WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.160
 Okay, we're going to go back to Habakkuk for a little while and we're going to read from

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 chapter 1 and verse 12.

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 There are Bibles there if you want them and it would be quite handy because I'm going

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 to ask you a couple of questions just to keep you awake on this evening.

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 So if you remember last week, Corey looked at Habakkuk's first complaint and that was

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 that Judah was desperately wicked and why was he allowing that, why was God allowing

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 that to happen?

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 And God answered by saying, well, I'm going to judge them and I'm going to bring Babylon

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 to be my means of judgment of the people of God.

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 And so in response to that, Habakkuk speaks in verse 12.

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 Are you not from everlasting?

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 Oh Lord, my God, my Holy One, we shall not die.

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 Oh Lord, you have ordained them as judgment, as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established

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 them for reproof.

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 You who are of purerized and to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look

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 at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?

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 You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.

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 He or it can be just translated the wicked there.

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 He brings all of them up with a hook.

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 He drags them out of the net with his net.

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 He gathers them in his dragnet so rejoices, so he rejoices in his glad.

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 For he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet.

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 For by them he lives in luxury and his food is rich.

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 Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?

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 I will take my stand at my watch post and station myself on the tower and look out to

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 see what he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

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 And then we're going to look at the first little bit of God's answer.

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 I'm not going to look at it all tonight, next week.

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 And the Lord answered me, write this vision, make it plain on tablets so he may run who

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 reads it.

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 For still the vision awaits its appointed time.

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 It hastens to the end.

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 It will not lie.

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 If it seems slow, wait for it.

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 It will surely come.

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 It will not delay.

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 Behold, his soul is puffed up with again.

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 The wicked soul is puffed up.

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 It is not upright within him, but the upright righteous shall live by his faith.

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 Moreover, wine is a traitor.

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 An arrogant man who is never at rest.

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 His greed is as wide as sheol.

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 Like death he is never enough.

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 He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.

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 And then he goes on to give some woes.

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 So we'll look at this for a few minutes this evening and try and unpack it a little bit

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 for ourselves to see what God is saying for today, for us.

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 Because as I mentioned, this God's first answer about sending Babylon to bring Judah into

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 captivity as part of God's judgment because of Judah's idolatry, that answer leads to

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 Habakkuk's second complaint which we read together and we read half of God's answers.

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 You know, if the people of God were living unjustly as the first one, you know, why allow

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 it God?

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 And God's answer as well, you know, I'm going to send the Babylonians to enslave the people

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 again because of judgment.

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 So we come to Habakkuk's second complaint.

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 If an accursory reading of that second complaint verses 12 to the end of the chapter 17, what

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 would you say, how would you summarize his second complaint?

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 If his first complaint was why in earth are you allowing Judah to be so evil and, you

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 know, as God's people, why are you allowing injustice to flourish in the land and the

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 laws not to be kept and idolatry to happen?

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 What's the second complaint you think?

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 How would you summarize it in these verses?

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 One thing that you think stands out a little bit in it.

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 I know it's hard if you're just looking at it for the first time.

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 If it's responding to his God's first answer, what do you think Habakkuk might be saying

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 here?

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 Any ideas?

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 Any thoughts at all?

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 Yeah, that's very much part of it, isn't it?

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 It's similar but different to the first answer.

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 He's still wondering what God is doing.

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 Anything else?

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 Yeah, he's raising up the Babylonians.

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 Yeah, I think that probably is very much part of the summary.

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 It's like as if he's complained about what's happening in Judah and God said, well, God

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 answers his well.

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 He's going to send this heathen nation, the Babylonians, who are not God's people, to

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 judge them.

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 Habakkuk's saying, secondly, the Babylonians, you're sending them?

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 How could you possibly do that?

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 How could you use God's, a violent, idolatrous, evil people to execute your justice?

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 So he's kind of even more gobsmacked by God's first answer and so he complains again.

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 I want to mention a couple of things about this complaint and it's a really strong complaint.

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 He's saying, God, you're using an evil nation to do your will.

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 You say you're a good God but you're using an evil nation and your evil things are happening

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 as a result.

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 But there's two things I want to say briefly about that.

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 The first is that the second complaint of Habakkuk, or prayer, it's a prayer as well,

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 it's a cry that comes from faith.

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 Now, these are important truths for us.

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 It's a cry that comes from faith because he starts in verse 12 by saying, are you not

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 from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One, we shall not die?

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 He says, O Lord, you have ordained them as judgment and you, O Rock, have established

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 them for reproof.

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 So he's coming from, he's not coming as we saw last week from a place of unbelief.

