 You know one truth can really change your perspective You learn one thing and it changes the The way that you see things there once was a mother who went to her child soccer game And she didn't know a lot about soccer, but she knew her kids were her kids team was in blue And the other team was in yellow so she was watching the team the game for a while and Then at one point she saw One of the people on her kids team and get the ball passed through the defense and had the wrong direction Head towards her own goal and score a goal What's an auto goal or an own own goal in their own net and she was stood up and begin to Try and tell the kid the what are you doing and that? Someone sitting next to her said no no no at half time we switch goals We switch goals So it was a it was a point for us So learning one thing I learned this illustration from a pastor named Malone last name Malone He said using this illustration about Habakkuk He said you you learned one thing and it changes your perspective about the whole game And it's the same way when you learn about the sovereignty of God Over our lives. We learned that he is worthy of our trust in the worst times He is worthy of our trust That's the one the one truth that that changes your perspective So today we're gonna listen to a conversation With the hub with the prophet Habakkuk that he has with God where he wrestles struggles to trust God and What he learns is that God is in control and like AW pink said God is on his throne He does as he pleases only as he pleases always as he pleases and He is worthy of our trust So what's the opposite of that the opposite of that is being self-centered? Self-centered and selfish so when we reject a self-centered prideful life and We put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ who is a sovereign God Not only for the salvation of our souls, but also that he's sovereign over the most difficult times in life That changes the whole way. We look at the game And we see that God is not scoring on his own goal when he gives us trials instead. He is actually Winning the glory and the victory So that's a summary. Let's go ahead and jump into this text. I'm gonna try and combine seven sermons into one today for you I have preached seven sermons to the book of Habakkuk in Guatemala city And so now I'm gonna try and give you a summary of those I thought a summary is the best way to be able to communicate The book this first half of the book of Habakkuk the title of the sermon is a struggle to trust God the struggle to trust God and What you see in your outline is this in this conversation as we get to listen into this conversation Where Habakkuk struggles to trust God? He begins with a godly question in verses one to four chapter one verses one to four a godly question how long oh Lord oh Lord how long and Then in verses five to eleven of chapter one. We see God answer With the judgment of God the judgment of God is coming how back it responds back but in verses 12 To the end of chapter one to the beginning of chapter two verse one Saying why do you allow this evil responding back to God? And then God answers back in chapter two verses two to five that the just shall live by faith and This is really this last point is the light that leads And guides us in our path That the just shall live by faith and that the same faith that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ for our soul is the same faith that we Use and trust in God in the hardest times in life Okay, so Habakkuk Habakkuk. Let's remember Why we study Habakkuk when was Habakkuk written? Let's remember the the historical setting and so Habakkuk We don't know much about Habakkuk as a person Very little. He's more focused on the message than on describing things about his life and God That's what God is is concerned about more the message. He's given Habakkuk then learning about Habakkuk as a person But we just can't understand that he was he lived in the time around 609 to 604 BC If you remember in this time the kingdoms have been divided Israel and Judah and The Assyrians have actually in generation before destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel Judah remains and there was a good king the last of the good Kings Josiah And so around the time this time Josiah dies in a war Suddenly in his 40s at a very young age. He very young age He dies in an unexpected way and this brings a great trial to In in to Judah and their lives because the sons of Josiah were not godly Johoi has Johoi a Kim Johoi a chin names of his sons who were very ungodly and They're the they're the kings that are in rule and reigning in the time of Jeremiah Zephaniah If you remember in Jeremiah in chapter 22, he describes one of these kings. I think it's a Johoi a Kim Saying he's so wicked. He's gonna get the funeral of a donkey You know the way you throw a donkey out with it with the garbage and so like a dead animal He's gonna get that kind of funeral. He's such a wicked person He's the he's the king who reads a part of the book of Jeremiah and he throws it in a fire Man when his counselors are telling him listen to the book listen to what he's written And he was he was the king crumpled it up and threw the word of God in the fire and so Habakkuk is living in these times he's living with in times of great hypocrisy great hypocrisy and When we think about these times we have to remember that the kingdom of God is centered in a country in a theocracy it's a combination of people of God and country This is important for when we think About the application today when we cross the interpretive bridge that we don't immediately think about America and The state of America first we should think about the state of the church in America that's the first application the people of God and Then yes, there is a secondary application to the state of our country so Thinking about here in Habakkuk We