A Vision of God.

Steve Gentry

[0:00] Good morning. Welcome to the Village. My name is Steve. [0:04] If you have your Bibles, go ahead and open them up to [0:06] Habakkuk chapter 3. And if you are unfamiliar [0:10] with this man, if you get to Matthew, you’ve gone too far. [0:14] If you’re in Psalms, keep going. Alright?

[0:18] Habakkuk is an interesting prophet in the Old Testament because [0:22] usually we go to prophets for hope and we find Habakkuk and he’s an absolutely [0:27] hopeless broken man [0:28] who is angry at God for the great [0:32] majority, probably two-thirds of this book. He spends angry with God questioning [0:37] God

[0:39] questioning his character, telling him he’s unjust. [0:44] Just great sins that I know none of us could ever be guilty of. None of us have [0:49] ever questioned God, [0:50] certainly. I know in my life there’s never been a moment where I’ve questioned God. [0:55] And I just want to introduce you. My name is Steve and I am a liar. [1:00] I have absolutely done all of those things.

[1:03] And if you’ll be honest with me, I’ll be honest with you. [1:07] You’re guilty, just like I am. Sometimes [1:10] there are moments and there are sometimes years [1:14] of our lives where nothing [1:18] is working the way that we thought it would.

[1:22] Nothing is going our way. [1:24] It seems like other people have it made. It seems like they’ve got all the luck. [1:30] It seems like they’ve got all the happiness and they’ve got all the wealth. [1:34] And it seems like I’ve got nothing but more bills coming every day. [1:38] My relationships are falling apart. My health is not where I want it. [1:42] I’m not getting the promotions that I want. Nothing is going as

[1:46] I envisioned my life would go. [1:51] And the first thing that I do [1:53] in those moments is look at God and say,

[1:59] why?

[2:02] This isn’t the way I thought you would work. [2:06] You’re not alone. It happens all through the scriptures. [2:10] I mean we have guys like Abraham that are told to just [2:13] uproot everything and to move to a land you don’t even know. [2:16] And then he comes and he thinks his life is in danger so [2:19] he shoots this side, shoots this side, tells a few lies and his wife is about to go into

[2:25] Pharaoh’s harem. Where was God to protect him from that situation? [2:30] Why did he have to make a choice of sin or not sin?

[2:35] And you get to Jeremiah called the weeping prophet because he spends most of his books crying [2:39] about the fact that God’s not doing what he wants to do. [2:42] And then at one point it’s a UFC match between Jeremiah and a false [2:46] prophet and Jeremiah loses big time and he looks to God in Jeremiah chapter 20 [2:51] and he says, God you have deceived me. [2:55] It’s bull talk.

[2:59] And this isn’t an average Joe like me. [3:02] Alright, at least that’s the way I look at it. This is a prophet. [3:06] This is a man that actually hears the voice of God in his life.

[3:14] Then we get further and we find guys like Habakkuk that just start off, we don’t even know anything about the guy [3:21] and he starts off with, oh God what is your problem?

[3:26] You ever said that? Guilty.

[3:32] Alright, but Habakkuk spends the first two chapters of this book. [3:37] First he starts off, let me sum it up for you this way guys. [3:41] He starts off and he says, God, Israel, the people that I’m supposed to be prophesying to, they’re wicked. [3:48] And they’re not righteous like me. [3:50] And they won’t listen to me. Make them listen to me. [3:53] And God says, okay let me tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to send a more wicked nation.

[3:58] Alright, these people, the Chaldeans, I’m going to send them in. [4:00] And they’re terrible people, let me tell you. They’re not righteous. They’re worse than Israel. [4:04] And I’m going to send them in and they’re going to take you into captivity. [4:07] And Habakkuk’s response is, they’re more wicked than Israel. [4:12] How can you use the unjust to punish the just? [4:17] How can you use the unrighteous to punish the righteous?

[4:21] And of course if I was God I would have looked back and said, but you just said Israel was unrighteous.

[4:27] And so God responds and he looks to Habakkuk and he says, Habakkuk, I’m God. [4:32] And you’re not. [4:35] It’s very similar to what we see happen in Job’s life. [4:38] When everything’s been ripped out of Job’s life, he’s lost his family. [4:42] His wife has left him. His home is in ruins. [4:47] His wealth is gone. And then finally his health is taken away.

[4:51] And he’s sitting in a pile of rubble that used to be his mansion using broken pottery to cut the boils off of his skin. [4:59] Because that’s less painful than allowing the boils to stay. [5:02] And what does he say? He says, God, why? [5:06] And God’s response, were you there when I created the earth? [5:12] Can you make it snow on command? [5:15] Do you send the lightning and the thunder out of the sky?

[5:21] Do you hold it all together in your hand?

