We've obviously got quite a lot to get through this evening.
It would be great as ever if you keep that open in front of you.
We're going to spend a lot of time in bits of it,
scoot over other bits,
but hopefully we'll get to the end in not too long.
Let me pray.
We all need God's help this evening.
Heavenly Father,
I pray that you would give us eyes to see,
ears to hear,
the truth of your promise in your word this evening.
Help us, each of us, to trust in you,
to have faith in you.
Be with us by your Holy Spirit, we pray.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
And last week, we began by imagining ourselves,
if you remember, in the English Channel.
It was 1939.
1939, we were on our way to war in France,
but there was a big storm.
We were in a small boat.
There was a big storm.
And really, that was just a picture of the mess,
a picture of the mess of life,
the mess of the world around us,
and being really honest with ourselves,
the mess of our own lives,
the mess in our own hearts.
And this week, I want you to imagine,
I guess, quite a similar picture.
It's six years on, still World War II, 1945.
It's D-Day.
This time, your crossing to France was relatively smooth,
but now, you can imagine yourself,
you've come off the boat,
and you're wading through the sort of waist-deep sea.
The waves are starting to feel more intense,
but that is nothing compared to the gunfire all around you,
the shells dropping,
the whistles,
the screams.
It's a mess.
Last week, as we thought about the mess of the storm
in our little boat
on that very first crossing to France,
well, if we're honest,
the truth is that in life,
mess is not reduced to a single moment.
Life just seems to get messier all the time, doesn't it?
Injustice gets sharper.
Trauma gets increasingly painful.
And on this side of the cross,
we continue to ask,
where is God in all of this mess?
How are we supposed to have faith in the mess?
Just a reminder of where we were last week
in terms of the history of Habakkuk.
Habakkuk is a prophet in the southern kingdom of Judah.
The northern kingdom, Israel,
has been conquered 100 years before.
They've been carried off into exile.
And in the south,
things have been getting increasingly evil.
For that 100 years,
bad king after bad king.
Habakkuk probably experienced something of a revival
under the good king, Josiah.
But now,
under Josiah's son,
Jehoiakim,
there is a return to evil days.
And so last week,
in that context,
Habakkuk cried out to God.
He was, if you like,
a faithful prophet
in amongst the mess all around him.
And he cries out,
knowing God to be a God of justice,
he cries out a super honest question.
How long?
How long until you come and do something
about the injustice
that is going on amongst your people, God?
And we saw last week
that God responded with this promise
of surprising justice.
God said,
I'm going to raise up the Babylonians
to bring that justice.
The Babylonians,
the violent and evil empire next door.
Which obviously begs the question,
and we'll see this evening,
the question that Habakkuk asks,
how can you let the guilty people of Babylon
get away with the judgment of your people?
Last week,
we thought about the surprising justice
of the cross,
where the victory,
the victory over sin and death
really was won.
And yet,
living on this side of the cross,
we still ask that question,
don't we?
What are you going to do
about all the guilty people?
It's now a week or so after D-Day.
The war on the beaches was won,
but it definitely isn't over.
In fact,
you're still fighting battles.
Some of your friends
probably won't make it.
It's definitely still a mess.
The world sometimes feels
a bit like that,
I think.
For the Christian,
we know,
we're so often told,
aren't we,
Jesus is victorious.
The victory is won.
Justice has been achieved.
If you're here this evening
and you don't know Jesus,
that is the message.
Jesus is the one
who brings justice.
That his death on the cross
is what did it,
where he defeated evil,
where he cried,
it is finished.
He rose again.
He defeated death.
That's the message.
It's the big justice moment.
And yet we look around today,
2,000 years later,
and the world is still a mess.
We thought last week
about how we contribute
to that mess.
About how faith in Jesus,
faith in that big justice moment,
is so important for us.
Because it was a just God
making a way
to justify his people,
like we read in Romans chapter 3
just now.
Clothing them
in his righteousness,
removing their guilt,
those who have faith in him.
