38.What will we accomplish if we keep living by faith in Christ?

We shall save our soul.

Notice from the above that the salvation of our soul is a program in which we must participate. It is a pressing forward against obstacles—obstacles that may cause us to turn back in the battle unless we have enough faith to keep on fighting.

Notice also, in the following chapter, that it always has been true that the righteous have lived by faith. When teaching us the meaning of the expression, "The righteous shall live by faith," the writer of the Book of Hebrews begins with Abel—the second person born on the earth.

As we have stated, "the just shall live by faith" is an Old Testament declaration (Habakkuk 2:4). It means that the righteous individual lives by trusting in the Lord for every one of his thoughts, words, and deeds. The unjust are those who trust in themselves. They are proud and think that they do not need the Lord. God is not in all their thoughts.

Today, perhaps because of a modern interpretation of the teaching of the Protestant Reformers, "the just shall live by faith" has come to mean we do not have to serve the Lord. The only obligation of the Christian is to give assent to the facts of theology. To attempt to live righteously is "works," and works of righteousness and godliness must not be allowed to contaminate the pure faith by which, supposedly, we are saved.

This is not what the declaration means. The righteous shall live by faith means just that—the righteous are to conduct their life on earth by total reliance on the wisdom, power, and love of God. They are not of the spirit of the present age, which teaches that man is a god and should trust in his "inner divinity" to enable him to achieve security, pleasure, fruitfulness, and every other aspect of personal fulfilment.

Observe carefully that in the definition of "faith," found in the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews, assent to doctrine is not mentioned. Rather, the faith portrayed here is the faith of works—works that proceed from obedience to the revealed will of God.