to bring a message to us tonight
from the third chapter of Habakkuk, Habakkuk chapter three. The title of my message is Confidence
in God, Confidence in God, Habakkuk chapter
three. the last three verses of this
prophecy. Verse 17, although the fig tree
shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor
of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat,
the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be
no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength,
and he will make my feet like hinds feet, and he will make
me to walk upon mine high places to the chief singer on my stringed
instruments. All of the major prophets and
some of the minor prophets, they date the time of their prophecies,
usually in the first few verses of the first chapter. And they
do so by naming the various kings under which they prophesied.
Habakkuk is one who didn't. Habakkuk is one who didn't. But
we know this if you look back in chapter one in verse six,
that he prophesied before Judah was conquered by the Babylonians. In fact, in the first four verses
of this chapter, the first chapter, the prophet is speaking to God. In fact, the commentators say
there's only one verse in this prophecy that is spoken unto
the people. That most of all of it is a conversation
or a word, a colloquy, they call it, between the prophet and God,
or God and the prophet. In the first four verses, he's
describing the wickedness of his nation, the nation of Judah. He's describing to God how unrighteous
and wicked the people among whom he lived were. And then God tells
him, this is in verse six, God tells him that he's going to
chastise, he's going to bring judgment upon his nation for
their wickedness. Habakkuk couldn't understand
how it was that God didn't judge such a wicked people. And then
God told him he was going to judge them and how he was going
to judge them. And that was by the Chaldeans,
the Babylonians. And Habakkuk knew that the Babylonians,
if possible, they were even more wicked than the Judaites. He couldn't understand that.
You notice in verse six, he said, for lo, this is God speaking
here. I will raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation,
which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess
the dwelling places that are not theirs. What I'm pointing
out is that because Habakkuk did not tell under which kings
he prophesied, by telling us that it was before the Babylonians
invaded Judah, before Nebuchadnezzar and his armies came and took
the king away, that his prophecy was about 605 B.C. That's what the best writers,
I think, have come up with. About 605 B.C. is when he lived,
making him contemporary with Jeremiah, the prophet Jeremiah. He lived up before and to Judah
being taken away into captivity, and so did Habakkuk. John Gill
said this, the general design of the prophecy is to comfort
the people of God under afflictions coming upon them and to encourage
them to the exercise of faith and patience in the hope and
view of the coming Messiah. His words, if you notice in chapter
two and verse four, His words here are quoted three times,
I believe it is, in the New Testament by the Apostle Paul, chapter
two, verse four. Behold, his soul which is lifted
up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. Romans chapter one, I'll just
quote one of the times that this verse is quoted, but in Romans
chapter one, verses 16 and 17, A most familiar passage of scripture,
the apostle said, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. I heard one time that it was
a habit of one of the Caesars to send word to a prisoner that
he was free, to grant him his freedom. And after he was let
loose, then he would be re-apprehended and said, no, I didn't mean that. That was a message to be ashamed
of. I'm not ashamed, the Apostle
Paul said, of the gospel of Christ. Why, Paul? Because the gospel
of Christ is the power of God unto salvation unto everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein,
that is in the gospel, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith as it is written, and this is when he
quotes this verse, the just shall live by faith. Therefore, being
justified by faith, we have peace with God. The just, that's the
way to be justified before God, isn't it? Is to believe in Christ,
to believe the gospel. Not just believe things about
him, but to believe Christ, to trust Christ as our Lord and
as our Savior. Now tonight, in the verses that
I want us to look at in these last three verses of his prophecy,
we see the prophet's faith. We see the prophet's faith in
foreseeing the worst of times which were coming upon the nation
of Judah. You know, one of our members,
and he's here tonight, he told me just a few days ago that he's
reading Fox's book of Christian martyrs, and he said, preparing
for what may be coming upon our land. I don't know if you've
ever read that book or not, but it is difficult for many Christians
to read, but it is a reliable account of how God's people,
Christians, have suffered over the ages, back when they were
thrown to the lions and had to fight in the Coliseum, and even
when they were burned at the stake. And I remembered one thing
in that book that I told him I remembered reading, talking
about Daniel, Daniel Kipple. But it was one of those English
martyrs. He was in prison. He was to be
burned at the stake the next day. And, I mean, it was certain
he was going to be burned alive, be tied up and set fire to the
