The Vision Belongs to God.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Welcome to the Village. I’m Steve. [0:02] I’m so glad to see each and every one of you here. [0:05] If this is your first time here, welcome. [0:08] We want to love you. We want to get to know you. [0:12] I love that song. [0:14] Let me tell you why. I’m a bit of a grammar nerd, okay?

[0:18] An interesting thing takes place in that song. [0:21] I just want to break it down for you. [0:22] I want to exegete that song if you guys are okay with that. [0:25] Like I do the Bible. [0:25] It speaks of the future and the hope that we have in the future. [0:32] And then in the present tense we proclaim, you hold me now.

[0:37] And what that does is it brings back to memory Romans chapter 8 [0:42] when Paul proclaims, he says, [0:44] and we know that for those who love God and those that are called according to his purpose, [0:48] all things work together for good. [0:50] And then he goes through this cycle and this order of events that God has done for us in Jesus. [0:59] And he talks about how we’ve been called, we’ve been justified, we’ve been predestined.

[1:04] And then he goes into it and at the end he says, [1:07] and those whom he has done those things for, he has glorified. [1:14] Okay? If you don’t know anything about theology, I want to just break this down for you. [1:18] What he’s saying is that in Jesus, God has done all of these things for us [1:24] where our relationship with him is concerned. [1:26] And the hope of the believer is that the wrath of God will not be dropped on us,

[1:31] but rather it was dropped on the Son. [1:34] And then at the end he talks about this thing that in theology is called glorification. [1:38] In other words, that when we die or when Christ returns, [1:42] those of us who believe will be in the presence of God [1:45] and we will worship him forever face to face in heaven. [1:50] But in that verse when he says, have been glorified,

[1:53] he uses the past tense of something that has not happened yet. [1:59] And the reason he does is because Paul is riding with this certainty and the hope that he has. [2:05] He says, my hope and my certainty and the promises of God, my faith is so sure [2:11] that even though I have not experienced it, it’s so certain as if I’m going to write as if it’s already happened. [2:18] And so when we sing songs like that, maybe you’re a grammar nerd and you’re like, [2:23] I don’t know, we’re experiencing, but he holds me now in it. How does it work?

[2:29] That’s what faith looks like. It says it’s so sure. [2:35] I can just bank on it as if it’s now. [2:38] And that the things that I rest in that give me the most comfort, [2:43] that give me the most joy in the face of whatever life is throwing at me [2:50] is in the promises of God. Because they’re sure. [2:56] They’re certain. And nothing else is.

[2:59] Welcome to the village. If you have your Bibles, go ahead and turn to Habakkuk 2. [3:04] Got to be careful. I’ll spend like 30 minutes talking about something that has nothing to do with the sermon [3:09] if I’m not careful. I don’t want to get fussed at later. [3:14] I don’t want to get fussed at, guys. [3:16] Alright, just kidding. [3:18] Habakkuk chapter 2, if you haven’t been here with us or if you haven’t,

[3:21] you just need a little bit of a reminder of where we’ve been. [3:24] We’ve been taking a journey through this Old Testament book called Habakkuk. [3:28] If you reach Matthew, you’ve gone too far. [3:30] If you’re in the Psalms, you haven’t gone far enough. [3:32] But it’s one of those tricky books because most of us don’t even know how to pronounce his name. [3:38] But, um,

[3:39] Habakkuk is a prophet in a very tough time in the history of Israel. [3:44] It’s a time when Israel’s not following God. [3:47] Israel’s not worshipping God. [3:49] Israel has fallen prey and fallen into disobedience and into temptation. [3:55] Not just to be what we would consider immoral. [3:59] But rather, they are actually turning from God and worshipping false gods.

[4:05] And Habakkuk is a prophet during this time. [4:08] And when you’re a prophet for the real God, [4:11] and the entire nation that’s supposed to be following God and listening to you [4:15] is worshipping false gods, [4:18] it’s not a very good time to be a prophet. [4:20] Because nobody cares what you have to say.

[4:23] And so Habakkuk starts out the book and he looks to God and he says, [4:25] God, no one’s listening to me. [4:30] Judge them. [4:31] Do something. [4:33] Make them turn back to you. [4:35] And God then responds to Habakkuk.

[4:37] He says, I’m going to, and here’s how I’m going to do it. [4:40] I’m going to send an even more wicked nation. [4:43] The Chaldeans or the Babylonians, have you. [4:46] I’m going to send them in. [4:47] They’re going to take Israel into captivity. [4:50] And that’s how I’m going to judge their sin.

[4:53] And Habakkuk doesn’t like this answer. [4:55] And we saw last week that Habakkuk makes this grave argument. [4:59] That God, how can the more wicked judge the less wicked?

