There in verse 4 again of chapter
2, it says, Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright
in him. In other words, if he lifts himself
up, he is not upright before God. He may lift himself up and
say, I'm alright, I'm in good condition, but he's not upright
before God. But the just shall live, not
by his uprightness. but by his faith, by his faith. You know, a multitude of people
live in this world in unbelief, and all believers have unbelief
in them. But they don't live in unbelief.
But for a person to live in unbelief, to live in contempt of God, not
bow to the Lord Jesus Christ, is to store up for themselves
wrath against the day of wrath and indignation of God and His
righteousness. And in that day, there are only
going to be two classes of people. And really, in the world, there's
always only two classes of people. But in that day, that day when
God has appointed all men to face that day of wrath and judgment,
There will only be two kind of people, the just and the damned,
the justified and the unjustified, the righteous and the wicked,
those who are eternally saved and those who are eternally damned.
Now, when we understand this, and we know that we are appointed
unto death, and after this the judgment, And we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ. And there's the great white throne.
When everybody's gathered before Him, and men are judged according
to their work, even dead shall give up their work to the dead.
Satan will be everybody, death and hell, will have to come out
of there and be judged by God at the great white throne. So
knowing this, we have to ask our question, and I hope we ask
this, how in the world will I live before God? How can I live before
God? How can I escape the wrath and
judgment of that great day when His holy terror comes? How can I be just with God? And
if you're not asking yourself these questions, I'd hate to be in your shoes.
Surely you'd ask yourself those kind of questions. If such questions
concern you, and you want to know how to escape the righteous
judgment of God, And his fury, the answer is found there in
chapter 2 and verse 4. The just shall live by his faith. The just shall live by his faith.
Now, you know when you... This verse is quoted three times
in the New Testament. Three different times. Faith.
How are we going to live before God? We're going to live by faith.
But the first time it's mentioned in the New Testament is in Romans
117. where it says the righteousness
of God is revealed from heaven from faith to faith, the just
shall live by faith. Not by law, not by works, not
by merit, not by his own strength, not by his prayers, not by his
good intentions, not by resolve, But this righteousness that God
reveals, and that's what it deals with, that just shall live by
faith in that righteousness that God gives him in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's the first time it's mentioned.
The second time it's mentioned in the New Testament is the emphasis
not only on righteousness the first time, but it's on faith
the second time. When Paul tells the believers
there, When they start talking about the law and their works,
he said, A man is not justified by the deeds of the law, for
it is written, The just shall live by faith. Not by the deeds
of the law. The emphasis there is on faith.
The first emphasis is on righteousness. Believers don't obtain righteousness
by their own works, but they obtain it through faith and by
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. And then in Hebrews 10.38
it's mentioned, The first time has to do with righteousness.
Righteousness revealed. Faith believes it. Just live
by that faith. Second time is by law, by works. We live by faith in Christ alone,
and just live by faith in Christ alone. The third time is mentioned.
It's on life. Living by faith. The Holy Spirit
then declares, you know, when Paul says, we are not of them
who believe to the drawing back of the soul. and said that he
that tarries will not tarry, but will come. And the just shall
live, live like Abraham did, live day in and day out by faith. And that's what we do. We receive
the righteousness of God by faith. We justify it by our faith in
Christ instead of by works. And we live every day by faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting Him and Him alone. Who else are
we going to trust? Who else are we going to trust?
I'll tell you something about living by faith. I don't know
who I was talking to the other day, but I said, living by faith.
What it is, whether you're washing your dishes, riding in your car,
Or whatever you're doing, you're constantly living by faith. You're
constantly looking to Christ. You're constantly calling on
Christ. You're constantly letting Him know your needs. And if not
your needs, the needs of somebody else. I mean, when you're washing
your dishes, you're living by faith. You don't live by faith
by just standing around pulling your thumb and saying, I'm looking
up to Jesus. No, we've got to live in this world. We've got
to live with the life that God's given us and with the lot that
He put us in. And how are we going to do that?
