The Complaints of Habakkuk | Pastor Tom Kramer

and and uh

you know I think of the thought of the

fellowship of the gospel.

You know, people are like mind, like

precious faith,

people that uh love and support

missions,

people that love the word of God.

And I think that this is becoming more

and more rare these days,

be able to come into a place and and

teach the word. And uh it's like I say,

it's it's it's a great privilege. Uh

Pastor Hixon and Gail and I, we go way

back uh talking about clear back into

the 70s. I moved to Chilikothy in 1977.

I think that was the first time I met

Pastor Hixon.

I used to come to Athens every other

month uh for prayer meeting on Sundays.

Used to meet over at Morris Road in uh

house where I think well I know Robert

Powell lived there uh Bob Merrill and

some of the others and had a lot of good

memories and it's so good to be able to

see people that are continuing on in the

things of the Lord.

Well,

this morning we're going to be turning

to a book in the Bible that I think a

lot of times we have a tendency of

overlooking.

It's a book that's found among a group

of books that's referred to as the the

minor prophets. Now, I don't know who in

the world ever came up with that name,

minor prophets. I think maybe because

many of those books are very small books

and uh but I'll tell you the they're not

minor because the the message that they

bring is is definitely not minor.

They're very important messages.

Uh what we're going to be doing please

turn with me to the book of Habac. Book

of Habac.

uh when I have the opportunity to come

to uh Athens to uh trade pulpits uh I

would like to bring a series of messages

from this book. I'm not saying that

we're going to cover the whole book

verse by verse. We might just be taking

snapshots from it, but it's a book that

I've grown to love over the years.

Uh it's not a large book. It consists

only of three chapters

and yet it's it's a book of great

significance.

In the book of Habac, we actually find a

verse that we could say that changed the

course of Christian history.

It's a verse that even the Apostle Paul

quoted twice. Once in the book of Romans

and again he refers to it in the book of

Galatians

and that verse being the book of Habac

in chapter 2 and in verse 4. Habac

chapter 2 and verse four

he says see he is puffed up his desires

are not upright

but the righteous will live by his

faith.

And another way that uh you hear it many

times is that the just shall live by

faith.

In the book of Romans, we find that Paul

uses this verse in order to prove that

salvation comes through faith and faith

alone.

If we were to look over in the book of

Galatians, we find that Paul uses this

verse again in order to prove that the

Christian life is a life that is lived

by faith and faith alone. The just shall

live by faith.

But if we were to look at church

history, we also find that it was this

verse that God used as a turning point

in the life of Martin Luther.

Martin Luther was raised Catholic. He

was actually a Catholic monk

and and he was he was constantly trying

to work his way into heaven.

And the harder he tried to work his way

into heaven, the more he realized that

he was coming short. There was no way

that he was going to heaven based upon

his own works. So then he comes across

this verse, the just shall live by

faith. And as a result of that verse, he

realized that salvation was by grace

through faith and faith alone. And that

right there was the spark that ignited

the reformation.

So God actually used that verse from the

book of Habach of all places. the little

book of Habaca in order to change the

course of Christian history.

This is a theme verse of the book of

Habac.

And what we're going to do this morning

is we're going to look at the

circumstances that brought that message

from God to Habac.

So what we're going to do is we're going

to look at Habac today in chapter 1 and

we're going to look at verses 1-4.

Book of Habach chapter 1 and verses 1-

4.

In verse one he says the burden which

Habach the prophet deceive.

Oh Lord, how long shall I cry and thou

will not hear?

even cry out unto thee of violence, and

thou will not save.

Why do thou show me iniquity, and cause

me to behold grievance?

For spoiling violence are before me, and

there are that rise up strife and

contention.

Therefore, the law is slacked, and jud

judgment doth never go forth. For the

wicked doth compass about the righteous,

therefore wrong judgment proceedth.

