1 00:00:06,400 --> 00:00:09,320 Good morning church. We will be in the book of 2 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:12,600 Habakkuk. If you are using the Bible that 3 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:18,000 is underneath your chair, it is on page 737. 4 00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:22,720 If you do not have a Bible at your house, this is our gift to 5 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:24,320 you. Please take it home. 6 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,080 We're going to start with Habakkuk one one through 5. 7 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:34,680 Then we'll jump to verse 12 and 13. 8 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:38,480 Then we'll be in chapter 2 and chapter 3. 9 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:44,440 Habakkuk one, one through 5, the Oracle that Habakkuk the prophet 10 00:00:44,440 --> 00:00:48,160 saw. O Lord, how long shall I cry for 11 00:00:48,160 --> 00:00:52,160 help? And you will not hear, or I cry 12 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:55,640 to you violence and you will not save. 13 00:00:56,600 --> 00:01:00,280 Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at 14 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:02,560 wrong? Destruction and violence are 15 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:06,400 before me. Strife and contention arise, so 16 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:09,960 the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. 17 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:14,280 For the wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth 18 00:01:14,280 --> 00:01:18,560 perverted. Look among the nations and see 19 00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,440 wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your 20 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:25,880 days that you would not believe if told. 21 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:30,880 Jump to verse 12. Are you not from everlasting? 22 00:01:30,880 --> 00:01:34,040 O Lord my God, my holy one, we shall not die. 23 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:39,640 O Lord, You have ordained them as a judgement, and you, O rock, 24 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:41,320 have established them for reproof. 25 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:46,480 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look it 26 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:50,040 wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when 27 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:52,760 the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? 28 00:01:54,400 --> 00:01:58,080 Jump to chapter 2, one through 4. 29 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:05,560 I will take my stand at the watch post and station myself on 30 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:10,160 the tower and look out to see what He will say to me and what 31 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:12,200 I will answer concerning my complaint. 32 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:16,080 The Lord answered me. Write the vision, make it plain 33 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:18,680 on tablet so he may run. Who reads it? 34 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:21,960 For still the vision awaits. It's a point of time. 35 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:25,040 It hastens to the end. It will not lie. 36 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:29,680 If you, if it seems slow, wait for it, it will surely come. 37 00:02:29,920 --> 00:02:33,600 It will not delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up. 38 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:37,840 It is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by 39 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:45,360 his faith. Flip to chapter 3, verse 17. 40 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:53,200 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit beyond the 41 00:02:53,200 --> 00:02:58,280 vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no 42 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,840 food. The flock be cut off from the 43 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,680 fold and there be no herd in the stalls. 44 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:09,520 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my 45 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:14,440 salvation. God the Lord is my strength. 46 00:03:15,200 --> 00:03:19,640 He makes my feet like the deers. He makes me tread on my high 47 00:03:19,640 --> 00:03:23,160 places. Thanks be to God. 48 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:31,960 What's going on, Port City family and friends, How we 49 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:33,480 doing? Good. 50 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:35,920 My name is Tanner. It's a blessing to be with you, 51 00:03:36,160 --> 00:03:38,680 the lead pastor here. And it's just awesome to be with 52 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:40,320 you today. Y'all at Port City. 53 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,160 We just want to help you, OK? And one of the things that we 54 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,920 all need help with in life, myself included, is everybody 55 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:48,520 got a plan till they get punched in the mouth. 56 00:03:48,520 --> 00:03:50,160 That's what Mike Tyson said. And he was right. 57 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:53,680 Suffering is really hard y'all. It's hard. 58 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:56,560 Life will squeeze us. I like to say that that life 59 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:59,960 just puts the squeeze on you. Time and pressure just starts to 60 00:03:59,960 --> 00:04:01,240 squeeze us and we just want to help. 61 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:03,880 One of the books on the back table out there is called 62 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:06,040 Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering by a dude named 63 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:09,080 Timothy Keller. Just want to recommend it to 64 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:10,080 you. All the books out there are 65 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:11,560 free. Some of y'all need to go buy 66 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:14,800 this if you have not had a prolonged season of really 67 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:17,320 wrestling with the hard question suffering brings. 68 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:19,000 The Bible is not scared of those. 69 00:04:19,000 --> 00:04:21,279 God is not scared of those. We're going to dive into the 70 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:24,760 concept of lamenting in today's sermon, but zooming out from 71 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:30,360 lamenting some of the questions that Habakkuk is asking, We 72 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,600 won't deep dive because the the what we need today is the 73 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:35,840 process more than the answers to the content. 74 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:38,720 But if you have not wrestled with that stuff, life's going to 75 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:40,360 hit you at some point, if it hasn't already. 76 00:04:40,360 --> 00:04:43,000 Or maybe you would say this topic is why it's hard for you 77 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:46,360 to take the Lord serious. So I would just say God can 78 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:48,160 handle it. Wrestle with those questions. 79 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:50,120 We would love to walk with you. The book is free. 80 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:52,560 Check it out, read it, buy it if you want your own. 81 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:55,160 And I just want to pray for us because this is this is 82 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:57,040 important y'all. I really want this one for us. 83 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,120 There's a lot going on in our world right now, and I hope you 84 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,640 don't think that God's view of you, if you love him and are 85 00:05:03,640 --> 00:05:06,040 faithful, is just to put on a fake happy face. 86 00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:09,080 I hope that is not your view of what it means to walk with God. 87 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:11,120 OK. I hope that you know he can 88 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:13,640 handle the wrestle. All right, so let me pray for us 89 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:15,400 and we'll dive into this, this awesome book. 90 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:18,200 Our Father, we're so grateful to gather. 91 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:20,360 Lord, we don't want to play games today. 92 00:05:20,360 --> 00:05:24,320 God, we look at the cross. It's bloody, it's victorious, 93 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:26,960 it's awesome, but God, heaven is not here yet. 94 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:30,600 So in the in between of your first coming, Jesus, and your 95 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:34,040 second, we need help. God, help us to lament, help us 96 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:36,840 to understand, help us to wrestle with hard questions. 97 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:40,200 Got to pray for anybody in here who is in Christ just hanging on 98 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:42,120 by a thread. Would you just breathe fresh air 99 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:45,560 into their souls today, God, for maybe the skeptic who this is a 100 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:49,920 hard topic, would you help them to see that you can handle it? 101 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:53,320 And I pray that you would. You would intrigue them. 102 00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:56,600 God, I just pray that we would walk out of here encouraged, 103 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:59,440 exhorted, challenged, strengthened through the power 104 00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:01,480 of your words. So help us, Lord, help us, help 105 00:06:01,480 --> 00:06:04,320 us what we know not right now. Would you teach us what we have 106 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:05,640 not? Would you give us and who we are 107 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:06,440 not? Would you make us? 108 00:06:06,440 --> 00:06:08,880 And let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart 109 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:11,200 be acceptable in your sight? And everybody you agree with 110 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:15,880 that said Amen. Do you all remember as a kid 111 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:18,800 packing the bag to run away? Anybody. 