You turn in your scriptures to
Acts chapter 13. As you know, we are going down
a little cul-de-sac as we go through Acts. Each time we've
come to an Old Testament passage, we've gone down that cul-de-sac
or that lead into that door that has opened to all sorts of wonderful
things. Habakkuk is one of the prophets
like Jeremiah and Ezekiel that promised the fall of Jerusalem
and the rescue of God's people in the midst of that fall, a
prophecy that was fulfilled in the days of Jeremiah and a prophecy
which was fulfilled yet again in 70 AD when the Romans came
and destroyed Jerusalem. The destruction of Jerusalem
was God's judgement upon the apostasy in Jerusalem. So in
Acts 13 we have We have the preaching of the gospel, the first preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Apostle Paul in
what is modern-day Turkey. It was called Galatia in those
days and the letter to the Galatians is written to the churches in
this region. But it's a letter We have a history
here in Acts 13, and we have before us the declaration of
Habakkuk, and it's done in response to the Jews' response to this
preaching. The Gentiles generally found
the preaching of the Gospel a delight in many of the churches, but
it was the Jews, through the rest of Paul's life, that stirred
up the people. And they became as enraged and
as irrational against Paul as they did against the Lord Jesus
Christ. Unbelief is irrational, and unbelief
and rejection of the gospel turns people into madmen. These same people that Paul is
speaking of here in Acts 13, by the time he gets to verse
39 he's declared the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The work
of the Lord Jesus Christ is that work that was promised throughout
history and was typified through all of the history of Israel.
The history of Israel is a history of the Lord Jesus Christ and
His redemptive work for His people. A declaration of His deity, a
declaration of His sovereignty, a declaration of the success
of His ministry. And then Paul culminates this
sermon in Acts 13.39 and says, by Him all that believe. If you're
going to believe in God, then it's going to be by Him. And
so if you can't believe, then go to Him who brings belief. He brings faith, faith that's
in Him. By Him all that believe are justified
from all things. To be justified in biblical language
is to be declared in the court of a holy God to have no sin. no sin whatsoever. In God's sight, no sin. It's
a declaration of God that there is absolutely no sin in that
person whatsoever. And the only reason there is
no sin in that person whatsoever is that that sin was put on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and that sin was punished in such a way by
God in His holy wrath against that sin, that the sin is no
longer in existence. "'Who shall lay any charge?'
says Paul in Romans." There is no charge to be laid against
the children of God, because there is no sin to be found. There is now, says Paul in Romans
8.1, there is now no condemnation, there is no judgment to those
that are in Christ Jesus. None. Why? Because the holy justice
of God slew his son. and exacted all that God's justice
requires against those sins, and there is nothing left to
pay. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And for people who are nothing
but sinners, it's good, good news. But if you are religious
and you've done your work, and you have some merit in your work
and your morality and your activities, then you find that message offensive. It's not your sins that keep
people from believing, although they do. The biggest problem
we have in believing is our righteousness. We actually believe that we are
righteous, and especially religious people believe they're righteous,
and they're righteous in the deeds that they do, and they're
righteous in the deeds that can be seen of men. But these believers are justified
from all things. And these Jews thought that their
righteousness, thought that their obedience to the law of God gave
them some inside track with God. And that's what they found offensive.
That's what they found offensive in the Lord Jesus Christ when
he declared their works to be nothing but filthy rags. That's
what happens today. That's what happened to these
Jews when they were told that you could not be justified by
the law of Moses. The law of Moses does nothing
but expose sin. The law of Moses does nothing
but reveal God's standard and how far short you have fallen
of it. And then Paul quotes these words
from Habakkuk. He says, Beware therefore lest
that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets. Behold ye
despises and wonder and perish. For I work a work in your days,
a work which you shall in no wise believe though a man declare
it unto you. Even though it has been declared
unto you, you won't believe it. If you despise, The work of God. These Jews, if you turn, I don't
want you to turn there, we'll sing another song, but if you
keep reading in Acts chapter 14, you'll find that these Jews
pursued Paul and stirred up as much enmity against him as he
could. From town to town, these Jews,
these ones that he's speaking of here, pursued Paul until they
got to Lystra. And in Lystra, Paul healed a
crippled man. And what's the response of so
great a miracle healing a crippled man? They killed him or thought
they had. They stoned him until they thought
he was dead. What was the response of the
religious leaders in Jerusalem to the raising of Lazarus? From
the Jews. These religious people who turned
up to church several times a week, did their fasting and did their
praying and gave their arms and worked out how much they had
to tithe their mint and their cumin and all these things, and
they were religious and moral. What happened? The Lord Jesus
Christ raised Lazarus from the dead. What's their response?
