Living by Faith in God's Good Justice

Okay, great. If you're visiting, my name's Kevin, and great to have you with us.

We're going to spend a few minutes in prayer together.

And often during this time, we pray for ourselves and our church and also our city

and different churches or ministries in our city and broader field.

So will you join me as we spend a few minutes in prayer together?

Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning empty-handed,

and we confess our deep need for you.

God, we love you and we adore you.

We are amazed by your grace and your mercy.

God, your holiness and your justice humble us.

Your grace and your mercy invite us in.

And God, this morning we confess we need you.

Father, it's so often that we go running after so many false gods in our cities,

in our lives that promise so much, and yet in the end they just make demands on us.

More and more demands, and they can never fully satisfy.

Father, this morning we confess that you are the one true God,

the one living God that can deeply satisfy us.

Father, we often try and feast on other things that are like crumbs from your table,

and yet God, you invite us to come and feast on you this morning.

And so we really do, God.

We want to meet with you.

We ask your Holy Spirit to come and be here through the rest of our service.

As we look at your word, as we continue to sing songs of devotion,

as we come to the communion table,

Holy Spirit, draw us in and come and open our eyes to see you and to meet with you.

God, this week as we go into our works and our universities,

and as we look after kids and we engage with people,

God, we need you.

Come and have your way in our lives, we pray, God.

Father, this morning we want to pray for our friends at Sons and Daughters,

that fantastic ministry.

We want to pray for the staff and the leaders and the volunteers

and everyone involved with Sons and Daughters ministry.

God, we pray that you will strengthen them and encourage them.

We pray, God, for just glimpses of your grace,

where maybe they're feeling discouraged, feeling downcast,

feeling like, how long, oh God?

Lord, won't you remind them of the great work that they're doing

and how you are with them every step of the way.

God, we pray for those that they are meeting and encountering,

some of the ladies in One Chai.

We pray for those searching for the truth that you, God,

even today, won't you, God, draw near to them, Lord.

Open their hearts, God, and we pray that they'll come to know you

and find your amazing grace and love, God.

We pray for the men and the gangs that are holding so many of these ladies captive.

God, we pray that your justice will come and you'll break in, Lord God,

and you'll disrupt those gangs, God.

We pray for freedom, Lord.

God, we want to pray for the bazaar that's coming up.

We pray that it'll be hugely successful.

Lord, for every bit of detail, we pray for the sons and daughters bazaar.

Won't you look after it, God,

and bring many ladies to the new safe house.

Father, this morning, we also want to pray for Amelia in Taiwan,

our dear sister there,

and we pray for you to really look after her and guide her, God.

We pray for her health.

She's had some health challenges.

We pray, Lord, for your healing and your protection over her.

Right now, God, we lift Amelia to you,

and we ask that you cover her with your grace,

and she'll feel your grace,

and she'll feel encouraged in her work there.

We pray, God, for her Mandarin studies,

and that you encourage her in that,

and that she continues to grow and learn

so that she can reach out to the Taiwanese people.

We pray for friends, God, and deep heart friends,

those that she can share her heart with

and feel at home with.

We pray for real deep gospel friendships for her.

And Father, we pray for opportunities for the gospel,

for Amelia, Lord.

Won't you burn the gospel deep in her heart

that she cannot help but just share it

with everyone that she encounters?

Lift her up this morning to you, God,

and we pray bless her in your wonderful and powerful name.

Jesus, we pray all these things

knowing that you're good and gracious,

majestic and sovereign.

And so we pray these things in your name.

Amen.

Amen.

Great.

Let's listen to the reading of Habakkuk chapter 2.

Habakkuk 2 · chapter mention

Thank you.

The scripture reading comes from Habakkuk chapter 2 and 3.

Habakkuk 2 · chapter mention

Please follow along in your bulletin or on the screen.

And the Lord answered me,

Write the vision,

make it plain on tablets,

so he may run who reads it.

For still the vision awaits its appointed time.

It hastens to the end.

It will not lie.

If it seems slow,

wait for it.

It will surely come.

It will not delay.

Behold,

his soul is puffed up.

It is not a pride within him,

but the righteous shall live by his faith.

Moreover,

wine is a traitor,

an arrogant man who is never at rest.

His greed,

it is wide as sheol.

Like that,

he has never enough.

He gathers for himself all nations

and collects as his own all peoples.

Shall not always take up their taunt against him

with scoffing and riddles for him and say,

Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own.

For how long?

And loads himself with pledges.

Will not your debtors suddenly arise?

And those awake who will make you tremble?

Then you will be spoiled for them,

because you have plundered many nations.

All the remnant of the people shall plunder you

for the blood of man and violence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell in them.

Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,

to set his nest on high,

to be safe from the reach of harm.

