WEBVTT 00:00:06.959 --> 00:00:12.720 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:27.760 We took our children to the circus on Friday. 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:34.320 And that was about a two and a half hour event total, something like that. 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:43.600 About 15 minutes in, one of the kids yelled in my ear, is it over yet? 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:48.640 No. 00:00:49.280 --> 00:00:51.119 No, it's not over yet. 00:00:53.359 --> 00:01:02.880 You know, we are able to look at situations like that or road trips as adults, and we are able to see the end. 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:10.319 We are able to understand that there is a road that needs to be traveled to get from where we are to where we need to be. 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:15.359 The younger we are, the more we may struggle with that. 00:01:15.840 --> 00:01:22.319 Either with seeing the end or with the process of getting to the end. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:36.799 Why is it that when it comes to difficulties and uncertainties and pains and agonies and sorrows of life, we all become like little children, even when we're old. 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:40.480 We face difficulties in life. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:52.959 And all of a sudden, we begin to be the three-year-old or the five-year-old or the eight-year-old who says to our Father in heaven, Is it done yet? 00:01:55.200 --> 00:02:01.680 This morning we're beginning a five-week study in the Old Testament book of Habakkuk. 00:02:02.400 --> 00:02:16.560 And today I would like to lead into the coming weeks with a broad overview of this short book that grounds us in a critical truth that runs through the prophet's account. 00:02:17.039 --> 00:02:24.400 And this crucial truth is vital to every Christian's spiritual life. 00:02:26.960 --> 00:02:31.439 We must have our Father's viewpoint. 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:36.319 Habakkuk only has three chapters. 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:42.960 And it's not that often that we get to read a whole book of the Bible together, so I'm going to take the opportunity when I get it. 00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:45.599 And we'll do that in a moment. 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:50.560 However, we need some background to understand this prophet well. 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:56.560 The first element that we have to attend to is the style of the book. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:04.800 Depending on what version you're reading or what copy of the Bible you're looking at, it may be clearer or less clear. 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:08.719 This book is a prophetic dialogue. 00:03:10.240 --> 00:03:14.240 It's a story of a prophet having a conversation with God. 00:03:16.639 --> 00:03:22.560 It's recorded that Habakkuk asked God questions. 00:03:23.360 --> 00:03:24.639 God responded. 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:29.680 Habakkuk didn't understand the response or didn't like the response, so he responded back to God. 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:36.240 God spoke one last time, and then the dialogue is done, and it concludes with a prayer. 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:52.800 We might even say that this conversation is a heated conversation between a struggling prophet struggling to comprehend his world in light of God's revelation. 00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:58.879 So it's essential then to pay attention to who is speaking and what they're talking about. 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:02.159 I will try to help you with that as we go along. 00:04:02.400 --> 00:04:06.560 The second background element is the history that goes into this. 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:11.759 And I know that history is complicated for some of us, and some find it really boring. 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:13.039 I'll pray for you. 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:16.240 Someday it'll get better. 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:23.040 But God's revelation is given within time and space. 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:41.680 So understanding Habakkuk's statements and his conclusions and his revelation from God will be very difficult to process if we don't grasp some of that historical setting of Habakkuk's time and even some of the geography of that time. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:49.680 And that geography ties into politics in the book of Habakkuk. 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:54.959 That's the third background element that we need to be aware of is the geopolitical setting. 00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:58.000 Geo is short for geography and political. 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:10.240 You know, geopolitical is then a word that describes the political situations within a geographic area, and this geographic area is Palestine in the greater Middle East. 00:05:11.439 --> 00:05:24.319 God's revelation to this prophet was the equivalent of turning on the news channel and getting instantaneous divine truth about Canada, the United States, and Mexico. 