Have you ever been so suddenly
shocked, frightened by something that you were terrified? Just
terrified, literally shaking with fear. I suspect when you
think about that, you think maybe of a horror movie or maybe being
scared by someone like me telling a good campfire story when you
were a child, maybe a terrible nightmare, some very bad experience
you really wish you could forget. Open your Bibles tonight to Habakkuk.
I want you to listen now while you're turning. Listen to the
scriptures, and I'm going to show you some men who were terrified. Some men who were terrified.
And terrified by something that probably will surprise you. They
were terrified by the Word of God as God spoke His Word to
them. As God revealed His own mind
and will specifically to them, they were terrified. shaken by
that which God made known to their souls. The man after God's
own heart, David, said, my flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and
I am afraid of thy judgments. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet
of Israel, wrote of his experience of hearing the words of God's
holiness And he said, my heart within me is broken because of
the prophets. All my bones shake. I'm like a drunken man, like
a man whom wine hath overcome because of the Lord, because
of the words of his holiness. Daniel, God's faithful man in
the courts of wickedness. That's an unusual, rare man. A faithful man in the courts
of wickedness. A faithful man in the midst of
an idolatrous land. A faithful man who counted the
cost and willingly would give up anything for the honor of
God. That prophet by whom God revealed
great things to come, when he heard God's word, described its
effect on him like this. Therefore was I 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. All right, let's look at Habakkuk
chapter 3. My subject tonight is a terrified
prophet. Here is a terrified prophet on
his knees before God. Habakkuk chapter 3. A prayer
of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. O Lord, I have heard
thy speech and was afraid. O Lord, revive thy work. the midst of the years in the
midst of the years make known and wrath remember mercy Skip
down to verse 16 You'll see that this prayer is the prayer indeed
of a terrified man Habakkuk was terrified By the very thing he
heard the Lord God speak by the very Word of God He was required
to declare to his people When I heard my belly trembled, my
lips quivered at the voice and 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. It is my prayer, my constant
desire that every time I stand to speak to you or any other
congregation, I might have just this kind of terror in my soul. Trembling. To speak in God's name to eternity
bound men and women, that which I know makes a difference. Trembling with the weight of
the burden of the word of God. Trembling. I hope, I earnestly
hope preaching never gets to be easy. Never gets to be something that
I can take lightly, something I can approach without preparation. I pray publicly now and I pray
privately as I have for over 40 years. Lord God, please take
away my life before that happens. That's how serious this business
is. Habakkuk said, I was afraid. Rottenness entered into my bones. My belly trembled because of
what I heard the Lord God speak. Now, I remind you again that
this word shiginoth refers to a unsteady, irregular meter,
a musical tune that was erratic. It was a song upon Shigianoth
to be sung or chanted to a tune without regular meter, without
a regular rhythm or regular beat. Erratic, implying that which
was in the song itself, in the prayer itself to be erratic,
irregular, something that couldn't really be fit into any specific
meter. The song and prayer of this third
chapter appears to be filled with conflicts. It appears to
be filled with contradictions, with things that obviously are
so, but in the minds of men, in the thoughts of men, cannot
be reconciled. If you have this, you can't have
that. And yet, as you read this chapter in this prayer and you
hear what Habakkuk says, you see things Habakkuk states by
divine inspiration. They certainly are so. But as
they are seen by the eyes of men, experienced day by day,
thought of and tried to explain in some kind of a logical or
philosophical way, you think, well, that's that's contradictory.
That can't be. So it is. with God's providence. It's erratic. It cannot be explained
in terms that will suit and satisfy human reason. So it is with every
believer's experience of grace. It's erratic. It's irregular. It's never the same day after
day Never the same in one believer and another today, but always
erratic, always different, always irregular. So that one man's
experience cannot be made to fit another man's life, and a
man's life cannot be made to fit another man's experience.