[5:28] And of course in those moments you have to admit, well, no.

[5:34] No. I could like 70 years. [5:37] Give or take. God is eternal.

[5:41] Sometimes I look at my son who is 14 months old. [5:46] My wife will correct me later. [5:49] If you’re a husband, you get that.

[5:53] Love you, honey. [5:55] But I look at my son and he’s just learned to walk. [6:00] And man, it is like watching a totally inebriated person stumble through my living room. [6:06] Not really knowing which way his legs are supposed to bend and he’ll fall down and he’ll tumble. [6:12] He’s learned the word what. [6:15] I guess he hears it a lot or something.

[6:17] But he just says what. [6:19] And that’s basically, hey, Liam, how are you? What?

[6:24] Hard of hearing. At one. [6:26] But he doesn’t understand me. [6:29] But I understand him.

[6:33] I get him. [6:35] I’ve been there. [6:37] He’s never been here. [6:38] Sometimes my wife thinks I’m still there. [6:40] But I’ve been there. [6:42] He’s a year old.

[6:44] He doesn’t even know how to communicate with adults. [6:48] He doesn’t know wisdom. [6:49] If we leave him on his own, he will do a backflip off of a banister and die. [6:57] Never knowing that’s what was going to happen. [7:00] And you don’t question that, do you?

[7:05] You don’t say, well, why do you feel like you have to watch a one year old all the time? [7:09] Can’t you just leave him at home by himself and everything will be alright when you get home?

[7:16] I’m 30 years old. [7:18] So by our standards, I guess I’m somewhat of an adult.

[7:25] God is eternal.

[7:28] Does he not know better than me? [7:32] Is he not more wise than I?

[7:36] You see, those are the standards that Habakkuk is living in, in which he finds himself as a prophet of Israel. [7:43] As an esteemed position. [7:46] The mouthpiece of God to an entire nation. [7:49] And Habakkuk comes to a place in his life where he mistakes his position. [7:55] For ultimate authority.

[8:01] Never realizing in this discourse with God who exactly it is that he is dealing with. [8:08] That he is dealing with the God that spoke.

[8:14] And all that we see outside was.

[8:19] Who formed humanity out of the dust of the ground. [8:25] On my best day, all I can do is make a hill of dirt.

[8:33] I could never make humanity.

[8:37] And so Habakkuk comes to a place in his life and he says, God, it’s not turning out the way that I thought it should.

[8:48] God says, that’s because you don’t see everything.

[8:56] You see, when we’re dealing with God, we’re not dealing with a limited being. [9:00] Rather, we are dealing with someone who stands outside of even our concept of time.

[9:10] If God created it, then he’s outside of it.

[9:16] And he looks to Habakkuk and he says, I am doing something in history that even if I unfolded it for you completely, you wouldn’t comprehend it.

[9:32] And he gives him just a taste of what he’s doing. [9:37] And he’s right. [9:38] Habakkuk doesn’t get it. [9:41] Because Habakkuk doesn’t say, oh God, okay, I trust you. [9:46] Instead, Habakkuk says, how dare you. [9:50] Who do you think you are?

[9:55] Habakkuk even goes to the point where he says, God, I’m going to go up into the watchtower and I’m going to sit there and I’m going to wait for you to respond to my complaint and then I’m going to prepare another response.

[10:12] Been there? [10:13] I don’t know why I have. [10:14] God, I’m going to see how this will work out. [10:17] And based on that, that’s how much I’ll give you of my life.

[10:23] And God responds with, don’t you know that I knew you were going to go up in that watchtower?

[10:31] Don’t you know that I see the future, the past, the present, it’s all the same? [10:36] Don’t you know that I’m doing something in history that I will judge the Chaldeans? [10:42] But understand that when you cry for justice from the Chaldeans, I am God who they are ultimately rebelling against. [10:50] And the same justice that I have to visit upon the Chaldeans, I will then necessarily, because of my justice, visit upon you because you have also sinned against me? [11:04] See, when I look at my life, I don’t think on those terms. [11:08] I just see what everybody does against me.

[11:11] [11:11] And so I, justice, hello, never taking into account the things that I have done to others. [11:21] And that they necessarily deserve justice on me. [11:25] And ultimately last week we came to this realization that what Habakkuk didn’t know and what his trust was not going to allow him to grasp in his lifetime [11:37] was that God is then working history towards where he will find ultimate justice in the Gospel of Jesus. [11:47] And that God is going to visit the iniquity of the Chaldeans as well as the iniquity of Israel.

[11:55] And he’s not going to ultimately say, I’m going to lay it on each and every one of you. [12:01] Rather, he sends his righteous son and pours it all on him. [12:10] That God doesn’t just, see because sometimes even when I’m at Habakkuk he thinks God’s just turning a blind eye. [12:17] And sometimes that’s even my concept of forgiveness. God forgive me, just kind of turned a blind eye to what I just did.