112 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:20,920 Maybe it was one of your siblings. 113 00:06:22,400 --> 00:06:25,760 I had the type parents that when I got in that mode, they'd be 114 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:28,240 like, oh, you run away, huh? You need a bigger bag in that. 115 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:30,200 Let me they would go grab the bag out. 116 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:31,600 What else you need? You need Teddy. 117 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,120 Let me get Teddy. They were the the petty parents 118 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:36,240 in that moment, which now I look back on and I think it's 119 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:40,600 hilarious. OK, those moments are so funny 120 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:44,520 because kind of the whole assumed thing going on is they 121 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:47,480 don't actually want to run away because if they did, they just 122 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:48,640 would. And they wouldn't tell you. 123 00:06:48,840 --> 00:06:52,360 They want to pull on your heart strings, don't they? 124 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:54,720 They are taking your heart and they're trying to. 125 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:58,000 And the petty parent is signaling I'm good, you know, 126 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,800 like we're good, go ahead. But it's really emotional 127 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:03,560 process going on right there for that kid. 128 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:09,320 I've even heard a story of a kid running away and demanding the 129 00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:14,560 parent follow them walk behind me while I run away and then 130 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:16,640 they yelled at the parent the whole wall. 131 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:22,520 OK, I think that that image actually has a lot to teach us 132 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:24,360 about what the Bible calls lamenting. 133 00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:29,400 Somebody say lament to lament with in covenant relationship 134 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:34,840 with God, with a parental figure who is not leaving gives you the 135 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:37,480 safety to let them hear what you have to say. 136 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:40,920 Are you with me? Lament happens in the context 137 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:46,080 and confines of safety where I can unload my frustrations 138 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:49,120 because what's happening versus who you say you are are not 139 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:51,440 lined up and I'm frustrated. Are y'all with me? 140 00:07:51,880 --> 00:07:56,480 Actually think that impulse to say why and to be frustrated is 141 00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:00,640 really healthy and core to the human experience in a broken and 142 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:04,360 busted world? I think that image of a kid with 143 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:07,000 their parent knowing they're not running away, but I'm running 144 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,640 away and I'm going to let you hear it, has a lot to teach us 145 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:12,360 today. Y'all. 146 00:08:12,360 --> 00:08:15,640 I think to not lament would be insane. 147 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:20,000 Just walk outside. This place is busted, y'all. 148 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:24,240 Some of what I hope happens today is we feel permission to 149 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:26,920 be that kid. Are you with me being that kid 150 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:30,360 is not biblically unfaithful within the confines of what 151 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,039 we're going to talk about what Habakkuk models is actually 152 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:36,360 quite good. And if you're a skeptic here 153 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:41,320 today, here's what I would say. I don't offer you easy answers. 154 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:43,559 Habakkuk's going to get some hard answers. 155 00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:45,800 Habakkuk is not going to get. Oh, it all makes sense to me 156 00:08:45,800 --> 00:08:48,880 now, y'all? If everything made sense to us, 157 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:51,640 we would be close to being God, right? 158 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:54,840 Like we would be almost on his level, which we're not. 159 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:57,640 We were talking this week in Group about there's this funny 160 00:08:57,680 --> 00:09:01,560 old video of like a kind of a bum NBA player that people would 161 00:09:01,560 --> 00:09:04,680 make fun of. He basically goes and plays a 162 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:07,280 whole college basketball team one-on-one and dominates all of 163 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:09,520 them. And as he's doing it, this is 164 00:09:09,520 --> 00:09:11,720 his line that he says. He says I'm closer to LeBron 165 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:15,240 than you are to me. And the point is, y'all aren't 166 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:18,160 on the level you think you're on, you know, and that's at the 167 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:20,280 human level. What's hard for us to understand 168 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:24,480 is we're not close to being God. In terms of what we can see and 169 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:28,280 understand, are y'all with me? So we don't offer easy answers. 170 00:09:28,640 --> 00:09:31,160 The lament process is beautiful. Are you with me? 171 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:34,440 We need this process and there are answers. 172 00:09:34,680 --> 00:09:38,160 But today's sermon, this book is mainly about the process. 173 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:40,840 Are you with me? So my prayer for us that we walk 174 00:09:40,840 --> 00:09:45,760 out of here lamenting the way that Habakkuk models for us, OK? 175 00:09:45,760 --> 00:09:47,720 And to get there, we're going to look at the potential of 176 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:51,400 lamenting, the obstacles to lamenting, and the power to 177 00:09:51,400 --> 00:09:53,240 lament. If you are ready, let me hear 178 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:55,880 you say I'm ready. OK, let's start with the 179 00:09:55,880 --> 00:10:00,080 potential of lamenting. Habakkuk is a unique prophet. 180 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,840 If you've been with us in this series, what prophet tends to 181 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:07,320 mean is that person has a message from God for the people. 182 00:10:07,440 --> 00:10:10,200 OK? The book of Habakkuk is unique 183 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:13,560 because it's entirely a conversation between the prophet 184 00:10:13,560 --> 00:10:14,880 and God. Are you all with me? 185 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:18,280 So he's not speaking to the people, He's speaking to God in 186 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:19,920 the midst of the situation they're all in. 187 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:23,880 So it's literally a dialogue that we, the reader, get to 188 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:25,920 watch between God and his person. 189 00:10:26,560 --> 00:10:28,000 OK? So that makes it very unique 190 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,080 amongst the prophets. And basically what he's going to 191 00:10:31,080 --> 00:10:34,840 do is complain. He complaints once, God 192 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:38,480 responds, he complaints twice, God responds and then he prays. 193 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:40,600 And that's the book. So it's pretty dope. 194 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:44,320 Let's start with the first complaint and let's learn how to 195 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:45,400 complain. Well, Amen. 196 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:47,160 Somebody. Verses one, one through 4, 197 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,760 chapter 1. The big number is the chapter. 198 00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:52,320 Little numbers are the verses chapter one, verse one, the 199 00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,120 Oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. 200 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:59,000 Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for help? 201 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:03,400 And you will not hear or cry to you violence, and you will not 202 00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,280 save. Why do you make me see iniquity? 203 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:08,600 And why do you idly look at wrong? 204 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:10,920 Destruction and violence are before me. 205 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:14,200 Strife and contention arise, So the law is paralysed. 206 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:17,440 And justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the 207 00:11:17,440 --> 00:11:20,560 righteous. So justice goes forth perverted. 208 00:11:21,560 --> 00:11:24,440 I've got three ingredients of lamenting well that I want to 209 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:25,360 give you. Here's the first one. 210 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:29,680 To lament is to be bothered by reality misalignment. 211 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:35,480 To lament is to be bothered by reality misalignment. 212 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:41,600 So what frustrates Habakkuk is that what he sees in Judah, the 213 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:45,080 capital city, Jerusalem, like where he is amongst God's 214 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:49,120 people, is chaos. He says the law is paralyzed. 215 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:53,680 So the image for God's people was always that we know God and 216 00:11:53,680 --> 00:11:56,560 we are living with him. We're we're walking in his law 217 00:11:56,560 --> 00:11:58,720 and it's showing the world how good he is. 218 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,960 But he's saying that flow from God, who is love and justice to 219 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:07,000 the streets signifying love and justice is being blockaded by 220 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:09,240 his people, paralyzing the law. Are you with me? 221 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:13,120 So you all, just to be clear, what makes him lament is that 222 00:12:13,120 --> 00:12:15,760 the people of God are failing to be who they should be. 223 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:19,840 So church, let me talk to you for just a second before we talk 224 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:21,600 about lamenting. Like when we get hard phone 225 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:24,280 calls or the cancer hits or the hard things of life that hit our 226 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:28,240 individual lives. Biblically, to lament is to weep 227 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:31,280 that the streets don't yield the justice of God's goodness. 