Worship in the In-Between (Hab 3:1-19)

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to come closer together. So we'll start that series next week, God's Black and White on gray areas.
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Do that for four weeks and then we'll start the study on the personal work of the Spirit. But for this morning we return our thoughts to the prophecy of Habakkuk.
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If you have your Bible, I hope you turn with me to Habakkuk chapter 3. Habakkuk chapter 3 this morning.
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Habakkuk chapter 3, if you have that portion of God's Word, I invite you to stand with me as we read it.
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We like to stand in reverence for God's Word. Habakkuk chapter number 3.
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I'm going to read the entirety of the chapter, all 19 verses. Habakkuk chapter 3, beginning in verse 1.
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Once again, brothers and sisters, these are the words of God. A prayer of the prophet
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Habakkuk, according to Shigyonoth. Yahweh, I have heard the reports about you.
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Yahweh, I stand in awe of your deeds. Revive your work in these years.
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Make it known in these years. In your wrath, remember mercy.
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God comes from Teman, the Holy One, from Mount Paran, sailor.
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His splendor covers the heavens and the earth is full of his praise. His brilliance is like light.
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Rays of rays are flashing from his hand. This is where his power is hidden.
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Plague goes before him and pestilence follows in his steps. He stands and shakes the earth.
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He looks and startles the nations. The age -old mountains break apart as the ancient hills sink down.
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His pathways are ancient. I see the tents of Kushan in distress, and the tent curtains of land of Midian tremble.
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Are you angry at the rivers, Yahweh? Is your wrath against the rivers?
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Or is your fury against the sea when you ride on your horses, your victorious chariot?
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You took the sheath from your bow. The arrows are ready to be used with an oath, sailor.
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You split the earth with rivers. The mountains see you and shudder. A downpour of water sweeps by.
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The deep roars with its voice and lifts its waves high. Sun and moon stand still in their lofty residence.
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At the flash of your flying arrows, at the brightness of your shining spear, you march across the earth in indignation.
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You trample down the nations in wrath. You come out to save your people, to save your anointed.
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You crush the leader of the house of the wicked and strip him from foot to neck, sealer.
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You piece his head with his own spears. His warriors storm out to scatter us, gloating as if they are ready to secretly devour the weak.
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You tread the sea with your horses, stirring up the vast water. I heard, and I trembled within.
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My lips quivered at the sound. Rottenness entered my bones.
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I trembled where I stood. Now I must quietly wait for the day of distress to come against the people invading us.
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Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines. Though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food.
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Though the flocks disappear from the pen and there are no herds in the stalls. Yet I will celebrate in Yahweh.
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I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. Yahweh, my Lord, is my strength.
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He makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights for the choir director on stringed instruments.
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The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will abide forever. Join with me as I breathe one more word of prayer and ask for the
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Spirit's help as we come to this portion of God's word. Our Father and our
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God, we thank you because you have been so good to us. You've been good to us to bring us to worship and now you've been good to us as we've heard your word read and we pray that you would continue to be good to us as we hear your word taught.
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Father, before we engage in our series of what our sermon this morning, excuse me, we also want to take a moment and pray for the people of Beirut, Lebanon.
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The explosion that happened this week that took so many lives and injured so many. Pray especially for City Bible Church, a church plant there in Beirut whose building was destroyed by the blast and now are having to hurriedly put together their worship space once again as they gather.
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May they know your blessing. Pray that they can be faithful witnesses to the people of Lebanon as they come to terms with this horrific, horrific accident.
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Be with us as we gather in worship. Open our eyes that we would see wonderful things out of your law. Prepare our hearts.
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Make it fertile ground for this word. We ask these things in Jesus name for his sake. Amen. Please be seated this morning.
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Well, this morning we come to Habakkuk chapter 3 as we close out our brief study in this prophecy.
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If I could tag this text I'd give it the title, Worship in the In -between. Worship in the in -between.
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Have you ever grappled with that feeling of being in -between? Like you're not quite here but you're not quite there?
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You can think of a couple of times in my own life I grappled with that. Just before I moved over here in April 2017,
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I had a two -month period. I remember it from February to about when I left in April when, in all honesty, life just felt weird.
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I couldn't make any plans beyond a week because, okay, how close is this to when
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I'm leaving? Okay, maybe not. Couldn't buy some of my favorite things because, well, if I buy it
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I've got to pack it and move it across the pond in a couple of months. Couldn't go certain places because going would cut it a little bit fine in terms of my travel plans.
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In short, being in -between frankly annoyed the life out of me.
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So I decided to do it all over again a couple of years later and we bought a house. For anyone who has ever moved, we didn't move that far.
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We moved a mile down the road. It was still one of the worst experiences ever. That period of, okay, boxing up all your stuff.
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For me the hard part was I had to box up the library. Oh, I was still teaching and stuff at that point. So, oh,
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I have to box up all my stuff that I use all the time. But it was just a nightmare. Being in -between was not great and then we move into the house and then, you know, you have that period.
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You're still living out of boxes. Couldn't do any work because I just didn't have an office. Office still needed work.
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So I'm having to go to Medford Library. Oh, I've got to pay for that because they don't let you park there for free. It was just horrible.
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I mean those are insignificant examples in the grand scheme of things and I'm sure that if I were to poll the room, you could all give me way worse examples of having to be in -between.
