My subject tonight is three great
wonders of grace. Three great wonders of grace. You will see these clearly in
the text as they're marked out in Habakkuk chapter 3, verses
3 through 16, by the use of the word Sela. In fact, I thought
about titling the message Instead of three great wonders of grace,
three great Selahs, but I figured not many folks would understand
the significance of the title. The word Selah is used only in
the book of the Psalms and only in Habakkuk. Those two books
alone. I think it's used 71 or 72 times
in the Psalms and then three times here in Habakkuk chapter
3. It is a poetic pause. There's
no question about that. It is an elongated pause. But the meaning of the word is
unclear. No one really knows what the
word means. That's the reason in our King
James translation and all English translations, the translation
of the word really is not a translation at all. It's just spelled out
in English exactly as it is in Hebrew. So the word Selah, nobody
really knows the meaning. We have some hints. Some suggest
to us that the word Selah means lifted up or lift up. Let's look
at these three places here in Habakkuk chapter 3. Habakkuk
3 verse 3. God came from Timon and the Holy
One from Mount Paran, Selah. His glory covered the heavens,
and the earth was full of his praise. Verse 9, thy bow was
made quite naked according to the oaths of the rulers, even
thy word, Sila. Thou didst cleave the earth with
rivers. Verse 13, thou wentest forth
for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine
anointed, that is, even for salvation with your Christ, thou woundest
the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the
foundation to the neck. Selah. This word, as I said,
some suggest means to lift up, as if when you read the word
Sela anywhere in one of the Psalms or anywhere in a song, as we
do here three times in Habakkuk song in this third chapter, lift
up the two. It's an exciting inspiring word
Indicating that there's something extraordinary and marvelous before
us lift up your song lift up your voice and pause now and
give Consideration to that which is you have just read to that
which goes immediately before it and that which immediately
follows Others tell us that this word Sela is very much like our
word. Amen or verily and Again, indicating
assurance that the thing spoken of is true and indicating a call
to praise and give honor to the Lord God. And then there are
others who suggest that the word means the end. Yet it's often
used right in the middle of a sentence, right in the middle of a verse,
right in the middle of a song, not at the end of it. So clearly,
The meaning has more significance than just a poetic or a musical
pause. What's this mean? Selah, lifting
up. Selah, amen, verily, this is
certain. Selah, the end. Put them all
together and I think you come close. This word Selah, it seems
to me clearly points us to our Redeemer. So that every time
you read the word in the scripture, the Holy Spirit is calling for
us to stop and think about our Lord Jesus Christ, our blessed
savior. The word points to him, calls
attention to him who is the end of the law and the end of the
prophets and the end of the Psalms and the end of all the Old Testament
scriptures, the end of all the New Testament scriptures. The
book is all about him and all the Psalms all about him So that
when you come in one of the Psalms or here in Habakkuk and you hear
this what see this word seal a you God says now stop now Remember
we're talking about the Savior and let this lift up your heart. I Let this lift up your soul
and your thanksgiving and inspire you. Now, with that in mind,
let's look at these three ways the word is used in Habakkuk
chapter three. First, the prophet sings about
the wonder of God's glory revealed. Verse three, God came from Timon
and the holy one from Mount Pavan, Selah. Don't usually read the
word. I usually just pause but tonight
we're going to read it Sheila His glory covered the heavens
and the earth was full of his praise and His brightness was
as the light God is light in him is no darkness at all He
had horns coming out of his hands and there was the hiding of his
power Now, always remember that as the scriptures describe God
using physical terms, the physical terms are only intended to teach
us something about his nature, his character, his attributes. So when it speaks of God being
light, light shining in him, brightness coming from him, and
horns in his hand, even having a hand, It's talking about something
other than a physical light and something other than physical
horns. His glory covered the earth. Who can imagine how Moses must
have just been overawed? I can't think of another word.
