Okay, great. If you're visiting, my name's Kevin, and great to have you with us.
We're going to spend a few minutes in prayer together.
And often during this time, we pray for ourselves and our church and also our city
and different churches or ministries in our city and broader field.
So will you join me as we spend a few minutes in prayer together?
Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning empty-handed,
and we confess our deep need for you.
God, we love you and we adore you.
We are amazed by your grace and your mercy.
God, your holiness and your justice humble us.
Your grace and your mercy invite us in.
And God, this morning we confess we need you.
Father, it's so often that we go running after so many false gods in our cities,
in our lives that promise so much, and yet in the end they just make demands on us.
More and more demands, and they can never fully satisfy.
Father, this morning we confess that you are the one true God,
the one living God that can deeply satisfy us.
Father, we often try and feast on other things that are like crumbs from your table,
and yet God, you invite us to come and feast on you this morning.
And so we really do, God.
We want to meet with you.
We ask your Holy Spirit to come and be here through the rest of our service.
As we look at your word, as we continue to sing songs of devotion,
as we come to the communion table,
Holy Spirit, draw us in and come and open our eyes to see you and to meet with you.
God, this week as we go into our works and our universities,
and as we look after kids and we engage with people,
God, we need you.
Come and have your way in our lives, we pray, God.
Father, this morning we want to pray for our friends at Sons and Daughters,
that fantastic ministry.
We want to pray for the staff and the leaders and the volunteers
and everyone involved with Sons and Daughters ministry.
God, we pray that you will strengthen them and encourage them.
We pray, God, for just glimpses of your grace,
where maybe they're feeling discouraged, feeling downcast,
feeling like, how long, oh God?
Lord, won't you remind them of the great work that they're doing
and how you are with them every step of the way.
God, we pray for those that they are meeting and encountering,
some of the ladies in One Chai.
We pray for those searching for the truth that you, God,
even today, won't you, God, draw near to them, Lord.
Open their hearts, God, and we pray that they'll come to know you
and find your amazing grace and love, God.
We pray for the men and the gangs that are holding so many of these ladies captive.
God, we pray that your justice will come and you'll break in, Lord God,
and you'll disrupt those gangs, God.
We pray for freedom, Lord.
God, we want to pray for the bazaar that's coming up.
We pray that it'll be hugely successful.
Lord, for every bit of detail, we pray for the sons and daughters bazaar.
Won't you look after it, God,
and bring many ladies to the new safe house.
Father, this morning, we also want to pray for Amelia in Taiwan,
our dear sister there,
and we pray for you to really look after her and guide her, God.
We pray for her health.
She's had some health challenges.
We pray, Lord, for your healing and your protection over her.
Right now, God, we lift Amelia to you,
and we ask that you cover her with your grace,
and she'll feel your grace,
and she'll feel encouraged in her work there.
We pray, God, for her Mandarin studies,
and that you encourage her in that,
and that she continues to grow and learn
so that she can reach out to the Taiwanese people.
We pray for friends, God, and deep heart friends,
those that she can share her heart with
and feel at home with.
We pray for real deep gospel friendships for her.
And Father, we pray for opportunities for the gospel,
for Amelia, Lord.
Won't you burn the gospel deep in her heart
that she cannot help but just share it
with everyone that she encounters?
Lift her up this morning to you, God,
and we pray bless her in your wonderful and powerful name.
Jesus, we pray all these things
knowing that you're good and gracious,
majestic and sovereign.
And so we pray these things in your name.
Amen.
Great.
Let's listen to the reading of Habakkuk chapter 2.
Thank you.
The scripture reading comes from Habakkuk chapter 2 and 3.
Please follow along in your bulletin or on the screen.
And the Lord answered me,
Write the vision,
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
For still the vision awaits its appointed time.
It hastens to the end.
It will not lie.
If it seems slow,
wait for it.
It will surely come.
It will not delay.
Behold,
his soul is puffed up.
It is not a pride within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
Moreover,
wine is a traitor,
an arrogant man who is never at rest.
His greed,
it is wide as sheol.
Like that,
he has never enough.
He gathers for himself all nations
and collects as his own all peoples.
Shall not always take up their taunt against him
with scoffing and riddles for him and say,
Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own.
For how long?
And loads himself with pledges.
Will not your debtors suddenly arise?
And those awake who will make you tremble?
Then you will be spoiled for them,
because you have plundered many nations.
All the remnant of the people shall plunder you
for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.
Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
to set his nest on high,
to be safe from the reach of harm.
You have devised shame for your house
by cutting off many peoples.
You have forfeited your life.
For the stone will cry out from the wall,
and the beam from the woodwork respond.
Woe to him who builds a town with blood
and founds a city on iniquity.