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Having to live in that already but not yet kind of moment. I mean it takes work to live in that place and if that's true in the physical realm,
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I would venture to say that it's equally true in the spiritual realm. Between God's promise and its fulfillment lies a lot of uncertainty at times and more often than not, as we live in that weird space between, okay
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God, what are you doing? I know you're going to do something. I just don't know what and I'm living in this in -between time.
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When we find ourselves in those periods, if we're honest, worship is the furthest thing from our minds.
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We literally could be thinking about anything else except worship. Like I said, we've come to our final message in this study through the prophecy of Habakkuk.
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It's been quite the journey. I don't know for you. For me, as I've been digging into this week after week and re -examining what's going on in this prophecy, it's been astounding to observe how
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Habakkuk responds. He asks some really difficult questions. We've seen him ask the question of, God, don't you see the injustice that's in the world?
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Don't you see the unfaithfulness? And then God tells him what he's going to do. He's like, God, no seriously, are you going to use them to deal with the problem?
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Habakkuk asks some difficult questions, the kinds of questions that we ask. Okay, God, how is it that you allow evil in the world, that you are good
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God created? How is it that we can see the world is falling apart and you seem not to be doing anything?
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We've seen Habakkuk ask some difficult questions but we've also seen God push past the perplexity of the present and help the prophet and us by extension to see
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God's greater purpose at work. So God steps up and he answers
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Habakkuk's questions which itself is an act of grace. He answers his questions and yes, the questions raise, the answers, excuse me, raise more questions but God is still faithful in saying, let me give you the bigger picture.
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You'll recall that I've said that there, like I say for every book of the bible, that there's a melodic line to the prophecy of Habakkuk.
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I've described it like a drum beat that you can hear over and over as you kind of lean in and listen into the book.
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I've summarized that melodic line as this, that even when we have difficult questions, we're not to stop trusting in the just and faithful God.
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Habakkuk had some difficult questions but it's interesting, his faith in God is never deterred and when we come to this third chapter, as we hit this final section in the prophecy of Habakkuk, that lesson, that melodic line, even when we have difficult questions, don't stop trusting the just and faithful God, that melodic line is going to come into really sharp focus this morning because we're going to see
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Habakkuk's response to everything he's heard. I personally take the view that Habakkuk wrote this sometime after the prophecy that he receives in chapters one and two.
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And so he's had some time to think and to reflect and to ponder what it is that God is doing.
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Habakkuk is officially living in the in -between. He's living in the world as it is but the world as it is isn't the world as it's going to be, it's going to change for him and his seed very quickly.
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So he's living in this in -between and yet, let's not miss the obvious, I hope you caught it as we read it, that this is a prayer psalm, this is worship.
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Think about that, how can Habakkuk possibly worship as he lives in this weird space between the world as it is and the world as it will be?
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Let's not leave this in the realm of the past, let's ask ourselves the question, how can we worship living in the in -between?
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Because if you haven't quite gotten my point this morning, we are living in the in -between. We are living in between God's promise and the fulfillment of that promise.
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Well, how do we as God's people live in that weird in -between space?
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How do we live between the world as we know it right now and the promise of God's soon coming kingdom where he'll make everything right?
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How do we live in the in -between? Well, I think
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Habakkuk chapter 3 has some lessons to help us in that. I believe with all my heart that God wants to teach us this morning how to worship.
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Here's an alternate title for this message. If you don't like the title worship in the in -between, here's another one. Worship in the weird place.
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How do I worship in a place that doesn't seem to make sense?
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Well, in particular this morning, we're going to learn four principles that ought to fuel our worship, even when it doesn't seem like the time or the place for it.
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As you look at Habakkuk chapter 3, I think Habakkuk gives us some lessons that we can learn for how to worship, even when it doesn't make sense to do so.
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So let's take some time this morning and march our way through this. Four principles that ought to fuel our worship, even when it doesn't seem like the time or the place for it.
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Can I give you the first of these? If you're going to worship faithfully in the in -between, if you're going to properly engage in worship in the weird place, might
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I recommend, number one, that you ready your heart for worship. That you ready your heart for worship.
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Where do I get that from? Well, I get that from the introduction and the conclusion to this prayer psalm.
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Again, let's note the structure of this. It's structured just like one of the psalms. You have a title, that's what you see there in verse one, a prayer of the prophet
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Habakkuk, according to Shigyonoth. You have kind of an introduction to it, verse two.
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Look at the end of the psalm in verse 19, right at the end there. He gives some instructions for how this is supposed to go.
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He says, for the choir director, on stringed instruments. That's why some have taken the view, and I would agree with them, that Habakkuk writes this for public worship.
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As he's giving this prophecy and he's telling the people this, he writes this so that they can respond properly to what they've heard.
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Why do I give this first point the title of readying your heart to worship?
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Because Habakkuk is not haphazard about his worship. Habakkuk puts some thought into it.
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Can I recommend three lessons for worship real quick, as we look at these opening verses? I think they have something to teach us about the nature of worship.
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Three lessons real quickly. Number one, before you come to worship, think about what you're doing.
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Before you come to worship, think about what you're doing. Habakkuk clearly has thought about what he's doing before he engages in this.
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You look at this chapter, Habakkuk chapter 3, and it resembles a lot of the psalms that are prayers that you have in your
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Bible. I don't have time to look at them all, but for those taking notes, Psalm 17, Psalm 86,
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Psalm 90, Psalm 102, Psalm 142. Those five psalms, this psalm here in Habakkuk chapter 3 looks just like those.
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I pointed out the end of 19. He's even got instructions to whoever is directing the choir as to how this is to be played.