When God calls him up into Mount Sinai and there begins to make
himself known to him. Not only as he calls him up at
the giving of the law, but calls him up again and again to Sinai. And there he shows Moses in the
pattern in the heavens, the tabernacle he was to make upon the earth.
And the pattern in the heavens is Christ our Redeemer. And all
things in the tabernacle, all the furniture, all the sacrifices,
all the priesthood pointed to Christ and redemption and grace
by him. Now, Moses saw these things. He saw these things. By divine
revelation, the Lord God met Moses in the mount. And his glory
covered the earth. The earth was full of his praise.
Moses didn't hear creeks talking. He didn't hear clouds talking.
He didn't hear animals talking. I mean, the whole earth was full
of his praise. Moses was made to understand. that everything
in God's creation, everything in God's creation was created
by Him and for Him and shall give praise to Him. Everything,
everything. Like it or not, His brightness
was as the bright shining of the noonday sun. He held His
hands, horns, power. All power is in his hand. Nobody has any power except him. You don't. I don't. The president
in Washington doesn't. The dictator in this land doesn't. The king in that land doesn't.
No one has any power except him. And what power you have is what
he just gives to you for the moment. That's all. And there
was the hiding of his power. Now, I'll just be honest with
you. I don't have a clue what that means. I don't have a clue what that
means. I've been studying it for years, and I don't have any
more idea now what that means than I did first time I read
it, except this. What God has revealed about himself,
his greatness, his power, and his glory. What we know on this earth about
God, his power, and his glory, even we who are born of God and
taught of God, by comparison to what he is, is just the hiding of his power. I like to think that in all my
preaching I obey Moses' command ascribing greatness to God. I
like to think in every word we sing in this place we ascribe
greatness to God. But the greatness we ascribe
to Him falls infinitely short of the greatness He is. This
is the hiding of His power. It was there on the mountain
of God that the Lord God showed Moses his glory in the pattern
of the tabernacle. That is, in Christ, who is the
fulfillment of the law, in Christ, who is that one represented in
the tabernacle, Christ crucified, by whose obedience and blood,
by whose death in our stead, all the law was fulfilled and
satisfied. Moses saw God's glory in the
map. Second, look at verses five through
nine. Habakkuk teaches us to stand
in all of God's providence, working in the earth. Before him went
the pestilence. Before him, the pestilence. All disease and all death come
from him. The Lord kills. The Lord brings down to the grave.
Not men, not the devil, the Lord. So that all sickness, all disease,
all pain, all sorrow, all bereavement, All death is God's work in the
earth. Read the third chapter of Lamentations.
Jeremiah learned to ascribe properly, not that this is something this
secondary agent or this secondary means did. God did this. He may
use the devil to do it. He may use you to do it. But
God did it. The disease and death comes from
him. Burning coal. Dr. Gill suggests the burning
coals, according to the Hebrews, the Hebrew teachers, was represented
and spoke of the devil himself. The fiery darts of the devil. Deadly inflammation. The very fires of divine judgment. What? Do you mean the devil is
God's creature? This comes as a shock to most
people. The devil is not a rival to God. He's God's devil. God holds him in his hand and
rules him as he does everything else. Everything. Deadly inflammation
of judgment. God's doing. God's Word. Verse
six, he stood and measured the earth. Measured the earth, you mean
God needed somebody to tell him how big it was? No. He measured the
earth according to the lot of the children of Israel to give
them their inheritance promised to their father Abraham. And
drove asunder the nations. He drove out the Canaanites and
the Jebusites and the Hittites. He drove out the nations. And
the everlasting mountains were scattered. The perpetual hills
did bow. His ways are everlasting. God's ways are everlasting. They're eternal, James. Everlasting. God does not exist in time. Time exists in God. God is the high and lofty one
who inhabits eternity so that God's work, all God's work is
everlasting. That which God is doing, he has
done and he shall do. It is without beginning and without
end. His works are everlasting. His ways everlasting. Verse seven. I saw the tents
of cushion in affliction, and the curtains of the land of Midian
did tremble. Was the Lord displeased with
rivers? When he smoked the Nile, was
he displeased with the Nile? When he dried up the rivers in
the wilderness or dried up the rivers in the land for his people,
was he angry with the rivers? Was thine anger against the rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea?
