ISIS Crisis

It's always good to be back at faith and to share the word with you.

I uh would appreciate it if you would follow along in the Bible and in your outline that you should have in your bulletin.

You know that I'm preaching because there's a long outline in there.

But after you're finished and fill it out, you might want to just tuck it in the place where Habakkuk is found.

ISIS Crisis.

That's the title of the sermon.

And somebody said, oh no, Pastor, we hear about ISIS every day on the news.

Why do we have to come to church and hear about it again?

ISIS, Islamic State of Iraq, Syria.

Few words evoke more emotion than those words, that word, ISIS or ISIL.

Words like barbarism and violence and savagery and evil and inhumanity and brutality.

I won't go into detail to describe what we have seen, at least partially, on the news, the brutality that has shocked the world.

Our political leaders are hesitant to know if or how even to deal with them, while Americans seem oblivious, more interested in what color a dress is, whether it's black or blue or white or gold.

What is even more frightening is the realization that some of those who have gone to fight for ISIS can easily come back into our country.

As a matter of fact, this week we were told that there are at least 40 who have done so.

And the experts tell us that the question is not if ISIS will attack us, but when.

Those of us who are believers sit back and think, would God really allow something like ISIS to be turned loose on the shores of America?

God would never allow that sort of thing, even to punish America for its departure from the Word of God, would he?

But that was precisely the argument made by the 7th-century prophet Habakkuk, whose little book bears his name and we don't know much else about him.

But what he reveals to us for lessons on living in uncertain times is as current as the evening news and more desperately needed than a Mideast policy.

So follow along with me as we're quickly going to go look over the book and then come back and see what lessons we can learn from Habakkuk.

There's three chapters.

First chapter is Habakkuk wandering.

Habakkuk wondering.

Chapter two is Habakkuk waiting.

Habakkuk waiting.

Chapter three is Habakkuk worshiping.

Let's look at chapter one.

Habakkuk begins with a complaint in the first four verses.

He was upset about two things.

First of all, God's indifference to hearing his prayers.

He says, How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and thou wilt not hear?

I cry out to thee violence, yet thou dost not save.

And then he changes from how long to why?

He's not only upset with God's indifference to evil in his country, Judah, but he is upset with God's indifference to the sin of his people.

Why?

Why dost thou make me see iniquity?

Cause me to look on wickedness.

And he lists some of the sins: violence, iniquity, wickedness, destruction, strife, contention, justice is ignored, laws are ignored.

All words that could just as well describe America in our century as it did Judah back in the seventh century before Christ.

Those of us who are believers are finding that what we believe from the scriptures or from our conscience is being stripped away from us by federal judges.

What was once sinful now is called a protected class, as is race and age and religion and gender.

So people who violate God's moral absolutes are now a protected class.

And that leaves us in a dilemma as believers, because on the one hand, we are to obey those who have authority over us, and yet on the other hand, we are to obey God rather than man.

So we find that our beliefs are mocked and swept away by laws that limit our religious freedom, and we are called intolerant and old-fashioned.

That upset Habakkuk in his day.

He was angry about the trends of his country, and he was angry because God didn't seem to step in and do something about it.

But notice in verses 5 to 11, God's reply.

God replies with his intention in verse 5, and it is unbelievable.

That's very contemporary, isn't it?

You hear that a lot.

Unbelievable.

Well, this is truly unbelievable.

Look among the nations, observe, be astonished, wonder, because I'm doing something in your days you would not believe if you were told.

For behold, I'm raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs.

God replies to Aesoph's cry of his being indifference to his prayers and to sin by saying, I am going to do something.

And the instrument that I'm going to do it with is the Chaldeans.

The Chaldeans were really the Babylonians because the Assyrians were the ruling power in the Mideast at that point, but they were replaced by the Babylonians.

And they came in 605, 597, and 586.

And they destroyed Jerusalem, the temple, and they took Judah captive.

Their strength is described in the verses 5 to 11.

Their speed and success of conquest, their God was their own might.

It's a little bit like Isis: strong, swift, wicked.

So one of the lessons I learned here is you have to be careful about what you pray for, because God may answer in a way that would seem unbelievable.

God was going to punish Judah, and he was going to punish them with the Babylonians.

Well that leads in verses 12 to 19 of or 17 of chapter 1 to a dilemma.

Habakkuk asks God three questions.

How can a holy God use an evil instrument to punish a more righteous people?

How could God use the Chaldeans, who are even more wicked than Judah, to punish Judah?

And then he asks, why would God permit the wicked to capture the righteous and treat them like fish in a net?

And the third question is, will this injustice go on indefinitely?

Now please hear me.

I'm not predicting, I'm not a prophet, I'm not saying that ISIS is going to come to America to punish it.

I hope it doesn't.

But what I am saying is that in the past God has used a more wicked nation, the Babylonians, to punish Judah, a more righteous nation.

It seemed unbelievable, is how God described it, but it was true.

Perhaps the better question we should ask is, why wouldn't God punish America when she seemed so blatantly to disobey him?