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Play it with these instruments. It's even got musical notation. So you look there at verse one, prayer of the prophet
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Habakkuk according to Shigianoth. We don't know for certain what that term Shigianoth means. We do know that a similar word appears in the psalms itself,
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Psalm 7 to be exact. And if you look at Psalm 7 and Habakkuk 3, they have some interesting similarities.
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I'm not going to chase that rabbit this morning, but I encourage you when you have time, go home, read Psalm 7 and read Habakkuk 3.
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You'll see there's some similarities there. But let me not get bogged down. Don't miss the big picture. Habakkuk has put some thought into his worship before he worshipped.
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We're early in the sermon, but can I pull over on the sermonic hard shoulder for a second and get practical?
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How much preparation do we put into coming to worship each week? As I was putting this message together, that kind of hit me.
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I was thrown back to growing up.
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I grew up in a pastor's home. Those of you who didn't know, my dad's a pastor. Grew up in a pastor's home. And we all kind of knew that when it got to about 7, 8 p .m.
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on Saturday, whatever you're doing, it got a little late as we got older because we all became night owls.
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But when we were younger, we knew about 7 or 8 p .m. Whatever you're doing, start to wrap that up.
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Because at some point, my dad would say, everybody needs to come downstairs.
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We need to look over the Sunday school material for tomorrow. And we sit there.
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It felt like an eternity. In hindsight, it wasn't actually that long. But we sat there and it felt like an eternity as my dad would laboriously go over the
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Sunday school quarterly that the denomination I grew up in put out. We'd spend time in preparation for that service.
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Had to iron your clothes the night before because my dad and I share something in common.
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We both hate being late. And so get ready the night before because don't have time.
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We have to get to church on time. And of course, we had to get to church on time. My dad was the pastor. But there was something about that preparation.
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Sure, it was kind of ritual. And sure, for most of that time, I wasn't even saved.
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But it demonstrated that there was something about this time when we got together on a
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Sunday morning that was more important, that was different to any other time in the week. Some may say that that was excessive and everyone's favorite word nowadays, legalistic.
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But I think there's something to be said for thinking about what we're doing when we come to worship. There's a very deliberate reason that our weekly email, if you don't get our weekly email, come see me.
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I can put you on the list. There's a reason why our weekly email is ordered the way it is. There's a reason why some preachers hate telling people what they're gonna preach up front.
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I don't care. It's like, no, if people will actually prepare themselves by reading the passage beforehand and praying through it,
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I'd rather tell them up front. There's a reason why we include the songs in there. Because we want you to be thinking about what we're going to be singing.
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There's a degree to which, as with most things in life, you get out of worship what you put into it.
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And so you see Habakkuk puts deliberate thought into this. He organizes this.
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He gives it musical notation. He tells the person who's gonna be leading, this is what it should sound like.
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Here's the instruments you should use. There's structure and thought to this. Because he's thought about what he's doing when he comes to worship.
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Can I give you a second lesson though we learned from this opening to this prayer psalm?
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See, not only do you need to think about what you're doing, but secondly, worship is grounded in and regulated by divine revelation.
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Did you catch the verbs there in verse two? Lord, I have heard the report about you.
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I stand in awe of your deeds. I think a good case can be made and I would agree that the report and the deeds that are referenced here are a reference to what
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God has said that he will do in the course of giving this prophecy. Habakkuk had heard
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God's word. And so whatever he's about to say next is in line with what
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God has already said. You see, when we think about worship, I think often in the modern church, we kind of lose sight of what worship is really about.
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You see, you can say, well, worship was good because I felt it this week. In tradition,
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I grew up and this was always a problem. Oh, that service was, oh, that service was dry.
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That was the phrase we used growing up. Service was dry. Well, if the choir didn't quite hit the way that they should or the person leading the special number couldn't sing.
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To be honest, the person leading the special number usually couldn't sing. But I can say that because both my parents aren't here.
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Either way, I didn't get the emotional response that I wanted out of this time of worship.
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But if you make that the barometer for faithful worship, that might make you feel good, but that's subjective.
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Maybe you'll say, okay, it's not the emotional response. But man, like, did you hear
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Nate and Darren and Mandy? They were killing today. And they were, but that was great worship.
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But sure, musical excellence might make your foot tap, but that's shallow.
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That's what happens in a week when they don't hit. Hasn't happened, but I don't think it would either.
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But let's suppose like there's a week where it's not quite as great as it usually is.
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If that's your barometer, that's a very shallow barometer. Other people might say, nah, emotional response, no.
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Musical excellence, well, yeah, you probably wanna be good. But what you really want is people packing the pews.
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If people are coming, that's a sign that our worship is acceptable. Now, that might make you proud of your efforts, but that's pragmatic.
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That's more, okay, I'm doing this, it works. I'm gonna keep doing it because it works. No, no, no, no.
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It's interesting, for Habakkuk, the barometer for faithful worship is the word of God.
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It's the word of God that regulates our worship. In our Reformation tradition, we call this the regulative principle of worship.
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We had a booklet on the table that we've run out. I'm gonna order some more about this. In the 1689
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London Baptist Confession, it says this, quote, the light of nature demonstrates that there was a God who has lordship and sovereignty over all.
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He is just and good and does good to everyone. Therefore, he should be feared, loved, praised, called on, trusted in, and served, with all the heart and all the soul and all the strength.