[12:24] No!

[12:26] God is just! [12:28] And his justice is ultimately revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. [12:37] Mostly summed up in 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 where he says, God made him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf. [12:50] That we might become the righteousness of God. [12:53] And Habakkuk’s plot in life was one in which he was to trust God’s hand. [13:02] Even though he did not know specifically where history was going and could not have known that God was going to ultimately give him justice.

[13:14] As well as himself justice on the person of Jesus Christ. [13:20] God the Son.

[13:23] You say, well exactly, he didn’t know! [13:26] And I don’t know where my life’s going. I don’t know what’s going to happen. [13:29] How can I trust God with this illness, with this sickness, with this injustice, with this unreconciled relationship that I have in my life?

[13:38] God says, because I’m God.

[13:44] Trust me. [13:45] And we’re in a place in history where we’re on the other side of the cross. [13:51] And we can look back and we can say, that’s what God was doing in Habakkuk’s life. [13:55] That’s where God was taking history. [13:57] That’s what God was setting up in the lifetime of Israel.

[14:05] And then in 1st or 2nd, one or the other, Corinthians. [14:10] God says every promise he’s ever made finds its yes in Jesus. [14:17] God says, how much can you trust me? You can trust me. [14:21] Because Jesus.

[14:24] Because of the great salvation that he has unfolded before us, we can trust. [14:31] And we can say, whatever happens God, I trust. [14:35] But then the question comes, what do we do with that type of trust? [14:40] What is that going to bring outside of our lives? [14:43] And finally, we’ll get to Habakkuk chapter 3. [14:47] Some of you didn’t think I was going to get there. The band’s like he’s never going to get there.

[14:51] Alright, I got you there. [14:54] Habakkuk chapter 3.

[14:58] God has just finished up this great discourse where he gives Habakkuk a lot of inspiration. [15:03] You know it’s a really inspirational speech when it ends with, let all the earth be silent before me. [15:10] That’s one of those things where it’s like, let’s put that on a coffee cup. [15:14] Everyone just shut up. [15:16] That’s basically what God says.

[15:19] And you’re just like, that’s not nice. He’s God. He doesn’t have to be.

[15:27] That’s not right. [15:29] It is, actually. Email me, we’ll talk about it. [15:34] A prayer.

[15:37] Habakkuk chapter 3. Starting in verse 1. [15:38] A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet according to Shigionoph. [15:44] Those are those great words in the Old Testament.

[15:48] O Lord, I have heard the report of you and your work, O Lord. Do I fear? [15:55] In the midst of the years, revive it. In the midst of the years, make it known. [16:00] In wrath, remember mercy. [16:04] God came from Timon and the Holy One of Mount Peran. [16:08] His splendor covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise. [16:12] His brightness was like the light.

[16:14] Rays flashed from his hand and there he veiled his power. [16:19] Okay.

[16:24] Notice the change from Habakkuk chapter 1, for those of you that have been here through this journey. [16:30] The change from Habakkuk chapter 1 to the change of Habakkuk chapter 3. [16:34] Alright. If you weren’t here, let’s go ahead and turn back really quick in your Bibles. [16:38] In mine it’s just one page.

[16:41] Notice how he starts in chapter 1. This isn’t going to be up on the screen, I apologize. [16:45] The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. [16:49] O Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear? [16:52] Or cry to you, violence, and you will not save?

[16:58] Something changed, right? [17:01] Habakkuk chapter 1, he’s like, God, you’re not here. Bad stuff’s happening. [17:06] You just divorced yourself from me, didn’t you? [17:08] And then in chapter 3, he says, oh God, you’re in control.

[17:16] God has ultimately given Habakkuk a vision that we must comprehend and we must insert in our lives [17:24] so that we can go through life with a trust. [17:28] Because God’s vision brings humble trust.

[17:35] God does not leave us completely ignorant, completely alone, [17:41] completely separated from himself and simply say, trust. [17:47] No! God unfolds himself. He reveals himself. [17:52] In the Scriptures it’s called revelation or word or logos. [17:57] And there are two times that God has revealed himself clearly and ultimately. [18:03] First, through this, through his word.

[18:07] And then secondly, we see it in John chapter 1, when he says, [18:11] in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. [18:15] And then in verse 14, it says, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. [18:20] In other words, the ultimate revelation and vision of God that anyone will ever see is Jesus. [18:27] As Jesus himself says as an adult, he says, if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. [18:32] He and I are one.

