All right, let's open our Bibles
to Habakkuk chapter 3, this passage that Brother Terry read, and
we'll attempt to tap into that river that never runs dry, which
is Christ himself and the Word of God. Amen to that. As Brother Terry read through
Habakkuk chapter 3, the last chapter of this short prophecy,
You probably felt like you were hearing a psalm, you were reading
a psalm. Well, that's exactly what you were reading. It's just
because it's not in the book of psalms or not written by David. Most people don't realize David
didn't, he wrote some of the psalms, most of them, but not
even half of them. you know, several writers, but as we've
always stated and learned and take comfort in, the human instruments
are just that. We're human instruments. God
wrote the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. But this is a
psalm, and it's a psalm of praise. It's a psalm of worship. It's
a psalm of submission. It's a psalm of faith. I've taken
the title from the last verse 18, the one before the last verse,
where Habakkuk concludes his prophecy by saying, yet, while
I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The title of this message is
the God of my salvation. I want to take a few moments
in going through this passage and tell you about the God of
my salvation. And it's my prayer and my hope
that when I'm through, you'll say, that's the God of my salvation
too. That's how we enter into this,
isn't it? That's our fellowship. The God of my salvation. The
one and true only God who saves. Back up in verse one, let's look
at it. A prayer. He starts this Psalm off with
a prayer. You know, many of the Psalms of David and the other
Psalms are prayers. Just a sinner crying out to God
in Christ, coming to the throne of grace and mercy to find help
in time of need. Well, here's God's prophet Habakkuk.
A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, upon what he says is Shigionoth. Shigionoth. Now, to be honest
with you, we really don't know what that word means. Shigionoth. There are two ideas. And so I'm
going to, being the diplomat that I am, I'm going to jam the
two together and show you what I think what's happening here.
Some people believe that it has to do with a musical note and
it's talking about stringed instruments particularly. And they relate
it to the last words of this psalm in verse 19, which is stringed
instruments, and you might have in your concordance the word
neganoth, which means stringed instruments. And so it could
be related, no doubt about it. But others, and I don't know
where this comes from, I mean, I did a lot of study on this,
and I don't like to get bogged down in one word or anything
like that, but some of the scholars believe that it's a word that's
related to an old Hebrew word which means ignorance. ignorance. And I thought about Habakkuk.
After God revealed to Habakkuk his mysterious ways in providence,
and how that nothing that God does, as he's working all things
in history and providence after the counsel of his own will,
God revealing to Habakkuk and to us that nothing that happens
according to his will, all of it, his purpose, nothing is going
to hinder or defeat his ultimate purpose, to glorify himself in
the salvation of his people, his elect people, in and by the
Lord Jesus Christ. But everything that happens,
even the things that we look at that just twist our minds
in a knot, and even things that happen that we see as bad, all
things work together. Even those things will ultimately
uphold and support the establishment and fulfillment of God's purpose
to save His people, His elect people, in and by the Lord Jesus
Christ. Habakkuk had complained to God,
he'd asked a lot of questions, he'd cried out of ignorance.
That's what he'd done. And we do that a lot of times.
We speak and cry unto God out of our ignorance. Lord, why,
why, why? But he concludes, as God has
revealed some of these things to him and has brought him to
his knees in submission to the ways and to the will of God and
to the glory of God, he cries out in worship. And so when we
speak of that as Habakkuk inspired by the Holy Spirit, he speaks
this prayer of praise and worship. He's rejoicing in the God of
his salvation, the God of my salvation, the God of our salvation
upon Shigiona. And maybe it's this. Here's what
maybe Habakkuk is saying in this word. I don't know that for sure,
but I know it's true of Habakkuk. I may not have this word down
pat, but I know this is true of the prophet because I see
the context of his prophecy. I see this psalm. I see what
he's saying. And that's this. He may be saying
something like this, Lord, though I'm ignorant of many things before
you, I will bow to you and worship you in all things. and sing praises
to you upon my stringed instruments, upon any instruments you give
me, I will worship God." And you know, I thought about that
because, you know, that's really the theme of the book of Job,
isn't it? Job was ignorant of many things. And we're so ignorant
of so many things. But this one thing we do know. We know the God of our salvation.
We know the Lord Jesus Christ. When we talk about salvation
knowledge, what are we talking about? We're talking about knowledge
that God reveals. We're not talking about information
alone. We're not talking about just
bare facts alone. We're not talking about ideas
swapped back and forth between preachers and people. We're talking
about the revealed truth of God as it is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at John chapter 6 with me for a second. And as I said,
we realize with Habakkuk, I mean, you know, as I read this through
this book and studied it, I can really identify with this man.
