1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:04,200 Do you like surprises? Sometimes? 2 00:00:04,200 --> 00:00:06,400 That's right. It might depend on what the 3 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:09,840 surprise is and who's doing the surprising. 4 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,200 My wife Kristen does not like surprises, perhaps as much as 5 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:17,760 many people do. Whenever we watch ATV show that 6 00:00:17,760 --> 00:00:21,640 has any kind of a suspenseful plot, she will read a Plot 7 00:00:21,640 --> 00:00:23,880 Summary of the episode before we watch it. 8 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:28,520 It helps her to relax. She also doesn't like surprise 9 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:30,840 parties as much as some people do. 10 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:33,320 I once learned that the hard way. 11 00:00:35,160 --> 00:00:39,120 What's the surprise and who's doing the surprising? 12 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,720 A lot of people's view of God is that he's anything but 13 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:47,120 surprising. If they have any vague notion 14 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:49,600 that corresponds to the God of the Bible, it would be something 15 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:54,520 like a combination of a heavenly grandfather and Santa Claus, 16 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:58,480 kind of distant up there. Catch him on a good day, maybe 17 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:01,320 he'll give you a present. Maybe he'll have some like 18 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,720 slightly useful advice for you if you get him on a bad day, 19 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,560 maybe he'll get a lecture. A scolding, but kind of 20 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:09,880 predictable. OK, I know. 21 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:12,800 I know what God's going to say on that topic. 22 00:01:12,960 --> 00:01:15,160 I don't really need to go and sort of look it up. 23 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:18,080 I kind of know the guideline already. 24 00:01:19,320 --> 00:01:22,720 A lot of people's view of God is as a kind of domesticated, 25 00:01:22,960 --> 00:01:28,480 distant deity. CS Lewis was an atheist 26 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:31,800 throughout his teen years and his 20s before, very 27 00:01:31,800 --> 00:01:34,800 unexpectedly to himself, he became a Christian around the 28 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:37,400 age of 29. He experienced it almost like 29 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:41,520 being dragged into believing in Christ against his will. 30 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:45,960 He wrote a memoir of his conversion called Surprised by 31 00:01:45,960 --> 00:01:49,760 Joy, and he well captures the sense of genuine surprise or 32 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:53,680 even shock that there is in coming to reckon honestly with 33 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:58,880 the reality of the living God. God is far from domesticated. 34 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:01,360 He's far from predictable and boring. 35 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:06,680 Better words would be shocking, astounding, unnerving. 36 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:11,920 Lewis wrote about this dynamic and his work on miracles. 37 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,440 It is always shocking to meet life where we thought we were 38 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:18,440 alone. Lookout, we cry. 39 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:22,600 It's alive. And therefore this is the very 40 00:02:22,600 --> 00:02:24,240 point at which so many draw back. 41 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:28,640 I would have done so myself if I could, and proceed no further 42 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:32,840 with Christianity. An impersonal God, well and 43 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:37,040 good, a subject of God, of beauty, truth and goodness 44 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:42,400 inside our own heads. Better still, a formless life 45 00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:46,640 force surging through us, a vast power which we can tap. 46 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:52,280 Best of all. But God himself alive, pulling 47 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:55,280 at the other end of the cord, perhaps approaching at an 48 00:02:55,280 --> 00:03:00,240 infinite speed, The hunter king husband, that is quite another 49 00:03:00,240 --> 00:03:02,240 matter. There comes a moment when the 50 00:03:02,240 --> 00:03:04,760 children who've been playing at burglars hush suddenly. 51 00:03:05,920 --> 00:03:07,440 Was that a real footstep in the hall? 52 00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:11,280 There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in 53 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:15,960 religion, man's search for God, suddenly draw back. 54 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:20,760 Supposing we really found him. We never meant it to come to 55 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:26,680 that. We're still supposing he had 56 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:32,880 found us. Have you ever been surprised by 57 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:35,600 God? Have you ever been shocked? 58 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:37,200 Unnerved. Astounded? 59 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:43,480 One test of whether you truly know the true God is that He 60 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:48,440 does and says things that shock you, things that surprise or 61 00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:52,160 unnerve you, things that make you marvel. 62 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:56,560 This morning we continue our series in the Old Testament book 63 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:59,960 of Habakkuk with chapter 1, verses 5:00 to 11:00. 64 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,040 Last week we considered the prophets painful cry to God. 65 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:07,760 In verses one to four, Habakkuk laments the evil and degradation 66 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:11,600 that he sees all around him, and he cries out in verses 2 and 3. 67 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:14,640 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help? 68 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:18,000 And you will not hear or cry to you violence, and you will not 69 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:20,839 save. Why do you make me see iniquity? 70 00:04:20,839 --> 00:04:23,240 And why do you idly look at wrong? 71 00:04:24,080 --> 00:04:28,320 Habakkuk accuses God of culpable inaction in the face of evil. 72 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:30,400 He asks him why. How long? 73 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:32,480 What are you doing? When are you going to bring a 74 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:38,800 change in our passage? God answers Habakkuk, but his 75 00:04:38,800 --> 00:04:41,840 answer is surprising, Shocking even. 76 00:04:42,280 --> 00:04:48,480 God's answer is not what Habakkuk was expecting or hoping 77 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:51,040 for. Please follow along as I read 78 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:53,920 Habakkuk chapter 1 verses 5:00 to 11:00. 79 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:04,080 Look among the nations and see. Wander and be astounded, for I'm 80 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,760 doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. 81 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:13,760 For behold, I'm raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty 82 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:17,480 nation who marched through the breadth of the earth to seize 83 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,960 dwellings not their own. They are dreaded and fearsome. 84 00:05:21,840 --> 00:05:24,840 Their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. 85 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,480 Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the 86 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:34,320 evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. 