So how do we handle things in life that don't seem to make sense or don't seem like God knows what he's doing?

That brings us to chapter two, where we see Habakkuk waiting.

And in the beginning of the chapter, he is waiting.

I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart.

I will keep watch to see what he will speak to me and how I may reply when I am reproved.

He's waiting for God to respond to his three questions.

And in the verses that follow, he doesn't have to wait long for God tells him to write, to start writing.

In verses 2 to 3, we see the Lord answered me and said, Record the vision and inscribe it in tablets, that the one who reads it may run.

For the vision is yet for the appointed time.

It hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail.

Though it tarries, wait for it, for it will certainly come.

It will not delay.

And what the rest of chapter two does, as God responds to the question of Habakkuk, is to say, Habakkuk, the Chaldeans will get their due.

They too will be punished.

And if you'll notice in five different places, God pronounces woes upon the Chaldeans.

In chapter 2, verse 68, woe for their aggression, woe for their sex self-exaltation, woe for their violence, woe for their debauchery, woe for their idolatry.

The Chaldeans would not go unpunished, Habakkuk.

They will get their due.

And it happened in 539 BC.

The Babylonians were replaced in power by the Medes and the Persians.

So that leads us to chapter 3, where we find Habakkuk worshiping.

Habakkuk worshiping.

Notice, first of all, the prophet's prayer and praise.

He prays, first of all, about the future.

He says, Lord, revive your work.

Go ahead and do what you have said you're going to do.

Revive your work, but also have mercy upon us, verses one and two.

And that leads the prophet then to praise God for his past intervention, verses three to fifteen.

In very poetic language, Habakkuk reflects upon God's person in verses three and four, and upon God's power in verses five through 15.

And the focus of that power is God's deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt.

Over and over, the children of Israel would go back to those days to encourage them when they needed encouragement of God's faithfulness.

It would go back to the deliverance of God from Egypt through the Jordan, the conquest, and into the promised land.

Is there a particular experience that you often go back to as you think about God's faithfulness to you in the past?

There may be something that happened to you, and you saw God work in ways maybe not at the time that you felt this has to be God.

It has to be God working.

For the children of Israel, it was going back to the deliverance from Egypt.

That leads to the last section of chapter 3, the prophet's peace in uncertainty in the God of his salvation and strength.

He complains, God, why don't you do something?

And God says, I am.

I'm going to bring the Chaldeans and they're going to punish Judah.

And he says, How can you do that, God?

How can you use a more wicked nation to punish a more righteous nation?

God says, just wait a minute.

The Chaldeans will get their due.

They too will be punished.

And that leads Habakkuk in chapter 3 then to pray and to reflect upon God's faithfulness.

And it leads him to verse 16.

Now I want us to note, Habakkuk is still frightened.

He is still afraid of what's going to happen.

I heard and my inward parts trembled.

At the sound my lips quivered.

Decay entered my bones, and in my place I tremble because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us.

When God spoke to Habakkuk, it didn't remove all his fear, didn't take away the uncertainty.

And that is expressed in verse 16.

But what follows in verse 17 to 19 is some of the strongest words of faith that are found in Scripture.

And I want you to try to imagine how these words would be applied in your life.

Though the fig tree should not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail, and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet, yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength, and he has made my feet like hinds' feet, and makes me walk on my high places.

Compare, contrast the first section of Habakkuk with the last.

And he's resting.

He has a problem, but he has a person.

Now, as I have quickly gone through this book, the lesson for us is what can we learn to deal with life when we're angry about the way God has been working things out or hasn't been working things out, when we're upset with the state of our world and our country, and God doesn't seem to be doing anything about it, or when we're fearful about what lies ahead, and we think of the unbelievable sorts of possibilities that could happen in our country?

How did God minister to Habakkuk in those days when the Chaldeans were coming and all he says is, I'm sitting here waiting for them to invade us?

How does God minister to Habakkuk to move him from the point of the pits to the point of the mountaintop?

And those lessons are as applicable to us as they were to him.

The first lesson I learn is simply through the names that Habakkuk uses to call God.

Notice with me, and I think I put them on the outline.

The names that revealed something about God that were special to Habakkuk in this time of uncertainty.

He is everlasting.

Verse 1, chapter 1, verse 12.

Habakkuk needed to know that God didn't just have an immediate focus.

He knew the past and he knew the future and everything in between.

He was everlasting.

Notice he calls him holy in verse 12 of chapter 1.

God wasn't going to do something that was a violation of his character.

He was going to remain holy as he always is.

He calls him our rock, stability when his knees and lips are quivering and shaking.

He calls him my salvation and my strength in chapter 3.

And don't we do the same thing when we pray?

In times of uncertainty, in times of fear?

We pray to our everlasting God, we pray to our rock, we pray to our strength, we pray to him as our salvation.

We gain strength in those times of uncertainty when we focus upon the character and attributes of God that are revealed in his name.