And something I'd like to do this

morning is I'd like to try to put

ourselves into Habac's shoes

and ask ourselves,

is these verses that we see in verses

1-4, is this something that we can

relate to today?

And you know just a summarization you

know I can say that you know these these

verses is basically this is Habach's

complaints okay Habach's complaint who's

he complaining to he's complaining to

God one of the things I really

appreciate the Bible is how honest the

Bible is

and and in and the honesty of the Bible

it it it shows us that these people that

wrote the scriptures they were not

Perfect. These were people that had

struggles in their lives just like we

have struggles today. So Habacha is

somebody that we are able to relate to.

You know the particular details may be

different but I think that we could all

understand what he is saying because to

some extent we have thought and asked

the same kind of things.

Well, you notice he talks about a

burden. A burden. This is the burden of

Habac.

What is the burden that Habach speaks

of?

You know, another word that we could use

to translate the word burden is the word

oracle.

And this basically it means the

pronouncement of something that carries

with it a heavy weight.

Usually whenever we see the word oracle

describing a message from God in the Old

Testament, it is a message of divine

judgment.

Have you ever had a message to give

somebody that was very difficult because

you knew that it was a message that was

hard to hear?

You know, I heard a burden just this

morning.

And the burden was is that somebody that

was a part of this congregation

had suddenly passed away.

That is not the kind of message that you

like to give. And it's not the kind of

message that you like to receive. It's a

it's a burden. It's a burden. It's a

burden for the one that gives it because

they would rather not give it. And it's

a burden to the one that receives it

because it's something that they would

rather not hear. It's a it's a it's a

burden to that person.

We don't like to hear bad news. We don't

like to be the bearer of bad news.

But the thing we need to understand

though is that sometimes bad news is

necessary.

There are times when bad news is

necessary.

You know, it was about five years ago.

It was five five years ago in March

that I received a telephone call

and the telephone call was uh basically

that uh you have cancer and I went in

for a biopsy and waiting for the results

of the biopsy. Get the phone call and

and found out that I had cancer.

believe you know what you know nothing

that's well I I won't minimalize it but

it was prostate cancer you know

something treatable and and so but the

thing is is that was not the message

that I wanted to hear

that that was a burden it was a burden

of the one that gave it to me a burden

for me to hear it but you know something

the message I received was a message

that was very necessary because whenever

I learned that I had cancer you know

what that meant that meant that I needed

to do something about it

because if I, you know, I went, that

cancer was was growing for years. It

was, it was kind of advanced when I

found it. I didn't know I had it, but I

needed to know that because now that I

knew it, okay, now what do I need to do

to treat it?

You know, I I think of the message that

God gave to Nineveh through Jonah the

prophet.

Was that the kind of message that you

want to hear? That in 40 days that

you're going to be judged and that

you're going to be destroyed in 40 days?

That's not the message that we want to

hear. But it was a message that was

necessary for the Ninevites because

it was through that message that Nineveh

repented and they turned to the Lord.

They were able to do something about it.

So the oracles of God, the burdens from

God, we need the oracles, the burdens

from God because they bring to light

areas in our lives that need to be

changed.

They're good. They're good. It's

something that we need. It's something

very necessary.

So, whenever we look at the book of

Habac, we find that this is an oracle

that came from God. It was the message

that Habaca had received from the Lord

and he was passing on to his people.

I'd like to I'd like to say something

real quick here about this. This is a

very important truth. Our

responsibility is not to come up with

our own message.

Our responsibility is to pass on the

message that we have received from God

even if that message may be unpleasant.

And this is why verse byvere teaching is

so important. And that's one of the

things I really appreciate about Athens

Bible Church, verse byvere teaching.

because that way you're you're covering

the whole context and you're seeing what

God has to say.

Let's take a look over in the book of

Galatians in chapter 1 and let's take a

look in verse 11. And this is something

that

Paul talks about whenever he talks about

the gospel.

You know, did you know that we could

also say that the gospel is a burden?

That the gospel is an oracle.