[5:05] God, that doesn’t make any sense. [5:08] And he says, we’re righteous, they’re not. [5:10] Which is really funny because he just got done saying how Israel wasn’t righteous. [5:14] He says, we’re righteous, they’re not. [5:16] We’re your people, they’re not. [5:17] Yet you’re going to allow them to trample over us.

[5:22] And God responds in this convicting way when he says, [5:28] you just called yourself righteous, but if you were righteous, wouldn’t you trust me? [5:35] And he says this great thing that you hear in Christianity many times, [5:37] because it’s echoed in the New Testament. [5:38] He says, the righteous shall live by faith. [5:41] In other words, Habakkuk, what you’re calling righteousness isn’t righteousness,

[5:45] because your righteousness is all swept up in how good you think you are, [5:48] how holy you think you are, how much you think you please me, [5:52] when in all actuality compared to me, you’re not holy, you’re not righteous. [5:56] And the only way to find righteousness is to trust in me who is righteous.

[6:01] And he turns Habakkuk’s view right on its head, [6:04] and then he says, Habakkuk, you just want the things that the Chaldeans have. [6:08] You want their wealth, you want their power, you want their authority. [6:11] He says, that is not my plan for you. [6:15] Trust my plan.

[6:19] And I would like to tell you that what God has to say is a little nicer [6:23] in the rest of chapter 2, where we’re going to be found today, [6:25] but I mean, he’s going to lay it on Habakkuk, alright? [6:29] So let’s join in reading. [6:31] This isn’t going to be one of those moments where we put these verses on coffee cups and t-shirts. [6:35] This is going to be one of those moments when God really reveals to us who we actually are.

[6:41] Because I don’t know about you, but the greatest liar about who I am is me. [6:47] I tend to think I’m more righteous than everyone else, I’m more holy than everyone else, [6:50] and I’m better than everyone else in the face of everything that God has told me about me. [6:55] Which is that I’m not to compare myself to you. [6:57] You know who I’m to compare myself to? God. [7:00] And how do I stack up against him? Well, let’s think about it.

[7:03] He’s eternal, he’s the creator, he’s righteous, he’s holy, [7:08] he would never fight with his wife, and he would never leave his underwear on the floor. [7:14] Alright? What, is that too close? Sorry.

[7:19] I don’t add up. I could just start with the simple things about, you know, [7:23] my oatmeal this morning going over the edges of the bowl, [7:27] and my strange anger at 5.30 this morning at that. [7:32] Alright? And I know you’ve been there. [7:34] If you’re a man, you’ve been there. [7:36] Where it’s like, I don’t even know why I’m so angry right now.

[7:40] But I am.

[7:43] I just don’t add up when it comes to God’s righteousness.

[7:48] I guess you guys are better than me. [7:50] Maybe you don’t eat oatmeal, I don’t know. [7:53] Alright. [7:54] Back at chapter 2, I’m going to start reading in verse 6, [7:57] and the way we’re going to do it today is I’m going to read all of the rest of chapter 2. [8:03] And then we’re just going to break it down.

[8:04] Okay? [8:05] Because to get the whole picture, you need to read it all at once. [8:08] Alright? [8:09] So God just finishes saying that the Chaldeans and you are unrighteous and unholy, [8:15] and I’m God, trust me. [8:17] And then he goes on in verse 6, and he says,

[8:19] Shall not all these take up their taunt against him with scoffing and riddles for him to say, [8:26] Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own. [8:29] For how long? [8:31] And loathes himself with pledges. [8:33] Will not your debtors suddenly arise and those awake who will make you tremble? [8:38] Then you will be spoiled for them because you have plundered many nations.

[8:43] All the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you. [8:45] For the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them, [8:51] woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, [8:55] to be safe from the reach of harm. [8:58] You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples. [9:02] You have forfeited your life.

[9:05] For the stone will cry out from the wall and the beam from the woodwork respond. [9:10] Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity. [9:15] Behold, it is not from the Lord of hosts that people’s labor merely for fire, [9:19] and nations weary themselves for nothing. [9:21] For the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. [9:26] Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink and pour out your wrath and make them drunk

[9:33] in order to gaze at their nakedness. [9:36] You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. [9:39] Drink yourself and show your uncircumcision. [9:43] The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you and utter shame will come upon your glory. [9:49] The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beast that terrified them. [9:54] For the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.

[9:58] What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it? [10:01] A metal image, a teacher of lies? [10:04] For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols. [10:09] Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, awake, to a silent stone arise. [10:15] Can this teach? [10:17] Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath in it at all.

[10:22] But the Lord is in his holy temple. [10:26] Let all the earth keep silence before him. [10:29] You know, when you read that first, it’s almost like one of those chapters in Revelation, [10:35] where there’s a dragon and a six-headed horse, and it’s like, white horses and pale horses. [10:43] What is going on here? [10:45] It’s because we kind of don’t necessarily use a lot of the analogies every day that we find in Scripture.

