How Long Oh Lord?

In 1966, this lady called Elizabeth Elliot wrote a book called No Graven Image.

And Elizabeth Elliot herself was a missionary to tribesmen in South American Amazon Forest.

Her husband had been killed a few years before by the very people that they were trying to reach.

Anyway, she then writes this novel, and it's about a young lady that is a missionary to tribesmen in the Amazon.

And so it's quite autobiographical.

And in this book, there's this missionary called Margaret.

And her job is she does Bible translation for tribes that have no language.

And so she first goes and learns the language, documents it.

They have no written language.

She documents it and then translates the Bible into their language so that they can have the gospel.

And she's working with this tribe in the Ecuadorian mountains.

And key to her translation is a man called Pedro.

He's the only man in the world, as far as she knows, who speaks both the language of this tribe as well as Spanish.

And so he's the connection between her and this tribe that she's trying to reach with the gospel.

Anyway, one morning, she's been working for years with Pedro.

And she's almost at the place where she can document the language, write it down, and then start her translation work.

And so one morning, she's on her way to work, and she's praying this heartfelt prayer.

God, thank you so much for the privilege of being able to do what I do.

Thank you that you've called me to translate the Bible and to help this tribe to know the gospel.

Thank you for Pedro and just for all your blessings in my life.

And she's going to work, and she gets to Pedro's house.

And as she gets there, they say, oh, Pedro's sick.

He's got a cut in his leg, and it's infected.

And she says, no problem.

I'm a trained nurse.

And so she goes to her bag, and she gets some penicillin.

And she gives him an injection to deal with the infection.

And says, you'll be right as rain after a few days.

And after a few minutes, Pedro starts to convulse and shake, and he experiences anaphylaxis.

His throat swells, and he has an allergic reaction to the penicillin.

And he starts to die right there in front of her.

And as he's dying in front of her, Margaret, this lady, cries out,

Lord, you answered my prayers.

You gave me Pedro.

God, he's the only one.

Remember that.

He is the only one.

And Pedro dies in front of her.

And as he dies, all of her life's work, the last five, ten years,

everything she's given her life to is wiped away in an instant,

and it completely vanishes.

And towards the end of the book, she stands at Pedro's grave, and she says this.

She says, and God, what of him?

He allowed Pedro to die, or perhaps he caused me to kill him.

Does he now, I ask there at the graveside, does he expect me to worship him?

If you have ever, like Elizabeth Elliot, asked the question, God, how on earth could you let something like this happen?

God, where are you?

God, don't you care anymore?

You're not alone.

Chances are you're not the only one in this room that's asked that question.

And this morning, we look at a passage of Scripture.

We're going to start this three-week series in this book called Habakkuk, or Habakkuk.

And one of the biblical authors, Habakkuk, is this prophet.

And he, too, wrestled with this question.

God, how can you let this happen?

God, where are you?

Why have you abandoned me?

Now, in the Old Testament, the prophet was meant to be God's ambassador.

He speaks for God, on behalf of God, to God's people.

But Habakkuk is one of the unusual prophets, because nowhere in his entire book does he speak to God's people.

The entire book of Habakkuk is not about him speaking for God to God's people.

It's about him wrestling with God around this question.

Now, I want you to know that we actually planned this preaching series three months ago.

And yet, what's interesting is the entire book of Habakkuk revolves around political tension and uncertainty.

And about how Habakkuk is wrestling with this question, how another nation, which is far more strong and more powerful than him,

that he considers to be unjust, and he considers to have no regard for the law of the land,

is about to invade his nation and take over.

And so he's wrestling with this question, saying, God, where are you in the midst of it?

Now, I'm not making a political statement at all,

but it's no coincidence that in the week that we as a city have wrestled with this exact question,

Habakkuk two and a half thousand years ago wrestles with the same question.

And I think God has divinely coincident brought these things together.

Now, in our section that we're going to look at today, there are four parts to this passage.