Because things have happened in my life that I just don't
understand. How about you? Can you say that
too? I mean, some things that just twist me up so much that
I can't figure it out. I wonder why. And I'm not just
talking about other people. I'm talking about myself, too.
Lord, why do I do what I do? Why do I think what I think?
And so we're ignorant in so many areas, but we know, as we read
this morning, all things work together for good to them that
love God, who are the called according to His purpose. But
there are some things we do know, and that's where we have to settle,
right there. The things we know. That's what
John was talking about in 1 John chapter 2, when he was talking
about those who left the faith, apostatized, revealing that they
never were saved. He said, but you have an unction
from the Holy One. You have a power from Christ.
It's the power of God's grace and salvation. It's the power
of the Holy Spirit who brought us under the preaching of the
gospel to teach us, to give us knowledge from God. And it's
not knowledge just for the super intellectual. It's not knowledge
just for the philosophers and the theologians, it's such knowledge
that even a little child can understand it. It's wholly depending
upon our Heavenly Father for all salvation in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And here's what he said in 1
John, he said, you know all things. Now he wasn't saying we know
everything. He said, we know all things pertaining to this
salvation that God has freely provided in Christ. But look
at John chapter 6 and look at verse 44. Now we'll quote verse
44 quite often, and rightly so, because it tells us a truth that
men and women by nature don't know and don't believe and don't
understand. And that's this, that no man
can come to me, Christ said, except the Father which hath
sent me draw him. And that word draw there is literally
drag, it's like the drag net. In other words, it's being caught
in a drag net. In other words, it's not saying
this, it's not saying no man can come to me except the Father
which hath sent me draw him with his cooperation. When you fellas
go fishing, Those fish bite the bait, but they're not cooperating,
are they? You've got to drag them in. And that's the way. And somebody said, well, God
drags us in against our will. Well, He does against our natural
will, but He changes our will. He makes His people willing in
the day of His power, doesn't He? And how does He do that? He teaches us about who He is. Look at it. He said, and I will
raise him up at the last day. Now look at verse 45. Now here's
how God draws his people. Here's how he does it. It is
written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. God's gonna teach us. Now let
me tell you something. I taught school for several years,
and there were a lot of times I just didn't think I was getting
through. And you know what I found out later on? There was a lot
of times I didn't get through. I just didn't get through. I
used to wish I could just open up their heads and pour it in.
You teachers can relate to this. You just don't get through. But
let me tell you something, God always gets through when he teaches. He always gets through. He gets
through not only to the brain, but to the heart, doesn't he?
And he said, they shall be all taught of God. Now here's what
he's going to teach. Now listen to this. Every man
therefore that hath what? Heard. Heard what? Well, faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The gospel
is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. Hear
the gospel. Who God is. He teaches us who
he is. He taught Habakkuk who he was.
He teaches us who we are. God's holy and just. He must
punish sin. And we're sinners and we deserve
death. That's what we've earned. And
we can't do anything to make ourselves acceptable to God. That's what total depravity is
about. It's not that everybody is as bad as they could be. God
restrains humanity in a lot of ways. You know that so. That's
why we have officers of the law and laws to go by. If God just
let us all go, we'd just kill each other. That's the case. But what is total depravity?
How do you know the total depravity of a sinner? When that sinner
comes to realize and know that I cannot do anything, anything,
the best that I can do, I cannot do anything, to make myself acceptable
before God, to pay for my sins, to make myself righteous before
God. And you hear that. And God teaches
you. And you know it's so because
He teaches you through the preaching of the gospel. He uses means,
He uses men, He uses us clay pots, weak vessels, to deliver
this message. And you know why He does that?
To give glory to Him and not to us. And he says, and they
that have heard and have learned of the Father. Now you can know
something about God as creator by looking at science and looking
at nature and all that. You may even know something about
God of providence. But the only way you're going
to know God is your heavenly Father. is to hear the truth
of his grace in Christ and learn of him, learn of the Father,
and listen to what he says here. Every man, therefore, that hath
heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. They don't
resist. Not if you've heard and learned,
not if God's taught you by the power of the Spirit, convinced
you of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. There's no resisting
that. Everyone who hears this and learns
that comes to him through Christ. Think about that. He says over
in John chapter 17 in his high priestly prayer, he says in verse
3 in John 17, he says, this is life eternal. Here's how God
defines life eternal. Are you interested? He says that they might know
thee. How are you going to know God? Well, He's going to teach
you. He's going to draw you. You're
going to hear of Him and learn. And come to Him through Christ.
