We're back tonight to Habakkuk
chapter 3. I've brought several messages recently
from this man or prophet, Habakkuk. Let me just remind us that he
lived just before Jerusalem was ransacked and the people were
taken into Babylonian captivity. Probably he was a contemporary
of Jeremiah. His name means to embrace. And we know that that's what
every child of God does. He embraces by faith the Savior. Tonight, I want us to consider
just a very small part of Habakkuk's prayer. This whole chapter contains
his prayer, and it's a strange prayer in some way because it's
written in the form of many of the Psalms of David. You know,
at the end of Psalm 72, now think about this, at the end of Psalm
72, 72 Psalms have come along, and we know the Psalms are hymns
or songs, but yet at the end of Psalm 72, we read the prayers,
prayers, not songs, but the prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are
ended. So this prayer of Habakkuk, The
scripture here says a prayer of Habakkuk. It, too, is written
in the form of a song. You see, it is to be sung upon
this word in verse one, shahonoth. And in the margin of our Bibles,
we have an alternative reading according to the variable songs
or tunes. this prayer of Habakkuk according
to the various songs or tunes. And then at the end of the prayer
in verse 19, it was dedicated, we say, to the chief singer on
my stringed instruments. And another thing that reminds
us here of the Psalms in this prayer is this small word, Selah,
S-E-L-A-H. It's only found in two books
of the Bible, that is in the book of Psalms and also in this
third chapter of Habakkuk, Selah. We don't read Selah when we read
the scriptures out loud, but we know that it means to stop,
stop, meditate, think upon what has just been spoken. We see
three times in this prayer the word Selah. If you notice in
verse 3, God came from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Paran,
Selah. And what this is speaking of
is when God manifested Himself on Mount Sinai to the nation
of Israel. When God came down on that mountain,
the mountain was all afire. And the sound of a trumpet, God
spoke at the sound of a trumpet louder and louder. It was a manifestation
of the glory of God. Think about that. Think about
that. The people of Israel to this
one nation, God came down on the mountain and gave his commandments. Think about that. And then in
verse 9, thy bow, that is the Lord's bow, was made quite naked
according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. When they came into the land
of Canaan, as David says in one of the Psalms, it was not their
bow that got them the land, it was the Lord who fought their
battles and opened up the land of Canaan for them. And we see
that displayed. The very first battle is the
city of Jericho. And who was there with them?
The captain of the Lord's host. And you know how the walls of
that city came down as they obeyed God. Think about that. Think about that. God's power
and giving them this promised land. And then there is a third
time in verse 13. Thou wentest forth for the salvation
of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed, thou woundest
the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the
foundation unto the neck. Selah. Thou wentest forth for
the salvation of thy people. Now this may refer to God as
He delivered them, His people, out of Egypt, that He went forth. It may refer to the deliverance
that was yet to come, the deliverance by Cyrus, God's anointed, when
He would deliver them out of Babylon. But of course, to you
and I, we know that it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou,
God, went forth. This work of salvation is not
the work of an angel, it's not the work of a man, it's the work
of God. The God man. He came into this
world. He had to establish a righteousness
that would please God. He had to shed his blood to effectually
remove the sins of his people to justify us before God. Selah. Think about that. Think about
that. But tonight, And I want to be
brief, but I want to look at just a very small part of his
prayer, and that is found in verse 2, where the prophet prays
for revival. O Lord, I have heard thy speech
and 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. Habakkuk's prayer for revival. Three things. First of all, his
prayer for revival was prompted by what he heard. That is, what
God told him, that vision. The Lord spoke to him. Oh Lord,
I have heard thy speech. And again, if you look in your
margin by the word speech, it is the word report. The very
same word which is found in Isaiah chapter 53 when it begins, who
hath believed our report? I have heard thy report. Isaiah's report spoke of a suffering
substitute, Isaiah 53. Isaiah's report spoke of one
who would suffer and be wounded for our transgressions. Isaiah's
report was that of a successful savior. Yes, he would be poor,
he would suffer immensely like no man ever has suffered before
or after as he was judged for the sins of his people and yet
he would be raised to the highest position, the right hand of God. The right hand of God, that place
of power, that place of authority, as we read there in Matthew chapter
28 just a few minutes ago. All authority is given unto me,
both in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and make disciples
of all nations. Isaiah's report spoke of free
justification. By his knowledge, that is by
knowing Christ, shall he, shall my righteous servant justify
many. Every one of us here tonight
who are justified, who are declared righteous by God Almighty, we
are justified in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Be justified
by faith. by faith in Christ, by faith
in His sacrifice, therefore being justified by faith, we have peace
with God, peace with Him. But the report that Habakkuk
heard was not like that report there in Isaiah 52 and 53. He says the report, I have heard
thy speech and was afraid. Look down in verse 16. When I
heard, my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered into my bones
and I trembled in myself. What a different report that
Habakkuk heard. The report that he heard made
him tremble, made him afraid. What was this report? It was,
as we've seen, especially in the first chapter, in verse six,
