Let us come and take God's Word and hear the reading of God's Word from Hosea chapter 2.
Many of us will remember Hosea as one who showed love, even when love should not be
shown or would normally not be shown, and he was called upon God to marry an unfaithful
wife, who was actually a lady of ill repute in the town.
And he was to display this as a sign of the love of God to the people of Israel who become
unfaithful and become a nation of ill repute amongst the nations.
And yet the mercy of God was going to fulfil the covenant that had been established before
God and his people.
There would not be a breaking of the covenant.
There would be many things that God would use as an anvil to bring about repentance,
but God was going to bring about that repentance in the fullness of time.
So what I'm going to look at today is, I failed to get through the passage I set down for
myself or for us altogether last Lord's Day in Galatians chapter 5 and verses 5 and 6.
And I want to look at the relationship of righteousness by faith, that is, that faith
that worketh love, that faith that worketh love, and wherever there is faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ there is a love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts.
And it will work out in many, many ways in works of righteousness.
And the righteousness of God will be manifest in us.
It's an unbendable spiritual law or principle in the heart of every Christian, and I want
to emphasise that now, that it's a love of God that arises from faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ that achieves the righteousness of God in our lives, which we hope for.
And it's not yet fulfilled necessarily, but it is increasingly and ever increasingly in
sanctifying grace increases in our lives, and that gives us assurance and strength of
faith to go to another stage in our Christian lives.
So I want to look at that very practical aspect of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that produces
love, and love that produces righteousness.
So there we're finding those two passages.
The other passage is in Galatians chapter 5.
As we open our Bibles to Galatians chapter 5, we saw last week that there was a change
of direction or a change or an end of a section, a beginning of a new section, if you like,
within this book.
And we are hearing the imperative, the command of God's Word.
It's not just describing what Christians are now, but on the basis of what we are, that
is the indicative, that is what we have become in Christ.
He then says, therefore, and wherever he says therefore, we must look at what was it therefore
that we are, what we are.
He says, stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not
be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
See these Christians have been entangled with putting their faith in that which is not going
to save them.
They were putting their faith in tradition, they were putting their faith in the church,
in Judaism, in their case.
And there are a lot of people around that are putting their faith in the making even
an idol out of the church.
You know, I've had people in the church, been workers in the church for years upon years,
there is very little conversation and very little about their lives that are Christ-like.
They are those that are church-like.
They are pillars of the church, but not those who are living by faith in Christ.
It is really just an add-on to them, is their love for Christ.
It's just something that they get comfort from in being associated with a group.
And this is exactly what, for safety reasons, for social reasons maybe, for harmony, social
harmony, they've said we'll return to or go to Judaism because in that sort of condition
we're not going to get persecuted as heavily.
And so they went that way.
Indeed I, Paul, say to you in verse 2 that if you become circumcised like the Judaizers,
Christ will not profit you anything or nothing.
In other words, you are really putting your trust in a mere ritual.
And the church is full of that today.
If you speak in tongues like me, like the church requires you to, you go off into a
babbling brook, then you are one of us.
You have been baptized in the Spirit and therefore somehow you will be saved.
It's really a stupidity at the last gasp.
Or if you're a high Anglican or sometimes Presbyterians, if you get baptized as a child,
that's going to save you.
No baptism as a child will ever save you.
Or if you're a Baptist and you think, well I'll just join this club and I'll get baptized
as an adult, then I'll be a real Christian.
Just going through the ritual saves nobody.
It is just a ritual.
And therefore we need to be very careful, it profits you nothing.
Just having a badge of identity profits you nothing.
You've got to have the substance of Christ within you.
That is what's required.
In other words, don't draw near with your lips only to Christ.
To draw near with your lips only leads to hypocrisy.
He goes on and he says,
And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised, in other words this outward ritual,
and there is a circumcision of the heart that is required really,
that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
And you have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by the law,
you have fallen from grace.
We looked at that last Lord's Day, being those that fall from grace.
Now this is a subject I want to deal with today.
For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.
There is a couplet there, the hope of righteousness.
And we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
And faith in what?
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth anything,
but faith working through love.
Now we see some very interesting connections of words there.