have this tumultuous time this difficult time when the country is full of hypocrisy and ungodly rulers are Leading the people into idolatry Habakkuk struggles to trust God and he ends up receiving the word of God and Writing it down in such a way that would have been read during the public worship in the temple We see some of that in chapter 3 when his prayer His prayer of worship his prayer of faith is written down in chapter 3 Okay, so there's the intro some basics of remembering who's Habakkuk the time and The big event that's on the horizon is the destruction of Jerusalem the destruction of Jerusalem Let's begin to listen into this conversation We have Habakkuk the prophet and He's kneeling down. He's praying He's praying and God speaks back God answers back and Reveals his word to Habakkuk and so we're gonna see Habakkuk have two key questions and The Lord answer back twice in his grace Let's begin to listen to the conversation now in verses one to four one to four We read the burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw So we have this is all we have for a little intro here into the book But it teaches us a lot It's just a lot in the sense that the word here for burden in Hebrew is More often translated the prophecy But it's communicated in such a way the prophecy that is a great burden So you imagine a backpack full of rocks that you've been carrying with you a Burden right and if you carry it all day long and then you drop it off your back you feel so light Well, haven't you had that same burden when you desire to speak the word of God to someone and You have a burden that you cannot feed rest until you communicate God's word It's a burden because it's a serious message God's wrath is coming Now's the time for grace to trust in Christ. It's a burden because you got to unload it You have the responsibility. You just can't have it on your back You got to get get rid of it So in the same way Habakkuk has this burden that is a prophecy the word of God He's received this responsibility by receiving the word of God And he's got to unload this burden and here's the book in these three chapters And it's what the prophet saw This is not simply Something that he learned in the classroom or he learned that something just up here This is something that he lived It's something that he had to apply himself. It's his own Struggle his own wrestling with God in order to trust God in this most difficult time So that little intro is all we have in verse one then we immediately enter in in verse two Into the wrestling with God the wrestling with God and he says oh lord How long shall I cry and you will not hear and even cry out to you violence and you will not save Why do you show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble for plundering and violence are before me? There's strife and contention arises there for the law is powerless and justice never goes forth For the wicked surround the righteous therefore perverse judgment proceeds So we begin to hear this conversation between the prophet and God and what do we hear? He's crying out to God Pleading with God and he starts out by using the covenant name Yahweh. Oh Lord How long shall I cry and what we can see from eaves dropping into the conversation here? The time of prayer is that Habakkuk has not just begun today. He's been praying this way for a while He has been persevering in this prayer. This is not just something that came to his mind today He's been struggling and persevering to bring this petition before God and it's a good petition He wants to see righteousness in the professed people of God He wants to see them following God. He wants to see a revival He wants to see a revival. He wants to see more people being repentant and following the Lord He has a good desire. His prayer is in line with the revealed will of God And so we see Habakkuk. He's saying I'm praying Lord. I'm praying your will This is what you clearly desire the repentance of sinners So why do you not hear? How long shall I cry and you will not hear as we go through the book of Habakkuk? He uses Repeated parallelism so you he says a very similar things with two different lines So note the parallelism as we go through as a way that Hebrews right is very common in the Psalms and Proverbs and here in the prophets in Habakkuk liked the right in that way look at how he he repeats a similar idea how long in verse 2 How long shall I cry and you will not hear and he begins to wrestle with trusting God? Have you done that before? Have you thought God why will you not answer when I pray for the salvation of my family members? Well, I just want to see a little fruit. I'm praying your will This would be for your glory and My intentions and thoughts are pure I'm not perfect Lord, but I do have a genuine desire for your glory and I do desire to see a revival Why is it? That I asked for this good thing and you don't respond. You don't pour out good fruit And he uses the strongest negative here in verse 2 and you have Hebrew that's possible You will not hear the same negative that's used in the Ten Commandments when he says when it says you shall not commit adultery You shall not steal you shall not murder The strongest negative you can use in the Hebrew language and he says and you don't hear and You don't hear and he begins to speak about in verse 2 of violence and you won't save Why do you should in verse 3? Why do you show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble? It's how he's now he's beginning to describe the violence and he think not just a violence in it That's committed between people but think about Spiritual violence as well where where false prophets say peace peace when there's no peace and they deceive people so that people go to hell and In this time true prophets were being killed and persecuted And so he speaks about violence and you don't save verse 3 you show me