let us turn to the chapter we
were reading last chapter in the book of Habakkuk chapter
3 and verse 16 Habakkuk 3 16 when I heard my belly trembled
my lips quivered at the voice rottenness entered into my bones
and I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble
when he cometh up unto the people he will invade them with his
troops. Now a couple of years ago we
did consider the contents of this third chapter more generally. It's a prayer of Habakkuk and
the amazing thing is that with the sermons going on sermon audio
each week This, or that particular address, prayer meeting address
it was, has been downloaded over 15,000 times, whereas the next
sermon that's been downloaded the most times is an address
that was given by Mr. Randalls. on Luther some years
ago and I think that's been downloaded about 400 odd times most of the
sermons I suppose have been downloaded about a hundred times or less
than that so it's quite remarkable I don't know why that is but
I just make that remark. We did look at the at the chapter
and considered the prayer. It's a remarkable prayer we know
that but the reason why it's had all those downloads well
we have to leave it with the Lord but tonight I want us to
consider the words that we have here in the 16th verse the words
that I just read when I heard my belly trembled my lips quivered
at the voice rotten that entered into my bones and I trembled
in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble when he cometh
up unto the people he will invade them with his troops and to consider
here something of the Lord's dealings with his people in the
way of conviction and comforts. We were thinking this morning
of those words in chapter 2 at the end of verse 4 with regards
to the justified sinner. The just shall live by his faith. He thought then of the sinner
in his justification tonight to think of him in terms of his
conviction and his comforts. And there's no doubt in the fact
that the chapter certainly contains a prophecy of the Lord Jesus. Christ is the one who is spoken
of, surely, in the words of verse 13, Thou wentest forth for the
salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed. Who is the one who is the anointed? Surely that's the promised one,
the Messiah. Behold my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him
he is anointed. The Father has given the Spirit
without measure unto Jesus of Nazareth because he is the Christ. The chapter certainly speaks
of Christ speaking of course in the language that pertains
to the Old Testament it's spoken of very much in in terms that
we associate with God's works in the in the Old Testament look
at the words that we have for example in verse 8 Was the Lord
displeased against the rivers? Was I in anger against the rivers?
Was I wrath against the sea that thou didst ride upon thine horses
and thy chariots of salvation? And then further in verse 15,
Thou didst walk through the sea with Thine horses through the
heap of great waters. And it reminds us of that great
deliverance that was wrought for the children of Israel when
they came out of Egypt and God made a way for them through the
Red Sea. And there at the end of Exodus
14 we see that as God delivers His people so He destroys the
pursuing armies of Pharaoh. Remember the language that we
have there, the end of Exodus 14, Thus the Lord saved Israel
that day out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Israel saw the
Egyptians dead upon the seashore. And Israel saw that great work
which the Lord did upon the Egyptians. And the people feared the Lord
and believed the Lord and his servant Moses. Then sang Moses,
and the children of Israel, they sung unto the Lord, and spake,
saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider hath
he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song,
and he is become my salvation, and so on." There, through chapter
15 of Exodus, we have that great song of Moses. Surely there's some allusion
to these things in these two verses 8 and 15. All we can say with the psalm
is concerning God thy way is in the sea, thy path in the great
waters, thy footsteps are not known. And so we have prophetic
language, Old Testament language, but it's very much speaking of
God's great works of salvation. And that salvation that would
come with him who is the anointed even salvation with thine anointed
we are told there at verse 13 so it's a prophetic word of salvation
but it must also of course come to us personally it must be a
personal word we observed this morning that significant personal
pronoun in the text end of that fourth verse in chapter two that
just shall live by his faith his faith, how personal it is
when God comes, when God visits a man, when God deals with a
man and we see something of the experience of those whom the
Lord does visit when he visits us when we're dead in our trespasses
and our sins here at the beginning of verse 16 when I heard my belly
tremble my lips quivered at the voice rottenness entered into
my bones and I trembled in myself here is the Lord God coming and
beginning to deal with a man Verse 2, O Lord, I have heard
thy speech and was afraid. Oh when God comes and speaks
and we see it we see it many a time in the experiences of
the people of God as we have them in the Old Testament and
in the New Testament. Think of Job as he comes to the
end of that remarkable book. What does he say there as he
addresses the Lord God? I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear. But now mine eye seeth and I
abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. And it's not just
the experience of Job it's there in the language of the prophets
we see it for example in what Daniel says concerning God's
visitation to Daniel in chapter 10 for a sake therefore I was left
alone and saw this great vision and there remained no strength
in me for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption and I retained
no strength and yet I heard the voice of his words and when I
heard the voice of his words I was in a deep sleep on my face
and my face toward the ground And behold, a hand touched me
and set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel,
a man greatly beloved. Understand the words that I speak
unto thee and stand upright. When the Lord God comes and begins
to deal with a man, how it makes him to tremble, his lips quiver. rottenness enters into his bones.
