1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:07,160 How do you do with delays? In 2017, our family moved back 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:09,880 to America from having lived for three years in England. 3 00:00:10,280 --> 00:00:13,680 So when moving day came, we had vacated our house. 4 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:18,680 We packed up 10 suitcases, we bundled up three small children, 5 00:00:19,080 --> 00:00:23,040 got them into a van, headed from Cambridge to Heathrow, got to 6 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:25,640 the airport, got their security, got onto the plane, got 7 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:27,920 everybody seated and sat for a couple hours on the runway 8 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:29,320 because there's a mechanical issue. 9 00:00:30,600 --> 00:00:32,640 Then it was determined that the mechanical issue couldn't be 10 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:37,120 fixed and so the flight was cancelled and the soonest they 11 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:41,440 could reschedule the flight for was wait for it the next day. 12 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:45,600 So we D boarded the plane. We got delivered to a hotel. 13 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:48,040 There's a pretty sketchy bus ride in between where with all 14 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:51,240 this oversized luggage, it was like flying off the storage 15 00:00:51,240 --> 00:00:53,440 compartments and the buses going around turns. 16 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:58,040 We get to the hotel, we're being deposited out for 24 hours, go 17 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,200 into our room, start unpacking a couple of suitcases. 18 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:07,160 Now, we'd especially prepared our son William for the trip 19 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:09,000 because he was only two years old. 20 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:10,320 He doesn't really know what's happening. 21 00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:11,800 So OK, William, here's what's going to happen. 22 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:14,640 We're going to take a van. We're going to get on a plane. 23 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:16,200 We're going to be on a plane for a long time. 24 00:01:16,360 --> 00:01:18,360 When we get off the plane, we're going to be in America. 25 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:22,040 So we get into the hotel room. William starts bouncing on one 26 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:23,880 of the beds, and he shouts in triumph. 27 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:31,480 We in America think about how much fun it is to load up three 28 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:34,280 small children in 10 suitcases and get them onto a plane. 29 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:37,800 And think about how much fun it is to keep those three small 30 00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,880 children busy in a hotel with nothing to do for 24 hours. 31 00:01:41,880 --> 00:01:46,320 Delays are not usually very much fun. 32 00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:54,400 Delays often try your patience. They push your buttons. 33 00:01:55,680 --> 00:02:02,600 They reveal sore spots in your personality and weak spots in 34 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:07,800 your character. What's the last big delay you 35 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:12,000 had to deal with? And did it show you anything 36 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,440 about yourself? For those of us who are 37 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:19,400 believers in Jesus, sometimes it seems like God takes his sweet 38 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:23,840 time to fulfill his promises. He made a promise to elderly 39 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:30,280 Abraham that he would give him a son, and he did. 14 years later. 40 00:02:31,480 --> 00:02:33,960 He promised to deliver his people Israel from slavery in 41 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:35,160 Egypt. And he did. 42 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:43,360 After 430 years of oppression almost 2000 years ago, Jesus 43 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:45,480 promised to return and make all things new. 44 00:02:46,600 --> 00:02:51,200 He obviously hasn't yet. From one point of view, that 45 00:02:51,200 --> 00:02:55,400 looks like a delay. Would you say it's been a long 46 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:58,640 time and that promise hasn't been fulfilled yet? 47 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:02,920 There are also other circumstances that can make us 48 00:03:02,920 --> 00:03:07,640 acutely aware of how long God is taking to fulfill that grand 49 00:03:07,640 --> 00:03:10,200 promise. There could be circumstances 50 00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,520 that tempt us to question whether He'll keep other 51 00:03:13,720 --> 00:03:19,160 promises, like the promise never to leave us or forsake us. 52 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:22,280 We go through all kinds of trying circumstances as 53 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,360 Christians. Sickness, disappointment, 54 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:29,480 betrayal, discouragement, and doubt. 55 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,280 There can be problems that just get worse with time. 56 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:39,520 It can make you wonder, why is God taking so long? 57 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:44,200 Why is His promise so long in coming? 58 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:49,000 In our series so far in Habakkuk, we've seen that the 59 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:53,400 prophet Habakkuk wrestled with God's seeming in action toward 60 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:55,400 injustice. So he cried out to the Lord in 61 00:03:55,400 --> 00:03:57,720 prayer. The Lord answered. 62 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:00,840 But then Habakkuk's problem was God's solution looked even worse 63 00:04:00,840 --> 00:04:03,160 than the problem. And so he wrestled with God in 64 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:05,880 prayer again. And he resolved at the end of 65 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:09,920 that prayer in chapter 2, verse one, to wait for an answer. 66 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:16,600 In our passage for this morning, chapter 2, verses 2 to 5, God 67 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:21,560 answers Habakkuk loud and clear. Please listen as I read those 68 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:24,960 verses. Habakkuk 2 verses 2:00 to 5:00. 69 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:33,200 And the Lord answered me, Write the vision, make it plain on 70 00:04:33,200 --> 00:04:37,400 tablets so he may run who reads it? 71 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:42,680 For still the vision awaits its appointed time. 72 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:47,040 It hastens to the end. It will not lie. 73 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:53,880 If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come. 74 00:04:55,280 --> 00:05:00,120 It will not delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up. 75 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,400 It is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by 76 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:07,840 his faith. Moreover, wine is a traitor, an 77 00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:09,920 arrogant man who is never at rest. 78 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:15,400 His greed is as wide as Sheol. Like death, he has never enough. 79 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:20,760 He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own 80 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:26,640 all peoples. In the book of Habakkuk so far, 81 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:32,040 Habakkuk lamented, the Lord answered, Habakkuk lamented 82 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:35,040 again. And now in our passage, the Lord 83 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:38,200 answers again. But his answer makes it clear 84 00:05:38,200 --> 00:05:42,080 that Habakkuk's waiting is far from over. 85 00:05:42,680 --> 00:05:46,320 Habakkuk is going to have to wait a lot more, and so are all 86 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:50,400 of God's people. In this second answer, the Lord 87 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:53,240 tells Habakkuk that he must wait, and he tells him what he's 88 00:05:53,240 --> 00:05:55,920 waiting for, and he tells him how to wait for it. 89 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:58,400 So here's our big question for this morning. 90 00:05:59,280 --> 00:06:04,680 What should you do when God's promise seems slow in coming? 91 00:06:06,280 --> 00:06:14,720 What should you do when God's promise seems slow in coming? 92 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:20,240 Our passage gives 4 answers. We'll see one in each verse .1 93 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:22,440 in verse 2. Read it. 94 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:26,280 Read it. Here's verse 2 again. 95 00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:29,320 And the Lord answered me. Write the vision. 