iniquity and cause me to see this trouble and Plundering in violence are before me and there's strife and contention arises and now in verse 3 the end here with strife and Contention this is particularly using legal terms to describe the hypocrisy The corruption that's taking place Where the legal system is now upholding what is evil against your law and Condemning what is in accordance with your law and so in verse 4 He says therefore the law is powerless and this is the word here. The law is the Torah in Hebrew Remember the law here is not just the law of the land. This is the Bible the Bible is Powerless and justice never for what goes forth and the word for powerless is literally Gone cold in Hebrew If you ever gotten when your leg falls asleep or your hand falls asleep And then you step on the leg right and then you're like man I have a hard time walking without a cane or something with where I lost all feeling in the leg And if you touch it, it's even a little cold, right? This is the idea of the word that's used in Hebrew that saying now when you try and Walk with the Torah here when you try to apply the law in the court system Nobody pays attention to it anymore It's not important What God says? Oh, that's not that's not that's not important. It does not apply to what's going on here in this governmental decision or in this just case of justice legal a legal case So this is the struggle that Habakkuk has God doesn't seem to control the sin. Why don't you control this God? Why is the word your word not respected? I have asked again and again That your truth would be heard as it is your word your truth There's no longer right and wrong according to your word in the professing church Is full of immorality and greed and deception Hatred oppression injustice and we begin to think how same similar it is now in our time, right? Maybe some of you praying yesterday at the abortion mill why God Praying once again God save these babies save souls and doesn't the thought come God? Why do you not hear? Why is it another Saturday with more blood shed? Why does no one respond? Are you not powerful? Can you not do what you want when you want and? You I know that this isn't in accordance with your will Why do you not respond? when I cry out this way we need to have a This we need to have the same tears of Habakkuk here We need to have the same prayers of Habakkuk here We need to have the same passion Okay, so we hear now Habakkuk's prayer But we're here in the midst of a conversation here. God is going to answer back This is no mere time of prayer. This is the time of God revealing his word to a prophet a true prophet And so now we move to another point we Habakkuk cries out how long oh Lord how long oh Lord and now God answers back in verses 5 to 11 Verses 5 to 11 and the answer is the judgment my judgment is coming My judgment is coming and it will be shocking It will come so fast and so horrible that will shock you Okay, so now we read verses 5 to 11 We know that God is speaking now because it changes from Habakkuk speaking to a singular God and now The singular speaker is speaking to plural to Habakkuk and to the nation and so it says God says look among the nations and watch Be utterly astounded in verse 5 for I will work or work in your days Which you would not believe though we're told to you So he's gonna be shocking and here it is in verses described in verses 6 to 11 I'm gonna use the Chaldeans. I'm gonna use a wicked people To judge my people For indeed I'm raising up the Chaldeans of verse 6 a bitter and hasty nation which march marches through the breadth of the earth To possess dwelling places that are not theirs They are terrible and dreadful their judgment and their dignity proceeds from themselves Their horses are swifter than leopards more fierce than the evening wolves wolves are their chargers charge ahead Their Calvary comes from afar. They fly as an eagle that hastens to eat They all come for violence their faces are set like the east wind they gather captives like sand They scoff at kings and princes are scorned by them They deride every stronghold for the heap up earth and mounds and sees it Then his mind changes and he transgresses and he commits offense Ascribing his this power to his God Notice a little G there, right? So what does God say? God replies back And he replies back. I'm gonna give you what you need I'm gonna give you what you deserve and Habakkuk is Listening thinking this is not what I asked for You know John Newton the the preacher who was once a slave trader and then got saved and he Became a pastor and wrote amazing grace he He prayed that God would help him grow in grace one time and what God gave him was hard trials and so God doesn't always give us what we think We need he gives us what's best Best for his glory best for our good. That's a promise. That's a promise and So here the God's doing the same Not what Habakkuk was thinking not what he would have desired But he is being just And so we see in verse 5 it's shocking and verses 6 to 11. It's coming and it's coming the judgment of God is coming So in verse 5 the Lord replies to this the group through the prophet replying to the whole nation And he doesn't disagree with Habakkuk in the need for a revival. He doesn't rebuke Habakkuk But he does hear a back here Habakkuk He does respond But at first in a way that's not understandable But in a way that makes Habakkuk sit down and cover his mouth Thinking about the fierce Judgment of God and how he has the liberty he has the freedom To judge whom he'll judge be merciful to whom he'll be merciful And then he says in verse 5 that it's in your days I'll work a work in your days This surprising shocking Judgment that's coming You won't have to wait long for it It's coming Your kids won't you have to wait for your kids your grandkids to see it. It's coming for you to see And you're not gonna