Through whom He reveals Himself. And He says that they might know
thee the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Turn
to Romans chapter 10. We know God. That doesn't mean
we know everything about God. That doesn't mean we know the
depths of the majesty and the glory of God in his infinite
character. His ways are past finding out. You say, God, why'd you do it
that way? I wouldn't have done it that way. I'd have done it
this way. You know what's talking there? Ignorance. That's ignorance
talking, isn't it? You know God's way is the only
good way, the only right way, the only way. That's why I can't
stand when I hear people talk about, well, God didn't have
to send Christ here. He could have saved you some other way.
Oh no, you don't know God. Let me tell you about the God
of my salvation. He must be just when he justifies. That's why the only way of salvation
was his sending his son into this world. Brother Al was telling me about
fellows who used to tell him that God wouldn't require what
we cannot do. Well, if God wouldn't require
what we cannot do, he wouldn't have had to have sent his son
here to die. The reason he sent his son to die on the cross is
because he requires what you and I cannot do. What the law
could not do, and that it was what? Weak through the flesh,
because of me, because of my inability. Look at Romans 10.
He says in verse 3, he talks about ignorance here. They're
ignorant of something. He's talking about religious Israel here. Trying to be saved by their works.
What's their problem? I'll tell you exactly what their
problem is. Ignorance. Look at it. For they being ignorant
of God's righteousness, God's justice, God's requirement of
righteousness. What does God require in order
for a sinner to be saved? Now, there's a lot of things
I don't know about what's going on today and what will go on
tomorrow. But I know this, I know what God requires for a sinner
to be made righteous. I know that. And here he says,
"...they are going about to establish their own righteousness, had
it not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For
Christ is the end of the law." The fulfillment, finishing, completion
of the law. for righteousness to everyone
that believe. God requires perfect satisfaction
to his law and justice to save a sinner. I know that. And you
know why I know that? Because he taught me. And he
sent a preacher to do it. But it was God teaching me because
if God hadn't taught me, I wouldn't have believed a word that preacher
said. Now that's what I'm saying. And I'll tell you how I know
that, because before God taught me, I listened to that old fella,
and I didn't believe a word he said. That's the truth now. And I know there's only one way
to find that righteousness, and that's through the person and
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only way.
Let me show you one more. Look over at Hebrews chapter
8. Now this is what we know. Again, now, like Habakkuk, now,
we're ignorant in so many ways. Mess up all the time. Somebody said, well, if I could
go back and do it over again, I wouldn't do anything different.
You know what's talking there? Ignorance. God knows what He's doing. Listen,
God declares the end from the beginning. I don't, you don't,
but God does. That's who God is. But here,
you know, he's talking about the difference here, the greater
glory and the spirituality and eternality of the new covenant
as opposed to the old covenant. The old covenant was made with
the national people. That's the group that Habakkuk's
talking to there in Judah. The rebellious Judahites, Israelites. And so God says, I'm going to
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the
house of Judah. Look at verse 9 of Hebrews 8. He says, not
according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the
land of Egypt. Now, this is not going to be like that covenant
at Sinai, this new covenant. He said, because they continued
not in my covenant. They didn't keep it. Neither
would we. Now, if you think you can be
saved by the law, you might as well just put a little exception
clause in Hebrews chapter 8 verse 9 and say, But I would. And you know what's talking there? Ignorance. But I know better.
I know better if I'd been... I know this much about myself.
If left to myself, if I'd been living back then under that covenant,
I'd been right with them in disobedience and rebellion. And he says, he
says, they continue not in my covenant, and I regarded them
not, saith the Lord. Verse 10. For this is the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my laws into their
mind. God's going to teach us about
his law. A fellow asked a question of one
of the elders down at Albany about preaching the law and the
gospel. And he said we, somebody told
him or he was taught that you have to preach the law before
you preach the gospel. And I thought about this. Now
you think about it. Listen. Christ was sent of the
Father and the scripture said he was made of woman. That's
his incarnation. God in human flesh. The word
Made flesh, and then what does it say there in Galatians chapter
4, verse 4? He was made under law. He was, you hear that? Christ
was made under the law. Why was Christ made under the
law? To redeem them that were under
the law. How did he redeem them that were
under the law? By his obedience unto death,
by shedding his blood, by establishing righteousness. That's what he
came to do. My friend, what I'm saying is
you cannot preach the gospel without preaching the law. Now, if you preach the law without
the gospel, all you've got is legalism. But if you preach the
gospel without the law, you know what you have? A false gospel. Christ came to keep the law,
to fulfill the law. He's the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believes. God's not going to pervert His
law or forget His law. You say, what law? Whatever law
He was made under. How about that? I know theologians
say, well, the ceremony, there's more. He was made under law,
He kept it for me. He's the end of the law for me.