faggots, the wood around him. put gunpowder, sometimes they'd
attach gunpowder, a little sack of gunpowder around their neck
or something like that to try to speed up the process. But this man, I forget his name,
but he had a candle there in the cell where he was at and
it was lighted, of course, and he, he tried to stick his finger
in that flame and he couldn't do it. He couldn't do it. It
was, it burned. It hurt. And he thought within
himself, if I can't do this, my finger, how, how am I going
to go tomorrow to the stake and be burned and not recant? But
you know, the next day did. God gave him the grace. Isn't
that what God has promised us? Grace, dying grace. as well as
living grace and every other grace. I love to think about
the different kinds of grace, unmerited favor that God has
in store for his people. But let's look tonight. I have
three points. Each text is a point, beginning
with verse 17, Habakkuk's bleak picture. Although the fig tree
shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor
of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat,
the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be
no herd in the stalls. He tells of what he saw coming. when the Chaldeans came in and
conquered Judah, what would take place in the land and how the
people would suffer. Now, these were not creature
comforts he's talking about here. These are necessities. These
are necessities. He's not talking about just losing
creature comforts, you know, air conditioning, color television. That's not what he's talking
about. He's talking about things that are necessary for survival
to live. First of all, the fig tree shall
fail. I haven't noticed this before
this week, but when Moses sent those 12 men into the land of
Canaan to spy out the promised land and come back and bring
a report to the nation of Israel, Remember, they brought back a
cluster of grapes. And that's all I ever think about,
because it was so large, it took two men to carry one cluster
of grapes between them. They put a pole through it somehow
and carried it back. But the scripture there tells
us that they also brought back pomegranates and figs. And I'm
sure they were just as much in abundance as the grapes were.
Now we read about cakes of figs. Abigail, remember Nabal's wife,
when she came to appease David after Nabal had refused to help
David and his men, she came to meet David and his men as seeking
peace. David had his sword on, right?
Had his, I think, several hundred men with him. He was coming to
just wipe out Nabal and that old family. And Abigail, she
was a wise woman. When she found out what her husband
had done, she comes to meet David and she has, among other things,
cakes of figs. I don't know exactly what that
means, but I'm sure it was a very important part of their diet
at that time. Second, the vines will have no
grapes, he says. That's the first thing. The fig
tree shall not blossom or produce figs, neither shall fruit be
in the vines. Now, vines, we know, were necessary
for the grapes to make wine. And wine, we might think of it
as a luxury, as a luxury in our day, but not so for these people. Wine was very, very important. It was important, first of all,
because it was used like medicine, antiseptic. Do you remember when
the good Samaritan helped that man who was down in the ditch
who'd been beaten and left for dead? What did he do? He poured
in wine and oil, and we'll see that here in just a minute, too.
Wine was important because it was a type of medicine that they
had, Plus, in many or several of the offerings, they had to
use wine for an oblation, or libation rather, not oblation,
but a libation. They would pour wine on the altar. So wine was necessary, but Habakkuk
says, no, there's not going to be any fruit in the vines. And
then he says the labor, number three, the labor, the olive trees,
it's not going to produce. And when I thought about this,
I thought about the various ways that this oil was used. It was
necessary. It was needful. It was helpful.
But there's not going to be any oil. They used it like wine for
medicine. As I said, that good Samaritan,
he poured in wine and oil, medicinal purposes the oil had. But it
was also used to refresh a person's body. It's very hot over there. That climate is very hot. And oil was used to pour upon
a person's head to refresh them. Remember David in the Psalms
said, he anointeth my head with oil. And oil was used also to
burn, to make light. The lamps were a furnace with
the oil from the olive. And then I like to think it probably
was used to savor their bread. Do you ever do that? Maybe at a restaurant, maybe
at your house, you have a little bowl of oil, of olive oil, isn't
it? And some other little leaves
in there, I'm not sure what they put in there. And bread, and
you just put that bread down in there, and boy, it makes it
tasty. Makes it good. And then, but
they didn't have to worry about that because the fourth thing
that Habakkuk says is, the field shall yield no meat. There's
not going to be a wheat harvest. There's not going to be a barley
harvest. And without wheat or barley, there's not going to
be any bread. And then the last thing, the
flocks. those out in the field or in the pastures, we would
say, and those who are being corn-fed in a stall, you know,
fattening them up to make their meat very tasteful, it's not
going to happen. It's all going to be over. In
other words, what I'm saying is the picture that Habakkuk
paints here, I do not see how it could have been any worse.