[18:35] See, God does not leave us alone and tell us nothing and then say, trust. [18:42] But too often our attempts at trust are left uninformed and ignorant [18:47] because we do not seek to know him. [18:51] Rather, we just seek to have him know and do for us.

[18:58] But if we really get a hold of his vision and really come to a place where we want him, [19:07] we want to grasp him, what will happen in our lives is that we will go from a place where we say, [19:13] oh God, where are you and how dare you, to a place where we say, [19:18] oh God, in your wrath remember mercy.

[19:23] You are God and you are powerful. [19:25] You are powerful and you are ultimately in control. [19:28] I trust.

[19:31] Notice the language that he uses in these first few verses.

[19:36] He says, God, I’ve gotten your vision. [19:37] I’ve gotten the report. [19:39] You have told me. [19:41] Habakkuk is now, he’s in the watchtower that he said in chapter 2 that he was going to go up into. [19:46] And he’s mad and he’s steaming and he’s like, go ahead, God, you say something to me because I’ve got something better to give back to you. [19:51] I’m going to give you some zingers too.

[19:53] And God unloads. [19:55] And when God unloads, you’re at a place where you say,

[20:01] oh Lord, your work do I fear.

[20:06] See, when you ultimately get a real revelation from God, a real vision from God, [20:11] when you grasp his word and stop reading meaning into the text and just say, God speak to me out of the text, [20:18] you do not come away with pride. [20:23] You come away with humble trust and humble worship of a God who you know is far more powerful and far more outside of your concept of what life should be. [20:36] Because it was not God that was bankrupt in this story. [20:40] It was Habakkuk.

[20:42] It was not God that needed to change. [20:45] It was Habakkuk. [20:47] But the question is, how does Habakkuk change? [20:51] How does he go from this one place where he’s angry to this other place where he is submissive? [20:58] Do you see the submission in the language that he’s using here? [21:02] When he says, oh Lord, I fear your works, but he does not say, keep me away from this terrible wrath that you’re pouring out.

[21:10] Look at what he says. [21:11] He says, in the midst of the years, revive it.

[21:18] Habakkuk does not look to the works of God and dread them anymore. [21:23] He looks to the hand of God and he says, God, do what you want.

[21:32] Because now he finally knows who it is that he’s dealing with.

[21:39] He’s not dealing with a coworker, a spouse, a friend, a child, a parent. [21:45] He’s dealing with the God who spoke the universe into existence. [21:50] And when you’re dealing with him, you’re either going to live a lie in which you can question and accuse and blame, [22:01] or you’re going to submit and you’re going to trust. [22:06] And it’s not this fake trust. [22:09] Because there is a way in which we claim to trust, in which we trust ourselves and just expect God to come on board.

[22:20] No.

[22:22] Because what was God’s original revelation to Habakkuk? [22:26] His original revelation was the Chaldeans are going to come and they’re going to whoop all y’all. [22:31] Yeah, you’re going into exile, buddy.

[22:37] False trust would have said, God, I’ll follow you and I’ll trust you and I’ll humble myself before you if you remove this.

[22:47] It’s like, God, heal me and if you do, I’ll serve you.

[22:52] God, fix my marriage and if you do, I’ll serve you.

[22:58] That’s not trust.

[23:01] In that scenario, you’re God. [23:06] He’s not.

[23:09] In that scenario, you have reduced him to a level of Robin Williams and Aladdin.

[23:15] You’re just rubbing on the lamp when you need something.

[23:19] As long as it works out, you’ll follow him, but the minute he stops granting your wishes, you’re out. [23:25] That’s not trust. [23:27] So when God’s vision comes in and gives you humble trust, what it does is his vision produces repentance.

[23:36] You see, the thing that Habakkuk never realizes that he needs in chapters 1 and 2 that finally comes in chapter 3 is that he needed to change. [23:45] It wasn’t God that needed to change. It was him. [23:49] It wasn’t God that needed to experience transformation. It was him. [23:52] You might respond, but God is going to do something. He’s going to judge them and that’s terrible.

[24:01] Is it? [24:03] Notice a few things. [24:05] Start reading in verse 5.

[24:54] You marched through the earth in fury. [24:58] You threshed the nations in anger. [25:00] You went out for salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. [25:05] You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. [25:11] You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter me. [25:18] Rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret, you trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters.

[25:28] You may be sitting there right now and saying, okay, we just read a lot and I didn’t see anything that said repentance in there. [25:34] So where are you getting that idea?

[25:39] Notice,

[25:41] Habakkuk now has gone from that same questioning. [25:45] But notice what his trust is doing.

[25:50] It is not until Habakkuk finds himself where he can trust God and he accepts that God is God and he is not, that he looks to God. [26:02] And instead of seeing God the judge, he sees God the creator.

