Let's turn back tonight to the
book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk. We saw last time the meaning
of this prophet's name. It means to embrace. And we think
about the fact that by faith, as God's children, we embrace
him. And we know that he has embraced
us in the arms of his everlasting love, Habakkuk, to embrace. Then we also saw that the time
in which he lived was during and after the reign of the last
good king that Judah had, a king by the name of Josiah. We know
this from the prophecy itself that he prophesied concerning
the invasion of the Babylonians. That took place in around 600
years before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into this world. And then we also saw last time
that his name, or his occupation rather, may well have been that
of a musician because he speaks of instruments of music in the
first verse and the last verse of chapter three. Tonight, I
want us to consider what I'm calling light in darkness in
these 12 verses, these first 12 verses of this chapter. Light
in darkest. In the darkest of time, there
is light. And first of all, in verse one,
we see that God enabled Habakkuk not only to see, but to feel
his prophecy. Not only to see, but to feel
his prophecy, because he speaks of it as the burden, the burden,
the prophecy, which was a burden, which Habakkuk, the prophet,
did see. Three things that I want to bring
out to us. First of all, the prophet's thought. The prophet's thought in these
first few verses, beginning with verse two, O Lord, how long shall
I cry, and thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto thee of violence,
and thou wilt not save? Why dost thou show me iniquity,
and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are
before me. And there are that raise up,
strive, and contention. Therefore the law is slacked,
and judgment doth never go forth. For the wicked doth compass about
the righteous, therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. I say the
thought that the prophet had here was that he cried unto the
Lord, but the Lord did not hear, and the Lord did not answer.
That is his prayer. that somehow God had shut his
prayer out of heaven. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry
and thou wilt not hear. Now Habakkuk was not the first
man and he certainly has not been the last man who has thought
that God somehow hears the prayer of everyone else except me, that
he hears the cry of everyone else except me. Job expressed
this thought. In Job chapter 30 and verse 20,
we read, I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me, and thou
wilt not hear. I cry unto thee, and thou dost
not hear me. I stand up, and thou regardest
me not." His thought was that though he was crying, though
he was praying, that somehow his prayer was shut out of heaven,
that God had closed his ears to his cry, to his prayer. David expressed something similar
in Psalm 77 when he said, Will the Lord cast off forever? And
will he be favorable no more? Is our mercy clean gone forever? Doth his promise fail forevermore? And I noticed after I prepared
these notes, I was reading in Psalm yesterday, I believe it
was, in Psalm 13, he expresses the same thought, that his prayer
was not heard, that God did not listen when he cried. In Psalm
13 and verse one, he said, how long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Forever? Have you ever felt like
that? Have you ever prayed and maybe
you're praying now and it seems to you that God just doesn't
hear, that He doesn't hear and that He doesn't answer your cry? Well, like I said, Habakkuk had
that thought when he said, how long? Oh Lord, how long shall
I cry and thou will not hear? Job expressed that same sentiment
and David as well. How long? Wilt thou forget me,
O Lord, forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face
from me? Now we know tonight, you and
I, from the Word of God, we know that this only seems to be so
to God's children. It only seems to be so to God's
children that God doesn't hear us when we pray, when we cry
unto Him. I say it only seems that way
because we know from the Word of God His many promises that
He has given us, for instance in Psalm 34 and verse 15, the
eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open
to their cry. Now that's not qualified in any
way. He doesn't say His ears are only
open at a certain time of day. His ears are only open at a certain
season of the year. No, the eyes of the Lord are
continually upon His people, the righteous, and His ears are
always open to our cry. So the thought of Habakkuk was
that God didn't hear him, that he prayed, he cried, but the
Lord didn't hear him. He cried, Habakkuk did, he cried
unto the Lord because of the sinfulness of his people, the
sinfulness of the nation of Judah. The land was full of violence,
full of wickedness and iniquity. The law of God was disregarded
by the people, and not only by the people, but by their civil
rulers. The law was disregarded, and
the weak, the widows, and the orphans, they were taken advantage
of. The oppressed were oppressed
even more. And Habakkuk sees what's going
on in his country, and he cries out unto the Lord, O Lord, how
long? And it just appeared to him that
God didn't hear, and he certainly didn't answer. So that's the
first thing, the prophet's thought, that God doesn't hear. You may
have that thought. You may not have it tonight,
but there may be a time, there may have been times when you
have had that thought that you've cried unto the Lord and just
seemed like the Lord didn't hear. But let me say again, it just
seems that way. It just seems that way. God hears
the cry of his people. Sometimes in a service here,
in fact, this happened last Sunday morning. I saw a lady sitting
over here. She got up and she went to the
back, went out. Now, I didn't hear a thing. I didn't hear a thing. And Andrea
happened to be taking care of the nursery last Sunday morning,
so I thought, well, she sent that lady a text because I know
they've done that before. And I asked Andrea later that
evening, did you text her and tell her that she needed to come? She said, no, I didn't text her.