But really,
that's got to just be a start.
Because ultimately,
just like Habakkuk,
on this side of that problem,
on this side of that promise,
sorry,
we are left with questions.
And so again,
this week,
we're going to ask them
with Habakkuk,
we're going to ask
an honest question.
And this time,
we will see the promise.
The promise from God
is of complete justice.
Let's begin.
Let's begin with this honest question.
Habakkuk begins,
a bit like last week,
actually,
with an acknowledgement
of who God is.
You see in verse 12,
have a look at verse 12
in your Bible.
Lord,
are you not
from everlasting?
My God,
my Holy One,
you will never die.
See the titles
that Habakkuk uses
to address God here.
Again,
he uses Lord
in capital letters
like that.
We saw last week
that's Yahweh.
It's the word used
to speak specifically
of the God of Israel.
It's the name
that God revealed
to Moses.
It really just essentially
means the one
who was,
who is,
and who forever will be.
And so comes
the appropriate question
of verse 12,
are you not
from everlasting?
It's who you've told us
you are.
This is who you are.
And you are
my Holy One.
My Holy One.
Habakkuk actually does
something incredibly
profound here.
Because not only
does he describe
God as holy,
which is to say
so utterly perfect
that he is
quite unlike
anything in the
created world.
In fact,
his holiness
is so complete
that to be unholy
in his presence
is impossible.
And yet,
he is mine,
Habakkuk says.
It is incredibly
profound
that the God
of Israel
is both holy
and personal
to his people.
And it is because
of that,
that Habakkuk
can confidently say,
still in verse 12,
actually the translation
in the NIV
I don't think
is as good here.
You might have a footnote,
but in the ESV
it's we will,
we will never die.
Habakkuk's theology
is really good.
He knows who God is,
that he is eternal
and holy.
But he also knows
that those who are his
will live forever
with him.
His theology
is really good.
And not only
does he know God,
he also accepts
that God's
surprising promise
of justice
that we heard
last week
in chapter 1
is true.
He says,
You, Lord,
have appointed them
to execute judgment.
You, my rock,
have ordained them
to punish.
Using that other title
for God,
my rock,
in other words,
the place I go
to seek refuge.
You send the Babylonians
to do justice
in this place
and I will flee
to you,
my strong foundation.
He knows
who this God is
and he accepts
that this is what
he said he'll do.
This is what faith
looks like
in the mess.
He's trusting
that D-Day
really was
the victory.
And as we keep reading,
Habakkuk continues
to illustrate
really good theology.
See, in verse 13,
he knows what God
is like.
Your eyes
are too pure
to look on evil.
You cannot tolerate
wrongdoing.
He's just saying
you are so holy.
And so he asks
his honest question.
Why then
do you tolerate
the treacherous?
Why are you silent
while the wicked
swallow up those
more righteous
than themselves?
Got to say
that's a good question,
isn't it?
It's really the question
we were left with
last week.
As God says
he's going to raise up
the Babylonians
to bring his justice.
But then
in verse 11
he describes them
as guilty.
In chapter 1,
verse 11,
the Babylonians
are guilty.
If God is too pure
to look on evil,
if he cannot tolerate
wrongdoing,
how can he possibly
allow them
to get away with it?
Aren't we asking
that question?
Don't we ask it today?
And if we stick
with the World War II
theme,
it's true that
Joseph Stalin
died in his own bed,
the man responsible
for more deaths
in the deadliest century
in human history
than any other,
and he died
in his own bed,
comfortable,
at home.
He never faced
the justice
of a human court.
How can we say
that the cross
brings justice?
How could God
possibly have allowed
him to get away
with it?
Maybe that's a question
that you have.
I think it's really
got to be a question
that we're all asking.
How can this God,
knowing what this God
is like,
how can he possibly
allow such evil?
I guess for some
of us in the room,
this might be a really
deeply personal question.