believe it even if I described it all to you Opalma Robertson writes in his commentary that it's hard to believe Because it's gonna rise up so fast It's hard to believe this judgment because of how intense it's gonna be It's hard to believe this judgment because God himself is doing it Dale Ralph Davis writes that imagine God says he's gonna judge or he's gonna raise up the country of Paraguay, and it's gonna be a world power within five years And you're like, where's that country again? What's which continent is it in again? It's gonna be a world power and so God Raises up the Chaldeans in a rapid way and gives them a great power In a way that shows that his hand is behind it for his purposes and his time and the Bible's full of him doing this work in the Old Testament seeing this him raising up the Chaldeans and So then God begins to describe in verses 6 to 11 how shocking how surprising it is how bad it will be in order to Create the fear of God in the people who receive the book of abacus It's a way to express mercy and call to repentance for the remnant the remnant to Fear God and put their trust in him And so there he's full of images of fear here full of images of fear In verses 6 in verse 6 he says I'm raising up the Chaldeans a Bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breath of the earth and possesses dwelling places that are not theirs They're gonna come and they're gonna come fast and they're gonna come destroying They're gonna come in war They're gonna come in verse 7. They're gonna come in a terrible way in an arrogant way They're terrible and dreadful and their judgment and dignity proceeds from themselves They think I'm pretty hot stuff and I got some stories to prove it and So they come as one of the first world empires ruling and reigning and When they think about what all that's happened they give credit to themselves Their own power their own smarts their own ingenuity We did this and you remember Daniel 4, right? We never could nezzar standing on his roof. Look at this great city Babylon that I have built by my own hand It sounds here like verse 7 and Then verse 8 Describing their horses are swifter than leopards and so now in this description verse 8 We have a lot of animals here, right? But remember when they read horses, they don't they don't think nice horse that you have on a ranch They think when horses is a weapon of war at the time. You don't keep out horse to just Work on the farm at this time That was more they kept horses more for a weapon of war And so when he says horses, they're like leopards horses. They're like wolves They fly as the eagle he's describing animals that are fast aggressive images that cause fear and verse 9 They call come for violence and their faces are like set like the east wind and they gather captives like sand So he's speaking in very descriptive ways here hard to translate ways probably communicating here They're gonna come fast and they're gonna have a mountain many captives Like you have a pile of sand and if you imagine trying to count all the grains of sand and each one represents a captive It's like we're gonna get we got so many captives. We don't know even we can't even count them all And so then we see more fearful descriptions in verse 10 They scoff at kings and princes and then when they come up to a stronghold They laugh at that too There's nothing that's gonna save you God is what God is saying. It won't matter if you're smart It won't matter if you have money it won't matter who you know It won't matter if you have a bunker in your backyard There's no place to hide No preparations with canned goods or whatever kind of crazy scheme It whether you got lots of money or lots of guns or whatever. It's not gonna save you It's not gonna save you when the judgment of God comes No plan of yours. No plan religious plan is gonna save you if you've read your Bible and you're Full of religious dedication. It's not gonna be any good when my judgment comes There's only one safe place It's below the the cross of Calvary All other places will be destroyed and so God is communicating in a fearful way here in a fearful way and Then he describes in verse 11 what a strange irony that God himself is describing That these people will come they will do this wicked thing that I will do through them and Then they will give glory to false gods He will ascribe power to his God who is speaking here God is speaking saying he's going to do this work and He's going to bring this wicked people to judge God's people So then we think about today, right? Imagine that God says he's going to destroy not just churches, but Reform churches that have not been faithful and He's going to use the homosexual sexual revolution movement gender revolution movement to do so Not just to destroy church churches, but churches true churches that preach the gospel that are not being faithful and We say God Why would you do this? Why would you not bring a revival? Why would you not bring obedience and worship and joy and Saving faith Why would you I'm asking for a good thing and you answer this way You answer this way and so we've come here to two points in the conversation, right? We've heard Habakkuk's first question and we've heard God's first response Habakkuk goes in a good direction and then God seems to be scoring on his own goal here He seems to be running in the wrong direction God we were asking for this good thing and why are you going this way God? You don't understand with what you're doing here You don't understand what you're doing. You're going the wrong way. Let me help you out God Let me help you out And so we've seen these first questions first answer now, let's see Habakkuk respond Habakkuk respond and now chapter 1 verses verse 12 to chapter 2 verse 1 Reads are you not from everlasting? Oh lord my god my holy one We shall not die. Oh Lord you have appointed them for