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 He's saying, I can't believe that kind of God.

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 He's declaring in this prayer that God is the everlasting God.

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 It's not really from a place of unbelief.

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 It's personal.

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 He's saying, look, you're my God.

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 I know you're my God and I know you're a good God.

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 You're from everlasting.

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 You're holy.

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 You're pure.

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 I know all these things.

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 And I think that's really important for us because he's coming from this place of faith.

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 He knows God is from everlasting, even though, and we know that, but sometimes we recognize

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 his ways are mysterious and there's things he doesn't reveal.

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 But he, for us as well, if we're believers, and we're believers tonight, he is the Holy

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 One as well, isn't he?

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 And if he's not, well, we're all doomed.

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 Whatever's going to happen, it's hard for us to grasp his holy justice and his holy

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 love that can come together and there's a mystery within that.

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 But he's holy and he's from everlasting.

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 And he's the God who has promised we shall not die.

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 That is in spiritual terms.

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 And that's what he is reminding himself of here is the God of promises who said, we will

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 not die, that death of separation that mentioned to the children on Sunday night.

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 So it's a cry from faith.

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 That's very important to start with.

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 The second thing is, it is a cry of bewilderment.

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 He definitely is bewildered.

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 Verse 13, you are of purer eyes than to see evil.

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 You cannot look at wrong.

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 Why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man

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 more righteous than he?

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 So he's saying like, okay, Judah wasn't very righteous, but Judah's more righteous than

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 Babylon.

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 Why are you allowing that to happen?

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 And there's bewilderment there.

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 You remain silent.

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 He doesn't know why.

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 It seems that God's silent, even though God has spoken in the previous answer.

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 It's like Habakkuk saying, you're not really doing enough for my liking here, God.

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 I don't understand.

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 This is who you are, but you're allowing this to happen and you're allowing evil to overwhelm

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 less evil as it were.

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 Babylon is even worse than Judah.

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 And there's this picture of Babylon here, like a massive factory trawler, you know,

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 these massive machine, trawlers that go in the sea and just scoop up everything.

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 And it talks about them there like, you know, you make mankind like the fish of the sea.

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 And then the wicked bring up them up with a hook.

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 He drags them with his net.

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 He gathers them in his drag net.

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 And there's this picture of Babylon just scooping up the whole of Judah and scooping up all the

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 nations around it, swallowing everything in its wake.

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 And then idolizing its strength, it's pictured here as the kind of worshiping the net and

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 the hook.

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 The worshiping its military strength and being trusting in that and then enjoying the life

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 of luxury that comes for by them.

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 He lives in luxury and his food is rich.

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 And it seems relentless that this evil nation is going to destroy Judah and is going to,

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 the evil seems to be flourishing and powerful and luxurious.

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 And I think that's probably one of the, that general question is one of the biggest questions

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 we struggle with as Christians or one of the feelings we struggle most with as bewilderment.

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 It's not that we don't believe who God is.

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 We believe who He says is.

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 We believe He's our God.

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 We've seen His salvation as Habakkuk did as well.

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 But we're bewildered because we can't match up the character of God and what's happening

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 in the world where evil seems to be flourishing.

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 We don't understand why God allows evil and unbelief to be so powerful, so relentless,

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 so brutal and so unjust.

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 I mean, I'm sure you struggle with these things as well.

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 You know, in the world we live in, just now the secular philosophy of Western powers seems

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 to be swamping politics and law and education and it's overwhelming.

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 And there's this great idolizing of might and power that we see maybe in what's happening

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 in Ukraine and the luxury it brings, all the oligarchs that have benefited so much from

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 this philosophy of power and the injustice of the world.

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 It's interesting, I know this is slightly out of date now, but the ten richest, and

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 I think they're all men, ten richest people in the world, their wealth, all their accumulated

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 wealth doubled during lockdown.

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 So there's this kind of inequity and inequality that we cry out and say, well, why is that

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 the case?

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 You know, why is it so much that evil and unbelief seems to flourish so much?

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 And I think the outstanding message of the complaint for us, if we are really applying

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 it into our own lives today, is it's okay.

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 It's okay to be bewildered.

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 It's okay to look at the character and the promises and the nature of God and even our

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 own salvation and wonder alongside that, why there's still so much evil and why we're

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 so struggling with things in our own lives and in the world around us.

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 It's okay to be bewildered because God is okaying it because He puts it in His Word

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 here.

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 God expects of us.

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 It can't be any other way.

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 We are who we are.

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 God is who He is.

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 There's much we don't know.

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 So He says, take your bewilderment to me and it's fine to react in this way.