96 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:31,800 Make it plain on tablets so he may run. 97 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:35,440 Who reads it? This verse explicitly says that 98 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:39,280 this is the Lord's answer to Habakkuk's prayerful waiting. 99 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:41,960 This is the response Habakkuk has been waiting for. 100 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:46,200 But before the Lord gives him the content of that response, he 101 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:47,800 tells Habakkuk what to do with it. 102 00:06:48,240 --> 00:06:51,120 Write it. Make it plain on tablets. 103 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:55,360 Now we have to ask, what exactly is the vision that Habakkuk is 104 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,480 to write down? The passage doesn't tell us 105 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:02,960 explicitly, but for reasons I'll explain as we go, I think that 106 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:05,360 verses four and five are basically the key to the whole 107 00:07:05,360 --> 00:07:07,440 book. So I think that at minimum, 108 00:07:07,440 --> 00:07:09,800 verses four and five are what Habakkuk has to write down. 109 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,080 But the section running from verse 6 to verse 20 in chapter 2 110 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:18,400 unpacks the promise of judgment that verse 5 implies. 111 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:21,320 So it's kind of hard to separate verses four and five from what 112 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:23,080 follows. Maybe he he wrote down more. 113 00:07:23,280 --> 00:07:26,000 The point is not super important for our purposes. 114 00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:29,640 In any case, what Habakkuk was to do with the vision is clear. 115 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:31,720 Write it down. Make it plain. 116 00:07:32,280 --> 00:07:34,760 Now the tablets he wants to write on could have been wood, 117 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:37,040 could have been clay, could have been stone. 118 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:41,160 The purpose of having him write it on tablets was that it was 119 00:07:41,160 --> 00:07:44,040 like a picture you could frame and hang up where everybody 120 00:07:44,040 --> 00:07:46,120 could see it. It was like an announcement on a 121 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:49,400 bulletin board that you could put in a public place so that 122 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:51,680 anybody walking by could read it. 123 00:07:52,560 --> 00:07:55,440 Now that last phrase in verse 2 might be a little confusing. 124 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:58,080 So he may run. Who reads it? 125 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,680 I think that the running here is a metaphor, meaning that whoever 126 00:08:01,680 --> 00:08:05,160 reads it can do so easily and quickly. 127 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,480 Anyone can walk up and have no trouble getting the message. 128 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,560 They're not going to be stalled by it being too small or obscure 129 00:08:11,560 --> 00:08:14,080 or anything like that. Maybe Hibakuk was supposed to 130 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:16,280 use big bold letters so that even if you stood across the 131 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:21,000 street, you can make it out just fine while this fanfare. 132 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:24,760 Why such emphatic instructions about what to do with the 133 00:08:24,760 --> 00:08:26,720 message? What Hibakuk is supposed to do 134 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:29,360 with the vision? The reason is that the vision 135 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:33,039 the Lord is about to give Him is extra important. 136 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:36,039 All of these kind of trumpet blasts before it actually comes 137 00:08:36,159 --> 00:08:38,480 are signaling how important it is. 138 00:08:38,480 --> 00:08:41,240 God is about to provide deeper insight into the meaning of 139 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:44,640 events that are to come, and He's about to provide deeper 140 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:50,520 instruction about how to wait for His promise and how to live 141 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:55,240 well in the time between. God is about to reveal both what 142 00:08:55,240 --> 00:09:00,160 to expect and how to live in light of that expectation. 143 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:04,320 That, I think, is why verses four and five are key to the 144 00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:07,440 whole book. I'm not a big fan of billboards. 145 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:12,440 They're distracting and ugly. But here's the thing, they work. 146 00:09:13,000 --> 00:09:16,120 They grab your attention, you're driving by and it's hard not to 147 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:20,080 look at that 40 foot wide sign here. 148 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:22,640 It's as if the Lord is saying to Habakkuk, make it like a 149 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:27,360 billboard, make it unmissable, make it so that it will grab 150 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:30,400 everybody's attention, so that everybody in the city of 151 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:36,160 Jerusalem can see this. What we hear in verse 2 is that 152 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:40,240 the Lord is determined to publish His word. 153 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:46,240 The Lord is determined to propagate His word. 154 00:09:46,760 --> 00:09:49,680 There's a sense in which what the Lord told Habakkuk to do in 155 00:09:49,680 --> 00:09:52,800 a special kind of format here, He also instructed all the 156 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:56,200 prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles and their 157 00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:59,560 associates who wrote the New Testament to do the same thing. 158 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,000 The Lord could have, if he chose, simply given his 159 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:06,120 revelation in verbal form and said, all right, preserve it, 160 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,920 pass it down, teach it, memorize it, don't forget any of it. 161 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:13,160 Just pass it down, mouth to mouth, mind to mind, generation 162 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:15,720 to generation. He could have done that, but 163 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:20,040 what he did instead was instruct prophets and apostles to write 164 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:24,720 it down. He gave it a more fixed and 165 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:29,320 stable form, a form that could travel from region to region, 166 00:10:29,320 --> 00:10:31,840 country to country, A form that could be translated into new 167 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:35,440 languages, a form that could be preserved over time, over 168 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,840 generations and centuries and millennia. 169 00:10:39,720 --> 00:10:42,920 God's given us his word in a form that's reliable and 170 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:45,360 trustworthy. It's available and accessible. 171 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:48,400 It's able to be read by anyone who can read. 172 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:51,520 It's able to be heard by anyone who can listen to it being read 173 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:55,640 aloud. In other words, I think verse 2 174 00:10:55,640 --> 00:11:00,160 supports the biblical doctrine of the clarity of Scripture. 175 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:03,960 God has given us His revelation in a form anyone can understand. 176 00:11:04,280 --> 00:11:07,920 It's teaching about how to be saved and how to live a godly 177 00:11:07,920 --> 00:11:13,000 life is accessible to all. You can get what you need from 178 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:17,120 Scripture to be right with God and live a life that's pleasing 179 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:21,120 to him. When God's promise seems slow in 180 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:23,680 coming, what should you do? Read it. 181 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:27,120 There's a sense in which the whole Bible expounds God's 182 00:11:27,280 --> 00:11:29,400 promises. Of course, the Bible contains 183 00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:32,400 more than promises, but it's promises that hold the whole 184 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:35,600 Bible together, promises that set the plot moving. 185 00:11:36,160 --> 00:11:39,280 Abraham wasn't doing much of significance in terms of 186 00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:43,640 salvation history before God's promise comes to him, calls him, 187 00:11:43,840 --> 00:11:46,240 sets a whole new thing in motion. 