Oh, the folly of those, the folly of those who attempt to mold
men into images after themselves or attempt to mold themselves
into the images of other men's experience. Don't be so foolish. And so it is with our lives in
this world. Our lives in this world are full
of contradictions. Everything is erratic. Everything
is irregular. Everything is unpredictable. That's just
the way things are. As far as man can see and man
can understand. Now let's look at this second
verse of Habakkuk's prayer. Here in Habakkuk chapter 3 verse
2. We'll just look at this one verse tonight and that'll be
plenty if we can get this. The whole chapter is a song that
is a prayer. But let's look at what Habakkuk
says here in this second verse. Here, the prophet begins with
a confessed fear. Oh, Lord, I have heard thy speech
and was afraid. And then he gives these three
great requests. Oh, Lord, revive thy work in
the midst of the year. In the midst of the years, make
known. In wrath, remember mercy. First, Habakkuk's prayer begins
with this confession of fear. Fear that was caused by what
he heard God speak. Fear that was caused by God's
revelation of himself and his will to his prophet Habakkuk.
Fear that was caused by the vision that God had given him of what
was going on around him and what God was about to do. Oh Lord,
I have heard thy speech and was afraid. What did the Lord reveal
to Habakkuk that made him afraid? What was it that made him shake
and tremble with fear? I know that the bulk of the Translators,
commentators will tell you this word afraid is a poor translation.
Habakkuk really was saying I was overawed. But the translators
got it right. He was afraid. He was afraid. He trembled. We saw that in verse
16. He said, my belly trembled in
me. What did the Lord reveal to Habakkuk
that made him so fearful? Perhaps it was the revelation
of the righteous judgment of God upon his nation and his people
that made this faithful prophet tremble. Turn to First Peter,
chapter four. First Peter, chapter four. Habakkuk had been told by God
that the judgment that was coming Was judgment that must begin
first at the house of God. This is what Peter tells us here
in first Peter 4 17. For the time has come that judgment
must begin at the house of God. And if it first began at us. What shall the end of them be?
What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? Judgment must begin at the house
of God. Judgment speaking of chastisement
and affliction with regard to God's people. Never the satisfaction
of judgment, never the punishment of sin, that was done at Calvary.
Judgment begins here in this world at the house of God, and
bless God, it ends in this world at the house of God. Our Heavenly
Father, in wise, gracious, loving kindness, chastens His own and
breaks us off from the evil that He despises and keeps us from
the evil that's in us. He chastens us. He bears our
back and lays the rod to our back because of his kindness
and his mercy and his grace to his own. But bless God, that
which begins here in chastisement ends here. When this life is
over, all sorrow, affliction, adversity and pain has ended
for God's people. For God's saints, the pain and
sorrow ends with time, and eternity brings nothing but bliss. But
what shall the end of the ungodly be if judgment begins at the
house of God? Even such judgment as we read
about in Habakkuk's prophecy in the first chapter, if that's
judgment that begins at God's house, What shall the end be
of those who obey not the gospel? Eternal wrath, everlasting ruin, endless dying,
damning, damning, damning, guilt upon the conscience forever. Fire that cannot be quenched,
a worm that never dies, everlasting torment. That's the judgment
that awaits the wicked. Perhaps Habakkuk's fear was caused
by the judgment of God upon Israel. As the author of the Hebrews
avows, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God. Already, the Lord had taken the northern kingdom,
Samaria, into captivity by the Assyrians. He told Habakkuk that
he was about to send the Babylonians to destroy Jerusalem and Judea,
the southern kingdom. Habakkuk stood between these
two, these two terrible acts of divine judgment, and he was
God's chosen messenger. who must declare to his people
the judgment that's coming upon them. The Lord sent this judgment
and sent Habakkuk to announce it, to announce God's judgment
and to make the people understand that God's judgment is just. God's judgment is just. Read
again the first chapter, verses 6 through 10. and understand
that whatever God does in the overthrow of wickedness in this
world, it is always just. I know that we live in this politically
correct society that is always spiritually incorrect. This politically
correct society that is always, with regard to the things of
God, incorrect. And the media and everybody jumps