What he saw was coming on this nation. And remember this, it
was coming upon them because of their sin. They were bringing
this upon themselves because their sin, and especially their
sin of idolatry. They had forsaken God. Remember,
Jeremiah talks about that, that no nation had ever done this
before. to forsake their God and take
the God of another nation. They had left a fountain of compared
to living water. Here's fresh living water, so
cool and so fresh and so wonderful. God, that's what he's talking
about. They turned their back on that
and they hewed out for themselves broken cisterns which could hold
no water. Have you ever drunk water out
of a cistern? I have when I was a kid. They
would collect rainwater off the roof, I guess it was, and they
had a big tank, and they had to drink out of that in the summertime
because the wells were so shallow. That water always tasted stale
to me, stale. Oh, what a sin, what a tragedy. for a nation like Israel to leave
the true and living God, turn their back on him to worship
idols, to burn their children to idols. They brought this upon themselves. What a bleak and awful picture.
Many of them would be carried into captivity. And let me say
this, in times of famine like Habakkuk describes here, God's
people suffer too. There were God's people in the
nation of Judah who loved the Lord, who were not involved in
idolatry. But when this judgment came upon
the land, they would suffer too. They would not be somehow delivered
from the judgment. No, the whole nation was going
to be suffering. Well, notice the second thing
in verse 18, Habakkuk's purpose to rejoice. in spite of all that
he saw coming. He purposes in his heart to rejoice. Yet I will, he says, verse 18,
yet I will. All the things he had mentioned
in verse 17 are the things which causes the wicked to rejoice. All of these things of plenty,
this is what those of the world put their attention upon, and
this is what causes them to rejoice, the riches and the good things
of this world. But it is as though Habakkuk
says, but as for me, as for me, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will rejoice in the Lord. Look
at a couple of verses with me, if you will, in the Psalms. Turn
to Psalm 17, first of all. Psalm 17. And verse 13. Arise, O Lord. Disappoint him. This is the wicked. Disappoint
him. Cast him down. Deliver my soul from the wicked,
which is thy sword. From men which are thy hand,
O Lord, from men of the world, now notice, which have their
portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with the hid
treasure. They're full of children and
leave the rest of their substance to their babes. In other words,
they have plenty. They're greatly blessed with
the things of this world. so much so that they have an
abundance even to leave to their children. But notice the next
verse, as for me, as for me, a child of God, an heir and join
heir with Christ. As for me, here's what gives
me joy. This is what blesses my heart. As for me, I will behold thy
face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. These things that Habakkuk tells
us that the nation is soon going to be devoid of, those are the
things of this world, the things that men bless themselves in. But the child of God as a backer,
and we see here David, as for me. What is it that gives us
joy? The hope that we have. Not in
this world necessarily, but in the world to come. There's coming
a day, as David said, I'm going to behold thy face. What a day of rejoicing that's
going to be, isn't it? When we, by the grace of God,
are able to look into the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, he
who loved us and gave himself for us. Then, David said, I shall
be satisfied not only when I see the Lord, but when I awake with
thy likeness. When I'm going to be like him,
I'm going to be like Christ. Also, look in Psalm 4, just a
moment, Psalm 4. In Psalm 4 and verse 6, there'll be many that say, who
will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us. Thou has put gladness in my heart
more than in the time when their corn and their wine increased. You've put gladness in my heart
more than those who find all their desire and comfort
in the things of this world. They have plenty of corn. They
have plenty of wine. It's all increased. I'll tear
down my barns and build larger barns. Lord, thou has put gladness
in my heart more than those who have all these things of this
world. I will both lay me down in peace
and sleep, for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." What
I'm saying is Habakkuk purposed when these things came, came
upon them, and he knew they were coming, he purposed in his heart,
I, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. Let me read you this line
from Psalm 94 and verse 19. David wrote, in the multitude
of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul. Think about that. In the multitude
of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul. The people of God, the children
of God, we have a multitude of thoughts concerning the Lord,
which comfort us and delight us. We have a multitude of thoughts
of Him. We think of who He is, how great
He is. We think of our Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, who's both God and man. and how he finished
the work that the father gave him to do. We think of all the
relationships that he sustains to us. We're members of his body. He's our head. He's our husband. He's our friend. All of these
relations, a multitude of thy thoughts, of my thoughts rather. The multitude of my thoughts
within me Thy comforts delight my soul. This is the thing that
delights the soul, the heart of the child of God. It is the
things concerning him. These outward things, they're
all going to be gone, Habakkuk says. They're all going to disappear.