There's a second way that God ministered to Abakuch, and that's found in chapter two.

Not only through his names, but through his word.

Chapter two is really a revelation, revealing truth to Abacuk that the Chaldeans were going to be punished.

But in the midst of those woes, those five woes, God reveals three things that just pop out in the midst of that section on the woes to the Babylonians.

Notice the first one, chapter 2, verse 4.

The just shall live by faith.

Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him, but the righteous will live by his faith.

You ever heard that before?

It's picked up in the New Testament by the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 1 and Galatians chapter 3 to emphasize the fact that believers are saved through the faith in the person of Jesus Christ and his work alone.

Romans 1 · chapter mention Galatians 3 · chapter mention

It's picked up by the writer of Hebrews to emphasize not only are we saved by faith, but we walk by faith.

And Paul says the same thing in Colossians chapter 2, verse 6.

Colossians 2:6

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, how did you receive him?

By faith, so walk ye in him by faith.

Backup, yes, the times are troublesome.

The Chaldeans are going to be punished, but I want you to walk by faith.

Trust me.

He reveals to Backup that important lesson in chapter 2, but he also reveals a second important lesson in chapter 2, verse 14.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

In the midst of all this confusion and turmoil and punishment that was coming to Judah and to the Chaldeans, one day the earth will be filled with the knowledge of our Lord as the waters cover the sea.

That's the everlasting long-term point of view that Habakkuk needed.

That's picked up by the prophet Isaiah to be talking about the millennial kingdom when Jesus is going to reign on this earth.

And so, even in the midst of this time, the Lord gave the prophet a long-term point of view.

God is going to win in the end.

There's going to be victory.

The earth is going to be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

So don't give up hope.

Prophecy is important.

It is important to know not only where we came from, but where we're going.

And the Lord reminded Habakkuk of that truth in chapter 2, in the midst of the woes that are being pronounced on the Chaldeans.

But there's the third thing that God reveals to the prophet in his word.

Verse 20.

But the Lord is in his holy temple.

Let all the earth be silent before him.

Now I imagine this is how it impacted Habakkuk.

All he sees around him is this prediction of gloom and doom, not only for Judah, but for those who conquer him, and he has to just sit there and wait for this to happen.

That's what's down here.

What is up there?

The Lord is in his holy temple.

Let all the earth keep silent before him.

It's a reminder, Habakkuk, God is still in control.

He's still on his throne.

He's not running around with his hands up in the air saying, What can we do?

He is sitting on his throne.

He is still sovereign.

In heaven there's serenity, while on earth there's turmoil.

So the three lessons that Habakkuk learned from God's word, from God revealing to him, were these: the just will live by faith.

The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.

And the Lord is in control on his throne.

Submit to him, be silent.

But there was a third way that he was ministered to in this midst of uncertainty and anger and turmoil.

And that is he gained strength by reflecting upon God's faithfulness in the past to assure him of his faithfulness in the future.

That's what chapter 3 is.

Habakkuk goes back and remembers how God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, conquered the people in the land.

He gained strength from remembering God's faithfulness.

And he knew God would similarly deliver him in the future.

So some takeaways on the back of your outline.

Live in trust.

You know, we're going through a kind of a difficult time here as a church.

Some of you may be angry, some of you are confused, some of you don't know what to think.

Live in trust.

Trust God.

Believe in his word and his promises when you don't understand him.

What areas in your life do you need to trust him right now?

I was thinking for some this week there was a loss.

There might be a relationship that's in trouble.

There might be health concerns or family concerns or finance problems or the ministry of the church.

Or maybe you're just kiting through life and you're having such a great time.

There's really nothing you have to trust God for.

Maybe you need to trust God for something.

And maybe it should start with something as simple as your checkbook.

Ask God to place someone on your heart that could use some of the Lord's money.

And trust Him to write a big enough check to make a difference.

Live in trust in the middle of uncertainty.

Live in hope.

Know that God will end, will win in the end.

The best is yet to come.

Then live in peace.

He's still on his throne.

He's still sovereign.

If we were to package the whole thing up in one simple sentence, we would say the world is in turmoil, and it's hard to see God in the midst of evil and confusion.

But the way to get out from under the load is to get right and under the Lord.

Let's pray.

Lord, we confess we live in a world that's messed up.

Believers are ridiculed and made fun of, and laws are obeyed in some states that aren't true in other states.

And the federal government mandates certain things for some states that they don't do for others, and we're confused about what's happening in our world, and then we see what's happening in the Middle East, and we're being warned that this could spill over to our country, and we we wonder how we're going to deal with it.

But Lord, let us learn from Habakkuk.

Let us learn to live in trust, to trust you, the eternal, the holy, the one who is our strength, our rock, and our salvation.

Help us to live in hope, Lord, to realize that this mess that we live in is one day going to be replaced by the kingdom in which you will reign over us and we will be in your presence.

And Lord, help us also to live in peace.

The Lord is still on the throne.

Let all the earth be silent before him.

We pray these things in the name of our Savior.

Amen.