You have devised shame for your house

by cutting off many peoples.

You have forfeited your life.

For the stone will cry out from the wall,

and the beam from the woodwork respond.

Woe to him who builds a town with blood

and founds a city on iniquity.

Behold, it is not from the Lord of hosts

that peoples labor merely for fire,

and nations wear themselves for nothing.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge

of the glory of the Lord,

as the waters cover the sea.

Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink.

You pour out your wrath and make them drunk

in order to gaze at their nakedness.

You will have your fill of shame instead of glory.

Drink yourself and show your uncircumcision.

The cup in the Lord's right hand

will come around to you,

and utter shame will come upon your glory.

The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,

as will the destruction of the beasts

that terrified them.

For the blood of men and violence to the earth,

to cities and all who dwell in them.

What prophet is an idol when its maker has shaped it?

A mental image, a teacher of lies.

For its maker trusts in his own creation

when he makes speechless idols.

Woe to him who says to a wooden thing,

Awake to a silent stone.

Arise, can this teach?

Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,

and there is no breath at all in it.

But the Lord is in his holy temple.

Let all the earth keep silence before him.

A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet,

according to Shigeonot.

O Lord, I have heard the report of you,

and your work, O Lord, do I fear.

In the midst of the years, revive it.

In the midst of the years, make it known.

In wrath, remember mercy.

This is the word of God.

Great, thank you guys.

Well done.

A tricky passage.

Lots of big words and woes and all that.

So, well done.

Theo, for your first time reading on a Sunday,

you got a very easy passage.

So, well done, Jonas.

This morning, we continue looking at this

strange little book in the Old Testament

called Habakkuk, or Habakkuk.

And it's right at the end of the Old Testament,

just before the New Testament,

and it's a book in which this man called Habakkuk

wrestles with God around the big questions of life.

Where are you, God?

Why do you seem absent?

Why are you not hearing any of my prayers?

And so, last week, we looked at chapter one.

And chapter one starts off with Habakkuk complaining to God.

Because everywhere he looks around him in Israel,

there is violence, there is wickedness,

there is corrupt leaders, there is injustice.

And he says, God, where are you?

Are you not doing anything about it?

And God replies, and he says, funny ask.

I actually am doing something about it.

I'm busy raising up the Babylonians,

that hasty and bitter nation,

and they will be my instruments to come and discipline you

and to teach you not to be like that.

And Habakkuk says, what?

You've got to be joking.

The Babylonians are even more unrighteous than us.

How are unrighteous Babylon

going to teach righteousness to Israel?

How is unjust Babylon going to restore justice to Israel?

Where is the justice in that?

And so, Habakkuk is confused

and he's confounded by God's ways.

And at the end of chapter one,

he ends off by saying,

I'm going to take my stand on the watchtower

and I'm going to see what God has to say

about my complaints.

And today we get to chapter two.

And we don't know how long,

there's some period of time,

but God does respond.

And that's what we're going to look at today.

And so the question today is,

how do we make sense of God's justice?

When it appears that God allows evil and wickedness

and injustice to run rampant in the world,

and he doesn't seem to be doing anything about it,

how do we make sense of that?

What do we do with the perceived injustice in the world?

Now, this is Habakkuk's dilemma

and we're going to look at it.

Now, in this passage today,

we're going to look at four things.

I know a real sermon only has three points.

God and his sovereignty has given us four points today.

Okay.

And so today we're going to look at

God's good news to Habakkuk,

God's bad news to Habakkuk,

God's bad news to us,

and then God's good news to us.

Okay.

So let's dive in and look.

Firstly, God's good news to Habakkuk.

God answers Habakkuk and he says,

Habakkuk, I've got good news.

God's justice is coming.

And he responds by giving Habakkuk a vision.

And he tells Habakkuk,

write the vision down.

Make it clear.

Make it plain.

And the reason is because God knows

that all people throughout all generations

are going to ask the same questions.

And so he's saying,

Habakkuk, the answer I give to you,

write it down.

Make it clear.

So that in future generations,

when people are asking the same questions,

where are you, God?

They've got an answer.

And so look at what he says in verse two.

He says, write it down.

Make it plain.

And what is this message that God's given him?

It's a vision of what's going to happen

to the unbridled wickedness of Babylon.

And God's answer is this.

He says, Habakkuk,

I've heard your questions.

I've heard your complaints.

I've answered you.

Justice is coming.

Look at verse six with me.

Now in verse six and onwards,

there are actually five woes,

five pronouncements of judgment upon Babylon

because of their wickedness and the evil one.

And in each one,

God is going to pronounce this judgment,

but then he's going to show them

how the very thing that Babylon is guilty of

is actually going to be put upon them

and it's going to come upon their own heads.