Yet, by the grace of God, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will rejoice
in the Lord. I will joy," notice the next
thing, he says, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Others
may find comfort in a savior who is not God, but not me. You see what he says here? I
will joy in the God of my salvation. I said others. God have mercy
upon them. Others, they may find comfort
in a Savior who is not God, but not me. The Lord Jesus Christ,
he is God. He is fully God, and yet he is
man. He who is God can only satisfy
God, and that he has done for all who trust in him. Well, here's
the third point, Habakkuk's assurance in God, verse 19. The Lord God
is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds feet, and
he will make me to walk upon my high places. Three things,
the Lord God is my strength. If there's one lesson that the
Lord continues to teach his people, If there's one lesson above any
other that he continues to teach his people is that we have no
strength in ourselves. We have no, we're perfect weakness
as someone said. The Lord, God is my strength. How would he do what he said
he's going to do there? Only because he had God as his
strength. Why do we need strength? Why
does the child of God need strength? Well, think of this. First of
all, we have a race to run. We have a race to run. Takes strength, doesn't it? It's
not a 50-yard dash. It's an endurance race. We have a race. It takes strength.
How are we going to run this race? We have a fight to fight. How are we going to fight? You say, well, who do we fight
against? Paul said we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers, evil spirits, evil spirits. And then we're told to watch,
watch. Have you ever been on watch? If you've been in the service,
Armed services, I'm sure you've been on watch, watch duty at
one time or the other. You have to stay awake. Take
strength. The Lord is my strength. Watch. And we are to stand. Stand fast. You get tired of standing, don't
you? Physically, I'm talking about. Stand fast in the faith.
We're to quit ourselves like men. Be strong. This is what the Apostle Paul
tells us. You know, the Apostle Paul was
taught this lesson by God when the Lord sent him a thorn in
the flesh. He allowed Satan to do it. He
allowed Satan to do it. But God was teaching Paul this
very lesson. He was teaching Paul not to be
puffed up, not to be full of pride, no, to recognize that
we are weak in ourselves. At the same time, the Lord told
him, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made
perfect in weakness. God's strength. Now his strength,
what is his strength? Omnipotence, right? Omnipotence. My strength is made perfect in
weakness. We say, oh, I'm so weak, I just
can't do this. No, but he is our strength. That's what Habakkuk is telling
us. And we see this all through the
word of God. The Lord is our strength, our
salvation, our light, our life. And then number two, the Lord
will make my feet like hinds feet. According to my Bible dictionary,
and I encourage everyone to have a good Bible dictionary. I do,
we all need one. If you don't have one, you ought
to get one. Because you'll be reading along
and there'll be a word and you say, you don't know what it means,
you just read on past it. No, get your dictionary, Bible
dictionary and find out what it means. And I looked up this
word hind, what is a hind? He says, my feet like hind's
feet, and he will make my feet like hind's feet. Well, I found
out that a hind is a female deer, a female deer. A heart, H-A-R-T, we read of
a heart in the scripture is a male deer. As the heart paneth after
the water brooks, the psalmist said. So my heart paneth after
thee. Now, Habakkuk says he will make
my feet like a hind's feet. What is the thing that we know
about the feet of a deer? We know how swift they are, don't
we? We know how fast they are. And the same is true of the believer. He will make our feet to run
in the way of God. And the Apostle Paul tells us
there's some temptations he says flee from. Don't hang around trying to argue
with the temptation or anything like that. No, just get out.
Flee. Flee fornication. Flee youthful
lust, Timothy. flee. Well, that's what Habakkuk
is talking about here. He makes our feet like hind's
feet so we can be swift in running the race that God has set before
us and also in fleeing from temptation. And then we think of the deer's
feet not only as being swift but firm in the sense of on rocks
and in land like that where there's rocks and their feet seem to
be able to get a firm foundation, and we need that too. We need
to have a firmness established in the truths of God and not
be tossed about by every wind of doctrine. And then the last
thing, he will make me to walk upon my high places. What does
he mean by that? I know this. that people, and
I'm talking about myself especially, we get dizzy. We get dizzy when
we're in high places. I was at a graduation the other
day, and the stadium where they had the graduation, they got
pretty high in there. When you get my age, just standing
up, you know, your feet, your legs, you're not as steady. as
you once were. I see these little children,
they can just run up that stadium and run back down. I stood up
and I was afraid. You get dizzy when you're walking
in high places. Altitude, you get dizzy. Get
tired, too. Lose your breath in high places. The Lord, by his grace, will
keep us, keep us from being lifted up with pride. Puffed up with
knowledge. That's what Habakkuk is telling
me. He will make me to walk upon
mine high places. God's provision for his people
all through our life. In the worst of times, or in
the best of times. Isn't that the way some classic
novel began? It was the best of times, and
it was the worst of times. A tale of two cities, I believe. This is a Christian life, isn't
it? Whether it's the best of times
or the worst of times, God is the same. He's faithful. May the Lord bless this word.