WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.520 In December 2004, many of you will know, remember, 00:00:04.740 --> 00:00:10.220 that there was a massive tsunami that killed more than 250,000 people 00:00:10.220 --> 00:00:13.640 around the rim of the Indian Ocean. 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:19.140 And in the weeks that followed, newspapers and magazines 00:00:19.140 --> 00:00:25.219 were full of letters and articles asking, questioning, 00:00:26.060 --> 00:00:28.359 where was God? 00:00:28.359 --> 00:00:31.460 In all of that, where was God? 00:00:32.619 --> 00:00:38.359 One reporter wrote, if God is God, he's not good. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:42.700 If God is good, then he's not God. 00:00:43.640 --> 00:00:49.620 You can't have it both ways, especially with the Indian Ocean catastrophe. 00:00:51.179 --> 00:00:56.359 Now, for many people, it's not the exclusivity of Christianity, 00:00:56.359 --> 00:01:00.780 Christianity, like the claims that we looked at over the last three weeks 00:01:00.780 --> 00:01:04.780 in our mission months, that pose the biggest problem. 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:09.620 It's the presence of evil and suffering in this world. 00:01:10.620 --> 00:01:16.359 Some find unjust suffering a huge philosophical problem, 00:01:16.460 --> 00:01:19.680 calling into question the very existence of God. 00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:25.780 For others, as I've just prayed, right now, it's an intensely personal issue. 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:32.800 Don't care so much about the abstract question of whether God exists or not. 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:42.340 For some, they just simply refuse to trust or believe in any God 00:01:42.340 --> 00:01:49.560 who allows history and life to continue to proceed as it has in the past, 00:01:49.599 --> 00:01:51.939 with all the carnage. 00:01:51.939 --> 00:01:56.959 So, as James has said, we are continuing our series. 00:01:57.819 --> 00:02:01.659 If you were clued up, you would have seen it's still exactly the same series. 00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:04.060 Reasonable faith, unreasonable times. 00:02:04.500 --> 00:02:08.740 But this, what we're doing now is we're moving into the little Old Testament book 00:02:08.740 --> 00:02:13.319 of Habakkuk to continue the series of reasonable faith in unreasonable times. 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:21.359 Habakkuk is a book that deals directly with the issue of evil and suffering. 00:02:22.199 --> 00:02:25.959 Habakkuk lived in a world very similar to the world that we live in, 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:29.239 and he asked the sort of questions that we ask. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:35.159 Having said that, practically nothing is known about Habakkuk himself. 00:02:35.159 --> 00:02:44.079 All the information we have about this man is the very first verse of this prophecy, 00:02:44.300 --> 00:02:49.400 which says, the prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received. 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:57.219 There's no little bio outlining his education and his family, his hobbies, 00:02:57.519 --> 00:02:59.519 what he does on a day off, that sort of stuff. 00:02:59.520 --> 00:03:08.160 There's only one clue about his place in history, and it's in verse 6. 00:03:09.219 --> 00:03:17.900 In verse 6, it appears that the Babylonians were about to pounce on Israel at any moment. 00:03:18.620 --> 00:03:26.160 That means that Habakkuk wrote sometime in the period between the rise of the Babylonian Empire 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:33.680 in 625 BC and their attack on Jerusalem, which began in 592 BC. 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:41.379 Now, Babylon was the world superpower of Habakkuk's time, 00:03:42.139 --> 00:03:45.599 although they'd only held that position for about 80 years, 00:03:45.740 --> 00:03:47.919 but they were pretty arrogant regardless. 00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:52.039 They were the schoolyard bullies that you kind of avoided 00:03:52.039 --> 00:03:54.079 and you didn't want to mess with at all. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:04:03.360 Now, the whole thrust of Habakkuk, the structure of it as little prophecy is really simple. 00:04:04.060 --> 00:04:08.100 It's straightforward and it's interesting and it's highly practical. 00:04:08.780 --> 00:04:12.600 So the general flow of Habakkuk goes kind of like this. 00:04:13.160 --> 00:04:19.439 First of all, Habakkuk complains to God about the evil and the injustice in his own nation, 00:04:19.720 --> 00:04:22.360 and he wants to know why God's not doing anything about it. 00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:31.639 Secondly, God responds by saying, yes, I see it, and here's my plan to deal with it. 00:04:33.480 --> 00:04:43.680 Habakkuk, thirdly, responds with, hey God, that plan doesn't seem like a great plan. 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:49.379 God responds, yes, it is a good plan. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:55.220 And I'm God, you're not God, and I've got it all worked out. 00:04:56.060 --> 00:05:02.699 Habakkuk closes out with this great prayer, which is basically saying, 00:05:02.960 --> 00:05:08.060 God, you're right, I'm not you, and I will trust you. 00:05:08.060 --> 00:05:11.480 So the structure is easy to understand. 00:05:12.540 --> 00:05:21.060 The arguments and the application are much harder for our hearts and our minds to come to grips with. 00:05:21.800 --> 00:05:28.860 So we're going to take a closer look at the 17 verses, and there are four things I want us to see today. 00:05:28.860 --> 00:05:36.980 What Habakkuk saw, what Habakkuk did, what Habakkuk heard, and what it meant for Habakkuk and us. 00:05:37.500 --> 00:05:39.580 So firstly, what Habakkuk saw. 00:05:40.420 --> 00:05:43.300 I want to take a look first of all at verse 2. 00:05:43.300 --> 00:05:48.879 How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? 00:05:49.460 --> 00:05:53.360 Or cry out to you violence, but you do not save? 00:05:53.840 --> 00:05:56.460 Why do you make me look at injustice? 00:05:57.300 --> 00:05:59.560 Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? 00:06:00.080 --> 00:06:02.600 Destruction and violence are before me. 00:06:02.720 --> 00:06:05.300 There is strife and conflict abounds. 00:06:06.759 --> 00:06:12.780 So Habakkuk here has got really two complaints to raise with God. 00:06:12.779 --> 00:06:19.419 In verse 2, he says, how long, O Lord, must I call for help? 00:06:20.719 --> 00:06:25.459 Then, in verse 3, he tells us what he saw. 00:06:26.279 --> 00:06:29.939 Why do you make me look at injustice? 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:32.219 That's his two complaints. 00:06:33.139 --> 00:06:40.019 So Habakkuk here, in his nation, is surrounded by violence, injustice, carnage, sin. 00:06:40.019 --> 00:06:47.620 And in his frustration, he calls out to God and he asks God to intervene. 00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:50.939 And he gets nothing. 00:06:52.060 --> 00:06:53.299 That's his perspective. 00:06:53.419 --> 00:06:54.699 I get nothing from God. 00:06:56.139 --> 00:06:58.279 Habakkuk looks around in his nation. 00:06:58.439 --> 00:06:59.899 He sees the bad guys winning. 00:07:00.579 --> 00:07:01.959 He sees the wicked ruling. 00:07:02.079 --> 00:07:05.079 He sees corruption everywhere in amongst the people of God. 00:07:05.079 --> 00:07:07.099 This is Israel he's speaking about. 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:12.039 He sees military threats from the outside, from Babylon. 00:07:13.060 --> 00:07:17.259 And he also sees corruption amongst God's people on the inside. 00:07:18.699 --> 00:07:20.099 These are evil times. 00:07:20.219 --> 00:07:24.060 And he's wondering why God's not doing anything about it. 00:07:24.060 --> 00:07:32.819 He says to God in verse 2, 3, and 4, why aren't you listening to me? 00:07:37.360 --> 00:07:39.420 He wants to know why God isn't doing anything. 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:41.860 Why does God seem to tolerate? 00:07:41.980 --> 00:07:44.459 How can you tolerate this evil God? 00:07:45.500 --> 00:07:46.920 Why are you absent, God? 00:07:47.019 --> 00:07:48.779 God, why have you abandoned us? 00:07:48.779 --> 00:07:57.119 He's tired of all the wrong, the destruction, the violence, the strife, the injustice, the corruption, and the conflict. 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:05.359 He does not, in any sense, want to look positively about the world in which he lives. 00:08:07.579 --> 00:08:11.059 He doesn't want to venture down and think of positive thinking. 00:08:11.619 --> 00:08:13.639 A bit more education and we'll sort it all out. 00:08:14.239 --> 00:08:15.339 Let's just educate everyone. 00:08:15.339 --> 00:08:15.399 Let's educate everyone. 00:08:18.779 --> 00:08:22.079 In verse 4, he says, 00:08:22.179 --> 00:08:24.399 I can't even find justice amongst God's people. 00:08:25.719 --> 00:08:30.559 Even the law of God is perverted and the righteous people suffer endless abuse. 00:08:31.159 --> 00:08:34.899 The prayers of the righteous, he says, go unheard. 00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:41.500 Maybe that's something that you've experienced. 00:08:41.659 --> 00:08:44.279 Maybe you're experiencing now something that you know firsthand. 00:08:44.279 --> 00:08:50.439 Where you have prayed and prayed and prayed and asked God to intervene in the situation. 00:08:51.100 --> 00:08:54.620 But it just appears like silence. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:58.179 Just a buzzing noise in the background. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:02.379 That's what Habakkuk saw. 00:09:04.419 --> 00:09:05.939 So what did he do? 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:09.600 He did two things. 00:09:11.000 --> 00:09:15.140 Firstly, Habakkuk was bold and honest. 00:09:15.780 --> 00:09:19.680 In verse 3, he says, why do you tolerate wrong? 00:09:20.820 --> 00:09:21.760 Now that's bold. 00:09:23.040 --> 00:09:25.320 He's, that's bold, it's honest. 