Well, the only way we can face Him in this judgment is through
the righteousness of Christ. And that, beloved, is what we
believe. We live by that, don't we? We
live by that faith. And we know we're not going to
be justified by the deeds of the law, not by our works, but
we're going to be justified by faith. And we know that if we're
going to live in this world and go to that place where that city
is whose builder and maker is God, we're going to have to live
by that faith on the righteousness of Christ without any works of
our own and living. That's what I'm going to face,
God. That's the way I do right now. And I know you do. And that's
what Habakkuk means here. He has all three of these things
in mind. He tells us that sinners obtain
righteousness and life by faith in the Lord Jesus. And that being
made righteous, God's people live by that faith. And that's
Habakkuk's message. And then look what he said over
here. See, that's what he does. And he magnifies and praises
our blessed Savior. Look what he says here, chapter
3 and verse 13. He's talking about our Savior,
and he sings praises to our Savior. He said, thou wentest forth for
the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine
anointed. Christ went forth for the salvation
of his people for these anointed. Ain't that what they said when
thou shalt an angel told Joseph that thou shalt call his name
Jesus? What's he going to do? He's going
to save his people from their sins. And that's what it says
here. He went forth for the salvation
of his people. For the salvation of your anointed
and all beloved. So in a word, the message of
this book is three chapters. It's faith. There's only one
way to live in this world. One way to live and escape the
wrath and judgment of God. Living by faith, clinging to
Christ. I wish I'd looked it up before
I got here, but there's a verse over in Acts where it says, you
know, they exhorted them to cleave unto the Lord. And that word,
cleave, means be glued to Him. Cleave unto Him. Be glued to
Him. Who else, you know what I mean? They exhorted them to cling to
Him. Be glued to Him. I certainly want to do that,
don't you? And Habakkuk's name, his name
means embrace. It means to cling. And that's
his message. If his name means embrace and
cling, that's his message. If we would live, we must live
by clinging to our Lord Jesus Christ, embracing our Lord Jesus
Christ and our Lord Jesus embracing us. Now in chapter 1, what he
does is he prays for Judah. The prophet prays for Judah,
the Lord's discernment, to send the Chaldeans in judgment, send
Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians in judgment, Nebuchadnezzar.
In chapter two, he sees the watchman upon his watchtower receiving
God's answer to his prayer. In chapter three, what we do
is we have a prayer of praise and faith in a song that he sings. In chapter three, verse one,
look at this with me just a minute, and then we'll go through the
whole book. But he says here, a prayer, a prayer, is a prayer
that he prays here. The whole third chapter is a
prayer. He said, a prayer of Habakkuk,
the prophet of both Shigionoth. Now, what does he mean? That's
the, you know, Shigionoth. What does that mean? Well, some
says it means ignorance. Others says it means a strange
instrument. Well, it could be both. Because
what he's doing here, he's declaring, as he prays here upon Shigionot,
that he is ignorant before God, and that he will bow before God
and sing praises to God and worship God upon strange instruments.
So his song begins with a prayer, and it ends with a praise of
faith and glory to his blessed name. And all beloved, in verse
3 here, verse 2 of chapter 3, look what he says. He heard God's
pronouncement of wrath and was afraid, but not for himself,
but those who God was determined to punish. He said, O Lord, I
have heard thy speech and was afraid. I heard your judgment. I heard what you were going to
do. I heard that you were going to come and judge your people.
I heard that you were going to come and punish these people.