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But the acceptable way to worship the true God is instituted by him, and it is delimited by his own revealed will, in other words, the scriptures.
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Thus, he may not be worshiped according to human imagination or inventions or the suggestions of Satan, nor through any visible representations, nor in any other way that is not prescribed in the holy scriptures.
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The word of God has to regulate our worship. That's why, do
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I read them? Yes, yes, let's go here. That's why it bugs me when you can go to churches and the preaching of the word is watered down, it's diluted, and the people like it that way.
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That's a problem. Why? Because what's regulating the worship at that point?
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How I feel? Well, good luck. I'm sorry, you feel one way today and feel one way the next.
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I don't know about, can I be honest for a moment? I feel one way right now. I will probably not feel that way in a couple of hours.
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Sundays are especially rough for me. I'm just tired the whole time. And as you know, when you're tired, the first thing that goes is your mood.
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If how I feel is the barometer for worship, and I think it's good we have this conversation now as our church is young.
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If our barometer is, well, this is how it makes me feel. I'm trying to go for an emotional response in people. Well, good luck.
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Because people feel one way today and one way tomorrow. No, no, no. I go with the apostle
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Paul who said that we shouldn't be conformed to this world, but we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds.
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That's why you need the preaching and teaching of the word of God. If I can tread on some evangelical toes for a moment, if I can grill some sacred cows for burgers, this is why you can't sing everybody's songs in church.
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This is why certain songs are just not appropriate. I don't care how good they sound.
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I don't care how popular they are. Don't sing them in church because they don't fit with the word, either in their origin or in their content.
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We have to allow the word of God to radically order the way in which we worship as the people of God.
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And so before you come to worship, think about what you're doing to worship is to be grounded in and regulated by divine revelation.
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Can I give you a third lesson real quickly as we're in this first point? To get the most out of worship, you need to come with expectation.
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To get the most out of worship, you need to come with expectation. Where do I get that from? Look at the end of verse two. He says, revive your work in these years.
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Make it known in these years. In your wrath, remember mercy. Habakkuk makes two bold requests.
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The first two lines are a recapitulation of each other. So really you have two requests that God would manifest his power again and that as God was acting, he would do so in power and in mercy.
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Let me say that again. Two requests that God would manifest his power again and that as God was acting, he would do so in both power and mercy.
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Habakkuk came to the time of worship and he wasn't just passive saying, well, God will do what he does.
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No, he comes with a spirit, with a demeanor, with a disposition that expects that God will do something.
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And so I've got to ask, do we come to worship expecting God to change us in this time?
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I mean, do we gather each week in anticipation of God using the word by his spirit to, as I say, each week to awaken greater faith in Jesus?
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Can I be honest and say that for some of us, maybe worship appears to do nothing because we don't do anything.
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We don't get anything out of this time because you don't put anything in. You see, if you're going to worship in the in -between, you've got to prepare.
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You've got to ready your heart. You've got to be in the word. You've got to prepare.
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You've got to come with expectation that God will use this time, as his word says, to spur us on to love and good works.
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So much more I'd love to say. So much more, but I've got to hasten on. You need to ready your heart for worship.
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Can I give you a second principle? Second principle? Remember what God has done.
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Not only do you need to ready your heart for worship if you're going to worship in the in -between, you need to remember what
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God has done. Remember what God has done. Now, verses three through 15 in this psalm, they form the body.
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So you have your introduction in one and two. Three through 15 form your body. And it's unusual.
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This section is really unusual because it looks back in order to look forward. Let me say that again.
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It's unusual in that it looks back in order to look forward. What I mean by that is that Habakkuk uses a ton of language relating to God's greatest act in the past, to that point, the exodus and the time at Sinai.
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And he uses that language to explain what God will do in the future. So again, he looks back so that he can look forward.
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Well, that starts here in verse three. In verse three, he starts with a look back to God's appearance on Mount Sinai.
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For those of you taking notes, that's Exodus chapter 19. So verse three, he says,
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God comes down from Teman, the holy one from Mount Paran. Those are areas in the general vicinity of Mount Sinai.
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You read Exodus chapter 19, you don't have time to look at it. But in Exodus chapter 19, you see the scene that day and it's one of a great display of power.
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God literally comes down on the mountain. The mountain shakes. God has to tell Moses, listen, warn them.
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Nobody touch this mountain. Even if an animal touches it, it dies. This great display of power after God's act of deliverance in the
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Exodus. There's no doubt that Habakkuk found comfort in recognizing that God was not impotent.
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Remember how we started this, where he's asking God these questions and you kind of get the sense that Habakkuk is worried that God doesn't know what he's doing.
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Well, something has shifted in Habakkuk from when he started to where he is now. He's recognized that God is not impotent like he thought.
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And so as he reflects back to God's appearance on Mount Sinai and that awesome, terrifying display of power,
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Habakkuk has to pause. He has to kind of take his breath for a second. Do you see that word there?
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Some of your translations will have it. That word, sealer, sailor that's there. There are some
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Bible translations nowadays have started taking that out because they say, well, it's just a pause. You don't need to include that in there.
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I disagree wholeheartedly. We don't know for certain what the term means, but generally speaking, it seems to carry the idea of a reflective pause.
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Like I've just said something, you need to take a minute, let it sit. Just stop for a second.
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Habakkuk doesn't want his fellow worshippers, as it were, to move too quickly. As he reflects on the fact that God has acted in power before, he says that and he says, okay, now think about that for a second.
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Let that percolate. Let that rattle around in your brain for a moment.