If you've been
betrayed or abused
or wronged,
if you've faced
significant discrimination,
if you've just
experienced the sharp
end of the messy
world that we live in,
I am sure you're
asking this question
with Habakkuk,
how can they
possibly have been
allowed to get away
with it?
I'm not going to
promise that you'll
come away this evening
with an absolutely
satisfying answer
to that question,
but stay tuned
because there is
hope,
there is comfort.
Before we get there,
see in verse 14,
Habakkuk begins to
lay out the charge
against Babylon.
Here he's actually
speaking of the nations
that Babylon are going
to conquer.
You have made the people
or you have made mankind
like the fish in the sea,
like the sea creatures
that have no ruler.
I think maybe especially
he's thinking of his own
nation,
Judah,
with such a useless
and evil king at home.
It's as though the people
have no ruler at all.
Their wickedness,
their violence
are left to run wild.
And then in verse 15,
Habakkuk says,
this is what the
Babylonians are like.
It's just as you say,
God,
this is what's coming.
If we are the fish,
then they come with
their hooks
and their nets
and their dragnets
to carry us off
into exile.
Just like we've seen
happen to our brothers
in the north.
It's a stark image.
It's also a real image.
There are actually
drawings of the
Babylonian empire
carrying off
captives
in nets
like fishing nets
and dragging people
with hooks
through their noses
and their cheeks.
These really are
their tools of war.
And here's the issue
for Habakkuk
in verse 16.
Therefore,
he sacrifices
to his net
and burns incense
to his dragnet.
These people
that you are raising up,
God,
they want nothing
to do with you.
In fact,
they'd rather worship
their tools of war.
They turn their
military power
into their gods.
And in doing so,
in the rest of verse 16,
they're able to live
in luxury.
They're able to enjoy
the choicest food.
They are utterly evil
and yet materially
prosperous.
I think it's worth
pausing for a second here
and just looking
in the mirror together.
Confessing that
despite the prosperous
years that our nation
may have enjoyed
and experienced,
there are ways
that we have
contributed
and continue
to contribute
to injustice
in this world.
And even more
than nationally,
more just individually
in our relative
prosperity,
even as we think
about the places
where we buy things
from,
we've got to ask,
are the producers,
the farmers,
the creatives,
are they getting paid
fairly for the goods
that we use?
Are the people
making our clothes
being treated
with justice?
As we look in the mirror,
as we ask these questions,
I think it just becomes
increasingly obvious,
doesn't it?
Doesn't it become
increasingly obvious
that there are ways
that we contribute
to the injustice
of this world,
maybe even without
thinking about it?
But also,
as like Habakkuk,
we look out of the window,
again,
this ought to be
a question
that we have today,
the injustice
in the world.
I'm sure that as he
rests his head
on his pillow tonight,
Vladimir Putin
will have the nicest
silk sheets,
the very best pillow.
It remains true
that those who seem
to cause the most
injustice in this world
are also very often
those living
the most luxurious lives.
And so we ask,
along with Habakkuk
in verse 17,
is he,
is the Babylonian
to keep on emptying
his net
and destroying
nations without mercy?
That's the question,
isn't it?
It's very similar
to the question
of chapter one.
How long
are you going to
let this persist?
In chapter one,
it was how long
will you let
the injustice
at home persist?
And now the question
becomes universal.
How long
are you going to let
injustice
in this world
continue?
And so with Habakkuk
in verse one
of chapter two,
I will stand
at my watch
and station myself
on the ramparts.
I will look
to see what he
will say to me
and what answer
I am to give
to this complaint.
In other words,
I will wait.
I've offered
my honest question
and now
I will wait.
Imagine again
being in the army,
D-Day has happened
and every day,
what are you doing?
You're waiting
for the announcement.
War is over.
It is finished.
That's what Habakkuk
is waiting for,
for it to be done.
Justice,
complete justice
to be done.
And just before
we move on
to that promise,
let's just learn
from this honest question
as we look at it
as a whole.
See how Habakkuk
asks it.
He doesn't doubt
who God is.
