All right, let's look at Habakkuk.
The just shall live by Christ. And as I said, what I want to
emphasize in this message, and this is the mainstay of Habakkuk's
message, is that those who are truly just in God's eyes, they
live upon God-given faith in the Lord God, And of course the
finality and the ultimate revelation of that is found in the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ whom they knew as the coming
Messiah. And I've had people ask me this
about Old Testament as we go through it. And we preach Christ
from the Old Testament because that's what the Old Testament
is about. He is. He told the Pharisees that, and
you remember John 539, he says, you search the scriptures, in
them you think you have eternal life, they are they which testify
of me. And as I preach these messages out of the Old Testament,
we know that we have somewhat of an advantage because we're
looking back through New Testament eyes, as one said, to see these
things. And somebody asked me, well,
you think these people knew about that or they understood that?
Well, here's what I would say to them. In every generation,
under the old covenant, which was a legal system of works,
which they failed to keep, but under that system, God always
had a remnant of true believers who looked forward to the coming
Messiah. And so, yes, there's some who
did, but the majority didn't. But now think about today, as
we preach to people, witness to people, the majority of the
people who carry a Bible around They don't know the true and
living God. They don't know Christ, and I'm
not saying that arrogantly. I just know it from experience,
and I know it from people that I talk to. False Christianity
has run amuck in our country and in the world. So that's the
issue, see. So when I'm, you know, the prophets
and the priests were the ones who were given the onus of Telling
the people the truth, especially the prophets. The priesthood
became so corrupt, but there were a few. The kings of the
northern kingdom, the southern kingdom, they were to be leaders,
leading the people in the things of the Lord, but most of them
were evil and they failed. So I'm not saying that these
people understood this, but there was always a remnant. A remnant
of God's grace according to the election of grace. Well here's
Habakkuk. Listen to what he says here.
Just read the first four verses. The burden which Habakkuk the
prophet did see. Now remember what a burden is.
That's literally a heavy message. This is something that people
need to hear but people don't want to hear. And of course we
can liken that to the gospel. You know, I think about this
all the time, how people, they run around looking for a church.
And you gotta ask yourself the question, what am I looking for?
What am I looking to find? And with most people, it's usually
either social or it's emotional. Numbers, you know, they say there's
safety in numbers. You know that's not true. Never
is. Even the natural man sometimes
can recognize that. Even old Thomas Jefferson, who
didn't believe the gospel, made the statement, he said, when
have the majority ever been right? So I mean, we know that. Numbers
don't mean anything. But what are they looking for?
Most of the time, they're looking for something that'll make them
feel better. And the problem is, in false
religion, that's the worst thing you can find. That's like giving
a, you got a serious disease, a deadly disease, and they just
give you something to mask the pain, and you still die. That's
what false religion does. So, what we ought to be looking
for is the word of God. Where's God's word preached?
I'm gonna talk about that in the message later on. But here's
a prophet who had a burden. Every preacher of the gospel,
every witness, all of you, you have a burden because it's a
heavy message. And you know people don't wanna
hear it. Think about Noah preaching for 120 years and nobody believed
it that we see and nobody recorded. Think about Isaiah. Isaiah, go preach, but they're
not gonna hear ya. Boy, what an inspiration for
evangelism. But there it is. But you preach
it anyway. Why? Because God said to. And
my message to tell you at 11 is followers of God. Are we gonna
follow God? You're gonna do what God says.
So understand that. Well, Habakkuk had a message
they didn't wanna hear. And this is the great burden
that the Lord had laid on his heart concerning the sins of
Judah, the southern kingdom, Jerusalem. Habakkuk prophesied
at the same time that Jeremiah prophesied. And the northern
kingdom was already gone. The Assyrian empire had already
conquered it and scattered it. And Judah, the southern kingdom
in Jerusalem, was about to be conquered by the Babylonians.
And you remember what Jeremiah's message was, don't you? We deserve it, we might as well
accept it and take our punishment. That's really what, I mean, Jeremiah's
message was a message of Christ, but I'm talking about his message
concerning this captivity that was coming, is don't fight it. Boy, that just doesn't sound
right to us, does it? These people coming in to conquer
us, we need to, no, Jeremiah said, we're getting what we deserve.
But now, Jeremiah's main message was, our hope is not in physical
Judah or the old covenant, our hope is in the coming Messiah
who is the Lord our righteousness. That's what Jeremiah's main message.