[10:51] But what I want to do for the next few minutes is just kind of break down, [10:54] in light of the entire story of Scripture, what exactly God is talking about here, [11:00] and what exactly God is doing here. [11:02] Because God is responding to a man that says, [11:07] much wrong has been done to me. [11:11] Bring me justice, God.

[11:15] Bring it to me, because I deserve it. [11:18] Okay? [11:20] So the first thing I want to start out with here is just kind of unpacking for us [11:24] something that’s going to be very uncomfortable, [11:27] and that’s, number one, that our sense of justice is wrong, because it’s drenched in sin.

[11:34] Justice belongs to God. [11:38] Okay? [11:39] Understand that first and foremost, when God responds to sin, [11:44] He does not respond to sin because you ultimately deserve justice.

[11:56] All right? [11:57] And here’s why. [11:58] Look back in that text really quick. [12:00] And I just want to unpack how history reveals that all of us are sinful. [12:05] Okay? [12:05] Here’s how he starts.

[12:06] Look down from verses 6 to 7 when he talks about the strange thing [12:11] about people basically taunting righteous people, or taunting God better yet, [12:17] when he says, [12:18] will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those who awake who will make you tremble, [12:24] then you will be spoiled for them. [12:26] And then down in verse 8, he says,

[12:27] all the remnants of the people shall plunder you. [12:30] In other words, the people that you plunder will end up plundering you. [12:34] In other words, God says sin is so giant in the lives of everyone involved [12:40] in every situation of injustice that sin, first off, brings judgment on its own. [12:48] That history is just going on a course where when someone does wrong, [12:53] eventually it does come back to them.

[12:55] This is not some kind of karma. [12:57] If you do good, good comes. [12:58] If you do bad, bad comes. [12:59] Because trust me, you can go give somebody five bucks today [13:01] and you’re never going to see it again. [13:03] Or you may see ten tomorrow.

[13:05] I don’t know. [13:06] But here’s what God’s talking about. [13:08] Okay? [13:08] Let’s start with Israel. [13:10] Here’s how it works. [13:12] If you look through the book of Judges especially,

[13:14] because remember, Habakkuk is now coming from a standpoint [13:16] where he says Israel’s righteous, no one else is. [13:19] Throughout everything that we read in the Old Testament, [13:22] Israel does not act like a righteous and holy people [13:25] in spite of what we might want to think. [13:28] If you look, it’s a cycle that Israel goes through,

[13:31] especially apparent in the book of Judges, [13:33] where Israel will go into sin as soon as God delivered them from Egypt [13:38] and took them into the promised land, [13:40] immediately they started disobeying God. [13:42] Immediately they didn’t do everything God said. [13:45] Immediately they started to turn away from God

[13:47] and worship statues that were false gods. [13:51] So what we have is immediately as soon as Israel is established, [13:55] they fall into sin. [13:57] Then God sends judgment for sin because he’s a holy God. [14:02] And so what happens is Israel is then taken into captivity. [14:05] They’re taken into exile by another nation

[14:07] that’s more mighty than they are. [14:10] Then Israel says, oh no, what did we do? [14:13] Well, let’s go back to God. [14:14] God, we’re really sorry. Please forgive us. [14:17] Please get us out of captivity. [14:18] And God does. God responds to their cry.

[14:21] And so he delivers them out of captivity. [14:23] He redeems them by his own hand. [14:27] And so they’re out of captivity. [14:29] And time and time again, what do you see Israel do [14:31] as soon as they’re redeemed out of captivity?

[14:34] Cycle starts. [14:35] Immediately they disobey God. [14:38] Immediately they start worshiping false gods.

[14:42] And it’s kind of silly when you’re reading it from the outside. [14:44] You’re not an Israelite yourself. [14:46] Because they’re delivered out of a country that worships Baal [14:50] by a real God who triumphs over Baal because Baal’s fake. [14:55] Okay? [14:56] And then as soon as that God does redeem them,

[14:58] what do they do? [14:58] They run back to the altar of Baal. [15:02] Okay?

[15:04] And you say, that’s just so stupid. [15:07] Yeah, well, you do it with money. [15:10] You know, Baal is now currency. [15:12] It’s our wife. It’s our husband. It’s our children. [15:15] It’s whatever you go to for salvation or for redemption. [15:19] That’s not God.

[15:22] Okay? [15:23] So, Israel’s on this constant cycle of sinfulness.

[15:28] But then let’s go outside of that. [15:31] And what God’s revealing here is that everybody else is exactly like Israel. [15:36] Just, God isn’t always intervening. [15:38] Is He pushing them to take Israel into exile? [15:40] Yeah. [15:41] But notice what God says.

[15:42] God says, there’s just this rule that I’ve put into order. [15:44] He says, what happens when a mighty nation rises up and goes and starts to plunder people? [15:49] What happens to the Babylonians? [15:51] Because there’s a couple of different periods where the Babylonians are in power. [15:54] Then the Assyrians are in power. [15:56] Then Greece comes.