Behold, it is not from the Lord of hosts
that peoples labor merely for fire,
and nations wear themselves for nothing.
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge
of the glory of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea.
Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink.
You pour out your wrath and make them drunk
in order to gaze at their nakedness.
You will have your fill of shame instead of glory.
Drink yourself and show your uncircumcision.
The cup in the Lord's right hand
will come around to you,
and utter shame will come upon your glory.
The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
as will the destruction of the beasts
that terrified them.
For the blood of men and violence to the earth,
to cities and all who dwell in them.
What prophet is an idol when its maker has shaped it?
A mental image, a teacher of lies.
For its maker trusts in his own creation
when he makes speechless idols.
Woe to him who says to a wooden thing,
Awake to a silent stone.
Arise, can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
and there is no breath at all in it.
But the Lord is in his holy temple.
Let all the earth keep silence before him.
A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet,
according to Shigeonot.
O Lord, I have heard the report of you,
and your work, O Lord, do I fear.
In the midst of the years, revive it.
In the midst of the years, make it known.
In wrath, remember mercy.
This is the word of God.
Great, thank you guys.
Well done.
A tricky passage.
Lots of big words and woes and all that.
So, well done.
Theo, for your first time reading on a Sunday,
you got a very easy passage.
So, well done, Jonas.
This morning, we continue looking at this
strange little book in the Old Testament
called Habakkuk, or Habakkuk.
And it's right at the end of the Old Testament,
just before the New Testament,
and it's a book in which this man called Habakkuk
wrestles with God around the big questions of life.
Where are you, God?
Why do you seem absent?
Why are you not hearing any of my prayers?
And so, last week, we looked at chapter one.
And chapter one starts off with Habakkuk complaining to God.
Because everywhere he looks around him in Israel,
there is violence, there is wickedness,
there is corrupt leaders, there is injustice.
And he says, God, where are you?
Are you not doing anything about it?
And God replies, and he says, funny ask.
I actually am doing something about it.
I'm busy raising up the Babylonians,
that hasty and bitter nation,
and they will be my instruments to come and discipline you
and to teach you not to be like that.
And Habakkuk says, what?
You've got to be joking.
The Babylonians are even more unrighteous than us.
How are unrighteous Babylon
going to teach righteousness to Israel?
How is unjust Babylon going to restore justice to Israel?
Where is the justice in that?
And so, Habakkuk is confused
and he's confounded by God's ways.
And at the end of chapter one,
he ends off by saying,
I'm going to take my stand on the watchtower
and I'm going to see what God has to say
about my complaints.
And today we get to chapter two.
And we don't know how long,
there's some period of time,
but God does respond.
And that's what we're going to look at today.
And so the question today is,
how do we make sense of God's justice?
When it appears that God allows evil and wickedness
and injustice to run rampant in the world,
and he doesn't seem to be doing anything about it,
how do we make sense of that?
What do we do with the perceived injustice in the world?
Now, this is Habakkuk's dilemma
and we're going to look at it.
Now, in this passage today,
we're going to look at four things.
I know a real sermon only has three points.
God and his sovereignty has given us four points today.
Okay.
And so today we're going to look at
God's good news to Habakkuk,
God's bad news to Habakkuk,
God's bad news to us,
and then God's good news to us.
Okay.
So let's dive in and look.
Firstly, God's good news to Habakkuk.
God answers Habakkuk and he says,
Habakkuk, I've got good news.
God's justice is coming.
And he responds by giving Habakkuk a vision.
And he tells Habakkuk,
write the vision down.
Make it clear.
Make it plain.
And the reason is because God knows
that all people throughout all generations
are going to ask the same questions.
And so he's saying,
Habakkuk, the answer I give to you,
write it down.
Make it clear.
So that in future generations,
when people are asking the same questions,
where are you, God?
They've got an answer.
And so look at what he says in verse two.
He says, write it down.
Make it plain.
And what is this message that God's given him?
It's a vision of what's going to happen
to the unbridled wickedness of Babylon.
And God's answer is this.
He says, Habakkuk,
I've heard your questions.
I've heard your complaints.
I've answered you.
Justice is coming.
Look at verse six with me.
Now in verse six and onwards,
there are actually five woes,
five pronouncements of judgment upon Babylon
because of their wickedness and the evil one.
And in each one,
God is going to pronounce this judgment,
but then he's going to show them
how the very thing that Babylon is guilty of
is actually going to be put upon them
and it's going to come upon their own heads.
So for instance,
let me think of an analogy.
I don't know if any of you remember 2014
when Russia annexed Crimea in Ukraine.
I know in 2014 in Hong Kong,
we had our own things going on here,
but there were other things going on in the world as well.