Firstly, Habakkuk complains to God.

Where are you, God?

God then responds.

Habakkuk then complains again, and God responds a second time.

And so it's quite technical, and there's a lot of Hebrew poetry.

And so you're going to need your Bible in front of you or the bulletin in front of you.

We're going to look at a lot of Scripture.

I'm going to ask you to really follow the flow of the argument as we go.

So you're going to need your Bible in front of you.

And so let's dive into the first section, which is Habakkuk's first complaint.

And it starts off in verse 2 of chapter 1.

He cries out.

He is unhappy with what's happening in the nation of Israel.

And he says,

Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear me?

I'll cry out to you violence, and you will not save.

So Habakkuk is an unhappy man.

And he's unhappy because the nation of Israel, which is his nation, things are not going well there.

There's violence.

There's animosity.

There is division.

There is lawlessness and hopelessness.

And so look what he says in verse 3.

He says,

Destruction and violence are before me.

Strife and contention arise.

Everywhere I look, I see violence.

I see injustice.

I see divisions in families.

I see divisions in churches.

I see divisions in society.

Everybody is looking out for themselves.

Nobody cares about anybody else.

Peace and hope and rest are a distant memory, he says.

And he says,

Your law, in other words, your word, your scripture, is paralyzed.

Where once upon a time, your word was sharp.

It would cut to the heart.

It was penetrating.

People would listen to your word and be arrested.

Now, he says, your word is disregarded.

It's like somebody's thrown it in the corner and it's gathering dust.

Your law, O God, is paralyzed.

And he says in verse 4,

The wicked surround the righteous.

In other words, those that are wanting to do the right thing are now in the minority.

Because the majority of people have no regard for God, disregard his word.

They're in the majority and they are threatening those that want to honor you.

They are surrounded the righteous.

And it seems like Habakkuk has been praying this for a long time.

And so now he's beginning to wonder.

He says,

How long shall I keep on crying out to you, God, and you do nothing?

How long shall my prayers, O God, fall on deaf ears?

It's like he's saying,

God, are you not able to answer prayer anymore?

Is prayer just ineffective?

Or maybe, he thinks,

Maybe the problem is not that God is not able to answer prayer.

Maybe the problem is not that God doesn't hear our prayers.

He hears it, but God is incapable of answering it.

His hands are tied.

And so look at what he says.

He says,

Why do you idly look at wrong and do nothing about it?

Have you too, God, been left paralyzed?

Well, God responds to Habakkuk's complaint.

And look at how God responds in verse 5.

He answers him and he says,

No, Habakkuk, your prayers have not fallen on deaf ears.

And no, I'm not incapable of doing something about it.

Look at verse 6.

He says,

Now that sounds pretty good.

Habakkuk, funny you ask.

I am not deaf to your prayers.

I am actually doing something about it.

And God says,

I'm doing something in your day.

In other words,

it's not like Habakkuk prayed to God and aroused God from his sleep.

But God now is woken from his slumber and he's kind of scratching his eyes and saying,

Okay, let me get to it.

Okay.

He says,

No, in your day,

while you are praying and crying out to me,

Look, be astounded.

I'm doing something.

Look at what I'm doing amongst the nations.

Finally, Habakkuk thinks we're getting somewhere.

God seems to be paying attention.

Except,

look at the work that God says he's doing.

Friends,

if you and I prayed for God to do something,

heal your mother or your father,

lead your brother to Christ,

restore some justice in the city,

and we pray and God says,

Look, I'm doing something in your day.

I'm doing something so amazing that if I told you about it,

you wouldn't even believe me.

I'd be pretty pleased, right?

But look at what God says here.

Except in Habakkuk's case,

the astounding thing that God is about to do is not good news,

it's bad news.

When God says,

I'm about to do something so astounding,

you won't believe me if I told you,

it's not because it's awesome,

as Tobin would say.

It's because it's awful.

God says to Habakkuk,

things are about to get worse before they get better.