[26:08] He steps back and instead of seeing God the one who is about to visit destruction on me, he sees God the one who has authority over all the earth and can do with it whatever he pleases and he deserves it because he created it. [26:28] If I went home right now, [26:31] and I built a shed in my backyard,

[26:35] okay, [26:37] it’s probably not going to happen. [26:39] But let’s say yes, you know, [26:41] if it were to happen, I would actually call someone else because I would nail my hand into a board and that would go bad for everybody. [26:50] But if I were to go home and build a shed, [26:54] and then James the singer, he comes over to my house and he’s got some lighter fluid.

[26:59] All right. [27:00] And he douses it all over the shed and he burns it down. [27:03] That’s that’s bad, right? [27:04] I mean, that’s mean. [27:06] I mean, I can call the police and they’ll come lock him up and everybody will be like, man, James wouldn’t the world. [27:12] When did you become an arsonist?

[27:15] None of you would look to me and say, how dare you call the police on James?

[27:23] No, I built the shed. [27:25] It’s in my backyard. [27:26] I own it. [27:27] He can’t do that, nor would you want him to come to your house and do that to you. [27:32] But if I went in my backyard and built a shed.

[27:38] And then went back there and said, you know, I didn’t really turn out the way that I wanted it. [27:42] I’m just going to tear it down. [27:44] And then I get a sledgehammer and I start knocking stuff down. [27:47] Then I make a big thing of firewood and I just light it all on fire and throw a barbecue. [27:51] Nobody’s going to come over and say, Steve, how dare you burn down your own shed? [27:57] Who do you think you are?

[27:59] My response? [28:00] The guy that owned the shed.

[28:04] Do with it whatever I want to. [28:05] It’s my shed.

[28:09] Quite often our relationship with God boils down to nothing but how dare you. [28:13] Don’t you know that I own the earth?

[28:17] God, how dare you do with the earth what you want? [28:20] You should do what I want. [28:21] And God’s response? [28:22] You didn’t make it.

[28:26] Do you have authority over something that you didn’t make? [28:28] Is there somewhere in my revelation to you where I said I made the earth, now you can do with it whatever you want? [28:36] No, he gives us dominion over the earth, but then who has dominion over us? [28:41] He does. [28:43] So who has ultimate authority? [28:46] He does.

[28:49] And who does not? [28:50] I don’t.

[28:53] I don’t have authority.

[28:55] So Habakkuk had to repent of this false authority that he has over the nation of Israel and accept, and not simply accept, but trust. [29:08] Excuse me, Peter Brady. [29:10] But trust.

[29:13] Some of you got that. [29:14] I’m old. [29:16] And apparently some of you are not. [29:17] You didn’t see that episode.

[29:20] And trust that God knows what he’s doing.

[29:27] And trust. [29:28] And trust.

[29:32] Romans, chapter 11.

[29:35] I’m going to read starting in, we referenced this last week, but because I talked too long we didn’t have a lot of time to spend on it. [29:43] So I wanted to spend some time on it today. [29:46] In Romans chapter 11, starting in verse 36, we get the same mindset from God in which he’s speaking through Paul, and Paul reveals to people that God has ultimate authority. [29:56] Notice what he says in verse 36. [29:58] He says,

[30:04] In other words, that everything in life comes from God or goes to God. [30:10] Nothing happens outside of his reach. [30:13] Nothing happens outside of his control. [30:14] Everything that happens, happens. [30:18] Because of him. [30:19] Because he is God.

[30:23] And there has to come a place where you either accept that or live in rebellion to that. [30:29] Those are the only two choices that you have. [30:31] And you can make either one. [30:33] You can say, yes God, I will trust your control. [30:37] Or no God, I will live in rebellion to your control. [30:41] But notice what God says our response should be.

[30:44] In chapter 12, verse 1, he says,

[30:47] And that therefore means, because of my authority, because of the authority that God has over all the earth,

[31:00] By the mercy of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. [31:09] What he is saying is, inside of a constructed life in which you accept his authority and live for his authority, under his authority, [31:22] And glorying in the fact that he is in control, you cannot worship him.

[31:31] And he doesn’t just say, notice the language that Paul uses in here, he says, present your bodies as a living sacrifice. [31:37] The Greek word therefore, bodies, is not just one part of you that you are offering over. [31:43] For most of us, what we would do in repentance is we say, okay, yes, I believe.

[31:51] And then walk out the door and go back to life as usual.

[31:56] Yes, I will sing. Yes, I will learn. Yes, I will grow in my intellectual knowledge of God. [32:03] Yes, I will have academic truth that in times of hardship, I can just spout token Bible verses.

[32:12] No, the word for bodies there is an inclusive word in the Greek that means mind, body, soul, everything about me belongs to God. [32:25] How do you know? Because for him and through him and to him are all things, to his glory.