[15:57] Then Rome comes. [15:58] Then this one comes. [16:00] And that one and that one and that one. [16:01] What happens? [16:01] Well, people, they go in, they plunder, they take into exile, they take into captivity. [16:05] And who does that make mad?

[16:07] The people that they killed, the people that they plundered, the people that they robbed from. [16:10] And so what do they do? [16:11] They start rebuilding themselves. [16:12] They say, we’re going to get them. [16:13] And then over decades or centuries, they rise up and then they say, ha, we’re going to get them now. [16:17] And they go in, they take over, they plunder, and then over and over and over and over again.

[16:22] Read history. [16:24] It hasn’t stopped yet. [16:26] We just happen to be in a period where it’s not happening where we are right now. [16:32] Rome, Greece, Napoleon, everybody, Alexander, everybody falls. [16:40] And God says the reason that this happens is because of sin. [16:45] Because we think that our hope is found in some type of earthly safety where we have more power than anyone else.

[16:55] But if you look at the history of the world, even at this point, you can see that there’s no hope in that. [17:03] Because no matter how powerful you are, somebody’s always going to figure out how you’re doing it and then figure out how to do it better.

[17:12] And so ultimately, in your feeble attempt to find justice, you fail.

[17:22] Because when you exact your form of justice on someone else, they’re just as bad as you are, so then they can enact their type of justice back on you.

[17:35] God’s point is, I’m the only one that deserves justice.

[17:42] Belongs to God, not you. [17:45] And you say, well, what do you mean? [17:46] All right, who created man? [17:48] God. [17:50] Let’s just start off from a basis of that. [17:53] God creates everything that exists.

[17:56] Who then says, don’t eat of that tree? [18:00] God. [18:01] Who then says, because you ate, leave the garden, but I’m going to purify you so that you can still have me. [18:09] I’m going to atone for your sin. [18:10] God. [18:11] Who then gives the law?

[18:13] God. [18:15] Who keeps breaking God’s law? [18:17] Man. [18:19] If you look at the Ten Commandments, what they are is the first four deal with our relationship with God, the last six deal with our relationship with each other. [18:26] You can break them down just like that. [18:28] Okay?

[18:29] And here’s where I’m getting at. [18:31] Ultimately, every sin that we commit, even against one another, the first offended party is ultimately God. [18:40] That’s why David writes this in Psalm 51, verse 4. [18:43] He says when he’s talking to God, and this is about a sin that he has done where he has literally gone into adultery with a woman that was, of course, married because you can’t commit adultery unless somebody’s married. [18:54] So she’s married. [18:56] And then to cover up his adultery, he murders the husband.

[19:01] He doesn’t do it face to face, but he says, um, that guy, send him to the front lines of the army. [19:06] Who’s the first people to die in the way they fought back then? [19:08] The guy on the front line. [19:09] So he has murdered and committed adultery. [19:14] And what does he write in his confession and in his repentance? [19:17] He says, against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.

[19:27] Even though he’s done great wrong against other people, he knows that in God’s eyes, his sin is so much greater than even I would comprehend that it’s as if he’s sinned against no one but God. [19:39] Because God has first priority. [19:41] Because God’s the one that originally said, don’t! [19:46] And if he’d obeyed God, he wouldn’t have committed adultery. [19:50] He wouldn’t have murdered.

[19:53] And so what God is saying in these verses, as we go on, he’s saying, justice belongs to me. [20:00] And then he looks down and he says, woe to him, in verse 9, who gets evil gain for his house to set his nest on high. [20:06] To be saved from the reach of harm you have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples. [20:11] In other words, God is a God of justice and he says, if you get gain from evil ways, be ready.

[20:22] Because God will not be mocked. [20:25] And then he says, you have forfeited your life, for the stone will cry out from the wall and the beam from the woodwork where it was spawned. [20:32] And then look down at verse 14. [20:35] He says, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. [20:43] In other words, God is saying, there will come a day when I will exact my justice over the face of the entire earth and no sin will go unjudged. [20:57] Sometimes we read those Old Testament verses and we’re like, yeah!

[21:02] God’s going to get everybody. [21:04] You know those people, that guy that cut me off yesterday? [21:06] Oh yeah, he thought he got away with it, didn’t he? [21:10] God’s going to get him.

[21:14] And we laugh because we know it’s true. [21:18] But what I want to tell you is the reason we read that verse that way is because we read it wrong.

[21:23] And that’s not the attitude that we’re supposed to take to that. [21:27] Because here’s why that attitude’s wrong. [21:31] Because we read it from a sense of self-righteousness about the sins others have done against us. [21:38] And what that logic does is it says, yeah God, judge! [21:42] But understand that when you have that attitude, realize that judgment is going to eventually come home.

[21:51] That verse should strike great fear in my life.

[21:57] Because I have wronged.