188 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:51,920 God's promises and their fulfilment structure the whole 189 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:56,040 of Scripture. Now God's Word is packed with 190 00:11:56,040 --> 00:12:00,080 detailed descriptions of what he promises to all who believe. 191 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:03,960 One good spiritual exercise is to read through the whole Bible 192 00:12:04,160 --> 00:12:10,720 and pay attention to everything that is promised to stir up love 193 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,440 for your true Fatherland during your exile. 194 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:20,880 Read the letters your father has written to you about your 195 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:23,760 homeland. You could even take a certain 196 00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:26,640 color pen or highlighter and mark every promise that you find 197 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:30,280 in that same color. Reading scripture with a view to 198 00:12:30,280 --> 00:12:33,560 storing up God's promises is like filling up your gas tank 199 00:12:33,560 --> 00:12:36,720 for a long road trip. The Christian life involves a 200 00:12:36,720 --> 00:12:40,520 lot of waiting. Most of us will likely have to 201 00:12:40,520 --> 00:12:45,800 cover a lot of Spiritual Rd. miles between now and heaven. 202 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:48,840 What do you have to do on a long road trip? 203 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:51,880 Say you're driving from here to Maine or you're driving from 204 00:12:51,880 --> 00:12:55,000 here to Kansas City. You will have to fill up your 205 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:59,680 tank multiple times. One tank of gas is not going to 206 00:12:59,680 --> 00:13:02,920 do it. When you study God's Word to 207 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:06,920 mark its promises, you are filling up your gas tank 208 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:11,120 spiritually to enable spiritual endurance. 209 00:13:12,160 --> 00:13:16,040 So when you find God's promises in Scripture, you should also 210 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:19,240 meditate on those promises by turning them into prayer. 211 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:22,760 Ask God to enable you to trust His promises more than you trust 212 00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:27,040 market projections. Ask God to enable you to desire 213 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:30,840 what he has promised you in heaven more than you desire 214 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:36,200 health or prosperity now. And remind each other of God's 215 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:38,760 promises. When you do that, you put a 216 00:13:38,760 --> 00:13:41,760 little gas into another church member's tank. 217 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:45,000 Think of a promise that's especially encouraged you. 218 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:49,520 And tell someone else. Talk to him in person, or call 219 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:51,680 him on the phone, or text them or e-mail. 220 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:58,240 Help a fellow believer see and savour what God has written in 221 00:13:58,240 --> 00:14:04,240 big, bold letters. When God's promise seems slow in 222 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:08,160 coming, keep reading the book that declares those promises to 223 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:12,040 you, and then read it some more. It's going to be a long drive. 224 00:14:12,680 --> 00:14:20,280 Settle in point #2 wait for it. That's the Lord's exhortation in 225 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:24,560 verse three. Wait for it, for still the 226 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:26,280 vision awaits its appointed time. 227 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:29,280 It hastens to the end. It will not lie. 228 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:35,600 If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come. 229 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:40,480 It will not delay. The beginning of verse 3 says 230 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:43,280 still. Still the vision awaits. 231 00:14:43,440 --> 00:14:47,120 Why the word still? Because it might look to 232 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:50,600 Habakkuk like it's already been a long time coming, and because 233 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,400 the full fulfillment of what God is promising here is going to 234 00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:57,120 take a while. Just to preview a little bit. 235 00:14:57,400 --> 00:15:00,680 In verse 5, we get just a hint that God will judge the 236 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:03,760 Babylonians for their sins. That's part of what Habakkuk has 237 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:06,960 been asking for. And then verses 6 to 20 predict 238 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:10,560 that judgement in detail. Babylon's downfall, historically 239 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:13,960 speaking, would come 70 years later when Cyrus the Persian 240 00:15:13,960 --> 00:15:16,720 would conquer them. In historical terms, it's not 241 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:20,480 very long, but Habakkuk would almost certainly have been dead 242 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:22,960 by then. God's people would have to wait 243 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:26,240 a long time even for the initial fulfillment of the first part of 244 00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:29,360 this promise. But the following verses in 245 00:15:29,360 --> 00:15:32,280 chapter 2 point even further into the future. 246 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:33,880 We'll see more next week, Lord willing. 247 00:15:33,880 --> 00:15:38,080 But just here's verse 14. For the earth will be filled 248 00:15:38,080 --> 00:15:41,360 with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover 249 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:44,360 the sea. That didn't happen in Habakkuk's 250 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:46,720 lifetime. That didn't happen 70 years 251 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:51,280 later with the fall of Babylon. It still hasn't happened 2500 252 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:56,600 years later. If it seems slow, wait for it. 253 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:00,920 The vision the Lord gives Habakkuk is immediately 254 00:16:00,920 --> 00:16:04,560 fulfilled in the historical downfall of Babylon and the end 255 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:08,280 of Judah's exile. But it is ultimately fulfilled 256 00:16:08,640 --> 00:16:11,520 in both the 1st and the second coming of Christ. 257 00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:17,400 That's why at the beginning of verse 3, the Lord says still for 258 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:21,480 still the vision awaits its appointed time. 259 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:24,720 Despite the long time between promise and fulfillment, it's 260 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:28,680 still coming. Despite the seemingly long 261 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:33,000 delay, God will still do what He said. 262 00:16:33,240 --> 00:16:35,800 Why? Because the vision has an 263 00:16:35,800 --> 00:16:39,280 appointed time to be fulfilled. We have to ask, appointed by 264 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:41,840 whom? Appointed by God who made the 265 00:16:41,840 --> 00:16:44,800 promise. Appointed by God who sovereignly 266 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:49,800 rules the whole universe. People have different ways of 267 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:52,600 managing their upcoming appointments with other people. 268 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:56,520 You might have a journal kind of notebook that has a calendar in 269 00:16:56,520 --> 00:16:58,000 it. You might have the one you put 270 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:00,040 up on your fridge or a wall in your kitchen. 271 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:02,280 For me, it's pretty much Google Calendar. 272 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:04,880 If I'm going to make an appointment, it's going into my 273 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:07,359 Google Calendar. If I don't put it in there, I'm 274 00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:10,280 probably forgetting about it. There's a friend I used to have 275 00:17:10,280 --> 00:17:12,680 lunch with once a month when we lived in DC. 276 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:16,000 He lived a block from me, and so we'd be walking back from lunch 277 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:17,960 and every time we got to his place, we're going to say 278 00:17:17,960 --> 00:17:19,599 goodbye. I would just schedule the next 279 00:17:19,599 --> 00:17:22,160 lunch, send him an invite right then and there. 280 00:17:22,400 --> 00:17:25,680 He would laugh at me. The the predictability end of 281 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:27,200 lunch, we're going to schedule the next one. 282 00:17:27,359 --> 00:17:29,280 The Google invite's going to show up from Bobby in two 283 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:30,160 seconds. Here we go. 284 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:33,360 Why did I do that? It's because I valued his 285 00:17:33,360 --> 00:17:35,480 friendship. I didn't want to just forget 286 00:17:35,480 --> 00:17:37,360 about it and have us stop getting lunch because we're 287 00:17:37,360 --> 00:17:39,080 busy. Stuff's going to happen. 