Look at what he says.

Look amongst the nations,

see, wonder, and be astounded.

I am doing a work in your days

that you would not believe,

even if I told you.

Behold, I'm raising up the Chaldeans,

that bitter and hasty nation.

Now, the Chaldeans were part of the Babylonians,

and the Chaldeans were actually a province

at the south of Babylon,

and they were the most military,

ruthless of all the provinces.

And so what happened was,

the Chaldeans had got this fire in their belly,

and they had revitalized the Babylonian army.

And the Babylonians are now on the rise.

They are militarily and politically on the rise.

They are about to,

after this,

smash the world's superpower,

the Assyrian army.

After that,

they're going to smash the Egyptian army.

And then after that,

they're going to make their way through Israel

and wipe out Israel

and overtake Israel.

And so what happens is,

God is saying to Habakkuk

that he, God,

is busy raising up the Chaldeans,

that bitter and hasty nation,

as his instrument

to punish the nation of Israel

for their rampant idolatry

and their injustice

and their wickedness.

God is going to give Israel

into the hands of the Chaldeans,

the Babylonians,

and the Babylonians

will be God's instrument

to deal with the wickedness in Israel.

And so look at what he says.

Behold, I'm raising up the Chaldeans,

that bitter and hasty nation,

who march through the breadth of the earth

to seize dwellings not their own.

They are dreaded and fearsome.

Their justice and their dignity

go forth from themselves.

In other words,

they are a law unto themselves.

They are a respecter of no law

or moral code.

Verse eight,

their horses are swifter than leopards,

more fierce than the evening wolves.

Their horsemen come from afar,

they fly in like an eagle,

swift to devour.

And the imagery here is of a leopard

that is waiting to pounce on its prey

and devour it.

Or like that comes like a lightning,

like an eagle that flies in.

And before you even know what's happening,

it's sunk its teeth into you

and your life is etching away.

That's what he says these Babylonians are like.

Verse nine,

they come for violence.

They gather captives like sand in their hands.

And notice their arrogance

and their self-confidence.

He says,

Now,

if the book of Habakkuk starts off with a complaint

because Habakkuk looks around him

and things aren't going well

and he's got this burden on his heart.

God,

where are you in the midst of this?

Habakkuk's burden is about to get a whole lot heavier

because God says to him,

My answer to the injustice in Israel

is even more injustice.

My answer to the wickedness in Israel

is even more wickedness.

And Habakkuk is thinking,

What on earth is going on?

And this is confusing, right?

And part of what's confusing

is that what is about to happen in Israel

is not just a fact of history.

It's the hand of God that is causing it.

Look at what God says.

He says,

Look,

See,

One didn't be astounded.

I am doing a work in your days.

I,

God,

am raising up the Chaldeans.

Now,

we need to be clear here.

God is not saying that

He is causing the Chaldeans

to be wicked

and ruthless.

It's not like God took this peaceful,

gentle,

selfless,

other-seeking people

and put in them

this wicked spirit,

cause them to be evil

and then unleash them on Israel.

God is taking a nation

that is already wicked

and God dishonoring

and ruthless.

And He says,

You will be my instruments

in my hand

to deal with the wickedness

of my people.

God is going to give Israel

into their hands.

Now,

this raises all sorts of questions

and problems.

What are we meant to make of this?

What are we meant to make of God's assertion

that He,

the sovereign God,

is going to use the wickedness

of one people

to deal with the wickedness

of another?

How is this justice?

Well,

part of the book of Habakkuk

is that it doesn't give us

any superficial answers.

It doesn't give us

any simplistic answers.

And when we get to the end

of the book of Habakkuk,

Habakkuk is not going to tell us

how it all resolves nicely

and just ties up at the end

with a neat bow on top.

Like a Christmas present.

But what Habakkuk

is going to teach us

is how to live

in the midst

of the challenges of life

and still know

how to trust God.

So I want us to think

about this idea

of God's sovereignty

for a bit.