[32:32] So he does not want you to repent of that one thing at that one time. [32:37] No, this is an idea of continual repentance in your life towards the God that you love, [32:45] Towards the God that you trust in which you are bringing into submission your life to his will. [32:52] You know, that is a tall order. How do I do that? By the mercies of God.

[33:03] I love the grammar of Scripture. It makes it so easy sometimes.

[33:08] Because I can’t repent. I can’t do it. I can’t bring my life into subjection to God. [33:15] Hope, praise God, by his mercy, he worked history towards Jesus who is my righteousness [33:24] and who dies because I cannot repent and then gives me his Spirit. [33:30] And then in that Spirit, I can walk in repentance. [33:34] This is what J.I. Packer, the great theologian says in his book, Walk Keeping in Step with the Spirit. [33:39] He says, repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin

[33:44] to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God. [33:49] And as your knowledge grows at these three points, so our practice of repentance has to be enlarged. [33:59] In other words, in the moment that all I know is that Jesus is the Son of God who was sinless [34:06] and he died for my sin and rose from the dead winning victory over sin and death. [34:12] When that’s all I know, I live in light of that fact. [34:17] That God has won me to himself and that he loves me that much.

[34:21] And I love him because he loves me. [34:23] But then as I repent of my sin and turn from it to him, [34:29] and as I walk following the God that I now love because he loved me, [34:34] I will then learn more of my sin and I will learn about more of his holiness [34:39] and I will learn about more of myself. [34:42] And as I do that, I’m continually offering my body as a living sacrifice

[34:48] more and more and more and more as I grow in submission and humble trust to God.

[35:04] Then in chapter 12 verse 2 he says, [35:08] Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind [35:13] that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

[35:24] That doesn’t happen overnight. [35:26] Habakkuk’s story didn’t happen overnight.

[35:30] No. [35:31] Let me tell you, there’s never come a day where I just had this one moment [35:34] where I’m walking down the road and there’s this burning bush. [35:37] And this bush unloads on me the ultimate revelation of God [35:42] in which I walk away and say, wow, everything changed! [35:46] Most of my repentance has come through great pain that I have inflicted on myself.

[35:53] In which I see the mercy of God that he did not visit on me, [35:57] but rather poured it on his son.

[36:00] And I just grow and know more and more and know more of myself and know more of his mercy. [36:07] And then as I walk through life, I say, I trust you more because I see I, [36:12] as I learn more about myself, I’m really untrustworthy.

[36:17] I mean really untrustworthy. [36:20] You don’t know. [36:21] But the problem is, is you don’t know how untrustworthy you are either. [36:28] And repentance and trust in God will never come in your life.

[36:34] As long as you’re looking and seeing how sinful everyone else is.

[36:40] It’s never going to come until you look in the mirror and say, [36:45] whew, I’ve got to start right here.

[36:51] Because you’re the problem. [36:54] Not God, not everybody else.

[36:58] You.

[37:00] And guess what? I’ve got a mirror at home too.

[37:04] I’m the problem in this situation. [37:06] Everything that ever bad has happened to this guy, this guy did it. [37:11] Alright? [37:13] Listen, can I be that transparent? No? Okay.

[37:18] Habakkuk was allowing the situations in his life to dictate his view of God [37:24] rather than allowing God to dictate how he viewed his situations.

[37:31] And as long as you do that, you’ll never start repenting. [37:37] Because you’re living a lie.

[37:42] Then in this life of continual repentance,

[37:47] as God gives you more and more of himself, [37:50] what it will generate is, excuse me, I forgot the word, is faithful worship.

[37:59] And here’s what I mean by that, okay? [38:01] We can sing songs all day long. [38:04] You can go to a dozen church services this week. [38:09] And if you are not living in the truth of who God is and who you are, [38:14] and you are not repenting in your life,

[38:19] there will never be worship.

[38:22] God is not worshiped when you are not growing. [38:29] When you are not repenting. [38:31] When you are not trusting.

[38:35] In Habakkuk 1 and 2, God was not worshiped. [38:39] God is not worshiped until the point in Habakkuk chapter 3, [38:44] when Habakkuk says, revive your works, [38:48] and then look at what he does, he humbly comes before God and says, [38:52] God, your wrath is deserved, but in it remember mercy. [38:58] Notice the submission in that.

[39:01] Notice how he is submitting. [39:03] Notice how he is not trying to overpower.

[39:08] But see, that’s where worship actually comes from. [39:11] He does not live under his authority. [39:14] You are trying to worship in your authority. [39:17] And this is the mindset. [39:19] You may love this song, but it’s not really theologically true, alright? [39:23] There’s a worship song that says, alright, it says, crucified.