And the reason why it's an oracle or a

burden is because the the gospel carries

with it not only the promise of life,

but also there's the warning about

divine judgment to those that reject the

gospel. You know, we think of the simple

verse John 3:16 that for God so loved

John 3:16

the world that he gave his only begotten

son that whosoever believeth in him

shall have everlasting life. Does that

is that is that what what John 3:16

John 3:16

says? You notice I left something out.

He says that whosoever believeth in him

shall not perish but have everlasting

life. So there there's a part of the

gospel that is a burden because people

are dead in sins and people they need

the gospel. They need to accept Jesus

Christ because if they don't accept

Jesus Christ they're going to die in

their sins. So there's a burden to the

gospel. It's an oracle from God.

Then Galatians 1 and verse 11, he says,

"But I certify

you, brethren, that the gospel which was

preached of me was not after man."

Says, "For I neither receive it of men,

neither was I taught it, but by the

revelation of Jesus Christ."

You the Bible is inspired by God.

The people that wrote the Bible received

revelation directly from God. And we

receive revelation today directly from

the scriptures. And that is the message

that we need to pass on. The message of

God as recorded in the scriptures.

And so let's look back in the book of

Habac. Back in the book of Habac. Let's

take a look in chapter 1. And I'd like

to look in verse uh in verse two.

Habach chapter 1 and verse two.

Habach begins this book with a

complaint.

And this complaint can be divided up

into three parts. Okay? A complaint made

up of three parts.

Okay? First of all, he's complaining to

God about things that he himself is

doing. Okay? These are the things that

he These are the things that Habach is

doing. Notice in verse two, he says, "Oh

Lord, how long will I cry?" Okay, so you

know what is he doing? He's crying out

to God. Another you another way we could

put it, he's praying. Okay, he's

praying, "God, I'm praying to you."

And then he goes on, he says, "Even cry

out unto thee of violence."

Says, "That thou will not save." Here's

another in verse three. And why do you

show me iniquity

and cause me to behold grievance?

So again, what is it that Habach says

that he's doing? He's saying that I am

crying out to the God, crying out to the

Lord. And another thing he says he's

doing is I look around and I behold

injustice.

Okay, this is what I'm doing. I cry out

to God. I look around and I see

injustice.

Okay? I see all these things that are

wrong.

Okay? Then he complains about what he

perceives God is doing. And not notice

what he says. He says, "You will not

hear." He's complaining that, "Okay, I'm

crying out, but God's not listening to

me. He's not hearing me."

And then he goes on. He says, "You do

not save."

And then finally, he says, "You make me

see grievance."

So here I am. You know, God, I'm doing

what I'm supposed to be doing. I'm I'm

I'm praying. And not only am I praying,

but I'm waiting for God to to answer

that prayer and do what it is that I'm

asking God to do. And And what does he

say? Well, God's not listening. God's

not answering. God's not doing anything

about it. And God's just making me still

watch all this injustice take place.

That's, you know, that's his complaint.

God's not doing anything about it. Okay.

Then he complains about what he sees as

the proof that led to those questions.

Says, "For spoiling and violence are

before me, and there are and there are

that rise up strife and contention."

Habac feels fully justified in making

these complaints and asking these

questions because of the circumstances

that he saw around him. I pray, I call

out, nothing happens. And the question,

you know, one way we could put, where is

God? Where is God? Where's God in all

this? Why isn't God answering my

prayers?

And then see in all these circumstances

we find that Habach forms a conclusion.

He says therefore the law is slacked.

Says the law is slacked and judgment

never goeth forth. For the wicked doth

encompass about the righteous and

therefore wrong justice proceedth. Wrong

judgment judgment proceedth.

Yeah. He's writing saying that the

wicked are hemming in the righteous and

that justice is being prevented or

perverted. But notice his conclusion. He

says that the law is slack. It's

powerless. It's weak. It's ineffective.

Justice never prevails.