He doesn't deny
who God has revealed
himself to be.
And so would we,
as best as we know
how,
speak to God
as he has revealed
himself to us
in his word.
As both the everlasting
God of judgment
and also as my God,
our God,
the personal God.
That is faith
in the mess.
When we pray,
how often we fall
into one of these traps.
either seeing God
as so distant,
so holy,
so other,
so beyond us
that in our reverence
we fail to enjoy
relationship with him.
Friends,
we can pray
with Habakkuk,
my God,
and know
that he is with us.
We thought about
that with Ray
this morning
for those of you
who are here.
And that's because
of what Christ
has done for us.
Though he is
utterly holy
and totally beyond us,
he is nevertheless
our friend.
But on the other side
of that coin
there is another trap,
isn't there,
where we pray to God
as though he is not holy,
as though he is not eternal,
as though he were nothing
but our best friend
who does not want us
to change,
who is not looking
for repentance
and faith.
We have got to see
that our God
is both way bigger
than we could possibly imagine
and way more familiar
than we could possibly hope.
Notice too
how Habakkuk
humbly and honestly
asks his question
and then
waits.
He waits
for God
to speak.
Nowhere in the Bible
does it tell us
not to ask our questions.
The more you ask
questions of God,
the more your faith
will grow.
But as we go
to God
with our questions,
we have to be prepared
for him to speak.
I'm not talking
about an audible voice.
It might not even
mean a supernatural
sense of clarity
revealed out of nowhere.
And yet God
has spoken
and he does
speak
through his word
today.
And so
as we pray,
as we approach
God with our
honest questions,
especially about
justice this evening,
will we be prepared
to patiently
study his word
and hear
what he has
to say to us?
Indeed,
we see here
in Habakkuk
how God
would respond
to exactly
this question.
Last week
with a surprising
promise of justice,
this week
we see a complete
promise,
complete justice.
See in verse 2
as the Lord
replies,
write down
the revelation
and make it
plain on tablets
so that a
herald may run
with it.
God is saying
that these words
that I'm speaking
are meant to be
permanent,
written down,
they're to be
shared,
they are for all
to hear.
And at this point
I think we've got
to understand
this is why
this book
was written
because this
complete promise,
it doesn't just
apply to Habakkuk's
question about
Judah,
it doesn't just
apply to Babylon,
it doesn't just
apply to the
7th century BC,
something much
bigger is happening
here because
God's word
speaks today.
Indeed as we
read on in
verse 3,
for the revelation
awaits an
appointed time,
it speaks of
the end
and will not
prove false.
In other words
this complete
justice,
it is ultimately
a justice that
will not come
until the very
end of the
world.
When the
curtains are
closed and
the show is
over,
when the
message comes
over the
wireless,
the war in
Europe is
over.
It may seem
slow in the
coming.
Remember Habakkuk
prays in chapter
1, how long?
But God
responds here
still in verse
3,
though it
linger,
wait for it,
it will
certainly come
and will
not delay.
It may feel
as though it's
never going to
come, but
a thousand years
is like a day
for the eternal
Lord of the
universe.
And the promise
here is that it
will come
and that when it
does, it will
be swift.
But we have to
ask what exactly
will that justice
look like?
What does God's
justice actually
do?
Well read on
with me.
In verses
4 and 5
we get another
picture of the
Babylonian from
God here.
He describes
the Babylonian
as puffed up,
arrogant, as
greedy as the
grave.
He gathers to
himself all the
nations and
takes captive
all the
peoples.
It is primarily
a picture of
the Babylonian.
But as we dig
into these
verses, isn't
this really just
a picture of
humanity?
Humanity whose
desires are not
upright, who
is never at
rest, never
satisfied.
In other words,
a humanity that
lives as though
God does not
exist.
And so indulging
all our own
desires and yet
in doing so
never finding
rest for our
souls, never
finding true
satisfaction.
The picture here
is of a people
who are utterly
self-reliant and
self-indulgent.