And I remember reading the newspapers
when Russia annexed Crimea.
Crimea was a province of Ukraine.
And I remember thinking,
how on earth does that happen?
That one nation just decides,
we're going to take that province back
and make it part of our nation.
And so they just rolled the tanks in
and the army did their thing.
And overnight,
Crimea was now no longer part of Ukraine,
is now part of Russia.
And so at the time,
all these world leaders stood up and said,
you know,
we condemn this in the strongest possible terms
and this shouldn't happen.
This is so unjust.
And they said all these things,
but at the end of the day,
there's not a whole lot you can do about it.
And so five years later,
Crimea is now part of Russia.
In other words,
sometimes people stand up and they say,
woe to these people.
This is bad.
And we condemn this judgment.
It shouldn't happen.
But there's not a whole lot you can do about it.
But that's not what God says.
Look at what God says.
He says,
woe to Babylon.
And then he's going to show them
what's going to happen
when they continue in their ways.
Look at verse six.
Look at the first one.
He says,
woe to him who heaps up what is not his own,
who loads himself up with pledges.
In other words,
God's telling Habakkuk
that he's not ignorant
about Babylon's unjust economic practices.
The fact that they plunder poorer nations,
stealing all their goods
and taking them back to Babylon.
The fact that they've built their nation,
their empire on extortion,
stealing from the poor
and plundering those that are weaker than themselves,
enslaving people.
And so look at what he says in verse seven.
He says,
you think you've got away with it Babylon,
but will not your debtors suddenly arise?
You see what he's saying?
In other words,
Babylon thinks that they're going and stealing
all this gold and plundering other nations.
And God says,
actually you're just borrowing from them
and they're going to soon call in their debts.
With interest.
They're coming back to take
what you've just taken from them.
In other words,
think of this.
I don't know if you remember,
you're at school
and you've got some lunch money,
okay?
And some bully comes
and steals your lunch money, right?
And he thinks he's got away with it.
Only on for later on in the day,
a whole group of people surround him
and say,
we'll take that back,
thank you very much.
And your own lunch money for interest.
In other words,
Babylon thinks they're stealing from others
and God says,
it's just a matter of time
before the nations call in their debts.
Will not your debtors arise
and those awake who make you tremble?
Then you will be spoiled for them
because you have plundered many nations.
They shall plunder you.
Look at else what he says,
verse nine.
He says,
So here are the Babylonians.
Again,
the unjust economic practices.
They are stealing from the poor.
They are plundering nations.
They are using this money
that they've taken
and the slave labor in Babylon.
And what are they doing?
They're building bigger
and better houses for themselves.
They're building themselves castles
that they think
are going to keep them safe
from harm's reach.
And so they think
that their economic strength
is their safety
and their security
and they trample on others
in order to get it.
That's the Babylonian way.
But look at what God says,
verse 10.
You have devised shame
for your house.
You've cut off many people.
You have forfeited your own life.
See the irony there?
You've planted others
and you think
this is going to make you safe.
Don't you realize
that in doing so
you have forfeited your own life.
The very thing
you're trying to keep safe.
For the stone will cry out
from the wall.
The beam from the woodwork
will respond.
God says,
Habakkuk,
I've seen what's happening.
I've heard your cries.
My justice is coming.
Maybe I'll skip over the last one.
Verse 12.
He says the same thing.
Woe to him
who builds a town with blood
and founds a city on iniquity.
Talking about slave labor.
And then,
let's look at it.
Verse 13.
He says,
Is it not from the Lord of hosts
that all these people
labor merely for fire?
In other words,
you're building this empire
on slave labor.
You've got these people
and you're treating them
as less than human
to build your great city,
your empire.
Don't you realize
your empire
is going to end up
in the fire?
Everything you've built
is going to end up
in ashes in your hands.
And then he says,
verse 14.
For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge
of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Now here's a question.
What percentage of the sea
is covered by water?
Okay?
A hundred percent, right?
So look at what God's saying here.
You build yourself this empire
that you think
is going to last forever.
It's just a matter of time
before it's going to be ashes
in the ground.
But there is an empire.
There is a kingdom coming
and it will last forever
and it will cover
the whole earth
like the waters
cover the sea.
I am building an empire
that will never
get demolished
or torn down.
Habakkuk, I've seen,
I have heard,
my justice is coming.
And this is God's promise.
Things look evil today.
Things look like wickedness
just is rampant,
unchecked.
It has an expiry date.
My justice is coming.
Now look at verse 6 with me
if you've got your bulletin
or your Bible.
Verse 6 says this.
Shall not all these,
okay, underline these,
take up their taunt
against Babylon,
scoffing and with riddles
for him,
saying woe to him.
So the question is this.