Scripture affirms

that though God

sometimes seems

absent from human affairs,

God rules over everything,

everywhere.

everywhere.

And this is challenging

not only because

we seldom see

God's hand involved.

So sometimes we look

at the affairs of life

and we think,

where is God involved in that?

His hand seems absent

and yet it is.

It's like a silent hand

that is guiding

and controlling things.

But also it's challenging

because it challenges

our self-importance,

our self-sovereignty.

And yet the scripture tells us

that whether we understand

it or not,

irrespective of how

we feel about it,

the God who made the world

and everything in it

absolutely rules

over all of it.

There is not a single

raindrop that falls,

not a single blade of grass

that spouts,

not a single law is passed

or cancer cell multiplies

without the sovereign God

knowing about it,

allowing it to happen

and sometimes even causing it

to happen in the first place.

So let me read

three scriptures to us

that affirm this.

Proverbs chapter 19 says,

Proverbs 19 · chapter mention

many are the plans

in the mind of a man

or a woman,

but it's the purposes

of the Lord

that will stand.

Proverbs 16,

the dice is cast

into the lap.

So in the olden days

you wanted to make a decision,

you couldn't Google it,

you throw a dice

and whichever way

the dice lands

instructs you

which way to make a decision.

The dice is cast

into the lap,

but it's every decision

comes from the Lord.

Proverbs 21,

a king's heart

is a stream of water

in the hands of the Lord.

It is God

who is turning it

wherever he wills.

Now,

John Piper

summarizes God's teaching,

the Bible's teaching

God's sovereignty

like this.

Let me step aside

and you can read it

for us.

Sorry,

Melinda keep on

bashing this microphone.

Piper says this,

when the book of Ephesians

says that God works

all things

according to the counsel

of his will,

this all things

includes

the fall of sparrows

and animals,

the rolling of the dice,

the death of his people,

the decisions of kings,

the failing of sight,

the sickness of children,

the loss of money,

the suffering of God's saints,

the completion

of travel plans,

the persecution

of Christians,

the repentance

of souls,

the gift of faith.

In other words,

coming to faith in Christ

is a gift from God.

The pursuit

of holiness,

the growth

of believers,

the giving of life

and the taking in death,

and even

the crucifixion

of his son.

Now,

just by the way,

all the slides

are going to be on the app

this afternoon

so you can get

those scriptures there.

What do we make of this?

Now,

I wonder if you've ever

had an instance in life

when something happened

that seemed like a setback

and you thought,

that's not according

to my plans.

God,

why did you allow

this to happen?

Only for later on

to look back upon

that instance

and to realize

God's hand was guiding

each and every instance.

So,

for instance,

a trivial example,

maybe you are at university,

you fall sick,

and you have to miss

a whole semester

of university.

And you think,

that's going to be

bad news

because now

I'm going to graduate

six months after my class,

the job market

is going to be flooded

by all my classmates,

I'm going to be

behind the curve

and it's going to be

difficult for me

to find work.

Only for you to then

come across a professor

that you never would have had

if you had graduated earlier,

a professor who

shapes your thinking

and shapes your vocation

and changes the whole course

of your career.

Or maybe another instance,

maybe you lose your job

and you think,

this is disastrous.

I've got student debts

to pay off,

I've got student loans

to pay off,

some other debt.

How are things

going to work out?

Only to later on

find that actually

God was leading

and guiding you

because He opened

another door

or He taught you something

or you grew in a way

that you would never

have grown

if things had worked out

according to your plans.

And at the time

it seems like,

God,

where are you

in all of this?

How can you let it happen?

And yet God is guiding you

all along the way.

And so sometimes

our lives feel

like a tapestry,

right?

You know,

a tapestry,

a picture that a weaver

picks with,

makes,

creates with thread.

And sometimes God

grabs the black

piece of thread

and is sewing a tapestry

in our lives

and we think,

God,

why the black thread?

