Faith Faces Evil

This summer we've been talking about what the Bible says about faith.

And in the last few weeks, we basically touched on the basics of faith, what it is, how to have it.

Today we're going to begin a whole new section for the rest of the summer.

Um, how to live by faith.

We'll be looking at what God taught the prophet Habakkuk about how to live by faith in evil times.

If you'd like a sermon outline, didn't get one, just raise your hand or I'll just have them available.

And a reminder to all of our children who've been participating in the pastor's note-taking reward stuff.

Don't forget, draw or write something about the sermon in your notebook.

Bring it up after the service sermon for a stamp or a prize every Sunday this summer.

On the 4th of July, a week before it was approaching, a Sunday school teacher took the opportunity to teach her class about patriotism.

And she said, You know what?

We live in a fantastic country.

One of the things we should be very happy about is that in this country, we are all free.

Little boy came running up to her, put his hands on his hips, and said, I'm not free.

I'm for.

Trying to understand what on earth is God doing.

So we're going to spend the rest of the summer in this book called Habakkuk.

If you brought a Bible, you're going to need to see this for yourself.

Don't believe me, breathe the scripture.

Living by faith is a central theme and actually key verse in the book of Habakkuk.

Habakkuk 2.4, God says this to Habakkuk.

Behold, as for the proud one, his soul isn't right within him, but the righteous one will live by his faith.

It's a key verse, key theme in that entire book.

Why?

Because Habakkuk's struggling.

He's a godly man, he's a prophet of God.

He's trying to figure it out.

How do you now live by faith when the world seems to be crashing in?

You know, it's interesting.

The New Testament, in the New Testament, this verse, Habakkuk 2.4, is quoted twice by the Apostle Paul, once by the author of Hebrews, in regard to their discussion on faith.

That's that important.

Habakkuk is living in an evil, troubling time in Israel and wondering why God is letting evil have its way.

Maybe you've thought about that even right here in this country.

The book of Habakkuk is only three chapters long, but I'll tell you what, in the end, it's going to give us the help we need when we need to to learn how to live by faith in evil times.

We'll cover Habakkuk chapter one today, and I gotta do next time as well to finish it.

And today, your first challenge is to find the book of Habakkuk.

Okay?

A couple of hints.

It is in the Old Testament, so get out of the new, make your way back to the Old Testament, and another hint.

Uh, it's right, it's right after the book of Nahum.

And right before the book of Zephaniah.

So it should be easy for you to find.

Okay, just go there.

I really want you to bring your Bibles as we go through this, because like I said, you need to see this for yourself.

But let me read the first few verses of Habakkuk chapter one, and you'll get a sense of where Habakkuk is.

All right.

Habakkuk chapter one, verse one, the oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

How long, O Lord, will I call for help and you will not hear?

I cry out to you, violence, yet you do not save.

Why do you make me see iniquity?

Cause me to look on wickedness.

Yes, destruction and violence are before me.

Strife exists and contention arises, therefore the law is ignored.

Justice is never upheld, for the wicked surround the righteous, therefore, justice comes out perverted.

Wow.

Uh I've got three points for today.

And like I said, we're going to finish chapter one next time.

I can't do it all today.

There's way too much.

Um I did actually, I'll give you tell you a little secret.

I did have chapter one all done for today.

But then Dennis decides to have the choir sing, communion, Ed decides to pray, and I'm like, okay, I there's no way we're gonna stay here till three o'clock.

Okay.

Uh so I got three points, three points.

Habakkuk's burden, Habakkuk's crisis of faith, Habakkuk's steps of faith.

Um Habakkuk was written in a very dark time in Israel's history.

Uh he introduces in in his words the oracle of Habakkuk.

Uh, the word oracle literally means burden in Hebrew.

This is a huge burden he's carrying.

Um give you a little historical background.

Good king Josiah was the ruler over Judah just before Habakkuk, some years before Habakkuk wrote this book.

Josiah was a good king, he turned the nation around uh back to God, back to his word, and it gave God's people hope.

Good times are ahead.

We're serving God, he's blessing us.

But then King Josiah died in 609 BC, and his sons who succeeded him were terrible kings, giving way to moral corruption, injustice, violence running rampant in the society.

That's why in chapter one, Habakkuk says he's been witnessing things like destruction, violence, God's laws being ignored, justice being perverted.

