Kootenai Church Live Stream

Do you want to mess with it later? Might be.

I don't know. Do you want me to go ahead and sing so we can get it out of the way? ♪

O 'er the nations reach ♪ ♪ Kingdoms rise and fall ♪ ♪

There is still one king reigning over all ♪ ♪

Do not fear, for this truth remains ♪ ♪

That my God is the Ancient of Days ♪

Am I good? Okay. Checking this is not from up here.

Checking this is from up here. I was trying to figure out the time that I was supposed to.

Good morning.

So a couple of housekeeping items. I forgot to send the syllabus over to Jim to have it printed out.

So it's being printed right now. And yeah,

I'm really on top of things. See, this isn't finished. As I'm working through it, I'm creating the syllabus.

So more power to me, huh? Anyway, last week we finished up there.

So a couple more things. So they'll have those out here pretty soon. And then each week, we're almost done with this portion before we go back into Daniel.

Maybe one, two more weeks at the most. And then I'll get the rest of the covers.

And those of you that didn't want pink can trade yours. We'll get the rest of the covers.

I apologize for not having this sorted out ahead of time. And then I guess that's about it.

So welcome to Adult Sunday School Kootenai Community Church, such as it is.

Let's open in prayer. Father, we're grateful that nothing ever catches you by surprise.

We thank you that you are sovereign and that you are to be glorified above all things.

We pray this morning as we look into your word and into this concept of hanging the ideas of the future on this idea of the way you worked in separate economies in the past and will in the future.

We thank you that nothing is changed about by grace through faith. Nothing is changed about your character.

You are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and forever. And for that, we are grateful because we can trust you for that.

So as we look into this this morning, we ask you to give us wisdom, help us to understand as much as is necessary to be able to properly understand eschatology in the context of scripture.

We give you the glory for all that you have done for us in Jesus' name, amen. So again, just a couple more disclaimers as we're looking through the ideas of dispensationalism.

This is a theology of eschatology, of the future things. And as such, not a do or die theology, like by grace through faith, the

Trinity, the deity of Christ, the virgin birth. Those are things that are significant for salvation.

This is, we believe, significant for understanding the future. But if you have a different opinion, it will not impact your salvation.

You may have a different millennial view, and that's fine.

So I just wanna make sure everyone continues to understand that as we go through this. I believe it's important, but it is not one of the main doctrines.

It is not one of the foundational doctrines upon which salvation hinges. Everybody gets that, right?

Okay, wanna make sure we understand that. So last week, we finished up with the, we were talking about the myths about dispensationalism.

There are five common myths. The first one was that it teaches multiple ways of salvation, which we discovered is not true.

Salvation is and has always been by grace through faith from the beginning and will be until the end when

Christ comes again. The second apparent myth about dispensationalism is that it is inherently

Arminian. Now, Marcia's working right now to collate the second portion of the notes.

Actually, she's done. She's so efficient. We need to, we gotta clone you.

Nope, we already have her clone. Her name is Kathy. Anyway, she has them, and it's just six more pages, which we probably won't get through today, but at any rate, she has them.

So dispensationalism has been incorrectly identified as being inherently Arminian.

There are some that teach that it is innately linked with Arminianism. Keith Matheson taught that dispensationalism has adopted a semi -Pelagian

Arminian doctrine not based on Scripture. Pelagius, who lived around 390 to 418

AD, taught that human beings are born innocent without the stain of original or inherited sin.

He believed that God creates every human soul directly, and therefore, every human soul comes into the world free from sin.

There is no such thing, he says, he said, as original sin, and Adam's transgression did not result in a sinful nature passed down to all humanity.

He was incorrect. That is unbiblical heresy. Semi -Pelagianism was promulgated in the fifth century by a fellow named

John Cassian and some other church leaders in France. It took a middle -of -the -road approach to depravity.

We are depraved, but not totally so, it taught. Semi -Pelagianism allows that humanity is tainted by sin, but not to the extent that we cannot cooperate with God's grace on our own.

Semi -Pelagianism is, in essence, partial depravity as opposed to total depravity. We are sinful, but we can still recognize the truth, it teaches, cooperate with God's grace and choose to seek

Christ. We need God's grace to be saved, but we can take the first step towards Christ on our own apart from grace.

This is heresy. This is untrue. We are dead prior to salvation, and dead bodies don't read encyclopedias or quote

Merriam -Webster dictionary or watch TV. They're dead, and that's what we were prior to Christ.

All of salvation is a gift of God, from the very beginning of regeneration all the way through the sanctification that occurs after salvation.

Numerous attempts have been made to paint dispensationalism as inherently anti -Calvinistic. First, it must be remembered that dispensationalism is primarily about ecclesiology, that is church study, eschatology, that is the future, and hermeneutics, which is understanding how to interpret scripture.