I heard that you were going to have a strange country come in
here and destroy your people. He said, O Lord, I heard of that
speech and I was afraid. But not for himself. He's afraid
for those, beloved, who God's going to bring judgment on. O
Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. Make known. In the midst of the years, make
known. In wrath, remember mercy. In wrath, remember mercy. I'll
tell you all something that's very tough to deal with. When they told Mary last Tuesday,
that she was sick. All the kids came up. And Liddy was crying, and she
said, Mama, I won't get to be with you and Nanny Willa. Mary
said, No, honey, you won't. No, honey, you won't. Not now. Not now. Not now. How about you? In wrath, in wrath, I heard your
voice, I heard your punishment, and it made me afraid. Not for
me. Lord, in the midst of the years, when your wrath is fixed
to come, would you please remember mercy? Mercy? Mercy? And that's what we're
talking about. And he heard this pronouncement
of wrath, and he was terrified at the prospect. of God's fury. And so he begins to pray in this
whole chapter for God's church and His kingdom. He prays for
the Lord to preserve His people. He prays for the Lord to make
Himself known in the midst of darkness and desolation. He prays
for mercy upon the people. You see, Judah was going to be
invaded by the Babylonians. And this invasion, when Nebuchadnezzar
came in and took Judah and took Jerusalem, it was 600 years before
our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world. And this is the thing
I want you to understand. And the Lord, He revealed to
His prophet here the instrument that He would use to punish Judah. And that instrument would be
Babylon. And Habakkuk, all the other prophets always mention,
if you repent, if you turn from the evil ways, if you But Habakkuk
doesn't do that here. He doesn't mention the possibility
that judgment might be a burden, as the other prophets did. He
doesn't call the people here to repentance like the other
prophets. It's too late for repentance
now. He declares the inevitable destruction of Judah. And he
declares that the only way of escape of Babylonian captivity. The only way to escape the wrath
and judgment of God is by faith, believing God. Judgment is certain,
but He declares that those who believe shall live. And how shall
they live? By His faith. So let's go over here to chapter
one. Let's go through this. Just a moment. Chapter one. Let's go through this. He shows
that Judah here is full of violence and contentions, and the nations
turned its back on God. And he says, the burden of which
Habakkuk the prophet did see. The Lord, O 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 this grievance? For spoiling and violence are
before me, and there I raised up strife and contentiousness.
Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doeth never go forth.
For the wicked doeth compass about the righteous, therefore
wrong judgment proceedeth." I mean, beloved, he says here, violence
is before me, contentiousness before me, strife's before me.
There's the righteous, and they're compassed about with the wicked. And the law is slack. And then
he says it clearly, how God's going to destroy this nation.
He says in verse 5, Behold, ye among the heathen in regard,
and you wonder marvelously. For I'll work a work in your
days which you will not believe, though it be told you. Now let
me say something right here. That's quoted over in the book
of Acts. When Paul was preaching and he said, God said that he
would declare a work among you and do a work among you that
you would see it, that you would not believe, that you would stand
in wonder and amazement. That's exactly what he's saying
here. He says when the Messiah comes, you won't know it, you
won't see it, and God will do a work among you, and you won't
see it, and you'll stand in wonder. And what happens here is he says
that these Jews says, oh, we're so good. We've got the prophets. We've got the law. We have been
lived so good, you know, and there's somebody stand up and
tells us that there's now judgment and no place for repentance,
no mercy. And God's going to come and say,
that can't be. That's contrary to the God we
know. That's contrary to the God of
love. That's contrary to the God of mercy. That's contrary
to the God that we worship. And that's why he says, I'm telling
you, When God does this work, you won't believe it. It'll be
so great in your days, you wouldn't believe it if somebody told you
about it. And that's why at the back he's telling them. And that's
the way we are. We tell people about the gospel.