87 00:05:35,880 --> 00:05:40,320 Their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swift to 88 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:45,880 devour. They all come for violence, all 89 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:49,920 their faces forward. They gather captives like sand. 90 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:53,360 At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. 91 00:05:53,600 --> 00:05:59,200 They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take 92 00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:02,520 it. Then they sweep by like the wind 93 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:08,800 and go on guilty men whose own might is their God. 94 00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:13,000 What does God tell Habakkuk to do in this passage? 95 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:19,800 In one sentence, Marvel at God's surprising judgment. 96 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:25,680 Marvel at God's surprising judgment. 97 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:29,360 That's God's message to Habakkuk and to the whole people of Judah 98 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:33,000 and to us this morning. Marvel at God's surprising 99 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:36,360 judgment. He calls Habakkuk to wonder, to 100 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:40,040 be amazed, to be astounded, to be shocked into Worshipful 101 00:06:40,040 --> 00:06:42,440 silence. Shocked at what? 102 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:47,560 At the fact that he is raising up the Babylonians to judge his 103 00:06:47,560 --> 00:06:50,600 people. We'll walk through the passage 104 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:54,240 and see that God gives us 3 reasons to marvel at His 105 00:06:54,240 --> 00:06:56,680 surprising judgement. The first point we'll cover 106 00:06:56,680 --> 00:06:59,880 verses 5 to 6. The second point we'll cover 107 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:03,600 verses 7:00 to 11:00. The Third Point, we'll draw out 108 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:07,440 something that's implicit in the whole passage .1. 109 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:12,160 Verses 5 and 6. God's supreme power. 110 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:17,960 God's supreme power. Look again at verse 5. 111 00:07:18,880 --> 00:07:24,400 Look among the nations and see Wonder and be astounded, for I'm 112 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:27,880 doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. 113 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,320 Habakkuk's report of the Lord's answer to his complaint is 114 00:07:33,320 --> 00:07:35,880 abrupt. We don't really know what's 115 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:38,480 happening because there's no transition. 116 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:40,800 There's no. Then the word of the Lord came 117 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:43,960 to me saying, we just hear these 4 commands. 118 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:50,480 Look, see wonder, be astounded. The Lord replies directly to 119 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:54,080 Habakkuk's complaint, and he dispenses with any niceties. 120 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:58,200 English grammar doesn't make this explicit, but in Hebrew all 121 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:01,400 four of those imperative verbs are in the plural. 122 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:04,800 God is speaking not just to the prophet Habakkuk, but through 123 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:07,400 him to all of Judah. He has a message for all of his 124 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:12,040 people. He's telling them to wake up and 125 00:08:12,040 --> 00:08:14,520 look up. He's telling them to lift up 126 00:08:14,520 --> 00:08:18,360 their eyes from their present local circumstances and see 127 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,760 something big that God is doing on the global stage. 128 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:23,680 There's a lesson in this for us already. 129 00:08:24,040 --> 00:08:27,360 When you're struggling to trust God's goodness or His promises, 130 00:08:27,600 --> 00:08:30,960 look up. Look up to God's throne in 131 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:34,039 heaven and remember that He reigns over all things. 132 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:37,039 Look back to what God has done for his people throughout the 133 00:08:37,039 --> 00:08:40,440 centuries. Look back to what He's done for 134 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:42,600 you throughout the years and decades. 135 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:45,880 And look around to what God is doing for his people around the 136 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:47,720 world. A number of us have been 137 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:50,480 enjoying recently the 9 Marks podcast called A Storm in the 138 00:08:50,480 --> 00:08:54,400 Desert about God's surprising work of bringing an outpouring 139 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:56,960 of gospel fruit in the United Arab Emirates in the Middle 140 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:59,280 East. You can be encouraged by ways 141 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:02,960 that God is at work around the world in 10 million ways. 142 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:05,240 You might get a glimpse of one or two or ten. 143 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:10,080 When God says I am doing a work in your days that you would not 144 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:13,640 believe if told, He's reminding us that He's transcendent. 145 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:15,680 He's above us. He's beyond us. 146 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,120 His ways are above our ways. His thoughts are above our 147 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:21,760 thoughts. One good theological way to say 148 00:09:21,760 --> 00:09:26,160 this is that God is incomprehensible. 149 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:29,960 That doesn't mean we can't know anything about Him. 150 00:09:31,120 --> 00:09:36,360 It does mean we can't know everything about him that should 151 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:40,440 humble us. God is utterly faithful and self 152 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:45,200 consistent, and yet our minds are so small and our knowledge 153 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:48,000 of Him is so incomplete. But there are plenty of times 154 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,680 when His word will surprise us or even shock us. 155 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:54,040 If you're paying attention, His judgements will cause you to sit 156 00:09:54,040 --> 00:10:00,760 up and marvel what happens when a new generational talent breaks 157 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:04,120 out in a pro sport. You might think of a Steph Curry 158 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:07,120 or a Patrick Mahomes, these kind of people who instantly enter 159 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:09,880 the debate about greatest of all time. 160 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,480 People marvel. They wonder how, how can his 161 00:10:13,560 --> 00:10:17,400 shooting of three pointers be so machine like in its consistency? 162 00:10:17,560 --> 00:10:21,000 How can he get off that pass so far, so fast with such accuracy 163 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:23,640 when he's already been tackled and he's bending over sideways 164 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:25,320 and his elbows like 2 inches from the ground? 165 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:27,960 How can he do it? People marvel because what 166 00:10:27,960 --> 00:10:30,520 they're witnessing is beyond anything they've ever seen a 167 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:33,480 human being do. It's above, it's beyond. 168 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:36,520 It stands out from anything they've experienced. 169 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:41,680 That kind of marveling that might lead you to enjoy seeing 170 00:10:41,680 --> 00:10:46,800 one of the best in the world play is a teeny tiny taste of 171 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:51,200 the ways God intends for us to marvel at His transcendent 172 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:56,360 greatness and power and wisdom. Because it's beyond not only 173 00:10:56,360 --> 00:10:59,920 anything we've ever seen any human being do, it's beyond 174 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:06,080 anything we can comprehend. A test of whether you truly know 175 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:10,240 the true God is that you marvel at Him. 176 00:11:10,680 --> 00:11:16,360 This marvelling includes wonder. It induces humility. 