God sent that strong wind and divided the Red Sea. Was your
wrath against the sea that thou didst ride upon thine horses? Now watch this. And thy chariots
of salvation. Thy bow was made quite naked,
according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with
rivers. When the Lord God brought Israel
out of Egypt, with a high hand and he divided the Red Sea before
them and made the Red Sea to be parted and gave them a way
through the sea as dry as the desert parts in the sun. When
God brought Israel across the Red Sea and through the wilderness
and defeated foe after foe before them. When God finally brought
them across the Jordan into the land of Canaan and gave them
the possession of the land dividing their inheritance to them. driving
out all their enemies from before them. The Lord God then raised
up foe after foe after foe and they took Israel into captivity.
God acting in judgment upon his people because of their sin making
them to know their sin and yet God in faithfulness Raised up
judge after judge after judge and as he did with the sword
of Gideon taking that which is seemingly useless and insignificant
The Lord God again and again and again and again wrought redemption
in Israel What was he doing? Wonder why he didn't just one
time do this. Why all these various things?
To teach us again and again and again, salvation is God's work. And God's work is sure work in
the earth. Turn over, if you will, to Zechariah
chapter 6. Now remember, Zechariah prophesied
70 years after Habakkuk. Habakkuk's prophecy speaks of
God's judgment against Israel, taking Babylon and using Babylon
to chastise his own people in the land of Israel, taking them
into captivity. And now, 70 years later, Zechariah
has been sent back to Jerusalem, and God raises up Zechariah and
the people of Israel to reestablish his worship, to rebuild his temple,
and to rebuild the temple at Jerusalem and the city. Zechariah
and Habakkuk alike were faced with things they thought impossible. God, what are you doing? Habakkuk
cried. Habakkuk says, Lord, how do you expect me to accomplish
this? How shall this be? You've given commandment that
we should build again Zion. And look at this mess. And look
at the people you sent to do it. Zechariah chapter six, verse
one. And I turned and lifted up mine
eyes and looked And behold, there came four chariots out from between
two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of brass. And let me ask you, children
of God, when trouble comes, where do you go for comfort? What keeps you going? When there are no billboards
advertising what You can expect around the corner, where do you
turn? What do you trust? When everything
seems confusing, when everything seems disturbing and chaotic,
where do you turn for stability? When your life is turned upside
down and everything seems to be utter chaos, what do you fall
back on? God's prophet and the faithful
in Israel were in what must have been to them horribly confusing
times. And the Lord God appeared to
Zachariah in a series of visions. The first five chapters give
us seven visions. Each one by which God assures
Zachariah, I will do what I said I will do. I will accomplish
my purpose. I will perform my will. I will
save my people. The house of the Lord shall be
built. And the prophecy is not so much
talking about that physical temple at Jerusalem, because that temple
that they built to replace the original temple was nothing compared
with the first temple. But there is a more glorious
temple God said, I will build. And that temple is his church
and his kingdom. And God said, I'll do it. He
gives him a picture of Joshua, the high priest, standing there
filthy. But the Lord Jesus is standing
by. Satan's accusing him. And the Lord Jesus is standing
by. He says, take off his dirty clothes, put on a perfect robe.
He said, put a crown on his head. Wash him! and I will in one day
remove the iniquity of the land. Speaking of Christ our Redeemer
and redemption by Him. And then we get to the sixth
chapter and Zachariah is given this eighth vision assuring him
and assuring us of God's purpose and the certainty of him accomplishing
it. Look at verse one again. And
I turned and lifted up mine eyes and looked And behold, there
came four chariots out from between two mountains, and the mountains
were mountains of brass." The mountains were mountains of brass. Two mountains. High, stable,
and firm. Unmovable. Mountains of brass. Solid. Here they are, two of
them. And the chariots, God's chariots,
are pulled between the mountains of brass. In this valley of time, through
all the ages of time, on one side stands the mountain of God's
decree, God's purpose in predestination, and here stands the mountain
of God's providence. And if you can look at them,
they just fit perfectly together. Perfectly together. So that what
God purposed in eternity, God does in time. Providence, that
which goes on every day, is just God fulfilling in time what He
purposed in eternity. That which He promised in eternity,
He performs in time. And it's absolutely certain.