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 And I think Habakkuk has given to us for our comfort because it's a reminder to us

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 that God says, I know this and I want you to recognize it's quite okay to be bewildered.

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 And in fact, it couldn't be any other way because He is God and we are not.

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 And there's much that we don't know.

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 So the reminder is, I think, in something like this, even in the complaint, take our

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 complaints to God, take our bewilderment, take our struggles, take our sense of injustice

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 and our cries and struggles to Him because He says, this is the stamp of approval on

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 it here, which is, I think, important.

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 Now secondly, second thing briefly, we go on to God's...

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 Or well, we go on to God's answer, which is from verse 2.

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 But Habakkuk waits for God's answer and that's important.

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 I will take my stand at the watch post and station myself on the tower and look to see

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 what He will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

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 And then He goes on and we've got God's answer there, or part of God's answer in verses

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 2 to 5.

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 Is there anything in God's answer?

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 Can you summarize anything that's helpful in God's answer?

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 What do you think that we might consider?

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 What is God saying in His second answer?

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 Or at least first part of it?

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 Correct?

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 Yeah, absolutely.

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 Again, we'll go through that.

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 Anything else you might see in it?

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 Yep, so there's...

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 He knows what He's doing, even if we don't, and He's got an appointed time.

00:16:11.800 --> 00:16:17.960
 Excellent, yeah, absolutely.

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 So in verses 1 to 5, you do have that little link verse in verse 1 where Habakkuk waits

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 for God's answer.

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 See, he takes this idea of...another image of standing on the tower waiting to see and

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 looking out to see what God's answer will be.

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 And that's very important for us as well, is that when we are bewildered, we are to

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 wait on the Lord for His answer.

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 We're to listen for His answer.

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 We're to look for His answers.

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 But we're also to wait and be patient with God because God is so patient with us.

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 And He's so patient even with the wicked which kind of comes into this as well, the fact

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 that He allows the wicked even to live.

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 Great patience there.

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 And so we're called to be patient, listening and waiting for God.

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 But then when He does speak, that response is not just for Habakkuk personally, but it's

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 also for us.

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 And He says a couple of things.

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 He says, first of all, write it down.

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 Write the vision, make it plain on tablets so He may run who reads it or it could be

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 the herald is to run with the message.

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 So it's written down because He wants us to know what He is going to reveal.

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 It's important.

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 The herald will run with it.

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 And there is truth He wants us to know.

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 There's things He will not tell us.

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 Things maybe we'll never know.

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 There's maybe things tonight that Heather knows that she didn't know before, as she's

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 in the presence of the Lord.

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 We don't know, but nonetheless, we know He reveals some things and He hides other things.

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 And I think one of the things that He reveals, and that it comes across actually a little

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 bit more in the latter half of His answer, but also in His first answer, is that evil

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 itself is not independent and it's not autonomous.

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 It's using the Babylonians who are an evil nation for His purposes.

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 Now, there's great mystery in that, and in most cases there's great mystery.

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 But the principle is that God will harness evil to be the means by which He delivers

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 judgment on occasion.

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 So evil is not sovereign.

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 Evil is not victorious.

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 This ultimate demise is certain, and it remains only because God's timing is being worked

00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:09.240
 out.

00:19:09.240 --> 00:19:12.759
 And so He's saying, even in how He's using the Babylonians, is that evil is under His

00:19:12.759 --> 00:19:13.759
 sovereign control.

00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:19.359
 And that's mysterious and difficult, but it's important.

00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:26.000
 And He talks about the appointed time.

00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:29.279
 Now, there's various different interpretations of the appointed time.

00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:35.920
 The part of that will be the appointed time for the Babylonians themselves to be judged.

00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:41.559
 And we know that happened as the Persians took over, and then the Persians were taken

00:19:41.559 --> 00:19:51.039
 over by the Romans, and so it goes on that these evil powers, the kingdom of this world,

00:19:51.039 --> 00:19:53.480
 they fall in God's timing.

00:19:53.480 --> 00:20:00.720
 And then He speaks in verse 3 about this promised answer, but still see the vision or the revelation.

00:20:00.720 --> 00:20:02.079
 It could be translated revelation.

00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:03.640
 Awaits its appointed time.

00:20:03.640 --> 00:20:04.640
 It hastens to the end.

00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:05.640
 It will not lie.

00:20:05.640 --> 00:20:07.440
 If it seems slow, wait for it.

00:20:07.440 --> 00:20:10.160
 It will surely come and not delay.

00:20:10.160 --> 00:20:13.599
 So He's talking here about a future revelation.