on somebody's back and they scream you some kind of a nut because
they talk about hurricanes and floods and tornadoes and earthquakes
being acts of judgment. Well, let folks squawk all they
will. If you understand there was something
else, you're a fool. You're an absolute fool. God
speaks in providence. overthrowing those things that
men count most stable, turning their lives upside down, taking
lives one, two, three, or one, two, three, and 4,000 at a time. And it does it as a forewarning
and an announcement of certain sure judgments. And if God sends
it, you deserve it. If God sends it, you deserve
it. If God sends it, I deserve it. That's all there is to it. Judgment
always is retributive. It is always God's just response
to man's iniquity. Here is a man to whom God revealed
that he will raise up a wicked, idolatrous people as a rod in
his hand to chasten his chosen. And here's the reason why. God's
chosen people, Israel, had gone in the way of Cain and ran greedily
after the era of Balaam. They chose wickedness to their
shame. and turned the worship of God
into idolatry, mixing the worship of God with the religions of
the world, mixing the traditions of the religions of the world
with the worship of God, making the word of God null and void
as far as they were concerned. Therefore, God established the
Chaldeans, that bitter ungodly people, as a rod in his hand
to correct the nation he loved. The Lord God said, The very same
thing in Isaiah chapter 10 by his prophet Isaiah. You don't
need to turn there. Just listen. Isaiah chapter 10
verse five. Oh, a Syrian, the rod of mine
anger and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. Without question, Habakkuk's
fear then is for his people. This is my fear. It's the fear
of every faithful soul in this generation. It's a fear for our
nation in particular. No nation in the world is more
fully deserving of God's wrath and God's judgment than the United
States of America. And I wrote that down. And I
thought about it a good while and I made it in bold letters
and underscored it. No nation in the world is more
fully deserving of God's wrath and judgment than our nation. None. I'm not a politician. I'm not running for office. I'm
here to tell you the truth. I cherish what God has given
us as a nation throughout our history. But I'm telling you,
no nation under the sun so fully deserves God's judgment as our
nation. What nation has been more blessed? And I'm not just talking about
with material things. I'm not just talking about with
civil liberties. I'm not talking about mere prosperity. I'm not talking only about freedom.
I'm talking about what nation has been more greatly blessed
than this nation with the light of the gospel of God's free grace.
And what nation has become more blasphemous? What nation has been so prosperous
And what nation so profane? I may be mistaken. I don't look
for things to get any better. I hope I'm mistaken. But I don't
look for things to get any better. Perhaps it was the wickedness
around him and the sure judgment of God upon that wickedness that
made Habakkuk afraid. There may have been something
else that terrified him. Look at chapter, no, you just
turn to Romans chapter three, Romans chapter three. Perhaps
it was the revelation of himself, the revelation of his own heart's
corruption, the revelation of his own sin that made the prophet
tremble and shake before God. He said, I was Why dost thou show me iniquity? As I heard, and my belly trembled,
my lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered into my bones.
George Whitefield used to, wherever he stayed, try to witness to
folks. He tried to find a way to get something to them with
regard to the gospel of God's grace. And he was staying at
a house in New England. I think it was in Pennsylvania.
I'm not sure. I've forgotten now. And there was a young lady, a
house servant, a maid who took care of him all the time he was
there. And he never had an opportunity, really, to speak to her much.
But the girl came to him and asked him some questions about
her soul. And he was just about to leave,
and he said to her, young lady, Ask God to show you yourself. And he left. And some months
later, came back and was staying at the same place and he inquired
about that young maid. And the folks said, oh, Mr. Whitfield,
shortly after you left here, she was sunk into utter despair
and she's not been back. She's at home, locked away. And Whitfield went to see her.
And he said, before I left last time, I asked you, urged you
to ask God to show you yourself. Now I ask you and pray God will
help you ask him to show you himself. And she did, and the Lord God
revealed himself to her in Christ. But God ever shows you yourself. You won't have to wonder what
I'm talking about tonight. I heard, and my belly trembled. Rotten in the center of my bones.