So he looks at the situation in the

light of his own understanding

which is true to a some extent but then

he jumps to the wrong conclusion.

He jumps to the wrong conclusion. Okay.

So what I'd like to do is I'd like to

put ourselves into Habaca's shoes and

ask ourselves what are some of the

things that makes him feel this way? Why

why does he say the why does he come to

that conclusion? Why does he feel like

this?

Okay, let's talk about the historical

setting. Historical setting.

Okay, the time of writing.

The book of Habach was written during a

time of spiritual decline,

probably during the reign of a king but

of Judah by the name of Jehoakim.

Jehoakim's grandfather was a man named

Manasseh who started out as the worst

king that Judah ever had.

He even sacrificed his own son to a

false god named Moolik.

But later on in life, Manasseh repented

and turned to the Lord, proving that God

can save even the most wicked sinner.

So, so here you have a king by the name

of Manasseh. And what he does is, you

know, he caused Israel to sin. And the

way he causes Israel, Israel to sin is

by leading them into idolatry. And

idolatry was so bad that he even

sacrificed his own son to Moolik, burned

him in fire.

Well, after Manasseh died, his son

Josiah became king. And during the reign

of Josiah, one of the greatest revivals

took place in the kingdom of Judah. The

idols were torn down, God's law was

rediscovered, and the worship of the

true God of Israel was reinstituted.

It was a time of great revival that

someone like Habach would have been

excited about. But Josiah's reign was

cut short and at the age of 39, he was

struck down during the battle by a

wicked nation of Egypt.

Okay, so it starts out Israel's decline

and then all of a sudden you have one of

the greatest revivals in Israel's

history. I mean in Judah's history. He

was excited about that. He's excited

about that. You know, look what God is

doing in Judah. But then what happens?

Josiah's killed.

And and and as a result of Josiah being

killed, the revival stops and then we

find that Judah just starts going

downhill once again.

Then along came Josiah's son by the name

of Jehoakim.

And Jehoakin's reign can be summarized

in a simple phrase that he did evil in

the sight of the Lord.

So at the time of Habach's writing, we

find that Judah was in spiritual

decline.

The evil that he was speaking of seeing

was taking place in Judah among God's

people.

Godly men like Jeremiah who is another

prophet of the Lord during that time was

being persecuted while evil men like

Jehoakim

were prospering.

So you know he looks around and and what

does he see? He sees

evil prospering and the righteous being

persecuted.

So, you know, this is, you know, what

what he's seeing, you know, and he's

asking he's crying out unto God, you

know, God, why are why is he God do

something about it? And what does he

say? You know, God's not doing anything

about it. So, he's complaining to God

about what he sees.

But what about world events?

world events. Not only was it a time of

national corruption, but Habach also

wrote in a time of international crisis.

At the time of his writing, two great

world powers were Assyria, which had

already overthrown the 10 tribes of

Israel and Egypt. But there was another

world power that was emerging during

that time and that was Babylon, which

was challenging Assyrian Egypt for

dominance.

So I guess I guess a good way we could

put it is that this right here was a

time of uncertainty.

So you know I'd like to ask

does that sound familiar to today?

Does that I mean

you look at the United States and

whenever I say looking at the United

States you know I I throw in there you

know how about the church and I you know

I'm talking about Christianity as a

whole and there's a lot of ways today

that Christianity in a whole is in a

place of spiritual decline.

You see that you know that Christianity

as a whole they're moving further and

further away from biblical truth.

They're embracing more and more of the

world.

It's in spiritual decline.

And then we look at, you know,

international, you know, is there any

international crisises going on today?

There is, you know, it's a time of

uncertainty.

A time of uncertainty and spiritual

decline.

You know, whenever I look at Habaca.

You know, I see some great examples,

but also I see some parallels for what

we see today.

You know, little is known about Habach

the prophet.

The book simply records his name and his

profession.

But you know what his name means?

It means to embrace.

The name Habacha means to embrace.