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:26.639 Well, not quite. 00:05:27.519 --> 00:05:39.120 Except God's news for Habakkuk was much worse than our geopolitical situation between the United States of America and Canada and Mexico. 00:05:40.240 --> 00:05:46.079 You see, Habakkuk received news from God about the Chaldeans. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:52.959 That's what we might call the ethnic term for the people group that we know as Babylonians. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:06:00.240 Habakkuk received news from God about the Babylonians that stunned him. 00:06:00.560 --> 00:06:08.079 It hit him like a head-on collision, shaking the very foundations of his understanding of life and of God. 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:18.639 He couldn't fathom how God could use a nation like the Babylonians to address the sin problem among the Jewish people. 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:30.079 And this geopolitical news was more than just news, it was divine intervention that left a prophet dumbfounded. 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:33.199 What could it possibly mean? 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:40.879 Habakkuk was one of the few remaining prophets in a tiny country of Jews called Judah. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:49.279 They survived in a small territory, probably less than 40 miles in diameter. 00:06:51.600 --> 00:07:03.680 Their siblings to the north, the ten tribes that were called by the name Israel, after they were split into two countries, those ten tribes were defeated and deported by the evil Assyrians. 00:07:04.560 --> 00:07:08.240 Perhaps the most dreaded war machine in ancient history. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:15.439 Only divine intervention saved the small group of people left in Judah. 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:25.759 And in the decades before Habakkuk wrote, God strengthened the Chaldeans from around Babylon in modern Iraq. 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:30.480 They became strong enough to ultimately defeat the Assyrians. 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:44.560 So you have the Assyrians in the north, you have Judah in the south, you have Egypt underneath them in the south, and then all of a sudden you have to the east these Babylonian peoples cropping up. 00:07:46.879 --> 00:07:55.680 The Babylonians defeated the Assyrians in the north, and then they took on the Egyptians just outside of Judean territory. 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:13.839 Depending on who you talk to, who you read, some would say that the Babylonians defeated the Egyptians, and some say they fought to a stalemate until Nebuchadnezzar had to go home because his father was dying. 00:08:14.240 --> 00:08:19.839 Either way, the Egyptians lessened in their strength. 00:08:20.160 --> 00:08:32.799 And so you can understand how that picture of placing a country like the United States in between Canada and Mexico, except this country in the middle that we're talking about with Habakkuk is very, very small. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:37.679 And they're sandwiched in between two mighty powers. 00:08:38.639 --> 00:08:42.080 Egypt has dominated the southern region for some time. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:47.759 You've kept them at bay as a country with some hush money here and there. 00:08:49.039 --> 00:08:56.320 The Babylonians have conquered the Assyrians, your greatest fear, which means that the new kids on the block are now your new greatest fear. 00:08:56.799 --> 00:09:10.399 You could ask the Egyptians for some assistance by selling yourself into submission to them in exchange for their protection, but the Egyptians were not really that strong against the Babylonians, less than 50 miles from your own border. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:27.440 Maybe the best image for us would be like thinking of Greater Grand Forks and just the counties surrounding Grand Forks as being an independent country. 00:09:27.840 --> 00:09:34.000 Our own independent country, smack dabbing between Greater North Dakota and Greater Minnesota. 00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:40.080 And then all of a sudden, Minnesota and North Dakota are at war with one another and we are caught in the middle. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:57.120 Rather than turning in repentance to God for his aid, we then further entrench ourselves in our idolatry and our pagan actions, and we wonder why God doesn't intervene. 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:13.200 We hear from God that one of those dreaded nations has been hand-picked by God, has been developed by God and strengthened as God's means of dealing with our sin. 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:23.279 The people who are more evil and more sinful than us are being developed to come and judge us for our sin. 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:27.440 And there is no escape, we are caught in the middle. 00:10:41.120 --> 00:10:45.919 Maybe you feel the pressure of having no escape from your life situation. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:56.559 If you know that feeling, either by experience or by memory, you may be able to sense Habakkuk's spirit. 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:00.159 But it was it was much worse for Habakkuk. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:04.720 He seemed to be the only Judean who really cared. 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:11.519 He was surrounded by sinfulness and unfaithfulness to God. 00:11:11.600 --> 00:11:17.759 And now Judah's dreaded enemies are coming because God was sending them. 00:11:20.080 --> 00:11:24.799 Now we can read Habakkuk with a little more insight. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:26.960 Take up your Bible with me. 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:33.600 This is the oracle or the burden. 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:37.120 It's something that has to be lifted up because it's heavy. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:42.000 Habakkuk the prophet saw. 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:53.039 Oh Yahweh, how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear? 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:58.399 Or cry to you, violence, and you will not save. 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:02.240 Why do you make me see iniquity? 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:04.960 And why do you idly look at wrong? 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:09.759 Destruction and violence are before me, strife and contention arise. 00:12:09.919 --> 00:12:13.039 So the law, the Torah, is paralyzed. 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:14.799 Justice never goes forth. 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:19.440 The wicked surround the righteous, and justice goes forth perverted. 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:23.440 Do you sense Habakkuk's angst there? 00:12:25.919 --> 00:12:31.919 Now most of your Bibles will begin verse 5 with quotation marks because God now begins to speak. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:37.840 Habakkuk, look among the nations and see. 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:42.240 Wonder and be astounded. 00:12:42.879 --> 00:12:48.720 For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. 00:12:49.519 --> 00:12:58.480 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:01.679 They are dreaded and fearsome. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:05.919 Their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:08.879 Their horses are swifter than leopards. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:12.720 Their horses are more fierce than the evening wolves. 00:13:12.960 --> 00:13:21.759 Their horsemen press proudly on, their horsemen come from afar, they fly like an eagle swift to devour, and they all come for violence. 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:27.840 All of their faces forward, they gather captives like the sand. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:32.080 They scoff at kings. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:34.799 They laugh at rulers. 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:37.039 In fact, they laugh at every fortress. 00:13:37.279 --> 00:13:42.559 For they just pile up the earth like a like a ramp to go over the wall and they take it. 00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:49.039 Then they sweep by like the wind and they go on, guilty men whose might is their own God. 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:51.840 End quote. 00:13:54.639 --> 00:13:56.720 Now Habakkuk speaks. 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:01.919 Are you not from everlasting? 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:06.559 Oh Yahweh, my God, my holy one? 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:10.159 Wait, we shall not die? 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:17.519 Oh Yahweh, you have ordained them as judgment, and you, O rock, have established them for reproof. 00:14:18.639 --> 00:14:29.759 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? 00:14:31.679 --> 00:14:37.919 You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. 00:14:39.039 --> 00:14:44.879 And so he, the Babylonian army, he brings all of them up with a hook. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:51.440 He drags them out with his net, he gathers them in his dragnet, and he rejoices and is glad. 00:14:51.600 --> 00:14:57.759 And so he thinks his fishing net that gathers in all the nations is a god, and he makes offerings to his dragnet. 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:05.039 For by them, by gathering in these peoples and their wealth, he lives in luxury and his food is rich. 00:15:06.320 --> 00:15:14.080 Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:28.080 I will take my stand on my watchpost and station myself on the tower and look out to see what he will say to me, and I will answer concerning my own complaint. 00:15:32.240 --> 00:15:43.600 Can't you just imagine Habakkuk going out on the wall of Jerusalem, climbing up to the watchtower and sitting down to wait to see what God says? 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:47.679 And then Yahweh answered me. 00:15:49.600 --> 00:15:53.120 Habakkuk, write down the vision. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:58.240 Make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:01.519 For still the vision awaits its appointed time. 00:16:01.759 --> 00:16:04.159 It hastens to the end, it will not lie. 00:16:04.399 --> 00:16:07.600 But if it seems slow, wait for it. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:11.200 It will surely come, it will not delay. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:20.000 Speaking of the Babylonians, behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him. 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:24.720 But the righteous shall live by his faith. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:30.879 Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:35.600 His greed is as wide as Sheol, like death, he never has enough. 00:16:35.840 --> 00:16:40.720 He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples? 00:16:42.720 --> 00:16:53.919 Shall not all these peoples take up their taunt against him, against Babylon, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own. 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:55.440 For how long? 00:16:56.720 --> 00:16:59.120 And loads himself with pledges. 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:05.839 Will not your debtors suddenly arise in those who awake, and those awake who will make you tremble? 00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:08.799 Then you will be spoil for them. 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:19.759 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of people shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities, and all who dwell in them. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:26.160 Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house to set his nest on high to be safe from the reach of harm. 00:17:26.559 --> 00:17:30.400 You've devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:41.119 You have forfeited your life, for the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork will respond. 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:46.960 Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity. 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:54.720 Behold, it is it not from Yahweh of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire and nations weary themselves for nothing? 00:17:54.960 --> 00:18:00.319 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea. 00:18:00.960 --> 00:18:03.680 Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink. 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:08.880 You pour out your wrath and make them drunk in order to gaze at their nakedness. 00:18:09.440 --> 00:18:12.160 You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. 00:18:12.400 --> 00:18:15.039 Drink yourself and show your uncircumcision. 00:18:15.200 --> 00:18:20.720 The cup in Yahweh's right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:36.480 The violence that the Babylonians have done to Babylon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. 00:18:37.680 --> 00:18:42.720 What prophet is an idol when its maker has shaped it? 00:18:43.200 --> 00:18:46.799 A metal image, a teacher of lies. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:52.319 For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols. 00:18:52.480 --> 00:19:00.240 Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, awake! And to a silent stone, arise. 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:08.720 Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver. 00:19:09.200 --> 00:19:11.440 There's no breath in it at all. 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:14.799 But Yahweh is in his holy temple. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:19.200 Let all the earth keep silent before him. 00:19:20.799 --> 00:19:21.759 End quote. 00:19:25.119 --> 00:19:30.880 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shugionoth. 00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:38.559 And you will see at the end of chapter three that this prayer was composed to be sung. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:43.920 O Yahweh, I have heard the report of you. 00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:46.799 And your work, O Yahweh, do I fear. 00:19:47.200 --> 00:19:49.359 In the midst of the years, revive it. 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:51.440 In the midst of the years, make it known. 00:19:51.599 --> 00:19:53.680 In wrath, remember mercy. 00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:58.720 Now he goes back to talk about God's work in the Exodus. 00:19:58.880 --> 00:20:02.319 God came from Temon, from the Holy One, from Mount Peran. 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:07.119 His splendor covered the heavens, the earth was full of his praise. 00:20:08.160 --> 00:20:12.160 His brightness was like the light, rays flashed from his hand. 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:14.079 There he veiled his power. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:18.000 Before him went pestilence and plague followed at his heels. 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:21.920 He stood and measured the earth. 00:20:22.079 --> 00:20:24.240 He looked and shook the nations. 00:20:25.039 --> 00:20:27.359 Then the eternal mountains were scattered. 