It is not a treatise about soteriology or salvation. Didn't know you were gonna learn all these

Latin and Greek words, did you? We're gonna make up a few more as we go along. John Feinberg explains this.

He says, neither Calvinism nor Arminianism is at the essence of dispensationalism.

This matter is not at the essence of dispensationalism because Calvinism and Arminianism are very important in regard to the concept of God, man, sin, and salvation.

Dispensationalism becomes very important in regard to eschatology and ecclesiology, but is really not about those other areas.

There are many dispensationalists that are Calvinists. Even Five Point, David L. Turner, James Oliver Buswell, S.

Lewis Johnson, Jr., to name a few. Some non -dispensational scholars have shown a clear connection between dispensationalism and Calvinism, if you want.

In fact, C. Norman Krauss has even gone on record demonstrating that the basic theological affinities of dispensationalism are

Calvinistic, for whatever that's worth. And Wayne Grudem allows that both views are found among dispensationalists.

The point is, dispensationalists may be inherently Calvinistic and cannot be demonstrated to have a close connection to Calvinism, to have a close connection to Calvinism and then to Arminianism, but it must be remembered that dispensationalism does not focus on salvation, on soteriology.

That is the key component to remember here. So, it is not inherently

Arminian. It is about ecclesiology, it is about eschatology, and it is about hermeneutics.

It's not about your salvation. It's a theology of the future, if you will, of understanding how to place things and understand things from Genesis through Revelation, how they relate to each other throughout the history of the church, throughout the history of Israel, and how those things are connected and not connected.

That's what dispensationalism is about. Any questions about that? It's not Arminian. Number three, dispensationalism, so go to number three if you would, is inherently antinomian.

Antinomianism, theologically, is the belief that there are no moral laws God expects Christians to obey.

Once you get saved, you can do whatever you want. Sure, and I've got some land on Wiley Knob to sell you.

Many teach the dispensationalists also teach antinomianism. Some of them claim that dispensationalists teach that the

Christian is not under the Mosaic Law and that Christians can be justified without being sanctified. According to this alleged claim,

Christians can be carnal. Some of this misunderstanding hangs on the idea that dispensationalists see justification and sanctification as being separable.

There is nothing within the theology of dispensationalism that would cause an adherent to separate justification from sanctification.

Most, and I would say all, but you can't say that because I don't know for sure, but I can say most view them as being inseparable.

John MacArthur says it this way. There is no such thing as a true convert to Christ who is justified but who is not being sanctified.

If you have been justified, your sanctification is a direct result in continuing action in your life because of salvation, because of salvation.

Philippians 1 .6 comes to mind. Dispensationalist Donald G. Barnhouse said, justification and sanctification are as inseparable as a torso and a head.

You can't have one without the other. Although dispensationalists acknowledge that the

Mosaic Law has been done away with, it is understood to have been replaced by the law of Christ. Dispensationalism, therefore, does not teach that Christians can do whatever they want.

It does not teach that. There is no historical connection between dispensationalism and antinomianism.

Another dispensational right states it this way. The moral law is always in effect, although its exact content may vary.

Let's see, we're on F. That was, this won't work. Yeah, we're on F, so we're good.

Although some may argue that dispensationalists are in error concerning the relationship of Mosaic Law and the law of Christ, it is inaccurate to say that it teaches antinomianism.

It does not, it does not. They are not related. It is about eschatology, ecclesiology, and hermeneutics.

Any questions about that? Number five, number four, excuse me.

Can you go to four for me, yeah. Dispensationalism leads another myth. Dispensationalist leads to non -lordship salvation.

Lordship salvation posits that true salvation occurs when a sinner acknowledges he has no power to change and that Christ has done everything that is necessary to change him.

He trusts Christ for that salvation and inherent in that trust is the position that the sinner will yield to Christ's authority in his life.

One simply repents from their sin, turns from their life of wickedness, and trusts Christ for salvation, and yields their life to him in obedience to his commands.

And even that, according to Ephesians 2, is done for him by Christ. Therefore, it's perfect.

That action is perfect because it's done by Christ. There were and are some dispensationalists who made statements that are compatible with the non -lordship view.

Lewis Sperry Schaefer and Zane Hodges come to mind. There are as many or far more who teach the lordship view, including

John MacArthur, Robert Salsi, and Richard Mayhew, to name several. Salsi claims this.

He says, that would be under C. He says, the radical non -lordship position of some contemporary dispensationalists denying the need and salvation of a faith that works based on James 2, 14 through 26 has never been a part of traditional or classical dispensationalism.

It does not teach that. It does not. There have been some that have mistakenly alluded to that.

There have been statements that have been made without thinking to that effect, and there may be some who believe that, but it is not what dispensationalism teaches.

Again, it's about ecclesiology, eschatology, and hermeneutics. Number five, or any questions about that?

Number five and the last one, or the last myth. Dispensationalism is primarily about believing in seven dispensations.

