Habbakuk | 3:1-16 | Pastor Drew

And so with that, if you've been here, we have been working through Habakkuk.

We have been working through the prophet Habakkuk.

And this is sermon slash prayer three.

This is a four-part series.

This is the third part of the series.

The first two weeks, we talked about kind of the challenges, the complaint that Habakkuk had.

He had a complaint.

God responded.

He had a complaint about the injustice that was taking place, evil that was taking place, the tribe of the people of Judah and their leaders.

leadership had gone astray, had gotten away from the Torah, the law, the Torah, the teachings of God.

They'd gotten away.

They had some corrupt leaders.

Josiah was a righteous leader.

He eventually dies.

And then Jehoiakim, who is an evil and unjust ruler, takes over.

And the way in which God talks to Habakkuk is saying, you know, God, how can you sit here and let this happen?

And so God says, well, wait till you get a load of me.

As a matter of fact, the evil and injustice because my people have been disobedient.

As a matter of fact, there's an evil and unjust nation even more corrupt than Judah that I'm actually going to use to judge my people.

And so the first week was really us and Habakkuk looking around at the world.

He was looking around horizontally at what's going on.

And he going to God saying, what's up with this God?

And so then God says, well, guess what?

When do you get a load of this?

You won't believe this if I told you, but I'm actually raising up the Chaldeans, who are the Babylonians, and I'm actually going to raise them up to actually overtake Judah.

God gives us over to the things sometimes in our lives that we want to run after.

And yet God is still good in the midst of this because God's redemption draw not.

So then week two, we looked at Habakkuk Habakkuk goes back to God.

He complains a little bit, but again, I talked about this, how most of the prophets, they're talking to the people of Israel or the people of Judah.

Habakkuk, for three chapters, only talks to God.

What would it look like for us sometimes to stop talking to people and just talk to God?

What would it look like for us to maybe stop tweeting, stop posting social media, stop trying to win people over to your political ideology?

and maybe repent and trust the Lord and just talk to God for a little while.

And then when God tells you something, what would it look like for you to grapple with what God has to say even if you don't like it?

Because the reality is, as part of the humanism in our culture, is that we want to be able to tell God what to do about God's creation as if it's ours.

So we create a God in our own image that serves our purposes that are not always His purposes.

God always sees the beginning from the end and the end from the beginning and everything in between, God is the one that we ought to be bending towards because God doesn't bend towards us.

And yet he does.

For those first two weeks, we looked at the woes last week and we looked at the woes in the Bible and we looked at some contemporary woes.

Things that God has to say something about.

And then the idols, the ending part was about the idols and these different idols that we end up worshiping when we get away from the Torah, the teachings of God, the law of God, not the U.S.

Constitution, but the law of God.

When we get away from the law of God, humanity is in chaos.

And so then what happens is, chapter 3, there's a transition.

Isaiah 3 · chapter mention

And actually, all of chapter three is a prayer for deliverance.

And there'll be two parts.

This week will be the first part of what are the things necessary for deliverance to take place?

Today, we're actually going to spend some time praying together in groups with our neighbors next to us on three points on what is it What does it take for God's deliverance to happen?

And so please stand as we read the Word of God.

We're going to be reading from Habakkuk chapter 3, verses 1 through 16.

Habakkuk 3:1–16

It says, woe to her who is rebellious and defiled.

The tyrannical city, she heeded no voice.

She accepted no instruction.

She did not trust.

Oh, that's Zephaniah.

I'm sorry.

I'm in the wrong prophet.

Please forgive me.

Next page.

Let me go back.

Zephaniah's got something to say too.

Here we go.

Chapter 3.

A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, according to Shigenoth.

Lord, I have heard the report about you and I Oh Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years.

In the midst of the years, make it known.

In wrath, remember mercy.

God comes from Taman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran, Selah.

That means pause.

His splendor covers the heavens and the earth is full of his praise.

His radiance is like the sunlight.

He has rays flashing from his hand and there is the hiding of his power.