Let's kill him. What's their response to Lazarus
being there on exhibition? Let's kill Lazarus as well. My
point, of course, and the point is that God brings justice, brings
judgment, and it's a just judgment. There is left in this world the
evidence of Habakkuk's prayer being fulfilled. It was fulfilled
in 586 B.C. and that temple was destroyed,
that city was burned, and Ezekiel saw that the glory of God was
taken away from that place. And then in 70 A.D. exactly the
same thing happened. And in a sense, for exactly the
same purpose, these religious self-righteous people wouldn't
believe the Lord Jesus Christ. They wouldn't flee from Jerusalem. It's really fascinating, isn't
it, that one of the most holy sites in the world for the Jews
They think it's one of the most holy sites for them. It's called
the Wailing Wall. And they believe to this day
that the glory of God will never leave the Wailing Wall. And they
go there. President Trump was there just
a little while ago. All the Prime Ministers go there. They're going
to a wall which tells them and all of the world that Habakkuk's
prophecy is true, that the words of the Lord Jesus Christ are
true. And yet, the Jews go to that
wall disbelieving God, and the Muslims have erected a great
mosque on top of it, and both of them disbelieve God. There is, there is in the gospel,
isn't there, there is in the gospel the greatest of good news. We read it there in Acts 13.39. There is in the gospel the greatest
warning that God can bring to humanity. May we, may we beware. May we be warned. May we rejoice
in the glory of who the Lord Jesus Christ is. Now here's my
book. We're going to sing number 33, and then we'll go to Habakkuk.
Habakkuk is the fifth book in the, fifth last book in our...
To find Habakkuk, you start with Matthew, and you go Malachi,
Zechariah, Haggai, Zephaniah and then back to Habakkuk. So
if you're in amongst those books you'll be close handy to where
we're looking today. The point of all of I said just
a little while ago is that no amount of evidence No amount
of evidence is going to bring saving faith to people. It requires
something that Habakkuk speaks of in this delightful prayer
of his that I'd like us to focus on. The evidence of false religion
was clearly laid out before these people The evidence of false
religion is only ever laid out when the Lord Jesus Christ is
revealed. It's only through the Gospel,
it's only through the Gospel that we actually have any understanding
of what is false. It's only by knowing the truth
that you know what a lie is. It's only by discovering what
is holy that you discover what is unholy. And it's in the Lord
Jesus Christ that dwells all truth. And therefore, it's in
Him, it's in Him and by Him that the truth is revealed and lies
are revealed. And Habakkuk is warning the people
of Jerusalem. He's warning them to flee from
the wrath to come. To flee. Habakkuk speaks today. That wailing wall in Jerusalem
speaks of the truthfulness of Habakkuk's prophecy. He may never
have lived to see it himself, but as Norm read to us from 1
Peter, the prophets long to look into the things that we see.