These five woes,
woes Babylon for this
and this and this and this,
who is issuing this woe?
Who is it that's mocking them
and saying you think
you're building a castle
in the sky?
Don't you realize
the stones are going to
fall on your own head?
You think you're building
this empire.
Don't you realize
it's going to end up
in ashes?
Who's mocking Babylon
with this taunt?
Is it Habakkuk?
No.
Is it God?
No.
Who is it?
It's the victims
that are being run over
by the Babylonian army.
So Babylon is this
unjust, wicked nation
that plunders other nations
and God says
it's just a matter of time
that these people
that you think
you can just march over
from another perspective
in history,
they're looking down
in history
and they're laughing at you
because your wickedness
has an expiry date.
Maybe an example is this.
It's a silly example
but let's see if it makes sense.
I don't know how many of you
like soccer,
also called football,
outside of America.
When my team is winning,
I love soccer.
When they're not winning,
I lose interest.
In 1999,
there's this amazing game
of soccer.
There's this league in Europe
called the Champions League
which is the best teams
from all the best countries
in Europe
play against each other.
So it's called
the Champions League
because it's the best
of the best.
And so 1999,
Champions League final,
the two very best teams,
Manchester United
and Bayern Munich
are playing a game together.
Six minutes into the game,
Bayern Munich score a goal
and so they're ahead.
And for almost the rest
of the game,
Bayern Munich is winning.
They just,
they're one goal ahead
but they're just running rampant
over Manchester United.
And it seems like
they're just going to score
goal after goal.
Manchester United
have a chance
every now and then
but really Bayern Munich
are in charge
of the entire game.
And so three minutes
before the end of the game,
the organizers,
there's this massive
big trophy.
It's like this big.
They start to tie
the ribbons
of Bayern Munich club
onto the trophy
because as soon as
the game finishes,
the camera crews
are going to fall
onto the trophy
and they want the ribbons
of Bayern Munich
on there.
And the stands
where the Bayern Munich
fans are,
they're letting off
fireworks and flares
and the stand is bouncing
with enthusiasm.
You know what happened,
right?
One minute,
two minutes before
the end of the game,
Manchester United
score a goal.
It's now 1-0.
Bayern Munich stunt
but it's okay,
they got this thing.
The game then goes
into injury time
which is like an extra
two minutes at the end
of full time
and Manchester United
score another goal
and as they score,
that's the end of the game,
it's done
and they win
the Champions League final.
And so quickly
the organizers
are cutting off the ribbons
and tying new ones on
and that's what God
is saying here.
He's saying Babylon,
it looks like you're winning.
Wickedness,
injustice,
it looks like it's
running rampant.
It's just a matter of time.
Your expiry date is coming.
The very people
that you thought
you had demolished
are standing back
from history
and they are taunting you,
they are mocking you
saying your time
is coming to an end.
So,
that's the good news,
okay?
Habakkuk,
the good news,
justice is coming.
Secondly,
that was the longest one,
okay?
Secondly,
God's bad news
to Habakkuk.
Justice is coming,
says God,
but it's coming
in my timing,
not in your timing.
So,
let's go back
to the beginning
of chapter two
and see what God says.
And,
when you hear
God's good news,
sometimes we can think,
well,
all's well
that ends well.
Everything's just rosy.
But,
look at how things work out.
Look at verse two.
God says,
write the vision down,
make it plain.
Then he says,
for the vision
awaits its appointed time.
It hastens to the end,
it will not lie.
If it seems slow,
wait for it,
it will surely come.
Now,
I'm not sure
how many of you
know that feeling
of waiting for something
and it feels like
it's never coming.
Maybe you've run a marathon,
okay?
I've never run a marathon,
but let's just pretend
I have.
And you get to 30 kilometers
and your legs
feel like jelly
and you feel like
my life sucks.
And this is never
going to end,
right?
You've got 12 kilometers
ahead of you
and you feel like
I'm never,
ever going to get
to the end.
Or maybe you're a PhD student
or a master's student
and you're in
the abyss of drudgery
feeling like
this thing is never
going to end,
right?
And,
in many ways,
that's how Habakkuk felt.
God gives him
this vision
of how the story
is going to end.
He tells them
it may seem slow,
but it's coming,
but it doesn't seem
like it's ever coming.
And,
in fact,
this is something
that Habakkuk
had to wrestle
with his entire life
because the Bible,
or actually history
tells us
that justice did come.
Babylon was overthrown.
A few years later,
70 years later,
Babylon is smashed
by the Persians
and they never recovered.
That's the end
of the Babylonian empire.
Except,
it happened
after Habakkuk
is dead
and buried
and in the grave.
In other words,
the justice
he waited for
came,
but it didn't come
in his lifetime.