Period. But look here, he said, I will
put my laws into their mind, write them in their hearts, I
will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people, and
they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, know the Lord. In other words, these are not
going to be people who are ignorant of the Lord. He said, for all
shall know me. Which ones, only the best of
them, or only the smartest of them? No, from the least to the
greatest. They shall all know me. Go back
to Habakkuk 3. That's the issue. Now let me
say this, too. Even in these things we know,
Paul wrote this, and it's true, we see through a glass darkly,
don't we? We know Christ, but we don't see Him like we're going
to see Him in glory. We just have a foretaste of glory
divine, the old hymn says. We have the earnest of the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit who indwells us, continually teaching us and
energizing us and motivating us and guiding us through the
Word. But what we see here is just
the top of it, like those old two farmers that went to the
ocean. Never had been there. And one said, man, it's a big
thing, isn't it? And he said, yeah, and that's just the top
of it. And that's all we see. But we're going to see more,
aren't we? I don't know how much more. Somebody said, we'll know
it all. I don't think so. But we'll know more than we know
now. And we'll see Christ. We'll be made like Christ. Look
back at it. Now with that in mind, look at
these scriptures. He says in verse 2, he says,
O Lord, I have heard thy speech, thy word, your report. This is
the word of God. And I was afraid. He feared. Remember, He heard that report
of God's declaration of wrath against sin. But he also knew
God's promise. I believe here he's talking about
the fear of worship here. I believe he's talking about
the fear of faith, not a legal fear, because he knew. Look back
at chapter 1 and verse 12. Remember, he said this. He said
in chapter 1 and verse 12, "...Art thou not from everlasting, O
Lord my God, mine Holy One? We shall not die." Who's he talking
about there? He's talking about believers. He's talking about
the people of God. He's talking about those who've
been taught of God, those who at that time were looking forward
to the coming of Christ to put away their sins and to bring
in righteousness for them, to the promise of God. He'd already
said that. He talked about it in chapter
2. But he couldn't understand God's providence. He was fearful
of many things in providence. But listen to what he says here.
Oh Lord, I've heard thy speech, verse 2, and I was afraid. Oh
Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst
of the years, make known. And listen to this now. He says,
in wrath, remember mercy. You hear that? Underscore that
in your Bible. That's how God saves a sinner
right there. He doesn't say, now notice He
doesn't say, God, in wrath, forget mercy. He doesn't say, God, in
mercy, forget wrath. He says, in wrath, remember mercy. Do you know that's exactly what
the Lord did when He sent His Son to die on the cross? Wrath
was poured out on the Son of God for the sins of His church,
His elect, His people. Charged to Him. The full measure
of God's holy just wrath. That's what Christ went under.
in his soul suffering, in his anguish, in his pain, and he
saw all the result of sin imputed to him. He was made sin. He was
made guilty. He was made a curse for us. Suffering
that we can't even describe. It began in the Garden of Gethsemane
when he sweat great drops of blood. That was the wrath of
God upon him. That was the weight of the guilt
of sin imputed to him. It was real. It wasn't a fiction.
It was real. And all the time, and listen
to this now, I want you to hear this, the whole time that he
was anguishing in the infirmities of this flesh under the weight
of guilt and sorrow, and trouble like no one could even describe. I can't describe it. It's useless
for me to try to describe it. But all that time he never had
a sinful thought. He never had a corrupt thought.
He was still the pure and perfect Son of God without sin. He who
knew no sin was made sin. And he went to the cross And
that guilt that became his because of our sin charged to him caused
a separation between the father and the son that is totally,
totally, totally mind-boggling. And he said it this way, he said,
my God, my God. And I think that's significant,
Brother Bob, that he said, my God. My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? And I'll tell you, I've come
to the conclusion that it's just foolish for any preacher to try
to theologize that for you and make it an issue. To me, it's
just mind-boggling. Yet, this I know. I know why
he did it, and I know what it accomplished. I know how everything
come out. What did he do? In all of that,
he put away my sins. In all of that, he washed my
sins away. That's what he did. Now that's
not literal language, folks. It wasn't an actual bath that
he took. You could say this, he bathed in the wrath of God.