People who are,
at the beginning
of verse 4,
enemies of
God.
And so what
will God's
justice do?
Well, before
we get there,
have a look at
this wonderful
promise.
Sorry, I'll go
back.
There's this
but at the
end of verse 4.
It's one of my
favorite buts in
the Bible.
But the
righteous person
will live by
his faithfulness.
There is
another way.
The promise is
that we do not
need to be
self-reliant.
That we can
instead rely on
God, trust
him, be
faithful to
him and be
found to be
righteous in
him.
This is such an
important concept
for the Christian
gospel.
It's picked up by
writers in the
New Testament.
They say the
righteous shall
live by faith.
And it's
really what we
saw last week.
That is the
surprising promise
as we look to
Jesus who
lived a
perfectly
righteous life
in our place,
who took the
justice of the
world on his
shoulders so
that by faith
his righteousness
might be freely
given to us.
If you're here
and you don't
know Jesus,
that is the
message.
It's right at
the heart of
what we believe
as Christians.
And so it's in
the context of
that promise
that we read
the woes that
follow.
If you scan
your eyes over
the rest of
chapter 2,
we're going to
speed up quite a
lot here, but
that's what we
get.
Five woes.
If you see that
repeated refrain
in the rest of
chapter 2 at the
beginning of each
paragraph and then
again at the
beginning of verse
19, woe to
him.
In other words,
judgment is
coming to
him.
We don't
have time to
unpack each of
these in detail,
but see what
God's justice
looks like.
That's the
question we want
to answer.
Track with me.
The first is
there in verses
6 and 7.
He piles up
stolen goods.
God says he
has taken things
that don't belong
to him.
It's theft.
And then the
judgment comes in
verse 8.
The peoples who
are left will
plunder you.
The second is
similar.
It's empire
building through
injustice.
See in verse
9, he builds
his house by
unjust gain,
setting his
nest on high to
escape the
clutches of
ruin.
He's amassing
wealth.
The picture here,
it's like he's a
killer magpie,
right?
Not just pinching
the shiny necklace
and carrying it
off to the safety
of his nest,
but also pecking
the wearer to
death.
And the
judgment for the
Babylonian is in
verse 10.
It's shame for his
house and ultimately
death coming to him
himself.
The third woe begins
to focus more sharply
on violence.
See in verse 12,
it is the bloodshed of
empire building.
And so comes the
judgment in verse 13.
As they bring
destruction, so will
they be destroyed.
They will be fuel for
the fire.
And then the image
in the fourth woe,
I think, becomes much
more personal.
The charge here,
degrading their
enemies.
See in verse 15,
it's like an ancient
date rape drug.
He gets them drunk
and gazes upon their
nakedness.
Terrific abuse,
that.
And the judgment in
verse 16,
he will be filled
with shame.
It is his turn to be
filled with wine and
exposed.
And the fifth and
final woe, this is the
climax of it all,
idolatry.
Putting man-made
things, images and
carvings, putting them
in the place of God
and saying to them,
come to life,
which of course they
can't.
The Lord, on the
other hand, in verse
20, he is in his
holy temple.
Be silent before him.
Why?
For he does have life,
he will speak,
and his judgment
will come.
So these are the five
woes proclaimed
against Babylon.
As we read them,
what does that justice
look like?
What does God's
justice do?
Well, two key things
for us.
Firstly, notice how
God's justice is
just.
The punishment fits
the crime.
As the Babylonian
plunders, so will
he be plundered.
As he builds a
house, his house
will be put to
shame.
As he brings
destruction, he
will be destroyed.
As he shames his
enemies, he will be
shamed.
And ultimately, as he
glorifies idols,
God will be seen
to be glorious.
God's justice
is just.
Notice in that
that it's not the
one who has been
wronged who executes
that justice.
God is the judge
and he brings
justice himself
by his own
means.
God's justice
is just.
Secondly, God's
complete justice
is ultimately
eternal.