And whenever I read the book of Habach,

please understand, did did Habach have

problems? Did he have problems with

understanding what's going on? Did he

have problems with, you know,

complaining? And, you know, he had he

had his issues, right? But at the same

time whenever I look at Habach I find

that a man even though he was struggling

to understand

and even though he didn't agree with

everything that he saw going on yet

Habach was still a man that embraced the

Lord. He embraced the Lord during those

difficult times.

And I see a great example of that for

today. If you look with me over in the

book of 2 Timothy in chapter 4 and let's

take a look in verse one.

When many other people were moving away

from the things of the Lord, we find

that Habach still embraced God.

Even though there were many things going

on that he could not understand and that

he was struggling with. Although he was

not perfect, yet he still embraced God.

And I think that's a wonderful example

that

no matter how difficult things become in

our lives,

no matter how much is going on that we

don't understand,

we still need to embrace God. You look

with me over in the book of second

Timothy in chapter 4.

And you know, remember, you know,

looking at the parallels between that

and what we see going on today. Look

with me in chapter 4 and verse one. He

says, "I charge thee therefore before

God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall

judge the quicken the dead at his

appearing in his kingdom." He says,

"Preach the word, be instant in season

and out of season, reprove, rebuke,

exhort with all longsuffering and

doctrine.

For the time will come when they will

not endure sound doctrine, but after

their own lust shall they keep heap to

themselves teachers having itching ears

and shall turn away their ears from the

truth and shall be turned unto fables.

you know, we uh

we're doing a marriage class at the you

know, at the church and basically the

marriage classes, you know, we're you

know, what does God say about marriage?

What does God say about the roles and

responsibilities of husbands and wives?

What does the Bible say about raising

children? What does the Bible say about,

you know, finances and and things like

that? What does the Bible teach us about

marriage?

I advertised it on Facebook.

I I I never did that before with the the

boost in decide, well, I'm going to go

ahead and boost this and whatever boost

means. But evidently that went out to a

lot of different people and and I and

and I was getting all these comments and

you know what the comments were? There

was some people that said, "Yeah, this

is great that you're doing this."

thought there was a lot of comments that

said that the Bible is so out of date

and that it was wrong to use the

scriptures

as a guide for marriage.

So, you know, I I look at this and the

time will come when they will not endure

sound doctrine,

but after their own lust shall teach

heap to themselves teachers having

itching ears, turn away their ears from

the truth, and shall be turned

unavabled.

And and that's what we see taking place

today. So whenever I look at Habach and

the things that he's struggling with, I

look at our own situation today and I

could see many of the same things. But

notice what he says. But watch thou in

all things. Endure afflictions, do the

work of evangelist, make full proof of

thy ministry. He says, I'm charging you.

You need to be preaching the word

instant in season and out of season, and

reprove, rebuke, and exhort with all

longsuffering and doct. So what do we

need to do? You know, even even though

the world may be going in one way, even

though in many cases, you know,

professing Christianity goes in a in

another way, what what should we do?

We knew we need to embrace God. We need

to embrace the truth and we need to

continue to preach the truth.

What we find is that questions Habac

struggles with are the same questions

that people struggle with today.

Questions like why is there so much

oppression?

Why all the injustice?

Why do evil men prosper? Why do bad

things happen to good people? Why

doesn't God do something? Why doesn't

God step in and clean up this mess?

Those are the questions that people

could ask

and the answers that God gives to those

questions are the same answers for

today. And the conclusion that Habac

comes to at the end of the book is the

same conclusion that we must come to

today.

Habac faces a dilemma that has

confronted faithful people in every age.

the dilemma of seemingly unanswered

prayer for the healing of society.

The prophet is one of those persons who

fervently prayer prays for peace in our

world and who experiences only war who

pray for God's good to come on earth and

who find only human evil. But he is also

one with every soul who has prayed for

healing beside the sick bed only to be

confronted with death. With every spouse

who has prayed for love to come into the

home and then found only hatred and

anger. With every anxious person who has

prayed for serenity but then further

disturbed and agitated.