judgment. Oh rock you are have marked them for correction You are of pure eyes and to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness Why do you look on those who deal treacherously and hold your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he? Why do you make men like fish of the sea like creeping things have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with a hook and they catch them in their net and gather them in their dragnet Therefore they rejoice and are glad Therefore they sacrifice their net and burn incense to the dragnet because by them their share is sumptuous and their food plentiful Shall they therefore empty their net and continue to slay nations without pity? I? Will stand my watch and I set myself on the rampart and watch to see what he will say to me And what I will answer when I'm corrected Okay, so this is Habakkuk's second Question and the question is Essentially, why do you allow this evil? Your character seems to be in contradiction with your plan I do not understand what you are doing how you're doing it in this way To me it does not compute to me. It doesn't make sense That you would have your will revealed in your word and this way And then you would ordain in your providence this evil and that you would be doing it through these wicked men Why would you use a tool that is so filthy? to bring about an end that does not seem to Help the kingdom of God. I do not understand what you're doing. So then in this response here now verses 12 To chapter 2 verse 1 we can kind of see three parts. We see in verse 12 Habakkuk stops and thinks what's biblical Who's God? What is God revealed in his promises and? Then in verses 13 to 17 he still struggles with faith He's honest and questioning God. What are you doing God? I? don't understand and then in chapter 2 verse 1 He comes back to say I Need to be corrected. I need to be helped out here. I'm gonna wait Until I understand according to your word I'm gonna trust you. I'm gonna wait And he humbles himself I'm gonna wait and when I get corrected. I need correction. Help me out God help me out Okay, so We see him trusting God in verse 12 He is confidence in God's Holy character We see it and how he uses the covenant name Yahweh. He says are you not from everlasting? He remembers it God He turned God's eternality How God has got knows what he's doing. He's not new at this game. Oh Lord my God and look at how he repeats my God my holy one Look at the faith that's here, but the wrestling of faith and he remembers God is holy separate from sin How can the holy one be holding this filthy tool? And then he remembers God's promises we see in the phrase we shall not die Maybe he's remembering the covenants the covenant to Abraham that all the nations will be blessed through the Messiah or the covenant of David or Maybe he's remembering the new covenant revealed By Jeremiah and Habakkuk in his time Maybe he's remembering the he seems to be remembering these promises here when he says we shall not die And he goes back to remembering God in this character. Oh Lord. You've appointed them for judgment. Oh rock God you are the dependable one And so here we have instruction for how to wrestle with faith. We come back to what we know We don't go. We don't follow our emotions We don't follow our own thinking our own logic We come back and say what does God's word say? What does God's word say my world is crumbling around me? I'm losing all my hopes for the future. I'm losing my joy of the past and I don't know what you're doing God and why you're doing it So I'll stop and I'll remember who you are And I'll remember your promises things that don't change and so In verses 13 to 17 he goes back to say but I still don't understand I still don't understand how your plan is in In accordance with your character Why is this your plan? Why have you chosen this tool this filthy tool? Don't you isn't your hand dirty by picking up this tool and using this You're judging your people with the people that is worse that are there are worse than your people Habakkuk knows in verse 13. He says your pure eyes into behold evil and you cannot look on wickedness He doesn't he's not living in some dream world where he says that God can't judge. He knows God's right to judge and He knows that God can judge whom he wants to judge But in this way in this way with the Chaldeans How can you pick up this tool God? and so in verse 14 it says He begins to use this analogy from 14 to 17 with this kind of like fish and fishing analogy in verse 14 He says why do you make men like fish of the sea like creeping things that have no ruler and the implication is God? Your people are like this fish in an aquarium or fish in the sea so when you ask the you know you got a What do you call a group of fish school of fish right school of fish you ask the school of fish Who's your leader when they go by right? Have they got a leader? Have they got a plan? If you try and reach into water and grab one where they do they all go everywhere's right No leader no plan and what Habakkuk is saying is it seems as though God you're not guiding your people seems as though they're like a bunch of fish Who've got no ruler why are you not the shepherd? Oh Lord my shepherd Why you not lead us in paths of righteousness and by to clear waters You see the implication to God. He's questioning God He's not accusing God And we learn here how to respectfully fearfully Struggle to trust God verse 15 He describes we take them out with a hook and then he they Sacrifices their net and so when we study about the ancient Babylon in verses 15 to 16 Where these were the use of the hook and the nets we find things in archaeology that actually T show us that the Babylonians would do some of this stuff They would actually put hooks in the mouths of some people. They've conquered and they would actually Lead them that way chained in Verse 