She said she heard. She heard her baby crying. Now, there were several babies
back there, but she heard her baby crying. If a person like you and I, mothers,
if they can hear the cries of their children, their babies,
and they're not going to shut their ears to the cry of their
children, How much more our Heavenly Father, who has the very hairs
of our head numbered. But sometimes it may seem like,
and again, it only seems that way, because His ears are always
open to the cries of His children. Now the second thing, the prophet's
instruction in verses 5 through 11. He's cried unto the Lord,
now the Lord He is going to teach him and tell him and show him,
contrary to what the prophet had thought, that God was just
oblivious to what was going on, that God was not concerned, that
He was not interested. Now, God tells the prophet how
He's going to answer his cry and how He is going to deal with
the wickedness in the nation of Judah, beginning with verse
5. Behold you 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. For, lo,
I raise up the Chaldeans." Now, the Chaldeans, remember, the
Babylonians, same people. Two titles, but we're talking
about the same people, Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, the Chaldeans.
For lo, I 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. They are terrible
and dreadful. Their judgment and their dignity
shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter
than the leopards and are more fierce than the evening wolves.
And their horsemen shall spread themselves and their horsemen
shall come from far. They shall fly as the eagle that
hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence. Their faces shall sup up as the
east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings,
and the princes shall be a scorn unto them. They shall deride
every stronghold, for they shall heap dust and take it Then shall
his mind change, and he shall pass over and offend, imputing
this his power unto his God." God tells the prophet, yes, I've
heard your cry, and yes, I'm going to answer. I'm going to
deal with your nation, with the nation of Judah, and I'm going
to deal with them through the Chaldeans, through the Babylonians. This passage begins with that
word of God. Behold you among the heathen
and regard and wonder marvelously for I will work a work in your
days which you will not believe. This is going to be such a work,
such a great work, such a marvelous work that you won't believe that
it could take place, that it would be possible that this could
come upon your country. Now last week we saw the Apostle
Paul quoted that verse. Remember in Acts chapter 13 when
he was preaching in the synagogue, he quoted that verse from this
prophecy. And that reminds us that prophecy
may and often does have a double meaning, maybe even a triple
meaning. The work that God tells Habakkuk
that he would do in his day, a work that would cause men to
wonder at, marvelous work that would cause men to wonder at.
Now, Paul cited that prophecy and applied it to God's work
in his day that would cause men to wonder marvelously. But in
Habakkuk's day, the work was this. The work that they could
not believe was possible. That God had raised up the Chaldeans,
that they were coming into the land of Judah, and they were
going to swallow up the land. And that the glorious city of
Jerusalem and the beautiful temple in which they boasted so much
was going to be left in ruins. It was going to be burned and
left rubble. Men would wonder marvelously
how this great city could be broken down, torn down like it
was. The city of Jerusalem with its
beautiful temple would be destroyed. Now, in the Apostles' Day, the
work that the Lord would do that would cause men to wonder would
also concern Jerusalem and the temple. It would be that the
Romans this time The Romans this time would so destroy Jerusalem,
remember our Lord said this, there shall not be left here
one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. A marvelous
work that would cause men to wonder the destruction of Jerusalem
and the temple burned and sacked by the Babylonians and then in
the Apostles' Day the same thing, but this time by the Romans. But I said prophecy many times
has a double meaning, and I think in this case a triple meaning,
because I cannot pass over the truth that would cause them to
wonder marvelously this work that God would do in the days
of the apostles was that he would reject the nation of Israel and
the gospel would go out to the Gentiles. You know, up to that
point, from the calling of Abraham all through the Old Testament
days, most of God's children had been in the nation of Israel. There had been a few outsiders
who had been brought in, but even then they became Israelites. But now God is going to do a
work, and he's done this work over the last 2,000 years, a
marvelous work, that God has been calling his people, saving
his people from all the nations of the earth. And aren't you
thankful tonight that God included us, included us Gentiles who
are here tonight? included this nation and other
nations. And God has a prerogative, and
He exercises that prerogative of where the gospel will go and
where it will be blessed and where He will call out His people. all through that Old Testament
dispensation, mainly through the nation of Israel, but then
since then among the Gentiles. But again, when you study church
history, you see the gospel has moved from place to place. It
has had great success in North Africa in the very beginning,
and then it spread into Europe. It has had great success there.