No strength left in me. Has God ever shown you yourself?
Look in Romans chapter 7, verse 9. Paul said, I was alive without
the law once. He was a self-righteous religious
Pharisee with no trouble, with no trouble. He read the law and
read what the law required and said, I can do that. He read
the commandments, read what God required in the commandments.
He said, I've done that all my life. Now, nobody's perfect. We understand that. But I've
done better than most have. And there's no reason for this
to bother me any. I was alive without the law. That is, I didn't
have a clue what the law said. I had never heard or understood
anything about the law, though I could quote it chapter and
verse. I could give it to you frontwards
and backwards. I'd been living in it all my
life, but I was without the law. Now watch this. But when the
commandment came, when God sent his word home to my heart, then
sin revived and I died. Has God ever slain you? I'm talking about emptied you
of all strength. Life and hope in yourself of
all righteousness and goodness Perhaps there was something else
still revealed to a backup that Was even more shocking more terrible
than the sins of his nation The judgment of God upon the nation
and his own horrible heart What could that be? What could be
worse than the? evil of the nation What could
be worse than the certain judgment that God's going to destroy the
nation and destroy the temple and destroy everything we've
held as a refuge and held to be holy all our lives? What can
be worse than a revelation of what we are? Well, there's something
even more terrific than that. The Lord God showed His prophet
Habakkuk that the only way He could or would redeem and save
his people must be by a righteous redemption. Look in chapter 1
verse 5. Grace reigns, but grace reigns
through righteousness by Jesus Christ our Lord unto eternal
life. Bless God. God purges iniquity
by his mercy. but not just mercy. By mercy
and by truth, the prophet says, iniquity is purged. Now, remember,
this is the wondrous thing the Lord declared to his prophet
Habakkuk 1 5. Behold ye among the heathen and
regard and wonder marvelously. For I will work a work in your
days which you will not believe. Though it be told you Lord, who
has believed our report? When a back and said, Oh Lord,
I've heard thy speech. The word speech is the very same
word that is used by Isaiah. When he said, who has believed
our report, he's talking about God's revelation. God's report
to him of the doing and dying of the Lord Jesus by whose doing
and dying alone Justice is satisfied and sin is put away He's talking
about the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ Truly
Most joyful thing in the world is the report of what Christ
did at Calvary Most joyful thing in the world Glad tidings, the
gospel is called. Good news, it's called. And it is, at the same time,
the most stern revelation of justice and the most terrifying
revelation of holiness you will ever discover, such that men
will not hear it. So astonishing, though it's plainly
told, men won't believe it. In order for God to save sinners,
God himself must become a man. Not only must he become a man,
he must become what we are. In all the extremities of our
fallen nature, in all the extremities of our personal corruption, in
all the extremities of our curse and condemnation, in all the
extremities of spiritual death and alienation from God, in all
the extremity of it, He must become what we are if He would
make us what He is. What's that mean? He must be
made sin, else justice could never buried sword in him. He who has made sin must be made
to die a cursed death. Not enough that he voluntarily
lay down his life. Not enough that he willingly
give himself for us. He must be made to die by the
hand of God's own justice as a victim of God's holy wrath. Sacrifice by him so that the
Lord God says awake, O sword, against one that is my fellow.
Smite and slay the shepherd. And as he cries out to his father,
his father turns his back on his son and abandons him. He must be made to be and to
suffer all that we are if he would bring us to God in glory. Now, I'm going to tell you something. You ever get understanding of
that? If you don't shake in your soul to think of it. Oh, Jesus Christ, God's son, he who's
holy and knew no sin made sin. God, our savior, he who is life
made to die. He who is the water of life made
to cry, I thirst. He who is one with the father
made to cry, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? Thou
wentest forth, the prophet says in verse 13 of chapter three,
for the salvation of thy people. even the salvation, even for
salvation with thine anointed. O Lord, revive thy work in the
midst of the years. The prophet prays. Now be sure
you don't miss the context. Habakkuk's prayer here, revive
thy work in the midst of the years, cannot possibly be a prayer
that the Lord God would not bring this judgment upon Israel. Can't
possibly be that. It cannot possibly be that Habakkuk
is praying that God might cut short the 70 years of Babylonian
captivity and bring Israel back out of Babylon. How do you know
it can't possibly be that? He's writing by divine inspiration.