We see all of the promises of God as yes and amen in the Lord
Jesus Christ. God's people see Him high and
lifted up. They see Him reigning and ruling. And His people are brought to
prayer. They are brought to prayer. They are brought to relationship
with Him. To speak to Him that He might
speak to them. That's what He says in Habakkuk
chapter Chapter 2 he says I will stand to verse 1. I will stand
upon my watch and Set me upon the tower and will watch to see
what he will say unto me. And what shall I answer when
I am reproved?" Whenever we come, as Habakkuk did, questioning
God, raising those questions which the prophets are so honest
about raising, then there will be a reproof from God. Verse 2 it says, And the Lord
answered me and said, Write the vision, make it plain upon tables,
that he may run that readeth it. Write the vision down, Habakkuk. He's written it down. It says,
to make it plain, to write it on tables, write it so it can
be read again and again, that he may run that readeth it. If
you read this with the eyes of faith, you'll flee from the wrath
to come. But also that word, to run and
read, could also be a reference to the fact that you can read
this while you're running. While you're fleeing you can
read this. He speaks of his God in verse
12 of chapter 1. He says, Art thou not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, mine Holy One? We shall not die, O Lord. Those Anyone who can use personal
pronouns about the God revealed in scripture will not die, O
Lord, my Lord and my God. He says in 3.2, the verse that
I'd like us to spend our time looking at this morning, he says,
O Lord, I have heard thy speech, Habakkuk 3.2. I've heard thy
speech and was afraid. O Lord, revive thy work in the
midst of years. In the midst of years, make known. In wrath, remember mercy. So this is the prayer, the prayer
of a watchman. The prophecy of Habakkuk begins
with Habakkuk being burdened, and I'd like us to be mindful
of the fact that Paul was in this same situation. There he
was, believing the words of the Lord Jesus Christ about what
was going to happen to that temple in Jerusalem. It was going to
be so destroyed that there will be not one stone left put upon
another. It would be destroyed, and it
would be destroyed as the Jerusalem in 586 was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar,
it was going to be destroyed because of the idolatry of men
in there. The idolatry that caused Jerusalem
to be destroyed the second time was an idolatry of religious
righteousness. They were so righteous, those
Jews, that they didn't need a saviour. And Josephus, the historian,
records the fact that the Jews, when the Roman army came, thought
that the safest place on planet Earth for them was to be as close
to the Temple of Jerusalem as they possibly could. And a million
and 95,000 of them died in Jerusalem. died of starvation, died of enmity
against one another, but died under the judgment of God. No
wonder Habakkuk is burdened. No wonder Paul is burdened. The watchman of God are burdened. The watchman sees the approaching
disaster and he warns, he warns people. Lisa and I were in Thailand
some years ago and we went to, on the road up the coast where
the tsunami came in, we stopped at a restaurant there with our
friends and the restaurant owner was on this high peninsula but
down below him was this plain and this beach and these tourist
areas, and he had a video, still has a video I imagine, of the
tsunami coming. And there he was, up on this
high bluff at his hotel, and he watched that wave come. And the wave was unbelievable,
enormous. There's a warship. As you drive
down the coast a bit further, there's a warship. You're driving
along, and on your left-hand side as you're going north, there
are sort of plains and then the beach and where all the villages
and things and the tourist places were. And on the right-hand side,
there are the foothills. And this warship, this warship
is up there in the foothills. And he watched. He watched and
he could do nothing. He watched and he could do nothing.
When the Lord's servants are speaking, when the watchmen are
speaking, they see from that tower, don't they? They are made
by God, it says back in chapter two, verse one. He says, I will
stand upon my watch. and set me upon the tower. The watchman stand. We are, we
are responsible. We are responsible for our own
souls and we are responsible for the things that are laid
upon us. God is not playing games with
sin and he's not playing games with the people of this world.
The death of his son under his hand of wrath and judgment proves
to all the world that God will treat sin seriously, and God
will treat religion that dishonours him with the greatest of seriousness. But God's servants stand, they
stand. And then he says, I want to look
at the stance of the praying watchman. He says, set me upon
my tower. So the picture is, of course,
of someone on the walls of Jerusalem and there were towers all around
the wall of Jerusalem and the towers gave you an extra vantage
point, didn't they? The towers allowed you to see
beyond. what the people on the ground
could see. They allowed you to see into the distance, in a sense
to see into the future. They also allowed you to see
what was down below you so that you had a perspective on what
was happening around you and you had a perspective that was
governed by what you could see into the future. Set me upon
a tower. sent me upon this tower. The
tower in the scriptures is a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a picture of our great,
great God. In 2 Samuel, I'll just read some
of these verses, I don't, just listen rather than follow along
through the scriptures with me, but just listen. In 22 verse
3 of 2 Samuel, David Went hence to Mizpah of Moab,
and he said unto the king of Moab, let my father and my mother,
I pray ye, be with me. I'm sorry, that's the wrong verse.
I'm sorry. I'll go to the ones that I know
better. In Psalm 18, I'm sure it's there somewhere in 2 Samuel,
but there are a number of them. It's a common theme in the scriptures. It speaks, the tower speaks of
a personal God. In Psalm 18, David says, I will
love thee, O Lord, with my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress
and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust,
my buckler and the horn of my salvation and my high tower. In Psalm 61, verse 3, The psalmist again speaks of
this tower. The tower is the personal name
of our God to his people. It speaks of him in 61 verse
3. It says, For thou hast been a
shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. The tower is
a reference to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whosoever
shall call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved.