spread over to the U.S. of A., had great success here. But in most of these places,
the gospel isn't powerful and being used like it had in days
gone by. The churches of the Reformation.
If you look at their creeds, someone mentioned the Church
of England to me yesterday or the day before. And I said, well
listen, If you look at their creeds, their articles, they
believed in the sovereign grace of God. They taught, they wrote
it down on paper, that they believed in God's sovereign election,
and irresistible grace, and these truths that we hold dear. And
then the Lutherans believed that. And the Presbyterians, and the
Congregationalists, and the gospel spread from Europe now to the
U.S., but more and more it is being quenched here as it has
been in Europe. There's very few places today
in Europe where you could hear a clear gospel message. Very few places. And I'm afraid
the same famine is coming upon our country. A famine, the Lord
said, Wouldn't be a famine of bread, but it would be a famine
of hearing the word of God. I encourage you tonight, I encourage
myself, we must redeem the time and we must not take these things
for granted. The blessings that we enjoy,
the privilege of coming here week after week and hearing the
gospel and spreading the gospel through the means that God has
given us. Because as I said, if you just look in church history,
you find that the gospel has moved from place to place. I
was with a pastor one time years ago, and he wanted me to ride
with him out to visit someone in his congregation, a man. He
told me as we were driving on this highway, he said, David,
he said about, I forget how many years ago, Now, he said, it seemed
like the Holy Spirit just breathed down this street, this road. And he said, house after house
after house, the Lord saved people in those houses. You say, well,
our Lord said that, didn't he? The wind bloweth where it listeth,
thou hear'st the sound thereof. You can't tell from where it
came or where it is going. So is everyone that is born of
the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is sovereign.
He breathes, He blows, He saves where He will, where He will. God said, I'm going to do a work.
Habakkuk in your day, men won't hardly believe. And in his day,
it was the destruction of that great capital city of Jerusalem.
A number of people passed by and hissed at the city. Read
about that in Lamentations, don't you? Jeremiah lamenting the beautiful
city laying in ruins, the walls broken down, the temple destroyed. And it happened again in AD 70
when the Roman soldiers plowed up the temple. Not one stone,
they said, would be left upon another stone. Now God, before this, before
Habakkuk's prophecy at this time, God had raised up the Assyrians.
And the Assyrians, God says, are a rod of mine anger, and
the staff in their hand is my indignation. God raised up the
Assyrian nation to chastise His people. And then the Babylonians,
they conquered the Assyrians, Nineveh fell, and now Babylon
is like a rod in God's hand that He is bringing in to punish or
to chastise, rather not punish, chastise His people. The chastisement of Israel for
their sins by the Babylonians who were a people. Notice what
he said, they're more terrible. The Babylonians are more terrible
and more dreadful even to chasten his people. They would spread
over all the land so there would be no place to hide. They would
move so fast, swifter than leopards, that there would be no escaping.
They would be more fierce than evening, ravening wolves. A wolf that has gone all day
without any food, and in the evening is a ravening wolf. That's the way these Babylonians,
God says, to Habakkuk are going to come into your land to chastise
your people. And then, you know, they or he,
if you look at that last verse we read, verse number 11, then
shall his mind change and he shall pass over and offend, imputing
this, his power unto his God. Now that's either the Chaldeans
or especially the king, Nebuchadnezzar. Is not this the great Babylon
that I have built? He imputed his power, not recognizing,
not knowing, he was just an instrument in the hand of God. And that
passage there in Isaiah that speaks of it like a saw. A handsaw,
a man takes a handsaw and he saw it on that piece of wood
and he cuts it just like he wants it to be cut. It serves his purpose. That saw doesn't brag about what
it has done because that saw was just an instrument in the
hand of the man who directed it and guided it to do what he
desired. And so these nations were instruments
in God's hand to bring chastisement upon his people, both the Assyrian
nation and now in Habakkuk's day, the Babylonians. But the
last part of my message, I want us to think for just a moment
about the prophet's assurance. There are four words. There are
four words in verse number 12. Art thou not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, my Holy One? Now here are the four words.