[22:00] I have sinned. [22:02] I have hurt people. [22:04] I have lied. [22:07] I’ve done things in my life so that other people would see me in a better light than they see someone else. [22:17] And you say, I haven’t done that. [22:20] Yeah, you used to do it in the sandbox in elementary school.

[22:26] You’ve done it!

[22:30] We must understand that when we’re looking for justice for sins done against us, [22:36] ultimately someone else deserves justice for our sin against them. [22:43] Justice in that light is a vicious cycle that will never ever stop. [22:50] And you say, but there are people that have done far more injustice than I have. [22:54] You’re right. There are. There are.

[23:00] But remember, who are we comparing ourselves to?

[23:05] God.

[23:07] Who’s the ultimate offended party against our sin? [23:10] God.

[23:13] And since other people have sinned against me, and I have sinned against other people,

[23:19] neither one of us really deserve justice when we’re comparing ourselves to God. [23:24] God deserves justice on both of us.

[23:28] And that’s a scary place to be in. [23:31] So what God is saying to Habakkuk, He’s literally saying, [23:35] I will have justice for all the sin that’s done against me, [23:43] because all sin is done against me.

[23:48] But we read these verses with great hope. [23:54] Because the thing about the Scriptures is that they don’t leave me in that place for very long. [23:58] This place where it’s like, God’s going to kill us all. [24:01] Well, what did you learn at church today, Timmy? [24:04] Well, God’s going to kill each and every one of us. [24:07] Because we’ve all sinned against Him.

[24:10] Put that on a coffee cup.

[24:12] But here’s what I mean. [24:14] Understand, when you’re looking at Scripture, I want to teach you something. [24:19] Find Jesus on every page. [24:22] And you’re like, well, that’s not that easy to do in Habakkuk chapter 2. [24:25] It actually is. [24:28] If you know what you’re looking for.

[24:30] Look back in verse 14 again. [24:33] For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

[24:41] How does God know?

[24:44] How does God know that the earth will be filled with His glory? [24:46] Because He’s all-powerful. [24:47] But not just because that, but also because He’s completely outside of time. [24:51] And He can see the future from the past. [24:53] It’s all the same to Him. [24:55] And He, at that point in Habakkuk’s life, is looking at where Habakkuk is.

[24:58] And then He’s looking just a little bit forward. [25:00] And He says, I know how I’m going to find ultimate justice. [25:03] I know how I’m going to find ultimate glory. [25:05] I’m going to find it in Jesus.

[25:08] See, because this is the crazy thing about the Scriptures. [25:11] The Scriptures do not seek justice in the same way I would seek justice. [25:15] If I was God, you would all be dead. [25:19] And vice versa.

[25:21] If I was God, Adam and Eve, that would have been the end.

[25:28] But that’s because I come at justice from a standpoint of sinful vengeance and power. [25:35] And I do not naturally find my hope and find my comfort and find my security in the same things that God does. [25:44] Because God finds His hope and His security in Himself. [25:47] Because He’s perfect and He’s righteous and He’s looked no further. [25:51] And He says, in my justice, I will seek justice in such a way that it will bring me so much glory that no one will have to perish. [26:05] Check with me.

[26:08] Look down. [26:10] He goes through a thing about personal sins.

[26:15] Verses 15 and 16 are mostly done about personal sin. [26:20] Woe to you who get your neighbor drunk so that you can look at their nakedness. [26:24] That’s about the fact that we really do treat each other terribly bad. [26:29] And then He looks down and He says, [26:31] The violence done in Lebanon will overwhelm you as will the destruction of the beast that terrified them. [26:35] For the blood of man and the violence of earth to cities and all who dwell in them,

[26:39] What profit is an idol who then, excuse me, who when its maker has been shaped, a metal image, a teacher of life, [26:46] for its maker trusts in His own creation when He makes speechless idols? [26:51] In other words, God is saying, when you seek justice, you seek justice in things that did not always exist. [27:02] I seek justice when somebody I don’t like has more wealth than me. [27:06] You know what I say? I want to take their wealth. [27:10] I want them to be poor and me have their money.

[27:13] I want them to lose their power. [27:15] I want me to be powerful and them to be weak. [27:18] You know who gets this more than anybody else?

[27:23] Teenagers.

[27:26] You want to know why? Because they go to high school. [27:29] And this is what plays out in the hallways of high school every day. [27:33] She’s so popular. [27:35] I want to take it because she doesn’t deserve it. [27:40] But you do it at your job too. [27:41] He doesn’t deserve his job.

[27:43] I do. [27:44] He doesn’t deserve that title. [27:46] I do. [27:48] So when we seek justice, what do we do? [27:50] God says right there, we seek it in things that God created rather than seeking it in God. [27:58] God says, what profit are things that have been fashioned by hands?