And Habakkuk
starts off with this question,
how long,
oh God?
He thought,
apparently,
God does not act.
And what God
was showing him
was that God
had just not yet acted.
And Habakkuk
was correct
to think that God
ought to act
in response
to the injustice
in the world.
and he's quite right.
But he also thought
that he knew how
and when God
ought to act.
And in this,
he was quite wrong.
And so God
is teaching him
this important lesson
of patience.
That the life of a Christ
follows one of faith.
And so that leads us
to verse 4,
in which we looked
at last week.
God says,
the righteous
will live
by faith.
And friends,
this really is
the greatest description
of the Christian life.
that the life
of a Christian
is that the righteous
will live
by faith.
Trusting God's ways.
Trusting his timing.
Trusting that he knows
best,
even when things
don't make sense to us.
And this is what
God is saying
to Habakkuk.
It seems slow.
Wait for it.
It's coming.
It seems like
it's delaying.
I know what I'm doing.
Habakkuk,
my appointed time
is coming.
This is the
quintessential verse
for the Christian.
The righteous
will live
by faith.
And so friends,
tomorrow when you
go to work,
some of us
might be challenged
by the fact
that a colleague
that makes all sorts
of unethical decisions,
cuts corners,
backstabs people,
they get promoted
and you don't.
Where's the justice
in that?
The righteous
will live
by faith.
And friends,
for some of us
it seems like
evil's on the rise,
people are becoming
more and more corrupt,
unethical behaviors
everywhere.
The righteous
will live
by faith,
knowing that
your hope
and your life
is not found
in getting ahead
in the rat race,
it's being found
in who Christ is
in your life
in him.
And so this is
the most succinct
description of the
Christian life.
Because this world
is not our home
and therefore
cannot give us
what we long for
or hope for.
Christ says,
the vision awaits
its time.
It hastens to the end.
It seems slow,
wait for it.
It will come,
it will not delay.
Habakkuk's bad news,
God's timing
is not necessarily
his own.
And that leads us
to the third point,
our bad news.
Now,
God's justice
in the world,
the fact that justice
is coming,
is good news.
It means that
there's no wickedness
that is ever
perpetuated
which is left undone.
It may not get
justice in our lifetime,
but there is coming
a time,
God says,
I know about it,
I'm sovereign,
I will bring
my just judgment
to bear.
Now that's good news,
but it's also bad news.
And I'm going to let
my friend,
John Injoroche,
who I actually don't know,
he's not really my friend,
but let's just pretend,
let him answer
this question for us.
John,
who is part of the
RZIM speaking team,
this is what he writes.
He says,
when our sense of justice
is threatened,
we are quick
to demand answers.
This is nowhere
more evident
than the attacks
on God's character
based on his
administration of justice,
especially in the
Old Testament.
So things go wrong,
we say,
God,
where are you?
This doesn't make sense,
we demand answers
to this.
But at the root
of this reaction
lies the failure
to appreciate
the full implications
for what one really
asks for
when we demand
justice.
If justice
is to be
absolutely served,
the guilty
cannot go unpunished.
Whenever we demand
justice,
we affirm
the same standard
that also
condemns
ourselves.
You see that?
In other words,
we say,
God,
we want justice.
This is not right
that evil reigns.
But what about
when we are guilty
of doing the same
things?
Don't we condemn
ourselves?
So in chapter 2,
verse 6,
we read it earlier,
the first of these
five woes.
Look at what Habakkuk
says.
He says,
Woe to him
who heaps up
what is not his own.
And then as Habakkuk's
writing this down
in the scroll,
he almost cannot
help himself.
He throws in
these three words,
How long,
O God?
And then he continues
and loads himself
up with pledges.
He can't help himself.
God,
how long shall
the Babylonians
continue like this?
But remember,
last week,
in chapter 1,
he starts off
and says,
How long,
O God,
will you not
hear my cries?
And in that instance,
he's not talking
about Babylon,
he's talking
about Israel.
He's talking
about God's
very people.
You see that?
On one instance,
he's saying,
God,
how long shall
the Babylonians
go on like this?
But just the chapter
before,
he's saying,
God,
how long shall
your people
go on like this
as well?
In chapter 2,
he writes and he says,
The Babylonians,
they're violent.
They're violent.
Where's your justice,
God?
In chapter 1,
he says,
God,
I look around Israel
and I see violence
everywhere.
He complains about
the perversion
of the Babylonians.
In chapter 1,
he talks about
the perversion
in Israel.
In other words,
the very things
that rile Habakkuk's
sense of injustice
about the Babylonians
are just as present
in the people
of God themselves.
And that's bad news
for us.
Tim Mackey is the guy,
the genius behind
the Bible Project.