So for instance,

let me think of an analogy.

I don't know if any of you remember 2014

when Russia annexed Crimea in Ukraine.

I know in 2014 in Hong Kong,

we had our own things going on here,

but there were other things going on in the world as well.

And I remember reading the newspapers

when Russia annexed Crimea.

Crimea was a province of Ukraine.

And I remember thinking,

how on earth does that happen?

That one nation just decides,

we're going to take that province back

and make it part of our nation.

And so they just rolled the tanks in

and the army did their thing.

And overnight,

Crimea was now no longer part of Ukraine,

is now part of Russia.

And so at the time,

all these world leaders stood up and said,

you know,

we condemn this in the strongest possible terms

and this shouldn't happen.

This is so unjust.

And they said all these things,

but at the end of the day,

there's not a whole lot you can do about it.

And so five years later,

Crimea is now part of Russia.

In other words,

sometimes people stand up and they say,

woe to these people.

This is bad.

And we condemn this judgment.

It shouldn't happen.

But there's not a whole lot you can do about it.

But that's not what God says.

Look at what God says.

He says,

woe to Babylon.

And then he's going to show them

what's going to happen

when they continue in their ways.

Look at verse six.

Look at the first one.

He says,

woe to him who heaps up what is not his own,

who loads himself up with pledges.

In other words,

God's telling Habakkuk

that he's not ignorant

about Babylon's unjust economic practices.

The fact that they plunder poorer nations,

stealing all their goods

and taking them back to Babylon.

The fact that they've built their nation,

their empire on extortion,

stealing from the poor

and plundering those that are weaker than themselves,

enslaving people.

And so look at what he says in verse seven.

He says,

you think you've got away with it Babylon,

but will not your debtors suddenly arise?

You see what he's saying?

In other words,

Babylon thinks that they're going and stealing

all this gold and plundering other nations.

And God says,

actually you're just borrowing from them

and they're going to soon call in their debts.

With interest.

They're coming back to take

what you've just taken from them.

In other words,

think of this.

I don't know if you remember,

you're at school

and you've got some lunch money,

okay?

And some bully comes

and steals your lunch money, right?

And he thinks he's got away with it.

Only on for later on in the day,

a whole group of people surround him

and say,

we'll take that back,

thank you very much.

And your own lunch money for interest.

In other words,

Babylon thinks they're stealing from others

and God says,

it's just a matter of time

before the nations call in their debts.

Will not your debtors arise

and those awake who make you tremble?

Then you will be spoiled for them

because you have plundered many nations.

They shall plunder you.

Look at else what he says,

verse nine.

He says,

So here are the Babylonians.

Again,

the unjust economic practices.

They are stealing from the poor.

They are plundering nations.

They are using this money

that they've taken

and the slave labor in Babylon.

And what are they doing?

They're building bigger

and better houses for themselves.

They're building themselves castles

that they think

are going to keep them safe

from harm's reach.

And so they think

that their economic strength

is their safety

and their security

and they trample on others

in order to get it.

That's the Babylonian way.

But look at what God says,

verse 10.

You have devised shame

for your house.

You've cut off many people.

You have forfeited your own life.

See the irony there?

You've planted others

and you think

this is going to make you safe.

Don't you realize

that in doing so

you have forfeited your own life.

The very thing

you're trying to keep safe.

For the stone will cry out

from the wall.

The beam from the woodwork

will respond.

God says,

Habakkuk,

I've seen what's happening.

I've heard your cries.

My justice is coming.

Maybe I'll skip over the last one.

Verse 12.

He says the same thing.

Woe to him

who builds a town with blood

and founds a city on iniquity.

Talking about slave labor.

And then,

let's look at it.

Verse 13.

He says,

Is it not from the Lord of hosts

that all these people

labor merely for fire?

In other words,

you're building this empire

on slave labor.

You've got these people

and you're treating them

as less than human

to build your great city,

your empire.

Don't you realize

your empire

is going to end up

in the fire?

Everything you've built

is going to end up

in ashes in your hands.

And then he says,

verse 14.

For the earth will be filled

with the knowledge

of the glory of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

Now here's a question.

What percentage of the sea

is covered by water?

Okay?

A hundred percent, right?

So look at what God's saying here.

You build yourself this empire

that you think

is going to last forever.

It's just a matter of time

before it's going to be ashes

in the ground.

But there is an empire.

There is a kingdom coming

and it will last forever

and it will cover

the whole earth

like the waters

cover the sea.

I am building an empire

that will never

get demolished

or torn down.

Habakkuk, I've seen,

I have heard,

my justice is coming.

And this is God's promise.

Things look evil today.

Things look like wickedness

just is rampant,

unchecked.

It has an expiry date.