288 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:41,200 If we leave it the next time I might not see him. 289 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:46,640 So just put it on the Google Calendar right now, for still 290 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:49,880 the vision awaits. It's appointed time. 291 00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:55,240 Verse 3 is telling us that God Himself has put the date of the 292 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:58,160 fulfilment of this promise on His own personal Google 293 00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:00,200 Calendar. It's there. 294 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:02,520 He's not going to forget about it. 295 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,640 He's not going to miss it Now, unfortunately for our desires to 296 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:09,440 know more than we need to know, this is not a Google Calendar He 297 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:13,440 can share with any creature. You will not be getting viewing, 298 00:18:13,440 --> 00:18:15,720 much less editing access to this calendar. 299 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:22,960 But who cares who needs it? God Himself has set the time. 300 00:18:23,800 --> 00:18:27,240 That's all we need to know. God's not going to miss it. 301 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:29,200 Nothing could take it off His calendar. 302 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:34,240 Nothing could interfere with His commitment to fulfilling His 303 00:18:34,240 --> 00:18:36,880 promise. God will fulfill it no matter 304 00:18:36,880 --> 00:18:39,960 what the next little bit of verse 3 says. 305 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:42,560 It hastens to the end. It will not lie. 306 00:18:43,360 --> 00:18:47,320 The word translated hastens is literally pants or breathes, 307 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:49,880 like someone working hard to reach a destination. 308 00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:52,520 The point is that even if it seems like God's not doing 309 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:54,960 anything, He's active in ways we can't see. 310 00:18:55,320 --> 00:18:57,720 He is purposely moving history toward its fulfilment. 311 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:01,080 Even when it looks to us like He's not doing anything, God's 312 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:04,960 purpose is working. God's promise is painting, and 313 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:08,440 it won't prove false because the God who gave it won't prove 314 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:10,560 false. The vision cannot lie because 315 00:19:10,560 --> 00:19:14,280 the God who revealed it does not and cannot lie. 316 00:19:14,600 --> 00:19:19,040 God will never rethink His priorities and decide to not 317 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:22,360 pursue that course of action. After all, there is no on again, 318 00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:27,000 off again with God's promises. The rest of the verse says if it 319 00:19:27,000 --> 00:19:30,760 seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come. 320 00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:34,400 It will not delay. It might seem slow to us, but it 321 00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:37,560 is not our job to judge God's timing. 322 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:41,240 God is like Gandalf and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, 323 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:45,320 Frodo accuses him. You're late, Gandalf replies. 324 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:49,280 A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins, nor is he early. 325 00:19:49,800 --> 00:19:52,000 He arrives precisely when he means to. 326 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:56,120 God's promises are never late, nor are they early. 327 00:19:56,440 --> 00:20:00,400 They arrive precisely when he means them to. 328 00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:05,400 So how can you keep faithfully waiting on God's promise when it 329 00:20:05,400 --> 00:20:08,320 seems slow in coming? The first thing is to remember 330 00:20:08,480 --> 00:20:12,600 that it's spoken by God himself. God has said it. 331 00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:15,040 That's the only assurance we need. 332 00:20:15,520 --> 00:20:19,280 That's the essence of faith. As Martyn Lloyd Jones reflected, 333 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:25,240 faith means taking the bare word of God and acting upon it 334 00:20:25,240 --> 00:20:29,280 because it is the Word of God. It means believing what God says 335 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:34,240 simply and solely because he has said it. 336 00:20:35,800 --> 00:20:38,400 You also have to make sure that what you're waiting for is 337 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:40,560 something God has actually promised. 338 00:20:41,080 --> 00:20:44,040 There are all kinds of good things we hope for and long for 339 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:47,560 and yearn for that God hasn't actually promised us. 340 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:50,360 He might give them, He might not. 341 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:55,640 If you're counting on it, it better be God's promise that 342 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:58,440 you're counting on. Count on Christ's return. 343 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,320 Count on the resurrection of your body. 344 00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:04,760 Count on inheriting the new heavens and earth. 345 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:08,560 Count on God never leaving or forsaking you. 346 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:13,320 But don't count on something you want that God hasn't guaranteed. 347 00:21:14,120 --> 00:21:16,640 In this series so far, we've repeatedly come back to the 348 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:19,360 theme of waiting on the Lord. And here it is again. 349 00:21:19,720 --> 00:21:23,400 The Lord knows we need repeated reminders to wait for Him. 350 00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:27,360 The Lord knows we're impatient by nature, need to be told again 351 00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:30,080 and again to wait on His promises. 352 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:33,360 When we're suffering and struggling, we can be tempted to 353 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:36,880 forget what we knew for certain in the clear light of day. 354 00:21:37,680 --> 00:21:40,320 So when God's promises seem slow, how can you wait? 355 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:46,400 Well, it's about what weighs heavier in your heart. 356 00:21:47,040 --> 00:21:53,360 God's promises or your plans. God's promises or your 357 00:21:53,360 --> 00:21:58,560 suffering. God's promises or your fears. 358 00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:05,040 Let the certainty of fulfillment outweigh the uncertainty of its 359 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,880 timing. Let the certainty of God's 360 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:11,440 promises being fulfilled outweigh the uncertainty of so 361 00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:13,520 many of your desires being realized. 362 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:19,160 Let the certainty of God's promises outweigh your fears and 363 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:22,240 anxieties. Many of them won't happen. 364 00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:29,080 Even if they do, the fulfillment of God's promises will more than 365 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:31,880 make up for it. As we sang earlier, the King 366 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,200 there in his beauty without a veil is seen. 367 00:22:34,360 --> 00:22:40,400 It were a well spent journey those 7 deaths lay between. 368 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:47,360 How can you get God's promises to weigh heavier in your heart 369 00:22:47,360 --> 00:22:50,440 than anything else? The fundamental thing to do is 370 00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:55,120 pray that God will renovate your heart so that His promises are 371 00:22:55,120 --> 00:22:58,600 the foundation of your life. Helps to examine your heart in 372 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:00,800 light of Scripture. Ask God to show you what you're 373 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:03,320 relying on instead of His promise, or that's competing 374 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:06,440 with His promise that you're putting more hope in than His 375 00:23:06,440 --> 00:23:08,440 promise. And talk to another church 376 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:10,920 member about that. Open up the contents of your 377 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,040 heart. Say, help me rely on God's 378 00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:19,680 promise more than on my plans. When God makes a promise, you 379 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:23,800 have only two options. Believe it or reject it. 380 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:28,960 Accept it or refuse it. And which option you choose 381 00:23:28,960 --> 00:23:30,640 determines your relationship with Him. 382 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:32,720 It determines the course of your life. 383 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:36,920 Ultimately, it determines your eternal destiny. 