Violence, corruption, and justice inside the society, as we'll see, not only that, military threats from outside that society made it dark, evil times for believers living in Judah during this time.

Just setting the stage for to hear what happens.

The violence and corruption, and Habakkuk knew this.

Habakkuk knew that this violence and corruption he's seeing all over the place, the wickedness, the sin, turning their backs on God was just leading to God's judgment.

Unless they turned around, unless they repented.

So God began sending prophets to Israel to warn them.

Repent, turn around.

He sent Jeremiah.

All through Jeremiah, he's pleading with people, repent.

The kings basically ignore him, they don't want anything to do with what Jeremiah is saying.

Finally, that was enough.

Babylon would invade Judah in 605 BC, and Habakkuk, you see, is writing just on the verge of that.

He's writing around 600 BC before they invaded.

He sees the writing on the wall.

He sees it coming.

And he's just struggling in his faith, understand why God, why are you allowing this?

Why aren't you turning us back?

Habakkuk's burden is that he's been praying to God about all this evil he sees in his life, but God hasn't been answering his prayers to do something to stop it.

Habakkuk's burden, this is very interesting.

Uh Habakkuk is unique, especially in this first part.

You'll see.

Habakkuk's burden is a series of questions to God.

He asks him in prayer about how he's supposed to live out his faith when immersed in dark evil times, and God isn't responding.

What am I supposed to do?

How do you live by faith in that?

And Habakkuk chapters 1 and 2, you'll see, are unique, very unique in the scripture, unique interchange between Habakkuk and God.

Habakkuk 1 · chapter mention

Job, later on in Job, you'll see it.

Habakkuk's asking all these questions.

And then God's going to respond to him.

And Habakkuk isn't going to like it, you see.

He's going to struggle.

Look at how Habakkuk begins, just to summarize, Habakkuk 1, 2 to 4.

How long, O God, will you not answer my prayers?

Why do I have to look at all this iniquity and sin, wickedness, and violence?

Why aren't you doing something about it?

I'm praying.

We're praying.

Sometimes we ask the same questions, don't we?

When we face uh difficult circumstances, very troubling things, even evil times, uh we may ask, how long, oh Lord?

Why aren't you answering my prayers?

Where are you?

Why is all this happening?

Habakkuk, I'm just saying, he's struggling in his faith.

He's a man of faith, but he's struggling.

He doesn't understand.

He's trying to trust God when all he sees is evil and God doing nothing about it.

Okay, now let me paraphrase, uh, save time.

Let me paraphrase how God answers Habakkuk in Habakkuk 1, verses 5 to 11.

Habakkuk 1:5–11

I'm going to paraphrase it.

You can read it yourself.

But here's here's what God says to Habakkuk.

Habakkuk starts praying, why God, how long, O Lord?

What why?

And here's what God says.

I am doing something about all the evil you see in your country.

I'm raising up the Babylonians, the most ruthless, bloodthirsty nation in the world has ever seen, against your nation to judge them for their sins.

And you know that the Babylonians, they're fierce, thieving people who operate by their own laws, attacking people and pillaging at will.

That answer leads to a crisis in Habakkuk's faith.

Listen to how Habakkuk responds to that.

In chapter 1, verses 12 and 13.

Habakkuk answers God.

He says, Are you not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my holy one?

We will not die.

You, O Lord, have appointed them to judge, and you, O Rock, have established them to correct.

Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and you cannot look on wickedness with favor.

Why do you look with favor on those who deal treacherously?

Why are you silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?

In essence, let me tell you what Habakkuk's saying.

You call that an answer?

I just complained.

Why are you letting evil and justice reign in Judah?

And your answer is, I'm going to send more evil and injustice?

How does that make sense?

God says, Yes.

I'm going to send more violence and oppression.

That's what I'm going to do.

And Habakkuk is very close to saying to God, Are you nuts?

Seriously.

It's like they're having this interchange.

Habakkuk is extremely confused.

He is struggling.

The truth is, most of the time, we're going to have a hard time understanding what God's doing.

Maybe that's a revelation to you, but we're not going to understand.

Sometimes it may even look like he's crazy.

What's going on?

That's, I think, how Habakkuk felt.

And that's the reason why when we have a hard time understanding what God is doing, why we have to walk by faith.