See back in
verse 3,
way back in
verse 3, we
saw it speaks
of the end.
This is not
just a promise
to Habakkuk
that Babylon
would not be
spared God's
judgment.
Take it, that's
why it is to
be written
down.
And so we
see in verse
14 that the
earth will be
filled with the
knowledge of the
glory of the
Lord as the
waters cover the
sea.
This is an
image of God's
glory in saving
his people,
bringing justice
to the Babylonians
so that through it
and through his
people the whole
world might know
him.
But the final
fulfillment of that
promise, it is
ultimately an
eternal promise.
promise.
It is a promise
that is made
good upon
Jesus' return.
As he paid the
price for that
justice to be
done on the
cross, as he
proved that he
had done so as
he rose again,
and he promised
that he would
ultimately return
to carry out that
justice and
completion.
Why?
So that the
whole earth might
be filled with
his glory.
For us, there
is immense
comfort in
this, as
well as
holy fear.
Comfort, because
we can know
that every
injustice will
be dealt
with.
That really
is huge.
But if God's
justice is
just, then
every single
injustice of
human history,
every murder,
every rape,
every war
crime, every
theft, every
lie, whether
they are dealt
with humanly or
not, whether
they are dealt
with on this
side of eternity
or not, God's
justice is
just.
That means
that Stalin
did not get
away with
it, not
really.
That means
that any
injustice that
you have
faced, if
there is a
specific person
or a group
of people that
have wronged
you, they
have not and
they will not
get away with
it.
There is
comfort here,
but I think
there also
ought to be a
holy fear.
For if we're
honest, we
know, don't
we, that
there are
things that
we have
done,
contributions
to injustice
that we have
not paid
for, that
we could
never pay
for.
And so if
God's justice
is just,
then we
too must
face it.
And this
is the
wonderful good
news of the
Christian gospel.
We know
that if we
will be found
in Christ,
if we would
trust in him,
if we would
have faith in
him, then
on that
final day,
we might be
spared his
justice, not
because he
is not
just, but
because for
those who
trust in
him, his
justice has
been done
on the
cross.
And for
us, this
is a
wonderful
truth.
For in
it, there
is a
forever
hope, not
simply that
we, though
guilty, might
be justified,
but that we
might live
forever in
a new and
perfect world,
world filled
with the
glorious
presence of
the Lord,
a world
where we
know him
perfectly.
And friends,
knowing that
today changes
everything.
It changes
our desire to
tell people
about Jesus.
If there
really is no
other way to
this wonderful
eternity, do
we not want to
point people to
him?
change is
how we use
our money.
With our
eyes fixed
on eternity,
material things
just pale in
comparison,
changes how we
spend our
time.
It changes
how we worry
about things
in this world.
It is the
real and only
secret to
true and
lasting contentment
and satisfaction
in this life.
The forever
hope of
complete,
eternal
justice.
faith in
the mess.
Let me take
you back just
as we finish
to World War
II, to
that strange
in-between.
D-Day has
happened.
You can look
back at
D-Day and
say that the
victory is
sure, despite
the mess all
around you.
But you can
look forward
to waiting
patiently for
the war to
be over.
So too in
life, as we
look back at
the surprising
justice of the
cross, we
know that
victory has
been secured.
And though
life feels
like a real
mess today,
and though we
like Habakkuk
wait patiently
in the watchtower,
God's promise
is of complete
justice.
And in
Christ we
wait,
looking to
an eternity
with a sure
hope in
him.
This is
faith in
the mess.
Let me
pray.
Heavenly
Father, we
thank you so
much for the
surprising
justice of
the cross.
Lord, we
confess that
we deserve
your justice.
And so we
thank you very
much for
Jesus.
We thank you
for the
complete promise
of eternal
justice.
Pray that you
would apply
that promise
to our hearts
by your spirit
this evening.
allow us to
be comforted
by it,
to find
hope in
it.
Would you
help us to
persevere,
to have
faith even
in the
mess?
In Jesus'
name.
Amen.