384 00:23:37,360 --> 00:23:43,400 So what should you do when God's promise seems slow .3 Trust it, 385 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:48,080 Trust it. That's the posture commended in 386 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:54,200 verse 4. Behold, his soul is puffed up. 387 00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:59,200 It is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by 388 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:02,280 his faith. This verse really begins the 389 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:05,280 vision itself. This attention getting word 390 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,400 behold is a clue that this is the start of the vision. 391 00:24:09,120 --> 00:24:13,560 Now in this vision, verse 4 begins a contrast between faith 392 00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:16,560 and unbelief that also runs through verse 5. 393 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:20,720 It paints side by side portraits of someone who rejects God's 394 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:24,360 promises and someone who accepts God's promises. 395 00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,760 In the first part of this vision, the Lord is describing 396 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:34,080 unbelief in terms that especially fit the Babylonians 397 00:24:34,400 --> 00:24:37,720 and their kings. He's doing that to show how the 398 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:43,000 Babylonians exemplify and typify unbelief and evil in general. 399 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,240 The Babylonians who are about to swoop down and judge them are a 400 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:48,800 moral and spiritual example to avoid. 401 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:50,960 They're what God's people should not to be like. 402 00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:53,800 They're examples of people who don't submit to the Lord and 403 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,880 don't trust His promises. So first, in verse 4, we learn 404 00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:00,920 of the person whose soul is puffed up and whose soul is not 405 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:03,760 upright. In other words, they're proud. 406 00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:07,280 They reject God's word because they think they know better. 407 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:11,040 They reject God's ways because they would rather be in charge 408 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:15,040 of their own life. Pride and unbelief are two sides 409 00:25:15,040 --> 00:25:19,920 of the same coin. Refusal to believe and refusal 410 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:23,520 to obey are two aspects of the same reality. 411 00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:27,200 If you're not a believer in Jesus, how do you respond to 412 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:30,200 pride? It's easy enough to spot it in 413 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:34,600 others, easy to see when someone has a too high view of 414 00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:37,440 themselves. But what about spotting pride in 415 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:41,200 yourself? How easy is it to detect? 416 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:45,360 How do you respond if someone else ever suggests to you that 417 00:25:45,360 --> 00:25:49,560 you are proud? It's hard to see your own pride. 418 00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:53,240 It's maybe even harder to acknowledge when someone else 419 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:57,520 points it out. And it's harder still to get rid 420 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:00,480 of your pride. What can do that? 421 00:26:01,120 --> 00:26:05,200 How could such a fundamental change be accomplished? 422 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:10,440 So that's 1/2 of the contrast. Pride, unbelief being puffed up. 423 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:12,320 What about the other half of the contrast? 424 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:13,680 Look at the second part of verse 4. 425 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,880 But the righteous shall live by his faith. 426 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:22,360 Now the whole focus of the context is waiting on God to 427 00:26:22,360 --> 00:26:25,160 fulfill His promise, trusting that God will make good on His 428 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:27,640 Word even when you don't see any evidence of that coming. 429 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,960 So when Habakkuk refers to someone here as righteous, I 430 00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:35,000 think he implies that what puts them into that category of 431 00:26:35,000 --> 00:26:38,640 righteous is their faith. They're counted righteous by 432 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:40,320 faith. I think there's a deliberate 433 00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:45,080 echo here of Genesis 15-6, which says Abraham believed God and he 434 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:48,480 counted it to him as righteousness. 435 00:26:49,360 --> 00:26:53,200 So here the righteous person doesn't rely on themselves, but 436 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:56,960 on God's promise by faith. The righteous person looks not 437 00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:59,320 to their own strength, but to God's strength. 438 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:03,440 They rely not on their plans but on God's promise. 439 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:08,640 Now, what does it mean that the righteous will live by faith? 440 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,520 I don't think this is describing the kind of course of life or 441 00:27:12,520 --> 00:27:14,920 way of life, although that's true theologically. 442 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:19,920 I think it's a compressed way of promising ultimate salvation. 443 00:27:20,280 --> 00:27:22,640 They will live. Finally, they will live 444 00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:24,840 eternally. When all things are said and 445 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:29,400 done, they will be found living. Whereas the Babylonians, and 446 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,040 like them, all the wicked will ultimately be judged. 447 00:27:33,240 --> 00:27:35,720 Those opposed to God will ultimately receive his 448 00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:38,480 condemnation. Those who are righteous by faith 449 00:27:38,480 --> 00:27:41,880 will be vindicated. So I think this promise of life 450 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:43,800 points ahead. I think it points to the climax 451 00:27:43,800 --> 00:27:47,520 of history and beyond history, to the eternal life God promises 452 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:50,240 his people. It points to a life that is 453 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:56,040 beyond the reach of any invading army and every unjust oppressor. 454 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:00,080 It's a promise that might seem slow in coming, but it will 455 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:05,160 certainly come. This passage paints a stark 456 00:28:05,200 --> 00:28:07,960 contrast. We often resist that. 457 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:09,840 We don't like that. We want there to be categories 458 00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:11,800 in between. Well, what about the really 459 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:14,200 righteous person who maybe they don't believe in God, but they 460 00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:16,840 do a lot of moral good works And shouldn't God just kind of look 461 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:18,720 at that person and say, oh, you're kind of doing the right 462 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:20,360 thing. You're kind of on my team. 463 00:28:20,360 --> 00:28:22,720 I know you don't really get it or pay attention to me, but 464 00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:25,120 you're you're doing sort of socially good things. 