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:31.580 What he's doing here is in fact challenging God at this point. 00:09:33.300 --> 00:09:41.379 But in verse 12, if you go down to verse 12, he does something that's even more remarkable in his challenge of God. 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:44.160 Have a look at verse 12. 00:09:44.159 --> 00:09:49.919 Lord, are you not from everlasting? 00:09:51.860 --> 00:09:57.279 In other words, God, aren't you the infinite God? 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:04.379 Now, in the English language, when you look at that, that doesn't seem terribly confronting at all. 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:07.439 Just seems like a, you know, straightforward question. 00:10:07.440 --> 00:10:14.820 In the original language, the Hebrew language, this is a bold confrontation of God. 00:10:15.520 --> 00:10:19.380 This is, in fact, in the Hebrew language, a punishing statement. 00:10:20.700 --> 00:10:22.920 Habakkuk is saying something like this. 00:10:23.760 --> 00:10:25.320 I thought you were infinite. 00:10:27.860 --> 00:10:32.780 You're supposed to be the great God who is wise and who is from everlasting to everlasting. 00:10:32.779 --> 00:10:41.079 He comes very close to saying, the God, you are none of those things. 00:10:44.439 --> 00:10:58.500 One Hebrew scholar says that the Hebrew word here that is used to translate, are you not, in verse 12, occurs 96 times in the Old Testament. 00:10:58.500 --> 00:11:11.320 And amongst, sorry, almost every time that it's used, it's a vigorous human argument against God. 00:11:14.820 --> 00:11:21.899 And so nothing could have been more abrupt in Habakkuk's second prayer at the beginning of verse 12. 00:11:22.700 --> 00:11:28.379 God is not being approached here with any sense of courtesy and respect by Habakkuk. 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:34.860 Which makes the second thing that Habakkuk does quite interesting. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:39.399 And we're going to see this a little bit more in the coming few weeks. 00:11:40.440 --> 00:11:42.299 But we get a glimpse of it here. 00:11:42.700 --> 00:11:48.480 Right after that challenge of God in verse 12, he's challenging God. 00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:59.220 And yet, on the other hand, he never even hints that it's even an option for him to abandon God. 00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:00.860 To walk away from God. 00:12:01.080 --> 00:12:02.159 To stop obeying God. 00:12:02.220 --> 00:12:03.200 To stop praying to God. 00:12:03.379 --> 00:12:04.639 To stop following God. 00:12:04.800 --> 00:12:07.180 Not even an option for Habakkuk. 00:12:09.539 --> 00:12:14.620 You see, Habakkuk's not blogging about God at this point. 00:12:14.620 --> 00:12:20.039 He's not putting articles in the Sydney Morning Herald about God at this point. 00:12:21.460 --> 00:12:23.600 He's praying to God. 00:12:24.980 --> 00:12:27.220 He comes to God with his anguish. 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:32.019 And as soon as he accuses God, in verse 12, he calls him, 00:12:32.539 --> 00:12:34.379 My God, my Holy One. 00:12:35.060 --> 00:12:41.779 He is wrestling with God in the safety of relationship with God. 00:12:41.779 --> 00:12:43.720 That's what he's doing. 00:12:46.579 --> 00:12:49.600 And hardly anyone treats God like this. 00:12:50.860 --> 00:12:57.120 You see, members of traditional religious communities, even traditional, you know, those who are traditional Christians, 00:12:58.220 --> 00:13:03.399 would say, oh, you don't talk to God like that. 00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:05.079 You don't ask questions like that of God. 00:13:05.080 --> 00:13:05.759 You don't, you don't. 00:13:08.300 --> 00:13:14.340 See, they, they seem to, they see God as a king who must be appeased. 00:13:16.700 --> 00:13:20.720 A God who you'd better not say anything negative to, or this God will just wipe you out. 00:13:20.800 --> 00:13:26.340 You've got to kind of, those who come from a works, good works mentality, that's how we have a relationship with God. 00:13:26.420 --> 00:13:29.360 We've got to do good things for him, for him to love us. 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:33.519 If your relationship is insecure with God, you'll never speak to God like this. 00:13:35.700 --> 00:13:46.019 More modern people have such, on the other hand, more modern people have such an enormous confidence in human reasoning and perception. 00:13:46.019 --> 00:13:53.639 They just simply say, I can't see why God would allow evil and suffering in this world, and so I'm just not going to believe in him. 00:13:55.720 --> 00:13:59.319 So the traditional religious person says, no, no, you don't, you don't speak like that to God. 00:13:59.980 --> 00:14:09.179 On the other hand, the more modern person who has humanistic, very strong view of your perception of reason and will just go, well, I just don't believe in God. 00:14:09.659 --> 00:14:12.720 I've got a problem, philosophically, I just don't believe in him. 00:14:12.720 --> 00:14:16.360 And Habakkuk's neither of those. 