And I'm not just being facetious here, but I want you to understand
something here, that this is serious business. In wrath, remember
mercy. That's the God of my salvation.
He could not forget wrath. He could, listen, He must punish
sin. And if you're a believer, if
you're a child of God, if you've been washed in His blood, if
you're clothed in His righteousness, justified before God, forgiven
of all your sins, past, present, future sins, Adamic sin, however
you want to put it or place it, All sin. If you're in Christ,
the books are wiped clean. There's no charge against you.
Think about that. We read it this morning. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that
justifies. I mean, I'm telling you, this
is serious business now. Listen. If you stand in Christ
before God justified, righteous, not guilty, clean, In God's sight,
God who looks on the heart, if you stand there before Him in
Christ, it's not because God forgot wrath against your sin. It's not because God looked over
your sin. It's not because God decided
just to ignore your sin. It's because God expressed His
full measure of wrath against your sin in Christ. That's why. Isn't that right? The psalmist said that he thanked
God that he hath not dealt with us after our sins. And I always make a point to
show there. He didn't say that God hath not dealt with our sins. He said God hath not dealt with
us after our sins. He dealt with them. He dealt
with them on Calvary. Oh, in wrath. Remember mercy
now we can say that about providence to God and showing measures of
his wrath throughout history In these earthly disasters and
the punishments of people But we know God is merciful He proved
that to Noah, didn't he? Noah built an ark and That ark
was Christ He put a rainbow in the sky to let us know, remember,
that God doesn't forget His justice and His wrath, but He remembers
mercy in Christ. And then what Habakkuk does in
this prayer and in this psalm, he relates basically the history
of God delivering the Hebrew children out of Egypt and throughout
the wilderness. Look at it in verse 3. He says,
God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran, and
he says, he says, Selah there. Now that word Selah, you know,
this is the only time you see this word outside the Psalms.
And you see it three times here in Habakkuk chapter 3. Some people
say it's a musical note, but I believe it has more significance
than that. I believe it's a spiritual note. And here's what it says. You know, we normally translate
it this way. It means pause and consider this. Pause and consider. Okay. And that's right. But I'll
tell you exactly what it means. Look back at Habakkuk chapter
2 and verse 20. Here's what Selah really means.
Right here. But the Lord is in His holy temple. That's where I thought should
be now. And if we're thinking of the God of our salvation now,
the true and living God, this is where God's in His holy temple.
That's the temple of His grace, the temple of His law, the temple
of His justice. You remember why did blood have
to be poured on the mercy seat? Because the soul that sinneth
must surely die. Did you know that? Why did Christ
come into the world He came into the world to die for our sins.
The Bible says where there's no law, there's no sin. That's
the temple of His law too. Justice must be satisfied. This
is where I thought it should be. This is the God of our salvation. It's the temple of God's mercy.
It's the temple of His presence. It's the Shekinah glory. Now,
here's what Selah means. Let all the earth keep silence
before Him. That silence there is submission.
It's consideration. Consider this. That's what he's
saying. God came from Teman. He came
from the south. He's talking about how God delivered
him through Abraham. This goes back to Abraham. Teman
does. God made a promise to Abraham. that he would bring forth a people.
And he says, and the Holy One from Mount Paran, Selah. Think about it. This is all based
upon God's promise. That's what he's telling. When
you think about the God of your salvation, think about his promise.
Think about his grace. Think about how he saved Abraham.
What shall we say, Paul wrote in Romans 4, of Abraham of our
father as pertaining to the flesh? He had whereof to glory, but
not before God. What's the scripture say? Abraham
was saved, justified before God by grace, based on a righteousness
that he had no part in producing, but one that was produced for
him by a substitute, the Lamb of God, the Lamb that was slain. Abraham was justified that way.
You see, salvation is of the Lord by the work of Christ in
his obedience unto death. It's not by works of righteousness
which we have done. That's what he's doing when he
refers him back to Abraham here. Now think about that, he's saying.
Keep silence, don't argue with God. You've got no answer to
this, God only. This is a revelation from God.