16 where it describes they sacrifice their net and burn incense to their dragnet There's actually in I think it's in England where they have some ancient sculptures of Babylon where it has sculptures of their gods with nets and Inside the nets are nations and peoples and their gods have captured these people and So they ascribed all this victory to their gods And so 15 and 16 is Describing look at all the idolatry that is resulting from your plan Your plan it's like remember the analogy of the soccer game, right? It's not just that it it seems like you scored no own goal all the other fans are all cheering They all think that you scored in your own goal It's don't you what's your plan here? And so they say in verse 17 they shall therefore empty their net and continue to slay nations without pity They're gonna continue to be a ruthless wicked people And so last in chapter 2 verse 1 He says I'll stand my watch. I'll set myself on the rampart He's saying I'm gonna set myself up at a place That's good for listening Good for being alone good for getting the big view and I'm gonna submit I'm gonna wait and to hear your word. I need your help God I Need to listen not just wrestle and speak here. I need to listen to your word And so help me out In the second part of verse 2 he says and watch to see what he will say to me What God will say to me and what I will answer when I'm corrected Have you ever been in a time like that or you're like the Lord gives Lord takes away blessed to be the name of the Lord. I Know that's true But man, it's hard to live God. I Know you've decided to give me something and I decided to take it away And I know you want me to say blessed to be the name of the Lord But it's hard and I need your help God help me correct me Teach me again. Not just just repeat this phrase, but to worship you through this phrase And so that's what he's saying here. He's saying help me out God Help me out. I want to obey you But it's hard. It's hard. And so we've heard this time of prayer of Conversation between Habakkuk and God we get the first question. How long oh God? How long oh Lord? We hear the first answer. I'm sending judgment Second second question. This is not a good plan. Why is this your plan? This is not what I asked for. I don't understand how this could be. I know you're holy. I know you're good I know you're trustworthy, but this does not Compute in my mind with your word and your character and your providence They'd seem to be a big contradiction And so God replies with the last with the second answer now and our fourth point on the outline Chapter 2 verses 2 to 5 Then the Lord answered me that's always good when we read that right That's what we need and said write the vision and make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it For the vision is yet in a point in time But at at the end it will speak and it will not lie though it Terry's wait for it because it will surely come It will not Terry Behold the proud His soul is not upright in him But the just shall live by his faith Indeed the Because he transgresses by wine. He's a proud man referring back to the proud man of verse 4 and he does not stay at home because he enlarges his desire as hell And he's like death and can't be satisfied and gathers to himself all nations and heaps up for himself all peoples Okay, so we can see in this reply Three parts verse 2 we see the word of God the word of God is what we need write the vision Write the vision aback I'm gonna give my word then verse 3 My providence my word is gonna come to true in my timing So verse 2 God's word verse 3 God's providence God rules and reigns over every detail There's not an atom got a stray and It cut and my it comes in my timing and then verse 4 here's what you need to learn Here's the heart of abacus if you learn this you learn the the point of abacus if you learn this you learn the point of the Sermon this is what we're doing here today Why you're sitting here for this hour is to learn this point in this verse You got a pick pride Or humble trust of God Pride or humble trust of God you can't pick both You can't pick both for your salvation and you can't pick both to pass through tribulation You can't pick both for salvation You can't pick both to pass through tribulation You got to pick one or the other pride or humble trust of God Okay, so we get into verse 2 and the Lord answered and he says write the vision and make it plain on tablets that he May run who reads it and so he's saying write this down write this down. This is so important It needs to be written it needs to be read and he's been proclaimed my word and then verse 3 he says my word in my timing and he describes a timing that implies Future fulfillment in a beautiful way He says for the vision is yet in it for an appointed time in this use of an appointed time Daniel used multiple times in his prophecy to describe about a redemptive fulfillment That they the true fulfillment of these things will not just take place in the destruction of Jerusalem when Babylon comes But it also take place when Christ comes and then when Christ comes again in the second coming to judge There's a kind of a three-layer fulfillment here with this true hope with this true hope and It's fulfilled. We see it in the the true fulfillment of verse 4 that just shall live by his faith And so God is saying in verse 2 Write my word is trustworthy and then verse 3 my timing Wait for it. It's coming wait for it. It's coming Wait for it's coming and it will come at the perfect day the perfect time the perfect date. I Got it all planned out and you can trust me And then verse 4 this is the principle that what you need to know for now This this will help you for now Learn this point pick between these two Your be prideful or humbly trust me humbly trust me And so we see this this Need to choose the need to choose between the both. I think I've