We have to.

We're going to just talk about how.

How do you do that?

What does that mean?

Habakkuk gives us in this first part two things, I believe, very helpful things we must do if we're going to, in this confusing time, begin to walk by faith and not get swallowed up in unbelief, doubt, cynicism, and unbelief.

Two things.

Habakkuk does.

First, very, very important, I've we must draw closer to God, not more away from him.

I've my pastoral ministry, I've seen tragedy happen in people's lives, believers' lives, committed Christians' lives.

They're so angry at God, they walk away from him.

I've had people say, Well, if that's what God's like, I'm out of here.

I've had people say that to me.

Don't do that.

Uh-uh.

Habakkuk's not going to do that.

When God isn't answering our prayers and isn't giving us what we want, we may think God doesn't care about the trouble we're in.

We may think that.

Like the time the disciples are in the boat on the Sea of Galilee being swamped by a storm, Jesus asleep, and they said, Don't you care, we're perishing.

But Habakkuk doesn't abandon God.

In fact, he's pressing closer.

He's going in.

He does that by taking the second step to walk by faith.

Notice Habakkuk is talking to God.

He's not turning his back, pouting, say, all right, I'm not having a quiet time now.

I'm just gonna walk away.

Do my own thing.

Apparently, God's not interested in what I'm what I need or what I want.

Don't do that.

Draw closer to him, talk to him.

Notice Habakkuk is praying about his huge burden.

It's praying about what he doesn't understand.

He's getting closer.

To walk by faith in evil times, we must draw closer to God in prayer with our questions, our complaints, our laments, all of it.

You realize after Jesus, Jesus spent some time talking about the uh terrible times of uh coming in the future of God's judgment on the earth.

And uh he talked with the disciples about those evil times, uh, and here's what he told them to do.

This is right after he describes, you know, the wars and all this stuff going on.

He says, Luke 18, 1.

Now he was telling them a parable to show that all times they ought to pray and not lose heart.

Extremely important.

Don't cut your connection with the living God.

You may not understand what's going on, but don't cut.

Draw closer.

Habakkuk prays and boldly, I'm just as shocked at how how boldly he uh asked God another question after he almost said, Are you crazy?

He he said, and this time he's not asking for information.

He's actually making uh what some scholars have uh suggested a punishing rhetorical question.

Habakkuk says in Habakkuk 1.12, Are you not from everlasting?

Now that question, verse 12, are you not?

It's a little phrase that occurs about 96 times in the Bible.

It's used in the con it's always used in the context of vigorous human arguments.

Nothing could have been more abrupt than Habakkuk's prayer.

Are you not?

Some commentators have argued it's probably that may have been the most insulting thing anyone has said to God in the Bible.

He's basically saying, I thought you were an infinite wise God.

Apparently you're not.

It's a rhetorical question.

You're supposed to be bringing peace and salvation to the world, not evil.

Habakkuk thinks he's got a great argument.

And he does.

That's what's interesting.

See, on the one hand, Habakkuk is challenging God with these questions, and he's struggling with his in his faith with doubts.

On the other hand, though, note well, the thought never enters his mind that he should walk away from God, walk away from his faith, or stop obeying God, or stop following God, stop praying to God.

It wasn't an option.

Wasn't an option.

Why?

Habakkuk is basically say, God, I think you're contradicting yourself.

But Habakkuk's not posting that online.

He's not complaining about God to his friends.

He's talking to God.

He's praying.

In the midst of Habakkuk 1, verse 12, he says, O Lord, my God, my holy one.

Habakkuk 1:12

That statement indicates a very deep personal relationship with God.

He had.

When Habakkuk says, My holy one, I think he's saying something like this.

I wouldn't be so upset if I didn't know you.

And if I if I didn't know you were holy.

But I know you are.

Because I I can't figure out life with you.

How am I gonna figure out life without you?

Where else would I go?

He's come to this kind of point in his faith.

What we're looking at to start out this book is we're looking at Habakkuk's unconditional, faithful wrestling with God in prayer.

Have you ever done that?

I've done it a few times in my life.

And God welcomes you.

Because we're not going to understand everything.

We wrestle with God in prayer.

Honest.

Honest prayer.

We see other examples of this, by the way, in the scripture.

I mean, they're all over the place.