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Sometimes in our worship, I sometimes think about this stuff. Not often, but I do think about it. In our desire to have it clean and packaged and have it flow, sometimes
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I wonder if we move a little too quickly. You think, heavens, Kofi, do you know how long our worship service is?
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We don't need a longer worship service. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that. But maybe there's something to be said for allowing for there to be times of pause.
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Allowing for the times where we've just sung something and the weight of that needs to hit us a little bit.
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Sometimes there's value, great value, I'd argue, in just stopping for a second, contemplating.
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Well, Habakkuk takes a moment, calls for a stop for some contemplation, for some thought.
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And then verses four through seven, he picks right back up and he begins to discuss God's work in the
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Exodus and God's work in Sinai. Verses four through seven, his brilliance is like light.
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Rays are flashing from his hand. This is where his power is hidden. Plague goes before him and pestilence follows in his steps.
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I believe it's a reference to the plagues that fell on Egypt and the times that God would send plagues before the people.
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Verse six, he stands and shakes the earth. He looks and startles the nations.
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The age -old mountains break apart. The ancient hills sink down. His pathways are ancient.
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I see the tents of Kashan in distress, the tent curtains of the land of Midian.
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Again, that general region around Sinai tremble. Think back to what
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God did in the Exodus. He powerfully delivered his people, plague after plague after plague, challenging the gods of Egypt.
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He shook Sinai when he gave Moses the law. He literally put the fear of God in the surrounding nations.
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On that basis alone, Habakkuk doesn't have to see God do anything. He just has to look back at what
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God did and he's comforted. He feels great confidence. If God acted like that in the past, he will do it again.
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I think there's a lesson to be learned from how Habakkuk handles himself in this section. I think at times it's good for us to look back at what
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God has done. I think there's an unhealthy way to do that, but just because there's an unhealthy way doesn't mean there isn't a healthy way to do that.
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That there isn't something to be said like, God, you did that in the past. I'm encouraged that you could do that. Because if you could do it then, maybe there's a likelihood you could do it again.
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The Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, has something to say about this. He preached a sermon for 1 Samuel 12 and the theme of Ebenezer, the stone that was raised up in remembrance.
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Spurgeon said this, quote, I think we do our Lord an injustice when we suppose that he wrought all his mighty acts in days of yore and showed himself strong for those in the early time, but does not perform wonders or lay bare his arm for the saints that are now upon the earth.
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Let us review, I say, our own diaries. Surely in these modern pages, we may discover some happy incidents, refreshing to ourselves and glorifying to our
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God. Have you had no deliverances? Have you passed through no rivers supported by the divine presence?
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Have you walked through no fires unharmed? Have you not been in six troubles? Yea, in seven hath not
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Jehovah helped you? Have you had no manifestations? The God that spoke to Abraham at Mamre, has he never spoken to you?
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The angel that wrestled with Jacob at Peniel, has he never wrestled with you?
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He that stood in the fiery furnace with the three holy children, has he never trodden the coals at your side?
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In classic Spurgeon fashion, oh beloved, he has manifested himself unto us as he does not the world.
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Forget not all these manifestations, fail not to rejoice in them.
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You see, sometimes worship in the in between looks like looking back so that you can look forward.
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While we await God's great deliverance, while we await God's great work in the future, there's great value in seeing how
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God delivered us in the past. Tradition I grew up in, we sang a song, some of you have heard it, count your blessings, name them one by one.
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Count your blessings, see what God has done. Count your blessings, name them one by one and it will surprise you what the
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Lord has done. Well, there's some biblical basis for that. I would say a lot of biblical basis,
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Psalm 77 verse 11. The psalmist says, I will remember Yahweh's works. Yes, I will remember your ancient wonders.
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In fact, Moses commanded the children of Israel, Deuteronomy 32, seven, remember the days of old, consider the years of past generations.
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Ask your father and he'll tell you, your elders and they will teach you. 1
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Chronicles 16, David leading the nation to worship says, give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, proclaim his deeds among the people, sing to him, sing praise to him.
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1 Chronicles 16, eight through 12. Tell about all his wondrous works, boast in his holy name.
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Let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice, seek the Lord and his strength, his face always.
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Remember the wondrous works he has done, his wonders and the judgments he pronounced.
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There's something to be said, brother and sister, for looking back at how God kept you, how God delivered you, how
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God did something powerfully for you as you're going through, as you're in the in -between time, as you're in the weird place, so that you can say, if God was able to do that, then
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I have confidence that he'll do it again. Okay, Kofi, that's in the Old Testament. That doesn't apply for today.
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Okay, let's see this for ourselves. Keep a finger here in Habakkuk. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter one. 2
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Corinthians chapter one. 2
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Corinthians chapter one verses three and four. 2 Corinthians one, three and four. Blessed be the
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God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
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He comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
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Why does God allow us to go through some things? We may not know the ultimate reason, but can I give you one reason the
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Bible does tell? He allows us to go through some things so that we can be comforted and then turn around and comfort somebody else so that we can look back and say,
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I know exactly how you feel. Maybe I don't know how you feel, but let me tell you my story. This is what happened for me.
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Brother or sister, take comfort. God did it for me, and I trust that he'll do it for you.
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Sometimes the way ahead is marked out by the steps that went before. And so when we try to think about worshiping in the weird place, worshiping in the in -between, you have to ready our hearts.
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You have to remember what God has done. Can I give you a third principle? Give me a third principle for worshiping the in -between.