To call on his name is to call on his character. Habakkuk is
revealing his character. Paul revealed his character.
It says in Proverbs 18 verse 10, the name of the Lord is a
strong tower. The name of the Lord is a strong
tower. The righteous run into it. The righteous run into it and
is safe. It is the tower from which the
watchmen come and speak the words of God to Israel, in Isaiah 5
verse 2. It says, Verse 1, he says, Now I will
sing of my well-beloved, a song of my beloved, touching his vineyard. My well-beloved has a vineyard
in a very fruitful hill, for those of you who know Song of
Solomon, you'll see all of the allusions there. And he fenced
it. and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with
the choiceless vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and
also made a winepress therein. And he looked that it should
bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes." You know
the parable, do you know the parable in Matthew 21, the Lord
Jesus described Israel described Israel in exactly those same
words that Isaiah used in Matthew 21. He spoke of what God had
done for that nation Israel. God had blessed nation Israel
in the most remarkable ways. But again and again, he'd sent
them people, hadn't he? He'd sent them prophets. There was. He says, hear another
parable, Matthew 21, 33. Hear another parable. There was
a certain householder which planted a vineyard and hedged it around
about and digged a winepress in it and built a tower and let
it out to husbandmen and went away into a far country. And
when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to
the husbandmen that they might receive the fruits thereof. And
the husbandmen took his servants and beat one and killed the other
and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants,
more than the first, and they did unto them likewise. But last
of all, last of all, he sent his son, saying, They will reverence
my son. But when the husbandmen saw the
son, they said among themselves, This is the heir. Come, let us
kill him. Let us seize on his inheritance. There was a tower in that vineyard
and then on that tower in that vineyard were God's prophets
who spoke again and again and warned the people. As you might
well remember, the Lord used the figure of a watchman on a
tower to describe his calling of his servants, the calling
of his prophets to these people, the prophets that Paul is reminding
the Jews that were sent to them. And Jeremiah was there in Jerusalem
and Ezekiel was in Babylon and they were both saying exactly
the same thing. This is what God's going to do because of
your religious idolatry. because of your rejection of
him and rejection of his people. He says of Jeremiah, I have set
thee for a tower and a fortress among my people that thou mayest
know and try their way. He says, doesn't he, he says
through the man on the watchtower in Jeremiah in that same chapter,
Jeremiah 6, he says, Thus saith the Lord, stand in the ways,
stand in the ways. Before you are many ways. Before
you, people of Israel, there are many ways. Before you, the
watchmen, are many ways. Stand in the way and see, and
ask for the old paths. The old paths are the paths that
have no beginning, the paths of eternity, the paths of the
eternal covenant of God. Where is the good way? And walk therein." Find the good
way and walk there, and you shall find rest for your souls. That's where you'll find rest
for your souls, in the eternal covenant purposes of our great
and sovereign God. What was the response? And it's
a similar response throughout all of the Old Testament when
God promises the blessings of faith. What was the response
of the people in Jerusalem to Jeremiah? You might well know
the way they abused him. But they said, the people of
Jerusalem, they said, we will not walk therein. And God says,
also I set watchmen over you saying, hearken to the sound
of the trumpet. O congregation, what is among
them? Hear, O earth, and behold, I
will bring evil upon these people, even the fruit of their thoughts,
because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law,
but have rejected it." Whenever God brings a judgment, as he
did to Jerusalem twice, he always brings a warning. He always brings
a warning through the watchman. But the watchman, the watchman
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Those that are appointed to be
his watchman speak his words, as Habakkuk did. We read it,