told this story before often till this story to try and illustrate the choose the That humble trust and pride are opposites, right? Okay, so there were there were two brothers They both smoking smokers ever since they were a little little and So they'd smoke for years and they come back for Christmas And they hit the older brother says I have something to confess to you. I have cancer in my throat The other brother says I have something to confess to you. I have cancer under my tongue They both they both say that the doctor told me that I'm gonna die if I don't get a solution the others one says the same But in their hearts one was prideful and the other Was humble. How was it manifested? Well the younger brother Says, you know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna quit these things and he throws the cigarettes in the trash And he says I'm gonna live healthy give me that Whatever diet is the healthiest right now and I'm and I'm gonna eat right exercise and I'm gonna do what's right the other brother says I Need a doctor The problem my problem is so serious I Need help the outside of me and by the next Christmas When the family got together one brother had died and one brother had survived Which brother survived the one who understood the depth of the problem his problem and the need for help outside himself And so we see the same principle in saving faith When we come to this point where we see in our own sin That we've made a wreck of our lives And that we deserve much worse judgment than what God is giving We recognize the truth of the problem within That our problem is not just a problem outside of us or our experiences or who's hurt us But our problem is truly one of within of our own sin And so we understand the depth of the problem within and The need for help outside of us and we look to a savior And so then the contrast in verses four and five here of between Being prideful and saving faith The apostle Paul knew well and what you all are studying in the book of Romans, right a few weeks ago chapter 1 verse 17 The just shall live by his faith The apostle Paul says this applies to saving faith This very lesson this contrast between being arrogant and seeding seeing your need for the righteousness of christ Imputed given to you So you must pick you must pick And the apostle Paul picks it up in Galatians 3 Versus 10 to 14 where he speaks of how christ became a curse on our account and so There's a great focus here on saving faith calvin said In his commentary in Habakkuk here is that faith Which strips us of all arrogance and leads us naked and needy to god That we may seek salvation from him alone Which would otherwise be far removed from us In other places calvin describes Faith saving faith is an empty cup that you bring to the well And where you admit your great need And your dependence upon him and that same faith That you hope in god for your soul is the same faith That you apply when you go through your hardest times And the author of Hebrews tells us The author of Hebrews tells us chapter 10 verses 37 to 38 how it's applied this same saving faith is applied In persecution And we see it throughout the scripture this same need to choose Whether we'll be prideful or whether we'll trust god And we can think of hannah and first samuel chapters one to two Where she had this great desire for a child A good desire And how god did not give her a child and she cries out to god And god had a better plan And in the end he had a plan to give her a child in his timing That would be key For the kingdom of god The raising up of david And the uh the greater for giving us the lineage of jesus And so god has this redemptive plan connected with the cross of calvary and why he doesn't give this woman hannah A baby when she cries for it And but he does in his timing He had a better solution And so we see god's worthy to be trusted when he doesn't give us what we desire that is good You have strong desires and your soul and heart and some of them are good desires and god says no And you can look in the bible and say he's worthy of being trusted. I need to humble myself reject my pride And humble myself and depend upon him. We see it in john levin when god takes away something he's given When mary and martha And lazarus Or had learned this lesson And mary and martha send the message to jesus jesus the one whom you love is sick And he describes in john 11 because he loves him. He stays two more days where he's at And he waits into during all the suffering and sickness that lazarus has and he said and he waits knowing Hasn't died yet. Oh, i'm gonna wait until he dies knowing all the grief and pain in the hearts of mary and martha And then he does so To glorify himself to show that he's the resurrection in the life In the end of all these stories whether it's job Whether it's joseph Whether it's hannah Or whether it's habakkuk Or mary martha and lazarus Each one learns in the end God has a better plan And i can't see the end of the road, but i know who's guiding me on this road And he's worthy to be trusted. He's a faithful guide And those that learning this lesson That changes the the way you look at the whole game That god's not scoring an adult in an own goal or scoring the goal in his own net He's actually working for his glory and your good your joy in his glory in his glory So that you would glorify him and enjoy him forever. And this is the very reason why you exist The very reason why you exist connects in with his long redemptive plan He's worthy to be trusted. The very reason you exist fits in with why you're suffering now If you have pain in your body or you have pain in your heart Or fear of the future You remember that he's faithful to be trusted in And that in arrogance My arrogance in verse five For a continual desire for more Whether it's here in it's in wine or a desire to gain more countries and gain