[39:27] You know, that was good, right? [39:30] You know, you laid behind the stone, and then it gives this vision of Jesus on the cross, [39:34] and he says, while you were on the cross, you thought of me above all.

[39:44] Wow.

[39:48] We look at the cross of Jesus, [39:51] and even in the great love that God has for us, we look to his cross.

[39:57] And we see me. [40:01] Me. [40:03] Me. [40:05] It’s all about me. [40:06] The Gospel is all about me.

[40:12] And I’m sorry if you’re a fan of that song,

[40:16] but the Gospel is not first and foremost about you.

[40:23] The Gospel is about the glory and worship of God.

[40:33] Jesus didn’t go to the cross simply for me. [40:37] The first thing that took him to the cross was the will of the Father.

[40:43] When he’s in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating blood and in anguish, [40:47] does he look to God and say, God!

[40:50] I’m going to go ask them if there’s another way that I can save them, [40:54] because they’re the utmost of my concern. [40:57] Okay, Peter, James, and John, is there another way?

[41:01] No! [41:02] What does he do? [41:03] He says, Father, if there be any other way, let this cup pass from me. [41:07] And then he says, but not my will, but thine. [41:13] And you look at the Gospel sometimes, and you say, not your will, but mine.

[41:23] There’s no worship as long as your joy is wrapped up in what God is doing for you.

[41:37] God’s vision gives satisfaction in God.

[41:42] Look at this. [41:44] Chapter 3, starting in verse 17. [41:47] Oh, man, this is good stuff right here. [41:50] I’m going to underline it, take notes in it, circle it. [41:54] Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, [42:03] the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food,

[42:09] the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls. [42:12] Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will take joy in the God of my salvation. [42:21] God the Lord is my strength, He makes my feet like the deer’s, He makes me tread on high places.

[42:32] I don’t know what that looks like.

[42:37] What he’s saying here is so magnificent that I haven’t seen it in my life. [42:44] Can a preacher be that honest?

[42:48] Where I look to God, and I’ll say this, but I don’t know I’m living it. [42:53] Where I look to God and I say, God, you can take everything away from me. [42:58] I can go hungry, I can be sick, I can be homeless, I cannot have clothes to put on. [43:04] I can have no wealth.

[43:10] As long as I have you, I have that great treasure. [43:15] This is what Jesus was talking about when he gives a parable in which he says, [43:20] the kingdom of God is like a man who goes and he finds treasure in a field. [43:25] And then he buries that treasure, and he goes and sells everything he owns so that he can buy the whole field.

[43:33] We read that and we’re like, that doesn’t make any sense. [43:35] He found treasure, why didn’t he just buy the field with the treasure? [43:39] Because the treasure was not something that he wanted to sell. [43:42] The treasure was something that he wanted to just glory and that he just wanted to find satisfaction in. [43:47] Who is the great treasure in that parable? [43:49] The great treasure in that parable is God.

[43:54] And our problem with the Gospel is that we look to the Gospel and we say, God, you’re saving me from hell. [43:59] And we don’t understand that he’s not necessarily just saving me from hell. [44:04] He’s saving me for himself.

[44:08] And he’s saying, saving you gives me glory. [44:12] And when you get me, you get everything. [44:15] And without me, you have nothing. [44:17] And Habakkuk comes to a place in his life where he says, God, you can march me. [44:22] Look in verse 16, I think I accidentally skipped it, where he says, I hear in my body trembles. [44:27] He’s still afraid.

[44:28] And he says, my lips quiver at the sound, rottenness in his inner eye bones. [44:31] My legs tremble beneath me. [44:33] Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble.

[44:38] To come upon people who invade us. [44:44] In other words, Habakkuk is saying, God, I accept your judgment.

[44:50] Whatever path you have for me, I want to walk down that path. [44:55] And you say, why would you do that? [44:58] Because any other path doesn’t have God on it.

[45:03] Wow! What kind of trust is that? [45:08] Where he says, God, I’ll march right into the fire, if you’re there. [45:14] Because being separated from you is hell.

[45:19] Not having you in my life is the most terrible thing I could ever think of. [45:23] And that’s what Jesus gives us in the gospel. [45:28] Jesus gives us in the gospel this reconciliation with God the Father. [45:32] Where we can stop looking outside of ourselves for satisfaction. [45:36] John Calvin says, the human heart is an idol factory. [45:40] He says, what we do is we find ourselves in sin.

[45:43] And we find ourselves in these places in our lives where we’re unsatisfied because we’re separated from God and our sin. [45:49] So what do we do? [45:50] We say, I want to get this. This will satisfy me. [45:52] No, it didn’t work. This will satisfy me. It’ll work. This will satisfy me. [45:54] Oh, it didn’t work. Sex, drugs, money, family, wealth. [45:59] Maybe it’ll bring me satisfaction.