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:29.519 The everlasting hills sank low. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:33.839 His were the everlasting ways. 00:20:35.119 --> 00:20:38.000 I saw the tents of Kushan in affliction. 00:20:38.240 --> 00:20:41.359 The curtains of the land of Midian trembled. 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:44.880 Was your wrath against the rivers, O Yahweh? 00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:52.000 Was your anger against the rivers, or your indignation against the sea when you rode on your horses, on your chariot of salvation? 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:58.079 You stripped the sheath from your bow, calling for many arrows, you split the earth with rivers. 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:02.240 The mountain saw you and writhed. 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:08.559 The raging waters swept on, the deep gave forth its voice, it lifted its hands on high. 00:21:08.720 --> 00:21:16.000 The sun and the moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped, at the flash of your glittering spear. 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:25.119 You marched through the earth in fury, you threshed the nations in anger, you went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:30.319 You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:40.000 You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors who came like a whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret. 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:44.880 You trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters. 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:52.079 I hear, and my body trembles. 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:55.759 My lips quiver at the sound. 00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:59.519 Rottenness enters into my bones, my legs trem. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:08.960 Tremble beneath me, yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon the people who invade us. 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:33.440 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, though the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, though the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. 00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:36.960 I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:40.799 Yahweh, the Lord is my strength. 00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:43.519 He makes my feet like the deers. 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:47.119 He makes me to tread on my high places. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:55.039 To the choir master with stringed instruments. 00:23:00.160 --> 00:23:08.240 Habakkuk is a version of Job without all of the personal suffering right in view. 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:18.319 Habakkuk sees suffering and injustice all around him, and then he learns that God is sending war. 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:28.079 Not just war, but defeat in war and subjugation and deportation as judgment for his people's sins. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:33.039 And so, like Job, Habakkuk wants some answers. 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:45.359 Habakkuk can't make sense of his life, he can't make sense of his world, and he can't make sense of what God is about to do. 00:23:47.119 --> 00:24:04.880 But like many of the psalms that begin by questioning God, yet end with a statement of trust, Habakkuk ends by declaring faith and trust in God, no matter how bad things get. 00:24:07.440 --> 00:24:12.079 That's a pattern we should want to emulate. 00:24:13.680 --> 00:24:38.880 Whether we are older and wondering how we're going to survive on social security, or whether we're younger and wondering how we can endure taunting and bullying at school, or whether we're facing the loss of a close relationship, the death of a spouse, or any kind of trouble that comes our way. 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:56.480 We should desire to so grow in grace that we can go to God open-handed with our questions, with our fears, with our lack of understanding, and come away from that conversation with a settled trust in God's character and power. 00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:06.319 But if you've ever tried to do that, learning how to do that is quite difficult. 00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:11.680 The path to doing that is found at the end of Habakkuk. 00:25:12.559 --> 00:25:23.839 Learning to navigate life's pains, life's sorrows, and puzzles is found in fully resting in the God of your salvation. 00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:29.359 It's that simple and that hard. 00:25:31.039 --> 00:25:35.279 Now, how we get to that place is yet another matter. 00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:40.319 It begins, of course, with believing in the Lord as your salvation. 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:45.279 He must be the Savior who has rescued you from your sin. 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:52.400 You must trust in Him and Him alone to pay your sin debt and make you right with God forever. 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:55.920 There is no hope without genuine faith. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:02.079 So first we have to belong to Christ as his redeemed people. 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:14.799 Then we begin a long road of testing, of growing, and of pruning that produces obedience and faith until we arrive at a place of settled trust. 00:26:17.359 --> 00:26:26.799 And there is a key component to jump starting that process that we see in the middle of Habakkuk. 00:26:26.960 --> 00:26:47.119 It's found in chapter 2 and verse 14, where God says the earth will be filled, overflowing with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, even as the waters cover the sea. 00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:55.359 So notice there that the sea is not the water, the sea is the space. 00:26:57.519 --> 00:27:00.720 It's the land that gets covered by the water. 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:08.480 And so you see nothing because the water covers it, and all you see is the water because it's filled up to overflowing. 00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:11.200 And this is God's voice. 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:18.640 This is Yahweh speaking, Israel's covenant God speaking amid an uncomfortable portion of the prophecy. 00:27:19.279 --> 00:27:28.079 This part in chapter 2 is a series of watch outs, woe, woes. 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:31.599 And each woe has a reason stated. 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:36.799 God will judge those who are unfaithful to him, and there's a reason for that judgment. 00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:46.559 So in verse 8, it begins with for or because for the blood of man and violence to the earth. 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:49.599 Verse 11, 4. 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:55.519 Verse 14, 4, verse 17, the second half of the verse, 4. 00:27:55.920 --> 00:27:56.960 God gives reasons. 00:27:57.039 --> 00:27:58.160 He says, I'm gonna judge. 00:27:58.240 --> 00:27:59.599 Watch out, woe to you. 00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:01.440 Here's the reason why. 00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:03.680 Four times he does this. 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:08.480 The first and last times are the same reasons. 00:28:08.799 --> 00:28:13.519 God will judge because of the killing of people and the violence done on the earth. 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:16.319 But the middle two are different. 00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:27.039 In verse 11, stones and wooden beams used to build houses from ill-gotten gain will cry out to God because of injustice and evil done. 00:28:28.559 --> 00:28:33.920 You remember when Jesus was riding down the Mount of Olives on the triumphal entry day? 00:28:34.079 --> 00:28:40.960 And the Pharisees came along and said, Hey, hey, Jesus, you need to quiet the people because we don't want to give the impression that there's an insurrection. 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:42.799 What did Jesus say? 00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:47.440 If these are quiet, even the rocks will cry out. 00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:54.880 See, the inanimate, the unliving creation stands as a witness. 00:28:57.200 --> 00:29:01.519 They will cry out to God here for the evil done, and God will respond. 00:29:02.799 --> 00:29:10.720 Habakkuk thought that he was the only one observing sin and injustice and unfaithfulness in his world. 00:29:10.799 --> 00:29:15.680 But no, God heard the same cries from the rocks and the wood. 00:29:15.920 --> 00:29:27.599 Just as the land, the ground, cried out when Cain killed his brother, so too the ground will cry out because of unfaithfulness and injustice in God's world. 00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:32.480 That's a helpful reminder, friends, that we are never alone in our perceptions. 00:29:34.960 --> 00:29:40.799 The creation itself bears witness to the sin of the world. 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:47.200 But our interest is in the third reason, which is a little different. 00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:54.240 The basis for the judgment is the same, beginning in verse 12 and then 13 and 14. 00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:59.200 God will judge those treating people with evil and injustice. 00:29:59.599 --> 00:30:12.400 People and nations exist and go about whatever life God assigns to them because he is sovereign, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh as the waters cover the sea. 00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:17.440 My friends, this is a perspective correction. 00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:28.480 It's a statement that challenges Habakkuk and us to change the way we look at things. 00:30:28.720 --> 00:30:36.000 You see, like Habakkuk, we can get so bent out of shape by all kinds of things in life. 00:30:36.880 --> 00:30:47.519 We get bent out of shape when our thoughts start to take control of us, when our feelings are insurmountable and we can't control them. 00:30:47.680 --> 00:30:56.720 And so everything about us begins to be informed by what we take in from our sight, from our hearing, from our feelings. 