I'd like for you, if you will,
to turn with me in your Bibles this evening to the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk. Just read the first verse in
this prophecy. Habakkuk chapter 1 and verse
1, the burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. I know that you know this, but
at the close of the Old Testament, we have 13, 13 small books that men have called
minor prophets. And I emphasize the fact that
men have called them minor prophets, for God surely doesn't. They
are called minor only because they are shorter than the larger
ones, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, called the major prophets. They're not minor in the sense
that they are any less inspired than any other part of scripture. They're all part of the all scripture
given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. They're not minor in the sense
that what they foretold, what they prophesied did not come
to pass because it surely did. Jonah is one of these minor prophets,
and he probably is the best known of all, only because he was swallowed
by that fish that the Lord had prepared. And yes, the fish did
swallow Jonah. The Lord Jesus Christ said, as
Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly,
so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the
heart of the earth. And when men deny the truth of
Jonah being swallowed by the whale, they are denying the truthfulness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the truth. He said, I am the
way, the truth. and the life. The words of this
prophet Habakkuk are quoted in the New Testament in several
places. And the first time, I want you
to look here in Habakkuk chapter 1 in verse 5. We read, 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. Now, this verse is quoted. I want us to look in Acts chapter
13. As far as the way the scripture
is laid out, the first time a verse from that prophet Habakkuk is
quoted is here in Acts chapter 13. And the scene is the apostle
Paul and Barnabas, they have been sent out from the church
at Antioch of Syria. And they have gone on the island,
first of all, and then several cities, and they've come to another
Antioch. But this is not the same Antioch
from which they were sent out. This is Antioch of Pisidia. And
they went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, beginning
in verse 15. We read, and after the reading
of the law and the prophets, that is in the synagogue, the
rulers of the synagogue, every Sabbath they read the law, they
read the prophets, they read from parts of the Old Testament,
parts of the law, parts of the prophets. And after they had
finished reading, they said, you men and brethren, they recognized
them as visitors. You men and brethren, they recognize
them as not only visitors, but Jews, brethren, you men and brethren. If you have any word of exhortation
for the people, here's your opportunity. And the apostle Paul stood up
and beckoning with his hand said, men of Israel, And you that fear
God give attendance. Men of Israel and you Gentile
proselytes who fear God who are also here in the synagogue. The God of this people of Israel
chose our fathers. The first thing, isn't it amazing?
The first thing that he speaks of is divine sovereign election.
One of the truths of the word of God that men today so despise,
religious men today so despise, the wonderful glorious truth
of God's sovereign grace, God's sovereign election. He chose
our father Abraham. Abraham was in a family of idolaters
and God chose him and told him to get out from among his kinsmen
into a land that he would show him. The God of this people of Israel
chose our fathers and the covenant that God made with Abraham he
renewed with his son Isaac and with his son Jacob. And exalted the people when they
dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt and with an high hand
or high arm rather brought he them out of it. God showed His power, His grace
and power in delivering the nation of Israel from Egypt. Delivered
first of all by blood, second by power. That's true always
when God saves a sinner. It is by the blood of His Son
and it is by the efficient power of God the Holy Spirit. And about
the time of 40 years suffered He their manners in the wilderness. And their manners were awful.
They murmured and complained and did not believe God. God
suffered their manners in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed
seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land
to them by lot, freely gave it to them, the land of Canaan.