228 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:34,160 Are y'all with me? So before we're bothered by what 229 00:12:34,160 --> 00:12:37,160 hits our personal lives, the people of God are the ones 230 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:41,280 tethered to God's heart. What if we were people that what 231 00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:43,200 broke our hearts is what broke God's heart? 232 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:49,040 But sadly, many times we're numb to the corporate things that 233 00:12:49,040 --> 00:12:51,920 make God look bad. And we are so attuned to our 234 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:53,640 dreams, our expectations, our hopes. 235 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:55,880 That's not bad. We're going to talk about that. 236 00:12:56,320 --> 00:12:59,320 But we are supposed to be the one people on earth who what 237 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:03,160 makes us weep and fast and lament is God's glory, not my 238 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:04,720 comfort. Are you with me? 239 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:08,480 The one people on earth who are tethered to what God cares 240 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:10,320 about, what God is frustrated by. 241 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:14,400 So Habakkuk is bothered that the law is being paralyzed by his 242 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:16,080 people. So we should be the first ones 243 00:13:16,080 --> 00:13:18,080 when we see a church scandal or something like that. 244 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,440 We're not throwing rocks, We're not making excuses. 245 00:13:20,440 --> 00:13:24,280 We're just sad. We're sad because it's another 246 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:28,000 example of how God is going to be viewed a certain way because 247 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:31,080 we fail to embody who the people of God are supposed to be. 248 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:33,800 Are you with me? So I think what I'm just 249 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:36,680 dreaming that we would be that type of church, that what shakes 250 00:13:36,680 --> 00:13:38,360 us is what shakes God. Are you with me? 251 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,160 That's that's our prayer here at Port City. 252 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:47,040 That being said, when we zoom out, this concept of reality 253 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:48,880 misalignment applies to a lot of things. 254 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:51,760 When the call comes that somebody's got the cancer, 255 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:54,880 that's not the way it should be. Are you with me? 256 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:58,200 The way it should be? What you know is this is not 257 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:00,480 right. Something's off here. 258 00:14:00,680 --> 00:14:04,360 You know, deep in your inner being that it was not meant to 259 00:14:04,360 --> 00:14:06,640 be this way. When we hear people dying young, 260 00:14:06,640 --> 00:14:09,840 when we all of these scenarios, when we turn on the news and 261 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:12,880 chaos is going on, something in your mind, you don't have words 262 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:14,480 for it. You're like, there's a what it 263 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:17,480 should be, and then there's a what is, and there's a 264 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:19,960 frustration at that gap. Are you with me? 265 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:23,240 So to lament is to be bothered by that gap. 266 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:27,880 And the reason it bothers you is because the Bible story is true, 267 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,240 which is that God made us in his image and he made all things 268 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:33,960 good in sin. The curse of sin broke 269 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:35,760 everything. So our relationship with God, 270 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:38,160 with each other, with ourselves, and with the earth was 271 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:40,840 shattered. So the reason we know it's not 272 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:44,400 what it should be is because deep in our souls what we 273 00:14:44,640 --> 00:14:48,520 suppress is the reality that God made us and God is in charge, 274 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:50,720 and this is not the way he designed it to be. 275 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:53,600 This is a broken version. So we get little glimpses of 276 00:14:53,600 --> 00:14:55,640 dope food and beautiful things and all the stuff. 277 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:59,320 But by and large, life is chaotic to what it should be, 278 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:02,360 right? That is to lament is to feel 279 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:04,600 that gap and to be mad about the gap. 280 00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:08,320 I would say again, to not lament would be weird. 281 00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:10,600 To not lament would be to say there's no gap. 282 00:15:10,680 --> 00:15:13,360 Are you with me? So like, if you've ever feel 283 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:15,960 like there's a gap and you want to react to the gap, you're 284 00:15:15,960 --> 00:15:19,360 reacting to the gap because that gap don't make sense. 285 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,440 And I to that I say Amen. OK, So if you've never lamented, 286 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:24,960 you're kind of living in a false reality. 287 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:27,440 Are you with me? The real world is broken and 288 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:30,800 busted because of sin, and that's why we have this impulse. 289 00:15:31,760 --> 00:15:33,160 Verse 3. Let's look at the next 290 00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:38,120 ingredient. Why do you make me see iniquity? 291 00:15:38,280 --> 00:15:43,360 And why do you look idly at wrong? 292 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,000 Here's the second ingredient of biblical lament. 293 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:54,560 We're bothered by God's silence, so the gap is one thing, but 294 00:15:54,560 --> 00:16:00,560 God's felt silence. Our experience of the gap not 295 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:06,120 changing leads us to look at God and say, you're doing nothing. 296 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:11,440 Why do you sit idly, Idol? You're doing nothing. 297 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:13,720 That's how Habakkuk is talking to the Lord. 298 00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:15,960 Maybe you can resonate with that. 299 00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:18,600 The the Bible is filled with this phrase in the Psalms. 300 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:22,760 It goes, how long, O Lord, how long is this gap going to be? 301 00:16:22,760 --> 00:16:24,600 What it is? How long am I going to watch 302 00:16:24,600 --> 00:16:26,000 this go down the way it's going down? 303 00:16:26,120 --> 00:16:28,760 How long are you going to let this go on? 304 00:16:29,840 --> 00:16:33,360 I don't know if you ever felt that impulse of just how long. 305 00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:38,560 And here's what's unique in Habakkuk is he gets an answer. 306 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:42,000 He gets an actual answer. God answers him. 307 00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:44,480 We're about to read it. Some of y'all might be familiar 308 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:47,760 with Job. Job's answer, if you've read 309 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:50,520 through the whole book, isn't like about his situation. 310 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:52,200 It's basically just I'm God and you're not. 311 00:16:52,440 --> 00:16:55,040 Where were you when I made the Billy goats in the mountains up 312 00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:57,320 and wherever. And he's like, sorry, God, I 313 00:16:57,320 --> 00:16:58,520 didn't know who I was talking to. 314 00:16:58,520 --> 00:16:59,520 That's basically the book of Job. 315 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:03,120 OK. But in Habakkuk, he gets an 316 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:05,520 actual answer. Like he's going to tell him. 317 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:07,359 He's going to respond to his complaint. 318 00:17:08,760 --> 00:17:10,240 We're about to read it. Isn't that crazy? 319 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:13,960 Let's read it. Verse 5. 320 00:17:13,960 --> 00:17:17,720 I'm going to summarize a lot of it, but verse 5 is what you need 321 00:17:17,720 --> 00:17:22,560 to hear. Look among the nations and see. 322 00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:26,520 Wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your 323 00:17:26,520 --> 00:17:28,920 days that you would not believe if told. 324 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:32,080 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans. 325 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:36,240 Let's pause right there. Just the phrase, hey, I'm about 326 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:37,520 to do something that's never been told. 327 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:39,960 Be wondered and astounded. It's like, oh great, I got my 328 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:41,880 answer. You know what his answer is? 329 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:46,680 I'm bringing the Babylonians, AKA the Chaldeans. 330 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:49,560 They're going to come beat y'all down soon to deal with all that 331 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:52,760 injustice you're seeing. What? 332 00:17:53,720 --> 00:17:56,800 What you mean I cried out and you answer, and your answer is, 333 00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:59,200 yeah, I see the injustice too, and my people are not being who 334 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:01,720 I want them to be. So I'm going to purify them 335 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:04,600 through the agent that is the wicked Chaldeans, AKA the 336 00:18:04,600 --> 00:18:09,280 Babylonians. Sound great, y'all? 337 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:12,080 So Habakkuk gets an answer and he don't like it. 338 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:14,840 Look at verse 12 and 13. He's going to respond to the 339 00:18:14,840 --> 00:18:19,640 answer. Are you not from everlasting? 