more wealth It's that desire of idolatry that leads us to in with the arrogance that we want the desire for more fame More good more more more more And that's the opposite of this humble trust When we we place it in god's hands and say you you can have it god You can have it If you want to take it the lord gives the lord takes um takes lord Gives the lord takes away blessed be the name of the lord And joe also wrote if even even though if he slays me i will trust him Even though he slays me i will trust him And so We conclude here with this study of half the book of habacic And we learned this great lesson The just shall live by his faith not only for his salvation, but also for His perseverance through trials and so let's think of each point in an application quickly now quickly now We have four points we've seen in this conversation and each one teaches us an important application Well, first we heard habacic cry out how long Let's follow habacic in that Let's Have the same kind of prayer. Let's have the same kind of desire. Let's have the same holy indignation that he has Let's have eyes to see the evil in our land. Let's have a heart to cry for a revival Let's follow him in that That's a good thing Spurgeon talked about holy indignation in the same way He talked about once he went to visit a A lady who had an unsafe husband And the lady she lived in a poor area town and she asked her husband if she could go to church And he responded in violence and by the time Spurgeon got to the house he um The lady was in tears and had her own blood stained on her arm from the experience for their husband And Spurgeon said, you know what? I went to that um that night to preach against against drug drunkenness with such a holy indignation Seeing the suffering of sin and the results of all this evil I preached with a holy indignation In such a way to send all the people out from the church that he would preach to all the drunks and all the streets of london So they would be converted And so we see the same And we need to file and do the same have a holy indignation To pray for these things And have the same good desires that Habakkuk had Now application for verses five to eleven application for verses five to eleven or come near the end Be encouraged we're coming we're coming near the end Application versus five to eleven The judgment of god is coming We need to fear god Like we're i'm sure you're learning in romans that the judgment of god has already come to america, right? By this means of abandonment We need to fear the judgment of god We begin to be wise when we fear god, right? It's the first step To being wise And so we don't lose that We don't lose that in verses five to eleven. We cultivate that the fear of god And we learn to wrestle with god. We learn to trust him and we learn now another application Chapter one verse 12 to chapter two verse one. How do we apply that part that second question? Why do you allow this evil? We learned how to wrestle how to question god respectfully and not accuse him Martin Lloyd-Jones and james boys both lay out the same plan to follow her back. They say stop and think biblically verse 12 Stop and think biblically then restate the biblical principles to yourself. What do I know is true? God is eternal. God is holy. God is sovereign. God is the rock And then you repeat the promises Apply the principles to the situation. We will not die. We will not die And then if you still have doubts you pray you wait and you look to learn the word of god You pray you wait you look to learn the word of god In uh, ellen cameron learned this lesson In a hard way Ellen cameron was one of the scottish covenanters in the year that our confession was written The Presbyterians in scotland were dying for the faith And ellen cameron was a christian who had a son who was a famous preacher named richard cameron And so ellen cameron was put in jail for the faith And as he was there The guards were mocking him and making fun of him one day they threw a sack into the cell And in the sack Were the hands and the head Of his son richard cameron the famous preacher And ellen cameron hugged the head And kissed the head and said god has been wise and god has been good. He has allowed this for purpose And so he did not know why but he trusted who had allowed it And so that's the way to wrestle with faith To say i don't know the end of the road i don't know why but i know who's guiding me on this road And i know you're trustworthy So last point to apply Chapter two verses two to five the heart of abacus the just shall live by faith So shouldn't we not repent and believe in christ should we not repent and believe in christ Let's turn from all our pride And trust christ And trust christ that it's not simply That he's he's got trials planned for you and that you The worst ones are coming than all the ones you've had in the past And now you got to greet your teeth and bear it No, things get better Things get better as he gives harder trials He glorifies himself even more through even harder trials And as we grow in faith We see that truly things the best is yet to come Even including in the trials that are harder and worse because he's glorified in a better way And all the learning this truth makes us patient in university Thankful in prosperity and confident in the future because God is worthy to be trusted God is worthy to be trusted And learning that truth truly does change the perspective of the whole game, right? Let's pray Lord gone, we thank you for the opportunity to remember that you're worthy to be trusted And the just shall live by faith Please help us lord. This is not an easy thing for us To humble ourselves And to trust you so please help us to do so lord We pray this for your glory Help us to Glorify you by worship through hardship Help us to glorify you by trusting in christ alone for the salvation of our souls Amen