00:30:56.880 --> 00:31:00.880 All of our senses then say, This is what's really happening to you. 00:31:05.119 --> 00:31:09.119 And God steps in and says, Hey, wait a minute. 00:31:10.240 --> 00:31:14.799 All you're doing is looking at life through your viewpoint. 00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:20.240 Stop a moment and look at life through my viewpoint. 00:31:20.880 --> 00:31:24.079 You see, these sensory elements will drive us mad. 00:31:26.000 --> 00:31:30.160 They will motivate us, drive us into a deep depression. 00:31:30.319 --> 00:31:32.079 They will weary us with sorrow. 00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:40.799 They will steal our motivation and joy in life if we don't interrupt that sensory overload with God's truth. 00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:53.440 And the only truth that will interrupt and disrupt our pain, our sorrow, and our suffering is that this world is about God and his glory, not about us. 00:32:03.680 --> 00:32:11.359 God's goal for his creation is not that it will be overwhelmed because of how great you are. 00:32:14.240 --> 00:32:19.759 God's goal for his creation is that it would be overwhelmed with the knowledge of his glory. 00:32:21.920 --> 00:32:24.400 This is what God is working toward. 00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:26.079 This is the end goal. 00:32:26.160 --> 00:32:28.720 This is the end of the road trip, if you will. 00:32:29.119 --> 00:32:30.799 This is what he will bring about. 00:32:30.960 --> 00:32:38.559 All of human history is speeding ahead to when the universe will overflow with the knowledge of God's glory. 00:32:38.960 --> 00:32:40.640 That's nothing new. 00:32:41.200 --> 00:32:47.759 This exact claim, almost word for word, was made in numbers and then repeated in Psalms and then picked up by Habakkuk. 00:32:47.920 --> 00:32:51.440 This is what you need to know, my friends, if you love prophecy. 00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:54.880 This is what you need to know if you are in pain. 00:32:55.359 --> 00:32:58.480 This is what you need to know if you love your Savior. 00:32:58.640 --> 00:33:01.279 This is what you need to know if you are suffering. 00:33:01.519 --> 00:33:07.359 You need to know this if you believe in God's sovereignty, and you need to trust in this if you are full of sorrow. 00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:20.480 This is God's goal: that the whole earth would overflow with the awareness and the knowledge of his glory. 00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:34.079 But it's only helpful knowing this, believing this, having this perspective of God's overall goal. 00:33:34.319 --> 00:33:42.319 That's only helpful if God is truly the most glorious and gracious being. 00:33:45.039 --> 00:33:48.720 I'm gonna take you on a little theology side trip here. 00:33:48.880 --> 00:33:50.720 You're gonna have to stick with me. 00:33:51.839 --> 00:33:54.160 This is only helpful to us. 00:33:54.480 --> 00:34:00.480 This perspective is only helpful to us if God is the most gracious and glorious being. 00:34:00.799 --> 00:34:02.000 Why is that? 00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:05.920 I wish we had time to really delve into this. 00:34:06.079 --> 00:34:07.920 I'm just gonna give you a survey. 00:34:08.639 --> 00:34:19.599 Only a gracious being could use injustice and suffering and pain and evil for his good and righteous purposes. 00:34:21.679 --> 00:34:34.480 Only a good being could send pain and sorrow and uncertainty and grief to bring about a glorious transformation, not only in his world, but in his people. 00:34:37.199 --> 00:34:46.159 And only the most glorious and sinless being could do that by making it all about him and his glory. 00:34:46.960 --> 00:35:01.920 Listen, if if God, God is neither gracious nor good, God is neither gracious nor good if he is merely a powerful bully who enjoys making people suffer. 00:35:04.400 --> 00:35:13.679 If God just sits back and loves to see you agonize, then he's neither good nor gracious. 00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:16.079 He's just a bully. 00:35:17.920 --> 00:35:29.519 If God is sinfully self-centered, then any use of sin and evil in this world is only motivated by evil pride, not by righteousness and holiness. 00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:50.079 Friends, the only way that Habakkuk 2.14 can be true and can be a righteous end goal for all of history and be good for Habakkuk and be good for you and me and be a sustaining hope for us is if God is pure, God is sinless, and God is the most beautiful and glorious being without compare. 00:35:52.000 --> 00:35:56.960 It is only true if God's glory is worth it all. 00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:05.440 You don't want an earth full of the glory of an evil being. 00:36:07.039 --> 00:36:14.639 You don't want an earth full of the glory, overwhelming with the glory of a powerful, evil, prideful being. 00:36:14.880 --> 00:36:19.039 You don't want an earth overflowing with Satan's glory. 00:36:22.320 --> 00:36:25.440 No one in their right mind would look forward to that. 00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:30.719 That's not a motivator to endure suffering, uncertainty, pain, and grief. 