Well, it's the same with Habakkuk. And he was prophesying the same
time that Jeremiah, And you think about, as I said before, the
kings. In the Northern Kingdom, there
was not one king who was what we would call a godly king. In
the Southern Kingdom, there were a few kings who were said to
be, they did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord. King
Josiah was one of them. And I mentioned him after King
Josiah. After him, every king in Judah
was evil. And the whole nation followed
him. And that's the crowd that Habakkuk and Jeremiah preached
to. So listen to what the prophet
says. Look at verse two. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry
and thou wilt not hear? Now think about this. Here's
the prophet saying, I'm crying unto you, Lord, but you're not
hearing me. Well, that wasn't true. We know that. One of the
things you learn about these prophets is they were sinful
men and women just like we are. Sinners saved by grace. And don't
you ever think that there's times that God just doesn't hear you?
Pray, Lord, heal my back. Lord, do this, do that. Lord,
why are you putting up with all this? Now this is what Habakkuk
was saying. Look here, he says, Here, even
cry out unto thee violence and thou wilt not save. Why dost
thou show me iniquity and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling
and violence are before me. He's looking at the nation. This
is kind of like the state of the nation. And it's a mess. Don't we do that today? Look
at this nation, it's a mess. And it's getting worse, isn't
it? And Habakkuk says, and there are that raise up strife and
contention, therefore the law is slacked, they don't care for
the law, judgment doth never go forth, no justice, for the
wicked doth encompass or surround the righteous, therefore wrong
judgment proceeded. So what he's doing, he's asking
the question, I've got it in your lesson, why does God permit
or put up with this evil? Now you got evil on two sides
here. You've got the evil that's within Judah itself because they
were following evil kings and disregarding the law, all of
that. And then you've got the evil
of the Babylonians who are coming down to conquer it. So here's
God in his providence and power using an evil nation to punish
his people who are themselves evil. And Habakkuk is kinda confused
here until God gives him the answer. And so whenever we think
about this, think about this, we say why doesn't he bring judgment
upon the nation and put a stop to it? Why didn't God do that
to the United States of America? And anytime we think this way,
there's three things we're reminded of. I've got them in your lesson
here. Number one, think about this. God is long-suffering,
but he's not unjust. Don't ever mistake his long-suffering,
his patience, for him being wrong or unjust, or as if he's waiting
on people to do something. God doesn't do that. God doesn't
wait on you or me or anybody else. I had a man tell me one
time that the reason that Christ has not returned is because he's
waiting on the people over in Israel to rebuild the temple.
He's not waiting on such nonsense as that. He didn't wait on you
or me. And that's the way people kind
of see salvation today. Christ is hanging over the banister
of heaven just waiting on you to make the right decision. Well,
you know what the Bible teaches? That if Christ is hanging over
the banister of heaven waiting on us, he's gonna be a frustrated
failure because we're not coming. God looked down. Remember that
two times in the Psalms? To see if anybody did serve him.
There's nobody. They've all gone the other way. So God is long-suffering. And
he will bring judgment to sinners to whom sin is imputed, charged,
in his time. It's coming. You remember, David
asked that question. Why do the heathen prosper? Isaiah
spoke of that. You know, I looked around and
I saw how terrible things were. Folks, now really, think about
it. It's never been any different. I know we grew up in a time,
you know, father knows best and all that stuff. And we were spoiled,
I know that. But the evil of this world, the
idolatry, the unbelief, it's never been different. I know
there are things, you know, I think a lot of things have been going
on since the world fell, since Adam fell. They come into our
living room now by way of TV. And we see them firsthand, you
know, if you watch it. That's why I've pretty much stopped
watching the news. But the world's always been evil.
And this is the world we live in. As sinners saved by grace,
we live in this evil world. But God's gonna judge this world. And he's gonna judge it in righteousness
by that man whom he hath ordained and that he hath given assurance
unto all men and that he raised him from the dead. And so when
we see things about the long suffering of God, we talked about
this in the prior book, the book of Nahum, that God's not, he's
not waiting on anything like that. He's got a time span, a
time scale that he has set. And it's gonna happen right on
time. according to his timescale sovereignly. And so all this
shows us that God still has a people whom he's going to call into
the kingdom as long as this world exists. He's gonna be calling
his people into the kingdom though few they be. Few there be that
find it. And they're gonna find it because
he finds them. They're gonna come to Christ. And that's how
we're to count the long suffering of God. Yes, he's gonna judge
the wicked in their day. He told Isaiah, consider their
end, how it's gonna end up here. They may be happy today. I was
in the bookstore, when was it, Friday night, wasn't it, or Friday?
And this false preacher, Joe Osteen, all right, you know who
he is. And he's got a book out, it's
called Your Best Life Now. Well, do you know, for most people,
that's true. Because what have they got to look forward to after
death? Separation from God. And it's sad. Yeah, live your
best life now, eat, drink, and be married, tomorrow you die.