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:26.720 He is emotionally and intellectually frank and honest with God, but he wouldn't even think of leaving. 00:14:28.940 --> 00:14:30.660 My God, my Holy One. 00:14:35.540 --> 00:14:42.399 Habakkuk seems to be saying, if I can't figure out life with you, 00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:47.300 how on earth am I going to figure out life without you? 00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:54.600 This is unconditionally faithful wrestling. 00:14:58.100 --> 00:15:00.700 So that's what Habakkuk saw, that's what he did. 00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:06.540 And thirdly, let's see what he heard from God that made him so frank, so blunt, 00:15:06.539 --> 00:15:11.339 and speak to God without courtesy and respect in verse 12. 00:15:12.980 --> 00:15:19.679 God's first answer to Habakkuk's first complaint starts at verse 5. 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:23.259 Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed, 00:15:23.639 --> 00:15:29.860 for I'm going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told. 00:15:29.860 --> 00:15:36.200 God says to Habakkuk, okay, I'll tell you, but you're not going to understand it. 00:15:37.740 --> 00:15:39.399 This is what's going to happen. 00:15:40.919 --> 00:15:44.779 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people 00:15:44.779 --> 00:15:48.919 who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own. 00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:53.740 And then you've got a lengthy explanation of what the Babylonians are like. 00:15:53.740 --> 00:16:00.299 So what's God's answer to Habakkuk's problem of injustice and evil in the people of God in Israel? 00:16:00.940 --> 00:16:07.259 He says, I'm going to use the Babylonians to punish Israel for its evil and its injustice and its corruption. 00:16:09.080 --> 00:16:10.320 They are powerful. 00:16:10.820 --> 00:16:11.919 They are ruthless. 00:16:12.759 --> 00:16:17.279 If they want something, they will plunder and kill in order to get it. 00:16:17.320 --> 00:16:19.519 They have no mercy, these people. 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:25.460 And Habakkuk hears that and goes, what? 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:28.319 What? 00:16:29.439 --> 00:16:39.059 God's answer to Habakkuk's complaint about the injustice and the violence is to bring more injustice and violence. 00:16:42.539 --> 00:16:47.100 And this is how God is going to work his salvation into the world. 00:16:47.100 --> 00:16:49.920 In Habakkuk's time. 00:16:50.320 --> 00:16:55.259 This is how God is going to deal with the injustice and the violence and the sin and the evil and the carnage. 00:16:55.720 --> 00:16:59.779 And it makes no sense to Habakkuk at all. 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:14.460 How can God use a wicked nation like Babylon to punish a nation that on the surface appears to be more righteous than Babylon? 00:17:14.460 --> 00:17:21.779 It's like putting Adolf Hitler as the presiding judge of Joseph Stalin's trial. 00:17:22.340 --> 00:17:24.660 Makes no sense at all. 00:17:28.620 --> 00:17:31.019 But in the end, the Bible is a theology book. 00:17:31.960 --> 00:17:33.360 It teaches about God. 00:17:34.180 --> 00:17:36.660 And we discover God's ways are not our ways. 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:37.779 God's ways are surprising. 00:17:37.779 --> 00:17:40.759 God's ways are often hard to work out. 00:17:41.599 --> 00:17:47.980 To our finite grasp of reality, God's ways will often seem wrong to us. 00:17:49.019 --> 00:17:58.319 You see, most of us, I think, certainly those who have a traditional view of religion and those of us who have no religion at all, 00:17:58.319 --> 00:18:04.399 we would tend to be more comfortable with a God who's a bit more like Oprah and Dr. Phil, 00:18:05.019 --> 00:18:08.559 who gives out advice when we need advice. 00:18:09.639 --> 00:18:15.000 Or like the fairy who waves a wand and fixes them when we need things fixed. 00:18:15.939 --> 00:18:19.299 We're much more comfortable with Bruce Almighty than God Almighty. 00:18:19.299 --> 00:18:28.440 Now, to be fair here, God told Habakkuk he wasn't going to understand it. 00:18:28.500 --> 00:18:32.059 God says to Habakkuk and us, don't you dare judge me. 00:18:32.259 --> 00:18:36.139 Don't you dare judge me on your timetable and your calendars. 00:18:38.759 --> 00:18:45.740 Habakkuk knows that God promised salvation to the world through his people in the Old Testament. 00:18:45.740 --> 00:18:49.259 But his people are just as corrupt as everyone else. 00:18:50.140 --> 00:18:52.079 And he wants to know that God's doing something about it. 00:18:53.000 --> 00:18:55.319 He wants to know God is doing something about it. 00:18:55.500 --> 00:18:57.460 His plan for salvation. 00:18:58.120 --> 00:19:00.079 And God says, yes, I am. 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:01.779 I haven't forgotten it. 00:19:02.720 --> 00:19:04.299 He's going to raise up the Babylonians. 