We shall not die. In the midst of all the chaos
and all the punishment or chastisement, the calamity that God's going
to bring upon His nation, Habakkuk, by faith, By faith in God is
able to say, we shall not die. What do those words mean? Let
me read all the text. Are thou not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, my holy one? We shall not die. O Lord, thou
hast ordained them for judgment. And O mighty God, thou hast established
them for correction. We shall not die. What do those words mean? Well,
first of all, he's not saying that they would not experience
physical death, because many of them did. Many of them were
killed by the sword, by the invading armies, and many perished by
the famine as they laid a siege to the city. So he's not saying
here that they would not die physically. You know, death is
in this world because of sin. And the New Testament says that
it is appointed unto men once to die. There's only been two
men who have left this world without death, and that was Enoch
and Elijah. And yet we are convinced that
even they, they had to be changed because flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of heaven. But those two men are the two
exceptions of all the billions The billions of people who have
lived on the face of God's earth, none have escaped physical death. And if God, if the Lord doesn't
come back in our lifetime, you and I, we will experience death. But aren't you thankful tonight
that the sting of death has been removed? We don't look at death
anymore as something fearful. We look at it as our friend who
will knock on our door one of these days and say it's time
to come home. It's time to come home. Amen. So he's not saying that they
would not experience physical death. But when he says we shall
not die, I see at least two things in that statement. The first
truth that I see is the nation of Israel would not die. Yes, they would be conquered.
Yes, they would be taken into captivity. Yes, many of them
would be taken out of their country, but their nation would not cease
to exist. Why? Because God had promised
that it would be the seed of Abraham, who is the father of
the nation of Israel. It would be his seed. And even
to David, God swore unto David that of his seed he would raise
up a son who would set upon his throne of an everlasting kingdom. We shall not die. The nation
itself shall not be extinguished. Why? Because the Messiah is going
to come from this nation. He's been promised And He's going
to come because God is faithful. He's everlasting God. Oh, art thou not from everlasting? Oh Lord, God is a self-existent. That's the name Jehovah, isn't
it? That word, that name Lord there. The self-existent, eternal,
immutable God who never changes. He said, I am that I am. He doesn't say, I was, I shall
be. No, I am that I am. And His purpose, His purpose,
it shall be accomplished. He said, have not I purposed
it? And shall I not do it? Yes, the
Messiah is going to be born of that Jewish virgin by the name
of Mary. He's going to be of the tribe
of Judah. We shall not die. Our nation
shall not be extinguished. By faith, he says that. And then
secondly, I say this. Those who trust in the Messiah,
we shall not die. If you tonight know Christ as
your Lord and Savior, you shall not die. Christ is our surety
and he has promised his people eternal life. The Old Testament
saints, they received eternal life and cannot die just like
those who have lived since the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself
a ransom for many. We who are in union with Christ,
the Prince of life, we shall not die. The Lord told Martha,
and she was weeping and sad because her brother Lazarus had died,
and yes, we are sad when those we love are taken from us. That's
only normal, isn't it? That we would be sad, that we
would shed tears, but he told Martha, Martha, whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? shall never die. You see, eternal
life is just that. It's eternal life. It's not life
for a while and then a person loses that life. It's taken away. He said no. I give unto my sheep,
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. We shall not
die. You and I tonight, with Habakkuk
of old, the just shall live by faith. We too by faith are able
to say, we shall not die. We have been given eternal life. We shall not die. This body will die. But the real
person, the real you, shall not die. The prophet's assurance
was based upon who God is. His assurance was based upon
who God is. He is the Lord. And Habakkuk
called him my God. My God. These personal Personal
pronouns, my. That's what gives joy to a believer,
isn't it? To be able to call him my God. The Lord Jesus Christ said to
Mary Magdalene to tell his brethren, his disciples, I ascend unto
my God and your God. My Father and your Father. My, my God, my Savior. I pray that the Lord will bless
these words to each one of us here tonight. We're going to
observe the Lord's Table like we have for the last two times,
and that is we're going to ask you, if you will, row by row. Brother Reese will help you to
know when it's your row's turn to come, and everyone from