[46:01] And then we get to a place in our life where it’s like, it didn’t satisfy me. [46:04] So we keep looking for more and more things. [46:07] And then what are we left with?

[46:10] We’re left unsatisfied and usually hopeless.

[46:17] And that’s what Habakkuk had been doing. [46:21] Read the end. Excuse me, the beginning of chapter 2. [46:24] Where God says you’re looking for my grace in wealth. [46:28] You’re looking for it in power. [46:30] I’m not there, Habakkuk. That’s not me. [46:33] You want power and wealth more than you want me.

[46:37] And at the end of his life, Habakkuk had to turn everything in his life.

[46:44] And say, I’ll never be satisfied if I don’t have him. [46:49] Because he is God. [46:51] I was designed to be with him. [46:54] And I screwed it up. [46:57] But then through Jesus, look at what he does.

[47:02] He brings us back. [47:04] And we get it all. [47:07] There’s justice for sin.

[47:10] And there’s mercy and grace for me. [47:13] The one who sinned.

[47:17] In God, we have it all.

[47:22] By myself, I could have everything else. [47:26] And I’d have nothing. [47:29] And until you come to a place in your life where you submit to that,

[47:36] you will never worship. [47:40] Because you’re not trusting God.

[47:45] Father, we love you.

[47:54] You’ve given us everything.

[47:58] You’ve given us your Son.

[48:02] You’ve saved us. [48:04] Lord, you saved Habakkuk.

[48:09] Father, I pray right now that as we reflect on our incessant need to constantly repent,

[48:18] that we will not find a dreadful, terrifying place, [48:23] but rather, we will find you giving us grace and mercy through your Son, Jesus Christ.

[48:31] Father, that our hope would not be in the things that this life has to offer, [48:37] but rather, our hope would be found solely in you. [48:41] And that in your presence, we could say, [48:44] if I lost everything and I still had God, that would be enough.

[48:52] Right now is a time in a service when we respond to all that God’s done [48:58] to bring Himself glory, all that He’s doing to bring Himself glory. [49:04] And in His glory, we receive Him.

[49:10] And He did it through His Son.

[49:15] When God found justice in Jesus,

[49:19] He gave us this tangible example of how the Gospel works. [49:26] He gave it to us in His practice. It’s called the Lord’s Supper. [49:30] If you just humor me, let me unpack it for you.

[49:36] In communion, we have the bread, [49:40] and we have the cup. [49:42] Now, you may have heard, the bread represents the broken body of Jesus Christ [49:46] that He offered up as a sacrifice for the sins of man. [49:50] And then in the cup, we have the blood of Jesus, [49:53] which was shed on our behalf for our sin to the glory of God

[49:58] so that we could be redeemed. [50:01] But here’s what it is. [50:02] It’s this idea that in His broken body, in His shed blood, [50:07] what that represents is the penalty of sin laid on Him. [50:12] And so when you take the bread and you take the cup, [50:14] what you’re doing is you’re saying, Jesus bled and died for my sin.

[50:23] But then when you go that one step further, [50:26] and you eat the bread and you drink the cup, [50:28] here’s what happens. Here’s what it means. [50:30] Here’s what it is an allegory, a symbol for. [50:36] Is that while He takes our sin onto Himself and bleeds and dies, [50:41] He gives us His life.

[50:46] And when we eat the bread and drink the cup, [50:49] it’s a symbol for His life entering ours.

[50:56] It’s symbolic for Him giving us His righteousness. [51:01] That’s why in the Scriptures, they say, [51:05] do this in remembrance of Me.

[51:10] Because it’s a proclamation of the Gospel.

[51:16] If you’re in here this morning, even if it’s your first time, [51:18] and you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, [51:21] we invite you to come and proclaim the Gospel. [51:24] Proclaim your belief and your trust in God. [51:27] If you’re in here and you’re not a believer in Jesus Christ, [51:30] we ask that you don’t partake.

[51:32] But not because we think we’re better than you or anything, [51:35] but because it means nothing to you. [51:38] But maybe you’re in here today and you’ve been convicted by the Word, [51:40] and you’re saying, I want to follow Jesus. [51:42] I want that type of salvation. I want the Gospel.

[51:47] You can have it today.

[51:50] You just simply need to be honest with yourself, [51:53] and honest with God. [51:55] You need to realize that you’re totally untrustworthy, [51:58] and He’s totally trustworthy. [52:00] You need to realize that you’re broken, [52:02] and in Him is found wholeness.

[52:04] And that He has laid your sin on Jesus, [52:08] and through Jesus will give you His righteousness.

[52:13] I’ll be right over here. [52:15] If you want to talk, come on down.