And before we become too critical of

Habaca,

have we ever done the same thing?

Have you ever called to God and it

seemed like that he didn't listen?

Did you ever pray and it seems as if God

did not answer? You know, I think if

we're honest with ourselves, I would say

that yes, we can relate to Habaca. We

can relate because we have seen the same

things.

Have you ever experienced an injustice

or watched as someone you love

experienced it and wonder how God could

let that happen, especially after you

prayed about it? Do we expect certain

things from God and then he doesn't pull

through as we think he should? So, we

complain to God.

I think we struggle with these things in

our walk with God.

Well,

the conclusion that tobaca comes to is

that the law slack paralyzed and

ineffective.

Let me ask you, is that true?

You know,

God makes promises, right? God makes

promises. Let me ask you, are those

promises going to be fulfilled?

Are those promises for certain going to

be fulfilled?

Absolutely.

But but let me ask you this though. Are

those promises necessarily going to be

fulfilled in the way that we think they

ought to be fulfilled?

Are those promises going to be fulfilled

necessarily in the time that we think

they ought to be fulfilled?

You see, and and that was Habac's

problem is that, you know, let me ask

you, do you think that Habach knew the

Bible?

Do you think that Habach knew about God?

He saw that God was holy.

You know, but the thing is is that

things were not happening exactly as

thought as as Habach thought they would.

He had these preconceived notions of how

God was going to work and when God was

going to work. And if those preconceived

notions didn't fall into place the way

he thought they should,

he was struggling with it.

And and and remember what was it that we

said was the the theme of the book of

Habac? What's the theme? The just shall

live by what?

The just shall live by faith. And let me

ask you, when is it so important to live

by faith? Is it so important to live by

faith when everything is going exactly

the way that we think they ought to go?

Is it important to live by faith because

whenever we pray, all of a sudden our

prayers are automatically answered in

the time and the way that we expect them

to be answered?

Or does faith come in whenever we go to

God in prayer and it appears that God is

not answering?

Whenever it appears that everything is

going just the opposite the way that

they ought to be. You see, that's when

faith comes in. And that's what the

message of Habac is all about is that

Habaca, yeah, things aren't going the

way, you know, it is even going to get

worse. It's even going to get worse

because the way that God is going to

answer his prayers is not the way that

he thinks they should. But the thing is

is that the just shall live by faith. We

need to embrace God.

We need to embrace God. We need to walk

by faith regardless

of how things appear to be going in our

lives.

You know, he he says that the word of

God, the law is paralyzed and

ineffective.

Is that true?

Is that true? If you look with me over

in the book of Psalm 19 and in verse 7

and and like I say the the time that

this really matters in our life

is whenever it appears that God is not

listening.

You look with me in the book of Psalm 19

and let's take a look at verse 7.

And he says this

says, "The law of the Lord is perfect,

converting the soul.

The testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple. The statutes of

the Lord are right, rejoice in the

heart. The commandments of the Lord are

pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of

the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The

judgments of the Lord are true and

righteous all together.

Regardless of the circumstances,

regardless of the things that we might

be going through, we can be certain that

the law of God, the word of God is not

ineffective. The word of God is going to

do exactly what God said is going to do.

It must come to pass.

Another thing Habac says, he says that

justice never prevails. And there again,

is that true? Is that true? Justice is

never going to it's never going to

prevail. But you know something? There's

a day whenever justice is going to

prevail, isn't there? There is going to

be a time whenever God steps in and God

straightens things out. It may not be in

our lifetime, but the thing is is that

there again, God's word is truth.

Justice is going to prevail.

If you look with me over in the book of

Psalm 73, here we find here we find that

a psalmist a psalm writer had the same

struggles.

You look with me in the book of Psalm 73

and let's take a look beginning in verse

one.