And you look at your friends

and God's picked

the red thread

or the golden thread

or some beautiful color

and your life

is just the black thread.

And you think,

where are you,

God?

Just by the way,

social media,

you only ever see

the red threads,

right?

And the golden threads.

You never see the black

and the gray

and the other threads.

But friends,

who knows

whether God right now

is leading

and shaping events

either in your life

or globally

that seem disastrous

and yet 20,

60,

or 100 years from now

we will look back upon

and things which seem

to us as if God

had completely abandoned us

were actually strategic moments

of his leading

and his guiding.

And so the wise man

and woman

looks at events

and says,

God,

where is your hand in this?

What are you doing?

How are you shaping events

for your glory

and our good?

And so that leads us

to Habakkuk's second complaint.

Now as we look at this,

I want to ask us a question.

If you're a Christian

this morning,

have you ever got

to the place

in your walk with God

where what you believed

about God

theologically

or intellectually

or from the scriptures

seems incompatible

with the reality

of life played out

before you?

So you see some instance

and you think,

that doesn't make sense.

That seems to contradict

your scriptures.

Has that ever happened to you?

Maybe for instance,

you read the Bible

and you see Jesus

just seems to heal people

everywhere he went.

Everyone he encountered,

he just heals them.

And then you are suffering

some disease

or you've got a child

that's sick

and they just don't seem

to get better.

Or maybe you read

in your Bible

how God has made you

a new person in Christ.

The old is gone

and you're a new creation.

And yet there's sin

in your life

that you just can't seem

to beat.

It seems to have paralyzed

you and you're enslaved

to it.

What do we do?

What do we do

when our view

of who God is

and how his world operates

seems incompatible

with the reality

of life on the ground?

Well, that's the dilemma

that Habakkuk is facing.

And so look at what he says

in verse 12.

He says,

he now quotes back to God

what he knows about God.

He says,

God,

are you not from everlasting?

Oh Lord my God,

my Holy One,

we shall not die.

So he's saying,

God,

you are the Lord,

you are the Holy One.

How is your holiness

compatible

with the injustice

and the violence

of the Babylonians

that you are going

to bring to Israel?

Those two things

don't compute.

They don't make sense.

You are holy.

They are as far

from holy as you can get

and yet you're saying

that you're going

to bring them

to Israel.

And he says,

God,

you are from everlasting.

We shall not die.

Surely not.

He's trying to convince

either himself or God

one way or the other.

He's reciting back to God

what he knows about him.

But still,

this doesn't sit well with him

because granted,

Israel was bad

but Babylon is even worse.

How is it possible

that God is going to use

unjust Babylon

to teach justice

to Israel?

So look at what he says

in verse 13.

He says,

God,

why do you idly

look at traitors?

Why do you remain silent

when the wicked man

swallows up someone else

more righteous

than himself?

And besides,

he says,

all that's going to happen

is that Babylon

is just going to

conquer people

and they're not going

to give you any credit.

He says,

God,

Israel are like fish

in the sea

that have lost their way.

And now,

the Babylonians

are like going to

get their net,

they're going to

capture the fish,

throw them on board

the ship,

chop them up

and destroy them.

How does that

teach your people

justice?

All he's going to do

is worship his own strength

and his military power.

And so Habakkuk

is confused

and so he ends

off his speech,

he comes to the end

himself,

he's nothing more to say

and so look at what he says

in chapter 2,

verse 1.

He says,

I will take my stand

at the watch post,

I will station myself

on the tower,

I will look out

and see what God

has to say to me.

Now in the Old Testament,

the role of a prophet

was a very important one

and it was often described

as like a watchman.

And so what happened

was the prophet

would hear from God

and then he would

station himself

at the city gates

or maybe on the city walls

and he would watch out

over God's people

and check that they were

doing what God

had told them to do.

And if they weren't

doing what God

had told them to,

they would call out

and say,

be careful,

I'm warning you,

things are not looking good.