But my friend, without Christ, without his blood and righteousness,
think about that. Not gonna be best life then,
is there? Well, that's the first thing. God is long-suffering,
but he's not unjust. And he's even just in our salvation. That's the glory of this, isn't
it? Listen, Habakkuk's gonna talk
about the justified. What's a justified person? That's
a sinner saved by grace through the blood and righteousness of
Jesus Christ. Our sins charged to him, his
righteousness to us. What a story that is. And the
second thing God reminds them, when we look around at this evil
world now, the second thing he reminds us of is this, that we're
all sinners who deserve and have earned condemnation and wrath.
You look at this evil world and what evil men and women who live
and die in unbelief, what they're going to face. And it's horrible. That's what the Bible says when
it says, we know the terror of the Lord. It's horrible. But here's what we see. It's
only, I mean only, by His grace and mercy that we're not in the
same boat. Think about that. I think about
when disasters come and false preachers get on their hind legs
and start talking about how well I remember when that Hurricane
Katrina came through and leveled New Orleans. And several false
preachers got and said, well, that was an evil city. And they
deserve that. Well, you know what? I agree
with that. But Albany's an evil city, too.
And we deserve no more, no less. Isn't that right? Remember, read
Luke 13, what Christ said about those whom Pilate slew and those
whom the Tower of Siloam fell, and he said, you suppose they
were greater sinners than us? He said, oh no, he said, except
you likewise, except you repeat, you will likewise perish. And
I think that's a good reminder. Lamentation 322, got it in your
lesson. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. because his compassions fail
not. That's right. Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? So understand that now. When
we see wicked people getting what they deserve, get on your
knees and thank God, Lord, thank you for not giving me what I
deserve. He had mercy. And then the third
thing that we learn out of this is nobody's gonna escape judgment.
And again, I've kind of sort of mentioned this, and I'm not
trying to be repetitive, but nobody's gonna escape judgment.
If you're saved by the grace of God, you didn't do so by escaping
judgment. Judgment came upon you in the
person of Christ, on the cross as your surety, your substitute,
and your redeemer. He took it for you, took it for
me. but nobody's gonna escape. Well,
the next verses from verse five to the end of this chapter pretty
much expresses the prophet's confusion about all of this.
And he was confused that God would use a nation like Babylon,
excuse me, whom he considered more sinful and more idolatrous
than Judah to bring judgment upon his people. But God in these
verses, I won't read them all, you can read them, God in his
wisdom shows the prophet that everything is well within his
purpose to accomplish his glory for his people. You know as well as I do, the
reason God kept this southern kingdom of Judah together, even
through these evil times, and even through them being conquered,
do you know this is the last place in history that the nation
Israel was a free nation? Because after Babylon, they were
continually under foreign rulers until Christ came, and then they
were destroyed. I always thought that was interesting,
where the Pharisees, when they were talking to Christ, when
he was teaching about the liberty and the freedom of the gospel,
and the Pharisees argued with him, said, we be not in bondage.
Well, they were, too. They were under the bondage of
Rome. So they just denied the reality
in order to deny the gospel. And that's what people will do.
But God assures them, look, it's all going according to plan.
He's going to do his will in the heavens and in the earth.
And he tells them, the prophet, that such judgment would eventually
come upon them for their sins. And look at verse 12 of Habakkuk
1. He says, art thou not from everlasting,
O Lord God, my holy one? This is Habakkuk attesting to
God, worshiping God, He says, we shall not die, O Lord, thou
hast ordained them for judgment. This is the foreordination of
God, vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. Now the thing
about it is Habakkuk is talking about Babylon. He doesn't realize
that he's talking about Judah too, as far as the national people. And he says an almighty God thou
hast established them for correction. In other words, you raised them
up to be punished. Verse 13, thou art of pure eyes than to
behold evil, and canst not look upon iniquity. Wherefore lookest
thou upon them that deal treacherously and holdest thy tongue, when
the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he.
Now, what all the prophet had in mind, sometimes it's kind
of hard to understand. But first of all, he says God's
of pure eyes than to behold evil. And that's true. He cannot look
upon iniquity. And that obviously begs the question,
well then how can he save a sinner like me? How can he save any,
how can he be just and justify, you see? Well, how does God see
his people? He sees us in Christ. That's
our standing before God. We're washed in his blood and
clothed in his righteousness. But he also tells the prophet
here that judgment's coming It's coming. And so they can expect
it. And Habakkuk was to tell them
the truth. And he tells them that, especially
in the future, this would be applied to their rejection of
Christ. Look over at, let me see if I
got this right. He talks about how Yeah, well, let's go on down
to chapter two, and then I'll show you what I'm talking about.
