My subject tonight is Light for
Great Darkness. Light for Great Darkness. Our text will be the Book of
Habakkuk. I pray that when I finish preaching,
you will want to read the text. light for great darkness. If God Almighty has mercy upon
your soul and causes you to know that you
must meet him in judgment, you will find yourself in great
darkness. Habakkuk heard of the judgment
of God against the nation of Israel and Judah, how that God
would just destroy that nation and judgment because of their
sins. And when he heard that word from
God, he said, I trembled within me and my lips quivered and rottenness
entered into my bone. He was without strength before
God. And if ever God Almighty makes
you to know that you must meet Him in judgment, I promise you,
you will find yourself trembling before God, quivering in your
heart, and rottenness in your bones, so that you're without
strength before Him. Before God lifts you up by His
grace, He will lay you low in judgment. Before God clothes
you with the righteousness of His Son, He will strip you naked
before Him. Before He gives life, He always
brings death. And if God does that for you,
you'll begin to cry in your soul, how can I be just with God? Now if that's the place you find
yourself in, I say to you, read the book of Habakkuk, and you'll
find God's answer. And God's people, while they
live in this world, often find themselves in great
darkness. God describes his people as the
righteous who seek him, children of light who walk in darkness. And we find ourselves in the
midst of darkness most of the time in this world. Most of the
time. I'll speak for me. That's where
I am most of the time. Most of the time, I don't understand
what's going on around me. Most of the time, I don't understand
what's going on within me. Most of the time. I have much
that concerns me. Much that troubles me. We live
in this world where everything seems to be in upheaval. Everything
seems to be in utter chaos. The things around us are just things we can't begin to
explain. This world of idolatry, we are
now overrun with the crimes and the immorality and the viciousness
which idolatry always spawns. We live in an age, just a few
years ago, who among us sitting right here, just a few years
ago would ever have dreamed that a bunch of Islamic folks would
have the whole world in a death grip of terror? I'm talking about
so that everybody in the world is scared to death to speak anything
about it. Everybody, politicians, preachers,
and otherwise. Scared to death to mention anything
about the evil of that horribly evil religion. Scared to death
to just in a death grip. We live in a time when moral
decadence is indescribable. It's indescribable. It takes
a lot to shock me. I'm shocked by things I say.
Shocked by that. It's just indescribable. The nation appears to be on economic
ruin, right on the verge of it. Not just our nation, the whole
world appears to be. These are things that are not
just common to the United States. These are things that are absolutely
encompassing the whole world. if you would understand what's
going on. My admonition is read the book
of Habakkuk. We don't know much about this
prophet Habakkuk except that he lived and preached about the
time that Jeremiah did. He is one of those men who lived
during the good and delightful reign of the godly King Josiah
who restored again the worship of God in Israel. He is the king
to whom Hilkiah brought the book of the law of God he found in
the temple. And Josiah restored worship in Israel. There was
a time of reformation and revival, at least outward reformation
and outward revival of true worship, men returning to the altar of
God and to the service of God. But after Josiah was killed in
the valley of Megiddo, that wicked king Jehoiakim reigned. And Habakkuk
lived to see the result of that reign. And that which was deep-seated
in the hearts of the people returned viciously, idolatry and barbaric
behavior, injustice and cruelty one to another. And Habakkuk
was raised up in that day as God's prophet to his people in
that day. What a day in which to serve
God. What a day in which to serve
God. I often hear folks lament, I
hear preachers lament, this is such a bad time to serve God,
Paul, it's the best time on this earth to serve God. There's never
been a deed like this. Never been a deed like this.
Never a better time to serve our God than this day of horrid,
horrid evil. Habakkuk's prophecy is as modern
as the 21st century. It's a prophecy for today. It's
as contemporary as this morning's newspaper. Habakkuk deals with
questions for which we want answers. Is God really in charge of history? Really. Absolutely in charge
of history. I said to my granddaughter just
a few weeks ago, they were visiting at the house and we were talking
about history. I said, honey, if you want to understand anything
about history, remember this. It is his story. It is his story. That's what history is. All of
it. Is that really true? Is God really
in charge of history? Why then is there so much evil
in the world? How can I believe in a personal
living God who allows such evil things to happen to me and other
people. What's the meaning of these things?