God's purpose stands. There's no altering it. There's
no bending it. Nothing out of kilter. Nothing
out of joint. Nothing in chaos. Everything
moves exactly according to God's purpose. by the hand of God's
providence. He worketh. Isn't that a wonderful
word? He worketh. Go through the scriptures. Brother Jim and I were talking
about this last Sunday, whenever it was, going down to Kingsport,
coming back. God uses so many times the linear
tense. Indicated by those little three
letter endings on the verbs ETH to describe what he's doing He
bringeth, he worketh, he doeth He worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will What's that imply? It implies minute,
tender, purposed care here's the beauty of it. Merle, God gives us right to say with
David, he performeth. Performeth. Don't you like that
word? Performeth. Right now, all things for As a father, tenderly, graciously,
lovingly, constantly watches over an infant child and cares
for that child that can do nothing for itself. So our heavenly father
performs all things for us, exactly as he purposed from eternity.
Now, what did he do from eternity? The scripture says he blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. And in the covenant he made upon
us, he said, I will bless thee. That's what it said to Abraham
and that covenant God made with Abraham is but a picture of the
covenant He made on our behalf with us in Christ before the
world began So that God blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heaven that places in Christ Jesus before the world began
According as he chose us in him from the foundation of the world
and God promised Blessing I will bless thee so that he he He put
himself in such a position with us that
his name and his glory is all together wrapped up in the well-being,
the constant, everlasting well-being of his own. So what God's doing
is blessing us. all the time. His blessings sometimes
don't feel that way. He sometimes hides his face.
He sometimes pulls his chariot through this earth. with a red
horse of redemption and grace and sometimes with a black horse
of judgment and darkness and sometimes with a grizzled, a
bay horse that seems to have a little bit of good, a little
bit of bad, a little bit of black, a little bit of white, a little
bit of judgment, a little bit of mercy. And sometimes, but
all the time, he pulls his chariot with a white horse of victory
and triumph. assuring us that Christ shall
at last see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. And he will rest and be quiet
in the love of his people, his love for his people, rejoicing
and singing over his own. God's purpose, then, is absolutely
certain. His chariots of providence are
his chariots of salvation. These chariots of salvation are
pulled by these horses with the four winds. The four winds are
the spirit of God operating in all the earth. He says, I will
say to the north, give up to the south, keep not back to the
east and to the west. Bring my sons from afar so that
in all his providence, God is gathering together out of the
four corners of the earth, his own elect, as pleases him. Surrounded
by wickedness, Habakkuk and Zechariah are assured of God's purpose,
of God's providence, and of God's grace to his own. Turn back to
our text here in Habakkuk chapter 3. Now, wrap this up. Here's the third and last great
wonder of grace. Habakkuk calls for us to adore,
to wonder at God's salvation accomplished in this earth. Look at verse nine. Thy bow was made quite naked. According to the old of the tribes,
even thy word, Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with
rivers. Do you remember the children
of Israel? There was a rock that followed them. All the time,
they were wandering through the wilderness. For 40 years, a rock
that was smitten out of which flowed rivers of water, smitten
by the rod of Moses as Christ, our Redeemer, was smitten for
us by the law of God. And out of him flows the waters
of life to needy sinners through all the ages of time. This rock
what rock flowed rivers in the wilderness. They smitten the
rivers, cleaved the rivers, verse 10. The mountains saw thee, and
they trembled. At Sinai, the mountain trembled. But remember, Sinai portrayed
something other than law. Sinai was given to point us to
Christ our Redeemer, showing us the necessity of a substitute. And there is another mount not
far from Mount Sinai. where the Lord Jesus died in
our room instead, and when he did, the earth quaked as God
made his son to be sin for us and sacrificed him in our stead.