And after that, he gave unto them judges about the space of
450 years. We know Gideon and Samson and
several of the judges that are recorded in the book of Judges. Until Samuel, he raised up Samuel,
remember, as a prophet. And afterward, they desired a
king. God was their king. God was their king, but they
rejected God. Remember, Samuel thought they
had rejected him, and God told Samuel, they haven't rejected
you, they've rejected me. They desired a king. And God
gave unto them Saul, the son of Sis, a man of the tribe of
Benjamin, by the space of 40 years. And when he had removed
him, He raised up unto them David to be their king. To whom also
he gave testimony and said, I have found David, the son of Jesse,
a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. Of
this man's seed, that is of David's seed, hath God, according to
his promise, raised unto Israel a Savior. That's what we needed,
a Savior. That's what man needs, isn't
it? He needs a savior. Thank God, God raised up a savior
whose name is Jesus, Jehovah saves. When John, that is John
the Baptist, had first preached before his coming the baptism
of repentance to all the people of Israel, and as John fulfilled
his course, he said, whom thank you that I am? I am not he. But behold, there cometh one
after me whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. Men
and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever
among you feareth God, to you is the word of this salvation
sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem
and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices
of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have
fulfilled them in condemning him. They read the voice, they
read the word of God, the prophets, and yet they fulfilled the word
of the prophets in condemning a just man, the Lord Jesus Christ. They found no cause of death
in him, yet desired they Pilate, that he should be slain, crucified. And when they had fulfilled all
that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and
laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead. And he was seen many days of
them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. At one
time he appeared to 500 brethren. no question about his resurrection, who are his witnesses unto the
people. And we declare unto you glad
tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, and that
he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the
second psalm, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no
more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will
give you the sure mercies of David. benefits and blessings
of that covenant of grace, the sure mercies of David. Wherefore,
he saith also in another psalm, thou shalt not suffer the unholy
one to see corruption. For David, after he had served
his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep and was
laid under his father's and saw corruption. But he whom God raised
again saw no corruption. And here are two precious words,
scriptures, that we love to preach from. Be it known unto you, therefore,
men, brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the
forgiveness of sins. And by him all that believe are
justified from all things, from which you could not be justified
by the law of Moses. Beware, therefore, lest that
come upon you which is spoken in the prophets. The prophet
Habakkuk, verse 41. Behold, you despisers, and wonder,
and perish. For I work a work in your days,
a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare
it unto you. Now you say, it doesn't read
exactly the same. The verse here in Acts chapter
13 and verse 41 in Habakkuk, 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. It does
read somewhat differently and the reason is because they're
not in Palestine, Paul and Barnabas, they're on a missionary trip
And they are preaching in a synagogue in what we would consider a foreign
country. And the translation of the scriptures,
which was mostly used, was the Septuagint. That's when the scripture,
the Hebrew Old Testament, was translated into Greek. And that's
the translation that the apostles quoted from most often. And that's
the translation here. So it does read somewhat different,
but it says the same thing, the very same thing. What is it?
Behold, you despisers, and wander and perish, for I work a work,
I work a work. Most people today, I believe
they call themselves Christians, believe that God somehow is created
the world and just like a clock he's wounded up and removed himself
and everything just running along on its own. No, God is very much
involved in everything that goes on in His world. I work a work
in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe though
a man declare it unto you. Now that's the first place, the
first time that A word from Habakkuk is quoted in the New Testament. But there's another verse, let
me read it to you, if you still have your Bible open to Habakkuk. You will notice in chapter 2
and verse 4, we read, Behold, his soul which is lifted up is
not upright in him, now here it is, but the just shall live
by faith. This is quoted by the Apostle
Paul in three of his New Testament letters. And I want us to look
at each one, each place, because the truth that is brought out
is somewhat different. Paul quotes that verse to emphasize
a truth a little different in each one of these places. The
first time in Romans chapter 1. In Romans chapter 1, verses 16 and 17, very familiar
passage, verse 16 especially. For I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein,
that is in the gospel, is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith as it is written, as it is written in
Habakkuk, the just shall live by faith. And the truth here
is that the righteousness of God becomes ours by faith, that
righteousness of God that becomes ours by faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. That perfect righteousness, His
perfect obedience in thought, in word, in deed, in every way. His obedience as the God-man. He worked that righteousness
out. And by faith in Him, His righteousness
becomes our righteousness. The just shall live by faith.
Now look in Galatians chapter 3. Here's the second time. Galatians chapter 3 and verse 11. And the truth that is brought
out to us here is this righteousness of God that you just mentioned,
preacher. How do we get that righteousness?
Do we do it by joining the church, by being baptized, by learning
so many verses of scripture, by being faithful in all the
services after so long a time? How? Paul is emphasizing the
fact here that it's not by the works of the law. It's not by
man attempting to obey the law. Now, the law is good. The scripture
says it's holy, just, and good. It has to be. It's God's law.
It's God's law. The problem is not with the law,
the problem is with you and I. We can't keep the law. God sent
his son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and condemned sin in the
flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us. That's what he says in Romans.