that God was going to send this wicked, cruel nation of Babylon,
the Babylonians, the Chaldeans, to judge and chasten the nation
of Israel. That was the report that he had
heard. Most likely he had also heard,
because as I said a few minutes ago, he was contemporary with
Jeremiah. He had heard Jeremiah's prophecy,
probably, that told how long they would be in captivity, and
exactly how desolate this judgment was going to be on the land of
Judah, upon Jerusalem, and upon the tribe of Judah. Jeremiah
said it like this, this whole land, a land that had been described
as one flowing with milk and honey, but now God says this
whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment. And these
nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years. The report
that he had heard made him afraid of God sending these Chaldeans
in to judge his people, to chasten his people, because of their
iniquity, because of their sin. It would be a severe chastisement. The land would be desolate. That word desolate is a very
interesting word, our Lord. When he wept over Jerusalem,
how oft would I have gathered thy children, but thou wouldest
not. Therefore, thy country, thy city
shall be desolate." Desolate. And he no doubt had heard that
God's decree was unalterable. God would chasten them, God would
judge them using the Chaldeans. It would last 70 years and it
was going to happen. There was no change in it. So
that's the first thing. His prayer for revival was prompted
by what he heard and what he heard was a evil report that
God was going to bring evil upon his people. Second, His prayer
for revival contains three requests. The first request is revive thy
work in the midst of the years. Revive thy work in the midst
of the years. The midst of the years. In other
words, in the midst of those 70 years that thy people would
be in captivity in Babylon, Revive thy work. He prays for God's
work of grace in the hearts of his people in the time of their
great outward distress. Be pleased. In other words, be
pleased, O Lord, to do this in the midst of the years of their
captivity. During those 70 years when time
would seem to them to just slow to a halt, when a year would
drag into a decade, Let the work of repentance begin. Cause the
tears of godly sorrow to flow down their cheeks and work faith
in their hearts in the midst of the years. Lord, bring good
out of evil. This evil God had determined
upon them, 70 years of captivity. Lord, bring good out of this
evil. Revive thy work in the midst
of the years. Let them be able to say, like
David said, it is good for me that I have been afflicted, that
I might learn thy statutes. Affliction does God's people
good. None of us desire it. None of us treasure it. But God is able to bring good
out of evil. Turn with me before we look at
the second request of Psalm 137. We get some idea in this psalm
how they felt there in Babylon. In Psalm 137, verse one, the scripture says, by the
rivers of Babylon, There we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered
Zion. Here they are, captives in a
foreign country. They sat down by the rivers of
Babylon and they began to weep, remember their beautiful country,
their beautiful temple, and all the glory that God had displayed
for their nation. They began to weep. We hanged
our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. No singing,
no rejoicing in this barren land, not in this land of captivity.
We hung our harps on the willow trees. For there, that is our captives,
they that carried us away captive required of us a song. Sing us
one of the songs of Zion. Sing us one of the beautiful
songs, the hymns of David, the Psalms. Sing us one of those
beautiful songs. How can we? They that wasted us required
of us mirth, saying, sing us one of the songs of Zion. How's
that possible? How can we sing and be happy
and rejoicing in this land as captives here? How shall we sing the Lord's
song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember
thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. if I prefer
not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Lord, revive thy work in
the midst of the years. Now the second request back in
our text, in the midst of the years make
known, notice that, O Lord, I have heard thy speech and was afraid. O Lord, here's the first request,
revive thy work in the midst of the years. The second request,
in the midst of the years, make known. Make known what? Make known who you are. Make known who you are, O Lord. Make known thy faithfulness.
Make known thy covenant. Make known the promises that
you have made unto our fathers. In the midst of the years of
adversity, make known thy promise to our father Abraham. When the Lord Jesus Christ was
born, remember Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, I
believe it was him who prophesied and said that the Lord had performed
the promise made unto their father Abraham. Make these things known. Make known in the midst of the
years, make known the hope that we have of that seed, that seed
that was spoken of in Genesis chapter three, Genesis chapter
12, to Abraham, and then to Isaac, and then to Jacob, and then to
David. Make known the promise that we
have a Messiah coming. Yes, we are in difficulty. Yes, we are in distress here
in Babylon, captives, but Lord, make known. This isn't the end
of the story. We've got a future. Make dawn. And the third request, in wrath,
remember mercy. Our chastisement here in Babylon
is deserved. We have sinned. But O Lord, thou
art merciful. Thou art the God of mercy. Thou
art the God who delights in mercy, O Lord, in Thy wrath. Remember mercy. And look over
to Daniel, just back a few pages, to Daniel chapter 9. And remember,
Daniel was in Babylon. He was in Babylon. He was taken
captive himself. And in chapter 9, we have a prayer
of Daniel praying In verse 2, Daniel says, in the
first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books the number
of the years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah
the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of
Jerusalem. And I want to mention this, he
read the scripture, he understood that they were going to be in
captivity 70 years. That's God's promise, that's
God's word, God's faithful. Okay, we don't need to pray.