00:36:31.679 --> 00:36:55.519 But if your God is truly holy, if he is truly sinless, if he is fully righteous and incomprehensibly good, then as the psalmist says, you can lift your head and you can see where your help comes from. 00:36:55.760 --> 00:37:07.119 You can lift your head and your eyes and your heart to see that he is working all things together so that the whole earth will overflow with his glory and goodness at the right time. 00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:25.199 And if you can see and trust God's viewpoint with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind, then you can begin to put one foot in front of the other and learn to trust and endure through the most uncertain and challenging times. 00:37:29.840 --> 00:37:44.400 And if you walk in that way through the roller coaster of life, you will get to the point where you will say, The Lord is my salvation. 00:37:46.079 --> 00:37:48.960 I can trust him no matter how bad things get. 00:37:50.719 --> 00:37:51.760 Now let's be clear. 00:37:59.679 --> 00:38:01.039 You are too weak. 00:38:03.440 --> 00:38:05.760 I don't know, that's a hard thing to admit, right? 00:38:08.559 --> 00:38:11.760 Just let me tell you, admit it right now. 00:38:11.920 --> 00:38:13.119 You are too weak. 00:38:14.400 --> 00:38:15.679 You can't do it. 00:38:19.119 --> 00:38:27.760 But you can endure because the character of your God motivates him to strengthen you and to carry you to that end by the power of his spirit. 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:38.800 And one day you will see the whole earth filled with his glory of your good and your righteous king, and on that day you will not regret facing the unknown with full trust in your God. 00:38:40.719 --> 00:38:45.679 Isn't this what the New Testament teaches us in Hebrews chapter 11 and chapter 12? 00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:54.559 It goes through this hall of fame of saints saying several times, hey, they never received what God promised. 00:38:55.519 --> 00:38:57.760 They trusted in God's promise and they died. 00:38:57.920 --> 00:38:59.679 They trusted in God's promise and they died. 00:38:59.760 --> 00:39:02.159 They trusted in God's promise and they died. 00:39:02.639 --> 00:39:07.280 Oh, but wait, that's not the end of the story, is it? 00:39:09.119 --> 00:39:14.800 It says they hoped in God's promises because they trusted that God would bring the end to fruition. 00:39:15.199 --> 00:39:18.320 In the moment they felt like, is it done yet? 00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:20.880 Is it here yet? 00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:25.440 And God said, No, I'm I'm waiting. 00:39:25.840 --> 00:39:34.960 At just the right time, I'm going to fill the whole earth with my glory and I'm going to perfect all of my people all together at the same time. 00:39:36.559 --> 00:39:38.719 So wait and trust me. 00:39:41.519 --> 00:39:55.119 And in Hebrews chapter 11, as you go into Hebrews chapter 12, that collection of saints now becomes this great cloud of witnesses that gives us strength and encouragement and hope. 00:39:56.000 --> 00:40:08.480 By remembering the struggles of those faithful believers from days gone by who themselves looked not at this world but hoped in God's promises, we too can endure as they did. 00:40:09.840 --> 00:40:22.079 And what's more, we can lay aside the weight of sin that so easily entangles us as we look to Jesus, who the text says endured from sinners such great hostility. 00:40:26.719 --> 00:40:34.239 We can strengthen our weak knees and we can lift up our eyes and we can see that the Lord is our salvation. 00:40:35.119 --> 00:40:39.760 And that one day the whole earth will be filled with his glory. 00:40:42.239 --> 00:40:49.840 My friends, living with God's perspective doesn't make life a bed of roses. 00:40:50.480 --> 00:40:52.639 Well, maybe it does if it still has thorns. 00:40:54.559 --> 00:41:00.639 It doesn't take away life's difficulties and the things that come in a sin-cursed world. 00:41:00.960 --> 00:41:08.719 But God's perspective helps because it changes your focus from the present to the end. 00:41:10.159 --> 00:41:22.239 It redirects your thoughts and your feelings from your present circumstances to a glorious God who works all things for good to those who are called according to his purpose. 00:41:23.440 --> 00:41:33.280 So as we begin to walk through the book of Habakkuk, the question before us is will we trust him even when we don't understand? 00:41:34.079 --> 00:41:35.039 Let's pray together. 00:41:35.199 --> 00:41:36.400 Lord Jesus. 00:41:37.599 --> 00:41:45.360 Behalf of all gathered here together with us, I entrust ourselves to you, saying that we want to trust you. 00:41:46.880 --> 00:41:50.639 Some might need to cry out, Lord, help my unbelief. 00:41:51.840 --> 00:42:04.960 So strengthen those who are weak, Lord, encourage us, humble those who are proud, cause us to be able to have our sight redirected to see you as our great and awesome helper. 00:42:05.920 --> 00:42:19.119 The one who sustains us from beginning to end, who carries us until that time when all the earth will know that you are God. 00:42:19.840 --> 00:42:20.480 Amen. 00:42:22.639 --> 00:42:26.400 That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church. 00:42:26.639 --> 00:42:33.519 Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus. 00:42:33.760 --> 00:42:37.760 You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.