340 00:18:20,480 --> 00:18:22,920 Oh Lord, my God, my holy one, we shall not die. 341 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,400 Oh Lord, you have ordained them as a judgement, and you a rock 342 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:28,360 have established them for reproof. 343 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:32,920 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look it 344 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:37,240 wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent? 345 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:39,880 When the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he 346 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,360 Complaint, answer. Now he's complaining about the 347 00:18:44,360 --> 00:18:46,280 answer. That's your answer. 348 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:50,480 You who are pure, you who can't be, who can't look at evil. 349 00:18:50,480 --> 00:18:52,920 You won't let this go down. This is your plan. 350 00:18:53,680 --> 00:18:57,120 That's his response to God. And he asked questions like, 351 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:02,200 which leads us to our third kind of ingredient about lamenting is 352 00:19:02,200 --> 00:19:05,000 we're bothered by God's mysterious solutions. 353 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:08,840 So we're bothered by the gap, we're bothered by the silence. 354 00:19:08,960 --> 00:19:12,240 And then when we get answers, we're bothered by the mysterious 355 00:19:12,240 --> 00:19:15,280 solutions because that would not be what we would do, right? 356 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:22,280 One scholar kind of said that Habakkuk's view of God's cure 357 00:19:22,280 --> 00:19:25,480 was worse than the disease. That's your plan. 358 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:28,400 I don't think you heard me say the disease, right? 359 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:31,080 Because that cure don't line up with my view of what the cure 360 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:33,840 should be for that disease. God, I thought you were this. 361 00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:36,080 I thought you were everlasting. I thought. 362 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:39,160 And notice when you lament, well, you take God's own 363 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:40,640 character and hold it back up to him. 364 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:45,200 You see that you take who he is everlasting, He is holy, He is 365 00:19:45,200 --> 00:19:48,520 pure, He is not the source of evil, but he's about to watch 366 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:49,920 this go down. Are you with me? 367 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:53,720 So you take God's character and you hold it up to him and tell 368 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:56,200 him how this is not making sense to you. 369 00:19:56,520 --> 00:19:59,080 Are you with me? You're not venting about what 370 00:19:59,080 --> 00:20:02,360 your God would be like. You're venting about who God has 371 00:20:02,360 --> 00:20:05,400 shown himself to be through the scriptures. 372 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,680 And I think this represents you all that sometimes what we've. 373 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:12,600 Struggle with is not the questions we have. 374 00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:15,280 We ask the questions and don't want the answers sometimes, 375 00:20:15,280 --> 00:20:18,200 right? We fear the answers because we 376 00:20:18,200 --> 00:20:21,480 don't understand them. It doesn't make sense to us. 377 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:24,440 Now here's what's unique. I'm not going to walk through 378 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:26,680 this. God actually answers him again. 379 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:30,520 OK. And basically what he says is 380 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:33,360 oh, the Babylonians, you're worried about them. 381 00:20:33,480 --> 00:20:37,520 Don't worry, I'm a handle them and he pronounces 5 woes. 382 00:20:37,520 --> 00:20:42,920 Somebody say whoa, what was a fancy Bible word for watch out 383 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:45,240 like that ain't good like the Babylonians are going to get 384 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:48,040 theirs. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa to 385 00:20:48,040 --> 00:20:51,680 the Babylonians. OK, but is that really that 386 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:53,480 comforting? He's basically saying one day 387 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:57,040 they going to get theirs, but that still means they're going 388 00:20:57,040 --> 00:21:00,600 to do to y'all what I just said and then one day I'm a handle 389 00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:01,880 them if that's what you're worried about. 390 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:04,920 And I think if you're Habakkuk, you're thinking, that sounds 391 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,320 great, but can you just do it before they mess with us? 392 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:12,000 Does that make sense? And then he prays in response to 393 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:13,120 God. And that's the whole book, 394 00:21:13,560 --> 00:21:18,720 That's the whole conversation. So I don't know who needs to 395 00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:21,160 hear this today, but you're not the first one to have hard 396 00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,080 questions for the Lord. OK? 397 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:26,800 If you've ever had that impulse of why, how long, How does this 398 00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:28,000 work? How can you be good? 399 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:31,760 All of that stuff, the doubt, the frustration, y'all, Habakkuk 400 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:35,280 did it before you existed. Isn't that good news that those 401 00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:37,840 things are not antithetical to walking with God? 402 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:40,400 They were meant to be packaged in that context. 403 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:43,080 So that's a lot of the content of what lament is. 404 00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:46,080 As I see a gap, I don't like it. You feel silent, I don't like 405 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:48,960 you, and then you gave me an answer and I don't get it. 406 00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:51,440 So I really don't like you. Are y'all with me? 407 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:54,840 That's lamenting is holding God's character back up to Him 408 00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:58,680 in the midst of a situation that does not align with who He could 409 00:21:58,680 --> 00:22:01,400 be and make it as in light of who He is. 410 00:22:02,280 --> 00:22:04,720 Are y'all with me? Let's talk about why we don't do 411 00:22:04,720 --> 00:22:06,320 that. That all sounds great. 412 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:08,400 We don't do it. We don't really lament. 413 00:22:08,400 --> 00:22:10,160 We don't do what Habakkuk is doing. 414 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:12,840 We've got some complaints. Sometimes we got some things. 415 00:22:12,840 --> 00:22:16,240 I don't think we really sit in it the way that Habakkuk did 416 00:22:16,240 --> 00:22:17,320 here. So let's talk about why we 417 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:19,840 don't. First reason, we don't lament. 418 00:22:21,040 --> 00:22:24,960 We confuse the concept of God with the person of God. 419 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:28,440 We confuse God the concept with God the person. 420 00:22:28,440 --> 00:22:34,160 Let me talk to you about that. The assumed ingredient in all of 421 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:38,480 this for Habakkuk is covenant. Somebody say covenant for 422 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:42,520 Habakkuk, he knows God. God has initiated a covenant 423 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:45,000 with his people all the way back to Abraham. 424 00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:48,240 Covenant means an unbreakable relational bond. 425 00:22:48,360 --> 00:22:50,640 God's not going anywhere. Habakkuk's not going anywhere. 426 00:22:50,640 --> 00:22:55,040 OK, They have a relationship. That's why in Habakkuk 2 verse 427 00:22:55,040 --> 00:22:56,760 one, look what he says. I love this. 428 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:01,560 I will take my stand at my watch post and station myself on the 429 00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:04,680 tower and look out to see what he will say to me and what I 430 00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:06,320 will answer concerning my complaint. 431 00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,920 He basically says I'm going to sit here indefinitely until we 432 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:14,480 have this conversation. The covenant creates the 433 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,720 confines of waiting, of wrestling, of ongoing lamenting. 434 00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,040 This is a prolonged process. Are you with me? 435 00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:25,400 But it's in the context of I'm not going anywhere and you're 436 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:29,240 not going anywhere. I'm frustrated so we can't miss 437 00:23:29,440 --> 00:23:33,440 the the content of lament can't be separated from the container. 438 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:35,640 Are you with me? It's kind of like the container 439 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:39,000 is where all the content goes. But if we just take the content 440 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:43,840 out, we have an unanchored kind of just shooting things out in 441 00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:45,680 the dark to the concept of a God. 442 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:48,080 But we're not really talking to the reveal God that we're in 443 00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:51,360 relationship with through Jesus. Are you with me? 444 00:23:51,360 --> 00:23:55,320 You need the the content and the container Back to the the kid 445 00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:59,080 illustration. What let's that kid do? 446 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:01,160 That is the caregiver dynamic, right? 