Why is the world in such a mess if indeed this is God's world
and God's will is being done? Our Lord taught us to pray, Thy
will be done on earth even as it is in heaven. That's a request
to which we are already given a definite answer. God's will
is done in earth even as it is in heaven. And he teaches us
to pray that, teaching us to be submissive in the entirety
of our lives to God's will being done in earth, even as it is
in heaven. Now these questions are all answered
in this small but magnificent book, this prophecy of Habakkuk. The Lord God taught Habakkuk
And Habakkuk teaches us by the spirit of inspiration that all
God's works are God's chariots of salvation. Look at chapter
three, verse eight. There are instruments by which
God Almighty is, always has, and always shall accomplish the
salvation of his elect. Thou didst ride upon thine horses,
and thy chariots of salvation." Wow, what a way to describe all
the events he's here speaking of. These are God riding on his
mighty horses, on his chariots of salvation. In fact, though
Habakkuk clearly is a prophecy that announces judgment, it is
a prophecy It's difficult in many ways because Habakkuk is
talking to his own family. He's talking to his own nation.
He's talking to his own people. And he's declaring to them, God's
going to destroy you and you've earned it. God's going to destroy
you and you deserve it. The judgment that's coming is
that which is because of your idolatry and your rebellion and
your stout-hearted refusal to bow to God and to believe his
word. And yet, he speaks this word
with a confident declaration of God's mercy and grace. Let's
begin in chapter 1, verse 1. In this prophecy, these three
chapters, you can remember, kind of identify things if you want
to jot them down on paper or in your mind. In chapter one
is a prayer. This prophet of God begs God
to give him an answer to things that troubled him. In chapter
two, he stands upon his watchtower and waits for God to answer,
and God gives him an answer in a vision. And then in chapter
three, Habakkuk responds to God's revelation. All right, here's
his prayer. The burden which Habakkuk, the
prophet, did see. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry? And thou wilt not hear? Even
cry out unto thee of 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. And there are that raise up strife
and contention. Therefore the law is slapped. That word is the law is frozen. Justice is frozen. It's at a
dead standstill. The law is slapped. Judgment
doth never go forth. For the wicked doth compass about
the righteous, therefore judgment proceedeth. Because wicked men
surround us. Because wicked men surround God's
elect in this generation, in Habakkuk's generation, and in
our generation. Habakkuk says judgment's coming. Judgment's coming. Now, here's
the promise that really is the theme of this book. Look at verse
five. Habakkuk 1 verse 5. Behold ye among the heathen and
regard and wonder marvelously for I will work a work in your
days which ye will not believe though it be told you. What is
that talking about? He's right here in the midst
of judgment. But judgment is God's strange work, not his wonderful
work. That's not his wonderful work.
Brother Joe said a little bit ago, he didn't know whether Jacob
understood everything going on with regard to Joseph or even
Joseph understanding it himself. It's not necessary that they
did. I'm not certain that Habakkuk understood what God spoke through
him, though I think he did. But I know what he's saying here.
Hold your hands here in Habakkuk and turn over to Acts chapter
13. Acts chapter 13. At first glance, this word of
promise in verse 5 seems to be out of place. He's talking about
judgment, but then God speaks and gives a word of certain promise
of a wonderful thing He will do, and He will do it in such
a way that men seeing it will not believe it, though it's told
to them. Now I'm certain this is talking about our Lord Jesus.
I'm certain that it's talking about the accomplishment of God's
grace and salvation in Christ. The Lord God is here declaring
that in the midst of this judgment, indeed by means of this judgment,
By means of this evil that Israel and Judah have brought upon themselves. By means of Nebuchadnezzar and
the Babylonians, the Chaldeans coming and destroying the nation,
taking them into captivity. By this means, God says I'm going
to do a wondrous thing. I'm going to do a wondrous thing.
I'm going to save my people. I'm going to save my people.
God help me to understand this. everything going on in me and
around me. Everything going on in this generation,
in this nation, and around the world. God is but saving his
people. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain.