00:19:04.339 --> 00:19:05.180 They're going to come in. 00:19:05.380 --> 00:19:06.279 They're going to conquer his people. 00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:07.640 They're going to take them away into exile. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:09.559 And Habakkuk says, what? 00:19:10.539 --> 00:19:13.279 You call that an answer to my prayer? 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:19.339 Now, Habakkuk could not see what we can see. 00:19:19.420 --> 00:19:21.940 We got the benefit of history, the hindsight of history. 00:19:22.359 --> 00:19:24.379 Habakkuk could not see what we can see. 00:19:25.500 --> 00:19:29.399 If Israel had never been taken off into exile, 00:19:30.180 --> 00:19:33.200 then they would never have eventually spread throughout, 00:19:33.559 --> 00:19:39.460 over the centuries, to spread throughout the entire Roman Empire. 00:19:39.460 --> 00:19:41.759 Babylonians were beaten by the Persians, 00:19:41.840 --> 00:19:42.880 the Persians were beaten by the Greeks, 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:44.100 the Greeks were beaten by the Romans. 00:19:45.259 --> 00:19:49.940 And each one of them, God has used each empire to build roads 00:19:49.940 --> 00:19:53.960 and to spread and to spread his people throughout the world. 00:19:53.960 --> 00:20:00.759 And wherever they spread, wherever God's people spread, 00:20:01.120 --> 00:20:04.019 they built synagogues for the Jews 00:20:04.019 --> 00:20:08.559 and they built synagogues for the God-fearers. 00:20:08.559 --> 00:20:11.659 And the God-fearers were pagan Gentiles 00:20:11.659 --> 00:20:14.039 who got interested in the God of the Bible 00:20:14.039 --> 00:20:17.519 and joined one of these God-fearing synagogues. 00:20:17.579 --> 00:20:20.200 And every town that they went to, 00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:21.899 they built these synagogues. 00:20:22.700 --> 00:20:26.299 And when Christianity in the first century started to spread, 00:20:27.299 --> 00:20:31.539 the most receptive people in the entire world 00:20:31.539 --> 00:20:34.259 to God's message of salvation through Jesus Christ 00:20:34.259 --> 00:20:37.559 were the Gentile God-fearers in those synagogues. 00:20:37.559 --> 00:20:41.299 They embraced it. 00:20:42.039 --> 00:20:44.500 And what God did through them 00:20:44.500 --> 00:20:47.519 was the message of salvation went to the world. 00:20:47.659 --> 00:20:53.259 And the great irony that as the message of the gospel, 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:54.500 the salvation of Jesus Christ, 00:20:54.599 --> 00:20:57.500 spread throughout the world in the first couple of centuries, 00:20:57.500 --> 00:21:05.299 it made the world in its time a less violent place. 00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:11.920 The influence of Christianity changed nations and cultures in such a way 00:21:11.920 --> 00:21:17.200 that things like human sacrifice, infanticide, slavery, 00:21:18.059 --> 00:21:23.180 gladiated competitions were stamped out because of Christianity. 00:21:23.180 --> 00:21:29.880 The violence of the Romans, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, 00:21:30.279 --> 00:21:35.620 led to Christianity, which all made the world less violent. 00:21:36.080 --> 00:21:37.240 Habakkuk couldn't have seen that. 00:21:38.580 --> 00:21:41.420 He couldn't have seen that God was going to work it out in his timing, 00:21:41.500 --> 00:21:42.420 not Habakkuk's timing. 00:21:44.320 --> 00:21:45.660 You see, it's no different for us. 00:21:45.660 --> 00:21:47.300 When the communists took over China, 00:21:47.900 --> 00:21:52.460 they had all the Western missionaries removed out of China. 00:21:53.660 --> 00:21:57.540 And the ethnocentricity of us white people 00:21:57.540 --> 00:22:02.700 assumes that nobody can work without us. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:04.220 We just assume that. 00:22:04.220 --> 00:22:06.400 And so when the Western missionaries were removed, 00:22:06.500 --> 00:22:07.420 we thought, oh my goodness, 00:22:08.039 --> 00:22:10.059 the church in the Western world assumed 00:22:10.059 --> 00:22:14.079 that 100 years of Christian mission work, 00:22:14.380 --> 00:22:17.380 it was all over for the gospel in China. 00:22:20.660 --> 00:22:22.640 And at the time, there were questions 00:22:22.640 --> 00:22:24.559 why God was abandoning China. 00:22:24.660 --> 00:22:26.920 We just assumed, remove the Western missionaries, 00:22:27.019 --> 00:22:27.980 God's abandoning China. 00:22:29.259 --> 00:22:30.799 A whole lot of racism there. 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:37.119 We now know that because the Western missionaries were removed, 00:22:37.859 --> 00:22:43.159 that the Chinese made the Christian faith indigenous 00:22:43.159 --> 00:22:48.539 and is now the fastest growing Christian movement in the world. 00:22:50.419 --> 00:22:52.799 Couldn't have seen that when it happened. 00:22:53.740 --> 00:22:55.519 Just assume God abandoned them. 00:22:57.539 --> 00:23:00.279 We do not have God's perspective. 00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:02.980 We do not have God's timing. 