He's uttering this prayer as he's moved by God the Holy Spirit.
And he's not moved by God the Spirit to ask for or to desire
or to write that which would be a violation of God's revealed
will. He certainly would not be moved
to the Spirit of God to ask God to undo what he declared he would
do. No. What's he talking about then?
Revive thy work in the midst of the years. The word revive,
if you have a marginal translation, you'll notice means preserve
alive thy work. Perhaps Habakkuk is simply praying
for God to keep alive his church and people in the midst of those
70 dark, dark, dark years. Years of terrible adversity,
terrible temptation, terrible affliction and terrible apostasy. We might pray such today. Oh,
Lord God, blessed father, son and Holy Spirit. In the midst
of these dark, dark days, preserve alive your work, your chosen
blood bought people, your truth, the gospel of your grace, your
witness, men to feed your church with knowledge and understanding.
I just mentioned to the men in the office, I ask you pray for
God's people. There are churches all over this
country needing pastors, looking for pastors. Pray God will send
them pastors according to his heart. Folks down in Kingsport,
the church out in Great Falls, Montana. Folks down in Madisonville. Folks over in Wheelingburg, Ohio.
Soon, folks down in Silicon, Alabama, where Brother Tommy
is. Oh, God preserve alive your work. Keep your people in these
dark, dark days. And in the midst of these times
of terrible apostasy, But let's not limit the prophet's prayer.
We ought to stretch it rather than limit his words. Certainly
he was asking God to keep alive his people, his church, his worship,
and his witness in this world. And yet I'm sure he's asking
for more. The word revive primarily means resurrect, raise from the
dead, make alive. Habakkuk is praying with reference
to the coming of Christ. By whom? We would suffer the
wrath of God and die and by whom we would be raised up from the
dead and quickened together with him and made to sit together
with him in heavenly places. Habakkuk's prayer here might
be accurately paraphrased. Oh Lord, thy work is life. in the midst of the years. And
so he's asking God to perform this wondrous work of regeneration
that is based upon and arises from the finished work of Christ
by which we are redeemed and delivered from our sins. This
is called the first resurrection, this new birth. And the two things
are always connected together. In Revelation chapter 20, the
Lord speaks of Christ coming, this mighty angel, and he binds
Satan, cast him in a bottomless pit. And he speaks about men
and women being called to life by Christ. And he says, this
is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy as he that hath
part in the first resurrection, on such the second death hath
no power. All for whom Christ died shall be born again by his
spirit. None shall perish for whom the
Lamb of God shed his blood. Wherever there is redemption,
saving grace follows. All for whom Christ shed his
blood are forgiven of all sin and shall be raised up from death,
both in regeneration and in the resurrection. And then he pleads
for God to revive. Revive thy work. How often those
words are used in Scripture. revive and have little understood by
this religious age. I can't tell you how much I've
read on revival in the last several months studying this book of
Habakkuk and almost nothing worth reading. Almost nothing worth
reading. You see, people have the idea
that somehow revival is something that goes on in the world every
now and then. God sends somebody with some kind of a charismatic
Pentecostal, a wild religious experience, and it causes revival
to break out somewhere. And it breaks out in communities
and towns, and people start acting funny and talking funny for a
little while. They call it great revival. They
pray for a revival of America. Ain't gonna happen. Never has
happened. Won't happen tomorrow. You mean,
Brother Don, God doesn't revive nations? Not physical, political
nations. The only nation he revives is
his holy, chosen nation. You see, revival is a church
word. It refers to God's people, those
who are alive, but languishing. And revival, now listen to me. Please listen to me. Revival,
as it's used in this book, as it is portrayed in this book,
is a normal thing. It's a normal thing. It's not
an abnormal thing. It's not an aberration. It's
a normal daily occurrence, daily experience. Read the Psalms. Read the Psalm of Solomon. You go with this man after God's
own heart into his closet. This man who walks with God. This man who is inspired of God
to give us the book of the Psalms. This, the greatest king Israel
ever knew. This mighty man David. And constantly,
as he falls on his face before God in his closet, He's asking
God to turn him, to revive him. And he speaks of God doing it. He calls on God to show himself
again, to stretch out his arm, to make himself known. And the
Lord does it. And then you read the next Psalm,
and he's on his face again, begging God for mercy, to lift him up,
to strengthen him, to revive him, to turn him, to draw him,
to cause him to run after him. You read the Song of Solomon
over and over and over again throughout those eight chapters.