And so they would stand

on the watchtower

calling out to God's people.

And Habakkuk says,

I will go to the watchtower

and I will take my stand.

Except this time,

he's not talking

to God's people,

he's turned his back

towards God's people

and he's facing God

and he says,

God,

what are you going to say?

I'm all ears.

What do you have to say

to my complaints?

Now friends,

this begs a very important question.

How do you respond

when you've been brought

to the end of yourself

and you don't know

where to turn?

When God's not answering

your prayers,

when God's ways

don't make sense,

when your very idea

of who God is

and how he's meant

to act in the world

is lying like tatters

on the floor,

how do you respond?

Where do you turn

when you've come

to the end of yourself?

Because,

let me think about

how to say this.

In other words,

let me ask you this.

Friends,

have you,

like Habakkuk

and countless others,

been brought

to the end of yourself?

Because if you haven't,

it may just be

that the God

that you think

you're serving

and the God

that you think

you're worshipping

is actually

a made up God

of your imagination

and not the real God

who is Lord of all.

Because throughout Scripture,

again and again and again,

anyone who comes

to know God deeply

is first confronted

by the awesome reality

that God doesn't fit

neatly into our

constructed paradigms

of who he is

and how he ought

to behave.

Remember Elizabeth

Elliott's book?

The book is called

No Graven Image

and the idea is this.

When you've got

an image of who God is

and how he's meant

to act in the world,

God is going to

shatter that image.

And so at the end

of the book,

this missionary

is standing by the grave

side and remember

what she says?

She says,

and God,

he had allowed

Pedro to die

or perhaps

he had caused me

to kill him.

And does this God

now expect me

to worship him?

On the very final page

of the book,

she says the most

profound thing.

She says,

God,

if he was merely

my accomplice,

if God was merely

my helper

to help make my life

comfortable and convenient,

if God was merely

there to somebody

to help me get on

in life,

God had betrayed me

because he had

stuffed it all up.

If God is merely

my helper,

my accomplice

to make my life

comfortable and convenient,

he had betrayed me.

He was a pathetic

accomplice.

But if on the other hand,

he was God,

if on the other hand,

he was the sovereign

God of all,

he had freed me.

Why?

Because he had freed me

from the image

I had in my head

of who God

was meant to be

and how he's meant

to behave

and how he's meant

to act.

And we see how God

in his kindness

brings Habakkuk

to one of the most

frightening places

he's ever been.

And yet it is

a precious place

because God shows him

that he's not

the picture book version

of God

that Habakkuk

has in his mind.

God says,

I'm not the God

of your imagination.

I'm fearsome,

I am awesome,

I am sovereign

and my ways

are higher

than your ways.

And friends,

it is a precious

place to be.

It is a frightening

place to be.

But it's a holy ground

because in that place

you discover things

about God

and you discover

things about yourself

that you'll never

discover as you're

sailing on still

and quiet waters.

When life is just

rosy and everything

is going the way

that you wish it to,

you'll never discover

things about God

or yourself

like you will

on the storms

of life.

And so the question

is this,

when God in his kindness

brings us to that place,

when God in his kindness

shatters the picture

perfect image

we have on him

in our minds

by not allowing

things to go

the way that we

hope to,

how do we respond?

How do we respond?

Now some of us

will respond

like victims.

We think it's not fair.

I don't deserve it.

After all I've done

for you God,

after the way I've behaved

and treated

and my morality,

I don't deserve

this God.

It's not fair

that I'm like this.

Some of us,

when tragedy comes our way,

we'll feel sorry

for ourselves.

Some of us maybe

will be more pragmatic.

We will think,

I've got to fix it.

We will call a meeting,

get a committee together,

organize a protest,

organize some petition.

We will double down

and work twice as hard

to make sure

that we put things

right again.

Let's see if there's

another way.

Look at how God responds.

This brings us

to the fourth

and the final section,

God's second response

to Habakkuk.