447 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,360 They ain't acting that way with the YMCA after school people are 448 00:24:04,360 --> 00:24:06,240 you with me like I'm running away? 449 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:08,360 I'm Tony all ordering cheese pizza. 450 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,680 I asked you for sausage and I'm out and then get pack my bag. 451 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,800 That's not what happens. Okay, They save that behavior 452 00:24:15,360 --> 00:24:19,280 for mom and dad, for the primary caregiver, because they know you 453 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,040 ain't going nowhere. Are you with me? 454 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,680 They know they've got you and you've got them and they know 455 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:27,040 you love them and that's why they're going to pull on them 456 00:24:27,040 --> 00:24:29,360 heartstrings. And there's something about the 457 00:24:29,360 --> 00:24:34,000 impulse of letting rip your frustration that was meant to be 458 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:36,880 done in a like father kid type relationship. 459 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:39,640 Are you with me? But if you pull that out of it, 460 00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:44,920 it gets it gets a little weird. What I want for the people in 461 00:24:44,920 --> 00:24:47,200 this room. My goal for your life is for you 462 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:52,520 to shift from like venting to a concept to lamenting with a 463 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:54,680 person. Are you with me? 464 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:56,920 Let. The goal is to shift from feel 465 00:24:56,920 --> 00:25:01,520 like you're venting into a void to like you actually know a God 466 00:25:01,520 --> 00:25:05,240 who is with you in the fire and you're lamenting about what's 467 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,000 frustrating you with that person. 468 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:12,440 Are you with me like suffering has the ability to push us from 469 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:16,840 a towards God for God kind of life to like really intimate 470 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:20,200 with him in the fire. It has that potential. 471 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:24,040 But to get there, it's got to be more than just the concept of 472 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:26,680 God. It has to be a person you know, 473 00:25:27,600 --> 00:25:30,680 and if you're wondering what that looks like, stay with us 474 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,920 through the end of the sermon of how to have that relationship. 475 00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:38,640 Second reason we don't lament. Let's look at verses 2 and 3. 476 00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:42,280 And the Lord answered me. Write the vision, make it plain 477 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:46,600 on tablets so he may run who reads it for still the vision 478 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:49,200 awaits its appointed time. It hastens to the end. 479 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:53,920 It will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it. 480 00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:56,560 It will surely come. It will not delay. 481 00:25:57,160 --> 00:26:00,560 Second reason we don't lament very well is we confuse slow 482 00:26:00,560 --> 00:26:04,200 with no, we confuse slow with no. 483 00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:07,600 He says if it seems slow, wait for it. 484 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:12,040 Somebody say wait, yo, we're not very good at that. 485 00:26:12,280 --> 00:26:15,960 We're not very good at waiting. If you pull the relationship out 486 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:18,880 the relational container that lamenting is meant to be done 487 00:26:18,880 --> 00:26:22,440 in, and covenant, if you pull some of these things out, what 488 00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:25,760 you end up doing is demand that it look a certain way in a 489 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:27,320 certain time. Does that make sense? 490 00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:30,720 Or you're out with this concept that is God, but within 491 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:33,680 covenant, it gives you the ability to wait for its 492 00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:36,680 appointed time, and if it seems slow, wait for it. 493 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:40,240 It will surely come. Yo, we are allergic to slow. 494 00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:42,640 We hate slow. The other day I was at a light 495 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:44,680 where nobody's around within 10 miles. 496 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,000 You know what I'm talking about. And then I look over at the 497 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:49,800 little like, we're smart, right? We learned to look over at the 498 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:51,760 little crosswalk. You're like, how many seconds? 499 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:53,200 We talked a look. It was 40 seconds. 500 00:26:53,200 --> 00:26:56,040 Like I got to see her for 40 seconds. 501 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:59,360 Like it was like, wait, wait. And it was like 4039. 502 00:26:59,360 --> 00:27:02,960 I'm like, yo, everything. What did I do? 503 00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:04,360 I did what you would do. I grabbed my phone. 504 00:27:04,360 --> 00:27:07,760 I looked up an article. I don't know, like we live in a 505 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:11,120 world where waiting is literally like torture to us. 506 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:16,160 You can get the most obscure product to your door same night. 507 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:18,880 Now they're not even telling you it'll cost more. 508 00:27:18,880 --> 00:27:21,720 They're like, hey, we're pulling on the carbon strings now. 509 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:24,360 They're like, I can get it to you by 6:00 PM, but if I get it 510 00:27:24,360 --> 00:27:27,160 there by 8:00 PM, I'll give you a dollar of carbon credit for 511 00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:29,480 your next order. And we're like, well, I want to 512 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,880 be a good person, am I right? I mean, I don't need it at six. 513 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:34,680 I'll take it at 8. So let me do the carbon option. 514 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:36,360 I'm I did my good deed for the day. 515 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:38,600 That's the world you and I live in. 516 00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:42,320 Can you see how lamenting is going to be hard to not have 517 00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:45,080 demands that God do something on your schedule when you live in a 518 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:47,200 world where your options are 6:00 PM or 8:00 PM? 519 00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:50,000 That's our view of waiting. I waited good. 520 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,520 I gave Amazon some grace. Are y'all with me? 521 00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:57,040 Like, do we see how we're not in a world that does waiting? 522 00:27:57,040 --> 00:28:01,400 Well, we tend to hold God hostage to our timeline and we 523 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:03,480 have demands. We have a list of demands. 524 00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:05,160 That's not what Habakkuk is doing. 525 00:28:05,400 --> 00:28:06,920 He doesn't have a list of demands. 526 00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:10,720 He has a list of questions for a God that he loves, for a God 527 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:12,400 that he wants to look good on earth. 528 00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:15,400 His concern is God, you're not looking good through this, are 529 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:17,760 you? And he keeps asking them those 530 00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:20,240 questions and he's sitting with him in it. 531 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,480 But if you pull that out, so this is This is why y'all, we 532 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:26,520 have to really wrestle with some of those doubts and questions 533 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:31,360 and get good theology. Theology is not enough when 534 00:28:31,360 --> 00:28:33,280 suffering hits, but it is sort of a baseline. 535 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:34,800 Are you with me? Like if you don't have some of 536 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:39,800 the answers of why do bad things keep happening, We got to 537 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:41,840 wrestle with that. Do bad things happen to good 538 00:28:41,840 --> 00:28:45,280 people? Some of you are like, I know 539 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:48,040 this one. Some of you are like, we've got 540 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,600 to wrestle with what did Jesus say life would be like? 541 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:52,560 Why did he only bring? Why did he not heal everybody? 542 00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:54,920 Why does life continue to look the way it looks? 543 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:56,440 What will it look like when he returns? 544 00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,720 What did God tell us to expect? In the meantime, until we really 545 00:28:59,720 --> 00:29:02,680 wrestle with the story of God, the age that we live in, what 546 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:05,520 God's purposes are, what it means to follow him faithfully, 547 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:10,240 what we can expect, some of our expectations of who God is and 548 00:29:10,240 --> 00:29:12,440 what it means to follow him. That if I do right by him, he'll 549 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:14,760 do right by me. Not what the text says. 550 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,160 Y'all In the Old Testament, like in this case, they're actually 551 00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:23,560 getting punishment for sin. They did in the New Testament. 552 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:26,640 Habakkuk gets quoted in the book of Hebrews for endurance. 