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Thirdly, you need to rest in God's power and promise. You need to rest in God's power and promise, verses 8 through 15.
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Now that he's armed with the knowledge of God's acts in the past, Habakkuk turns his attention to what
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God would do in the future. The language here in verses 8 through 15 is the language of the victory march.
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It's interesting, he skips from, God did this in the past, straight to, oh, he did it and he won. It's already taken as a foregone conclusion.
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Oh, God won. Now let's talk about how he won. Yahweh has fought, he's won, and now he's parading in triumph.
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In verse 8, Habakkuk essentially starts to big God up, as it were, verse 8. Are you angry at the rivers, Lord? Is your wrath against the rivers?
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Or is your fury against the sea when you ride on your horses, your victorious chariot? The pagan nations had all these legends.
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You read them, they're very weird. They had all these legends about their gods basically at war with the sea.
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The sea was this untamable, rebellious, couldn't tell it anything. They had all these legends about their gods conquering the sea, but Habakkuk says, okay, you all talk about that.
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You all talk a good game, okay. But my God actually does it. Israel's God was the only one who could actually say, yeah,
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I, the seas, what's that? I tame that all the time. But I think there's another reason he talks about rivers and seas in verse 8.
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Think through this with me. If Yahweh, the covenant
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God of Israel, if he could demonstrate his power against the sea, and he could.
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Again, I told you this language is very heavy from the Exodus. What was the Exodus? The Exodus was basically God's exit of his people, the way out, that's what
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Exodus means, the way out from Egypt. And what did he do? He literally parted a river. If God could do that, and he did, surely
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God could and would act to save his people and to judge the wicked.
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It's kind of an interesting argument. If God could do something as big as parting a sea, he can deal with Babylon, who's going to invade his people.
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You see, God isn't all talk when his people are in danger. Habakkuk knows this. No, God is not just able to talk a good game.
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He can actually produce. Verse 9, he says, You took your sheath from your bow.
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The arrows are ready to be used with an oath. Now it's Sunday. We're at Redeemer Bible Fellowship.
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So you know what that means. It's time for your technical detail of the week. I always carry one of them. Here's my technical detail for this week.
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The Hebrew here in verse 9 is actually very hard to translate. You look at your varying translations and they all read very weirdly.
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ESV says, that second half, that calling for many arrows. New King James says, oaths are sworn over your arrows.
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New American Standard, the words of chastisement are sworn. The Net Bible says, you commission your arrows.
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As one commentator puts it, quote, the technical difficulty of the next phrase is that each of the three
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Hebrew words could have more than one meaning. And the precise grammatical relation to each other is not clear.
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Hence why your varying translations will seem a little confused about what's happening here. Now, I tried to keep my technical moments to a minimum.
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So I'm not going to bore you with all the complexities of Hebrew grammar. But I do think that the Christian Standard Bible, which is what
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I preach out of, the New King James, the New American Standard, all get close to capturing what
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I think is happening here with this idea of an oath. This idea of a word of promise.
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Let me see if I can make this simple. Not only is
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God's ability to act not in question. God has the ability. But God actually promises to act.
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And he makes good on that promise. So not only is it like, okay, well, God has the potential.
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Yeah, he could. I mean, we don't know if he, he might, he might not. I mean, he's capable, I guess.
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No, not only does he have the potential, but he actually promises to act and then performs that promise.
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You think, okay, that's great. That was for children of Israel. I'm not the children of Israel. That doesn't apply to me.
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Well, actually the author to the Hebrews makes this point. Keep a finger in Habakkuk three, telling me to Hebrews chapter six.
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Hebrews chapter six. Hebrews chapter six.
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The author to the Hebrews is talking about Abraham as an example of perseverance in the faith.
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Hebrews chapter six. Pick it up with me in verse 16. Hebrews chapter six, give me a minute to get there.
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Hebrews chapter six, excuse me, from verses 16 through 20. The author to the
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Hebrews says, for people swear by something greater than themselves. And for them, a confirming oath ends every dispute.
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Because God wanted to show his unchanging purpose even more, even more clearly, excuse me, to the heirs of the promise.
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He guaranteed it with an oath. So that through two unchangeable things, in which is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.
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We have this hope, the hope that God has promised. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
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It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner because he has become a high priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.
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Note with me this language of oath and promise is attached, not just to God's people in the
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Old Testament, but is attached to God's people in the church. God has promised us his people that though we experience tribulation in this world, we will ultimately come through the other side.
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Two of my favorite hymns, through the love of God our Savior, all will be well. One of the verses says, though we pass through tribulation, all will be well.
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We expect a bright tomorrow, all is well. How firm a foundation, we've sung it here before.
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How firm a foundation, one of the verses says, I believe it's the first verse. What more can he say than to you and to you he has said, to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled.
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See, God doesn't just have the power to do it. He doesn't just have the potential. He promises to do it and then he makes good on that promise.
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Coming back to Habakkuk chapter three, that's why he can look at that and in the middle of verse nine, he has to take another break.
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He says, think about that. Pause, contemplate the fact that God is able not just to do, but to make good on what he promises.
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Look at verses nine through 12 and I'll summarize. It basically just spells out with clarity the effects of God's power when he acts.
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He describes it as though it's like rainfall. It just keeps on coming and never ends. It shatters mountains.
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It says the depths of the seas respond to it. You have to understand, for the Jewish mindset, the sea symbolized that which was most untamable.