My overall thoughts today, I want to look at the whole idea of righteousness by faith.
It speaks of, it here, this getting the righteousness of God.
And it's righteousness that is established through our faith in the one who establishes
righteousness.
It's not in the law as the Jews had become to believe,
but it's in the Lord Jesus Christ that the law of righteousness, the righteousness of
God, is established.
And so therefore if there is any faith in Christ there must necessity be righteousness.
It is a thing that follows by a natural progression of spiritual graces that come in our lives.
And we find that this whole establishing the righteousness of God by faith is faith not
in the church, it's faith not in good things or in our education, it's faith pure and simple
in the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's where everything emanates from.
And this faith working, is working through love.
And it is an incongruous thing that if we are those that are faithful that we are not
those who are lovers of God.
And we need to understand that that is the sort of connections that we have here.
That is not through some sort of dutiful service that is somehow in our good nature
to achieve, that achieves these things.
It's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that leads to an unction from God that is given to us
in the Spirit.
And the Spirit worketh righteousness in our lives.
Now this doesn't happen overnight.
Certainly that righteousness that we receive by faith at the point of conversion is credited
to our count as though we've never sinned ever in our lives.
That's how the account has been paid, all our debts have been paid.
But there is a righteousness that is worked in our lives that is gradually and ever increasingly
becoming more and more part of our lives.
And we call that the sanctifying grace of God.
But this is not something that is established by some kind of determination of the flesh,
but it is something that is established by God Himself as we live by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ who is the giver of life.
And so this Spirit of God that leads us to the graces of God to be appropriated into
our lives is producing the righteousness of God.
And this righteousness of God is emanating from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
And these are the works of God within our lives.
And as we see the works of God in our lives, we cannot attribute it to our flesh that is
the old man that is passing away, but it is to the new man that has been established in
our lives by the reworking of God or the reestablishing of life eternal in our hearts with a new heart
that it distinctively lives by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
There are many people who are in the Christian church that really only have an attachment
to the idea of Jesus Christ as a historical figure or as a teacher, but they do not speak
of the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal relationship with Him every day.
There is nothing about the Christian that does not wish to know more about Christ and
more about what His work has been done on our behalf.
People who do not know how they were saved after reading the Scriptures seems to me an
incongruous thing.
It seems to be a thing that I cannot understand.
The first thing that a Christian comes to understand is that Jesus has forgiven their
sins and they know that in and of themselves.
The Spirit witnesses within our own spirit that we are Christ and a relationship with
Christ becomes very evident in that person.
They begin to know more about the Lord Jesus Christ because they begin to walk with Christ.
So people who talk, who are Christians, will talk a lot about the lover that they have
come to understand and experience.
So here the point that we need to understand is that it is our faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ that brings the hope of righteousness ever increasingly in our lives and it molds
itself in the character of Christ within us and the image of Christ within us.
And then we will see that at the end product of this is the love of God that is the main
motivator in all these things.
See faith always produces love, it's not the other way around.
And it says here quite clearly that it is a clear product of true faith that it works
through love.
Now when faith has anything to do it is like that grace of God that walks in the field
and it always has love at her side and these two graces are inseparable.
When we find people learning about the doctrines of the scriptures intellectually, I find
that they lack this love.
But if they are growing in the doctrines of the scriptures experientially and as part
of their personal expression of their Christian faith, it will always be mixed with the love
of God that is shed abroad in our heart.
It is absolutely incongruous to think that there is a Christian that does not have the
love of God in his heart.
It is totally not possible.
I always often think of Mary and Martha at this point.
You remember the story of Mary and Martha who were so close to the Lord Jesus?
Mary was one who can be likened to faith, she wanted to be at the feet of Jesus and
learning of the things of God.
Martha was like the love of God.
She was about doing things and when Martha rebuked her sister, come along and help me
with this washing up or this chore around the house, Jesus said she is wanting the greater
thing at the moment, she needs to be built up in her faith.
It's not that she will not be doing these things later on but she wants to be built
up in her faith so she is doing her chores in the love of God rather than the other way
around.
Put Christ first and then that putting Christ first will lead us to the loving service.
Faith is like light while love is like the heat of that light.