didn't we? He just wanted to hear what God says. I will speak,
but I'm going to wait for you to speak to me. From the tower,
Habakkuk, he speaks. And our God speaks from that
tower, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he brings the answer. and
he brings the reproof. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
watchman, and all the watchmen that are sent by him are his
appointed watchmen. They are raised up for this purpose. Saul, Paul, was a watchman. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
commissioned Paul, declared him in Acts 26, verse 16. He declared
of him He says, but rise, Saul, rise,
Paul, and stand on thy feet. I have appeared unto thee for
this purpose, to make thee a minister, to make thee a servant, and a
witness both of these things which you have seen, and those
things in which I will appear unto thee. Make him a minister,
to raise him up to be a witness. All of God's children find the
words of their prophet, the words of their watchman, a word from
God. Ezekiel was made a watchman. He was made a watchman to the
people of Jerusalem who were cast out seemingly as the waste. The people in Jerusalem thought
that they were the ones who were on the inside track with God
because there they were with the temple beside them and having
its protection. They thought that what they could
see with their eyes was going to give them protection. They
had made a religion where they had made a mockery of the absolute
sovereignty of God. They had made a mockery of his
son, and God is going to destroy all of the false religion in
all of this world, and he'll destroy it because of what they
say about his son. Ezekiel is thy son of man. I have set thee a watchman under
the house of Israel. Therefore thou shalt hear the
word of my mouth and warn them from me. The watchman lift up
the voice together. We love that verse, don't we,
that's quoted, that comes from Isaiah 52 verse 87. Thy watchman shall lift up the
voice. We lift up He who is the Word of God, we lift up His spoken
Word before people, and with the voice together, with Him
together, they shall sing, for they shall see eye to eye, all
of God's watchful eyes. throughout all time have always
seen eye to eye. They've always seen exactly as
God has promised. They'll see exactly who the Lord
Jesus Christ is according to the scriptures. They'll see eye
to eye because they'll be made of God to see eye to eye. Because they will have seen him,
they will have met him, and they know him. Which is why Habakkuk
prays that prayer, doesn't he? He says, He says, revive thy
work in the midst of years. In the midst of the years, make
yourself known. Make yourself known, God. You've
made yourself known to people throughout time. Make yourself
known to me again now. It's a prayer that God's people
can pray at the beginning of their salvation. It's a prayer
that we can pray throughout our lives. Lord, make yourself known. The darkness of this world and
the darkness of the sin that's so much in my life causes me
not to see. Make yourself known. Make yourself
known." The watchman lift up the voice. With the voice together
they shall sing, for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord
shall bring again Zion. Isaiah 62, 6 says, I have set
watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their
peace day or night. I love this verse, isn't it?
Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence." He's actually
saying to the watchman, and I remind you that when Habakkuk was on
the tower and he went up there and he wrote those words, and
Ezekiel wrote those words, when the watchman speaks the words
of God, all the people of God are on the tower with him. We
see through the things that he declares. We see around with
clarity. We see beyond with clarity. I have set watchmen upon thy
walls, O Jerusalem." It's a picture of the church, the Jerusalem
above, the Jerusalem of the elect of God, the chosen children of
God, the redeemed, the ones that are singing in heaven. That Jerusalem
that comes down from heaven are the ones that are singing the
songs in heaven now. And there'll come a time when
he'll come back and we will join with him, and they'll be the
songs that are on the lips of all of God's people. O Jerusalem,
which shall never hold their peace, day or night, ye that
make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, and give him no
rest, says Isaiah 62. I love that. Give him no rest.