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It was dangerous. The people of Israel were not a seafaring people. For them, it was everything that was dangerous and uncontrollable and yet God acts and the seas can't help but respond.
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He says the sun and the moon, they stand still. This allusion, I would argue, to Joshua chapter 10 and the conquest where the sun stood still in its place.
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Well, the question becomes, you look at verses nine through 12 and there's talk of God's display of power. Why does
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God demonstrate all this power? Well, verse 13, you see it there? You come out to save your people, to save your anointed.
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The reason why God acts in power is for the good of his people. He dispatches his power to save his people.
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As one writer, a really great book, I recommend it. Jim Hamilton puts it, this is God's glory in salvation through judgment.
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God gets glory as he saves his people through works of judgment on the wicked. And for this
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Habakkuk has to respond in praise to God. Got to ready your heart.
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Got to remember what God has done. You need to rest in God's power and promise. Can I give you one last one as we kind of land the plane?
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As we kind of end our time in this prophecy. You got to respond in reverent faith. Respond in reverent faith, verses 16 through 19.
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Habakkuk's prophecy closes out with a bit of a personal postscript, as it were. He has to kind of insert, okay, this is where I was at when
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I heard this. Verse 16, he says, I heard and I trembled within.
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My lips quivered at the sound. Rottenness entered my bones. I trembled where I stood.
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Much like Daniel in his prophecy. Daniel chapter 10 is an example of this. Much like John in, well, a couple of times in the revelation.
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The more he heard, the more he physically couldn't take. It was almost as though it was too heavy for him.
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But it's interesting. Habakkuk isn't distressed at the thoughts of God's power.
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Note what he says, verse 16. Now I must quietly wait for the day of distress to come against the people invading us.
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Be a lot to handle. As we grapple with what God is doing, it can sometimes feel like this is too much.
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I can't, I'm out. I'm out. You'd expect that here, but this is where Habakkuk gains my respect in massive ways if I'm honest as I read this.
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Verses 17 to 19. Though the fig tree does not bud, and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails, and the fields produce no food, though the flocks disappear from the pen, and there are no herds in the stalls, yet I will celebrate in the
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Lord. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. Yahweh my Lord is my strength.
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He makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights.
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One of the great word pictures in all the Bible in my opinion. You see, let me see if I can paint this out some.
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When God brought them out of the land of Egypt. You remember the story. Brings them out, all these plagues.
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They're now on the other side. God says, I'm sending you to a land. How does God describe that land? Multiple times.
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A land that's flowing with milk and honey. In fact, he describes it as a land that's plenty. You're gonna move into houses you didn't build.
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You're gonna eat grapes off a vineyard. I'm going to basically just hand this to you.
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This fruitful and productive land. You remember when they go into the land in Numbers chapter 13 and when they go in the grapes of the land are so plenteous that to bring just a cluster of grapes back.
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You don't remember the story. Two of the spies have to put them on a pole and carry them. Like, land is good.
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It's real good. A land that could sustain them and their children.
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That's what God had said. But here's Habakkuk in the here and now. Chapter one, remember the nation is basically teetering on the brink of disaster, on the brink of collapse.
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It looks like God's promise has failed. The fig tree isn't budding. There's no fruit on the vines. The olive crop is failing.
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The fields don't produce any food. The flocks that were supposed to be so numerous, they're disappearing. They're thinning.
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God's promise looked like it had failed. But here's where the reverent faith comes in.
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Habakkuk can look past the bleak picture of the present. You see, Habakkuk's able to see with the eyes of faith that God is still worthy of praise.
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He recognizes that God is able to fulfill his covenant promise to his people. And so that's why, do you see the two verbs there?
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Verse 18, he says, yet I will celebrate in Yahweh. I will rejoice in the
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God of my salvation. Everything looks bleak and looks bad, and yet he's able to celebrate and rejoice.
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I was telling a couple of the brothers this morning that a few weeks ago, I had the privilege of watching a movie called
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Tortured for Christ. Some of you may know of the book published by Richard Wernbrandt.
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He was a Romanian Lutheran pastor who was persecuted for his faith in the 1940s slash 50s, if I remember correctly.
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I read the book as a kid growing up, and so I had heard the movie came out some time ago. And so my wife's family were in town, and so we took a
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Sunday night and we watched the movie. I recommend it. I'll be honest, I'm not someone who's given to crying a whole bunch, but that movie messed me up in some really profound ways.
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But I do recommend it because it will give you some perspective, particularly for us who are very comfortable, affluent Western Christians who have never experienced persecution a day in our lives.
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Well, the movie was interesting. I'd never seen it before, so I'm watching this, and then at the end of the movie, everybody's favorite
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Irish worship leaders, the Gettys, come out, which I'm like, oh, sweet, gays, yay. And they start singing this song, and it turns out the song was written by a
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Romanian pastor that Richard Wernbrandt had met in prison. He would later be released. He died in 2002, thankfully.
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But they start to sing this song. It was originally written in Romanian, translated into English by the
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Gettys. I'll be honest, I was doing all right. I mean, it was a tough movie to watch, but I was doing all right.
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And then they started singing this song. Let me quote you one of the verses in this song.
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Quote, bear in mind, the pastor who wrote this, he wrote this from his jail cell as he's being tortured by communists in Romania.
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Quote, now my soul will sing of your eternal springtime. No more clouds and no more sorrows in my heart.
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With the sacrifice of praise, I kneel before you. With the prayer of thankfulness, I will adore you.