177 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:21,160 It inspires godly awe and fear of Him. 178 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:29,080 It prompts you to submit to Him and entrust yourself to Him. 179 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:34,880 As Psalm 131 verse one confesses, O Lord, my heart is 180 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:38,920 not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high. 181 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,720 I do not occupy myself with things too great and too 182 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:47,680 marvelous for me. Marveling at God's supreme power 183 00:11:47,680 --> 00:11:53,120 should leave lead you to leave secret things in His hands. 184 00:11:53,960 --> 00:11:56,360 It should lead you to recognize that there are limits to what 185 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:59,480 you can ever know and will ever know. 186 00:12:00,160 --> 00:12:02,560 Marvelling at God's supreme power should lead you not to 187 00:12:02,560 --> 00:12:06,120 talk back to God, not to sit in judgement of God, not to demand 188 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:10,280 that God's judgements all clear themselves at the bar of your 189 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:13,720 reason. One of the key purposes of 190 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:18,160 weekly corporate worship is that it trains our hearts and minds 191 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:24,800 all together to marvel at God. In corporate worship, we marvel 192 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:28,240 together at God's power, His goodness, His sovereignty, His 193 00:12:28,240 --> 00:12:29,840 Providence. Think about the ways we've 194 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:32,000 already done that together. This morning we've prayed a 195 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:34,440 prayer of praise that exalted God's character. 196 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:37,480 We've confessed the truth of God's Providence in the 197 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:40,560 beautiful devotional language of the Heidelberg Catechism. 198 00:12:41,360 --> 00:12:44,760 We've sung songs that celebrate God's supremacy like Ancient of 199 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:47,560 Days. Are you seeing a pattern? 200 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:52,720 Do you see some deliberate design there in the themes of 201 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:55,840 the service? One of the best things that can 202 00:12:55,840 --> 00:12:58,000 happen to you in corporate worship is that it provokes you 203 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:01,040 to marvel at God. And that that marvelling at God 204 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:03,760 doesn't just wash away or stop as soon as you exit through 205 00:13:03,760 --> 00:13:05,800 those doors. But that actually that renewed 206 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:08,960 sense of God's greatness, that renewed sense of His Majesty 207 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:12,480 will carry through into your week, will make some difference 208 00:13:12,480 --> 00:13:16,560 in your obedience, your service, your trust in Him, your worship. 209 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:22,400 Throughout the week we come together to delight in God and 210 00:13:22,400 --> 00:13:25,200 to be transformed by that delight. 211 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:29,400 Now in our passage, verse five, he tells us to marvel. 212 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:33,080 What does he tell his people to marvel at verse 6 for? 213 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:36,400 Behold, I'm raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty 214 00:13:36,400 --> 00:13:40,320 nation who marched through the breadth of the earth to seize 215 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:44,600 dwellings not their own. Teeny tiny ancient Near Eastern 216 00:13:44,600 --> 00:13:49,000 history lesson coming In verse 6, the Lord uses the name 217 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:54,200 Chaldeans to identify the family dynasty who would, very soon 218 00:13:54,200 --> 00:13:58,160 after this, come to power in the territory of Babylon. 219 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:03,240 Up until the late 7th century BC, Babylon was a territory 220 00:14:03,240 --> 00:14:05,760 subject to the imperial power of Assyria. 221 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:08,280 Assyria was the dominant empire of the time. 222 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,600 They're the ones who sent the northern Kingdom of Israel into 223 00:14:11,600 --> 00:14:15,440 exile. But over the span of 10 years 224 00:14:16,520 --> 00:14:21,720 after Nabo Pulasar came to power, between 6:14 and six O 5 225 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:28,120 BC, Babylon conquered the old capital of Assyria, then the new 226 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:33,000 capital Nineveh, then the city of Haran, and then they defeated 227 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:36,600 Egypt's armies at Karkamish in Syria. 228 00:14:36,960 --> 00:14:39,280 Four massive victories in 10 years. 229 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:41,760 There's a new global power on the scene. 230 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:44,800 They have taken over the Assyrians dominance. 231 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:48,760 Babylon had a meteoric rise. And the Lord tells Habakkuk that 232 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:51,280 he's the one who's going to make that happen. 233 00:14:51,280 --> 00:14:54,800 This is the Lord announcing it in advance and saying, when you 234 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:58,840 see the Babylons go from the Babylonians, go from nothing to 235 00:14:58,840 --> 00:15:02,240 everything, know that I'm the one who did that. 236 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:06,240 As the Lord would later warn the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar 237 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:12,440 generation later in Daniel 432, the Most High rules the Kingdom 238 00:15:12,440 --> 00:15:16,040 of men and gives it to whom he will. 239 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:20,480 Habakkuk 16 asserts that God's Providence extends to the rise 240 00:15:20,480 --> 00:15:23,120 and fall of empires. I'll say more on that in a 241 00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:25,320 minute. For now, we should just note 242 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:28,600 that one aspect of what's so shocking is Babylon's rapid 243 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:30,880 ascent to dominance. No one would have predicted it. 244 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:32,360 No one could have seen it coming. 245 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:36,000 But there's something else that's shocking in the Lord's 246 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:39,160 reply to Habakkuk. This nation that God is raising 247 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:44,640 up is, as verse 6 says, a bitter and hasty nation who marched 248 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:47,960 through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their 249 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:51,800 own. They have an insatiable appetite 250 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:54,280 for conquest. They're hardened. 251 00:15:54,600 --> 00:15:57,120 They're fearsome. They're just going over the 252 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:00,680 whole region, devouring more and more territory, taking more 253 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:03,720 stuff that doesn't belong to them, and heaping it up into 254 00:16:03,720 --> 00:16:07,000 their own empire. They'll stop at nothing. 255 00:16:07,680 --> 00:16:10,680 We often use the phrase today as a cliche, or might say it 256 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:15,640 ironically, but Babylon truly is an evil empire. 