00:20:13.599 --> 00:20:20.880
 Many commentators believe that is the coming of the Messiah because it's the definite

00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:23.560
 article associated with the vision.

00:20:23.560 --> 00:20:33.320
 It's the vision or the revelation, and that could very probably point forward to the deliverance

00:20:33.320 --> 00:20:35.840
 that comes through Jesus Christ.

00:20:35.840 --> 00:20:42.480
 Now, some commentators say there's kind of two layers.

00:20:42.480 --> 00:20:48.800
 Part of the layer would be the deliverance that Cyrus brought to the people of Judah by

00:20:48.799 --> 00:20:52.159
 destroying the Babylonians and allowing them to go back to Jerusalem, and that may be the

00:20:52.159 --> 00:20:53.159
 case.

00:20:53.159 --> 00:20:59.759
 But ultimately, we see the answer and the appointed time and the deliverance being the

00:20:59.759 --> 00:21:04.119
 coming of Jesus Christ in terms of His defeat of evil.

00:21:04.119 --> 00:21:07.519
 So Christ came at God's appointed time.

00:21:07.519 --> 00:21:15.240
 There was hundreds of years before the promise in Genesis 3 to the coming of Christ in the

00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:16.680
 ancient Near East.

00:21:16.680 --> 00:21:24.400
 But it was exactly the right time as His return will be exactly the right time.

00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:28.360
 And we know in the New Testament, some of the Christians in the early church were saying

00:21:28.360 --> 00:21:32.440
 or those who were scoffing at the early church say, no, you always talk about the coming

00:21:32.440 --> 00:21:33.440
 of the...

00:21:33.440 --> 00:21:35.720
 Where is this coming that He's promised?

00:21:35.720 --> 00:21:41.920
 And we may be still of the same people scoffing, same attitudes of people scoffing at us, but

00:21:41.920 --> 00:21:45.080
 He will return as He has come the first time.

00:21:45.079 --> 00:21:46.639
 He will return.

00:21:46.639 --> 00:21:48.639
 It seems slow, wait for it.

00:21:48.639 --> 00:21:50.279
 It will surely come.

00:21:50.279 --> 00:21:51.480
 It will not delay.

00:21:51.480 --> 00:21:55.879
 God knows exactly when Christ is to return.

00:21:55.879 --> 00:22:00.480
 And we're to take great comfort from that.

00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:06.439
 And the third part of that answer, so Christ is really the answer, the ultimate answer

00:22:06.439 --> 00:22:11.319
 to the problem of evil in the sense that... or God's answer to the problem of dealing

00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:12.319
 with evil.

00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:17.200
 In the coming, we may struggle with the reality of evil in our lives and around us we may struggle

00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:18.200
 with.

00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:25.519
 But the answer to the defeat and the justice of God is in the person of Christ.

00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:29.720
 And He goes on and the second half of His answer, we'll look at this next week to give

00:22:29.720 --> 00:22:36.039
 five woes, five curses, five judgments upon evil doing.

00:22:36.039 --> 00:22:41.240
 And it's just a reminder, is it where, that God is saying, okay, it may not look like

00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:46.880
 evil is defeated and it may not look like evil is being judged and it may not look like

00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:48.559
 justice is being done.

00:22:48.559 --> 00:22:55.200
 But God is saying that no evil, not one sin will escape His punishment.

00:22:55.200 --> 00:22:58.480
 And that's important for us to remember today.

00:22:58.480 --> 00:23:02.279
 Justice delayed is not justice ignored.

00:23:02.279 --> 00:23:09.759
 And every single evil act indeed will be punished either in Jesus, if we trust in Him as our

00:23:09.759 --> 00:23:14.720
 Savior or we'll be dealt with on that last great day by God.

00:23:14.720 --> 00:23:20.920
 So that there is ultimate justice and there will be ultimate justice.

00:23:20.920 --> 00:23:23.240
 And that's important for us, I think, to know.

00:23:23.240 --> 00:23:28.920
 And we too are to be patient and to wait and believe in the promises of God that it will

00:23:28.920 --> 00:23:29.920
 come.

00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:33.839
 Because there's only two responses to God in His Word.

00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:41.759
 And verse 4 really kind of sums up talking about the evil person or kind of personifying

00:23:41.759 --> 00:23:43.599
 the wicked as a one person.

00:23:43.599 --> 00:23:48.720
 Behold, His soul is puffed up, it is not upright within Him, but the righteous shall live by

00:23:48.720 --> 00:23:50.159
 faith.

