Now that we have been justified by faith or have been declared righteous by faith, we ought to continue to live by faith from the start till the end 'for in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."' (Romans 1:17, Habakkuk 2:4) Habbakkuk was given a revelation of the future and was told to wait by faith till it came to pass. There seems to be no other code of conduct for a righteous man but to live by faith alone. 'Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ.' (Philippians 1:27) There is nothing that excites God more than faith and if we can grant him this honour of being considered faithful, he is pleased and will reward us. So did our father Abraham, the man of faith. 'By faith Abraham, even though he was past age - and Sarah herself was barren - was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise.' ( Hebrews 11:11) 'Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead - since he was about a hundred years old - and that Sarah's womb was also dead. Yet he did not waiver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised. That was why "it was credited to him as righteousness". The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness - for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.' (Romans 4:19-25) 'So let's not throw away our confidence; it will be richly rewarded.' (Hebrews 10:35) Amen.
Sam Matthews. K
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