465 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:26,480 You're a good person. That's fine. 466 00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:31,160 That counts. We don't like the absolute black 467 00:28:31,160 --> 00:28:34,160 and white one or the other, yes or no. 468 00:28:35,120 --> 00:28:36,680 But that's the picture God is painting here. 469 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:41,440 He's showing that the key to being right with Him is 470 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:45,040 believing Him. The only way to be accepted by 471 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:49,720 Him is trusting His promise. And He's made good on this 472 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:53,560 promise by sending his Son into the world to save all those who 473 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:55,280 had turned from sin and trust in him. 474 00:28:55,800 --> 00:28:58,080 He made good on this promise that the righteous will live by 475 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:01,280 faith by sending his Son to become Incarnate, to live a 476 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:04,120 perfect life for us, to die on the cross for all who would 477 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:07,360 believe, and to rise from the dead three days later, beginning 478 00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:10,440 in himself that eternal life that would be promised to God's 479 00:29:10,440 --> 00:29:13,640 people. There's such a binary here 480 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:15,720 because when it comes to the good news of Jesus, you either 481 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:18,560 accept or reject. There's only two options, 482 00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:20,920 because only by believing in Jesus can you receive this 483 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:24,160 eternal life. There's only a yes or no, black 484 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:28,680 or white, on or off, because this good news of what Jesus 485 00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:32,320 came to do is the only way to receive life from God. 486 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:36,160 It's the only way to be right with God if you've not turned 487 00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:39,480 from sin and trusted in Jesus, believe in him today. 488 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:43,560 So this verse, Vagad 24, is one of the most important verses in 489 00:29:43,560 --> 00:29:47,400 the Bible for understanding how you can become right with God, 490 00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:50,640 how anybody can get into a right relationship with God. 491 00:29:51,080 --> 00:29:54,120 And so it's not surprising that this verse is quoted multiple 492 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:58,200 times in the New Testament. To that end, as we heard in our 493 00:29:58,200 --> 00:30:01,680 call to worship, the apostle Paul quotes this verse twice at 494 00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:03,840 key places in his letters. One of them is the Feast of 495 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:07,760 Statement of the book of Romans, chapter 1, verses 16 and 17. 496 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:11,360 I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for 497 00:30:11,360 --> 00:30:15,480 salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew 1st, and 498 00:30:15,480 --> 00:30:19,320 also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of 499 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:23,400 God is revealed from faith. For faith as it is written, the 500 00:30:23,400 --> 00:30:27,840 righteous shall live by faith. So Paul takes this verse, 501 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:31,920 Habakkuk 2 four, to be a prophetic witness, pointing 502 00:30:31,920 --> 00:30:36,480 ahead to the reality that all who trust in Jesus will be 503 00:30:36,480 --> 00:30:41,760 declared righteous by God. Paul sees in Habakkuk's promise 504 00:30:42,360 --> 00:30:47,520 a preview or a paradigm of the one who has faith in Jesus. 505 00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:51,000 Whoever is rightly believing in God's promise in Habakkuk's day 506 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:52,960 is looking forward to its fulfillment. 507 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:57,600 Whoever believes in Jesus today is looking back on its 508 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:00,640 fulfillment. Everyone who trusts in Jesus 509 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:03,840 will be declared righteous by God, not because of anything 510 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:07,280 good we've done, but only because by faith we receive 511 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:10,320 Jesus's righteousness. That's the biblical doctrine of 512 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:14,480 justification by faith alone. As we confessed earlier in 513 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:17,920 Article nine of our church's statement of faith, we believe 514 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:21,600 the justification is God's gracious and full acquittal of 515 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:28,120 sinners, wherein He removes our guilt, reconciles us to Himself, 516 00:31:28,640 --> 00:31:35,200 and declares us righteous. Now, justifying faith will 517 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:39,840 always show itself to be true over time by bearing the fruit 518 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:45,120 of love and obedience. But we are not justified by our 519 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:51,080 love or obedience. As Calvin put it, faith strips 520 00:31:51,120 --> 00:31:58,640 us of all arrogance and leads us naked and needy to God, that we 521 00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:02,520 may seek salvation from Him alone, which would otherwise be 522 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:06,880 far removed from us. In Romans 4 verse 5, Paul 523 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:10,760 teaches that the one who does not work but trusts him who 524 00:32:10,760 --> 00:32:14,600 justifies the ungodly has their faith counted as righteousness. 525 00:32:15,360 --> 00:32:18,640 In Galatians 311, Paul denies that anyone can be justified by 526 00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:21,720 the law. And then he quotes our verse 527 00:32:22,720 --> 00:32:27,760 Faith is how we receive Christ and perfect righteousness in 528 00:32:27,760 --> 00:32:30,720 Him. We're justified by faith alone, 529 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:33,920 and the faith that justifies is never alone. 530 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:37,600 A helpful analogy for holding both those truths together is 531 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:39,600 like the role of the eye in the body. 532 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:42,200 The eye is not separated from the body. 533 00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:44,800 It can't exist and do its function apart from the body. 534 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:51,680 But of all the parts of the body the I alone sees, faith alone 535 00:32:51,760 --> 00:32:55,000 receives Christ and his righteousness. 536 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:58,520 There are infinite rich applications of this truth that 537 00:32:58,520 --> 00:33:00,800 we could consider. Our pastor Michael will lead us 538 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:02,920 in considering a few of them in the devotional tonight. 539 00:33:03,280 --> 00:33:06,440 For now, I'll just say this. What should this truth of 540 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:10,960 justification by faith alone do to your relationship with God? 541 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,200 If you trust in Christ, the doctrine of justification should 542 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:21,120 grant you a massive stable assurance. 543 00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:28,280 Your standing before God does not rise with obedience or fall 544 00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:31,920 with disobedience. Your peace with God does not 545 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:37,160 diminish based on how you feel or how warm or cold your love 546 00:33:37,160 --> 00:33:40,040 for Him is. Because you've been justified by 547 00:33:40,040 --> 00:33:44,040 faith, you have peace with God. There is therefore now no 548 00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:47,880 condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, those whom God 549 00:33:47,880 --> 00:33:55,760 has justified who will condemn. So when God's promise seems slow 550 00:33:55,760 --> 00:34:02,160 in coming, trust it, receive it, rely on it. 551 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:10,280 If you do, what will be the proof .4 in verse 5? 552 00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:15,199 Be satisfied in it. Be satisfied in it. 553 00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:19,880 Now that's the opposite of what the wicked person in verse 5 554 00:34:19,880 --> 00:34:22,920 does. So we're giving the opposite of 555 00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:26,040 what is being warned about. Be satisfied in it. 556 00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:30,880 Verse 5 continues the contrast by switching back to focusing on 557 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:35,120 the unrighteous, and it shows that those who are ruled by 558 00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:38,760 sinful appetites are never satisfied. 559 00:34:40,199 --> 00:34:47,920 Look at verse 11. Sorry, not verse 11, Verse 5. 560 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:54,320 Moreover, Wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at 561 00:34:54,320 --> 00:34:57,440 rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol. 562 00:34:57,720 --> 00:35:01,040 Like death, he has never enough. He gathers for himself all 563 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:05,320 nations and collects as his own all peoples. 564 00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:09,320 Again, remember that in this vision the Lord is describing 565 00:35:09,320 --> 00:35:12,240 unbelievers in general in terms that especially fit the 566 00:35:12,240 --> 00:35:14,960 Babylonians. One reason for that is to warn 567 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:18,000 his people not to be like them, but instead to live by faith. 