553 00:29:26,640 --> 00:29:30,120 When you're getting mistreated for following Jesus, not even 554 00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:33,120 for something you did wrong. So suffering many times, you 555 00:29:33,120 --> 00:29:35,520 don't know why it's happening. It could be a billion reasons, 556 00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:38,920 but you've got to process through the theology of that and 557 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:41,520 what the word says. Because if you don't have that, 558 00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:44,240 you won't be anchored at all. When the when the punches come. 559 00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:47,000 Are you with me? So theology isn't enough, but it 560 00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:48,720 is sort of like a baseline. Are you with me? 561 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:52,080 So I'll just encourage you. Sometimes when the when the 562 00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:54,840 waters are calm is a good time to read up on what life's going 563 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:56,200 to be like when the waters stir up. 564 00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:58,320 Are you with me? Sometimes we need to get ahead 565 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:00,640 of these things because when it hits, your theology is just 566 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:03,200 coming out of you automatically. Are you with me? 567 00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,040 And you're saying things about the Lord that feel true. 568 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:09,600 But the Habakkuk has some really good theology in this. 569 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:11,600 It doesn't make lamenting easier, but it is sort of a 570 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:12,520 baseline. Are you with me? 571 00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:14,760 Theology is not the end goal, but you kind of got to have it. 572 00:30:15,640 --> 00:30:16,960 Y'all Track it with me if it makes sense. 573 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:20,960 Let me hear you say sense, OK? Third reason we struggled a 574 00:30:20,960 --> 00:30:23,880 little bit is our souls are puffed up. 575 00:30:24,200 --> 00:30:26,000 Our souls are puffed up. You're like, what does that 576 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:26,960 mean? I'll tell you in a second. 577 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:31,800 Let's read chapter 2, verse 4. Behold, his soul is puffed up. 578 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:34,880 It is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by 579 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:36,520 his faith. Y'all. 580 00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:38,480 Here's what puffed up means. He's talking about the 581 00:30:38,480 --> 00:30:41,360 Babylonians there. The Babylonians were puffed up. 582 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,880 Think about it, Y'all that nations like this, they dominate 583 00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:46,840 everybody in war. They do whatever they want. 584 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:48,360 They're about to take over the Israelites. 585 00:30:48,360 --> 00:30:50,360 They're taking over Judah. They're puffed up. 586 00:30:50,360 --> 00:30:54,080 They think they run the show. Their soul is elevated. 587 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:56,840 It's like you were created human size. 588 00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:00,360 But like the Babylonians, what we can do is we can get puffed 589 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:01,920 up. We we, we think we're bigger 590 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:03,120 than we really are. You with me. 591 00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:05,680 The Babylonians had a God complex. 592 00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:09,280 They think they ran the show and God is basically saying just 593 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:11,640 because I'm using you as an instrument in this process, you 594 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:13,200 better not be puffed up. Are you with me? 595 00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:15,920 You better not think that you running the show you a chapter 596 00:31:15,920 --> 00:31:18,120 in my story. You are not the author of this 597 00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:22,080 story and we might not be the Babylonians taking over another 598 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:25,360 nation, but we too struggle with being puffed up and what 599 00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,880 suffering can do what pressure can do is tempt you to feel like 600 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:32,080 you have to have control. We can take on a God like 601 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:34,320 complex. A lot of our anxiety, a lot of 602 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:38,840 our the issues when the pressure hits really come back to we're 603 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:42,000 we're we're puffing up. When we're scared, we puff up. 604 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:45,680 You know, we're think, think little man syndrome, which I am 605 00:31:45,680 --> 00:31:47,760 very familiar with. Unfortunately, it's the idea 606 00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:52,280 that I'll show you how big I am. I will, I will puff up, think 607 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:58,920 like jiggly puff like that. Y'all, when suffering hits, 608 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:02,840 there's something about it that makes us want to take control. 609 00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:05,200 Are you all with me? We want to be in control. 610 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:10,360 We take on a God like control complex, but what the text says 611 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:12,680 here is the righteous one shall live by his faith. 612 00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:16,000 There is another way where we don't have to get bigger and the 613 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:17,320 situation doesn't have to change. 614 00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:19,960 There's something about being anchored to the Lord in it that 615 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:23,400 is possible for us. And all of those lead up to what 616 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,680 I think is our ultimate issue. We don't limit well, which is we 617 00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:28,960 run to various forms of escapism. 618 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:33,720 Y'all, if we don't learn to lament what we do is we leave. 619 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:35,480 Are you with me? We might not leave 620 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:39,480 geographically, but what pressure does to the soul is it 621 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:41,080 has the potential to fracture you. 622 00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:44,360 You just become multiple selves. It looks really little like doom 623 00:32:44,360 --> 00:32:46,400 scrolling and just on your phone all the time. 624 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:47,840 It looks like shopping like crazy. 625 00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:51,080 It looks like I don't know what form this took in your your 626 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:53,080 family growing up. Our families a lot of times 627 00:32:53,080 --> 00:32:54,960 model for us how we handle pressure, don't they? 628 00:32:55,560 --> 00:32:59,560 And we just don't talk about it. We stuff it, we just eat a lot. 629 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:02,760 We, you know, whatever those, those, maybe it's, it's 630 00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:05,400 substances, maybe it's just tons of TV. 631 00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:07,920 When the pressure goes up, we stop talking to each other. 632 00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:10,720 But we watch a lot of movies, You know, it could look really 633 00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:14,080 graphic in terms of the way you're escaping. 634 00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:17,000 And now gambling is more accessible than water in our 635 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,640 country. So maybe I don't know what the 636 00:33:19,640 --> 00:33:23,640 secrets look like, but what pressure threatens to do is it 637 00:33:23,640 --> 00:33:27,560 threatens to fracture you. It wants to offer you a way out. 638 00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:29,000 The pressures got to go somewhere. 639 00:33:29,000 --> 00:33:31,360 Are you with me? So if you don't learn to lament, 640 00:33:31,360 --> 00:33:32,920 you're going to leave. Are you with me? 641 00:33:33,240 --> 00:33:36,640 You're going to leave reality. You're going to find a way to 642 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:41,240 exist to function in the midst of the pressure, and you're 643 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:44,000 going to find a way to do it. And that's, that's my biggest 644 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:48,000 concern for, for the modern church right now is we think if 645 00:33:48,000 --> 00:33:50,400 God's not showing up, I can't handle this. 646 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:53,040 We're not thinking these things consciously, but we look for 647 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:54,800 another way out. We look for the escape route. 648 00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,200 And I'm just telling you there's another way. 649 00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:00,280 What the neuroscience is telling us right now, what we've always 650 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:03,680 known is what you need more than the situation changing is 651 00:34:03,680 --> 00:34:06,920 somebody to be with you in it. That's just facts. 652 00:34:07,160 --> 00:34:10,960 You crave the Lord and his people in the midst of the fire 653 00:34:11,199 --> 00:34:13,560 You. They say you need witness, which 654 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:15,400 is really just witness. Y'all heard that one. 655 00:34:15,880 --> 00:34:20,040 The idea is you need somebody to get in it with you and through 656 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:23,239 lamenting well in community, which is what the people of God 657 00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:25,480 Together is supposed to be, that is possible. 658 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:29,719 If you have to have the situation change or you're out. 659 00:34:29,719 --> 00:34:32,080 If you've got your list of demands, there's probably some 660 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:35,760 secrets going on somewhere. And I just want to say we all 661 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:38,159 struggle with that. We all look for release valves 662 00:34:38,159 --> 00:34:41,159 in little ways all the time. Shout out the coffee. 663 00:34:41,159 --> 00:34:44,719 You know, my, my I just in little ways, my caffeine tends 664 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:46,880 to go up with the pressure. And that's just one little way 665 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:48,440 where my body is trying to survive. 666 00:34:48,520 --> 00:34:50,760 OK, so don't hear me shaming you for that. 667 00:34:50,760 --> 00:34:52,719 I'm just saying another way is possible. 