And it's not just here in the Old Testament. Think of the New
Testament. Think of the experience of Peter
when Christ performs a remarkable miracle there at the beginning
of Luke 5. That miraculous draft of fishes.
Those men were experienced fishermen. They'd been toiling. They'd caught
nothing. And the Lord commands them what to do and they take
a remarkable catch. and when Simon Peter saw it he
fell down at Jesus knees saying depart from me for I am a sinful
man oh Lord or when the Lord comes and makes himself known
there must be that coming to us personally dealing with us
in that personal fashion and that's what I want us to consider
in a sense how the Lord comes and there's conviction but there's
also consolation there are the blessed comforts of the gospel
for sinners. But first of all, to say something
from the text with regards to the conviction of sinners. How
does God speak? We know that God sometimes speaks
to us by his providences. We should be those, we say we
believe in the sovereignty of God, and we believe that that
sovereignty is absolute, is in control of all things, surely.
If that is the case, we will recognize the importance, the
significance of God's works and God's ways with us. The language
at the end of the 107th Psalm, who so is wise and will observe
these things. Even they shall understand the
loving kindness of the Lord. All God's loving kindnesses are
to be discerned in his providential dealings and yet, there's always
a mystery in God's providence. and we see it here again when
we read the closing part of the text when he cometh up unto the
people he will invite them with his troops it says he will invite
them with his troops and he does invite us in our
poor mortal tabernacles we are living in these bodies
and the Lord deals with us as as men and women here upon the
earth how the apostle speaks of these poor tabernacles we
that are in these tabernacles do groan he says being burdened
the language that we have there in 2nd Corinthians 5 the Lord's
voice does speak to us sometimes in the way in which events occur
in our lives and things come to us the Lord's voice cryeth
unto the city the man of wisdom says the prophet shall see thy
name hear ye the rod and do as appointed it when God comes with
his rod when God acts contrary to us when God chastens and corrects
us how God would deal with his people there in the Old Testament
even we see it so clearly again the words of the prayer in verse
5 we read before him this is before the great God went the
pestilence before him went the pestilence does he not remind
us of those plagues that are spoken of so much in the prophecy
of Joel and those various plagues that came upon God's ancient
people and they were typical people Israel in the Old Testament,
as we know, is a type of the spiritual Israel, the church,
the people of God. And God deals with them, and
he sends plagues upon them. And what are these plagues? Well,
they're spoken of as God's army. There in Joel 2, verse 10, "...the
earth shall quake before them, The heavens shall tremble, the
sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw
their shining, and the Lord shall utter his voice before his army,
for his camp is very great, for he is strong that executeth his
word, for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, and
who can abide it? But then what does the Lord say
later in the chapter, verse 25, I will restore to you the years
that the locusts have eaten, the canker worm, and the caterpillar,
and the palmer worm, My great armour, which I sent among you. Or when God comes, you see, to
deal with His people, and He dealt with the children of Israel
because of their sins, He showed them their sins, He taught them
the folly of their sins, by sending plagues upon them. and what dreadful
plagues God can send not just all those things that we read
of in Joel but when he sends the worst famine upon the people
the famine not of bread nor the thirst of water but of famine
of the hearing of the word of God God speaks then in his dealings
and we are to observe these things because all that God does has
a voice. Do we believe that? Do we really
believe in the sovereignty of God? I know I've told the tale
before, probably more than once, but it stays with me. I remember, before ever I met
Sidney Norton, dear old Sidney Norton, and David found him when
he was an undergraduate at at Oxford. He'd previously been
a schoolboy at Dottage College. When he was at Dottage College
he'd been taken up to Westminster Chapel sat at the feet of Dr.
Lloyd-Jones when he was in his teens, I suppose, before he went
up to the university. And then when he was there, after
a while, someone spoke of Sidney Norton, and he went over to Summertown,
and he sat at the feet of Lloyd-Jones. I'm not speaking against Dr.