568 00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:22,000 But I think another reason for describing the wicked in terms 569 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:25,760 that fit the Babylonians is sort of to start profiling them, to 570 00:35:25,760 --> 00:35:28,880 start forecasting their fate. Here's who they are. 571 00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:32,240 Here's what they're like. You start filling in the dots 572 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:35,360 based on what you know of God's character and his purposes. 573 00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:38,240 How do you think it's going to wind up for them? 574 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:42,240 Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a 575 00:35:42,240 --> 00:35:44,560 fall. What's implicit here? 576 00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:47,720 Verses 6 to 20 are going to make very explicit. 577 00:35:48,000 --> 00:35:50,880 Babylon's days are numbered. He's going to judge them for 578 00:35:50,880 --> 00:35:53,520 their greedy domination of the world. 579 00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:57,720 And so we begin to see how verses four and five together 580 00:35:57,840 --> 00:35:59,680 are the answer to Habakkuk's lament. 581 00:36:00,120 --> 00:36:03,000 How can God let the Babylonians get away with all this? 582 00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:09,520 He won't, but he's going to deal with them in his own way and in 583 00:36:09,520 --> 00:36:13,720 his own time. So how can Habakkuk and the rest 584 00:36:13,720 --> 00:36:16,160 of God's people live with that tension? 585 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:20,960 How can they bear up in the face of present devastation and 586 00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:24,560 injustice and questions about God's righteousness? 587 00:36:25,400 --> 00:36:29,400 It's by trusting in His promise that's the key. 588 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:32,720 That's the key that God gives His people through Habakkuk to 589 00:36:32,720 --> 00:36:35,320 hold on, to keep trusting the promise. 590 00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:38,240 It will become plain. There will be a difference 591 00:36:38,240 --> 00:36:39,480 between the righteous and the wicked. 592 00:36:39,720 --> 00:36:41,800 Those who trust in Him will inherit life. 593 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:44,000 Those who oppose Him will be judged. 594 00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:48,400 And you have to keep holding on to that promise for as long as 595 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:53,080 it takes. So here in verse 5, the Lord 596 00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:56,360 returns to what His people shouldn't do and shouldn't. 597 00:36:56,720 --> 00:36:58,800 B. He begins with a warning about 598 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:00,760 wine and you might see a footnote in your Bible. 599 00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:04,120 That's the Dead Sea Scrolls copy of this verse has the word 600 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:05,840 wealth. It's a very similar word in 601 00:37:05,840 --> 00:37:07,400 Hebrew. You basically change one pen 602 00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:08,600 stroke and it could have been wealth. 603 00:37:08,800 --> 00:37:11,080 I think wine though is the original reading. 604 00:37:11,080 --> 00:37:13,840 It's it's in the most of the manuscripts that makes sense in 605 00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:15,480 the context. Here's how it fits. 606 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:19,640 Wine is a reference not to the beverage as such, but to 607 00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:23,040 drunkenness. According to scripture, wine is 608 00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:27,880 a good gift from God, but drunkenness is treacherous and 609 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:31,440 arrogant. To be drunk is to be never at 610 00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:32,520 rest. Why? 611 00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:35,520 Because you're giving into cravings and you always want 612 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:38,520 more. Too much is never enough. 613 00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:43,440 When you want too much and drink too much, it will turn on you, 614 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:47,640 it will turn against you. You will be seeking enjoyment 615 00:37:48,160 --> 00:37:50,280 and you will be damaging yourself and others. 616 00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:54,000 So drunkenness is a sin, but it isn't merely a sin. 617 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:57,280 It's also a picture. It's it's a paradigm, it's a 618 00:37:57,280 --> 00:38:00,320 parable. A drunkard always wants more, 619 00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:04,560 and so does the king of Babylon. What does he want more of? 620 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:09,680 Peoples, nations, kingdoms and all of their resources to suck 621 00:38:09,680 --> 00:38:13,400 up and take back to the capital and to tax to create a ever 622 00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:17,320 flowing income stream. He wants more, always another 623 00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:19,120 one. Where's another Kingdom I can 624 00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:24,320 drink up for myself. Babylon's foreign policy is like 625 00:38:24,720 --> 00:38:28,040 a drunk always wanting another drink. 626 00:38:29,520 --> 00:38:38,440 Idols deliver for a time. Idols give you something that 627 00:38:38,440 --> 00:38:43,960 keeps you coming back to them. If they didn't, they would have 628 00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:48,440 no worshippers. It's not that idols don't work 629 00:38:48,720 --> 00:38:51,600 at all. In fact, they can seem to work 630 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:57,160 really well for a time. Drunkenness, sexual immorality, 631 00:38:57,160 --> 00:38:59,480 greed, lust for power, you name it. 632 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:03,640 If you give yourself to that idol, you will get something 633 00:39:03,640 --> 00:39:06,520 from it. But eventually there will be 634 00:39:06,520 --> 00:39:11,040 diminishing returns. Eventually your idol will turn 635 00:39:11,040 --> 00:39:12,480 on you. That's why God calls it a 636 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:19,160 traitor. Idols demand more and more while 637 00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:23,760 giving less and less. The longer you worship an idol, 638 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:27,720 the more you give it and the less it gives you. 639 00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:30,560 That's the warning in this verse. 640 00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:35,640 His greed is as wide as Sheol. Like death, he never has enough. 641 00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:39,200 He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own 642 00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:42,880 all peoples. Ultimately, when you devote 643 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:47,800 yourself to any sinful desire, you never have enough. 644 00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:52,600 That word for Sheol there, it's just a kind of Hebrew idiomatic 645 00:39:52,600 --> 00:39:54,440 way of referring to the realm of the dead. 646 00:39:54,640 --> 00:39:57,920 Kind of a synonym for death. Just like death swallows up 647 00:39:57,960 --> 00:40:01,200 everyone eventually. That's how big the King of 648 00:40:01,200 --> 00:40:05,160 Babylon's appetite is. It's a gruesome picture. 649 00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:11,320 Kids in the congregation, what do you want that you can never 650 00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:16,600 have enough of? Is there a snack that once you 651 00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:20,440 start to eat it, it is hard not to eat the whole bag? 652 00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:23,880 Maybe your parents wouldn't let you eat the whole bag. 653 00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:27,600 Maybe sometimes. You've eaten the whole bag 654 00:40:27,600 --> 00:40:29,640 anyway and didn't tell anybody about it, only got found out 655 00:40:29,640 --> 00:40:33,800 later. Those snack foods are engineered 656 00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:37,000 to make you want more without filling up your stomach. 657 00:40:37,720 --> 00:40:40,000 That's what they're designed to do. 658 00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:42,360 They're hard to resist. I have my own that I could name 659 00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:46,360 that would be difficult for me not to eat the whole bag, but 660 00:40:46,360 --> 00:40:49,800 that's a picture of what sinful desire is like. 661 00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:53,440 In general. You want more and it isn't 662 00:40:53,440 --> 00:40:56,640 enough. You have a ton and it doesn't 663 00:40:56,640 --> 00:40:59,400 fill you up. You keep going and getting more 664 00:40:59,400 --> 00:41:02,560 of it, but then you start to feel sick. 665 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:07,920 So what's the alternative? If endless craving is what we 666 00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:11,320 shouldn't give in to, then what does God want us to cultivate 667 00:41:11,920 --> 00:41:16,280 it's satisfaction in Him. You cannot grow as a Christian 668 00:41:16,440 --> 00:41:20,400 through simple denial, only denial. 