668 00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:56,199 If we learn to lament, we don't look to leave as often. 669 00:34:56,199 --> 00:35:00,160 Are you with me? OK, but even as beautiful as the 670 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:03,920 process of lamenting is, we need a power to help us do it. 671 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:07,160 We can understand it. We can know that we're tempted 672 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,440 to leave, But what actually is going to make you want to 673 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:11,400 lament? Let's talk about the power to 674 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:12,560 lament. Let's talk about the power to 675 00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:14,880 lament. Like many of the minor prophets 676 00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:17,680 we've been reading, the best verses tend to get saved for 677 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:19,440 last. All of them end with just 678 00:35:19,440 --> 00:35:22,000 amazing verses to end the books, don't they? 679 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:25,120 Let's go read verses 17 through 19 of chapter 3. 680 00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:29,440 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the 681 00:35:29,440 --> 00:35:32,400 vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no 682 00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:33,840 food. The flock be cut off from the 683 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:35,680 fold and there be no herd in the stalls. 684 00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:40,400 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my 685 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:42,200 salvation. God the Lord is my strength. 686 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:45,520 He makes my feet like the deers. He makes me tread on my high 687 00:35:45,520 --> 00:35:48,840 places. Those verses are beautiful 688 00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:52,920 because all of the those you know, we were joking earlier 689 00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:55,560 that the woes lead to the those you out with me. 690 00:35:55,880 --> 00:35:57,680 It's like God answers this question. 691 00:35:57,680 --> 00:35:59,440 If I'm going to use the Babylonians and woe to the 692 00:35:59,440 --> 00:36:02,280 Babylonians and he's like, though you're not going to do 693 00:36:02,280 --> 00:36:04,480 what I want you to do though it's about to go bad for us, 694 00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:07,960 though we're about to get judged through the Babylonians, though 695 00:36:08,400 --> 00:36:10,800 all the olives are gone. All the field is going to be 696 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:12,080 burnt. All the things are going to go 697 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:13,480 wrong. Yet I will praise you. 698 00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:16,000 So if you if you are right in your Bible, you're going to want 699 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:20,680 to circle the those and then big bold the yet yet I will do, do 700 00:36:20,720 --> 00:36:24,160 do, do, do, do yet. Whoa, whoa, whoa, do do yet. 701 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:25,800 That's the sermon. If somebody asks you what you 702 00:36:25,800 --> 00:36:30,000 learned today, just say whoa though yet whoa though yet that 703 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,280 is life. Y'all well though yet and the 704 00:36:32,280 --> 00:36:34,240 believers in the room can say Amen to that. 705 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:37,680 But y'all, the reality is these verses are amazing because it's 706 00:36:37,680 --> 00:36:40,480 saying though the situation ain't changing. 707 00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:43,600 He got a guarantee from God. It's about to get worse. 708 00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:47,160 He was so faithful. He was so full of the Lord's 709 00:36:47,160 --> 00:36:50,920 love and the covenant, all the things that God gave him an 710 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:54,440 answer and said it's about to get worse and I love you. 711 00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:57,880 And the fact that it's about to get worse doesn't mean I'm not 712 00:36:57,880 --> 00:36:59,200 in it. Somebody needs to hear that. 713 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:02,120 Sometimes we think it getting harder means God is out of it. 714 00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:05,080 In Habakkuk's case, the harder was getting, the more present 715 00:37:05,080 --> 00:37:08,400 God was not, the less so. Our calculus of what we think it 716 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:10,360 means for God to be for us is off. 717 00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:14,800 And Habakkuk responds by saying, though the situation won't 718 00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,120 change yet, I will praise the Lord. 719 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,880 Sometimes you might think maybe if I was godly or God would 720 00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:26,520 change it for me. Habakkuk is God's guy, and he 721 00:37:26,520 --> 00:37:28,680 had a guarantee. It's going to stay hard. 722 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:35,080 He's saying, though it all falls apart, yet I will praise you. 723 00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:38,440 How do you get that kind of view of God? 724 00:37:38,840 --> 00:37:40,920 How? Let's go back to chapter 2, 725 00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:48,400 verse 4. Behold, his soul is puffed up. 726 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:51,720 It is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by 727 00:37:51,720 --> 00:37:56,560 his faith. Somebody say faith, faith sounds 728 00:37:56,560 --> 00:37:59,760 real Bible Y and fancy y'all the word faith just means trust and 729 00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:01,440 if you have a Bible you're writing in you can just write 730 00:38:01,440 --> 00:38:02,800 trust. It means to trust. 731 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:07,640 Okay, What God is saying there in Habakkuk 2, four, what 732 00:38:07,640 --> 00:38:12,560 Habakkuk was doing is he is trusting in he is trusting the 733 00:38:12,560 --> 00:38:15,000 God he caught just a glimpse of are you with me? 734 00:38:15,440 --> 00:38:17,160 So he knew just a little bit about God. 735 00:38:17,160 --> 00:38:20,400 And if you go read chapter 3, he references the Exodus story and 736 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:23,320 what God did for his people in Egypt and the Passover story and 737 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:26,280 all those things. Habakkuk knew enough about God 738 00:38:26,280 --> 00:38:29,160 to say, though it is going wrong right now, yet I know who you 739 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:30,480 are, therefore I will praise you. 740 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:35,000 So he clung in trust or faith to the faithfulness of God. 741 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:37,840 Check this. Faith is not about you. 742 00:38:37,960 --> 00:38:42,840 It's about God's faithfulness. Faith is responding to the 743 00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:45,680 faithfulness of the object in which you put your faith. 744 00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:47,520 You what? You with me. 745 00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:51,120 We trust God's trustworthiness. That's another way of saying it, 746 00:38:51,280 --> 00:38:53,120 OK? The righteous shall live by his 747 00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:54,760 faith. Doesn't mean you are some 748 00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:57,120 upstanding, awesome person who has faith. 749 00:38:57,120 --> 00:39:01,560 It means that person has caught a glimpse and grabs the glimpse. 750 00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:04,120 Are you with me? They've grabbed a glimpse of the 751 00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:06,560 God that they've seen. They trust God's 752 00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:10,480 trustworthiness. So Habakkuk had seen enough a 753 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:13,480 few thousand years ago to trust God in the midst of everything 754 00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:16,200 going wrong. And y'all for us here, a few 755 00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:20,120 thousand years later, how much more can we trust the God we've 756 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:23,400 caught a glimpse of? Some of you may have caught it. 757 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:26,000 Habakkuk, 24, gets quoted in the book of Romans. 758 00:39:26,000 --> 00:39:29,600 Anybody know where you say it out if you know Romans one? 759 00:39:29,600 --> 00:39:34,480 16116 and 17 For I'm not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the 760 00:39:34,480 --> 00:39:37,760 power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the 761 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:40,960 Jew 1st and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of 762 00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:44,680 God is revealed from faith. For faith as it is written, the 763 00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:47,120 righteous shall live by faith. Habakkuk 24. 764 00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:50,760 Here's the idea. The righteousness of God is 765 00:39:50,760 --> 00:39:52,200 revealed. Somebody say righteousness. 766 00:39:53,680 --> 00:39:56,200 Another big Bible word. All righteousness means is the 767 00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:58,840 rightness of God, the uprightness, the perfection of 768 00:39:58,840 --> 00:40:01,680 God. The perfection of God is shown 769 00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:04,880 in the gospel. The gospel is the good news of 770 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:06,920 what Jesus Christ has done for us. 771 00:40:07,240 --> 00:40:10,960 The idea here is if you most want to know what God is like, 772 00:40:11,520 --> 00:40:16,320 you look at the cross. What God was doing on the cross 773 00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:19,160 through sending the sun full of the Spirit to die in the place 774 00:40:19,160 --> 00:40:22,320 of sinners. Was this idea all the way back 775 00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:24,600 to covenant? Is God longs to be in 776 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:26,840 relationship with every person in this room, every person on 777 00:40:26,840 --> 00:40:32,200 the planet? The problem is we are sinful, so 778 00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:35,880 God came up with a way for him to be in relationship with a 779 00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:40,640 sinful, broken, busted people, and his process was to enter our 780 00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:45,080 story, enter our mess, live a sinless life, and then at the 781 00:40:45,080 --> 00:40:48,080 end of his life die in the place of sinners. 