Bold wrestling with God.

Job, Jeremiah, the Psalms.

Psalm 10, 1.

Why do you stand far off, O Lord?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Psalm 44, 24.

Why do you hide your face and forget our affliction and oppression?

Psalm 94, 3.

How long shall the wicked, O Lord, how long shall the wicked exalt?

Do you know why God doesn't just smite Habakkuk?

He's been pretty bold in challenging God.

Why has he preserved his story for us in the Bible?

It's because of his grace.

God is in a covenant relationship with everyone who believes in him, and he will never abandon them.

And I love this.

I memorized this verse a long time ago, when I was struggling in my faith, actually.

Never forgotten it.

I do believe it's the truth.

Psalm 4 1.

David says, answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness.

You have given me room in my distress.

Be gracious to me and hear my prayer.

You know what that means?

He realized God's giving him room.

Go ahead and vent.

God can take it.

He's given me room in my distress.

God's okay with that.

Habakkuk knows something about God's grace.

That's what makes you a faithful wrestler.

You know, if you know your salvation is not based on doing everything right, and you know there's no place you could possibly make it in life without God and his grace that makes you that can make you a faithful wrestler.

Um let me just be honest with you.

Like I said, I've I've had a few times in my life where I have, I, I really it was rest, I was wrestling with God.

I didn't, I had no idea what on earth.

It's like my first year in the pastureate in Pennsylvania.

Um a young single mother and her five-year-old daughter, and um good friends with my five-year-old daughter, Jennifer.

They played together, a great time together.

And uh all of a sudden, this young mother died in her sleep, and her five-year-old daughter found her.

And I got to do the funeral.

Why did you allow this?

I am literally angry at God.

Well, you know what I'm doing?

I'm not sulking and pouting, I am talking to him.

I don't understand.

So, to summarize today, to live by faith in evil times or troubling times, when we don't get it, times of suffering, Habakkuk shows us the first things, two first two things we must do, or we're not going anywhere.

First, we must remain faithful to God, not abandon him, though we think he's abandoned us.

Don't walk away from him, engage him.

Habakkuk never entertained the thought of turning his back on God.

The second thing we must do in order to walk by faith is pray.

Like Habakkuk, pour out your heart.

Like the psalmist, pour out your heart.

Tell him exactly what you're feeling, what you're thinking.

Tell them it doesn't make sense.

What are you supposed to do?

You know, and this this truth is even more crucial for us today, since Jesus has opened the way for our personal communion with God in prayer.

Hebrews 4, 14 to 16, the writer says, Therefore, since we have a great high priest who's passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let's hold fast our confession.

In other words, don't walk away from God.

Hold fast.

For we don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses.

You think you're in trouble?

You think you're in the midst of suffering?

Go back and read the latter part of the Gospels.

Your great high priest, how much he suffered for you.

We don't have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

Therefore, this is the most fantastic news we could imagine.

Therefore, let us draw near with confidence.

Bring everything into his presence.

All that you're feeling, all that you're thinking.

Let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

I gotta mention the throne he refers to there is the power and authority of God who's governing the entire universe.

Sovereign God who hears and answers prayers according to his will.

It's also referred to as the throne of grace, where God welcomes us because of what Jesus has done for us.

The only reason God allows us to be heard is because of his grace.

As sinners, we don't deserve to be there or be heard.

But because of Jesus, our Savior's death and resurrection, he's given us access to the very presence and throne of God and his grace.

Jesus made a way to God.

He is the way to God.

Believe in him for the promise of eternal life, to have a relationship with God, because Jesus said in John 17, 3, This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent.

If you remember, the moment Jesus died on the cross, the temple in the curtain in the temple, which separated people from the very presence of God in the Holy of Holies, was torn in two from top to bottom.

As if God saying, Come on in.

Talk to me.

We have now access to God through our faith.

Faith in Jesus.

Where is it?

Time to take it up.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you today for Jesus, our great high priest, who gives us access to your very presence.

Thank you that by grace you give us the freedom.

You give us room to pour out our heart to you when we're in trouble, we're confused, when we're doubting, when we're struggling.

You give us the freedom.

Give us room to pour out our heart to you.

Would you help us during those times to know you as holy, sovereign, good, and full of grace, and take comfort and courage in who you are, not in our circumstances.

I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.