Let us turn then to this portion
that we've just read. Final chapter in the prophecy
of Habakkuk and directing you for our text to the words that
we have at verse 16. When I heard says the Prophet,
my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice, rottenness entered
into my bones and I trembled in myself as I might rest in
the day of trouble. When he cometh up unto the people
he will invade with them his troops. Here then in Habakkuk
chapter 3 and verse 16 much of the chapter of course is taken
up with his prayer though we have that opening statement the
prayer of Habakkuk and then he begins to pray but then it seems
that he talks more of God than talks to God however at verse
8 we find him again addressing the Lord and then the prayer
really runs through to verse 15 and then here at the end he
speaks of the effect of those things that he has been so familiar
with in the course of his praying. When I heard my belly trembled,
my lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered into my bones,
and I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble. When he cometh up, unto the people. He will invade them with his
troops. And taking then for a theme what
he says here with regards to rest in the day of trouble. Rest in the day of trouble. There are two things that he
really speaks of in the verse, that is conviction and then comfort. And in the course of the prayer
we see how really he does in some way speak of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Christ is of course here in all
the scriptures. He said to the Jews, search the
scriptures. In them ye think that ye have
eternal life, but these, in their totality, these are they that
testify of me. So, not surprisingly, we see
that even in this portion. Verse 13, he says in his prayer,
They went as forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation
with thine anointing. Who is the one spoken of as thine
anointed? Surely that is the Messiah, the
anointed one, the Christ of God, the same person that is spoken
of by Isaiah. Behold my servant, he says, whom
I have called mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have
put my spirit upon him. He is that one then who is God's
anointed one, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And really, the
course of the chapter speaks very much of the coming of the
Lord Jesus. And His coming is spoken of,
of course it's Old Testament scripture, so the language is
Old Testament language. But it is language that ultimately
applies to Christ. And the imagery that's being
used, verse 8, Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? Was thine
anger against the rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea,
that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation? Or as the margin says, thy chariots
were salvation. And then again in verse 15, Thou
didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap
of great waters. He said not here some reference
back to the days of Moses and the great deliverance that God
brought for the children of Israel when he brought them out of Egypt
and made a way for them through the Red Sea. And it's there in
Exodus 14 of course that we have the account, the detail of what
God did when he made that way through the sea and the children
of Israel They go through on the dry lands but now the waters
come upon the pursuing Egyptians and God's people see those Egyptians
dead upon the sea shore. And that is a remarkable prefiguring
of the greater work that would be accomplished by the Lord Jesus
when he comes to deliver his people. from their sins and brings
them in due time out of the bondage of sin and out of their thraldrum
in this wicked and fallen world. God's way is so mysterious, thy
way is in the sea, thy path in the great waters, thy footsteps
are not known. But this is setting forth really
God's works, God's works of redemption and salvation. And of course,
whilst we have that work of God set before us throughout the
Scriptures, Old Testament as well as New Testament, and all
pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ, God must also come to his people
personally and individually. And isn't the prophet here speaking
of himself and his experience really of the effect that the revelation
of God to his soul had upon him. In the opening words of the text,
verse 16, When I heard, my belly trembled, my lips quivered at
the voice, rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled
in myself. He's praying to God and he's
aware of God. He's aware of the one that he
approaches, the Holy One of Israel. Again, back in the beginning,
the second verse, O LORD, I have heard thy speech and was afraid. For this man, as he comes before
God, there's that sense of awe, the wonder of the God that he's
seeking to plead with and pray to. when he hears of God his
belly trembles it's not unlike what Job says there at the end
of that remarkable book of Job chapter 42 I have heard of thee
by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee wherefore
I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes says that man
Daniel also remember Daniel's words there in the 10th chapter
of his book in verse 8 it speaks of how he was left alone and
saw this great vision and all his comeliness departed from
him and he felt his complete utter unfitness his uncleanness
before the great God and we see it of course even when we come
to the New Testament with the Lord Jesus Christ God manifest
in the flesh what was the experience of Simon Peter when he saw something
of the wonder of who this person was. He makes that confession
at Caesarea Philippi, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living
God. And that's not only his confession,
this was surely something that he had realized in his own experience. There in the opening verses of
Luke 5, with that miracle, the great draft of fishes, where
the disciples have been toiling in vain all through the night
and then the Lord simply tells them where to cast a net and
they draw in this remarkable couch and we're told when Simon
Peter saw it he fell down at Jesus knees saying depart from
me for I am a sinful man oh Lord the effects, the effects that
any dealings with God, any revelation of God God shows himself when
we come before him with our prayers when I heard my belly tremble,
my lips quivered at the voice rottenness entered into my bones
and I trembled in myself God's personal dealings in here with
the Prophet, well as I said as we think of rest in the day of
trouble. And that is truly a day of trouble.