We tell people about our Lord Jesus Christ. We tell about the
cross. We tell about Him bearing our sin. We tell about His righteousness. We tell all that we know about
Him, and all that He does, and all that He did, and His glory,
and His power, and His majesty. But still people will not believe. But He gives them assurance of
life. Look what He says down in verse 12. In chapter 1. He gives assurance of life. And
that's the way the religious world is today. Oh, God ain't
going to be like that. Art thou not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, mine Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, thou
hast ordained them for judgment, and, O mighty God, thou hast
established them for correction. But I'll all your elect, your
remnant, they're not going to die. They're not going to die. And, O beloved, he began to say,
Lord, you are pure eyes and behold iniquity, so how come you let
this happen and that happen, how they come and take this and
how they take that? Well, Habakkuk, he's waiting
for God to answer him. Then look what he says in verse
1. He said, I'll stand upon my watch
and set me upon the tower and will watch to see what he will
say unto me and what I shall answer when he comes to reprove
me. I'm going to wait. I'm going to wait. And then look
what happens. God gives him a vision. He tells
him the judgment is coming. And the Lord answered him in
a vision. And he says, write the vision. Now God gave him
a vision. He said, now you write the vision
and make it plain upon tables that he may run that reads it.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end
it shall speak and not lie. When it comes to the end, what
I've told you is going to be so. Though it tarry, wait for
it, because it will surely come. It will not tarry. It will not
tarry. Let me tell you something. And he goes on to say, yes, and
this is that vision. This is what you're going to
read and this is what you're going to run. Behold, his soul which is
lift up in him is not upright in him, but the just shall live
by his faith. Now, I'll tell you something,
beloved. It says that God's, the work
of God is running right on schedule. Ain't that what he says there
in verse 3? Running right on schedule. For the vision's yet
for an appointed time. But at the end, he'll speak.
What did our Lord say about our Lord Jesus Christ? God, who has
sent you times and endowers men of spaken time, passed unto the
fatherless, hath the beast laid face, spoken unto us by his Son? He said, I'm going to come speak. And he did. And then look what
he says. And not lying, though it tarry, wait for it, because
it will surely come, and it will not tarry." What that's telling
us is that God tells what was going to happen before it happened.
He gave him this vision. And to just go live by faith
while he's waiting for this to happen. You see, God's works
running right on schedule. Our time and God's time are not
measured by the same clock. Ain't you grateful for that?
Not measured by the same clock. Oh, no, no. Oh, bless His holy
name. Israel offered sacrifices for
centuries and centuries, and all of them pointed to the Lord
Jesus Christ, and then they fell into unbelief. And when the Lord
Jesus Christ came, they didn't know Him, and they went about
to establish their own righteousness. They refused to submit to the
righteousness of our Lord Jesus. They never saw that Christ is
the end of the righteousness to everyone that believes. They
refused to believe, and they perished. And God's answer to
all of Habakkuk's questions and our own questions is this, the
just shall live by faith. Huh? And oh, beloved, judgment's
coming. I remember Scott preaching one
time years and years and years ago. He was preaching on judgment
coming, preaching on the Lord, judgment's coming, judgment's
coming. And he said, get in the ark, get in the ark, get in the
ark. And I come of age of getting out of my seat and heading toward
that ark. I seen that ark right in front of me, and one door,
and I just wanted to get up and get in it right then and there.
That's how intense it was. And that's what he's telling
here. Judgment's coming. Rebels are going to be destroyed,
but in the midst of this judgment. When that great and final day
of God's wrath comes, those who live by faith, those who have
their eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the anchor
of the soul, knowing that He's in His holy temple. Look what
it said here in verse 14 of chapter 2. This is what we know. This
is what faith does. For the earth shall be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover
the sea. Now that has two meanings. First
of all, it means when our Lord Jesus Christ makes this world
new, His knowledge will cover the earth just like the water.
And it also means right now that when we preach the gospel, there
is no place you can go on the face of this earth where God
does not have somebody to preach the gospel. And then look what He says in
verse 20. Not only do we know that His knowledge and we see
His glory, in verse 20 He said, but the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence. before Him. See, we know that everything,
I mean, God's right now working all things together for His good. To them that are called according
to His purpose. Whom He foreknew, He also did
predestinate. And whom He did predestinate,
He also justified them. He justified and called them,
and He justified, He also glorified them. Why shall we say anything?
God be for us, who can be against us? Who shall lay anything to
the charge of God's elect? It's Christ that died for us.
That's what we're talking about here. We see Him in His glory. We see His glory covering us
like the waters of the sea. And we see Him in His holy temple.
And He that spared not His own Son, how shall He not with Him
freely give us all things? And I'll tell you, beloved, So
who's going to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ?