257 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:20,960 Verses 7 to 11 are going to show us just how evil, but verse 6 on 258 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:28,080 its own has enough to shock us. So wait a minute, in response to 259 00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:32,760 the evil of his people, the Lord is going to raise up an evil 260 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:36,200 empire to punish them? That's not exactly heart 261 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:39,080 warming. No warm fuzzy feelings for 262 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:42,520 Habakkuk in the Lord's reply. This would not make a very good 263 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:45,600 Hallmark card. When you are in distress over 264 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:49,520 injustice, remember the Lord will raise up an evil empire to 265 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:53,560 punish you. This is not a word immediately 266 00:16:53,560 --> 00:17:00,280 or directly of comfort. God is going to use evil to deal 267 00:17:00,280 --> 00:17:03,000 with evil. This is almost certainly not the 268 00:17:03,000 --> 00:17:06,240 answer to prayer that Habakkuk was looking for. 269 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:08,440 At first. Habakkuk's problem was that God 270 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:12,319 wasn't answering his prayers. Now God does answer, and that's 271 00:17:12,319 --> 00:17:14,560 going to present problems of its own. 272 00:17:15,240 --> 00:17:19,160 I'll do a little bit of work to resolve that tension that God's 273 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:23,520 answer seems to make things worse, but I'm not going to 274 00:17:23,520 --> 00:17:29,920 fully unpack it or fully address it because that tension of God's 275 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:33,440 answer seeming to make things worse is actually going to drive 276 00:17:33,440 --> 00:17:35,080 a good portion of the rest of the book. 277 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:37,520 So we'll say a little bit now, but it's a tension we have to 278 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:39,720 sit with. We have to live with the tension 279 00:17:39,720 --> 00:17:42,120 because it's going to unfold in the next few sermons. 280 00:17:42,360 --> 00:17:44,920 This sermon is kind of in the midst of things God is 281 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:46,960 answering, but it doesn't really make sense. 282 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:52,480 What do you do with that? What do you do with that? 283 00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:59,680 Keep praying, keep trusting. Trust that while God's response 284 00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,960 might not be what you want, it will be what you need. 285 00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:08,080 Sometimes God's lack of an answer doesn't make sense. 286 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:10,800 Sometimes His answer doesn't make sense. 287 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:16,920 Keep entrusting yourself to Him. Now, like I said, I'm not going 288 00:18:16,920 --> 00:18:19,440 to address the problem fully because the book of Habakkuk is 289 00:18:19,440 --> 00:18:21,280 going to do that on its own timeline. 290 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:25,400 But I will say something briefly about how we can understand God 291 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:30,120 to be sovereign over evil without being the author of 292 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:34,120 evil. God is the creator and sustainer 293 00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:38,680 of all things. All things exist because God 294 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:43,160 continually wills and enables their existence. 295 00:18:43,480 --> 00:18:48,360 As Paul says in Acts 1728, in Him we live and move and have 296 00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:52,440 our being. God also exercises a pervasive 297 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:57,040 influence on all of creation, and He governs all of creation. 298 00:18:57,280 --> 00:18:59,080 Nothing exists independently of Him. 299 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:03,160 Nothing escapes His sovereign command, control, and 300 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:07,120 permission. Proverbs 1633 says the lot is 301 00:19:07,120 --> 00:19:11,280 cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. 302 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:14,560 Proverbs 21 one, the King's heart is a stream of water in 303 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:19,120 the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever He will. 304 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:24,120 Jesus Himself teaches in Matthew 1029. 305 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:31,640 Are not 2 sparrows sold for a penny and not one of them will 306 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:34,760 fall to the ground apart from your Father? 307 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:42,720 As RC Sprole often said, there are no maverick molecules. 308 00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:45,560 There is nothing in this universe. 309 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:50,800 There is nothing in your life that escapes God's providential 310 00:19:51,480 --> 00:19:54,360 direction. Now, it's important to recognize 311 00:19:54,360 --> 00:19:58,080 that God's action and creatures action don't work on the same 312 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:00,440 level. It's not like two people if you 313 00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:02,080 and I are playing catch with a baseball. 314 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:05,280 If I'm throwing, you're catching If you're catching. 315 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:06,520 If you're throwing, I'm catching. 316 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:09,680 We cannot both throw the same baseball at the same time, at 317 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:12,000 least not without stretching the analogy beyond its bounds. 318 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:15,120 Thank you. But God's action is on a 319 00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:19,400 different plane from ours. While you're throwing the ball, 320 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:23,160 God is holding the ball together and holding up the air that the 321 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:26,920 ball flies through and giving your arm the strength it needs 322 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:29,640 to throw. God is at work enabling your 323 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:33,040 work. God's work empowers your work. 324 00:20:33,240 --> 00:20:35,600 God's work and your work are not in competition. 325 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:39,840 You can work because God is working what you are working. 326 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:42,560 God works through secondary causes. 327 00:20:42,960 --> 00:20:45,480 God grants creatures their own agency, their own 328 00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:47,680 responsibility, their own free choice. 329 00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:51,720 God works through creaturely causes, not because he lacks 330 00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:55,240 strength, but because he abounds in goodness. 331 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:58,360 It's part of the dignity that he gives to creatures. 332 00:20:59,320 --> 00:21:03,120 And this also means that creatures can intend to 333 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:06,600 something different by their actions than God intends to 334 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:11,160 achieve through their actions, as Joseph said to his brothers 335 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:14,960 in Genesis 5020. As for you, you meant evil 336 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:20,280 against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about that many 337 00:21:20,280 --> 00:21:22,680 people should be kept alive as they are today. 338 00:21:23,640 --> 00:21:25,680 Here's how the Westminster Confession summed all this up. 339 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:30,680 God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of 340 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:35,160 His own will, freely and changeably ordain whatsoever 341 00:21:35,160 --> 00:21:37,960 comes to pass, yet so as thereby. 342 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:40,920 Neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to 343 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:44,360 the will of the creatures, or is the liberty or contingency of 344 00:21:44,360 --> 00:21:47,800 second causes taken away, but rather established. 345 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:52,080 When it comes to God's providential government over 346 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:55,520 evil actions. In particular, it's important to 347 00:21:55,520 --> 00:22:00,280 draw a distinction between God permitting and God affecting. 