Bother God with your prayers for revival. Bother God with
your prayers for him to make himself known. Bother God with
your prayers as Habakkuk prayed. Give him no rest till he establish,
till he make Jerusalem, till he make that church a praise
in the earth. Make him known, make yourself
known. He says in this prayer that's
before us, the watchman's prayer, the watchman's prayer in the
midst of the years, the watchman's prayer now. I have heard thy
speech. and was afraid. Habakkuk had
every good reason to be afraid. The Chaldeans are described in
chapter 1 as being vicious and riding upon horses that are swift
as evening wolves. In chapter 2 he speaks of false
religion and the drunkenness of false religion. They have drunk the wine of the
fornication of the adulterers of the harlot. The harlot, that
harlot that takes the whole world captive. The whole world's taken
captive according to Revelation 14. How much do we need, do we
need in the midst of all of that, that the scriptures show us over
the horizon and show us with clarity all around from the watchtower
who is the Lord Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Babylon is a description. A description of that harlot. Babylon is fallen, that great
city, because she made all the nations drink the wine of the
wrath of her fornication. The wine of her fornication is
free will works religion. It's a religion that allows man
to have some boasting in his worth and his work and his wisdom. That is the wine, isn't it? In
Revelation 18 verse 3, she's described and her fall is described. for the nations have drunk the
wine of the wrath of her fornication." It says in Habakkuk both has
the Chaldeans coming in rage and then he has the false teachers
coming. And in Acts chapter 13 Paul is
dealing with the enmity of the Jews against the Gospel, the
physical enmity of the Jews against the Gospel. In chapter 15 he's
dealing with something which is far more perverse, wasn't
it? the false teachers that came, and they were dressed in the
garb of Christians, and they were declaring to these people
in these churches, it's all very well for you to have Jesus, but
you can add something of your works to it, and we'll show you
how you can enhance the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Add
something to it, to polish it a little bit, to make it more
acceptable, and make yourself a bit more acceptable to God
by your doing. will bring you and how do you
measure that doing? You measure that doing by the
law of Moses. Here's some morality, here's some exercises, here's
some tithing, here's some Sabbath keeping, here's some things you
can do and God's going to be very much more pleased with you
than simple trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. There are good reasons for Habakkuk,
standing on the watchtower, waiting for the Lord to reprove him,
waiting to hear what God will say, waiting to hear that he'll
have it said so clearly that he can write it, and you can
run from the wrath to come, and you can read it while you're
running, that you can have the comfort of knowing that this
is God's word to you. He says, I've heard your speech,
Habakkuk 3.2, I've heard your speech and I was afraid. We have, brothers and sisters,
no resources to withstand the enemies. We have no resources
within ourselves to withstand the enemies. We think that we
are wise and we're not. We're better off being fools
for Christ. We think that we've grown up
and the Lord Jesus Christ says you're better off being a baby.
You come to him as a little child. You come dependent because you
can't do it yourself. You come needy. You come helpless.
That's how her back it was. In our same chapter, turn to
verse 16. Having heard from God, no wonder
he was afraid. He said, when I heard my belly
trembled and 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 comes unto the people. He will
invade them with his troop. And look what he says about his
own works and his own ability and his own resources. He said,
although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit
be in the vines. The labour of the olive shall
fail and the field shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut
off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Habakkuk
has nothing. Nothing. He's heard his voice
and he was afraid. Habakkuk has no resources within
himself. He has nowhere in himself to
look. And when God does a work of grace
in someone's life, they have nowhere to look. They are made,
as this prayer says, they are made to be in reverential awe. If something is going to be done
for your soul or mine, God must do it. And he must do all of
it. He must do all of it. Habakkuk
had no resources. People say, well, follow your
heart. And God says, the heart of man is deceitfully wicked
and beyond cure, and who can understand it? To follow your
heart is to follow something that is deceitful to you. We
follow the word of God, and we trust what God says. He heard
his speech. He heard his speech. And I was
afraid. And then he says, O Lord, O Lord,
revive thy work. Revive thy work. How often, brothers
and sisters in Christ, do we need to pray that prayer? How
much do the things of this world, the things of the sin that is
so much a part of our life in this world, how much does it
entangle us, how often How often do we spend in seeming darkness
and not seeing the light of his promises? He says, revive thy
work. That word revive means to live,
to keep alive. It means to preserve alive. He said something similar over
in Habakkuk chapter 1, hasn't he? We shall not die. thou art
from everlasting, we shall not die, preserve your work, quicken
us, make us alive, quicken us, and we will call upon your name. It is just the work of God, it's
a sovereign work of God to make alive, and it's a sovereign work
of God to revive those who need to be revived so they feel alive
before him. The Father raises the dead, says
the Lord Jesus Christ, and quickens, makes alive. Even so, the Son
quickens whom he will. The Son makes alive who he will.
It is the Spirit that quickeneth. The Spirit quickens people. He makes people to live. He gives
people new life, a life from above, the life of God in the
soul of men. He makes alive. Make yourself,
make me alive. Revive what you've begun. Continue
to keep reviving what you've begun, my God. In the midst of years, revive
now. In the nearest time, revive now. Make known, make yourself known. This extraordinary, isn't it,
the judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the people of Jerusalem.
I think three times, at least, in the New Testament, he just
hid himself from people. He hid himself from people. He hid himself from them. This is eternal life. Make yourself
known. You have to reveal yourself to
me for me to know you. For me to know. This is eternal
life, says John 17.3. This is eternal life. that they may know Thee, the
only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." It is the
work of God. It's a creative work of God. It's a sovereign work of God,
and He does it. Why would you pray the prayer?