Psalm 73

beginning in verse one.

says,

"Truly, God is good to Israel, even to

such as are of a clean heart.

But as for me, my feet were almost gone.

My steps had had well nigh slipped. For

I was envy of the foolish whenever I saw

the prosperity of the wicked, for there

are no bands in their death, but their

strength is firm. They are not in

trouble as other men, neither are they

plagued like other men. Therefore, pride

compasseth them about as a chain.

Violence coverth them as a garment.

Their eyes stand out with fatness. They

have more than heart could wish. They

are corrupt and they speak wickedly

concerning oppression. They speak

loftily. They set their mouth against

the heavens. Their tongue walketh

through the earth. Therefore his people

return hither and the waters of a full

cup are rung out unto them. And they

say, "How does God know? And is there

knowledge in the most high? Behold,

these are the ungodly who prosper in the

world. They increase in riches. Verily,

I have cleansed my heart in vain. I wash

my hands in innocency.

For all day long I have been plagued and

chasened every morning.

You say, "I'm saved. I pray. I study the

Bible. I go to church. I seek to live

for God. And therefore, I expect certain

outcome."

And you see, that's that's what he's

saying. You know, I I've cleansed my

heart for nothing because I look around

and I see the prosperity of the wicked.

Here I am. I'm struggling but these

wicked people are prospering.

Do we look at people who are lost and

think that they have a better life than

we do and inwardly think what is the use

of living for the Lord?

That's a hard question, isn't it? It's a

hard question.

Well,

the problem was that he looked at what

was going on around him and he's and the

things that he was doing and the

psalmist like Habac arrived at the wrong

conclusion.

He doesn't see the whole picture.

And there again, you know, I think, you

know, we we get so wrapped up in what's

going on in our lives that we have a

tendency of of of being nearsighted.

And that's what Habac is. He's he's he's

nearsighted. You know what? You know

what God was going to do with Haka? He's

going to tell Habaca, you know, HCA,

your vision needs to be recalibrated.

And you need to be reccalibrated to

where you're not looking at what's right

here. You need to be looking at beyond.

You need to be looking beyond. And and

and that's what the psalmist says right

here. If you look with me in verse 16,

he says, "When I thought to know this,

it was too painful me for me until I

went into the sanctuary of God. Then I

understood their end."

And and and let me let me add something

else, too. Not only do we understand

their end, but how about our end? How

about our end?

You know, do we focus on what's the here

and now, or are we focused on eternity?

Do we focus on eternity? Do we focus on

what the end is going to be like? I like

what one person said. You know, one

thing, one thing about the Bible is, you

know, how it's going to end. And you

know how it's going to end? It ends that

we win.

We're going to be glorified together

with Jesus Christ. And on the other

hand, not only are we going to be

glorified together with Jesus Christ,

but all those that reject Christ, all

that injustice, it's going to be

straightened out. God is going to

straighten out world events.

He's going to do it. We don't have to

worry about it.

The back of the just shall live by faith

and not by sight. I like that. The just

shall live by faith.

Well, I'd like to close us with a

passage from the book of Proverbs.

It's along these same lines. I'm sure

it's a passage that you're all familiar

with.

Proverbs in chapter 3

in verses 5-6.

Proverbs 35-6

says, "Trust in the Lord with all your

heart and lean not to your own

understanding. In all of your ways

acknowledge him and he will make your

paths straight. I like that. Trust in

the Lord with all of your heart and lean

not your own understanding. You see that

was Habac's problem. He's leaning on his

own understanding. We need to lean upon

the understanding of God's word. See

things in the light of God's word. Our

father in heaven, we

we thank you for the message of the book

of Habach that the just shall live by

faith.

Father, as we look at Habac, we see the

struggles that he was going through.

Lord, we also understand that these are

the same things that people go through

today. It's the same type of struggles

that Lord that we see things happening

in our own lives that we don't

understand

and many times are things that we pray

about and we don't receive the answers

to those prayers in the way that we

expect.