[28:03] Do they have more power than the one who fashioned them? [28:07] Take that logic. [28:08] Take that reasoning. [28:09] All the way up to where if I were to try to find my hope in another person, [28:15] that person has a maker.

[28:21] That maker is God. [28:23] So here’s what God does. [28:25] God is not going to kill us all. [28:28] If. There’s a big if there, okay? [28:30] And there’s always that if in Christianity that’s offensive. [28:34] And I can’t remove that if.

[28:36] I can’t. [28:37] It’s there. [28:38] Because it’s in the scriptures. [28:40] Here’s that if. [28:41] God could justly find justice in pouring his wrath for our sin in each and every one of us. [28:50] But he does not.

[28:52] God’s justice reveals his mercy. [28:56] And here’s what I mean by that. [28:57] God wants to find justice. [29:00] He wants to seek it. [29:01] So what does he do? [29:04] He sends his son.

[29:07] And here’s where Christianity takes a great deal of faith. [29:12] And is completely countercultural to everything that we believe, [29:15] even those of us that call ourselves Christians.

[29:19] Because here’s what happens. [29:21] We’re seeking justice. [29:23] And then we want to find justice for our own sin. [29:26] And we find it in Jesus. [29:28] If you’ve been in church any time, you’re tracking with me. [29:31] But other people are worse than us.

[29:32] So we’re still going to hold their faults against them. [29:35] Even though Jesus forgives us of our faults. [29:37] And here’s how this breaks down in the cross. [29:40] Okay. [29:40] In the cross of Jesus Christ. [29:42] What we have is God being able to perfectly and righteously kill us all.

[29:48] And send us all to hell. [29:49] Which he created for sin. [29:52] Okay. [29:52] And instead of judging us for the sin that he deserves justice for. [29:57] What he does is he sends someone. [30:01] Jesus Christ.

[30:02] God the Son. [30:03] The second part of the Trinity. [30:04] He sends someone who’s sinless. [30:07] Who’s perfect. [30:08] Who’s eternal. [30:09] Who’s omniscient.

[30:10] Who’s God.

[30:14] And the Father needs no justice for anything that the Son does. [30:19] Because the Son is perfect. [30:21] So the Son is the only one who can give everyone justice. [30:27] Because he’s the only one that’s sinless.

[30:31] So what does God do?

[30:34] He does something I would never do. [30:36] He takes the sins off of everyone that is unrighteous. [30:40] And pours it down on his own son. [30:43] And Jesus had to be sinless to get me this type of justice. [30:47] Because if Jesus had any sin in his heart. [30:51] If Jesus had any sin in his life.

[30:53] Then God would have needed to demand justice for his sin.

[30:59] So he couldn’t have died for anyone else.

[31:03] And so God finds his justice against all of the sin. [31:08] That we have done as a whole. [31:11] Universally. [31:12] He takes it off of us. [31:14] And he lays that penalty right down on the shoulders of Jesus Christ.

[31:21] And often times we look at the physical pain that was experienced on the cross. [31:24] And we think how gross of a pain. [31:26] There’s a word that was invented in Rome. [31:28] For the pain that was endured on the cross. [31:30] It’s excruciating. [31:33] The root of that is literally the cross.

[31:37] But the pain that Jesus endured physically on the cross. [31:41] Was nothing.

[31:44] Compared to the pain of each and every one of our sins. [31:48] That was laid on to him. [31:51] When he had never himself sinned. [31:54] 2 Corinthians actually says that he knew no sin.

[32:01] And God has justice. [32:04] And you say that’s not fair to Jesus.

[32:08] Jesus right before he goes to the cross. [32:11] He looks to the Romans. [32:13] He looks to Pilate and he says nobody takes the life of the son of man. [32:18] But he gives it over willingly.

[32:23] Romans 5, 8 says. [32:25] In that while we were yet sinners. [32:28] Christ still died for us. [32:31] The just for the unjust. [32:33] The righteous for the unrighteous. [32:35] And in that God finds justice.

[32:38] Justice.

[32:41] A justice that I would never look for. [32:43] A justice that I would never want. [32:46] A justice that Habakkuk doesn’t want. [32:47] Because Habakkuk wants the Chaldeans to pay. [32:50] Because Habakkuk isn’t looking at his own sin.

[32:54] So what does this do?

[32:57] When God’s justice reveals his mercy. [33:01] His mercy transforms our vision. [33:03] Here’s why. [33:05] I think us at this point in history where we are. [33:07] We are at a very personal dangerous place. [33:10] Because we are so wrapped up in individualism.

[33:11] And who we want to be. [33:12] And who we want everybody else to be. [33:14] That we just think we deserve justice for everything. [33:18] Okay. [33:19] Here’s what I mean. [33:21] God’s mercy.

[33:23] In the face of the justice that he deserves. [33:25] When he doesn’t seek retribution on me. [33:27] But rather gives himself over. [33:29] To pay the penalty for a sin that he did not do. [33:32] But rather that I did.