And what is it that brings that trouble? First of all there's
the conviction of the sinner. There's the conviction of the
sinner. God does speak. He says, I heard. How did God
speak? When he cometh. How God comes to his people,
when he cometh up onto the people He will invade them, it says,
with his troops at the end of the text. The margin says he will cut them
in pieces with his troops. The imagery,
of course, is that of warfare. But it reminds us, doesn't it,
of the language of Job. Job 19, verse 12, his troops
come together and raise up their way against me, and then camp
round about my tabernacle." Speaking of himself, he's speaking of
all that's happening in his experience. God speaks to us in his providences,
in his dealings with us, even when God acts in a contrary way
to us. And we can't understand or fathom
what the Lord is doing. As I said, we have those words
in Psalm 77, thy way is in the sea. and I pass in the great
waters, my footsteps are not..." No. And when he speaks there
in that verse in chapter 19 of his tabernacle, he's speaking
of his body and you know he was so much afflicted in his own
physical being. Now he's covered from heads to toe with terrible sores and
bruises and goes and sits and scribes himself, sits amongst
the ashes. We that are in this tabernacle
do groan being burdened says the apostle to the Corinthians.
Is that how we feel? We feel so unclean, so unfit
to be in the presence of God. The Lord's voice speaks sometimes
in his dealings to us. His voice cries unto the city,
says another prophet. And his people, they hear that
voice, they know it's the Lord who's dealing with them. All
God's strange ways, but of course it's not so much that God comes
and deals with us in providence. Thankfully he comes and he deals
with us primarily in and by his word. What a blessed thing that
God has given us the scriptures of truth. This is where we really
are favored to hear the voice of God when we come to God's
words. When I heard. What was he hearing? Was he hearing
the voice of God as God was speaking to him? Of course, the scriptures
were not then complete. but God would come and he would
speak directly to men that's how he dealt with his prophets
they are the holy men that were moved by the spirit of God as
God communicated the truth of his words to them and those words
you see that he utters at the beginning I have heard thy speech or thy report as the margin says
Again Isaiah says, Who hath believed our reports? To whom hath the
arm of the Lord been revealed? These men are conveying God's
word and God is making bear his arm as he deals with them. They're
not just having God's word dictated to them and just repeating words. That isn't the way of inspiration. God is dealing with them in their
soul's experience and this man is learning something they say
of the truth of of God who God is, the holiness of God, the
righteousness of God, the justice of God. And we need to hear that voice
when the Lord comes, He comes in His Word. Christ says He does
it in My sheep. Hear My voice and I know them. And they follow Me and I give
unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. one of the
sheep will hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ not just
the voice of mere men if we're ever saved, if we've had a true
experience of grace, it's the voice of God that we've heard
and we've many times referred to that portion in the 10th chapter
of Romans where Paul tells us something about what preaching
is really Romans 10 verse 14, How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As
it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach
the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.