00:23:05.319 --> 00:23:07.359 And yet we sit here and we say, 00:23:07.859 --> 00:23:08.940 God, we don't get it. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:11.319 I want to know now. 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:14.779 But we can't. 00:23:17.139 --> 00:23:19.299 That's what Habakkuk does in his time. 00:23:20.460 --> 00:23:22.819 Tell me what you're going to do, God. 00:23:22.919 --> 00:23:24.480 And God tells Habakkuk, 00:23:24.480 --> 00:23:29.440 you're not going to understand the plan if I told you. 00:23:29.700 --> 00:23:31.539 Habakkuk says, tell me, tell me, tell me. 00:23:31.940 --> 00:23:33.420 God says, okay, here it is. 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:34.700 Habakkuk says, I don't get it. 00:23:35.940 --> 00:23:37.140 I don't understand it. 00:23:40.660 --> 00:23:44.220 You do know why a three-year-old is always screaming. 00:23:44.620 --> 00:23:46.720 You understand why a three-year-old is always screaming. 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:49.240 It's because they don't get it. 00:23:50.259 --> 00:23:51.480 They don't understand. 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:53.980 You know, they want something to eat. 00:23:54.100 --> 00:23:55.980 And so they grab something to eat. 00:23:56.279 --> 00:23:58.480 And you take it off them because it's poison. 00:23:58.600 --> 00:23:59.579 Or it's got too much sugar. 00:23:59.720 --> 00:24:01.079 It's because it's the pet guinea pig. 00:24:01.140 --> 00:24:01.620 One or the other. 00:24:02.579 --> 00:24:05.500 And they scream because they don't understand. 00:24:06.099 --> 00:24:09.039 And you sit them down and you explain it to them, 00:24:09.399 --> 00:24:11.859 the basis of nutrition and cruelty to animals, 00:24:11.919 --> 00:24:13.079 if they happen to have the guinea pig. 00:24:14.500 --> 00:24:16.459 And they might, for a moment, 00:24:16.599 --> 00:24:17.939 understand the guinea pig thing. 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:19.159 They might get that. 00:24:19.979 --> 00:24:22.519 But they don't understand the poison thing 00:24:22.519 --> 00:24:24.059 and they don't understand the sugar thing. 00:24:24.099 --> 00:24:26.139 And you sit them down and you explain to them 00:24:26.139 --> 00:24:29.399 and you say, honey, you've just got to trust me. 00:24:29.400 --> 00:24:31.880 And then they go on screaming again 00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:33.580 because they don't understand. 00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:40.640 The distance between the capability of the mind of God 00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:42.220 and the timing of God 00:24:42.220 --> 00:24:45.860 and the mind and the timing of a human being is infinite. 00:24:46.460 --> 00:24:47.759 It's vast. 00:24:48.920 --> 00:24:52.140 It's much greater than between a parent and a three-year-old. 00:24:52.540 --> 00:24:55.680 We expect to understand everything that God does. 00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:59.759 And to say God has to make sense to me 00:24:59.759 --> 00:25:01.960 makes no sense at all. 00:25:03.320 --> 00:25:04.340 Get that? 00:25:05.820 --> 00:25:10.240 To say that God has to make sense to me 00:25:10.240 --> 00:25:12.680 makes no sense at all. 00:25:17.960 --> 00:25:21.200 Because God has to be limited to the size of my mind. 00:25:21.299 --> 00:25:24.440 And you ought to know this limitation of your minds. 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:28.360 That makes God know God. 00:25:28.680 --> 00:25:31.120 That statement makes no philosophical sense at all. 00:25:32.560 --> 00:25:34.880 When we say we don't believe in God 00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:36.440 because of suffering and evil, 00:25:37.220 --> 00:25:39.720 in fact makes us worse than a three-year-old. 00:25:39.720 --> 00:25:48.319 At least, at least a three-year-old will trust their parent 00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:49.940 even if they don't understand. 00:25:52.940 --> 00:25:55.740 If we don't trust God with what he says, 00:25:56.400 --> 00:25:58.299 even when we don't understand it, 00:25:58.740 --> 00:26:01.720 the Bible says we will die. 00:26:01.720 --> 00:26:04.559 We will die. 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:09.860 So that's what Habakkuk saw. 00:26:10.640 --> 00:26:11.440 It's what he did. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:12.079 It's what he heard. 00:26:12.160 --> 00:26:12.819 And finally, 00:26:13.220 --> 00:26:16.460 what it meant for him and what it means for us. 00:26:17.940 --> 00:26:19.259 What does it mean when God says, 00:26:19.339 --> 00:26:20.339 I'm going to do something here 00:26:20.339 --> 00:26:21.600 and you're not going to understand it? 00:26:22.380 --> 00:26:25.319 What does it mean for Habakkuk in that moment? 00:26:25.319 --> 00:26:29.599 What does it mean for God to bring salvation out of judgment, 00:26:30.899 --> 00:26:32.779 justice out of violence and injustice? 00:26:35.779 --> 00:26:38.599 Centuries later, the Apostle Paul, 00:26:39.539 --> 00:26:41.179 during the time of the Roman Empire, 00:26:41.740 --> 00:26:44.679 is on his first missionary journey. 