The overflowing of the water passed by. The deep uttered his
voice as the children of Israel crossed over Jordan and lifted
up his hands on high. The sun and the moon stood still
in their habitation. At the light of thine arrows
they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear. What's
he telling us? All the elements of nature, all
the elements of nature, all the elements of nature obey
the Creator's will all the time, everything. has his way in the whirlwind,
the clouds of the dust of his feet. Thou didst march through
the land in indignation. Thou didst thresh the heathen
in anger. How much trouble was it for God
to drive out a nation? Why not? Isaiah speaks of him
cupping his hands like a man swimming in a pool as he swam
through Edom. Just with all that ease, just
push him out of the way, just push him out of the way. And
so it is with all the nations of the earth. They're just a
drop in a bucket, just a drop in a bucket. God Almighty pushed
through the nations, marched through the land, tread them
under his feet. as he always has, as he does
now, as he shall tomorrow. Babylon shall fall. Watch him
walk on her. Antichrist, let all the earth,
let all the nations of the earth shake in fear and tremble. Get these movies come out of
Hollywood and folks think Antichrist got 666 written on his forehead.
Stupidity is what that is. But go ahead and swallow it.
Go ahead and swallow it. And have nightmares about it.
Have horrible nightmares about the demons and Antichrist and
devil's influence. Go ahead. You're welcome to it. But Antichrist does not arise
contrary to God's purpose. Read 2 Thessalonians 2. Read
it. Because men receive not the love
of the truth, God sends them a strong delusion that they should
believe a lie. And that man of sin is revealed.
And God shall trample on Antichrist as well. Tread him under his
feet, ruling over all things absolutely, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. All right now watch
this verse 13 thou winnest forth When his ways are from everlasting Thou winnest forth oh lord from
everlasting through all the ages of time for the salvation of
thy people Even for salvation watch this with thine anointed
the triune God ruling all the universe by Christ Jesus the
God man in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily
God is with him God is in him. God's revealed by him. God's
known by him. We come to God by him and God
comes to us by him. He's going through the earth
with his anointed and by him thou woundest the head out of
the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation under the neck. Selah. What did God say he was
going to do in the beginning? What did he say he was going
to do in the beginning? He said, the woman's seed shall crush
the serpent's seed. Now is the prince of this world
cast out, our Savior said. He is that great angel of the
covenant who comes down and binds Satan with a long chain and cast
him into the bottomless pit. When Habakkuk saw and understood
these things, These three great wonders of grace, God's glory
revealed, God's providence working, and God's salvation accomplished.
He fell on his face and worshiped God. And if ever you see and
understand these things, I promise you, you will fall on your face
and worship God. Verse 16. When I heard, my belly trembled. I never saw such wisdom. I never
imagined such power, did you? I never dreamed that God was
such. I never had any imagination that
God is so great. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered into my bones.
I was made to say, God's everything! Christ is everything! I'm nothing!
And I trembled in myself. Watch this. Rex, when you got no strength,
No ability, no power, no control. Watch what it says. That I might
rest in the day of trouble. How's that? How can that be? That I might rest in the day
of trouble when he cometh up unto the people. He will invade
them with his troops. As long as you vainly imagine
that you can control things. As long as you vainly imagine
that help may be found in a man. As long as you vainly lean to
horses and to troops. As long as you vainly imagine
that there's some strength in you, some power in you, some
ability in you, some way you can determine something, you'll
tremble and shake and tremble and shake and pace the floor
and tremble and shake. When you find out, oh God teach
me and teach me every day and teach me every moment, I have
no strength. I control nothing. I have no
ability. I must cast all my care on him
who cares for me. And in that day, oh, how good to rest in his strength. Amen. All right, listen to him.