Enlightening their minds in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. In verse 32, call to remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of affliction.

[17:59] This knowledge that they possess is not a knowledge simply that is intuitive or accumulative, but a knowledge that they have possessed by reason of the Spirit's enlightenment.

[18:13] In one of his books, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones is talking about the role of the preacher of the Gospel in bringing the knowledge of faith to bear upon the life of the hearer.

[18:38] And he's very insistent that when the preacher comes with God's Word, he's not coming with a word where he says, more or less take it or leave it.

[18:54] You know, you can believe this or not. It's as if it's a wishy-washy presentation of the Gospel. But rather as someone who understands that this Gospel is necessary for the hearer to come to a knowledge of salvation through Christ Jesus.

[19:16] Now, Dr. MacLeod refers to this article or lecture by Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones. And he says, Confirmation.

[19:55] Now, why do we say that? Why do we refer to that? Because this is the kind of person that the apostle is referring to. This is the kind of faith that is spoken of here.

[20:10] And that needs to be understood and emphasized as the right kind of faith. The only kind of faith. The faith that saves.

[20:23] And the faith that needs to be nurtured, as we said, and encouraged. And the person who possesses such faith is the person who will, As this passage goes on to argue, who will go on to persevere no matter what.

[20:46] While we may be confronted by the notion very often that there are many faiths. We understand from the scripture there is but one.

[21:00] And the scripture allows us to believe that that faith is the faith that saves. We've said that. John Calvin says faith is the hand of the soul which receives through the efficacy of the spirit Christ offered to us in the gospel.

[21:20] And the person who has such a faith is not just a person who, once he comes to that knowledge of Christ, lies back and thinks, Everything is all right with me now.

[21:37] Once I've attained this position of being numbered with the faithful, numbered with those who have such a faith, then everything is well.

[21:49] My whole world is now put to rights. But no, that is not the case. That faith is then active. That faith is then a faith that is testified to by the life that we live as those who have such faith.

[22:10] And Calvin, if you want to read him, will tell you that the person who has such faith will demonstrate it by their repentance, their knowledge of sin and the need to experience sorrow for it.

[22:25] Those who appreciate the passion of the Lord Jesus Christ as the sin bearer. Those who understand that their standing must be in him in order to experience justification, in order to experience the deliverance that Christ secures from the sin.

[22:48] That is, in all our lives. They demonstrate that. He says also, and every one of you, you are not somebody who is on a life support machine.

[23:04] Your experience of faith insists that you show signs of life. And the biggest sign of life that the believer possesses is the relationship of prayer that you have with God.

[23:25] You are somebody who prays. Somebody who has prayer earnestly and constantly coming from your heart. Because the path to God has been opened to you and you have that use of it as an evidence of that genuine faith that is yours.

[23:47] And the final thing is that the sign of that life is the way that you live your life here in this world. That you live as somebody who does have faith.

[24:04] You have the life of faith. You witness to it. You have interests that are governed by God and the word of God. And what is good and wholesome for your life as a man and a woman of God.

[24:23] Now, by looking to the scripture, we can understand that it is by faith that the believer, just for example, is at peace with God. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

[24:33] All of these things I'm sure you already know. The prophet Isaiah anticipated the relationship that exists between a believer and God being highlighted through the work of the Spirit, the teaching of the believer that the only way of peace is through Christ.

[24:58] Because our sin, God's wrath must be propitiated. His wrath is anger against sin and the sinner must be turned away.

[25:08] And only by way of Christ is that possible. And you believe that and you know that and you trust that. And that is demonstrated in the way that you live your life here in this world.

[25:21] That faith cannot be measured. But that does not mean that the peace, I mean, cannot be measured.

[25:33] We would like to think that every believer would have a full measure of peace as those who know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

[25:44] But sometimes this peace and sometimes the experience of a disturbed peace is ours.

[25:55] You notice here that if you again look more closely at this passage, if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins but as certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.

[26:19] The believer can't exist in that kind of, with that mindset, without fear governing their hearts. It's a favourite lie of the devil to insinuate that a Christian cannot and should not encounter any kind of temptation, any kind of undermining of their faith, any kind of persecution even.