Before him goes pestilence and plague comes after him.

He stood and surveyed the earth.

He looked and startled the nations.

Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered.

The ancient hills collapsed His ways are everlasting.

I saw the tents of Cushon under the distress.

The tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling.

Did the Lord rage against the rivers?

Or was your anger against the rivers?

Or was your wrath against the sea that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation?

Your bow was made bare, the rods of chastisement chastisement were sworn.

Selah.

Pause.

He says,...to neck.

Selah.

Pause.

You pierced with his own spears the head of his throngs.

They stormed in to scatter us.

Their exaltation was like those who devour the oppressed in secret.

You trampled on the sea with your horses on the surge of many waters.

I heard and my My inward parts trembled at the sound of my lips quivered.

Decay enters my bones and in my place I tremble.

Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us.

Father, we just thank you for your word.

We thank you that your word has endured the generations and that you have given your people instruction on how to live, how to be faithful, how to live by faith and not by sight.

And we ask you now, God, by way of your Holy Spirit, to encourage, to correct, to cause us to repent, And to seek your deliverance, which looks different than the deliverance that we often desire.

Help us to repent into the ways of your kingdom and not expect you to repent into the ways of our kingdom.

We thank you and love you.

In Jesus' name, amen.

very early on here very early on in chapter three this is a prayer of deliverance and here in a few moments what we're going to do is we're going to pray together and you're going to pray with your neighbors the people sitting next to you we're going to a couple things i'm three things i ask us to to pray for together as we have just read it and now going back to work through work through it again is actually to pray with your neighbors pray with the people with you we ought to be a praying church we did 21 days of prayer and fasting and we offered two additional days per week to offer prayer during this and people showed up and so prayer is a passion a desire and something we look forward to growing more in and so there ought to be some things that happen with the people of god prayer ought to be one of them amen and so today we're going to pray and if you're praying with somebody next to you that you do not know just be transparent and say i'm not comfortable praying and sit in the silence and say, hey, I'll pray in silence, but I don't feel comfortable praying out loud.

There's no judgment here.

It's okay.

You can just be someone who prays in your mind.

And yet for those of you who enjoy praying or who are willing to pray, we ask that you would pray in this moment.

And so we don't want to make this weird.

And yet if there's anything that people of God ought to be doing, it should be praying together, right?

And so we want to pray.

And so there are some things here in this prayer of deliverance that we ought to pay attention to as we think about what it means to be the people of God.

In the first couple of chapters, what we see is we see the first part, Lord, you confuse me, and it's okay for the people of God to be confused.

However, in your confusion, stay in relationship with God.

Stay at the table with God.

Keep praying, keep seeking, keep listening, right?

Don't do all the talking sometimes, just do some listening sometimes.

So what happened was is there's, Lord, you confuse me, and then there's a transition in chapter two where it's, Lord, I wait for you.

And then there's something that takes place in chapter 3, and we'll do it part this week and part next week.

As we're waiting, we're also moving towards praise.

The first perspective is horizontal in chapter 1, but after chapter 1, the relationship with Habakkuk and God is no longer horizontal.

It's simply vertical.

Habakkuk is only talking to God and only looking to God, and oftentimes the challenge that we experience is that the thing that we feel around us drowned out the voice of God.

And then we find ourselves confused.

It's a human experience.

But what are we going to do with that?

Are we going to look around and worry?

That's the first part of this.

Or are we going to be people who look up and listen and look up and listen?

And then next week, we'll move into what's called hopeful praise.

As we look up and listen, Habakkuk changes things.

At the very end of chapter 3, he's looking ahead.

and trust in God.

And so if we want to seek the Lord's deliverance today, church, if we want to be people who can look back on time and with the things happening in our culture, we want to pray for deliverance, we want to experience deliverance, but there's a few things that we must pay attention to.

The first part of this today in Habakkuk's prayer for deliverance is found right there in chapter 2 verse chapter 3 verse 2 at the very beginning he says this in the prayer he says Lord I have heard the report about you and I fear Oh Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years.