How do you explain what the Congress and the legislature and the judges
do. I just read the other day that
this thing with Roe versus Wade. Back in 1973, the Supreme Court
ripped up the Constitution of the United States and declared
that a woman has the right to murder her baby as often as she
wants to do it inside her womb. And there have been almost 50
million babies slaughtered since then. How do you explain that? How do you understand this is
God's work? In all these things, in all these
things, God Almighty is saving His people. And He does every
detail exactly as He has purposed for the saving of His people.
And there is no other reasonable explanation without going absolutely
insane. There's no other explanation.
Look here at Acts 13. Paul is here at Antioch. He stands
up and beckons with his hands and he begins to give these Jews
who are listening to him, as well as the Gentiles who are
in attendance, a whole history of the nation of Israel. It gives
them the whole history and he brings them right up through
and including the death of our Lord Jesus Christ upon the cursed
tree. And he tells them that David
was but a type of Christ and God promised that he would give
his people the sure mercies of David. Now skip down to verse
26. Men and brethren of the stock of Abraham and whosoever among
you feareth God, to you is this word of salvation sent. To you
is this gospel message declared. for they that dwell at Jerusalem
and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices
of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath day. They went
to church, went to church every Saturday and somebody read the
prophets to them. Just exactly like Brother Scott
got up here and read Revelation chapter 4. Somebody read the
prophets to them every Saturday in synagogues all over the place.
And they didn't have a clue what to say. They memorized the prophets. They memorized the scrolls word
for word and in great detail and took pride in it. They sewed
the scrolls in little bags and put it in their garments and
wore it so folks would know they were religious and devoted. But
they didn't understand a word. Our Lord here speaks by the Apostle
and it says in verse 27, yet the voices of the prophets which
they read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them. What? In condemning him. They did exactly
what God said they would do. They did exactly what they wanted
to. But they did exactly what God said they would do. Not because
God looked out with a great telescopic vision of omniscience and knew
what men would do. But God said what they would
do because before the world was, God said what they would do and
thus it must be. And so they fulfilled it in condemning
him. All right, skip down to verse
38. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through
this man is preached unto you, through this crucified Nazarite
Jesus the Christ, God's darling son, through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. We don't preach the possibility
of forgiveness, we preach the accomplishment of forgiveness.
Through this man is preached unto you, the forgiveness of
sins. And by him, all that believe,
everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus, you right now, oh
God, oh God open heaven and drop his grace in your heart. and
calls you to believe. Right now, through this man,
you who believe are justified from all things from which you
could not be justified by the law of Moses. Verse 41. Now look
at this. Behold, ye despisers, 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. We preach this message, and when
the weekend is over, some of you will believe and some of
you will say it's not possible. I will not believe. Despisers
and rebels who perish, perish under the wrath of God. This
is done because you will not believe. And there are others
who leave here believing God. Believing God. Who hath believed
our report? Who has? I'll tell you who. Everyone
to whom the arm of the Lord is revealed. Oh, may God be pleased
then to reveal His arm in you. The prophet Habakkuk in chapter
2 verse 4 makes a statement that's quoted three times in the New
Testament. We'll look at him in a minute. It's quoted in Romans
1, quoted in Galatians 3, and quoted in Hebrews 10. He says,
the just shall live by faith. And this man declares this work
of God, faith in Christ Jesus, be the means by which all who
believe obtain God's salvation. We obtain it consciously. We
obtain righteousness. We obtain life. We obtain salvation
consciously by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now our faith doesn't
save us. Well, sort of it does. Our Lord
said to that woman, thy faith hath saved thee. I reckon it's
all right for me to say that, isn't it? Yeah, it does. Well,
that confuses people. No, folks are already confused.
They're already confused. Well, we've got to explain that
away. I don't want to explain it away. Believe on Christ and
you obtain God's salvation. Now we recognize, certainly we
recognize salvation is God's gift. Faith is God's gift. Our
faith does not justify us in the sense of making us just before
God. Our faith does not bring for
us forgiveness. Christ's blood did all that.
But you can't have it except you believe. And believing, as
soon as a sinner believes on the Son of God, God speaks pardon
to his soul and declares in his conscience he's justified, he's
accepted in Christ Jesus the Lord. In this word, the just
shall live by faith. Habakkuk is declaring that redemption
and salvation and life is that which is given to sinners by
faith in Christ Jesus. And yet he goes beyond that. How do we live in this world?