Lloyd-Jones. Great man he was. But Sidney Norton said to me,
you know, when I met Sidney Norton, I met a man who was living the
sovereignty of God. He said, I'd sat at the feet
of Dr. Lloyd-Jones as a youngster, but I met a man and he was living
it. It was alive! in the man's experience and I
think that's a wonderful testimony who are we those who really do
believe that God is sovereign if we do we'll observe we'll
observe his providences all his dealings with us nothing ever
comes to any of us by mere chance all our times are in God's hands
all events are at God's command but where does God speak? he speaks truly through his word
he speaks through through the office now of preaching he certainly
speaks through the ministry of the words and that's what we
have here in the text when I heard my belly trembled my lips quivered
at the voice rottenness entered into my bones and I trembled
in myself and again Remember we have it back in verse 2. I
have heard O Lord I have heard thy speech and was afraid when
God speaks. God speaks through the ministry
of his words. He speaks when we read his words. But he has
appointed in particular under the gospel the office of the
ministry of the word. We have those familiar words,
don't we? We've referred to them many a time. What Paul says,
writing in the Roman epistle, there in chapter 10. Remember
the passage from verse 14. How shall they call on him in
whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent? as it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed
the gospel, for as I have said, Lord, you have believed our report. So then faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Oh God comes and he addresses
us in in his word, in the preaching of his word, but we think especially
of him who is the essential word of God. The Lord Jesus Christ
in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and
the word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. He is God, he is the eternal
son of God. And how does he speak? My sheep
hear my voice. My sheep hear my voice. They
know not the voice of strangers. He tells us here in the tents
of John. They hear my voice. I know them. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. And how that word of the Lord
Jesus came, came to the Ephesians. Christ himself during the days
of his earthly ministry was never in Ephesus. Ephesus there in
Turkey, Asia Minor as it's called in Scripture. He never went there. He was sent to the lost ship
of the house of Israel. But Paul says to them, you have
not so learned Christ, if so be ye have heard Him and been
taught by Him. They heard Christ. How did they
hear? They heard through preaching,
Christ's voice. And that voice, when the Lord
speaks, is it not often a cutting and a convincing word that the
Lord speaks again the language that we have in the prayer there
in verse 9, thy bow was made quite naked according to the
oaths of the tribes even thy word, speaking of God's God's
word as a naked bow is going to be shooting his arrows that's
what we have there that's the imagery that we have set before
us in that particular verse but then again here at the end of
verse 11 at the light of thine arrows they went and at the shining
of thy glittering spear always sang of it didn't we just now
in our second hymn when God makes bare his sword, as it were, and
comes to work convictions. Now, Job speaks of those arrows,
the arrows of the Almighty. Look at the language in the sixth
chapter of the book. Job 6 and verse 4, he says, The
arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof, drinketh
up my spirit, the terrors of God. who set themselves in array,
the gangstermen. Now the Lord comes sometimes
in that way. He comes to work a very real
conviction in. He pierces the sinner. Those
on the day of Pentecost when they heard the preaching of Peter
and the other apostles. Now they were pricked in their
hearts it says. Pricked in their hearts, pricked
in their consciences. The accusations now of conscience
awakened. And they say to Peter and the
other apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do? Oh, they're
in dire need. The Lord comes, you see. He comes
sometimes in that way. He will convict these people.
He will teach them the truth concerning themselves and their
need. He measures them. He measures them. We have the
same imagery there in the 6th verse. He stood and measured
the earth. He measures the earth. How does
the Lord measure the earth? He measures it by His words. Later in another prophet, you
remember Zechariah chapter 2, the man with the measuring line,
the measuring line in his hands. I lifted up mine eyes again,
says the prophet, and looked, and behold a man, with a measuring
line in his hand. Then said I, with the goers there.
And he said unto me to measure Jerusalem to see what is the
breadth thereof and what is the length thereof. This is all part
of the Lord's ministry with his word. He doesn't just come with
arrows or his glittering spear or his mighty sword, the pierce. He comes also with his measuring
line. And again, the imagery is taken
up, taken up at the end of Scripture in Revelation 11. John says,
There was given me a reed like unto a rod, and the angel stood
saying, Rise and measure the temple of the Lord, and the altar,
and them that worship therein. Oh, the Lord measures us, measures
us continually by His Word, Again, in that book of Zechariah, besides
the man with the measuring line, we also read of Zerubbabel with
the plummet in his hand. Of course, we know historically
Zechariah is ministering at the time of the rebuilding of the
temple of the Lord under Ezra. He's the Lord's prophet in the
days of Ezra. So, the imagery has to do with
the rebuilding, you see. Measuring lines, plummets, But
is there not a spiritual application also? What is the result when
God comes and measures the earth and measures those who dwell
upon the earth when he measures you and me? When he applies his
plumbing, his plumb line. What does he say? Well, when
it's applied, there's nothing but crooks. God made man upright,
but they sought out many inventions. We walk twisted. Really that's
the meaning, the basic meaning of the Hebrew word iniquity is
to be twisted. You see the Hebrews, they think
in very concrete terms, they're eastern people, they're not like
us western people, we think in more abstract terms, but they
speak in pictures, and they think in pictures. And iniquity, it's
being twisted. God makes man upright. Oh, but
when the Lord comes and measures us by His words, we fall short
and we're made to feel it. What we are, we're sinners. All
have sinned. And we've come short of the glory
of God. And few see it. They're all sinners
in God's sight. What does Hart say? They're all
sinners in God's sight. There are but few so in their
own. new life from him we must receive before foreseeing we
rightly grieve. Oh, but when the Lord comes,
when I heard my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice,
rottenness entered into my bones and I trembled in myself. There's a work of conviction But that's not the end of God's
work, because there's also consolation, there's comfort. It goes on,
doesn't it, that I might rest in the day of trouble. That I
might rest. Gill comments here and says that
this word that as the idea of yet or notwithstanding. That's
how he comments. He says that's the force of the
word that's rendered that in our authorised version. Notwithstanding, I rest in the
day of trouble. And where is that rest found?
