IDEA: Habakkuk gives us the implications of what it means that "the just shall live by faith."

TEXT: "Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith" (Habakkuk 2:4).

PURPOSE: To help listeners get an appreciation of what it means to live by faith.

Einstein established the famous equation, E = MC2. Do you know what those letter stand for?

E stands for Energy

M stands for Mass

C stands for the speed of light squared

Was that concept important?

I. "The just shall live by faith" is a fundamental concept of biblical faith.

It comes from Habakkuk 2:4.

The unrighteous person shall fail. He or she is a person who does not live by faith. How does such a person live? The rest of the chapter describes that.

It does not say that such a person will fail today or tomorrow.

It is true for individual people and for nations.

The righteous shall live by faith. What does that mean?

They live with ambiguity and certainty.

Habakkuk was deeply disturbed that evil dominated his society. He could not see by experience that love was better than hate or that righteousness was better than unrighteousness, or that honesty was necessarily the best policy.

The righteous person may collapse under the oppression in the world or what appear to be the facts of life unless he or she believes that God keeps his word.

The affirmation or the answer "The just lives by faith" doesn't deal with his specific problem any more than the equation E=MC2 turns on the lights in a building. Yet both are foundational principles.

II. The declaration "The just shall live by faith" doesn't promise us simple answers to complex questions. It is a foundational assertion.