How do we live in this world? As ye therefore have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. When the man who fears
God and walks in righteousness is in darkness and has no light,
the prophet said, let him trust in his God. Oh, the time to trust
God is in darkness. The time to trust God is when
you got nothing to lead on. The time when you will trust
God, I promise you. I promise you, is when that's
all you can do. When God fixes it, so you can't
do anything but believe Him, you will believe Him. Until then,
you won't. Until God fixes it, so that you
can't do anything except call on Him, then you will pray to
Him. And until then, you won't. Until
we can't do anything else, we'll shift and connive and plan and
work, and then God brings us into great deeps and causes us
to reel to and fro as a drunken man, and when you're at your
wits end, then cry a day unto the Lord. Thank God for the deeps
and the darkness and the trouble. and the pressure and the heartache
and the grief that forces me to my Savior's feet. Thank God
for that. Let us never call into question
God's goodness because of his judgments providentially, but
rather understand that his judgments providentially are but the declaration
and revelation of his goodness. If we would live We must live
in this world just like we began clinging to Christ. Habakkuk's
name means embracer. Embrace the Savior. Embrace Him. What do you do, Brother Don,
when you're at your wits end and you've reached the end of
your rope? Well, I'll tell you what you do. You tie a knot and
hang on. You just cling to Christ. but I don't have any evidences.
If you did, you'd cling to them. But I don't feel if you did,
you'd cling to that. But I don't know if you did,
you'd cling to that when you got nothing. I mean when you
got, when God strips you and empties you, then you cling to
Christ, not till then. All right, look at chapter three.
Habakkuk gives this prayer. We'll answer this just a minute,
come back to it. A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet,
upon Shigenoth. The word, of course, refers to
stringed instruments. Some suggest Habakkuk was a musician,
perhaps a leader of the singers in the temple. I don't know about
that. But the word Shigenoth means ignorance. And Habakkuk
is here declaring, Lord, I'm ignorant before you. I'm ignorant before you, but
I bow to my God and I worship him and sing praise to him upon
the stringed instrument. His song begins with a prayer
and ends with a determined commitment of faith in our God. Look at
verse two. Oh Lord, I've heard thy speech and was afraid, not for me, for
my people, not for me, for my nation, not for me, for your
church. In her darkest and lowest estate,
Habakkuk embraces God's people as his people, those who professed
to be God's people. He heard God's pronunciation
of wrath and was afraid for his people. And then he cries, oh
Lord, revive thy work. that is preserve, keep alive
thy work, revive thy work, in the midst of the years, in the
midst of these dark, dark years of judgment, in the midst of
these years when you raise up an enemy cruel and barbaric,
an enemy far more wicked outwardly than the people they judge, in
these years, Lord God, in the midst of years, make known. Make me and your elect remnant
to know you. Oh God, make us to know you. Reveal yourself in the brightness
of your glory in our midst and in our hearts. And then he says,
in wrath, remember mercy. In wrath, remember mercy. That's my prayer to God this
day. That's the situation in which
God raised up Habakkuk, but unlike his contemporaries, Zephaniah,
Joel, and Amos, Habakkuk doesn't call for repentance. There's not a word in this book
calling for repentance. That's too late. That's past. Judgment is certain, and Habakkuk
is given that. Instead, he prophetically asserts
the destruction of Judah and beyond that the doom of the Chaldeans
themselves who bring Judah into captivity. Now wherever you read
in the Old Testament Scriptures, and I don't know how much significance
there is to this, but wherever you read in the Old Testament
Scriptures about Babylon and the Chaldeans and the Assyrians
and the Assyrians, you put in there Islamic. and you've got
the nations. It's talking about that whole
group of people who are the sons of Ishmael, that barbaric tribe
of people set in enmity against God's people throughout history. That's the way it was in Ishmael's
day, that's the way it was in Habakkuk's day, and that's the
way it is in our day. And I don't think it's accidental
that the Lord God uses these nations in history. He's telling
us of that which is coming to pass in the very last day. He's
going to destroy the physical nation of Israel. the physical,
political nation, the civil nation. And yet in destroying them, all
Israel shall be saved. That's what Paul said in Romans
chapter 11. He's going to destroy that nation, but destroying them,
it is that he might gather his true Israel, that he might save
his holy nation among all the nations. And in that, when it's
finished, using Babylon the great whore, the false religion of
this world, All the nations will turn against her and destroy
her and the nations consumed in God's wrath. All right, now
let's look at chapter one. We'll go through this very briefly.