[26:46] As if it's something that's alien, it's something that belongs to a life outside of Christ. But that's not the case. If we read the words of Christ in John's Gospel, he often has to remind his disciples of how the life that they are embracing as believers is a life that will introduce them to certain experiences that will challenge them and will leave them feeling unhappy, just to put it mildly.

[27:30] These things I command you that you love one another if the world hates you. You know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own.

[27:41] But because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you of the world, therefore the world hated you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord.

[27:54] If they have persecuted me, they also will persecute you. If they have kept my saying, they will keep you also. It's not a thing that we would, any one of us, want to embrace being hated by anybody, being the focus of anybody's hatred.

[28:14] And yet Christ forewarns his disciples that if they are to follow him, if they are to be like him, if they are to live lives that are in accord with the word that he has given to them, that most likely will be their experience.

[28:29] I was reading this morning in Alistair Begg's daily readings. He was actually dealing with the passage that we have in Matthew's Gospel, where it's talking about, where it begins, the teachings of Christ that are commonly called the Sermon on the Mount.

[28:52] And this is what he said, when we find ourselves on the receiving end of the world's hatred, as a response to our faithfulness, I think that has to be emphasized, that people we can fall out with, that there are people who will show their displeasure towards us, not necessarily because we have been living Christ-like lives, but the emphasis is, as a response to our faithfulness, to the Son of Man.

[29:27] Nothing has gone wrong. Nothing has gone wrong. That's the way it is. That's the way it necessarily must be. We are in a place to know blessing.

[29:40] In other words, this sort of mistreatment is tangible evidence of our genuine faith and relationship with the Lord. That's not the way we think.

[29:54] It's not the way we feel when it is the experience that we have. But Jesus tells his disciples, forewarns his disciples, this is the way it necessarily must be.

[30:11] And the apostle here is working through this thing. The evidence that there are, and there are many of them, of their possession of faith, of the fact that they are men and women of faith.

[30:31] And these things are true of them. That all of these experiences, that all of these truths that apply to them, are true because they have them, because of Jesus Christ.

[30:45] But at the same time, they are reminded that those who have such faith will persevere to the end. They will continue regardless of what.

[30:58] Call to remembrance the former days in which after you were illuminated, you endured a great fight of afflictions. Partly while you were made a gazing stop by reproaches and afflictions, and partly while you became companion of them that were so used.

[31:16] And so on. He tells them, you have to deal with that knowledge, reminding yourself of these things that are true of you as well.

[31:30] Heaven is waiting for you. The promises of God apply to you. The Lord himself has given an undertaking that he is coming for you.

[31:42] And the whole reason for the apostles' word is to encourage them to continue believing, even in the face of these things, that would be a challenge to their faith.

[31:57] The faith of God's people is at times tested solely. Sometimes God means it to be tested in order that it be strengthened and in order that they are able to deal with these things that the world will bring their way.

[32:21] At other times, because of the fact that they are men and women of faith, this is their portion. This is what God has allowed them to encounter.

[32:34] Not because he's forgotten and not because he's indifferent to what they're going through, but because if they are what they say they are, this is what they're going to be dealing with.

[32:46] And it's good to understand that and to mind yourselves of it. Let us pray. Lord, help us to continue in your presence knowing that in the face of all kinds of adversity, the fact that we do have adversity does not mean that we are not men and women of faith, but that because we are men and women of faith, that adversity is inevitably part and partial of our experience.

[33:17] Whatever direction it comes from, whatever source, we know that ultimately it is fired from the enemy of our souls, but we have one creator who will sustain us through it.

[33:31] Bless us then together. Bless your word to us. Pardon us in Jesus' name. Amen. Because we have another service at nine o'clock this evening, the worship service in connection with the way to bring our service to our conclusion.

[33:49] We're going to sing a couple of verses in Gaelic from Psalm 42. Psalm 42, verse 5. Amen.

[34:16] Amen. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah.

[35:16] Alhamdulillah.

[35:46] Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah.

[36:46] Alhamdulillah.

[37:46]