Why would God put the prayer on the lips of a backer if the
prayer wasn't going to be answered? The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord
Jesus Christ is revealed to people by a sovereign work of God. It says our gospel is hid. The
gospel is just a declaration of who the Lord Jesus Christ
is and it's hid from them that are lost. in whom the God of this world
has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God Because God, who commanded
light, the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God. The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God. Where do you see the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God? In the face of Jesus Christ. And there's nowhere else to see
it. Make yourself known. Make yourself known. Make yourself
known in your character. Make yourself known as a sovereign
God. Make yourself known as an eternal
God. Make yourself known as a personal
God. Make yourself known as a promising
God and a promise-keeping God. Make yourself known as a holy
God. Make yourself known through your
word. Speak to me and make yourself known. Make yourself known as
a faithful God. Make yourself known as an omnipotent
God, a God who has a purpose, a God who sovereignly wills and
reigns. Make yourself known as the Lord
Jesus Christ who successfully redeemed all of his people from
their sins. Make yourself known as the God who sits on the throne
of this universe, and nothing Nothing happens in this world
in thought and word and deed without the direct permission
and command and sovereign purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
works all things for good. He works all things for good,
not for everyone. He works all things for the good
of those who love him, those who are called according to your
purpose. Make yourself known. You made
yourself known to me in the past, Habakkuk saying. Make yourself
known to me again. Come and show me, show me yet
again the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Make yourself known to me as
you did to Mary when she went weeping to that tomb. And they've
taken my Lord from me, she says, weeping. Where have they put
him? Where is he? And then he speaks a word. He
makes himself known through his word. And he speaks a word and
says, Mary. Make yourself known in the trials
of life. Make yourself known as you made
yourself known on that little boat as they crossed Galilee,
didn't they? They thought he was gone and
they rebuked the Lord for sleeping in the back of the boat. Don't
you care that we drown? Here we are, we're fishermen.
We've been on this lake, we know what these waves mean. We're
all about to drown and here you are having a sleep and you don't
care. Make yourself known. He raised him up, and what did
he say? Peace. He just says, peace, be still. And then, remarkably, they feared,
like a backer. They had feared the waves, now
they had something far more serious to fear. There was something
far more serious than going to the bottom of the Sea of Galilee.
It's Him, our Sovereign God. Habakkuk finishes this prayer,
and I trust it's our prayer. I trust that you might have heard
his speech. I trust that in hearing his speech
you might be in reverential awe of him who speaks. What a wonder
that this eternal, infinite God should actually deign to speak
to us. And he does. He speaks through his word. He
speaks to the hearts of his people. He speaks. Revive thy work. Make alive your work. Reveal
yourself, God. Reveal yourself in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Reveal yourself in your word.
And then he says, in wrath, remember mercy. Remember mercy. In wrath, remember mercy. God has, if you are honest with
yourself and honest with what happens in this world, God has
every good reason for wrath against this world. He is publicly blasphemed. When you go down to the shop
and buy a litre of milk, you're putting money into the coffers
of our government, which then pays the ABC and the SBS to blaspheme
him. He has every reason to be angry
against this world that treats the life that he gives with contempt. He's got every reason to be angry
with this world that now publicly and almost universally declares
that he's no longer the creator, that somehow he needs the assistance
of luck and good fortune to create things. It's like me going out
and saying, the sun's about to rise, Beth Day, will you come
and give it a hand? to get over the horizon. It can't
quite make it. It's silly to think that this
creation needs anything from man. It's silly and silly for
people to think that this creation happened all by its own self,
by accident. There is reason for wrath, isn't
there, when the Lord Jesus Christ is blasphemed and the scriptures
declare over and over again the reason he is blasphemed on the
tongues of people in this world is because of what happens in
places exactly like this, where he is reduced He is reduced from
a sovereign, successful, reigning God to someone who tries and
can't get his work done. Habakkuk didn't have that God
in mind when he prayed this prayer. He prayed this prayer knowing
that this God was so powerful he can raise up a superpower
to clobber his people, and he would, and he did it again and
again. This God is so big and sovereign
that Isaiah says that superpowers, superpowers are like the dust
on the scales. And that's how he wants you to
think about China and the United States of America and Western
civilisation. It says, if you are going down
to the greengrocers and there is your kilo of potatoes and
you say, can you please get the dust of the United States and
China. We don't want those nations there.