God's going to do it. That's not the way Daniel thought.
And that's not the way we should think. In fact, in Matthew, the Lord
Jesus Christ told us, your father knoweth what things you have
need of. But we are still to ask. We're still to ask. Daniel understood by the prophecy
of Jeremiah that these 70 years was almost ended. It'd be time
for them to be set free, to go back home. What does he do? He begins to pray. And I want
you to notice, beginning with verse four, this is his prayer. And I set my face unto the Lord
God to seek by prayer and supplications with fasting and sackcloth and
ashes. And I prayed unto the Lord my
God and made my confession and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful
God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him and
to them that keep his commandments, we have sinned and have committed
iniquity and have done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing
from thy precepts and from thy judgments. Neither have we hearkened
unto thy servants, the prophets, which spake in thy name to our
kings, our princes and our fathers and to all the people of the
land, O Lord, Righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion
effaces, as at this day to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants
of Jerusalem and unto all Israel that are near and that are far
off through all the countries, whither thou hast driven them
because of their trespasses, that they have trespassed against
thee. Now watch this. O Lord, to us
belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes,
and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee. That's
what belongs to us, confusion of face. But God, this belongs
to thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies. And forgiveness is, you see that
forgiveness is plural, and forgiveness is... How many times has the Lord forgiven
you if you're one of his children today? I know we're forgiven
all of our sins, past sins, present sins, future sins, and yet we're
taught to pray, forgive us this day of our trespasses. How many
times since you've been saved Has the Lord forgiven you? You
don't have a computer that could come up with that figure. His
forgiveness is, his mercies are new every morning. Oh Lord in
wrath, remember mercy. Now here's the last part of the
message. So we say what prompted his prayer
for revival. He heard a report. And then we
see his petitions, these three requests for revival. And lastly,
his prayer for revival. Listen now. It was heard and
it was answered. It was heard and it was answered.
Look with me in Psalm 126. Psalm 126, in verse one, the
psalmist, when the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion,
we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with
laughter, and our tongue was singing. Then said they among
the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them, The Lord has done great things
for us, whereof we are glad. Amen. We can all say the same
thing, can we not? Those of us who know Christ as
our Lord and Savior, the Lord has done great things for us. Great! How shall we escape if
we neglect so great a salvation? This is a great salvation that
we are given. In the person and work of Jesus
Christ, the Lord has done great things for us. He really has. He's forgiven all our iniquities.
He's adopted us into his family. We're reconciled. We have peace
with God. And we could go on and on at
the number of blessings And not only this psalm tells
us that God turned again their captivity, but in the book of
Ezra, remember Ezra was he, he was in Babylon also, and yet
he led the first captives that were allowed to come back into
Jerusalem, come back to Judah. And the first thing they started
to do was to build a temple. God gave them favor in that king's
eyes, and he gave them liberty to go back, and not only liberty
to go back, but gave them the materials that they would need. Listen to what Ezra said, and
now, he's speaking to the Lord, and now for a little space, grace
hath been showed from the Lord our God. to leave us a remnant
to escape and to give us a nail in a sure place. When I read that, I always think
about years ago. People used to hang their clothes
up on a nail. Now, some of you have never lived
in a house like that. You've always lived in a house
with a closet and hangers and all of that. But I tell you,
I lived in a house that that some of the clothes, not all
the clothes, but some of the clothes were hanged on a nail.
That's what Ezra's talking about. God's given us a sure place,
I mean a certain secure place. Give us a nail in a sure place
that our God may lighten our eyes, now listen, and give us
a little revival, a little reviving in our bondage. That's what the
Lord has done. When they returned from Babylon,
one good thing that certainly came out of their captivity,
as far as the nation of Israel is concerned, they never, ever,
the nation as a whole, never, ever again worshipped idols. You read through the Old Testament
and you see time after time after time after time, they fell into
the worship of the idols of the countries round about them. But
when they came back out of Babylon, never again, never again. Isn't it wonderful to serve a
God who can bring good out of evil? He really can. I've told you before about this
COVID-19, God's brought some good to our church out of this
because we've had some men sing specials and, and it never did
before. And I'm thankful for those who
do that. And that's just a, maybe a small
thing, but God's able to bring good out of evil, isn't he? He
really is. He has, and he does. Amen. All right, I'm going to ask David
if he'll come and lead us in some singing and us three