782 00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:52,400 Jesus is not dying a heroic death to show you the way to God 783 00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:54,040 and show you how much God loves you. 784 00:40:54,240 --> 00:40:59,320 He's dying your death. He literally is taking your 785 00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:01,960 place. That's the gospel is God takes 786 00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:06,320 your place and you get his. Jesus died a sinner's death not 787 00:41:06,320 --> 00:41:08,440 because he was a Sinner, but because you and I are. 788 00:41:09,120 --> 00:41:13,080 And in his resurrection what we get is the gift of his life. 789 00:41:13,640 --> 00:41:16,600 Y'all what the cross is about. It's a covenant ceremony. 790 00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:20,400 It's the way that God was cut off so you could be covenanted 791 00:41:20,400 --> 00:41:23,080 in. You get access to God like a 792 00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:26,680 child and a family. Not through your good deeds, not 793 00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:29,960 through how well you lament, not through how well you trust God, 794 00:41:29,960 --> 00:41:32,400 not through how well you have faith, but through the 795 00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:35,760 faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Y'all, the gospel is the good 796 00:41:35,760 --> 00:41:38,040 news that you're not faithful. Jesus is. 797 00:41:38,240 --> 00:41:40,400 It's the good news that the faithful one died for the 798 00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:43,120 faithless. It's the good news that we just 799 00:41:43,120 --> 00:41:45,360 get to receive as a gift what he did. 800 00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:48,880 That's it. Our faith is in His 801 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:51,080 faithfulness. That's the gospel. 802 00:41:51,200 --> 00:41:53,160 It's the power of God for salvation. 803 00:41:54,040 --> 00:41:56,000 If you want to know what God is really like, you look at the 804 00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:57,960 cross. It's where He takes sinners like 805 00:41:57,960 --> 00:41:59,920 you and me, and He makes them righteous. 806 00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:04,240 We are not righteous in and of ourselves, but when God looks at 807 00:42:04,240 --> 00:42:07,520 you, he sees somebody who laments perfectly, who trusts 808 00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:09,600 him at all times. Even though you have all the 809 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:10,960 doubts that I have, are you with me? 810 00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:14,640 That's the gospel. You don't get in off of how well 811 00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:16,800 you lament. You get in off of what Christ 812 00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:21,960 did in your place as a gift is gift righteousness. 813 00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:27,960 And what that does, y'all is it reframes the experience of 814 00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:29,760 suffering. Listen to me, some of us still 815 00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:32,320 just don't understand what covenant means when it comes to 816 00:42:32,320 --> 00:42:36,040 suffering. What that means y'all is as you 817 00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:41,160 are in the fire so to speak, God is not punishing you. 818 00:42:41,160 --> 00:42:44,960 God is not treating you as you in your sins deserve. 819 00:42:44,960 --> 00:42:50,240 He is treating you as his child because Christ took your place. 820 00:42:50,240 --> 00:42:52,680 He is not. Kevin alluded to this in his 821 00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:55,720 prayer. God does not punish his family 822 00:42:55,720 --> 00:42:59,200 for their sins. He's already put your sins on 823 00:42:59,200 --> 00:43:01,560 Christ. So his reasons for whatever 824 00:43:01,560 --> 00:43:04,920 happening are not punitive. They are purposeful and He is 825 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:07,880 with you in it. But when God looks at you, He 826 00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:10,880 does not see an arbitrage. Some people think God loves me. 827 00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:13,680 I know that God loves me. This is back to the the concept 828 00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:16,160 of God versus person of God. We've just got to grow here. 829 00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:19,760 I know that God loves me. It's deeper than that, yo. 830 00:43:19,760 --> 00:43:23,040 He brought you into covenant with himself by cutting off His 831 00:43:23,040 --> 00:43:26,360 Son and bringing you in. You're getting Jesus treatment. 832 00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:29,640 That's what's crazy about it. It's not just arbitrary. 833 00:43:29,640 --> 00:43:32,680 I know God's supposed to love me and somehow that concept should 834 00:43:32,680 --> 00:43:35,760 get me through this hardship. No covenant gets you through 835 00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:38,600 hardship. Not the concept of love, but the 836 00:43:38,600 --> 00:43:41,440 covenant making, covenant keeping God who died in your 837 00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:45,400 place is longing to live with you in the midst of that in a 838 00:43:45,400 --> 00:43:47,560 broken world. And he has purposes you can't 839 00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:50,200 see. And though that situation may 840 00:43:50,200 --> 00:43:52,400 not change yet, Christ died for you. 841 00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:57,960 You know for a fact that God's purposes for whatever is 842 00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:00,560 happening are love. How crazy is that? 843 00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:03,520 And that's not just like a guess or a whim. 844 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:07,600 I know that suffering can make you feel like God's playing 845 00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:08,760 favorites. And other people don't have 846 00:44:08,760 --> 00:44:10,280 that. That ain't happening to them, 847 00:44:11,960 --> 00:44:14,040 yo. Whatever is happening is through 848 00:44:14,040 --> 00:44:17,080 the context of covenant, not the concept of love. 849 00:44:17,080 --> 00:44:19,960 Are you with me? We've got to press deeper into 850 00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:22,440 the heart of God. In the midst of it, we can be 851 00:44:22,440 --> 00:44:26,600 sure that He is for us because Christ died for US. 852 00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:29,320 One person this week, I was listening to talk about the 853 00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:32,400 pressure that suffering does. They said it kind of like turns 854 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:34,640 the lights out and you're in the dark and you're trying to dance 855 00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:38,000 with your partner. You can't see your next step, 856 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:40,080 but you trust your partner. Are you with me? 857 00:44:40,840 --> 00:44:43,160 That's the experience of suffering. 858 00:44:43,160 --> 00:44:46,120 It's like learning to dance with God in the dark and you're not 859 00:44:46,120 --> 00:44:48,600 putting your faith in your ability to dance. 860 00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:50,520 You're trusting that you have the right partner. 861 00:44:50,520 --> 00:44:52,000 You aren't the right partner. Are you with me? 862 00:44:52,600 --> 00:44:55,960 This isn't about how good you are at lamenting, it's about how 863 00:44:56,160 --> 00:44:58,840 kind God is in the context of covenant. 864 00:44:58,840 --> 00:45:01,200 And he's not going anywhere. And you can let it RIP knowing 865 00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:03,800 that He's got you and he's going to walk you through this thing. 866 00:45:04,600 --> 00:45:07,720 Though your expectations may not be met, Christ died for you. 867 00:45:08,240 --> 00:45:10,760 Though your dreams may not come true, Christ died for you. 868 00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:14,520 Though the church continues to struggle to be who we could be, 869 00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:18,440 Christ died for us. Y'all though, they're going to 870 00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:20,160 be some hard phone calls that come in your life. 871 00:45:20,160 --> 00:45:25,120 Christ died for you though I wish if I were God I would not 872 00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:28,000 do it that way for you. Christ died for you though you 873 00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:30,440 don't get it. Christ died for you though it 874 00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:31,960 feels like you can't hold on much longer. 875 00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:34,040 Christ died for you and he's with you in it. 876 00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:41,360 Let's pray together our Father. Again, we just want to 877 00:45:41,360 --> 00:45:44,720 articulate how much we hate suffering and sin and the 878 00:45:44,720 --> 00:45:47,320 brokenness of this world. And sometimes God, we just want 879 00:45:47,320 --> 00:45:49,960 to say, come, Lord Jesus, get us out of here because we can't 880 00:45:49,960 --> 00:45:52,800 take it. The fire is too hot and we 881 00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:56,200 struggle to hold on. So Almighty God of the covenant, 882 00:45:56,200 --> 00:45:58,760 God, I pray that you would get in the fire with us. 883 00:45:58,760 --> 00:46:00,920 We got friends in this room right now who feel like they're 884 00:46:00,920 --> 00:46:03,560 in it. I pray that you would come, God, 885 00:46:03,560 --> 00:46:06,160 that you just give them a fresh sense of your nearness. 886 00:46:06,160 --> 00:46:08,600 I pray that they would not isolate, they would not leave. 887 00:46:08,600 --> 00:46:12,360 God teach them to lament. God make us a lamenting people 888 00:46:12,360 --> 00:46:15,320 when we see the misalignment of this life. 889 00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:19,640 God help us to learn this art of lamenting well. 890 00:46:19,800 --> 00:46:21,920 God teach us to wait. And I pray for anybody who's not 891 00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:24,120 in Christ. God, I pray that you would show 892 00:46:24,120 --> 00:46:26,440 them your kindness through the cross, that you are chasing them 893 00:46:26,440 --> 00:46:28,680 down in love. And they were made to be in this 894 00:46:28,680 --> 00:46:32,040 relationship, like a kid with their parent who has the safety 895 00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:33,440 to run away knowing you're not leaving. 896 00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:35,400 God, this is what you made us for. 897 00:46:35,880 --> 00:46:38,360 So, Lord, be honored in this time. 898 00:46:38,360 --> 00:46:40,800 God gift us faith. God, thank you for your 899 00:46:40,800 --> 00:46:42,680 faithfulness. We praise you for what you've 900 00:46:42,680 --> 00:46:44,480 done for us. And we ask you to help us now in 901 00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:45,920 this time, a Jesus name, Amen.