Carrying this heavy, heavy burden, the Lord God put upon his heart,
Habakkuk cries out in verses two, three, and four, that Judah
is full of violence and strife and contention. that the nation
is utterly cast aside God's holy law. Therefore, he says, judgment
proceedeth. In verses 6 through 11, after
telling us that God would be certain, make us certain that
God is saving his people, in verses 6 through 11, he describes
in great detail exactly how the Lord God would accomplish this
judgment and destroy the nations. Again, in chapter 1, verse 5,
he speaks of this wonderful thing, marvelous thing. Though a man
declares it, he said, you wouldn't believe it. And I've already
shown you that that's clearly intended by God to speak of redemption
by Christ, the salvation of God's elect. But at the same time,
Habakkuk is writing from his own experience and what he observed. Jeremiah is contemporary. tells us that when Jeremiah observed
the captivity, the judgment that God brought on Israel and carrying
them away into Babylon, do you know what they did? They said,
God didn't do this. And they threw Jeremiah in a
pit. They wouldn't believe it. They wouldn't believe it. And
so it is to this day. We see judgment, God didn't do
that. Oh, you folks are cruel and barbaric. Judgment, calamities,
and upheaval, and starvation, and war, and pestilence, and
disease, and sickness, and death, and hurricanes, and tornadoes.
I recall, I could hardly believe this. One of the hurricanes sometime
back, no, that tsunami, that tsunami that hit a few years
ago, so many people died. They had a preach on Fox News.
I listened to it. I try not to listen to those
fellows. They always make me mad. Everyone on Fox News, you
know what he said? He said, God's gonna have a lot
to answer to. God's gonna have a lot to answer for. And you
know what? That's just exactly how your
mama thinks and your daddy thinks. That's just exactly how your
brothers and sisters think. That's just exactly how your
sons and daughters think. God's got a lot to answer for. God
Almighty doesn't answer to you for anything. None can stay His
head or say unto Him what doest thou. Nobody slaps God on the
wrist and challenges Him. Nobody. Well, I believe God,
He does the good things. The bad things, that's something
else. Tell me who's in control of the bad things. I worship
Him. Those don't give me any trouble. I don't have any difficulty
with good things, do you? It's the difficult things, the
things that appear bad and painful. Who controls that? My Heavenly
Father, absolutely, in all details. Then in verse 12, the prophet
is given an assurance and declares that which God speaks to him
with absolute confidence. Art thou not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, mine holy one? God about to destroy the nation,
my holy one, from everlasting. This is not something that comes
to pass because of circumstances in time. This is exactly according
to the will and purpose of him who is the everlasting one. He's
the immutable one, mine holy one. We shall not die, oh Lord. How things going with the church?
Wonderfully. How are things going in Zion? Wonderfully. How are
things going at your place? Wonderfully. We shall not die. God's elect in all places, in
all circumstances, at all times are in the grip of his grace
and we shall not die. But all his elect live forever
for he gave us life from everlasting in his son. Read on. Lord thou
hast ordained them these heathen these barbarians these Chaldeans
for judgment and Almighty God if you have a marginal reference
look at it. It helps a lot. I Love this got
a marginal reference. Oh Rock God Oh Rock solid God my refuge,
my God. Thou hast established them. That is, you raised them up for
this purpose. Thou hast established them for
correction. Joe mentioned the sin of Noah's
son, Ham. Ham, cursed. And that cursed
man represents all the reprobate peoples and nations of the earth.
All of them. They always uncover evil. Shaman Japheth refused to look
upon their father's evil and walked in backwards and covered
their father's nakedness which is what our Lord by grace teaches
his people to do. Believers cover up one another's
faults. If we love each other we do.