348 00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:04,120 God permits evil, He doesn't perform it. 349 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:09,360 Every sin is the result of some defect, some absence of what 350 00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:12,320 should be there. God isn't responsible for that 351 00:22:12,320 --> 00:22:16,000 absence. The creature is. 352 00:22:16,400 --> 00:22:17,680 Now, what does all this teach us? 353 00:22:18,280 --> 00:22:21,160 It teaches us that God is supremely powerful. 354 00:22:21,560 --> 00:22:24,840 God is sovereign over evil. He raises up and casts down 355 00:22:24,840 --> 00:22:27,040 empires. He raises up and casts down 356 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,080 leaders. He's able to ordain and work 357 00:22:30,080 --> 00:22:33,560 through evil human acts without being the author of sin. 358 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:36,240 He makes people's evil intentions serve his good 359 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:38,840 purposes. God's ways are marvellous and 360 00:22:38,840 --> 00:22:43,080 surprising, in part because he uses crooked sticks to draw 361 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:46,200 straight lines. What's the greatest example of 362 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:49,520 that in all of history? It's the cross of Christ. 363 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,840 Recall what Michael read earlier in Acts chapter 4, verses 27 to 364 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:56,240 28. For truly, in this city there 365 00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:58,920 were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom 366 00:22:58,920 --> 00:23:02,000 you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the 367 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:06,960 Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand 368 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:10,880 and your plan had predestined to take place. 369 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:15,360 There was nothing uncertain in what was taking place in the 370 00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:17,440 path to the cross and at the cross itself. 371 00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:22,120 And yet the chain of events that led there was one human free 372 00:23:22,120 --> 00:23:25,240 decision after another. Both are true. 373 00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:31,720 What sent Jesus to the cross? Envy, pride, fear of man, 374 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:33,680 religious opposition, all kinds of stuff from all different 375 00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:35,320 kinds of people on the human plane. 376 00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:43,080 What sent Christ to the cross? God's eternal determination to 377 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:47,120 save through judgement. We should marvel at God's 378 00:23:47,120 --> 00:23:49,120 surprising judgement. And what is the most surprising 379 00:23:49,120 --> 00:23:51,520 judgement of all? It's the cross of Christ. 380 00:23:51,840 --> 00:23:54,800 The cross is the supreme instance of surprising 381 00:23:55,120 --> 00:23:58,240 judgement. God uses the injustice of men to 382 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:02,120 accomplish divine justice. God pours out judgement in order 383 00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:05,040 to save. The cross is at once the 384 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:08,560 judgement you deserve and the salvation you need. 385 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:12,480 So if you're troubled by God's permission of evil, if you're 386 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:14,840 troubled by evil, you've experienced, evil you've 387 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:17,160 witnessed. Know that the evil you should be 388 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:21,680 most concerned about is your own, and that God's solution to 389 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:26,200 it is a surprising judgement that saves. 390 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:31,240 You need to receive Christ being judged in your place in order to 391 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:35,600 be reconciled to God. And God proved the validity, the 392 00:24:35,600 --> 00:24:38,640 power, the worth of what he did on the cross by raising Jesus 393 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:41,240 from the dead. Evil did not get the last word 394 00:24:41,240 --> 00:24:44,600 over Jesus, and evil will not get the last word over you if 395 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:47,520 you turn from sin and trust in Him. 396 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:53,680 If God can accomplish salvation through judgement on the cross, 397 00:24:53,960 --> 00:24:56,720 if God can bring the greatest good from the greatest evil, 398 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:01,840 then trust Him with whatever suffering you're enduring. 399 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:04,840 His purposes might not be clear to you now. 400 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:10,320 You might be feeling much more pain than comfort. 401 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:14,240 You might feel like God isn't answering your prayers, or that 402 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:16,880 if He is, His answers are only making things worse. 403 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:22,920 But if God loves you so much that He gave His only Son for 404 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:30,720 you, then you can trust that His perfect power is perfectly 405 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:36,160 matched by perfect love. He who did not spare His own 406 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:41,560 Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him 407 00:25:41,560 --> 00:25:47,600 graciously give us all things? Marvel at God's surprising 408 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:51,720 judgement because it shows His supreme power. 409 00:25:53,240 --> 00:25:59,440 Verses 7 to 11 the Lord double s down on the difficulty point #2 410 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:04,920 God's crooked tool. Verses 7 to 11 God's crooked 411 00:26:05,400 --> 00:26:10,160 tool. You should marvel at God's 412 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:14,640 surprising judgement because God can use even an anti God empire 413 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:18,080 to carry out His purposes and these verses give us a 414 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:21,160 terrifying profile of this anti God empire. 415 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:24,480 There are three main aspects to the picture so I'll give 3 sub 416 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:30,040 points. First, verse 7, self exaltation. 417 00:26:31,240 --> 00:26:34,120 Self exaltation. Look at verse 7. 418 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:38,120 They're dreaded and fearsome. Their justice and dignity go 419 00:26:38,120 --> 00:26:42,280 forth from themselves. In verse 4, Habakkuk lamented 420 00:26:42,280 --> 00:26:44,480 the lack of justice among his people. 421 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,200 Now here comes an empire with justice. 422 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:51,320 But the language is ironic. Their justice is really 423 00:26:51,320 --> 00:26:53,760 injustice. It's really an anti justice. 424 00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:56,480 How do we know that? Because the verse says it goes 425 00:26:56,480 --> 00:27:02,520 forth from themselves, meaning they presume to be their own 426 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:05,040 law. They make their own rules. 427 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:06,920 They promote their own greatness. 428 00:27:07,080 --> 00:27:10,080 They are a lot of themselves. They don't submit to God's 429 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:12,920 sovereignty, but assert their own sovereignty. 430 00:27:13,160 --> 00:27:16,560 That's the hallmark of every totalitarian regime. 431 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:20,120 They submit to no law but their own, and their standard of 432 00:27:20,120 --> 00:27:23,520 justice is whatever's best for them and gives them more power. 433 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:27,480 Any earthly political authorities who exalt themselves 434 00:27:27,480 --> 00:27:32,560 in this way are affronting God, and while God might sovereignly 435 00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:36,960 permit their evil and use them for His purposes, He will hold 436 00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:40,240 them to account. No human authority is absolute. 