It's an inseparable thing and in every beam of grace there is the coming from the Son
of righteousness.
God will find a measure of each in us.
It is by necessity of faith's own nature, the moment a man believes in Jesus Christ,
he loves him as a matter of course.
It is actually a spiritual law or principle that comes about.
Faith creates love as summer breeds flowers and so we need to understand that.
It's by this love that discovers the beauty of Christ, this faith that sets their heart
upon the things of Christ, we learn of the redemptive work of Christ, we learn of the
doctrines of Christ's covenant, we learn of the glories of the character of Christ
from the scriptures and there is a resonance within our hearts immediately.
This is liberating to us, this is knowledge that we cannot do without in our hearts and
we find ourselves growing in our faith but in growing in our faith we are also growing
in our love for Christ and you get somebody who is doing something out of a dutiful service
because they are being paid but then you get another person who just because of the love
of it, does it, I take the guy who just loves it and does it then the person is being paid
for it because he's got a sense of duty.
See a person will only ever give that which he's been paid for if he is doing it by duty
and duty is a very strong thing, it will achieve many things but in this case it does not achieve
the work of God, it must arise out of love.
Faith is the soul's eyes and it is telescoped upon the things we see from afar off that
normally would be invisible to us if we did not have the eyes, have eyes for Christ.
If we've got eyes for Christ our faith is doing it and we will find that we will be
able to allow our holy faith to graze upon the character of the Lord Jesus Christ and
realising his person we discern his matchless work and so creates knowledge out of which
comes love, the love for Christ.
Now is this our experience?
Is it the kind of thing that we experience in our lives?
These are the kind of things if you're living by faith will be established, it's not if
it might be, it will be there and a lot of people are looking for some kind of revival
of soul but revival always comes according to this law.
As we put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ so our love will be ignited within our souls
and if our love has been ignited within our souls the hope of righteousness, we hunger
and thirst for righteousness is the product of true confidence as we walk with God and
if we've got confident spirits we will go to the ends of the earth in feats of faith
that defies any human flesh that can be done by the human flesh.
This kind of spiritual attitude is able to discern, able to enjoy the mercies of God
and to lead and leading our hearts to a grateful and acknowledgement that the source of all
our mercies come from Jesus Christ himself, from God himself and therefore there's no
room for over familiarity, there's no room for attitudes that somehow minimise Christ
within our lives, we will find that by our familiarity with God we will be those that
will be burning in our hearts for the things of God.
I look to those things and I know that there's ebbs and flows in every Christian's life,
there are times when our heart burns for the things of God and there are times when they
become cold and if they have become cold it is that our eyes are not fixed upon Jesus
Christ in true faith.
Our familiarity with Christ soon beckons for the fellowship and the fellowship of disposition
and the spirit for they that are much with Christ become more like Christ and we need
to be much with Christ and then we'll see that there will be many things that we'll
be doing that people will say I've never seen Jesus Christ but I've seen you and I know
that you represent Christ because I can see the grace and the love of God in your heart.
Now love is entirely dependent upon our faith, we haven't got that message yet, our faith
is the eyes and where our eyes are, that's where we grow in love.
And love does not work of itself except in the strength of faith.
If a person is strong in faith he will be strong in the love of God as well.
If there is not the love of God in his heart he will not be a person who is strong in faith
even though he might be theologically correct and he might be a very strong church pillar
and he might be a holding office in the church and all the other things.
He might appear to be these things but in actual fact he's a fraud if we have not got
our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Faith is, I'm trying to find a word, faith is the, it'll come to me, faith is, faith
has its seal in love and love is the basis of faith, the basis of our faith.
So the two go together, I'm not explaining that very well but we'll talk about this after
the service and we'll understand a lot better then.
But love cannot flourish except as faith flourishes.
And if you're finding that you really are waxing cold in your love for Christ my best
advice to you is to read the word of God not just to read it as a matter of routine but
read it so that you get to know Christ better and understand the principles of the word
of God and of what Christ has done for us and allow that to fall over our hearts and
as that strengthens us we will find ourselves loving God and we cannot help but do it.
Love cannot work without faith either.
Love is the great designer and planner but how to perform it unless faith shows us the
way.