They are just a drop in the bucket as far as he's concerned. Our
God reigns sovereign and supreme. And the church that presents
him as a pathetic wimp who is trying to get stuff done that
he can't get done because all of a sudden these superhuman
beings with their mighty wills and their mighty worth and their
mighty works can outwit God. He has reason to be wrathful,
brothers and sisters, when his son is mocked. In wrath, remember mercy. And he did. In wrath he remembered
mercy. What's the greatest display of
the wrath of God that has ever happened in this world? The greatest display of the wrath
of God, the greatest display of the hatred of God against
the sin that is so much a part of our lives, is when he put
his son to death on Calvary's tree. When he said, according
to his word of promise, He says, awake, O sword, the sword of
my justice, and smite the shepherd. He plunged the sword of his justice
into the heart of his son because of the sin that was on his son. It pleased God the Father to
crush his son. When the weight of sin came upon
the son in Gethsemane's garden, blood came out of the pores of
his skin. When the Romans took him to Calvary's
tree and drove those nails through his hands, that nail through
his feet and put that crown of thorns upon him. It was the wrath
of God. God made him. who knew no sin
to be sin for us. If you want to see the holiness
of God, go to Calvary's tree and see the Saviour hanging,
bleeding, and dying. If you want to see the wrath
of God and the justice of God, if you want to see the love of
God, there is one place to see the love of God, and that's on
Calvary's tree. That's where the love of God
is expressed most fully. No greater love has any man than
this, said the Lord Jesus Christ, that he lay his life down for
his friends. So it's a prayer, isn't it? It's
a prayer for us now in the midst of years. Revive thy work. It's your work. The work of salvation
is all of your work. Revive your work. in the midst
of the years, make yourself known. If you're going to know God,
you will only ever know God as He's revealed in the Lord Jesus
Christ. You'll only ever know God in the Lord Jesus Christ
as Norm read to us out of 1 Peter. You'll only ever know God and
know the Lord Jesus Christ as He is preached in the Gospel,
that Gospel that lifts Him up. and puts him in his rightful
place as a sovereign, ruling, reigning saviour, who rules all
things now. It's a wonderful prayer. I trust
it becomes a prayer that you will find delight in. Especially,
I pray, that it becomes a prayer that the Lord might answer. Again and again and again. Make me alive again. Make me
alive again, says a backer. Make me alive. Make me, make
me to see your face. Make me to know that in wrath
you remember mercy. Let's finish with the verses
out of the end of Habakkuk. He says, in those earlier verses
we quoted, he'd been in fear in verse 16, he'd looked to himself
and saw nothing of any good in him whatsoever. And then he says
in verse 18, yet without anything in myself, without anything to
bring to God whatsoever, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy
in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength.
He will make my feet like Hines' feet, and he will make me to
walk upon mine high places. That's a promise, brothers and
sisters, isn't it? It's a promise from God. The Lord God is my strength.
Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank
you. We thank you for these words that were written 2,600 years ago, Heavenly Father, words
that remain as true today as they were in Habakkuk's day,
words that describe this world that we live in right now, words
that describe the response of people to the Gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, words that describe us. Oh, our Father, we pray that
you'd cause us to look to the Lord Jesus Christ, that you might
give us life, that You might give us eyes to see with that
life, ears to hear with that new life, that You might, Heavenly
Father, cause Yourself to be known to us in Your dear and
precious Son. May we know Him, Heavenly Father.
as he has made himself known to us. May we find ourselves
rejoicing. Rejoicing in the fact that when
he shed his life's blood, he did it with a purpose. He did
it according to the foreknowledge of God. He did it because of
his love for his bride. that he wouldn't be separated
from his bride. He did it in such an extraordinary
way that his shed blood and his broken body are all the hope
that we need to be in your presence forever. For in that death was
the death of the sins of all of God's people. We pray, Heavenly
Father, that we might be caused to remember Him, that we might
eat and drink with our hearts fixed on Him with thankfulness
and gratitude and with reverence for who He is and what He has
done. For we pray in Jesus' name, our Father. Amen.