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Jesus, Lord, you are the treasure of my life. Yes, the treasure of my life.
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Did I mention he wrote that in prison where he was basically getting the feet literally beat off of him? I told you,
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I was fine watching the movie. I was great. And then we got to that part. I'm like, oh, for Pete's sake. Because how do you find faith to sing like that?
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Do you find the faith to praise like that when you're being tortured to within an inch of your life every day?
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Can we be honest? It's easy to praise God when everything is good. When life is great, it's real easy to praise
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God. It's logical to lift up his name when you're lifted up in this life.
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It makes sense to thank the Lord for doing what you want when you want. But here's the tension
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I feel in this text. How do you praise God for being your strength when you feel weak?
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How do you praise God for his provision when it seems like he's not providing?
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How do you do that? How do you do that? How do you do that? Those of you who are paying really close attention this morning as I land the plane, you'll notice something is really off about this message.
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I hope you notice. Anybody pick up on something that's missing?
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I skipped a few verses. Go back and look at verses 13 through 15 with me for a moment.
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I want to pull something out. It was 1 a .m.
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Saturday morning. I was actually done with this sermon. I was about to go to bed. I'm looking at this text again. And finally, it was like, whoa, wait a minute.
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Something hit me. There's an ultimate reason why
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Habakkuk and that Romanian pastor, Pastor Moldovianu and others down through the ages could find strength to praise in the face of suffering and injustice and everything not making sense.
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Look at me at verses 13 through 15. You come out to save your people, to save your anointed.
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You crush the leader of the house of the wicked and strip him from foot to neck, sealer.
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You pierce his head with his own spears. His warriors storm out to scatter us, gloating as if ready to secretly devour the weak.
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You tread the sea with your horses, stirring up the vast water. That language there of crushing the head of the leader of the house of wickedness, it's in its context, originally referring to Babylon, the fact that God would ultimately punish the king of Babylon, which he does read
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Daniel chapter six. But that language of crushing the head of the wicked, sound familiar to anyone?
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God crushing the head of the enemy in fulfillment of his promise.
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That book I recommended by Jim Hamilton, he puts it like this, quote, Habakkuk describes Yahweh in terms reminiscent of Genesis three 15.
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He trampled out the nations when he marched out for the salvation of his anointed and he crushed the head from the house of the wicked, laying bare from tail to neck.
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Through the judgment of the enemy, the crushing of the head of the seed of the serpent,
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Yahweh saves his people. And the description of the epic conquest glorifies the might of God who saves through judgment, upholding justice and remembering mercy.
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And Habakkuk, Yahweh is glorified in salvation through judgment. See, Habakkuk knew his
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Old Testament better than most of us. Oh, he wouldn't have called the Old Testament, but he knew his Bible better than most of us.
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And so he pulls the language of Genesis chapter three. And that's the ultimate reason why he can give God praise.
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The ultimate reason that Babylon wouldn't win in his day is because God had promised that a day would come where he would crush not just his temporal enemies, but that God would crush the ultimate enemy of his people.
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And if God was gonna crush the ultimate enemy of his people, Babylon is light work, he'll take care of that.
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If God would make good on his ultimate promise, he would make good on his promise in the here and now.
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Ladies and gentlemen, as I land the plane and I take my seat, if you need the ultimate motivation for worship in between promise and fulfillment, can
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I invite you to look no further than the cross, that greatest of all acts of the divine warrior as he defeats his enemies once and for all.
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That's why I can praise God with my heart lifted up and my voice raised, why? Because he has ultimately crushed the head of my enemy.
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And if he's crushed the head of the enemy in our salvation, the problems that we go through in life, trying as they are, difficult as they are, they don't get to beat us.
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We tied to this series, difficult questions and divine answers.
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Can I put it to you that the cross is the ultimate divine answer to all the difficult questions of life?
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Can I put it to you that the reason why we can have confidence in this life, the reason why in the words of the hymn, we can expect a bright tomorrow and for all to be well is because God has dealt with the greatest enemy that we had.
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And if he's dealt with the greatest enemy we've had, but the trials of this life, that's why
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Paul could say that the sufferings of this present time, they're not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us.
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When we face those difficult questions, the cross stands as God's oak in the forest of eternity saying,
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I have dealt with every potential problem that you could possibly ask me about.
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And so as we close out this prophecy of Habakkuk, we can go out into the world and face the trials and the tribulations.
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We can face the encroachment of those who hate our God and hate his message, knowing that do your worst.
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Kofi, they might kill us. Okay, do it. That's what Jesus said. Remember Jesus said, don't fear him who can kill the body and after that can't do anything else.
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No, as a Christian, we should take encouragement from the fact that God has defeated our ultimate enemy once and for all.
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And he has answered every difficult question that we will ever have. Praise God.
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Join with me as I breathe a word of prayer. Our father and our
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God, we thank you that the cross is indeed the ultimate answer to all the difficult questions we face in life. We thank you that we are never left to our own devices as we have to think about why we go through what we go through.
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We thank you that you enable us to be able to worship you in the here and now, even when things look bleak and things look tough and things look challenging.
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May we always come back to you when we have difficult questions. May we always go back to your word.
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May we always go back to what it is that you say to us as your people.
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Father, we thank you for this time that we've spent the last four messages working our way through this prophecy.
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Father, we thank you that your word is more relevant than tomorrow's newspaper, that it always speaks to the issues that we face and the challenges that we face, and it gives us ultimate perspective.