437 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:44,560 Those who act like it will pay for it. 438 00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:50,560 Second, pride in their unmatched power. 439 00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:55,040 Some point to pride in their unmatched power. 440 00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:57,120 We see this in verses 8 through 10. 441 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:00,320 Verse 8. Their horses are swifter than 442 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:02,560 leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves. 443 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:06,680 Their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar. 444 00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:09,000 They fly like an eagle, swift to devour. 445 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:13,200 Here the Lord proclaims Babylon's terrifying military 446 00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:15,920 might. Horses were crucial assets in 447 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:19,480 ancient militaries because of their speed and manoeuvrability. 448 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:22,600 And here the Lord says that Babylon's horses are faster than 449 00:28:22,600 --> 00:28:25,440 big cats. They're hungrier than wolves 450 00:28:25,440 --> 00:28:29,080 that haven't eaten all day, and they're able to snatch up prey 451 00:28:29,080 --> 00:28:33,440 like an eagle swooping down. Have you ever seen a bird of 452 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:36,320 prey swoop down and catch something? 453 00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:39,600 A couple of years ago, my family and I were walking near 454 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:43,320 Hawksbill Creek, aptly named in the foothills of the Shenandoah 455 00:28:43,320 --> 00:28:45,520 Mountains in Virginia, near Shenandoah National Park. 456 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,360 We had stopped for a picnic. We were looking at the Creek. 457 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:52,160 Me and a couple of my kids are just watching what's going on in 458 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:56,440 the Creek bed and suddenly there was this bizarre like flapping 459 00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,920 and squawking and tussling that lasted for about a 10th of a 460 00:28:59,920 --> 00:29:02,320 second. And we were like, what just 461 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:04,200 happened? I was like, it happened so fast 462 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:07,040 my brain couldn't process it. Like I had to slow down and 463 00:29:07,040 --> 00:29:09,120 replay what I had just seen to try to figure it out. 464 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:12,440 It's because a hawk had swooped down and tried to pluck up a 465 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:15,320 pigeon. It made contact, but it failed 466 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:19,320 to carry the pigeon away, like on the sand on the riverbank 467 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:22,120 right there. It happened so quick I could not 468 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:24,640 make sense of, like the bizarre thing I was seeing. 469 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:28,720 That's what the Lord is saying it's going to be like when 470 00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:30,880 Babylon comes in and sweeps through Judah. 471 00:29:31,480 --> 00:29:34,400 It will be so fast you can't make sense of it. 472 00:29:35,360 --> 00:29:39,800 Kids in the congregation, what animal are you most afraid of? 473 00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:45,040 For me, it would probably be a great white shark. 474 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:49,400 It's because I grew up surfing in Northern California and there 475 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:52,560 are some great white sharks there, and I never wanted to 476 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:56,680 meet one. The Lord is saying in this 477 00:29:56,680 --> 00:30:03,280 passage, whatever powerful wild animal you might be most afraid 478 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:08,000 of, that's what it's going to be like when this army comes 479 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:12,320 through and carries out God's own justice against his chosen 480 00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:16,400 people. And that picture of a terrifying 481 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:21,040 earthly army, that's like a terrifying wild animal, That's 482 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:25,400 only the faintest picture of what God's eternal judgement 483 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:28,960 will be like. Look at verse 9. 484 00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:32,040 They all come for violence, all their faces forward. 485 00:30:32,040 --> 00:30:34,880 They gather captives like sand. He's saying that they have 486 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:39,360 strict military discipline. They have total dedication to 487 00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:42,440 destruction, and because of this intense military power, they can 488 00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:45,440 take captive whoever they want. They can carry them off and make 489 00:30:45,440 --> 00:30:48,840 them their slaves. Then verse 10, at kings they 490 00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:51,760 scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress 491 00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:53,480 where they pile up earth and take it. 492 00:30:53,720 --> 00:30:55,960 They're not afraid of any ruler. They're not afraid of any 493 00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:57,600 authority. They're not afraid of any 494 00:30:57,600 --> 00:30:58,880 earthly power. Why? 495 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,040 Because they have superior military might, they know they 496 00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:04,360 can conquer any defence or counter attack. 497 00:31:04,640 --> 00:31:07,240 They have a bigger, stronger, tougher fighting force. 498 00:31:07,440 --> 00:31:11,280 They have the best military technology on the planet. 499 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:15,960 To understand the second-half of verse 10, you have to understand 500 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:17,960 how ancient cities were built for defence. 501 00:31:18,520 --> 00:31:21,480 They would have thick walls that would be pretty wide and maybe a 502 00:31:21,480 --> 00:31:23,960 couple of stories high that would protect the whole city. 503 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:27,720 That was so that if any invading army came, you could have your 504 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:31,480 guys stationed on top, Archers shooting down from there, 505 00:31:31,640 --> 00:31:34,280 catapulting heavy things down. It was a major means of 506 00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:37,000 protection. The problem was, the Babylonians 507 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:39,880 were so good at building siege mounds, they could just bring in 508 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:45,680 all this material, build a ramp and send up men, send up weapons 509 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:49,280 and just walk right over the wall of the city and take it. 510 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:53,280 They were totally superior. They were so confident in 511 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:56,280 themselves that they could laugh off any challenge. 512 00:31:56,440 --> 00:32:00,120 This is a picture of pride in earthly strength. 513 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:03,080 It's repulsive, and it should be. 514 00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:08,040 But does that kind of pride find any echo at all in your own 515 00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:11,160 heart? Is there anything in your life 516 00:32:11,160 --> 00:32:16,320 where you have a certain strength and you think it makes 517 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:20,720 you better than others, where you relatively excel in this 518 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:24,920 area and so you can laugh at somebody else? 519 00:32:27,480 --> 00:32:32,400 This brings us to verse 11, our third subpoint, Idolatrous self 520 00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:37,040 worship. Idolatrous self worship. 