Revive what?

Habakkuk understands the history of Israel.

He understands the history of Yahweh and the way in which Yahweh has related to his people.

Yahweh who said, I promise to be your God, but you got to also promise to be my people.

Amen.

Oftentimes, we want God to be our God, but we don't want to be people who are faithful to Yahweh, and then we expect God to continue to deliver the goods.

Now, this is a covenant relationship.

God is faithful no matter what.

The problem historically has always been with God's people who chose to worship idols of the culture.

And so if we want deliverance, anytime we pray for deliverance, We love that passage in 2 Chronicles.

don't look at just what's happened in american history hold up hold up hold up let's look in some of our relationships with god let's look at some of our relationships with people our relationships with our parents or children our friendships our relationship even with the church even our relationship with other Christians who might vote differently than us.

If we want deliverance, it first begins with repentance.

If you want renewal, you want spiritual renewal, we ought to be repenting.

We ought to be confessing some things of how we're falling short and how we haven't done our part.

And many of us have expectations for the people that they haven't met and they didn't know about and we're trying to hold them to something that they never agreed upon and they don't know about and then we find ourselves flustered.

When in reality, as being covenant people with God and with each other, we ought to make our petitions known.

We ought to share what it is that we expect, even when It doesn't happen.

Do we even know what people expect?

Do we find ourselves mad, upset with people in our family, people in the church, people in the community, people in the world, political officials and affiliations?

We find ourselves continually mad, and the reality is this.

It begins with us looking at the ways that we have been unfaithful.

It's inward.

And so with your group right now, with the people next to you, if you want deliverance, we've got to check something out here.

If you want something to revive, that means that there was a point in time in the people of God's life or in your life individually and the life of the church or the community or the people of God throughout the globe.

There was a point in time that maybe something was faithful, right?

God delivers, God creates, people sin, Adam and Eve sin, humanity, the people of God have to repent, right?

They don't repent, they find themselves again in exile or rebellion or even there's a pharaoh who in slaves, the children of Israel.

But then God in his goodness and grace, he saves them, he delivers them.

So when he looks back, he's saying, renew, because he knows God to be a covenant-keeping, covenant-making God, and yet there's a part in which the people of God have to play.

There's a part in which Judah has to play.

And that play, and that's a part for you and I in our relationships, in our marriages, in our singleness.

in our commitment to community, our commitment to the church, or our commitment to living out and living as faithful people of God, there's a part that we got to uphold too.

And so with your partners right now, I'm going to ask for you to pray right now and share.

In order to be renewed, where might you need to repent from?

As I look around at the evil and chaos and injustice that exists in our world, And my tendency is to want to look out to them.

Look out to those people.

Look at those people who vote a different way.

Look at those people who do that.

Look at this particular group of people.

Look at the rich.

Look at people who are not like me.

Look at them.

Look at what they do.

Look at what they do.

I can understand it.

because I know the brokenness within me.

And every time I look out at them, I'm reminded that I got to look at me.

I got to look at my motives.

I got to look at my desires.

I got to look at the ways in which I also can cause the same pain to other people that other people might be causing to me.

This is not a us and them situation.

We're in solidarity with all of humanity as sinners who are in need of grace and a savior and salvation.

So there is no us and them.

Because I got to look at me.

And I got to look at the ways that I've got it wrong.

I got to look at the ways that I fall short.

I've got to look at the ways in which I, myself, am in need of deliverance.

And so this morning, as we're praying for renewal and revival and repentance in our lives, may it begin with us.

Father, we thank you and love you.

And even this morning as we look at them, may we also see us in them.

All human beings, except for Jesus, throughout time and space, have at some point in time been oppressed or been oppressors.

None of us gets out of this And what I see out there with them is only a reminder of my own heart within me.

And so God, we pray this morning, God, we pray this morning, God, that you would deliver us from ourselves.

That you would cause us to reevaluate where we are with you and where we are with others and cause us to own our shortcomings.

that might lead us to wholeness and restored relationships.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

See, the beauty behind this is that honesty with repentance goes a long way with God.