[33:36] Removing the sin from me. [33:39] Finding full justice without ever judging me for it.

[33:45] I must realize that that changes my life.

[33:50] Because just like God no longer has to get justice on me. [33:56] The gospel frees me to not require justice of anyone else.

[34:07] This is where we don’t usually go. [34:12] Habakkuk is crying out for justice. [34:14] And God says I’m going to get it. [34:17] But probably not in the way that you want it.

[34:21] Because ultimately Jesus is going to pay for the sins of the Chaldeans.

[34:27] The person that does something against me.

[34:31] My vision of justice from other people is transformed to a place where even though people offend me. [34:38] Even though people hurt me. [34:40] Christianity transforms me. [34:42] And it changes me to a person that now has the ability to forgive.

[34:47] That now has the ability to love. [34:50] That now has the ability to not look at other people and say you’ve wronged me. [34:55] I deserve my vengeance. [34:56] This is why the scriptures say vengeance belongs to the Lord. [35:01] This is why in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 14. [35:05] Paul writes about this man named Alexander the coppersmith.

[35:07] And in verse 14 chapter 4 he says. [35:10] Alexander the coppersmith has done me great wrong. [35:13] The Lord will deal with him.

[35:17] Because that’s what faith does. [35:19] Paul had faith that actually said. [35:21] This great wrong that Alexander has done against me. [35:25] Is dealt with on the cross. [35:28] And is ultimately dealt with by God. [35:30] To where if Alexander doesn’t believe in Jesus.

[35:33] God will deal with him. [35:35] But if he does. [35:36] God has already dealt with him.

[35:40] Christianity is the only faith. [35:43] That you can actually say justice is served. [35:45] Because everywhere else in life we want to turn to blind eye. [35:49] We want to forgive and say well we’ll just forget what you did. [35:54] Christianity doesn’t say that. [35:58] Christianity says justice is had.

[36:00] Justice is served. [36:01] It’s through Jesus.

[36:05] We have justice. [36:07] We can love because God loved us in spite of who we were. [36:11] So we can literally look at the worst of sinners. [36:14] The most offensive of people. [36:16] And literally say to them. [36:17] I love you.

[36:20] And we don’t have to follow it up with in spite of who you are.

[36:28] No! [36:29] I love you because Jesus finds justice for all this. [36:34] In himself.

[36:37] Wow!

[36:40] It liberates me from sin but it also liberates me from the baggage. [36:45] Of vengeful thinking.

[36:49] Because I’m not turning a blind eye to sin.

[36:55] I’m just seeing sin through a resurrected Savior’s eyes.

[37:01] It transforms my vision for my life. [37:04] And then faith gives life to God’s mission. [37:08] Here’s what happens. [37:09] Because here’s what we want to do. [37:11] We want to receive forgiveness. [37:12] And then say we forgive everybody else.

[37:15] But then still have faith. [37:16] We have 15 people that we hate and we won’t minister to. [37:19] Here’s where the mission of Jesus comes into play in our lives. [37:23] Who is it that you’re not forgiving?

[37:28] For everyone that you’re not forgiving you’re not having faith in the gospel.

[37:34] Who is it that you don’t want here at this church?

[37:38] How much faith do you have in the gospel?

[37:41] Who is it that you don’t want in your life? [37:44] How much faith do you have in the gospel?

[37:48] How big is the forgiveness of Jesus? [37:49] Now I’m not talking about extreme examples of danger.

[37:55] I’m talking about that person that stole your lunch money when you were 15.

[38:00] That person that gave you a crooked look yesterday. [38:04] Because here’s what happens. [38:05] When we believe the gospel we are literally able to forgive people for real. [38:12] And have it be under the blood of Jesus. [38:15] Because that type of faith transforms our vision for life into a vision of the gospel. [38:22] In all things of life.

[38:24] Because what does God say at the end? [38:26] He says these false idols are fake. [38:29] They’re not real. [38:30] And then he says, but the Lord is in his holy temple. [38:34] Let all the earth keep silence before him. [38:38] God is not saying you all suck. Stay away.

[38:42] God is saying the idols are fake. I’m real. [38:45] Trust me and I’ll change everything. [38:49] When you live in light of the gospel. [38:52] It does not just simply give you these moments when you can say, I still love you. [38:58] No, it gives you moments where your purpose is transformed. [39:02] Your life is transformed.

[39:03] Your vision is transformed. [39:05] Your plan for everything you’re doing is transformed. [39:07] Your reason for going to work in the morning is transformed. [39:09] Your reason for getting up in the morning is transformed. [39:12] Your reason for eating oatmeal in the morning is transformed. [39:14] Your reason for everything is transformed.