Don't you tell her I said this. That darling, darling woman to
whom I had been married, who adores me so much, she has a
couple of faults. Just a couple. Just a couple.
But you aren't going to hear about them. You're not going
to hear about them. Nobody's going to hear about
them. Not from me. How come? I love that lady. I love her. My daughter? I had to cause her a lot of pain
growing up. I took a paddle to her backside often and firmly
and made her hurt. You wouldn't do that, would you?
If you just knew her now. That was the intent. That was
the intent. But I didn't discuss it with
anybody else. I didn't tell anybody else, but
I love that girl. I love her. Believers cover up
one another's faults, as did Shadman Japheth. And this is
what God says about them. Those three sons of Noah. Japheth
shall possess the tents of Ham. That is God's elect are gathered
out of the nations of the Gentiles and these are the Israel of God.
And Ham, what does it say? You remember? Shall be servant
of servants to Shem and Japheth. For this purpose Thou hast established
them. You raised them up for the correction,
for the everlasting salvation of your people. And then in verses
two and three, the prophet, having these questions that he cried
out with God with, he said, Lord, how is it that you, who are of
purer eyes than to behold evil, will execute your wrath upon
Judah? by such people as these. Now
that sure enough troubles us. You remember how David spoke
in Psalm 73? He said, my feet had well nigh
slipped, my steps were almost galled. I saw the prosperity
of the wicked. Thanksgiving Day came around
and David looked over at his neighbor's house And all of his
neighbor's sons and daughters and grandchildren and great-grandchildren,
all of them were gathered in his neighbor's house, feasting
richly, all of them just at peace with one another, all of them
rich and prospering, all of them got good jobs, everything secure,
well-educated, all of them just a delight. And David said, I
hated it. I was envious. There's that man. Look at my
house. I've got a son who wants to be dead. I've got sons who
kill each other. I've got a wife who despises
me. Look at that man. He said, I've washed my hands
for nothing. It's profited me nothing to serve
God. He said, I would have said that,
but I would offend against the generation of thy children. A
lot of times, I'm just right there. I would say things publicly
that I dare not say, lest I cause one of my brethren to stumble.
Because I'm vexed and torn a thousand ways inside. And David said,
then I went into God's house and I understood their end. God's fattening them up like
stalled oxen for the slaughter. Their feet will slide in due
season. David said, oh God, I was as a beast before you. How was
that? Nevertheless. Don't you love
that word in the book? Nevertheless, I am continually
with thee. Whom have I in heaven but thee?
There's none on earth that I desire beside thee. Habakkuk was right
there. He said, God, how can it be,
how can it be that you, you will raise up the wicked and appear
to bless the wicked and make the wicked powerful, even to
bring pain and hurt and judgment upon your people. And in chapter
two, God gives him the answer. We must admit we have had these
struggles just as Habakkuk did. After raising these questions,
he resolves to wait for God's answer. Verse 1, chapter 2, I
will stand upon my watch and set me upon my tower and I will
watch to see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer
when I am reproved. God gave him a vision. He doesn't
tell us what the vision is. It must be assumed that he gave
him a vision and Habakkuk now, from this point on, gives us
his word of prophecy based upon that vision. He gives him an
answer. 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. But at the end it shall speak
and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come, and it will not tarry." This declaration of God's vision
to Habakkuk was first and foremost a word of instruction, and a
word of reproof, and a word of assurance to Habakkuk himself. And it's given to us for the
same purpose. Let's hear the instruction. Behold, his soul
which is lifted up is not upright in him, but the just shall live
by faith. God's running things right according
to schedule. That's the first thing. The vision
is for an appointed time. It's for an appointed time. Every
nation raised up for an appointed time. Every ruler raised up for
an appointed time. To accomplish an appointed thing,
exactly as God has ordained. Oh God, teach me that. Teach
me that. That'll, if I could just grasp
it. We were talking something about
this last night. There's a mess going on right now politically
in this society. If I could just grasp it, it'd
keep me from getting too upset with it. Just keep me from getting
too upset with it. The man, the Islamic terrorist
we have in the White House, is appointed by God for the saving
of his people. And that's what God's doing.