Now, Paul is emphasizing here in Galatians, how is this righteousness
received? Is it received by the works of
the law, by being circumcised, by trying to observe the Sabbath
day, by tithing, and all these various things that the law taught. Is that the way? No. What does
he say? But that no man is justified
by the law in the sight of God, it is evident. For the just shall
live by faith. And then I want you to look in
Hebrews chapter 10 one last time. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
38. Now, the just shall live by faith,
but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in
him. The truth that is brought out
to us here by Paul quoting this verse from Habakkuk is, as we
received Christ, As we received Him and received the righteousness
of God by faith, then let's continue to live, to walk by faith. That is, looking unto Him, the
author and finisher of our faith. There's a verse in Colossians
which reads, as you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord. How did we receive Christ Jesus
the Lord? By faith. by faith. Paul says, as you have therefore
received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk you in Him. You received Him by faith, so
live by, walk by faith. Continue to look unto Him, to
trust in Him. Now let's turn back to Habakkuk.
What are some truths that we may take from this small book
of Habakkuk. And I hope the Lord willing,
I can bring some other messages after this evening from this
book. But there are three things that
we, that you and I, as believers in Christ, that we may have in
common with this Old Testament prophet. First, we may learn
from his name. Habakkuk. The meaning of his
name is descriptive of every child of God. The meaning of
his name is descriptive of you, if you are one of his children
tonight. What does it mean? And most people
agree that it isn't the smoothest sounding name, Habakkuk. Who would ever name a child Habakkuk,
would you? You know, I've heard different
Old Testament prophets' names, people named their children Elijah
and Josiah. Roger, you named your son Josiah,
he was king. I've heard, but I've never heard
anyone name their son Habakkuk, have you? I'm not saying there
haven't been cases, but it's not the smoothest sounding name,
as someone said. One writer said, the ragged name
has a beautiful significance. It is like some costly stone,
unlovely and apparently worthless at first sight. but needing only
to be examined and polished to brighten into the lustre of a
diamond or deepen into the glow of the ruby. Habakkuk. What does it mean? It means one
who firmly and tenderly embraces, one who firmly and tenderly embraces. Now, Martin Luther, he explained
it to me that this prophet, this Old Testament prophet, that he
embraced the people and takes them into his arms. And Luther
says, as a parent might take up a child that's crying and
soothe that child. So here the prophet embraces
the people of God. But I think it's better to understand
this name as descriptive of you and I, of every child of God.
Yes, it means to embrace and cling, but let's understand it
to be true that every child of God embraces and clings to the
Lord Jesus Christ. That every child of God becomes
like Job when he cried, though he slay me. Yet I will trust
in him. That every child of God becomes
like the disciples of the Lord. When he looked at them, the 12
disciples, and said, will you go away also? A great multitude had been following
him for the loaves and for the fishes. And then when he preached
that message in John chapter six, they turned and left. That's
a hard saying, they said. And they walked no more with
him. And our Lord said to his disciples, will you also go away? Now, what did they say? They embrace. They embrace him. They cling to him. Lord, to whom
shall we go? Where are we gonna go? Thou hast
the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's descriptive
of every child of God. When tempted to look back, when
tempted to go back, when tempted to turn back, Lord, to whom shall
we go? Where would we go? No. Thou hast the words of eternal
life. And we believe and are sure that
they are the Christ, the promised one, the anointed one, the Messiah,
the son of the living God. A second lesson we may learn
from his time, the time in which he lived, in which he prophesied. Now most of the writers believe
that he was contemporary with Jeremiah. And if you would look
in, let me turn back to Jeremiah just a moment, we get some idea
of the timeframe when he was prophesying. Jeremiah chapter one, the words
of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth
in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came." Now
here it is, in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah,
in the 13th year of his reign. So Habakkuk prophesied probably
in the days during which Josiah reigned and also maybe during
Jehoiakim, his son, and then Zedekiah, the son of Josiah. There were several kings that
reigned one after the other. But Josiah, one of the most interesting
of all the kings of Judah, I believe. You know how old he was when
he became king? Eight years old. Eight years old. And as in many
of the the places there and kings and chronicles that will list
a king and it will say they did that which was right in the sight
of the Lord or they did that which was evil. Josiah was one,
the scripture says, he did that which was right in the sight