My justice is coming.

Now look at verse 6 with me

if you've got your bulletin

or your Bible.

Verse 6 says this.

Shall not all these,

okay, underline these,

take up their taunt

against Babylon,

scoffing and with riddles

for him,

saying woe to him.

So the question is this.

These five woes,

woes Babylon for this

and this and this and this,

who is issuing this woe?

Who is it that's mocking them

and saying you think

you're building a castle

in the sky?

Don't you realize

the stones are going to

fall on your own head?

You think you're building

this empire.

Don't you realize

it's going to end up

in ashes?

Who's mocking Babylon

with this taunt?

Is it Habakkuk?

No.

Is it God?

No.

Who is it?

It's the victims

that are being run over

by the Babylonian army.

So Babylon is this

unjust, wicked nation

that plunders other nations

and God says

it's just a matter of time

that these people

that you think

you can just march over

from another perspective

in history,

they're looking down

in history

and they're laughing at you

because your wickedness

has an expiry date.

Maybe an example is this.

It's a silly example

but let's see if it makes sense.

I don't know how many of you

like soccer,

also called football,

outside of America.

When my team is winning,

I love soccer.

When they're not winning,

I lose interest.

In 1999,

there's this amazing game

of soccer.

There's this league in Europe

called the Champions League

which is the best teams

from all the best countries

in Europe

play against each other.

So it's called

the Champions League

because it's the best

of the best.

And so 1999,

Champions League final,

the two very best teams,

Manchester United

and Bayern Munich

are playing a game together.

Six minutes into the game,

Bayern Munich score a goal

and so they're ahead.

And for almost the rest

of the game,

Bayern Munich is winning.

They just,

they're one goal ahead

but they're just running rampant

over Manchester United.

And it seems like

they're just going to score

goal after goal.

Manchester United

have a chance

every now and then

but really Bayern Munich

are in charge

of the entire game.

And so three minutes

before the end of the game,

the organizers,

there's this massive

big trophy.

It's like this big.

They start to tie

the ribbons

of Bayern Munich club

onto the trophy

because as soon as

the game finishes,

the camera crews

are going to fall

onto the trophy

and they want the ribbons

of Bayern Munich

on there.

And the stands

where the Bayern Munich

fans are,

they're letting off

fireworks and flares

and the stand is bouncing

with enthusiasm.

You know what happened,

right?

One minute,

two minutes before

the end of the game,

Manchester United

score a goal.

It's now 1-0.

Bayern Munich stunt

but it's okay,

they got this thing.

The game then goes

into injury time

which is like an extra

two minutes at the end

of full time

and Manchester United

score another goal

and as they score,

that's the end of the game,

it's done

and they win

the Champions League final.

And so quickly

the organizers

are cutting off the ribbons

and tying new ones on

and that's what God

is saying here.

He's saying Babylon,

it looks like you're winning.

Wickedness,

injustice,

it looks like it's

running rampant.

It's just a matter of time.

Your expiry date is coming.

The very people

that you thought

you had demolished

are standing back

from history

and they are taunting you,

they are mocking you

saying your time

is coming to an end.

So,

that's the good news,

okay?

Habakkuk,

the good news,

justice is coming.

Secondly,

that was the longest one,

okay?

Secondly,

God's bad news

to Habakkuk.

Justice is coming,

says God,

but it's coming

in my timing,

not in your timing.

So,

let's go back

to the beginning

of chapter two

and see what God says.

And,

when you hear

God's good news,

sometimes we can think,

well,

all's well

that ends well.

Everything's just rosy.

But,

look at how things work out.

Look at verse two.

God says,

write the vision down,

make it plain.

Then he says,

for the vision

awaits its appointed time.

It hastens to the end,

it will not lie.

If it seems slow,

wait for it,

it will surely come.

Now,

I'm not sure

how many of you

know that feeling

of waiting for something

and it feels like

it's never coming.

Maybe you've run a marathon,

okay?

I've never run a marathon,

but let's just pretend

I have.

And you get to 30 kilometers

and your legs

feel like jelly

and you feel like

my life sucks.

And this is never

going to end,

right?

You've got 12 kilometers

ahead of you

and you feel like

I'm never,

ever going to get

to the end.

Or maybe you're a PhD student

or a master's student

and you're in

the abyss of drudgery

feeling like

this thing is never

going to end,

right?

And,

in many ways,

that's how Habakkuk felt.

God gives him

this vision

of how the story

is going to end.

He tells them

it may seem slow,

but it's coming,

but it doesn't seem

like it's ever coming.

And,

in fact,

this is something

that Habakkuk

had to wrestle

with his entire life

because the Bible,

or actually history

tells us

that justice did come.

Babylon was overthrown.