Will tribulation do it? Will peril do it? Famine do it? Nakedness do it? Life do it? Death? Anything, any angel in heaven,
not anything high, not anything depth, what? As He said, look
to the east, look to the west, look to the height, look to the
depth, look to the angels who can separate us from the love
of God which is in Christ. Why? Because we see Him on His
holy temple. And we live in by faith. And
we understand that. We understand it. And that's
why our Lord Jesus Christ, He told it. He told Mary, and she
came and said, Lord, if you'd have been here, my brother had
not died. You know what he said to her? Didn't I tell you that
if you would believe, you'd see the glory of God? I believe. I see the glory of God. And you won't see it until you
believe. But once you see it, and you see it, you'll always
see it. And then this book closes. This
book closes with Habakkuk's prayer of praise and faith, and he gives
us a great description of God's majesty and God's dealings with
his people. Let's just go through it just
a little bit at a time. A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet,
upon Shigionoth. O Lord, I have heard thy speech,
and I was just like a psalm. I heard thy speech, and I was
afraid. O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. in
the midst of the years make known in wrath, remember, mercy. God
came from Timan, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory
covered the heavens and the earth, was full of His praise. And His
brightness was as the light. He had horns coming out of His
hands, and that was the height of His power. He had the height
of His power. Saw His glory. Huh? And before him went the pestilence,
and burning coals went beforth at his feet. He stood, and he
measured the earth. Behold, drove asunder the nations,
scattered the mountains, and his ways are everlasting." Oh my, look down at verse 8.
Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? Was thy anger against
the rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea
that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thine chariots of
salvation? When you parted the Red Sea,
when you parted Jordan to let your people go free, was you
mad at them? No! You cleaved the wide earth with
rivers. The mountains saw you and they trembled. The overflowing water passed
by. The deep buttered of his voice lifted up his hands on
high. Listen to verse 11. The sun and moon stood still
in their habitation at the light of thine eyes as they went in
the shining of thy living Spirit. Oh, when that lightning shines
and that lightning flashes, everything just stops. And you march through the land.
And then he says, look what he did in verse 30. You went forth
for the salvation of your people, even for the salvation of thine
anointing. You wounded the head out of the house of the wicked
by discovering the foundation of the neck. You saved your people
and destroyed the wicked. And verse 15, Thou didst walk
through the sea with thine horses through the heap of great waters.
When I heard my belly tremble, my lips quivered at the voice,
rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself that
I might rest in the damn trouble. When he cometh up with the people,
he will invade them with his troops." Oh, he blesses God. He praises God here. Sets forth
his majesty and he trembles. But look what he closes with.
He's talking about faith. And he says, this may happen.
He said, when you come through here and judgment comes, although
the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the
vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall
yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from
the fold. There shall be no herd in the
stalls. Uh-oh, what are we going to do
now? We're going to throw up our hands and quit. Yet, I will
rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. Oh, did you see that? The joy
of my salvation. Joy in the God of my salvation.
Now, everybody in here that's got the faith in Christ giving
can say, I'll joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God
is my strength. He will make my feet like hind's
feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places to
the chief singer upon my stringed instruments. Oh, my. Go and bring your judgment. Go
and do what you will. You know what your people are
going to do? You went forth to save them. They've seen your
glory like waters cover the sea. They've seen you in your holy
temple. And they're going to live by faith. So go and bring
your judgment and do what you got to do. But we're going to
live by faith and we're going to praise you. We're going to
tremble at your name. We're going to bow down and we're
going to worship you. Do what you will. But you've got a people
in this world that belong to you. Amen? Oh, blessed, blessed Savior,
thank You for allowing us to have this time tonight. Oh, what
a joy, what a joy it is to come to be with the people of God,
to be strengthened in Your Word, to be encouraged in Your Word, to have our eyes set upon the
Lord Jesus Christ, to understand and know in our heart of hearts
That you're for us. Nothing can be against us. That
you went forth to save us. And you did save us. And you
will save us. And Lord, your judgment is here. It's on this world. It's on unbelievers. But you have a people. O God
that lives by faith, and we'll continue, by Your blessed grace,
to live by faith, in our Lord Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.