of the Lord. And he led several reforms during
his reign and it was during his reign when they repaired the
temple. They repaired the temple and Lo and behold, they found
something in the temple that had been lost, forsaken, and
forgotten. What was it? It was the law of
God. It was the law of God. Those
workers found it, they gave it to the priest. The priest, at
first, I think, was a little bit afraid to give this book,
the law, to the king. But when the king heard the law
read, he realized that evil was pronounced against them because
of their sins, of their forsaking God. And God told him, yes, evil
is coming. but it will not come in your
lifetime. But he only lived to be 39 years
old. He died in a battle fighting
with the Pharaoh of Egypt. Died in battle. But the point
is, the time in which Habakkuk lived and prophesied was a time
of wickedness. If you look here again in Habakkuk
chapter one, verses 3 and 4. The prophet asked, 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 strife and contention. Therefore the law, the God's
law, the law is slacked and judgment doth never go forth, for the
wicked doth compass about the righteous, wrong judgment proceeded. In other words, the days in which
Habakkuk lived was a time of gross iniquity, violence, and
injustice. And the point I want to make
is that even in the darkest of times, God always has his people. He always has His prophets, His
preachers. And remember this, the darker
the night, the brighter the light. The darker the night. I've told
you this before, but I've been in this auditorium many times
and turn off the lights. It gets dark in here. And you
know what, just one of those small little old matches, if
you struck it and lighted it, it would give a lot of light.
Why? Because it's so dark. But if you take that same match
and go outside, even at night, if the moon is shining, that
match is not going to give much light, is it? Because it's not
nearly as dark. Habakkuk lived in a day of darkness,
and I would would imagine that most of us realize we too are
living in a day of violence, of inequity, and when judgment
is cast into the streets. Here's the last thing. We may
learn from his work. So we learn from his name, we
learn from his time, and we may learn from his work. If you look
at the very last verse in this prophecy, it's chapter three
and 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 mine high places to the chief singer, now notice this,
on my stringed instrument. What was his work? Well, it's
true that he's not like Amos. Amos told us what he was, what
kind of occupation he had when the Lord made him a prophet.
He was a cowboy. He was a herdsman. God called
him. And I believe it's all right
to assume that when Habakkuk here speaks about his stringed
instruments that we understand that he was a musician of somewhat. Some believe he was of the Levites
order that were employed to play music and sing in the temple. But I cannot say that's true
with certainty. But the point I want to make
is simply this, that God calls, God has in the past and God does
at this present time call men from all walks of life to preach
the gospel. He calls cowboys, he calls musicians,
he calls men from all walks of life. When God called you, Walter,
You were working at an arm coach deal. God called you. And he didn't look back. He put
his hand to the plow. And over, what, over 50 years
ago now, he's been preaching the gospel. God calls men from
all walks of life. And I want to point one thing
else out in closing. Here in chapter 3, verse 1, it
says, a prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, upon... Could you pronounce
that word? That's a hard word. It looks
to me like I'm not even going to try. But not only is it a
hard word to pronounce, evidently, the meaning is not real clear. There are two suggestions. Two
suggestions. Some say that it means ignorance. Ignorance. A prayer of a backup, the prophet
upon this, in other words, in ignorance. A prayer. How many times do we
pray in ignorance? Aren't we thankful tonight that
we have God the Holy Spirit who helps us in our infirmities? For we know not what to ask as
we ought, but he helps us in prayer. And others believe that
that is the name of an instrument, one of his instruments. I noticed in Milton Howard's
book, Un Paseo de la Biblia, Walk through the Bible in Spanish
on this point. I like what he said it may We
may take it to mean both both ignorance and music First he
confessed his ignorance before God Nevertheless he would worship
and praise him God told Isaiah My thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord, for as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Now this is true concerning
God's providence in the lives of His children, His ways, our
ways, His thoughts, our thoughts, but we should not miss what God
said before this, before he said, my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways. Right before that he said, let
the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man his thoughts,
and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon for my thoughts are not
your thoughts. We maybe would have second thoughts
about forgiving someone. That's not what God said. My
thoughts are not your thoughts. No, you return unto the Lord
and he will abundantly pardon. I pray that the Lord would bless
this word to us here tonight. Habakkuk. And we're going to
sing a hymn.