And Father, help us understand that you

are the God who is in control of all

things. and Lord that you are working

things for a certain end and that all

things are working together for good.

Lord, we pray that we might learn to

live by faith and not by sight. Is in

Christ's name. Amen.

>> Thank you, Pastor Tom.

We're going to observe the Lord's supper

here and um We do this

often.

We don't want it to become a routine,

but we don't want to not do it as well.

So, we're sort sort of in not letting it

become a routine and and uh trying to do

it so that it has meaning

uh to what is in the word of God. Turn

to Matthew

with me.

Lord's table. This is not our church's

table.

The church is one. So,

it's open.

The only things that's required is uh

faith in the blood.

Now that you've been born again by

faith,

God says come.

So, we come to remember the Lord Jesus

and what he did.

I'm in Matthew chapter 26

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

and the the disciples, not only did they

get to hear Jesus teach these things and

go through these things with them and be

a perfect example everything he did.

Many times they just totally missed what

what he was saying and what he was

doing,

but you know found out about it later

on. Oh, that's what he said and that's

what he meant. But this particular event

in Matthew 26 comes at the very end of

Jesus ministry.

And it's incredible. He said, "My time

has not yet come. My time has not yet

come." And finally, his time come. And

his time come exactly parallel with the

Passover.

So the Jews were used to the Passover,

celebrating the Passover. That goes all

the way back to Exodus where God said,

"When I see the blood on the doorpost,

I will pass over you." Hence, that's

where the Passover came from.

So God didn't want the Jews to miss out

on what this blood on the po doorpost

was for. It was for the forgiveness of

sin. A holy and just God can pass over

us because of the blood of his son and

the body of his son. That's what it

became. The Jews, a lot of them missed

out on this. They didn't realize that

Jesus literally became the Passover

lamb. Paul says that in 1 Corinthians

chapter five, I think.

But nevertheless, the apostles were

there with Jesus.

And in the upper room, I'm going to

start

verse 21.

He says, "Verily, I say unto you, one of

you are going to betray me." We know who

who that was. It was Judas.

And they were exceedingly sorrowful and

began one of them to say, "Lord, is it

I?" They were concerned about

themselves. And I guess that's a good

thing.

Be concerned about yourself. But he he

that dips his hand with me in the dish,

the same shall betray me. So Jesus going

to give him a sign that it's Judas.

And the son of man,

you know, that was Jesus favorite phrase

for himself.

He called himself a lot of things, a lot

of names. But when his uh his favorite

thing to call himself was a son of man.

And that's who he is. We're men and

women, children,

and we're human beings. And we need a

savior. We need a redeemer.

So that's why he became a man. God the

son became a man. The incarnation. One

of the most incredible things that has

ever happened.

And then he laid his life down to pay

for our sin. And he said, uh, it is

written of him. So here Jesus comes

right on time. You know, his time was

not yet come, but now his time has come.

And it has been written, woe unto the

man by whom the son of man is betrayed.

So the Old Testament tells us about this

betrayal

that the son of God, the son of man is

going to betrayed. They don't know who

now they know it's Judas, one of his

own, one of a one of the 12.

One of Jesus old familiar friends. And

Judas who betrayed him answered,

"Master, he said, I he said, you have

said." As they were eating, Jesus took

bread and he blessed it and he broke it

and he gave it unto the disciples and he

said, "Take, eat. This is my body." So

that's what we're about to do. This is

not literally Jesus' body. It's a

symbol. There things in the Bible that

are symbols. And this is just symbolic

of the blood and the and the body of

Jesus for us to remember him.

Taking communion won't save you or keep

you saved. There's that's not what this

is for. This is a remembrance

that we remember Jesus on this very

night uh on this side of the cross as he

was getting ready to go and the great

sacrifice he made um for us. Miles,

would you thank the Lord for his

precious body?

>> You now as we

as we go from this place,

loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine

to a sin darkened world as we go from

this place.