Now also we need to see that faith displays its power by love and faith does not, faith
is something that is really displayed by its works and its works is love.
If I took a silversmith and I would not know the greatness of the silversmith until I saw
his works and the beauty of his works, once I saw his beauty in his works then I'd understand
how great this craftsman is and it is true also in the Christian's life.
We cannot see the genuineness of the Christian until we see his works.
Now we will know that we are Christians but those who are outside watching are watching
our lives cannot see it until they see your works.
Now a person who has got silversmith over the top of his workshop but he's not producing
any good products you're not going to buy much from him are you?
And so it is for us as well.
We can have Christian over the door posts and lentils of our heart of our house but
unless that which is in keeping two biblical standards is happening in our house as a result
of our love for God you can't really see whether this person is a Christian or not.
Now that's true of all of us.
Faith does not lift a finger without love.
And faith does not believe and resolve anything until it has seen the actions of that faith.
And so faith without love is like a cripple without arms.
He cannot do it.
And so we need to be those that are constantly about the work of God because we love God
not because of mere duty but because we love God then we will see the great rewards of
living by faith.
Faith has his tools as well doesn't he?
He has a hammer, he has a file and being a manual arts teacher I know all about these
tools and they are very useful things and an anvil and it is every thing that we need
in a workshop needs to be used.
But the poor old piece of timber that you are cutting and sawing or the poor old piece
of metal that you are moulding is undergoing all sorts of transformations, all sorts of
difficulties for the silversmith to mould its beautiful piece of artwork.
And it had to go through all sorts of hammerings and all sorts of transformations that would
have been very difficult for the piece of metal to undergo to produce the kind of result
that the silversmith wants.
And so the anvil is very important for the silversmith.
The hammer is absolutely imperative and so it is.
We are in God's hands, persecution, times of desertion, difficulties within our hearts
and difficulties from within our families are all used as instruments or tools of God's
providence in our lives reduce the kind of result that he wants in us first and there
before being within us it can also be useful within the kingdom of God.
And so faith needs that furnace of fire so that the metal of our characters can be softened
and poured into the mould of love and we will be absolutely conformed to the image
of Christ that we are to be exhibiting.
And so I see these illustrations very helpful.
As we see every good work produced it is produced very often through the times of hardship,
times of great difficulty and perplexity and complexity, through hard work.
And you know walking by the Spirit is not some kind of easy street.
I say walking by faith is the most difficult thing that any human being can do.
Indeed it's impossible for us to do it unless the Spirit of God was doing it.
And I often say to people the Christian life is not just difficult, it's not easy, it's
impossible.
Unless the Spirit of God lifts us up like eagles upon wings we will not be able to do
what God wants us to do and that's why we must live by faith in the God of the impossible
so that we can achieve the things of God not just the things that are possible through
the flesh.
So as we interact between love and faith and hope and righteousness as we see those interacting
laws of God's spiritual dealings with us in our hearts we will find many great difficulties.
We shouldn't be perplexed by that.
We'll come to it if we've got our eyes set on Jesus, we'll see those perplexities and
those difficulties and those horrible times we had to walk through.
The fact is that Jesus has been with us and that makes it all possible.
Let us be perfected in these things as we press on because all the fears that might
come upon us and all the uncomfortable things that happen to us we've got to remember this
one thing that perfect love casts out fear and the only fear we need to have is that
perfect love of God that fears God in everything we do.
So let us be reminded of these things as we press on.
A lot of people are very perplexed when hard times come and difficult things happen to
Christians and we say, oh I don't want to walk this Christian way because look at Richard.
He's had all these terrible things that happened to him.
Or you might have said, look at this person.
He's a Christian and look at all the terrible things that have happened to them.
But in the midst of all that, the perfect work of God's righteousness has been worked
in that person's life in a way that's going to make him more fit for heaven than we would
have if we didn't go through those difficulties.
I tell you there have been difficulties in my life that I wish not anybody to go through.
I wouldn't even wish them on my worst enemies.
But I look back on them now and say thank God for those experiences because now I can
see through the eye of faith and the eye of the love of God and the eye of righteousness
that God has been with me in those things.
Thanks be to God.
Well let us sing the psalm...