A few years later,

70 years later,

Babylon is smashed

by the Persians

and they never recovered.

That's the end

of the Babylonian empire.

Except,

it happened

after Habakkuk

is dead

and buried

and in the grave.

In other words,

the justice

he waited for

came,

but it didn't come

in his lifetime.

And Habakkuk

starts off with this question,

how long,

oh God?

He thought,

apparently,

God does not act.

And what God

was showing him

was that God

had just not yet acted.

And Habakkuk

was correct

to think that God

ought to act

in response

to the injustice

in the world.

and he's quite right.

But he also thought

that he knew how

and when God

ought to act.

And in this,

he was quite wrong.

And so God

is teaching him

this important lesson

of patience.

That the life of a Christ

follows one of faith.

And so that leads us

to verse 4,

in which we looked

at last week.

God says,

the righteous

will live

by faith.

And friends,

this really is

the greatest description

of the Christian life.

that the life

of a Christian

is that the righteous

will live

by faith.

Trusting God's ways.

Trusting his timing.

Trusting that he knows

best,

even when things

don't make sense to us.

And this is what

God is saying

to Habakkuk.

It seems slow.

Wait for it.

It's coming.

It seems like

it's delaying.

I know what I'm doing.

Habakkuk,

my appointed time

is coming.

This is the

quintessential verse

for the Christian.

The righteous

will live

by faith.

And so friends,

tomorrow when you

go to work,

some of us

might be challenged

by the fact

that a colleague

that makes all sorts

of unethical decisions,

cuts corners,

backstabs people,

they get promoted

and you don't.

Where's the justice

in that?

The righteous

will live

by faith.

And friends,

for some of us

it seems like

evil's on the rise,

people are becoming

more and more corrupt,

unethical behaviors

everywhere.

The righteous

will live

by faith,

knowing that

your hope

and your life

is not found

in getting ahead

in the rat race,

it's being found

in who Christ is

in your life

in him.

And so this is

the most succinct

description of the

Christian life.

Because this world

is not our home

and therefore

cannot give us

what we long for

or hope for.

Christ says,

the vision awaits

its time.

It hastens to the end.

It seems slow,

wait for it.

It will come,

it will not delay.

Habakkuk's bad news,

God's timing

is not necessarily

his own.

And that leads us

to the third point,

our bad news.

Now,

God's justice

in the world,

the fact that justice

is coming,

is good news.

It means that

there's no wickedness

that is ever

perpetuated

which is left undone.

It may not get

justice in our lifetime,

but there is coming

a time,

God says,

I know about it,

I'm sovereign,

I will bring

my just judgment

to bear.

Now that's good news,

but it's also bad news.

And I'm going to let

my friend,

John Injoroche,

who I actually don't know,

he's not really my friend,

but let's just pretend,

let him answer

this question for us.

John,

who is part of the

RZIM speaking team,

this is what he writes.

He says,

when our sense of justice

is threatened,

we are quick

to demand answers.

This is nowhere

more evident

than the attacks

on God's character

based on his

administration of justice,

especially in the

Old Testament.

So things go wrong,

we say,

God,

where are you?

This doesn't make sense,

we demand answers

to this.

But at the root

of this reaction

lies the failure

to appreciate

the full implications

for what one really

asks for

when we demand

justice.

If justice

is to be

absolutely served,

the guilty

cannot go unpunished.

Whenever we demand

justice,

we affirm

the same standard

that also

condemns

ourselves.

You see that?

In other words,

we say,

God,

we want justice.

This is not right

that evil reigns.

But what about

when we are guilty

of doing the same

things?

Don't we condemn

ourselves?

So in chapter 2,

verse 6,

we read it earlier,

the first of these

five woes.

Look at what Habakkuk

says.

He says,

Woe to him

who heaps up

what is not his own.

And then as Habakkuk's

writing this down

in the scroll,

he almost cannot

help himself.

He throws in

these three words,

How long,

O God?

And then he continues

and loads himself

up with pledges.

He can't help himself.

God,

how long shall

the Babylonians

continue like this?

But remember,

last week,

in chapter 1,

he starts off

and says,

How long,

O God,

will you not

hear my cries?

And in that instance,

he's not talking

about Babylon,

he's talking

about Israel.

He's talking

about God's

very people.

You see that?

On one instance,

he's saying,

God,

how long shall

the Babylonians

go on like this?

But just the chapter

before,

he's saying,

God,

how long shall

your people

go on like this

as well?

In chapter 2,

he writes and he says,

The Babylonians,

they're violent.

They're violent.

Where's your justice,

God?

In chapter 1,

he says,

God,

I look around Israel

and I see violence

everywhere.

He complains about

the perversion

of the Babylonians.

In chapter 1,

he talks about

the perversion

in Israel.