00:23:50.159 --> 00:23:55.240
 And that's the response, that's the two responses we have to the mystery of evil, the darkness

00:23:55.240 --> 00:24:02.639
 of events, the questioning of God, not knowing and being baffled by what God is doing or

00:24:02.640 --> 00:24:04.920
 not or what we think He's not doing.

00:24:04.920 --> 00:24:11.360
 We're called not to reject God or to ignore Him but to live by faith.

00:24:11.360 --> 00:24:13.600
 And that's really the essence of faith, isn't it?

00:24:13.600 --> 00:24:18.800
 It's trusting when we don't necessarily know the next step.

00:24:18.800 --> 00:24:20.480
 We trust in the one who does know it.

00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:23.000
 And that's our calling.

00:24:23.000 --> 00:24:29.400
 To reject evil, to reject in our own hearts, to fight against it, to resist it, to seek

00:24:29.400 --> 00:24:34.840
 the Holy Spirit's cleansing and help to overcome it personally, but also to be patient in the

00:24:34.840 --> 00:24:35.840
 world in which we've…

00:24:35.840 --> 00:24:36.840
 And that's…

00:24:36.840 --> 00:24:39.320
 The world is a dark place just now.

00:24:39.320 --> 00:24:44.000
 It's as dark as it's ever been, maybe, or maybe we always think that.

00:24:44.000 --> 00:24:46.000
 But it's difficult to see God's hand.

00:24:46.000 --> 00:24:50.240
 It's difficult to recognize what God is doing.

00:24:50.240 --> 00:24:58.440
 But we're called to remember that these promises up till within Scripture has come

00:24:58.440 --> 00:24:59.440
 true.

00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:01.360
 The Babylonians did come as God promised.

00:25:01.360 --> 00:25:04.000
 They did judge Judah as God promised.

00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:06.400
 They with themselves were judged by Cyrus.

00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:11.160
 And we've seen that God's promises have been outworked in His time.

00:25:11.160 --> 00:25:15.320
 And of course, we see it in the coming of Jesus.

00:25:15.320 --> 00:25:21.720
 So two quotes to finish with, a biblical one and then one from a great professor of our

00:25:21.720 --> 00:25:22.720
 own church.

00:25:22.720 --> 00:25:28.640
 The first is from Saint Corinthians 5, for while we are in this tent, we groan and are

00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:33.240
 burdened because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly

00:25:33.240 --> 00:25:34.240
 dwelling.

00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:37.279
 So that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

00:25:37.279 --> 00:25:42.400
 Now, the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the

00:25:42.400 --> 00:25:47.319
 Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing what is to come.

00:25:47.319 --> 00:25:52.640
 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body,

00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:57.200
 we are away from the Lord for we live by faith and not by sight.

00:25:57.200 --> 00:26:04.160
 And that's an important reminder to us tonight that we have the Spirit.

00:26:04.160 --> 00:26:05.680
 He is the deposit.

00:26:05.680 --> 00:26:08.920
 He is the promise that better things are still to come.

00:26:08.920 --> 00:26:09.920
 And that's important.

00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:15.120
 And then John L, who is my Old Testament professor in the Free Church College and who wrote a

00:26:15.120 --> 00:26:18.160
 really good commentary on the Minor Prophets.

00:26:18.160 --> 00:26:21.680
 I think Corey mentioned him last week as well.

00:26:21.680 --> 00:26:25.080
 He says a really helpful, I think it's a very helpful thing.

00:26:25.080 --> 00:26:31.640
 He says, it is in the tension of the historical process in which God is at work to redeem,

00:26:31.640 --> 00:26:38.759
 not to exterminate, that the continued existence of evil in a warped world poses a problem

00:26:38.759 --> 00:26:44.640
 until the final resolution when the risen Christ has destroyed all dominion, authority

00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:50.519
 and power for He must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet.

00:26:50.519 --> 00:26:53.319
 So I think that it's a helpful one, isn't it?

00:26:53.319 --> 00:26:58.920
 That He says there is a tension in history because God's at working to redeem, not to

00:26:58.920 --> 00:27:01.160
 exterminate.

00:27:01.160 --> 00:27:06.920
 And that's why the continued existence of evil creates a problem for us.

00:27:06.920 --> 00:27:13.160
 But there is a final resolution and we must take comfort and hope from that this evening.

00:27:13.160 --> 00:27:18.879
 So that's a quick dip into Habakkuk.

00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:23.840
 Sometimes you think the Minor Prophets are really kind of difficult and maybe at first

00:27:23.840 --> 00:27:29.400
 glance you think they're irrelevant and they're dealing with a historical situation but when

00:27:29.400 --> 00:27:49.600
 you unpack them a bit they're tremendously relevant I think to ourselves today.