God raised up the nation of Israel for the salvation of his elect.
and destroyed them for the salvation of his elect. God raised up Egypt
for the preservation of his elect nation and destroyed them for
the deliverance of his elect. And God thus raises up every
nation and destroys every nation exactly according to his eternal
appointment of grace for the salvation of his elect. A number
of years ago I was asked to give a family radio
tapes, and they played them for, what, two years, played them
on 123 stations around the country, all the shortwave repeater stations.
And two, three, four, five times a week for two years. God saved
a lot of people. A lot of them I've never met,
some of them sitting here. But the one couple I met several
years later, Brother Eugene and his wife Natalie, I can't pronounce
their last names, I won't try, but Eugene was raised in Siberia. And he heard the message when
he was living in Washington, D.C. First time he heard the
first message aired, God got him. I mean, God just got him. He called up this woman who was
raised in Poland, who lived in Chicago, that he was engaged
to. He said, you've got to hear this. And by long distance telephone,
he sets the recorder and listens to it, and a little bit, God
got her. They wound up down in Florida, attending service where
Brother Greg Elmquist is, and had to move because of work,
and wound up in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Brother Ralph
Dale is. And I met them down in Charlotte some years later.
By this time, their boys were, I think, nine and 11 years old.
And the day I left, I said to those boys, called them by name,
I said, son, I want you all to hear something. I want you to
hear something. You won't understand it. I hope
you will in time. You won't understand it now,
but remember it. God Almighty turned the world upside down
so you could hear the gospel of his free grace. He took the second most powerful
nation on earth and in a matter of days destroyed the Soviet
Union. Just destroyed it. You remember
how long it took? Just about that long. Just about
that long. Just destroyed it. Iron curtain
broken and torn down. Those folks immigrating to the
United States heard the gospel of God's grace. Well, that's just one illustration.
That's just one illustration of the whole history of humanity. The only reason the world exists,
the only reason for anything in history is the saving of God's
people for the glory of God's Son. Brother Clay, that ought to make
us content with whatever goes on. That'll make us not just content,
but make us to rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. All right, let me wrap this up.
You look at chapter three. You can read the rest of it another
time. The very last word in chapter
three. Habakkuk begins this prayer full
of praise to God and he ends it with a declaration of faith
incomparable anywhere else in all the Word of God. As it was on Mount Sinai that
God showed the earth full of His glory, so it is now. The earth is still full of the
glory of God. You remember how Elisha prayed
for his servant, his terrified servant? He said, Lord, Lord,
would you open his eyes so we can see? Would you just open
his eyes so we can see? And the Lord opened his eyes
and he saw the mountains around him full of fire and the angels
of God everywhere. Everywhere. Well, everything's
all right. Everything's all right. Would
you open our eyes, God, that we may see that the whole earth
is always full of your glory. What is his glory? His glory
is the salvation of his people. in his darling son. And we who
are taught of God, we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. Now if God will teach me this,
I can pray like a bacchic. If God will teach you this, you
can pray like a bacchic. Although the fig tree shall not
blossom, neither shall the fruit be in the vines. Time of great
drought, famine. The labor of the island shall
fail and the field shall yield no meat. Go out to gather your
green beans, they're all dried up. Your tomatoes have got blossom
rot. Your squash is withering on the
vine, everything gone. The flock shall be cut off from
the fold. Raise those sheep and one day
they're all dead. Just like with Job. And there
shall be no herd in the stalls. Nothing in the bank. What do
you do then? What do you do then? You tie
a knot and hang on. Yet will I rejoice in the Lord. I will join the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. And he will make my feet like
hind's feet. He'll make me in the midst of
this darkness and this perversity to dance like a schoolboy. He'll
make my feet like hind's feet. He will make me to walk upon
my high places. You see, God moves in a mysterious
way his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathomable minds of
never failing skill, he treasures up his bright designs and works
his sovereign will. So you fearful saints, fresh
courage take the clouds. You so much dread are big with
mercy and they're about to break and blessing on your head. So
judge not the Lord by feeble sense. but trust him for his
grace. Behind the frowning providence,
he hides a smiling face. His purposes will ripen fast,
unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but oh, how sweet will be the flower. And that, Brother John,
is light for times of great darkness. Amen.