The expression "the righteous shall live by faith" is being employed today to mean if we profess a correct theological position our sins will not be held against us. This is not what the expression means. The just shall live by faith is an Old Testament declaration that indicates men ought to live by humble dependence on God and not by their own wisdom and strength.

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews was written as a definition of the just shall live by faith, and there is no suggestion in this chapter that the just shall live by faith means that if we profess a correct theological position our sins will not be held against us.

Living in the "rest" of God is not as easy as it may sound. We have to labor to enter the rest of God. The pressures of the world, the lusts of our flesh, our personal ambition and stubbornness—all seek to move us out of the peaceful abiding in Christ. In addition, we have our own ways of attempting to assist God, our own standards that must be met before we can believe that God is pleased or that the Kingdom of God is being established according to God's will.

Yet it remains true that the Christian salvation is a Divine intervention in our life, not the product of our religious efforts. Simply to abide in Christ and to trust God Almighty for our righteousness, our life, our joy, and our accomplishments is a way of life a child can understand but which the most mature saint finds quite challenging.

"Letting go and letting God" is fairly easy at times. But in other instances it can be difficult. It requires considerable experience as a saint before we are able to dwell in God's rest without being seduced into sin, without lapsing into spiritual carelessness and inactivity, or without going back and picking up some burden we had committed to God previously.

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed unto his death; (Philippians 3:10)

The saint spends his life in diligent seeking in order to begin to know Christ the Lord. There must be consistent, earnest walking in the Spirit of God, continual meditation in the Word of God, daily victory over the lusts of the flesh and eyes and the pride of life, and total obedience to the will of God before we gain some proficiency in being able to live by the power of the resurrection of Christ.

Resurrection power is available to every believer from the moment of accepting Christ as his Lord and Savior. The power of Christ assists us from the first day of our Christian pilgrimage. But there is a gradual increase of resurrection life in us as we make our way toward the fullness of Christ.

To attain the fullness of resurrection life is to attain perfect redemption. To always think, speak, and act in the power and wisdom of eternal resurrection life is to abide in the land of promise.

John 14:23 and 17:21-23 teach us of the coming to abide in us of the Father and the Son. These verses reveal to us the perfect oneness, the complete reconciliation to God, that is to be ours through the Lord Jesus Christ. There is to be nothing whatever in us that is not in Christ, of Christ, and through Christ.

To be continued.