[39:17] Because what God is saying in verses 14 and in verse 20 is that I will redeem everything unto myself. [39:26] And everything will ultimately be for me. [39:29] Because of the gospel. [39:31] In other words, the gospel frees you from your sin and from the sins everyone has done against you. [39:37] And it sets you on a path where you walk side by side with God accomplishing his mission. [39:44] Taking his gospel into the world saying, forgiveness has come.

[39:50] Justice has had. [39:52] Believe. [39:53] And you begin to be reconciled to God. [39:56] Be reconciled to others. [39:58] And then begin to reconcile everything else in your life under the banner of the gospel. [40:04] Nothing is left untouched.

[40:06] And you say, but I want to do this without the gospel. [40:08] Then you don’t have faith in the gospel.

[40:12] Because the whole time God says, I’m in my holy temple.

[40:17] Be silent before me. [40:19] How dare you come to me. [40:22] And everything that I’ve done.

[40:25] To find justice.

[40:28] That gives mercy.

[40:31] And you tell him there are areas he can’t touch.

[40:37] What he’s saying in verse 20 is what Paul echoes in Romans 11 verse 36. [40:42] When Paul says, for from him, of him, and through him are all things. [40:50] And then he follows it up with a coffee cup verse. [40:52] And then we’re done. [40:53] In chapter 12 verse 1. [40:55] After he says, for from me, of me, and through me are all things.

[41:00] God says, I appeal to you because of this. [41:04] Because you’re supposed to stand before me silent because I’m in my holy temple. [41:07] Because I will have glory over all the face of the earth. [41:10] Because everything is being redeemed to me. [41:14] Present your bodies as a living sacrifice. [41:17] Holy and acceptable to God.

[41:20] For this is your spiritual worship. [41:24] See, we say that, but we never define what it means.

[41:31] I just want to present my body. [41:34] As a living sacrifice.

[41:39] What does that mean?

[41:42] Here’s what it means. [41:43] It means that through the justice that God finds, you’re His.

[41:50] You’ve always been His.

[41:53] But now you’re His and you’re not condemned.

[41:57] Now you’re His and you’re loved. [41:59] Now you’re His and you’re forgiven. [42:01] You’re freed to forgive. [42:03] You’re freed to love. [42:05] And you’re freed to begin to take everything in your life into captivity to the gospel.

[42:13] You’re freed to stop living for yourself and start living for God. [42:17] It takes no faith to live for yourself. [42:19] That is not spiritual worship.

[42:22] To sing songs and then go out and do for yourself the rest of the week.

[42:29] That’s not spiritual worship. [42:31] That’s not the gospel.

[42:34] The gospel is far more ferocious than that. [42:38] God is far more relentless than that. [42:41] God wants your everything.

[42:44] For His mission.

[42:48] And when you start to believe that, your life will change. [42:57] The vision belongs to God.

[43:04] And you say, well I don’t feel like justice for this in my life has been had.

[43:10] That’s why before this God looks to Habakkuk and says, [43:16] the righteous shall live by faith. [43:21] It’s not about feeling. [43:23] It’s about trusting.

[43:28] Right now as the band comes forward,

[43:31] we’re going to continue to worship. [43:34] We’re going to continue to praise.

[43:37] And right now what we’re going to do is, [43:39] we’re going to respond as a church. [43:41] We do this every week if this is your first time. [43:44] We come forward and we take communion.

[43:48] Communion is this amazing symbol that God gives us. [43:52] Of the gospel. [43:54] The juice represents the shed blood of Jesus. [43:57] The bread represents His broken body for our sins. [44:00] And here’s what we do is, we come forward and we drink and we eat. [44:04] But what we do is, this is a symbolic, tangible example.

[44:10] Of our sin being taken by Jesus.

[44:15] Through His sacrifice. [44:17] But then when we drink and eat, [44:20] His righteousness is given to us. [44:24] Also through His sacrifice.

[44:28] When you come forward today, come with an attitude,

[44:32] that God has found justice for my sin.

[44:37] I’ve been forgiven. [44:39] Through the body and blood of Jesus. [44:41] He’s risen. [44:43] I can celebrate death in the face of life. [44:46] Because He has life.

[44:51] And then some of you were sitting out there this morning,

[44:57] and you’re not filled with love.

[45:01] There is someone in each and every life in this room right now, [45:06] that you’re bitter towards.

[45:10] There’s someone in each and every life in here, [45:13] that you need to go and you need to forgive.

[45:17] Because God’s forgiven you. [45:20] And because God has dealt with their sin on the cross.

[45:24] And you need to believe and have faith in the gospel for them. [45:32] And you need to forgive and then tell them why you’re forgiving.

[45:38] It’s not about looking the other way. [45:41] It’s about finding justice in Jesus. [45:44] And until you do that,

[45:48] your faith has not gone to your hands and feet yet. [45:54] And you will be hindered in living the mission of Jesus.

[46:02] If you’re a believer, these tables are open for you.

[46:07] But spend a moment letting God deal with you.

[46:13] For more information visit www.mooji.org