00:26:45.419 --> 00:26:48.659 And he's in Acts chapter 13. 00:26:48.799 --> 00:26:51.500 We read he arrives in this town 00:26:51.500 --> 00:26:54.400 and he does what he normally does. 00:26:54.779 --> 00:26:58.119 He heads to the synagogue of the God-fearers. 00:26:59.599 --> 00:27:01.420 And his sermon is, 00:27:01.980 --> 00:27:02.720 when he preaches, 00:27:02.819 --> 00:27:05.339 his sermon is a brief history of the Old Testament 00:27:05.339 --> 00:27:09.400 and how God has been working out his plans and purposes 00:27:09.400 --> 00:27:11.759 and how all of God's plans and purposes 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:13.660 point to the person of the Lord Jesus. 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:17.859 And especially his death and resurrection. 00:27:18.400 --> 00:27:20.519 And then Paul adds this. 00:27:20.839 --> 00:27:21.160 He says, 00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:22.259 Therefore, my brothers, 00:27:22.360 --> 00:27:24.720 I want you to know that through Jesus, 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:26.920 the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 00:27:27.880 --> 00:27:28.300 Through him, 00:27:28.460 --> 00:27:31.240 everyone who believes is justified 00:27:31.240 --> 00:27:33.820 from everything you could not be justified from 00:27:33.820 --> 00:27:34.840 by the law of Moses. 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:36.860 So his point there is, 00:27:37.019 --> 00:27:38.120 if we believe in Jesus 00:27:38.120 --> 00:27:39.300 and put our trust in Jesus, 00:27:39.500 --> 00:27:40.620 we are justified. 00:27:41.040 --> 00:27:42.279 We're made right with God. 00:27:42.519 --> 00:27:42.860 He says, 00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:44.600 there's no more fear of God 00:27:44.600 --> 00:27:47.200 pouring his justice out on me 00:27:47.200 --> 00:27:49.360 because he's poured it all out on the Lord Jesus. 00:27:49.359 --> 00:27:53.979 All of our injustices against God 00:27:53.979 --> 00:27:56.439 and against people are forgiven. 00:27:57.439 --> 00:27:58.399 And then, 00:27:59.199 --> 00:28:01.419 the very next thing he does 00:28:01.419 --> 00:28:04.699 is he quotes from Habakkuk 1, verse 5. 00:28:05.699 --> 00:28:06.459 And he says, 00:28:06.460 --> 00:28:20.579 What Paul does here in this moment in his sermon 00:28:20.579 --> 00:28:24.960 is he looks at Habakkuk 1, verse 5, 00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:26.720 when God says he's going to bring salvation 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:28.720 out of injustice and violence. 00:28:29.399 --> 00:28:30.439 And Paul says, 00:28:30.679 --> 00:28:32.980 when God said that to Habakkuk, 00:28:33.460 --> 00:28:34.879 what Habakkuk couldn't see, 00:28:34.980 --> 00:28:37.099 but what I'm telling you now 00:28:37.099 --> 00:28:39.899 is that he was talking about Jesus. 00:28:39.900 --> 00:28:44.460 He was looking forward centuries 00:28:44.460 --> 00:28:46.380 as to how God is going to do this, 00:28:46.800 --> 00:28:49.000 and it's going to be about Jesus. 00:28:51.140 --> 00:28:53.019 The thing that God said to Habakkuk, 00:28:53.100 --> 00:28:54.780 the principle that God brings salvation 00:28:54.780 --> 00:28:56.640 through violence and through injustice, 00:28:57.200 --> 00:28:59.019 finds its ultimate expression 00:28:59.019 --> 00:29:00.940 in the Lord Jesus. 00:29:02.280 --> 00:29:03.960 When God came into this world, 00:29:04.060 --> 00:29:04.780 went to the cross, 00:29:04.840 --> 00:29:06.500 he took the judgment that we deserve, 00:29:06.500 --> 00:29:09.100 he experienced absolute injustice. 00:29:09.900 --> 00:29:11.640 He suffered, he died. 00:29:12.360 --> 00:29:12.700 Why? 00:29:13.640 --> 00:29:16.519 Because he is holy. 00:29:20.140 --> 00:29:23.140 You see, Habakkuk could not understand, 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:26.140 God, I exist in a world of carnage 00:29:26.140 --> 00:29:27.460 and violence and injustice. 00:29:27.940 --> 00:29:29.340 How can you tolerate that? 00:29:29.860 --> 00:29:31.180 How can you put up with that? 00:29:32.320 --> 00:29:33.759 If you're a holy God, 00:29:33.759 --> 00:29:36.080 how can you put up with it? 00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:37.860 And on the cross, 00:29:37.859 --> 00:29:40.339 it is finally explained 00:29:40.339 --> 00:29:42.399 how God can put up with it. 00:29:42.699 --> 00:29:43.959 Because God is holy 00:29:43.959 --> 00:29:46.979 and justice and just, 00:29:47.240 --> 00:29:49.019 our sin has to be paid for. 00:29:49.599 --> 00:29:51.539 Because he is both holy and just, 00:29:51.659 --> 00:29:53.159 our sin has to be paid for. 00:29:53.799 --> 00:29:54.719 He can't just go, 00:29:54.819 --> 00:29:56.039 oh, look, I'll just forget about it. 00:29:56.879 --> 00:29:58.179 A price has to be paid. 00:29:58.419 --> 00:30:01.079 He experienced his own justice on the cross. 00:30:01.439 --> 00:30:02.439 That's how it happens. 00:30:02.440 --> 00:30:05.279 God pours his own justice and violence 00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:06.920 on himself. 