669 00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:23,080 There is a denial we should denial selfish and sinful 670 00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:26,120 desires, but only denial doesn't do it. 671 00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:30,880 You can only drive out a desire for satisfaction in sinful 672 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:33,880 things or a sinful to great desire for something that in 673 00:41:33,880 --> 00:41:38,000 itself could be legitimate. You can only drive that out by 674 00:41:38,000 --> 00:41:41,400 aiming for a greater satisfaction in God. 675 00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:49,200 You have to be more satisfied to have His promise then you would 676 00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:55,480 be to possess the whole world. What Jesus said in Mark 836 is 677 00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:58,800 so on point. For what does it profit a man to 678 00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:02,080 gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? 679 00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:05,960 So again, this passage presents us with a stark choice. 680 00:42:06,400 --> 00:42:09,240 You can chase sinful desires that will never satisfy you and 681 00:42:09,240 --> 00:42:12,560 always leave you wanting more. Or you can trust the God who is 682 00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:16,880 Himself infinitely satisfying. The more you trust Him, the more 683 00:42:16,880 --> 00:42:21,880 satisfied you'll be in Him. The more you rely on Him, the 684 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:25,000 more you find every good thing you're looking for in Him. 685 00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:30,320 The more you submit to His commands and put sinful desires 686 00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:35,480 to death, the more you'll find deep delights springing up in 687 00:42:35,480 --> 00:42:38,480 places that used to be overrun by sinful desires. 688 00:42:39,880 --> 00:42:43,800 The more you uproot the weeds of sinful desire, more 689 00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:47,920 satisfactions in God will grow up in their place. 690 00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:52,320 The battle for your soul is a battle for your satisfaction. 691 00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:56,360 The war for your soul between Satan and God is a contest for 692 00:42:56,360 --> 00:42:58,920 your love. It's a contest for your 693 00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:02,120 affections. It's a contest for your desire. 694 00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:06,120 Satan wants you trapped in a cycle of addiction to sin, 695 00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:09,480 always craving, always wanting, never satisfied. 696 00:43:10,240 --> 00:43:14,040 God wants to free you to be satisfied in Him. 697 00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:20,480 But devoting yourself to the one true God produces exactly the 698 00:43:20,480 --> 00:43:23,280 opposite of that kind of always craving and never being 699 00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:27,720 satisfied. The more you love God, the more 700 00:43:27,720 --> 00:43:32,160 you can be satisfied with whatever He gives and whatever 701 00:43:32,160 --> 00:43:36,640 He withholds. The more you trust God, the more 702 00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:43,720 happy you can be with God, even if being happy with God means 703 00:43:43,720 --> 00:43:46,560 for now having nothing else to be happy about. 704 00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:54,000 Every Christian has the universe as their inheritance. 705 00:43:55,480 --> 00:44:02,760 The new creation will be yours. Everything that exists is held 706 00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:08,160 in trust for you. What Paul says to the 707 00:44:08,160 --> 00:44:10,360 Corinthians we considered a couple weeks ago in our Bible 708 00:44:10,360 --> 00:44:12,800 study. He says in First Corinthians 709 00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:19,320 322, starting in verse 21, For all things are yours, whether 710 00:44:19,320 --> 00:44:24,880 Paul or Apollo's or Cephas or the world or life or death or 711 00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:30,600 the present or the future, all are yours and you are Christ's 712 00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:34,920 and Christ is God's. You don't have to crave for more 713 00:44:35,520 --> 00:44:40,440 because God has granted you possession of everything, not 714 00:44:40,440 --> 00:44:44,040 just Christian teachers like Paul starts with, but the world. 715 00:44:44,440 --> 00:44:45,880 The world is yours. How? 716 00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:49,240 Because Jesus is its true ruler and master and owner, and he 717 00:44:49,240 --> 00:44:50,760 will grant you an inheritance in it. 718 00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:54,400 Life is yours How? Because you share an eternal 719 00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:57,280 life now. You already have a life within 720 00:44:57,280 --> 00:45:00,080 you that will never stop, never end, never die, that nothing can 721 00:45:00,080 --> 00:45:02,480 kill, nothing can threaten, and you will one day come to the 722 00:45:02,480 --> 00:45:04,560 full inheritance of it. What else is yours? 723 00:45:04,760 --> 00:45:09,040 The world, life, Death. Death is yours. 724 00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:15,720 What on earth could that mean? It means death isn't supreme 725 00:45:15,720 --> 00:45:19,200 over you. You're supreme over death. 726 00:45:19,240 --> 00:45:21,440 Yes, unless Jesus comes back first. 727 00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:24,640 You'll have to submit to death. Yes, unless Jesus comes back 728 00:45:24,640 --> 00:45:27,240 first. You'll have to be, in one sense, 729 00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:32,360 defeated by death. But Jesus already defeated death 730 00:45:32,360 --> 00:45:35,280 itself. And if you trust in Jesus, you 731 00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:39,280 will live to outlast death. You will live to see death's 732 00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:42,040 final defeat. You will live to laugh at death 733 00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:47,240 and mock death and taunt death. Death doesn't have the upper 734 00:45:47,240 --> 00:45:50,960 hand on you. You have the upper hand on 735 00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:54,240 death. That's what God has given you to 736 00:45:54,240 --> 00:45:56,800 possess. That's what God has liberated 737 00:45:56,800 --> 00:45:58,360 you from. That's what God has made you 738 00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:02,920 free from. That's what it looks like to be 739 00:46:02,920 --> 00:46:04,120 satisfied. In him. 740 00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:10,040 Endless riches are coming, so you can endure poverty and 741 00:46:10,040 --> 00:46:14,720 hardship now. God Himself will be the sum and 742 00:46:14,720 --> 00:46:16,880 substance of the riches He promises you. 743 00:46:17,600 --> 00:46:21,960 God Himself is enough to satisfy you forever. 744 00:46:23,520 --> 00:46:27,120 What is making it hard for you to wait on God right now? 745 00:46:28,560 --> 00:46:32,120 How are you doing with the delay? 746 00:46:33,040 --> 00:46:36,960 Whatever it is, remember to look in two directions, backward and 747 00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:40,880 forward. Look back on the promises God 748 00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:44,840 has already fulfilled. He did fulfill this promise in 749 00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:47,240 Habakkuk. If the vision seems slow, wait 750 00:46:47,240 --> 00:46:50,840 for it. He fulfilled it in 539 BC when 751 00:46:50,840 --> 00:46:52,920 Cyrus the Persian toppled Babylon. 752 00:46:53,680 --> 00:46:55,800 A big chunk of this promise has already been fulfilled. 753 00:46:56,600 --> 00:46:58,960 An even bigger chunk of this promise has been fulfilled when 754 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:02,520 Jesus came and died on the cross and rose again to give eternal 755 00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:06,960 life to all who trust in Him. Look back to the promises God 756 00:47:06,960 --> 00:47:12,920 has already fulfilled and then look forward what God has said 757 00:47:13,960 --> 00:47:18,760 God will do. Our present sufferings are not 758 00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:22,600 worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us, 759 00:47:23,720 --> 00:47:27,440 and that's a glory that God has promised us. 760 00:47:28,520 --> 00:47:38,950 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that we 761 00:47:38,950 --> 00:47:44,750 would patiently wait on You to fulfill your promise because you 762 00:47:44,750 --> 00:47:50,640 have proven so spectacularly faithful to so many promises 763 00:47:51,480 --> 00:47:55,600 both in the history of your people and in our own lives. 764 00:47:56,400 --> 00:48:00,520 Father, we pray that we would trust in you and wait for you. 765 00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:05,400 Be satisfied in You as we look forward to the day when all your 766 00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:08,640 promises will be fulfilled in Jesus name, Amen.