I think it's interesting that in this same verse, in this same passage in Habakkuk, I think that there's something unique that happens right in the next verse.

I don't think that this is a coincidence that that's right next to each other.

So he says that, Lord, I have heard the report about you and I fear, we fear God because of God's holiness.

It's a response of love and reverence to God who was holy.

Oh Lord, revive your work in the midst of your years.

There's a petition to renew and to revive, but it is contingent upon repentance.

But then he says this, in the midst of the years, make it known, in wrath, Remember mercy.

This is the beauty that causes me to repent over and over and over.

This is the beauty that actually drew me back to Jesus.

This word mercy, we're used to hearing the word mercy in the Hebrew being translated from the original word chesed, which is this idea of loving faithfulness, loving kindness, this idea of like this God having a obligation to fulfill his promises and his purposes with his people, and in that the people also are obligated to being faithful to God.

In God, there's no English word that describes hesed, this loving kindness and this mercy and this compassion.

There's no English word or English translation to this word.

But he does not use hesed here.

That is not the word for mercy in Habakkuk.

The word for her mercy in Habakkuk here is the word rakam.

That word in the Hebrew gets its same root word from a word called rakam.

Let me tell you something about this word.

Words are important in Scripture.

The word for mercy here is a word that is connected to the root word for the womb of a mother.

And there are complications in the world around wombs.

Let me say that.

I want to honor that.

And yet, I also want to take it up to God, whose intention behind this word is the kind of mother that loves her children no matter what they do.

Habakkuk knew that God was a God who loved his people.

He knew God was the kind of God that no matter what they did, he loved him.

Now, however, it does not mean that there's not a way in which to correct or discipline or love our children in a way that brings about repentance.

We like this God who just loves us but doesn't correct us.

Correction is also love.

And so this word here is this word between a mother and a child.

And what Habakkuk is saying is, yes, I know your people are not acting like your children, but would you still love them like your children, God?

Would you like them because you created them?

They came out of who you are.

You created them to look like you.

You created them in your image and likeness.

And throughout history, you have already shown yourself to be faithful in the way that you love them.

This could be hard for people who lost their mother.

I also want to honor that because many of you have been loved by a mother.

And you know that the way that you treated your mom or the way you became disrespectful at some point in time in your life or the way you turned on them and your mom never turned on you.

Now, some of us have another relationship with our moms that's not the same.

That is also true.

But again, even with the best mom or the best dad or the best parents in the world who were faithful and who were perfect as perfect can be amongst humans, it still ain't God.

It still doesn't measure up.

to the love of God.

And some of us have a very broken view of God because we are looking too narrow at our own parents.

And we've got to take it up to a higher, holier relationship with God.

Mercy.

One of my favorite games is Uno No Mercy.

Uno No Mercy.

And last night I played with my family and I was the first one to be put out.

And when you're out in Uno No Mercy, I had gotten over 25 cards in Uno No Mercy.

It's not like the old Uno where you could have as many cards as you wanted and keep playing.

No, here's a 25 limit.

25 card limit.

And once you get 25...

You're out.

But I wasn't alone.

Mama, forgive me.

My mama was right there with me.

I went out and then my mama came with me.

And so we're just watching everybody play.

I love this game and it's fun.

It's fun to laugh.

But I also want to remind us that God is not like Uno No Mercy.

God is not like uno no mercy with his own people.

Eventually what happens is he sends them into exile.

He tells them right now, and Jeremiah, who was a contemporary of Habakkuk, he tells them, we love this passage, but we do, we really understand what he's talking about.

He says, after Babylonia has been the strongest nation for 70 years, I will be kind and bring you back to Jerusalem just as I have promised you.

He's talking to the tribe of Judah through this.

Jeremiah is another contemporary.

He's calling the people of God back to God and says, hey, you're about to be in exile for 70 years, which is happening right here in Habakkuk.