What God does next

is he comes to Habakkuk

in that place

and he says,

with all that's going on,

with all the turmoil

and the confusion,

I know things might not

make sense to you

right now.

I know that things

are not how you think

that they ought to be.

In all your anger

and your disappointment

and your confusion,

Habakkuk,

will you trust me?

Will you trust me?

And so look what he says

in chapter 2,

verse 4.

He says,

Behold,

his soul is puffed up.

It is not right within him.

And he's talking about

the Babylonians.

He's talking about

those that don't know God.

He says,

they are puffed up.

In other words,

they look menacing,

they look fierce,

they look violent,

they're projecting an image,

but there's no substance

behind it.

It's just hot air.

It's just a balloon.

And one pinprick

is going to bring

that entire image

to its knees.

Behold,

it is puffed up.

It is not right within him.

But the righteous

will live by faith.

And friends,

that is probably

the most succinct summary

of the Christian life

in all the Bible.

That the righteous

will live by faith.

And so friends,

in the challenges

and the turmoils of life,

the righteous

will live by faith.

And when your employer

is treating you badly

or your colleagues

are letting you down

or you get fired

unjustly from your work,

how do you respond?

The righteous

will live by faith.

And friends,

when you're persecuted

for your faith

or one day

you're put in prison

or you're separated

from your children

or you lose your job

because of your faith,

the righteous

will live by faith.

And friends,

as you grapple

with same-sex attraction

and the world

is telling you,

be who you want to be.

Act how you want to act.

Your version of truth

is your own truth.

Do what you want.

Be who you want.

How do you respond?

The righteous

will live by faith.

And friends,

when you get

a massive bonus

or you get paid

some insane amount

of money

and your financial security

is sorted

for the rest of your life

and you never need

to work another day

and all your fears

are laid aside

because you've got

all the money

that you could ever want

to do anything with,

the righteous

will live by faith.

And friends,

when you and your spouse

are trying to fall pregnant

and have a kid

and you've prayed for hours

and you've cried

a river of tears

and nothing is happening,

the righteous

will live by faith.

And when your kids

make choices

that seem

to contradict

everything you would

want them to do

and when your kids

week after week

seem to make choices

that choose death,

not life,

that choose destruction,

not joy,

and you have no

other way to turn,

the righteous

will live by faith.

And friends,

when you're diagnosed

with a rare terminal disease

and the doctors

have no more solution

and your life

has suddenly been given

an expiry date

far sooner than you expected,

the righteous

will live by faith.

Now friends,

what does that actually mean?

What does it look like?

It means when we're confronted

with the brokenness

of this world,

when our city

is in uproar,

when there's division

at home

and there's office politics

and families are divided,

for the person

who's trying

to follow Christ,

our hope

and our peace

are not found

in any particular solution,

they are discovered

in the midst

of difficulty

by a deep,

heartfelt trust

in the goodness

and the grace

and the sovereignty

of God.

It means, friends,

when we are confronted

by wickedness

and violence

in the world

and we see injustice

and we think,

God, this is insane,

where are you?

How is it possible

that this can even

be allowed to happen?

We know

in those instances

that hope

and peace

are not found

in escaping

to utopia

and finding

some other place,

but they're found

by knowing

that the one

who holds true peace

will one day

put the world

right again.

And the peace

that he offers

eternally

and in this lifetime

can never be taken

from you

by no government law,

by no protesters

on the street,

by no family

shouting at you,

by no loss

of job,

by no financial reward,

nothing in the entire world

can take it

away from you.

Friends,

it means when we're

confronted by the

brokenness of our own lives

and the sin

of our own hearts.

And friends,

that's the hardest

thing to be confronted by,

the rubbish

in our own lives.

To live by faith

means that trusting

that Christ has dealt

with it

and that he loves us

and he accepts us

despite all of it.

As we come to close,

in the book of Galatians,

the apostle Paul writes this.

He says,

I've been crucified

with Christ

and the life I now live

is not about

what I want to do

or don't want to do.