Why that rest is only found in one person? Isn't the Lord Jesus
Christ a rest of his people? God rests in Islam. And of course,
Christ daily is delight, rejoicing always before Him. All the love
that the Father bears towards the Son in the great mystery
of the doctrine of God, the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. God
is love, we've said it, without reference to anything outside,
out with Himself. Because He's three, and there's
a loving relationship between those three divine persons who
in the in the essence are the one God and God rests in his
love and that's where that's where sinners are to rest come
unto me says Christ all ye that labour and are heavy laden and
I will give you rest take my yoke upon you learn of me for
I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest for your
souls there's no other place of rest but there in the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. We that have believed, says Paul,
we that have believed do enter into rest. We were considering
those words only a few weeks ago in Hebrews 4. By faith, by
faith we experience all the blessing of justification. Oh, but by
faith we're resting in Christ and all that Christ is. He is
the Lord our righteousness. He is that one who has answered
for us before all the demands of God's holy law, be it in terms
of the penalties, be it in terms of the precepts. In Him is that
full salvation. And why does the Lord deal with
His people in the way of conviction in the way of cuttings well he does that in order to
affect the real cure he wants to accomplish a real
cure and he does accomplish the very thing that he intends see
now that I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and
I make alive I wound and my hands make whole." Oh, that's the God
that we're privileged to deal with. He has a glorious and a
blessed end in view. I know the thoughts that I think
towards you, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you
unexpected ends. Oh, this God you see. When we are brought to feel something
of what we are, the barrenness of our lives because of sin. Or when we really feel that,
what does it lead to? It leads to real faith. We see that there's one and only
one that we can rest in. When all around us is giving
way, although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall the
fruit be in the vines, the labour of the olive shall fail, the
field shall yield no meat, The flock shall be cut off from the
fold, and there shall be no herd in the stores." Nothing. Yet. I will rejoice in the Lord. I
will joy in the God of my salvation. It's personal, my salvation.
The Lord is my strength. And He will make my feet like
hind's feet. And He will make me to walk upon
mine high places. How personal it is. This is the
faith that we possess. This is the faith we desire to
possess. This is real faith. The just shall live by his faith. And I remarked this morning.
I don't want to go over all that we were saying previously today,
but these words, they're repeated, aren't they? Three times. Three
times Paul takes up that word At the end of that 4th verse
in chapter 2 we have it there in Galatians 3 verses 10 and 11 where he's speaking
in terms of the Lord and what the Lord does. We have it in
Romans 1 verses 16 and 17 where he's speaking quite clearly of
all the blessings of the Gospel. There's a ministry of the Lord
but there's a ministry of the Gospel. And then we have it again
there at the end of Hebrews 10 in verses 38 and 39 that the believer is to live
that life, it's the life of faith. You just shall live by faith. One faith, one faith. And the
difference with faith is always the objects, and there's only
one saving object, that's the Lord Jesus. Oh yes, we believe
the law, but we see the true nature of the law, it's a spiritual
law. As Paul says, and I'm kind and I'm sold under sin, there's
no salvation in the Lord, the Lord is not of saving faith. We have to come to the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. That justifying faith, where
does it center? In Christ. That I might rest
in the day of trouble. Or to be resting then in Christ,
by Him all that believe, are justified from all things that
they could not be justified from by the deeds of the Lord. Sinful in self? Yes. Alas, we
are sinful. Does it make us tremble? Our
lips quivering, rottenness in our bones, we are sinners. Sinful
in self? Ah, but God justifies the unrighteous. There's all righteousness there
in the Lord Jesus Christ. All that I shall live by his
faith. Oh God grant that we might be
those then who know the reality of these things, the conviction
of sin, the consolations of the gospel, the comfort that is found
just in one person, and all that he has accomplished, the person,
the work of Christ, that I might rest in the day of trouble. May the Lord bless His word to
us. Amen.