He says in verse 3, his glory covered the heavens and the earth
was full of his praise. That's when he brought him out
of Egypt. And it says, his brightness was as the light. He had horns
coming out of his hand. That horns literally, if you've
got in your concordance, it has to do with beams of light. They
look like horns coming, but it's beams of light. But anyway, when
you see horns in the scripture in such a way as pertaining to
God, it means power. That's what it means. But here's
beams of light. And it says, there was the hiding
of his power. Now why do they say the hiding
of his power? And one of the Proverbs or one of the Psalms
says, it's the glory of God to hideth a thing. You know what
he's talking about? He's talking about the glory
of his revelation. In other words, what he's reminding
them of is this, here's the God of my salvation. I wouldn't know
him or anything about him or the great salvation that he freely
provides in Christ but by revelation. It's his glory that it must be
revealed. That's what he's talking about.
He hideth the hiding of His power. He didn't show it to everybody.
He revealed it to His people. Christ told His disciples, blessed
are your ears, for they hear. Everybody's ear doesn't hear.
Blessed are your eyes, for they see. And He even told them, He
says, God's shown you more of it than He showed the prophets.
He said, many of the prophets and men of old have desired to
see the things you've seen, talking about His actual coming into
the world. He goes on in verse 5, he says,
"...before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth
at his feet." That refers to God's judgments against Israel
at Sinai because of their disobedience and idolatry. Don't you ever
think that because God is merciful that He will not punish sin?
You see, both judgment and salvation are part of God's plan. And if
you ever doubt that, again, look at Calvary. Look at Calvary,
where judgment came down upon the Son of God for the sins of
His people. Verse 6, He stood and He measured the earth. He
beheld and drove asunder the nations, and everlasting mountains
were scattered. The perpetual hills did bow.
His ways are everlasting. God brought the Hebrew children
into the land of Canaan. You remember there He established
the Ark of the Covenant at Gilgal for 14 years. And from there
the land of Canaan was overcome by Joshua, subdued by Joshua,
and then it was all measured out by him and divided by lot
as an inheritance to the children of Israel according to the direction
and the appointment of the Lord. In other words, it was a gift. And what that was is an illustration
of the salvation that's by promise that God gives us by inheritance. that He measures out to His people
by His Joshua, Yeshua, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's also an
illustration of the apostles and the disciples taking the
gospel throughout the world like a measuring rod. Let's turn to
Revelation 11, and I'll conclude here with that, and we'll pick
up with this next time. But look at Revelation, and I want to
show you this. The gospel going forth like a
measuring rod. What does that mean? Here's John on Patmos. In this vision, Revelation 11,
listen to this. He said, Now what is the temple
of God? That's the church. That's the people of God. And he says, and the altar, that's
the place where we meet God. That's the place where God meets
with sinners. Remember he said, I'll meet with
you above the mercy seat. There I'll commune with you.
That's Christ. The church is built upon Christ.
He's our foundation. Christ is the head of the church.
He's the heart of the church. He walks in the midst of the
seven churches. He said, where two or three are
gathered in my name, there I'll be in the midst of them. And
he says, you measure that temple. Measure it. And the altar, and
them that worship therein. But he says in verse 2, but the
court which is without the temple, leave out, and measure it not.
Leave that out, for it's given unto the Gentiles. Now the Gentiles
here are symbolic of the heathen, unbelievers. God has a people
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, but here
he's using symbols. The temple of God, which represents the
people of God, the church of the living God, the church which
Christ bought with his own precious blood. And then the Gentiles
are those who stand in opposition, symbolically here. And he says,
in the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
Now, I'm not going to go into the number, but what I want you
to see is how do you measure the church? How do you measure
the temple? By the preaching of the gospel. which leads sinners
to the altar, not down here now, but to Christ, our altar, who
is our high priest, who is our sin bearer, our sin offering,
who is our altar. And anyone who doesn't see the
glory of Christ, who doesn't come before God at the altar,
Jesus Christ, is to be left out. They cannot be included in the
measuring of the people of God." Now Habakkuk, in that verse 6,
he concludes it by saying this, he said, his ways are everlasting.
You know what he's saying there? He's saying that's the way God
has always done it. He's never changed. This is God's
purpose from the beginning. It's no different. Wasn't different
In the Garden of Eden, when God slew animals and made coats of
skin and clothed Adam and Eve, it wasn't any different. In Cain
and Abel's day, Cain came his way like an unbelieving Gentile,
and he was measured out. Abel came pleading the blood.
Wasn't any different in the days of Noah, wasn't any different
in the days of Abraham, wasn't any different when God brought
the Hebrew children out of Egypt. Same in Habakkuk today, same
as our day. The only way for us to understand
and know the God of our salvation is through Christ. All right.
Let's sing hymn number 309 as our closing hymn, Beneath the
Cross of Jesus. 309.