It's not about

what I do

or don't do.

The life I live

in the flesh,

I now live by faith

in the Son of God

who gave himself up

for me

and loved me.

600 years

after Habakkuk

cries out to God,

there were a bunch

of men and women

that were faced

with an equally

unjust situation.

The night before,

they've had a meal

with Jesus

and during the night,

Jesus goes to pray

to his father

and he's arrested.

Throughout the night,

he's beaten,

he's flogged,

he's mocked,

he's kicked,

he's spat on

and then he's put

through an unjust trial

and during his trial,

false witnesses

are brought in,

they lie,

they tell all sorts

of false stories

to falsely implicate him

and the governor

knows that Jesus

is innocent

and yet,

in order to advance

his own political career,

he signs off

his death certificate,

his death warrant

and he signs off

his crucifixion

and the disciples

are thinking,

this is insane.

Jesus is the only

innocent man

in the whole world.

He's the only one

that's never done

anything wrong.

He's the one

who loved the poor

and healed the sick

and taught righteousness

and justice.

He's the one

Israel's been waiting for.

How on earth

can God allow this

to happen?

And yet,

a few hours later,

there is Jesus,

bloody and beaten,

carrying his cross

up Mount Calvary

where he's going

to be crucified.

And the soldiers

lay him down

on the cross

and they nail his hands

on the cross,

they hoist the cross up

and there on the cross,

Jesus cries out

and he says,

Father,

why have you forsaken me?

But he knows the answer.

The father's turned

his back on Jesus

because it was

a decision

that Jesus

and the father

came to together

before the world

was made.

That Jesus

would take the sins

of those that trust

on him,

trust in him

on his shoulders

so that we

wouldn't need to.

And there on the cross,

the soldiers

are mocking him

and they're saying,

you said you came

to save others,

why don't you

save yourself?

But Jesus

hasn't come

to save himself

and so he dies.

And the disciples

are watching this

and it's the most

unjust thing

in the whole world.

It's the most

nonsensical thing

at all.

God,

where are you?

God,

how can you

allow this to happen?

God,

why haven't you

heard our cries

they ask themselves?

Where are you God

and why are you

silent in all of this?

It doesn't make sense.

And yet,

it was the will

of the Lord

to crush him.

It was the sovereign

will of the sovereign God

that Jesus would lay down

his life

and be nailed

to the cross

because in that moment,

Jesus was smashing

the final nail

into the coffin

of Satan,

sin,

sickness,

and death.

In that moment,

Jesus was making

an end to all

the tragedy

in the world

and while our world

still deals with it,

we're on the final

death throes of sin

kicking about its legs

as it comes to an end

and there is coming

in a day

where none of that

will ever exist

anymore.

Jesus dying

on the cross.

It was the most

unjust,

outrageous thing

and yet it was God

doing it,

carrying his story

along all along.

Tim Keller says this,

if you go into

the furnace of life

without the gospel,

without knowing

that Jesus loves you

and gave himself

up for you,

it will not be

possible to find

God in that place.

You'll go through

the furnace of life,

you'll come out

the other side

and you'll be angry.

You'll be sure

that either God

has done something

wrong to you

or you've done

something wrong

and you'll feel

alone and isolated.

Going into the fire

without the gospel

is the most dangerous

thing you can do.

You'll be mad at God,

mad at yourself,

or mad at both.

Friends,

Paul writes this,

I've been crucified

with Christ

and the life I live

is not about what

I want to do

or don't want to do.

The life I now live

in the flesh,

I live by faith

in the Son of God

who loved me

and gave himself

for me

on the cross.

Friends,

there is another way.

When the heat

of the furnace

gets turned up,

when life doesn't

make sense to you,

when God himself

doesn't even make sense

to you,

cast yourself

on the gospel truth

that the Son of God

loves you

and he gave himself

for you.

Live on that truth,

bank your life

for the righteous

will live

by faith.