If you've ever seen
the Bible Project,
it's amazing.
Tim Mackey's the guy
behind it.
And he makes
this amazing point
that at the end
of the Bible,
in the book of Revelation,
God condemns Babylon.
But what's interesting
is Babylon
is long buried
by the time
Revelation is written.
It's 600 years later.
Babylon doesn't even exist.
And yet God has
some very strong words
to say for Babylon.
Why is that?
Tim Mackey makes the point
that every city,
every successful,
wealthy city,
every civilization
has the temptation
to become Babylon
all over again.
And the reason is
because the seeds
of Babylon
are in each one of us.
Or as Salman Rushdie
said in one of his books,
the barbarians
are not only
out at the gates,
they are in our own skin
as well.
And friends,
this is the story
of the world.
In fact,
this is particularly
the story of Africa,
the continent
that I come from.
Africa is a continent
of revolutionaries
and freedom fighters
and coup d'etats
and independence fighters.
But as soon as
the revolutionaries
get into power,
it's just a matter
of time before
they start doing
the very thing
that they shed blood
to overthrow.
The revolutionaries
become power hungry
themselves.
Why?
Because the barbarians
are not only
at our gates,
they are in our skins
as well.
And friends,
that's true
for every civilization
and every one of us.
And so in the New Testament,
the Apostle Paul,
he writes in Romans
and he says how
everybody in the world,
the Jews
and the Gentiles,
the religious
and the irreligious,
all of us,
if we try to
stand before God
in our own merits,
we stand condemned.
And so he says,
are the Jews,
the religious people
any better off
because they have
God's law?
Not at all.
Are the irreligious
any better off
because they're not
constrained by some system?
Not at all.
All people everywhere,
their mouths
have been stopped.
It's an amazing picture.
I don't know if you remember
when you were a little kid
and you get caught
for doing something wrong
and you stand
and your teacher
or parent is scolding you
and you've got no defense.
You're speechless.
Your mouth has been stopped.
And that's what Paul says.
Every human being
in all the world
before the holiness
and the justice of God,
our mouths
have been stopped.
Now look at what Habakkuk says.
He says the same thing
in chapter 2.
He says,
The Lord is in His holy temple.
Therefore,
let all the earth
keep silent
before Him.
You see, friends,
in our pursuit of justice,
when we look at the world
and especially those in power
and we throw our fists
and we say,
how on earth
could you be like that?
How could you behave like that?
The truth is,
given half a chance
in the same conditions,
if we were in the same positions
of power
or were part of the same culture,
how different would we be?
I remember as a teenager
going to my parents
and saying,
Mom and Dad,
talk to me about apartheid
in South Africa.
You were adults.
Why didn't you fight apartheid?
Why didn't you stand up
for injustice?
How could you
just go on with it
and benefit from it?
But the haunting question
is if I was there
as a white South African,
would I have done
anything different?
Would I have done
anything different?
And so Charles Spurgeon
says it like this.
He says,
the man or the woman
who clings to his own morality
to justify himself
before God
is like a man
who grasps
a massive stone
in order to prevent himself
from sinking
in a flood.
Friends,
we stand before God
with nothing in our hands.
We stand before
His holy justice,
condemned.
And so the question is,
where is our hope?
Where do we turn
when we see injustice
all around us
and we see injustice
in our own hearts?
What hope do we have?
And so fourthly,
the good news
of the gospel
is where justice
and mercy meet.
At the end of his vision,
Habakkuk,
he does the only
legitimate thing
that he can do.
He gets on his knees
and he prays.
He says,
God, I don't know
what to do.
I don't know where to stand.
And so he prays.
And he prays
this amazing prayer
and we're going to look
at it next week.
But I want to look
at just the first verse.
Look at what he says here.
He says,
Lord, I've heard
the report of you.
Your work of God
do I fear.
In the midst of the years,
revive it.
In the midst of the years,
make it known.
In your wrath,
remember mercy.
In your wrath,
remember mercy.
You see,
earlier Habakkuk
praised and says,
God,
where's the justice?
God,
Israel's running rampant.
What are you doing about it?
And God says,
I'm going to do
something about it.
And now he's seen,
oh boy,
God,
if you do something about it,
that's serious.
And so he gets on his knees
and he says,
God,
bring your justice.
Bring your justice.
But God,
in your wrath,
remember mercy.
Habakkuk knows
that if only God
brings his justice,
his just judgment,
then what hope do we have?
But he knows
that God is not only just,
he's also gracious.
In your justice,
remember mercy.
And so friends,
the question is,
where do we find justice
that doesn't just sweep
wickedness and sin
under the carpet?
It doesn't just turn
a blind eye
to the injustice
in the world.