In other words,

the very things

that rile Habakkuk's

sense of injustice

about the Babylonians

are just as present

in the people

of God themselves.

And that's bad news

for us.

Tim Mackey is the guy,

the genius behind

the Bible Project.

If you've ever seen

the Bible Project,

it's amazing.

Tim Mackey's the guy

behind it.

And he makes

this amazing point

that at the end

of the Bible,

in the book of Revelation,

God condemns Babylon.

But what's interesting

is Babylon

is long buried

by the time

Revelation is written.

It's 600 years later.

Babylon doesn't even exist.

And yet God has

some very strong words

to say for Babylon.

Why is that?

Tim Mackey makes the point

that every city,

every successful,

wealthy city,

every civilization

has the temptation

to become Babylon

all over again.

And the reason is

because the seeds

of Babylon

are in each one of us.

Or as Salman Rushdie

said in one of his books,

the barbarians

are not only

out at the gates,

they are in our own skin

as well.

And friends,

this is the story

of the world.

In fact,

this is particularly

the story of Africa,

the continent

that I come from.

Africa is a continent

of revolutionaries

and freedom fighters

and coup d'etats

and independence fighters.

But as soon as

the revolutionaries

get into power,

it's just a matter

of time before

they start doing

the very thing

that they shed blood

to overthrow.

The revolutionaries

become power hungry

themselves.

Why?

Because the barbarians

are not only

at our gates,

they are in our skins

as well.

And friends,

that's true

for every civilization

and every one of us.

And so in the New Testament,

the Apostle Paul,

he writes in Romans

and he says how

everybody in the world,

the Jews

and the Gentiles,

the religious

and the irreligious,

all of us,

if we try to

stand before God

in our own merits,

we stand condemned.

And so he says,

are the Jews,

the religious people

any better off

because they have

God's law?

Not at all.

Are the irreligious

any better off

because they're not

constrained by some system?

Not at all.

All people everywhere,

their mouths

have been stopped.

It's an amazing picture.

I don't know if you remember

when you were a little kid

and you get caught

for doing something wrong

and you stand

and your teacher

or parent is scolding you

and you've got no defense.

You're speechless.

Your mouth has been stopped.

And that's what Paul says.

Every human being

in all the world

before the holiness

and the justice of God,

our mouths

have been stopped.

Now look at what Habakkuk says.

He says the same thing

in chapter 2.

He says,

The Lord is in His holy temple.

Therefore,

let all the earth

keep silent

before Him.

You see, friends,

in our pursuit of justice,

when we look at the world

and especially those in power

and we throw our fists

and we say,

how on earth

could you be like that?

How could you behave like that?

The truth is,

given half a chance

in the same conditions,

if we were in the same positions

of power

or were part of the same culture,

how different would we be?

I remember as a teenager

going to my parents

and saying,

Mom and Dad,

talk to me about apartheid

in South Africa.

You were adults.

Why didn't you fight apartheid?

Why didn't you stand up

for injustice?

How could you

just go on with it

and benefit from it?

But the haunting question

is if I was there

as a white South African,

would I have done

anything different?

Would I have done

anything different?

And so Charles Spurgeon

says it like this.

He says,

the man or the woman

who clings to his own morality

to justify himself

before God

is like a man

who grasps

a massive stone

in order to prevent himself

from sinking

in a flood.

Friends,

we stand before God

with nothing in our hands.

We stand before

His holy justice,

condemned.

And so the question is,

where is our hope?

Where do we turn

when we see injustice

all around us

and we see injustice

in our own hearts?

What hope do we have?

And so fourthly,

the good news

of the gospel

is where justice

and mercy meet.

At the end of his vision,

Habakkuk,

he does the only

legitimate thing

that he can do.

He gets on his knees

and he prays.

He says,

God, I don't know

what to do.

I don't know where to stand.

And so he prays.

And he prays

this amazing prayer

and we're going to look

at it next week.

But I want to look

at just the first verse.

Look at what he says here.

He says,

Lord, I've heard

the report of you.

Your work of God

do I fear.

In the midst of the years,

revive it.

In the midst of the years,

make it known.

In your wrath,

remember mercy.

In your wrath,

remember mercy.

You see,

earlier Habakkuk

praised and says,

God,

where's the justice?

God,

Israel's running rampant.

What are you doing about it?

And God says,

I'm going to do

something about it.

And now he's seen,

oh boy,

God,

if you do something about it,

that's serious.

And so he gets on his knees

and he says,

God,

bring your justice.

Bring your justice.

But God,

in your wrath,

remember mercy.

Habakkuk knows

that if only God

brings his justice,

his just judgment,

then what hope do we have?

But he knows

that God is not only just,

he's also gracious.