But they have not all obeyed the gospel, For as I have said,
Lord, you have believed our report. But the interesting thing is
that we have there in verse 14, How shall they believe in him
of whom they have not heard? Really the word of is quite superfluous
here because the verb to hear takes the accusative with regards
to the thing heard. It literally reads in the Greek,
How shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? Not
so much hearing of Christ, but again that emphasis on the sheep
hearing his voice. How shall they believe in him
whom they have not heard? the voice of Christ is heard
and heard in the preaching he says doesn't he write into the
Ephesians the Apostle Paul you have not so learned Christ if
so be you have heard him and been taught by him and yet the
Lord Jesus was never in Ephesus it was Paul who was the preacher
to the Ephesians and others with him but he reminds them that
it was Christ that was in that ministry, it was his voice. You
have not so learned Christ. You've heard Him. Oh, and when
the Lord comes and speaks, doesn't his voice bring conviction? Doesn't his voice cut into the very soul? It was
so with Paul. he was kicking against the pricks
the Lord was dealing with him as he acknowledges there in Acts
chapter 9 the Lord says how hard it is for thee to kick against
the pricks when he cometh unto the people
he will invade them with troops he will cut them in pieces cut
them in pieces with troops and Again, the language of Job, where
he speaks of the arrows of the Almighty are within me. The poison whereof eateth up
my spirit, he says. Thy terrors set themselves in
array against me. Read the words that we have there
in Job 6 and verse 4. God's arrows. and we see it in
the preaching of the the day of Pentecost the ministry of
Peter and the consequence of his preaching when they heard
this they were pricked in their hearts just as Paul you see was
one who was kicking against those those pricks they were pricked
in their hearts and said unto Peter and to the apostles what
must we do to be saved or when the Lord comes in He comes by
His Spirit and He comes in His Word and there's a blessed application. There's a work of conviction
in the soul of the sinner. The sinner is made to tremble
before God when he has true dealings with that man in his soul. But
God doesn't just come and cut his people. God also comes with
a measuring line. and we have it here. Verse 6,
He stood and measured the earth. He beheld and drove asunder the
nations. He measures. The measuring line. And remember we see that so graphically
in what we're told there in the book of Zechariah. In the second
chapter, I know he's speaking of the building of the temple
in the days of Ezra, but surely that temple is a wonderful type
of Christ and his church. In Zechariah chapter 2, I lifted
up my eyes again and looked and behold a man with a measuring
line in his hand. then said I wither goest thou
and he said unto me to measure Jerusalem to see what is the
breadth thereof and what is the length thereof. The Lord you
see comes with a measuring line and that imagery is taken up
again in the book of Revelation. So much of what we have there
in the visions, the remarkable language that we find in Revelation
is taken from the Old Testament Scriptures. And so in chapter
11, John says, There was given me a reed like unto a rod, and
the angel stood saying, Rise and measure the temple of God,
and the altar, and them that worship therein. Oh, God measures us. He measures
us by His words. And what is the result? Oh, we
come so far short. Oh, when the plummet line is
applied, what does it show in our lives? Nothing but crooks.
Nothing is straight. That's what we are by nature.
God makes man upright, but man is no more upright. His life
is full of devices, so many crooks. And this is what this man is
confessing really as he comes to the end of the prayer. When
I heard my belly trembled, my lips quivered, that the voice
rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself. Oh,
it's all taking place in the depths of his soul. conviction of sin, that realization
of what we are by nature. The Lord deals with us. But then,
what do we read? The words that I said really
would form the theme, that I might rest in the day of trouble. That I might rest. Dr. Gill says that the word that
here as the force of yet or notwithstanding. yet I shall rest notwithstanding
all this quivering and trembling and this feeling of the rottenness
of what he is notwithstanding I shall rest
in the day of trouble and where is this rest? this rest of course
can only be in the Lord Jesus Christ Come unto me all ye that
labour and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you, learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall
find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy, my burden is
light, for the blessings of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again Hebrews 4.13 We which have
believed do enter into rest, are we those who really believe?
and what does that mean? we simply rest in the Lord Jesus
Christ, we rest in all that he is we rest in all that he has
done all his person, his work, that's all our salvation and
why does the Lord convince his people of sin? why does he bring
all that trembling into their souls. Why does he terrify them
with their sins? Well, in order that he might
effect in them a very real cure. Again, going back into the Old
Testament, there at the beginning, the books of Moses, Deuteronomy,
in chapter 32 and verse 39, see now, Here he is, he's the voice of
God. This is God speaking through his servant. See now that I,
even I am he and there is no God with me. I kill and make
alive. I wound and I heal and none can
deliver out of my hands. Oh that's, that's what God does. He has a gracious end ultimately
in view. I know the thought that I think
towards you. Thoughts of peace and not of
evil to give you unexpected end, he says to the children of Israel.