But where do we also
find a mercy
and a grace
that doesn't condemn us
and crush us
and the guilt
in our own hearts?
Is there a way
for God to decisively
deal with wickedness
in the world
and yet not decisively
deal with the people
in whom sin dwells?
Well,
again,
my friend,
John in Joroghe
says this.
The biblical solution
to this conundrum
is uniquely ingenious,
both logically
and relationally.
It is at the cross
of Jesus
where God's perfect justice
is perfectly administered
and yet his eternal mercy
is publicly displayed.
Friends,
in the cross of Christ,
we are confronted
by the holiness
and the justice of God.
In the cross of Christ,
God tells us
that sin isn't just
a social construct
to make us feel bad
about ourselves.
sin is a reality
and the consequences
of sin
is just judgment
and death.
But in the cross,
we are also confronted
with the mercy of God
who says,
I will take the punishment
of your sin
upon myself
so that you can go free
if you come to me
in faith
and repentance.
In the cross,
we find God's justice
and his mercy.
He deals with wickedness
by crushing Christ
on the cross
and yet he pours out
his mercy
by saying,
welcome my sons
and my daughters.
In the cross alone,
justice and mercy meet.
And so,
fifthly and finally,
the question is this,
what do we do with this?
What do we do with the sense
that God's passionate
about justice
but justice alone
isn't good news for us,
we need mercy as well.
Friends,
the degree to which
we understand
how these two things
come together
will change
our entire lives.
This week,
in this broken
and sinful world of ours,
there are going to be
many reasons
to be bitter
and angry
at the injustices
of the world.
You see the way
that people are treated
and a part of our heart
will rile and say,
God,
that's not right.
Justice should be done.
We look at corrupt leadership
around the world.
We look at income inequality
in our own city.
We look at how companies
and cities
and empires
are built
on the back of slavery
and slave labor.
Maybe you're a parent
and you feel angry
about the fact
that your children
never respect you,
never show any appreciation.
Maybe you feel angry
at the way your parents
never showed you
any appreciation or love.
Maybe you feel angry
at your boss
who makes your life misery.
Irresponsible leaders
that crash the stock market
and lose all your life savings.
A spouse who doesn't show you
any appreciation or love.
Maybe a romantic relationship
that turned wrong.
Friends,
this very week
you're going to look at
injustice in the world
and there's going to be
a temptation to feel angry
and bitter about it.
Michael Ramsden
from RZIM
said this recently.
He said,
if our drive for justice
is bitterness in our hearts,
even when you get justice,
you'll still feel bitter
and angry.
But if on the other hand
our drive for justice
is fueled by compassion
and love,
whether you get justice
or not,
you'll still have love
and compassion
in our hearts.
Friends,
the degree to which you see
the justice of God
and the mercy of Christ
on the cross
poured out for you,
to that degree
we'll be able to stand up
for justice
and yet do it
with compassion
and gentleness
and mercy
in our own hearts.
Let me land with the story.
Many of you will know
South Africa,
the country I come from,
many years ago
we had this thing
called apartheid
which was when
the government
legislated
extreme racism
and prejudice
against anyone
that essentially
wasn't white.
and it was horrific.
Many people were killed
and the justice system
was broken.
Police could do
almost anything
and just a horrific time.
And so in 1994
just the apartheid
is overturned.
A new government
is in place.
Nelson Mandela
is the new president
and Nelson Mandela
did something very wise.
He started something
called the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission
which is where
people that had been
victims of injustice
could come to this commission
and seek truth
for what happened
to their loved ones.
And so what often happened
is people were killed
but people didn't know
what happened
to their loved ones.
And so the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission
said anyone
that perpetrated injustice
could acknowledge
their fault,
speak the truth,
those that were victims
could come and hear
the truth
and hopefully
that would be
the seedbed
for some kind
of reconciliation.
There's an amazing story
about what happened
at one of those meetings.
There was an African lady
sitting at this meeting
and years previously
a police officer
by the name of
Mr. Funderbrook
went to her house
and her son
was accused
or thought
of being part
of a terrorist organization
to try and overthrow
the apartheid government.
And so they grab
her teenage son,
they drag him
out the house,
and she never knew
what happened
to her husband's body.
She didn't know
if they'd taken him away,
she never knew
what happened.
And so 10 years later,
this lady
is now facing
the man
that did this
to her son
and her husband
in the same room
and he's telling
the story
saying this is what I did.
And so at the end
of this hearing,
the commissioner
turns this lady
and says,
what do you think
we should do?
What do you want done?
How should justice
be served?
And this lady
says,
I want three things
to happen.
The first thing
is,
I want to be taken
to the place
where my husband's body
was burnt
so that I can gather
up the dust
and give his remains
a decent burial.