Here's the Lord with his church. She's so unfaithful. He's so
faithful. She's so needy. He's so bounteous. She's so weak. He's so strong. And if he would let her go, she'd
leave him in a heartbeat. You too, Don Rene, if he'd let
you go, you would leave him in a heartbeat. And the man talking to you quicker
than that. But he won't let you go. In the fifth chapter, The Song
of Solomon, what a beautiful, instructive picture. There we
are, the Lord's church, his bride in bed, asleep. Mark, that's where he always
finds us, vanquishing, asleep, and happy to have it so. And
he knocks. And she said, don't bother me
now. And he knocks again. And he puts his hand in by the
hole of the door and opens the door and then stirs her to awake
and seek him. And he withdraws himself. And
sweetly, by the constraint of his grace, dropping the myrrh
of his grace constantly in our hearts, sweetly, forces us to
seek him and run after him. Revival is a normal thing. The Lord daily pours in his grace,
daily pours in his wine, daily pours in the water of life, daily
causes us to feed upon him. It's a normal thing. And revival is altogether a work of grace. Revive thy work, O Lord. Revive thy work, O Lord, thy
mighty arm make bare. Speak with the voice that wakes
the dead and make your people hear. Look at the next line in
our text. In the midst of the years, make
known. This is how God performs the
work. He comes and makes himself known. He comes and reveals himself. and mighty works of grace by
the power of his spirit in the word reveals himself in your
heart and in your experience. Indeed, while the children of
Israel were in Babylon in these 70 years of captivity, do you
remember what happened in the midst of the years? The Lord
God calls three faithful men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
to be cast into a burning and fiery furnace. And he raised
them out of the furnace with no smoke on them. And he made himself known. And
the king cried, this God, he alone is God. And he called Nebuchadnezzar
to know that the heavens do rule. And Nebuchadnezzar cried, the
Lord, he alone is God. In the midst of the years, Lord,
In these dark, dark days, oh God, stretch out your arm and
make yourself known. Make yourself known to us and
through us and in our midst. One more thing. The prophet says,
in wrath, remember mercy. In wrath, remember mercy. With our great God, mercy always looks upon our misery. Richard Sims wrote, the depths
of our misery can never fall below the depth of his mercy. In the midst of wrath, Lord, Remember mercy. In mercy, grace is bestowed. We deserve the wrath of God,
but it pours out his mercy upon us. It is the Lord's mercies
that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They
are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. Depth of mercy. Can there be
mercy still reserved for me? Can my God, his wrathful bear
me the chief of sinners spare? Can God, the holy, the just,
the true, be merciful to me and you? Can he? Can he be just? and yet justify? Can he, as he justly exercises
his wrath upon the ungodly, pour out his mercy upon his chosen? Yes, bless his name, he can,
because Christ died in our stead, and justice is satisfied. And
now, the justice of God pleads as strongly as his mercy for
our everlasting salvation and mercy shall be ours forevermore. Amen.