And so here, when we come to the end, what does he say? Remarkable
words. Although the fig tree shall not
blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines. the labour of
the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, the
flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd
in the stores, all things, all things failing. Yet, I will rejoice
in the Lord, I will join in the God of my salvation. The Lord
God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hind feet,
and He will make me to walk upon mine high places. And as I said,
all of this really centers in the Lord Jesus Christ himself,
the Anointed One. Verse 13, Thou wentest forth
for the salvation of thy people. This is why God came forth. This
is why God invades them with his troops. He goes forth for
the salvation of his people, even for salvation with thine
anointing. That blessed end that God has
in you. But how this work in us, if we've
known it the first time, we need to have it revived. And we need
to have it revived again, and again many, many times of reviving
is what we really need. or that the Lord would come,
you see, and do such a thing. And so we have it there, don't
we? In verse 2, O Lord, revive thy work. In the midst of the
years, in the midst of the years make known, and in wrath remember
mercy. We need to have that work revived.
What does that mean? Well, it means we have to live
by faith. not just faith at the beginning, it's a life of faith
it's the continuous life of the child of God back in chapter
2 of course we have that remarkable, that great word at the end of
the fourth verse the just shall live by his faith the just shall
live by his faith and you know that word is repeated in the
New Testament Not just once, nor twice, but three times. Three times. The Apostle repeats
that very word, the just shall live by his faith. And it's interesting
to see the context in which he uses that word, or refers back
to that word. In Galatians chapter 3, and there
at verses 10 and 11, we find him using those words from Habakkuk. What is the context? Galatians
3 verses 10 and 11 For as many as are of the works
of the law are under the curse for it is written cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things which are written in the book
of the law to do them but that no man is justified by the law
in the sight of God it is evident for the just shall live by faith
he is taking up those words here in connection with the law of
God and what the law is all about, what is the ministry of the law
you know how Paul deals with this whole matter of believers
being delivered from the law and enjoying the liberties of
the gospel but he speaks much of what the ministry of the law
is we're brought to believe the law, it's a good law, it's a
holy law it's God's law there's no fault in the law But
the law exposes all that we are as sinners, curses everyone that
continueth not in all things. We have to continue in all things,
no exceptions. James says if a man keeps the
whole law and yet offends in one point, he is guilty of all. We have to have faith in that
law and recognize what it is and its administration of condemnation. It's that ministration of death.
But of course, as I said, he makes reference to Habakkuk 2.4
on more than one occasion does Paul. He mentions it again in
Romans. And there in the very first chapter,
Romans 1.16-17, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God unto
salvation, to every one that believeth, to the Jew first,
and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, that
just shall live by faith." Now here, he's quoting the same verse,
or the same portion of a verse from Habakkuk, but he mentions
it in association with the Gospel. which is the only way of salvation,
the power of God unto salvation to everyone. And what is revealed
in the gospel? The righteousness of God. Of
course, the just shall live by faith is telling us where justification
is. Our justification is altogether
in another. Our justification is not our
own work, it's the work of Christ, it's His righteousness. that
justifies the sinner and so the text relates to our experience
of law conviction of sin but it also relates to release from sin and salvation
in the gospel of Christ and then the third use is in Hebrews chapter
10 and there right at the end of that chapter
Hebrews 10 and verses 38 and 39 Now the just shall live by
faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure
in him. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul. So it's a continual life of faith
No drawing back. We're pressing toward the mark
of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ. We're not of
them that draw back. No, we live the life of faith. Not just the beginning of our
Christian experience, our continual experience of the grace of God. And all that life of faith is
centering in the Lord Jesus Christ. it centers in him that the life
of the believer is resting in Christ that I might rest in the
day of trouble. Though often in this world the
believers in the midst of troubles in the world you shall have tribulation
says Christ be of good cheer I have overcome the world and
this is a great message isn't it of the apostles in the Acts
when we see Paul preaching there at Antioch in Pisidia, Acts 13. What does he preach? He preaches
Christ by him. By him all that believe are justified
from all things that they could not be justified from by the
deeds of the Lord. Nothing in self. What are we
in self? We are sin. We are all rottenness. and that sense of what we are
has to enter into our very bones that though we are sinful in
self we are all righteous by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
when I heard my belly tremble my lips quivered at the voice
rottenness entered into my bones and I trembled in myself that
I might rest in the day of trouble when he cometh up unto the people
he will invade them with his troops it's God's work and that's
where we have to rest the just shall live by his faith well
the Lord be pleased to bless his word to us we're going to
turn now to a time of prayer together but before we pray let
us sing our second praise it's the hymn 10 28 1028. The tune is Remington 395. Come hither ye by sin distressed,
and hear the Saviour's faithful word. Soon ye shall enter into
rest, and know that He is your conquering Lord. 1028. Tune 395.