God is telling Habakkuk what's getting ready to happen.

The Babylonians are getting ready to take over and they're getting ready to hold Israel captive for 70 years.

That actually happens with King Nebuchadnezzar.

But even in this, God is gracious.

God is still gracious in the midst of this because he remembers his mercy.

And not only does he eventually, because of his mercy, Israel and Judah eventually repent, turn back to God.

That's God's promise.

He says he's going to do it.

He's already looking ahead of what's going to happen.

Habakkuk is in the now, but he doesn't see what's about to happen because God is telling him.

He doesn't see it with his eyes because right now it's about to get bad.

They're about to take us over with what I see.

And if we only focus on what we see, this is why the righteous shall live by faith.

If we only look what we see, we're going to miss the mark.

And so he says, I'm going to deliver my people.

I'm faithful to my people.

Deliverance is important here, but I also want to point something else out as well.

I'm going to go there now for the sake of time.

I want to go there now for the sake of time.

Do we have it?

I want to go there.

Can you go to the slide that has Jeremiah 29 verse 11?

Jeremiah 29:11

There he is.

And as a matter of fact, I want to back up a second because I think there's something important.

I won't go there, but I'll say it.

Is Daniel there?

Is Daniel up there?

Do you see Daniel 4?

There it is.

This is important, you all, to understanding God's mercy.

God extends his mercy to his own people.

He brings them out of exile.

He uses Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar to punish his own people and to cause them to repent.

He uses Nebuchadnezzar as an agent to cause his own people to repent.

A more unjust and evil nation than Judah.

Eventually, Judah repents.

So just think about your worst enemy right now.

Think about your worst political enemy in this season.

If you are the people of God, God will eventually deliver you, but you've got to be faithful.

Now check this out.

Daniel chapter 4.

Daniel 4 · chapter mention

Daniel chapter 4 Nebuchadnezzar experiences transformation and repentance even the enemy of the people of God God's mercy extends to them as well your biggest enemy right now that God's mercy extends extends to them.

Daniel 4 · chapter mention

Here it is.

Finally, this is Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel.

This is what he says.

After he's been for seven years, Nebuchadnezzar, he was eating grass.

He had some kind of mental disorder in which he was eating grass and thinking that he was an ox, right?

And so God says, this is what I'm going to do to you, Nebuchadnezzar.

You won't be able, you don't want to worship and bow down.

You don't want to know who the God of all Israel is.

I'm about to show you.

There are times when God's up in a way that only God can show up to show who's sovereign and who is not, even amongst kings and rulers.

God still shows up.

He says this, finally I prayed to God in heaven and my mind was healed.

Then I said, I praise and honor God most high.

He lives forever and his kingdom will never end.

Next slide, Caleb.

To him the nations are far less than nothing.

This is someone who said that he wanted to rule the nations, that he wanted to conquer.

Now he's repenting.

He says to him, the nations are far less than nothing.

God controls the stars and the sky and everyone on this earth.

Someone who used to worship idols for different deities around nature and different things.

Someone who now recognizes that the most high God, the God of Israel, is the one true God in everyone on earth.

When God does something, we cannot change it or even ask why.

Next slide.

At that time, my mind was healed.

And once again, I became the ruler of my glorious kingdom.

However, he has a different kind of perspective.

My advisors and officials returned to me, and I had greater power than ever before.

That's why I say, next slide, praise and honor the king who rules from heaven.

Everything, everything, even the things that we don't agree with, even the things that we don't like even the things that we question, even the things that we might accuse God for being cruel and unjust, even those things, even those things, everything that he does is honest and fair as he can shatter the power of those who are proud.

I can understand King Nebuchadnezzar's heart because I can understand my own heart.

Next slide.

And so with that, the next prayer point.

We see as we move to redemption, the next part of this passage is that redemption requires faithfulness while waiting.

God has delivered and will deliver again.

In between verses 3 and verses 16, you'll see this language around judgment and like things happening to the earth and the sea quaking and you see it's a theophany.

It's God's showing up in creation to deliver.