521 00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:43,160 That's what we see in verse 11. Then they sweep by like the wind 522 00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:46,560 and go on. Guilty man whose own might is 523 00:32:46,560 --> 00:32:49,320 their God. The first half of the 524 00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,920 Babylonians pictures them almost like locusts, just sweeping in, 525 00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:56,240 devouring, and like the wind moving on to the next target. 526 00:32:57,560 --> 00:32:59,800 But then the second-half of the verse strikes a different note. 527 00:33:00,400 --> 00:33:05,200 Guilty men whose own might is their God. 528 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:11,560 You cannot conclude from the fact that God is using them that 529 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:15,920 God approves of them. You cannot conclude from the 530 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:21,600 fact that God put them in power that he endorses their behavior. 531 00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:25,600 He calls them guilty. You cannot conclude from the 532 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:30,520 fact that God permits their evil that God endorses their evil 533 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:36,320 because they're guilty. There's just a little teeny tiny 534 00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:39,160 hint of hope here. There's a little crack in the 535 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:43,480 wall of judgement that a tiny ray of grace can shine through. 536 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:47,360 The Lord is going to use Babylon to judge his guilty people. 537 00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:53,360 But Babylon is guilty too. Which means if the Lord applies 538 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:56,560 the same standard to them that He does to His people, He will 539 00:33:56,560 --> 00:34:01,160 not let them off the hook. But the Lord's not focused on 540 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:03,200 that just yet. We'll get there. 541 00:34:04,880 --> 00:34:07,240 The last phrase of verse 11 is telling and haunting. 542 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:13,639 Whose own might is their God? All pride is at root self 543 00:34:13,639 --> 00:34:16,560 worship. It's taking something you 544 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:20,960 appreciate about yourself and making it your God. 545 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:24,800 Here Babylon specific form of self worship is that they 546 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:27,719 worship their own strength, their might, their military 547 00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:30,679 power, their dominance. What could offer evidence of 548 00:34:30,679 --> 00:34:33,960 that kind of self worship? One thing would be, say, a 549 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:38,000 political leader setting up a golden statue of himself, just 550 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:41,400 like King Nebuchadnezzar did in Daniel chapter 3. 551 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:48,280 Those who worship themselves will insist that others worship 552 00:34:48,280 --> 00:34:50,960 them too. If you're not a believer in 553 00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:56,440 Jesus, do you have anything that counts as strength that you 554 00:34:56,440 --> 00:34:59,640 might be tempted to entrust yourself too, as if it's a God? 555 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:02,160 For some people, that might be money. 556 00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:05,600 If you have enough money, you can buy your way out of a whole 557 00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:08,320 lot of tight places. If you have enough money, you 558 00:35:08,320 --> 00:35:11,800 can store up all kinds of security for your future. 559 00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:15,840 Whatever that thing is, where you look for help in your life's 560 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:18,280 worst messes, whatever that thing is, where you turn for 561 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:21,840 refuge when your life gets hard. If it's not the God of the 562 00:35:21,840 --> 00:35:25,200 Bible, that is your functional God. 563 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:28,520 What do we learn from these verses as a whole? 564 00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:31,920 All of verse 7:00 to 11:00. They teach us to marvel at God's 565 00:35:31,920 --> 00:35:35,880 surprising judgement because He uses a crooked tool to carry it 566 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:38,960 out. But again, why is He doing this? 567 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:42,200 Why is he raising up the Babylonians, and why is he 568 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:48,560 warning Judah about them .3 God's righteous purpose God's 569 00:35:48,560 --> 00:35:53,480 righteous purpose What is God's righteous purpose is that he 570 00:35:53,480 --> 00:35:57,320 will wield the Babylonians as a surprising instrument to judge 571 00:35:57,320 --> 00:36:00,160 his people Judah for their idolatry and injustice. 572 00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:03,080 He will send his evil power against his own people to 573 00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:06,880 destroy their society and carry them off into exile as an 574 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:12,520 expression of his own perfect, promised divine judgement. 575 00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:17,960 Now, nothing in this passage makes this purpose absolutely 576 00:36:18,320 --> 00:36:20,440 explicit. Chris Biggers pointed that out 577 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:22,760 to me rightly, as we're studying the passage together this week. 578 00:36:23,080 --> 00:36:25,920 It doesn't actually say he's doing this to judge his people. 579 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:29,000 That's right, it's not explicit, but I think the whole passage 580 00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:32,000 implies it. Otherwise, the Lord's response 581 00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:34,800 would not address Habakkuk's complaint in any meaningful way. 582 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:38,040 He's crying out about injustice. If God starts talking about 583 00:36:38,200 --> 00:36:40,960 something totally different, it just doesn't even add up. 584 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:46,160 Now certainly God's answer does create new problems for 585 00:36:46,160 --> 00:36:49,000 Habakkuk, but we shouldn't overlook the fact that the Lord 586 00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:51,200 does respond to Habakkuk's complaints. 587 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:53,600 The Lord does answer Habakkuk's prayer. 588 00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:56,800 Habakkuk complaints about the people's injustice, and this is 589 00:36:56,800 --> 00:36:59,000 how the Lord is going to deal with that injustice. 590 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:03,120 Now confirmation that this is the case can be found in the 591 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:06,280 very next verse of Habakkuk, chapter one, verse 12, 592 00:37:06,880 --> 00:37:09,520 second-half of the verse, Habakkuk confesses to the Lord. 593 00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:14,440 Oh Lord, you have ordained them as a judgement, and you, O rock, 594 00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:16,920 have established them for reproof. 595 00:37:18,120 --> 00:37:23,560 Now Habakkuk 1 teaches us about God's retributive judgement 596 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:28,320 against His old covenant people. By judging His people like this, 597 00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,680 God was fulfilling the covenant He made with them through Moses, 598 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:34,520 particularly in the last few chapters of Deuteronomy. 599 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:37,520 God promised blessings if they obeyed and curses if they 600 00:37:37,520 --> 00:37:41,160 disobeyed. That is God's righteous purpose, 601 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:45,080 which He uses an unrighteous nation to accomplish. 602 00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:48,680 But how do we as New Covenant Christians relate to this 603 00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:51,160 judgement? Just three quick points. 