00:30:09.420 --> 00:30:10.860 He paid for penalty. 00:30:11.920 --> 00:30:13.299 He's the ultimate fulfillment 00:30:13.299 --> 00:30:15.400 and example of bringing salvation 00:30:15.400 --> 00:30:16.820 out of justice and violence, 00:30:17.259 --> 00:30:18.519 light out of darkness, 00:30:18.860 --> 00:30:20.180 redemption out of suffering, 00:30:20.380 --> 00:30:21.500 evil and difficulty. 00:30:22.900 --> 00:30:24.039 And at the time, 00:30:25.720 --> 00:30:27.980 the cross made no sense to anyone. 00:30:27.980 --> 00:30:31.920 It made no sense to anyone. 00:30:33.059 --> 00:30:34.599 In fact, the Apostle Paul said that. 00:30:35.900 --> 00:30:37.579 The cross is foolishness to Greeks 00:30:37.579 --> 00:30:39.039 and a stumbling block to Jews. 00:30:39.400 --> 00:30:40.980 There's no one else left. 00:30:42.920 --> 00:30:44.779 Foolishness to Greeks 00:30:44.779 --> 00:30:48.500 and a stumbling block to Jews. 00:30:49.960 --> 00:30:51.900 No one could understand what God was, 00:30:52.920 --> 00:30:54.180 that he was a good God 00:30:54.180 --> 00:30:56.299 and that he could bring justice 00:30:56.299 --> 00:30:57.099 through that way. 00:30:57.720 --> 00:30:59.279 It didn't make any sense at all. 00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:00.339 It was, however, 00:31:00.839 --> 00:31:02.619 the ultimate good. 00:31:03.680 --> 00:31:04.859 And because of it, 00:31:05.019 --> 00:31:06.899 we can look at our lives now 00:31:06.899 --> 00:31:10.519 and our evil times that we exist in 00:31:10.519 --> 00:31:12.319 and we don't understand 00:31:12.319 --> 00:31:13.579 what God is doing, 00:31:14.319 --> 00:31:16.859 but know that he is 00:31:16.859 --> 00:31:19.200 and he will bring salvation through it. 00:31:21.500 --> 00:31:22.559 On the cross, 00:31:22.659 --> 00:31:24.319 we have the ultimate Habakkuk. 00:31:24.319 --> 00:31:27.579 Habakkuk is wrestling with God 00:31:27.579 --> 00:31:30.319 and yet he trusts God. 00:31:31.220 --> 00:31:33.240 And Jesus has done that for us as well. 00:31:34.059 --> 00:31:36.259 He's fulfilled the Habakkuk bit for us. 00:31:37.039 --> 00:31:38.579 Jesus is the ultimate Habakkuk 00:31:38.579 --> 00:31:39.500 in the Garden of Eden 00:31:39.500 --> 00:31:40.939 on the night he is rested. 00:31:42.019 --> 00:31:43.839 And he's asking his father, 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:45.179 if there's any other way 00:31:45.179 --> 00:31:46.200 that we can do this, 00:31:46.819 --> 00:31:48.099 come up with another plan. 00:31:49.679 --> 00:31:52.079 He's wrestling with God's plan of salvation, 00:31:52.079 --> 00:31:54.339 but he submits to it regardless. 00:31:55.339 --> 00:31:55.819 Unconditional, 00:31:56.460 --> 00:31:57.799 faithful wrestling. 00:31:58.359 --> 00:32:00.000 And he did it for you and for me. 00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:05.220 He's not just God coming in the world 00:32:05.220 --> 00:32:06.599 to deal with the issue of injustice, 00:32:07.339 --> 00:32:09.599 but he's the Habakkuk 00:32:09.599 --> 00:32:10.720 wrestling with injustice. 00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:15.179 Jesus was abandoned on the cross 00:32:15.179 --> 00:32:17.419 so that we might never be abandoned by God. 00:32:17.420 --> 00:32:19.580 even when we might feel it, 00:32:20.259 --> 00:32:23.240 God never abandons us in Jesus. 00:32:24.220 --> 00:32:26.100 God is always working. 00:32:26.640 --> 00:32:28.279 He's always doing things. 00:32:28.800 --> 00:32:30.440 And because Jesus stuck at it 00:32:30.440 --> 00:32:31.840 during the evil times, 00:32:32.600 --> 00:32:34.279 and when those evil times 00:32:34.279 --> 00:32:36.060 especially came upon him, 00:32:36.680 --> 00:32:38.920 when the evil times come upon us, 00:32:39.460 --> 00:32:41.060 we can still say, 00:32:41.059 --> 00:32:43.799 I know God is working. 00:32:44.639 --> 00:32:46.779 I know God loves me. 00:32:46.779 --> 00:32:50.799 I know the God hasn't abandoned me. 00:32:51.500 --> 00:32:55.099 So I will be faithful and patient. 00:33:01.639 --> 00:33:04.440 If that's a moment for you right now 00:33:04.440 --> 00:33:07.579 where you're really struggling with something, 00:33:07.579 --> 00:33:10.379 in the next 24 hours, 00:33:11.220 --> 00:33:12.980 in the next 24 hours, 00:33:14.000 --> 00:33:15.500 give yourself one day only, 00:33:17.079 --> 00:33:18.740 go away from here 00:33:18.740 --> 00:33:20.740 and read Habakkuk chapter 3. 00:33:23.399 --> 00:33:24.960 Read Habakkuk chapter 3 00:33:24.960 --> 00:33:26.299 and especially the last bit 00:33:26.299 --> 00:33:29.359 and ask God for Habakkuk's prayer 00:33:29.359 --> 00:33:31.639 to be your prayer right now. 00:33:34.079 --> 00:33:35.359 There is a reason 00:33:35.359 --> 00:33:37.159 for everything God is doing. 00:33:38.099 --> 00:33:39.159 We may not know 00:33:39.159 --> 00:33:40.399 and in fact most of the time 00:33:40.399 --> 00:33:42.000 we do not know what it is, 00:33:42.819 --> 00:33:45.740 but it will result in redemption 00:33:45.740 --> 00:33:48.240 and it will result in salvation 00:33:48.240 --> 00:33:51.480 for everyone who trusts him through it. 00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:52.919 Amen.