He knows already about the past exodus that's already happened.

But now what he's looking to is he's looking for God to be faithful again.

He's looking for God to be faithful again in a future exodus, even in the midst of exile, even in the midst of evil, even in the midst of injustice, Habakkuk knows that god is consistent and who he was is who he is and who we will always be And so here, in a moment, we're going to pray for God's deliverance through the coming of the Lord.

But I think this is important because if we know that God has been faithful in the Exodus, in the current situation that we see ourselves in, even God has been faithful when we came to know him.

He's still the same God.

Nothing's changed about him.

Maybe the way that we see God has changed, but I promise you God ain't changed.

And God will be the same in the future.

But if we lose our perspective on God, we're going to deal with some challenges, y'all.

If we can't accept the will of God, we're going to deal with some real challenges in our life and world, and we're already seeing them.

Ultimately, all the problems in the world are because people, all of humanity does not want to accept the will of God.

It can all boil down to that.

And so with that, a response that the people of God must maintain.

I want to point us to Jeremiah 29.

Here you're going to be in exile for 70 years.

It's going to be rough for 70 years.

Just so you know, and I'm going to eventually bring you out, but you won't see it, Jeremiah.

Habakkuk, you ain't going to see it.

Jeremiah, your grandkids will probably see it, but you won't see it.

And you'll have some challenges along the way.

You may even feel like you're losing your mind at times because people don't want to listen to the message.

People don't want However, this is what it means to be faithful in the midst of exile, in the midst of injustice, in the midst of chaos.

Jeremiah 29, 11 through 14 says, I will bless you with a future filled with hope and a future of success, not suffering.

You will turn back to me and ask for help and I will answer your prayers.

You will worship me with all your heart and I will answer your prayers.

I will be with you and accept your worship.

Then I will gather you from all the nations where I scattered you and you you will return to Jerusalem.

And then he tells them how to live in the midst of it.

Right now, church, this same thing applies to the people of God wherever they're at in the world and who are enduring any kind of corruption, any kind of injustice, any kind of political corruption, anything you want to name sin, God's call is still the same.

He tells them in the midst of this, in the midst of this chaos, this is what I want you to do, people.

This is a matter of fact.

This is evidence that the righteous will live by faith even when you don't see it.

Build houses and settle down.

Plant gardens and eat what they produce.

Marry and have sons and daughters.

Find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage so that they too may have sons and daughters.

Increase in number.

There do not increase.

Increase in number.

There do not increase.

And also seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.

Pray to the Lord for it because if it prospers, you to prosper.

If we are looking to God in the midst of what we see around us, it'll cause us to live a little different.

it'll cause us to be people because of past redemption we can be faithful in living by faith now past redemption I'm talking about now for us is in the completed work of Jesus Christ because of what Jesus did when he came he lived he showed us the way he died and he was raised from the dead on the third day and today sits at the right hand of God in all authority because Jesus did that.

Those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus, Christians, the ones who are like Christ, because of that, now we can live differently.

Doesn't mean they ain't going to challenge us.

Don't mean we ain't going to cry.

We ain't going to grieve.

We ain't going to lament.

No, we're going to do that.

but we're still people who have hope because of what Jesus did.

and what Jesus will do in the day of salvation when he comes back at the second advent to the earth and makes all things new.

He's looking for a few faithful followers who will trust him in the now.

This church doesn't exist with the history of Marian, with the history of America.

We started a church and said, we're going to be faithful in what we know to be true because of what Christ has already done.

We don't get to where we're at today by just looking around us and saying, oh, the world is so jacked up and wrong.

No doubt about it.

My mom used to say this word, something knows something Sherlock, back in the day, right?

If we only base it on what we see, we're going to have a hard time being faithful.

Redemption ultimately is in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

The God of Old Testament is the same God in the New Testament, and Jesus is the apex.

But we got to wait.

Not for salvation, because we have it in Christ, but for salvation to be fully realized in the world.

We're called to be faithful witnesses in between.