604 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:57,720 First, rejoice that justice for your sins was carried out on the 605 00:37:57,720 --> 00:38:01,720 cross. Paul says that Christ's 606 00:38:01,720 --> 00:38:07,040 crucifixion in Romans 325 was to show God's righteousness because 607 00:38:07,040 --> 00:38:09,840 in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 608 00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:13,040 It was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he 609 00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:17,440 might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in 610 00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:22,800 Jesus. Secondly, live soberly in light 611 00:38:22,800 --> 00:38:26,520 of the final accounting that you'll give on Judgement Day, as 612 00:38:26,520 --> 00:38:31,240 Peter tells us in First Peter 117 And if you call on him as 613 00:38:31,240 --> 00:38:36,600 Father, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, 614 00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:39,880 conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your 615 00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:43,640 exile, you will give an account of yourself to God on the last 616 00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:47,800 day. Let that shine a light into how 617 00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:50,720 you live each day He gives you now. 618 00:38:52,240 --> 00:38:57,040 Third, submit to every form of divine discipline. 619 00:38:58,040 --> 00:39:01,000 In Hebrews 12, the author compares God's discipline of us 620 00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:03,760 to how earthly parents discipline their children to 621 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:08,600 train them In verses 10 and 11. He says, For they disciplined us 622 00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:12,920 for a short time as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines 623 00:39:12,920 --> 00:39:16,400 us for our good, that we may share His Holiness. 624 00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:19,760 For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than 625 00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:23,880 pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of 626 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:27,040 righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 627 00:39:27,720 --> 00:39:30,520 One reason God ordains hardships and trials for us is to 628 00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:33,920 discipline us, to teach us, to train us, to mold us into 629 00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:39,080 Christ's character. Trials discipline us by putting 630 00:39:39,080 --> 00:39:42,320 pressure on what we're holding on to instead of God, so that we 631 00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:45,400 release our grip and learn to grasp him instead. 632 00:39:46,720 --> 00:39:50,240 God doesn't send us discipline to condemn us, but to conform us 633 00:39:50,240 --> 00:39:55,760 to Christ. What divine discipline have you 634 00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:58,400 endured lately? That'd be a good topic to 635 00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:01,600 discuss over lunch together or to take up with a member of the 636 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:04,880 church during the week. What divine discipline have you 637 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:10,760 endured lately? In this whole passage, verses 638 00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:13,400 5:00 to 11:00, what is God doing? 639 00:40:14,720 --> 00:40:18,240 He's engaging in a patient process. 640 00:40:18,960 --> 00:40:21,800 He's preparing His people and bringing them along a step by 641 00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:25,240 step. He's bringing them to recognize 642 00:40:25,680 --> 00:40:31,120 and embrace. The rightness of His using the 643 00:40:31,120 --> 00:40:37,760 Babylonians to judge them. When God does something shocking 644 00:40:38,400 --> 00:40:41,640 or surprising in your life, it can be hard to square that with 645 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:45,040 His wisdom, with His goodness, with His love. 646 00:40:45,600 --> 00:40:48,480 But part of the struggle of faith is learning to reconcile 647 00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:53,160 yourself to God's Providence and to confess that he is good and 648 00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:55,600 all he does. Nothing he does is wrong, 649 00:40:55,880 --> 00:41:00,000 wicked, or evil. Deuteronomy 32 verse 4 says the 650 00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:02,880 rock. His work is perfect for all his 651 00:41:02,880 --> 00:41:06,320 ways are justice, a God of faithfulness and without 652 00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:10,400 iniquity, just and upright is he. 653 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:15,760 How can you reconcile yourself to God's surprising, sometimes 654 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:20,000 shocking Providence? A few thoughts on application 655 00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:25,880 that will close with it begins with understanding and 656 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,840 submission. Know that God is sovereign and 657 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:32,880 embrace that truth rather than resisting it. 658 00:41:33,680 --> 00:41:35,320 Welcome that truth. Don't fight it. 659 00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:39,160 Say with our Lord Jesus in the garden, not my will, but yours 660 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:42,240 be done. Reconciling yourself to 661 00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:46,520 Providence continues through trust and thanks. 662 00:41:47,240 --> 00:41:49,240 Thank God for His work in your life. 663 00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:51,960 Thank God for the good things He's given you in the midst of 664 00:41:51,960 --> 00:41:55,640 pain and hardship. Can you see ways that God has 665 00:41:55,640 --> 00:42:02,320 set a limit to your suffering, that God kept it from being 666 00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:06,000 worse than it was? Can you see ways God has 667 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:09,440 provided for you in surprising ways in the midst of your 668 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:13,880 suffering? Thank Him for all of that, and 669 00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:19,240 let thanks deepen your trust. Often God's Providence hurts 670 00:42:19,240 --> 00:42:23,760 your heart. Often God's Providence hurts 671 00:42:23,760 --> 00:42:27,200 your head. To trust God is to continue 672 00:42:27,200 --> 00:42:31,320 confessing His goodness when you can't see how your life 673 00:42:31,320 --> 00:42:36,160 manifests that goodness. To trust God amid perplexing 674 00:42:36,160 --> 00:42:41,720 providences is to believe Him farther than you can explain 675 00:42:41,720 --> 00:42:46,040 Him. If you trust God only as far as 676 00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:51,640 you can explain Him, then it is not God you're trusting. 677 00:42:53,400 --> 00:43:01,360 Finally, as Thomas Watson wrote, learn to adore Providence. 678 00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:07,760 Let what you see and understand of God's Providence lead you to 679 00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:11,480 worship Him for it. When you get a glimpse of the 680 00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:15,200 good purposes that God is carrying out in your life, let 681 00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:20,560 that lead you to worship Him. When you see something of how 682 00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:25,960 God is causing all things to work together for good to you, 683 00:43:27,440 --> 00:43:35,280 let that lead your heart to say, Behold our God seated on His 684 00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:40,040 throne. Come, let us adore him. 685 00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:50,960 Let's pray, Heavenly Father, we pray that we would look, see, 686 00:43:51,840 --> 00:43:57,320 wonder, and be astounded at your grand purposes for saving and 687 00:43:57,320 --> 00:44:02,400 judging your people, at your purposes of accomplishing 688 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:05,160 salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus. 689 00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:08,440 We pray we would look, see, wonder, and be astounded at the 690 00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:13,520 good work you're doing in our lives as you weave together 691 00:44:13,520 --> 00:44:17,360 blessings and burdens, joys and hardships. 692 00:44:18,280 --> 00:44:22,600 Father, we pray that we would submit to your sovereign reign 693 00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:29,400 over all things and learn to adore it in Jesus name, Amen.