In your justice,

remember mercy.

And so friends,

the question is,

where do we find justice

that doesn't just sweep

wickedness and sin

under the carpet?

It doesn't just turn

a blind eye

to the injustice

in the world.

But where do we also

find a mercy

and a grace

that doesn't condemn us

and crush us

and the guilt

in our own hearts?

Is there a way

for God to decisively

deal with wickedness

in the world

and yet not decisively

deal with the people

in whom sin dwells?

Well,

again,

my friend,

John in Joroghe

says this.

The biblical solution

to this conundrum

is uniquely ingenious,

both logically

and relationally.

It is at the cross

of Jesus

where God's perfect justice

is perfectly administered

and yet his eternal mercy

is publicly displayed.

Friends,

in the cross of Christ,

we are confronted

by the holiness

and the justice of God.

In the cross of Christ,

God tells us

that sin isn't just

a social construct

to make us feel bad

about ourselves.

sin is a reality

and the consequences

of sin

is just judgment

and death.

But in the cross,

we are also confronted

with the mercy of God

who says,

I will take the punishment

of your sin

upon myself

so that you can go free

if you come to me

in faith

and repentance.

In the cross,

we find God's justice

and his mercy.

He deals with wickedness

by crushing Christ

on the cross

and yet he pours out

his mercy

by saying,

welcome my sons

and my daughters.

In the cross alone,

justice and mercy meet.

And so,

fifthly and finally,

the question is this,

what do we do with this?

What do we do with the sense

that God's passionate

about justice

but justice alone

isn't good news for us,

we need mercy as well.

Friends,

the degree to which

we understand

how these two things

come together

will change

our entire lives.

This week,

in this broken

and sinful world of ours,

there are going to be

many reasons

to be bitter

and angry

at the injustices

of the world.

You see the way

that people are treated

and a part of our heart

will rile and say,

God,

that's not right.

Justice should be done.

We look at corrupt leadership

around the world.

We look at income inequality

in our own city.

We look at how companies

and cities

and empires

are built

on the back of slavery

and slave labor.

Maybe you're a parent

and you feel angry

about the fact

that your children

never respect you,

never show any appreciation.

Maybe you feel angry

at the way your parents

never showed you

any appreciation or love.

Maybe you feel angry

at your boss

who makes your life misery.

Irresponsible leaders

that crash the stock market

and lose all your life savings.

A spouse who doesn't show you

any appreciation or love.

Maybe a romantic relationship

that turned wrong.

Friends,

this very week

you're going to look at

injustice in the world

and there's going to be

a temptation to feel angry

and bitter about it.

Michael Ramsden

from RZIM

said this recently.

He said,

if our drive for justice

is bitterness in our hearts,

even when you get justice,

you'll still feel bitter

and angry.

But if on the other hand

our drive for justice

is fueled by compassion

and love,

whether you get justice

or not,

you'll still have love

and compassion

in our hearts.

Friends,

the degree to which you see

the justice of God

and the mercy of Christ

on the cross

poured out for you,

to that degree

we'll be able to stand up

for justice

and yet do it

with compassion

and gentleness

and mercy

in our own hearts.

Let me land with the story.

Many of you will know

South Africa,

the country I come from,

many years ago

we had this thing

called apartheid

which was when

the government

legislated

extreme racism

and prejudice

against anyone

that essentially

wasn't white.

and it was horrific.

Many people were killed

and the justice system

was broken.

Police could do

almost anything

and just a horrific time.

And so in 1994

just the apartheid

is overturned.

A new government

is in place.

Nelson Mandela

is the new president

and Nelson Mandela

did something very wise.

He started something

called the Truth

and Reconciliation Commission

which is where

people that had been

victims of injustice

could come to this commission

and seek truth

for what happened

to their loved ones.

And so what often happened

is people were killed

but people didn't know

what happened

to their loved ones.

And so the Truth

and Reconciliation Commission

said anyone

that perpetrated injustice

could acknowledge

their fault,

speak the truth,

those that were victims

could come and hear

the truth

and hopefully

that would be

the seedbed

for some kind

of reconciliation.

There's an amazing story

about what happened

at one of those meetings.

There was an African lady

sitting at this meeting

and years previously

a police officer

by the name of

Mr. Funderbrook

went to her house

and her son

was accused

or thought

of being part

of a terrorist organization

to try and overthrow

the apartheid government.

And so they grab

her teenage son,

they drag him

out the house,

and she never knew

what happened

to her husband's body.

She didn't know

if they'd taken him away,

she never knew

what happened.

And so 10 years later,

this lady

is now facing

the man

that did this

to her son

and her husband

in the same room

and he's telling

the story

saying this is what I did.

And so at the end

of this hearing,

the commissioner

turns this lady

and says,

what do you think

we should do?