All right, the first four verses of chapter two is this. The prophet shows them the hope,
okay? And he says, I will stand upon
my watch, set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he
will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And
he says, and the Lord answered me and said, write the vision,
make it plain upon tables that he may run that readeth it. For
the vision is yet for an appointed time. Now vision is the word
of God. But at the end it shall speak
and not lie, though it tarry, wait for it, because it will
surely come. It will not tarry. It's not on
hold, waiting for men to do anything. Behold, his soul which is lifted
up is not upright in him, but the just. The justified shall
live by his faith. The name Habakkuk means one who
embraces, one who clings. And of course, as I've gotten
your lesson here, the lesson of this prophecy is that as true
children of God, We live in this wicked world. We don't know the
end from the beginning, but God does. And our hope is to embrace
Christ, to cling to Christ, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. And so when Habakkuk states,
the just shall live by his faith, what is that faith? Well, that
faith is determined and defined by its foundation and its object.
It's not the power of believing, it's the power of the one in
whom we believe. You understand? And that's what
people don't understand today. Most people think of faith as
being some natural virtue that you just have to light a match
to to get it to work, mentally and emotionally. But the prophets,
spoke of one to come who would be the hope of Israel. And they
continually told him, said, don't put your faith, your hope, your
trust in the law because the law will condemn you. That's
why the law was given, to show you the impossibility of salvation
by anything that you do or think or decide. Don't put your faith
or your hope in alliances with other nations. They're evil.
They want to devour you. Don't put your faith or your
hope in yourself, in your works, but put your faith and your hope
in God. But man doesn't have that faith.
He says the just shall live by his faith. Why is it his faith? It's because God gives it to
him. Faith is the gift of God. Israel's whole existence was
mainly to be the human tool by which God would bring in the
Messiah, the Christ. And so Habakkuk, he draws a clear
line of distinction here between God's enemies and God's children.
The true children of God, they're not distinguished by their works
or their nationality. They're distinguished by the
grace of God. I'll have mercy on him, I'll
have mercy, I'll be gracious to him, I'll be gracious. And
they're distinguished by the faith that God has given them
by which they look to and rest in the righteousness of the promised
Messiah. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. Now the unbeliever's soul is
lifted up and is not upright. but the just shall live by faith.
And of course you know this phrase is repeated three times in the
New Testament. Once where the Holy Spirit inspired
the Apostle Paul to make the statement that both Jew and Gentile
are justified before God based upon the very righteousness of
God revealed from faith to faith. And that's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. That's how Jews are saved, that's how Gentiles are
saved. Anybody who's saved, it's by grace that reigns in righteousness
by Jesus Christ our Lord. That's Romans 117. And then in
Galatians 3.11, Paul wrote, but that no man is justified by the
law on the side of God, it is evident, for the just shall live
by faith. Well, what is that faith? Well,
Paul made it clear in Galatians, that's Christ. the power, the goodness, the
righteousness of Christ. And that's the only ground of
justification. That's the only ground upon which
God forgives my sin and declares me righteous before God. And
then in Hebrews 10, 38, it says this, the just shall live by
faith, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure
in him. The point there is that those who are truly saved by
grace will continue living by faith, continue living by Christ. They don't quit because God won't let them, God
preserves them. if Paul was the one who wrote
Hebrews, which some believe he was, but it's the word of God.
He concluded that we are not of them who draw back unto perdition,
but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. And then
turn to chapter three, and this whole chapter three is a prayer
of Habakkuk, praying to God. And he says, look at verse 17,
we'll just read these verses and then I'll close. Although
the fig tree, now usually that's a symbol of Israel, Although
the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the
vines. That's the failure of Israel. Well, isn't that what
we are by nature? Like an unfruitful fig tree and
vine, until Christ, by his power and his righteousness imputed
and by the life that he gives, makes us fruitful to bear fruit
unto God. The labor and the olives shall
fail, and the field shall yield no meat or no meal. The flock
shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in
the stalls. Verse 18, yet will I, I will rejoice in the Lord,
I will joy in the God of my salvation. It kind of reminds me, I've got
it listed in your lesson, Job 13, 15. Job said, though he slay
me, yet will I trust him. And he says, the Lord God is
my strength and he will make my feet like hind's feet, like
a deer. And he will make me to walk upon
mine high places. And he said to the chief singer
on my stringed instruments, he's rejoicing in the Lord. And that's
where the hope of any sinner is. Not in himself, not in the
law, not in his works, but in Christ. Okay.