My husband and my son
were my only family.
Second thing,
she says,
I want Mr.
Thunderbrook
to become
my son.
I want him
to come to my house
twice a month
and to have tea
with me
so that I can
pour out on him
what love I still
have in my heart.
And thirdly,
she says,
I want Mr.
Thunderbrook
to know
that I offer him
complete forgiveness
because Jesus Christ
died to forgive.
This also would be
the wish of my husband.
And so,
she says,
now,
will somebody
help me get up
and walk across
the courtroom
so that I can put
my arms around
Mr.
Thunderbrook
and show him
that he is truly
forgiven?
Friends,
in our world,
there is incredible
injustice.
There is incredible
wrongdoing.
And if justice
is the only recourse,
what hope do we have?
If justice
is the only thing
that we do,
we will cause
vendettas
and vigilantes
and one group
will forever
hate another.
But in the midst
of this,
God pours out
his mercy
and he says,
let justice
be met
by mercy.
Here,
this lady says,
I want the perpetrator
of the crime
to become my son
so I can pour out
my love upon him.
Friends,
in the cross,
God poured out
his love
on us
in Jesus Christ.
And Jesus died
on the cross
that we could become
his sons
and his daughters
so that God
could pour the love
in his heart
upon us,
that God could
welcome us
into his family
forever.
Friends,
part of our role
in calling as a church
is to be part
of God's redemption
story in the city.
And that means
we're going to stand up
for justice.
It means we're going
to fight for justice
in our city.
It means we're going
to stand up
against injustice.
We're going to stand up
for the poor
and the marginalized.
We're going to stand up
for those that are treated
less than human.
We're not going to be those
like the Babylonians
that just build a nest egg
in the sky
and think we're safe
and secure.
But we're going to stand up
and fight for those
that don't have
and against inequality.
But friends,
how are we going to do it?
In our world,
justice is a thing
that people feel entitled to.
But friends,
the church is called
to stand up for justice,
not arrogantly,
not shaking our fists,
but with compassion
and mercy in our hearts,
with conviction and love,
with grace and empathy,
knowing that in the gospel,
we too are sinners,
deserving of justice,
and yet recipients
of his amazing mercy.
And so let's come
before him now
and pray
and ask God
to make us
that kind of people.
Let's pray together.
Heavenly Father,
Father,
God,
I don't know what to say.
Lord,
God,
when we look at
the injustice
in our world,
our hearts recoil
and our hearts say,
this is not right.
Father,
we long for our true home.
We long for your kingdom
to come,
that kingdom
which will be established
on the earth,
that will cover the world
like the waters
cover the sea,
God.
Your kingdom
where there's no more tears
and no more pain
and no more sin
and no more wickedness
and no more injustice.
God,
we long for that.
We long for our true home,
Lord.
Jesus,
we say,
come quickly,
God.
Come quickly,
God,
and deal with the injustice
in our world.
And yet,
God,
we also say,
thank you,
God,
for your patience
because if you dealt
with us too quickly,
God,
we would have had no hope.
Thank you for your patience,
God,
that is so patient
you give us a chance
to come to our senses,
to humble ourselves
before you,
to throw ourselves
at the foot of the cross
and say,
Jesus,
have mercy on us.
Forgive us,
God.
Jesus,
thank you for the cross.
Thank you for that place
where justice and mercy
meet,
God.
God,
won't you show us,
God,
just how much
your mercy costs.
Show us,
God,
what our sin really costs you.
God,
show us your glory,
we pray.
Father,
we don't want to be followers
of Jesus
and go through the motions.
God,
we want our hearts
to be moved
by who you are.
Come and write
your justice and mercy,
your gospel deep
in our hearts,
we pray.
Father,
pray that as a church
we really will become
agents of hope
and healing,
justice and grace
in our city.
God,
I pray that Hong Kong
will be better off,
more like heaven
because we as a church
are here
and because our brothers
and sisters
across Hong Kong
are here.
Come help us,
we pray.
Make us more like you.
Make our city
more like heaven,
we pray.
Father,
I pray especially
this morning
for those of us
maybe that have been
victims of
great injustice.
And God,
sometimes a sermon
like this can make,
can be like salt
in the wound.
And when we hear
that justice will come
but it is often delayed,
Father,
it's so hard.
God,
won't you give us grace?
God,
those of us
that have been hurt
and abused
and mistreated,
God,
won't you give us grace?
Father,
won't you put your arms
around us?
Pour your love
into our hearts,
we pray,
God,
and help us
to forgive,
I pray.
Jesus,
we're so hard,
help us to forgive.
Help us to have grace
and compassion.
Do you give us
compassion?
Joë,