What do you want done?

How should justice

be served?

And this lady

says,

I want three things

to happen.

The first thing

is,

I want to be taken

to the place

where my husband's body

was burnt

so that I can gather

up the dust

and give his remains

a decent burial.

My husband and my son

were my only family.

Second thing,

she says,

I want Mr.

Thunderbrook

to become

my son.

I want him

to come to my house

twice a month

and to have tea

with me

so that I can

pour out on him

what love I still

have in my heart.

And thirdly,

she says,

I want Mr.

Thunderbrook

to know

that I offer him

complete forgiveness

because Jesus Christ

died to forgive.

This also would be

the wish of my husband.

And so,

she says,

now,

will somebody

help me get up

and walk across

the courtroom

so that I can put

my arms around

Mr.

Thunderbrook

and show him

that he is truly

forgiven?

Friends,

in our world,

there is incredible

injustice.

There is incredible

wrongdoing.

And if justice

is the only recourse,

what hope do we have?

If justice

is the only thing

that we do,

we will cause

vendettas

and vigilantes

and one group

will forever

hate another.

But in the midst

of this,

God pours out

his mercy

and he says,

let justice

be met

by mercy.

Here,

this lady says,

I want the perpetrator

of the crime

to become my son

so I can pour out

my love upon him.

Friends,

in the cross,

God poured out

his love

on us

in Jesus Christ.

And Jesus died

on the cross

that we could become

his sons

and his daughters

so that God

could pour the love

in his heart

upon us,

that God could

welcome us

into his family

forever.

Friends,

part of our role

in calling as a church

is to be part

of God's redemption

story in the city.

And that means

we're going to stand up

for justice.

It means we're going

to fight for justice

in our city.

It means we're going

to stand up

against injustice.

We're going to stand up

for the poor

and the marginalized.

We're going to stand up

for those that are treated

less than human.

We're not going to be those

like the Babylonians

that just build a nest egg

in the sky

and think we're safe

and secure.

But we're going to stand up

and fight for those

that don't have

and against inequality.

But friends,

how are we going to do it?

In our world,

justice is a thing

that people feel entitled to.

But friends,

the church is called

to stand up for justice,

not arrogantly,

not shaking our fists,

but with compassion

and mercy in our hearts,

with conviction and love,

with grace and empathy,

knowing that in the gospel,

we too are sinners,

deserving of justice,

and yet recipients

of his amazing mercy.

And so let's come

before him now

and pray

and ask God

to make us

that kind of people.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father,

Father,

God,

I don't know what to say.

Lord,

God,

God,

when we look at

the injustice

in our world,

our hearts recoil

and our hearts say,

this is not right.

Father,

we long for our true home.

We long for your kingdom

to come,

that kingdom

which will be established

on the earth,

that will cover the world

like the waters

cover the sea,

God.

Your kingdom

where there's no more tears

and no more pain

and no more sin

and no more wickedness

and no more injustice.

God,

we long for that.

We long for our true home,

Lord.

Jesus,

we say,

come quickly,

God.

Come quickly,

God,

and deal with the injustice

in our world.

And yet,

God,

we also say,

thank you,

God,

for your patience

because if you dealt

with us too quickly,

God,

we would have had no hope.

Thank you for your patience,

God,

that is so patient

you give us a chance

to come to our senses,

to humble ourselves

before you,

to throw ourselves

at the foot of the cross

and say,

Jesus,

have mercy on us.

Forgive us,

God.

Jesus,

thank you for the cross.

Thank you for that place

where justice and mercy

meet,

God.

God,

won't you show us,

God,

just how much

your mercy costs.

Show us,

God,

what our sin really costs you.

God,

show us your glory,

we pray.

Father,

we don't want to be followers

of Jesus

and go through the motions.

God,

we want our hearts

to be moved

by who you are.

Come and write

your justice and mercy,

your gospel deep

in our hearts,

we pray.

Father,

pray that as a church

we really will become

agents of hope

and healing,

justice and grace

in our city.

God,

I pray that Hong Kong

will be better off,

more like heaven

because we as a church

are here

and because our brothers

and sisters

across Hong Kong

are here.

Come help us,

we pray.

Make us more like you.

Make our city

more like heaven,

we pray.

Father,

I pray especially

this morning

for those of us

maybe that have been

victims of

great injustice.

And God,

sometimes a sermon

like this can make,

can be like salt

in the wound.

And when we hear

that justice will come

but it is often delayed,

Father,

it's so hard.

God,

won't you give us grace?

God,

those of us

that have been hurt

and abused

and mistreated,

God,

won't you give us grace?

Father,

won't you put your arms

around us?

Pour your love

into our hearts,

we pray,

God,