This was originally popularized by R .C. Sproul in his book, What is Covenant Theology? This idea has gained ascendancy.

To be fair, many dispensationalists propound this idea as well, that there are seven specific testing periods in redemptive history.

This is not the primary point or the primary theological point regarding dispensationalism.

All Christians believe in dispensations. It is very unlikely that a

Bible -believing Christian would not notice the difference between the pre -fall and the post -fall world.

Would you agree that the pre -fall and the post -fall world are different? Yeah, that's essentially the definition of a dispensation difference.

Neither would they ignore the difference between before and after Christ's first coming, nor would they overlook the fact that the present world is certainly different from the coming new heavens and new earth.

Dispensationalism is also not just about understanding and acknowledging the Greek term oikonomia, which although it is a biblical term and is linked to the word dispensation, simply acknowledging it does not make one a dispensationalist, doesn't have to do that.

Traditionally, though, dispensationalism has been linked with belief in seven dispensations. Some believe in three, four, eight, or even 37.

It depends on whether or not at different times during, whether or not different times during a period of history are compressed or expanded.

It is not required that one hold to seven or any other number. The number of dispensations is not the defining intent of dispensationalism.

It's not the defining intent of this theology. There are many other myths. We're on F.

There are many other myths that could be dealt with. Some taught that the Sermon on the Mount only applies to the future millennial kingdom.

It does not. It is applicable today. Some believe that dispensationalism teaches a difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven.

This was probably held by some earlier teachers of it, but it is no longer the norm.

One critic claims the absurd idea that dispensationalism teaches the idea that literal fulfillment of land promises to Israel and the belief that Israel will undergo tribulation in the future promotes racism and ethnic cleansing.

This is silly and irrational. It doesn't teach that. God chose national

Israel among all the nations in the Old Testament. Is God racist? Of course not.

One man teaches that dispensationalist beliefs run concurrent with a lack of concern for national and global issues.

This is not true at all. The idea was that dispensationalists spend all their time looking to the sky, waiting for the rapture, and ignoring the terrible things that happen in our world.

Nothing could be further from the truth. I think any of you who know me, no, I don't spend my time looking at the sky.

I think. I mean, I do occasionally when there's birds flying around, and especially if they're close.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Any comments about the seven? So if you have one, two, three, four, five, but only up to 37.

If you've got 38, we've got a problem. I'm just kidding. So Michael Vlock in his book, and a lot of this comes from John MacArthur and Richard Mayhew's book,

Christ Prophetic Promises? Plans.

Yeah, he really knows what he's talking about. Christ Prophetic Plans, and various other books I'm reading.

But Michael Vlock gives this definition of dispensationalism, which seems very proper. Number six, yes.

My understanding is that a dispensation is a noticeable area when God administers and deals with his creation in a unique way.

Criteria for a dispensation can involve such matters as the giving of a covenant, a covenant head such as Noah and Abraham, more revelation being offered, or certain blessings and consequences being presented.

It could be an era such as the tribulation period when God unleashes his wrath on an unbelieving world in preparation for his kingdom.

So there's the general basic idea of what dispensationalism teaches. Now there's a couple of other concepts we're gonna talk about, and we probably will get through this today.

And maybe even a little more. But again, we're only gonna spend one more week on this, and then we're gonna get into the book of Daniel proper.

And hopefully we'll be able to understand how Daniel functions, or how God has predicted things, and Daniel really did predict things.

He didn't write this in the second century. He wrote it in the sixth century B .C., how Daniel predicted things and how they connect with each other, including revelation, from Genesis to Revelation.

Continuity and discontinuity in dispensationalism. Continuity refers to a connection or carrier of an

Old Testament idea or concept into the New Testament. Salvation by grace alone is a continuity, an example of continuity between the

Testaments. That's how it was in the Old Testament. That's how it is in the New Testament, salvation by grace alone.

Discontinuity refers to a change or a disconnect. And I hesitated to use that word, but that's what's used in the classical text on it.

It's a disconnect between the old and the new. The fact that New Testament saints do not offer Old Testament sacrifices is an example of discontinuity between the

Testaments. It does not say that Old Testament sacrifices were wrong. It simply says we don't do that anymore.

Dispensationalism has been labeled a discontinuity system because it teaches significant discontent distinction.

Gotta be really careful of your words. They're the same syllables in the wrong word. It teaches a significant distinction between Israel and the church.

Michael Vlock lists eight areas where discontinuity, where continuity between the

Testaments is affirmed. There's eight areas where continuity is affirmed. I'm gonna give you the scriptures that you can look up later if you would like.

Storyline continuity. There is a continuity of storyline. Dispensationalists believe, good job, thank you.

There's a strong continuity between the storyline of the Old Testament and the storyline presented in the New Testament.

While the New Testament adds details to the Bible's storyline, it does not change the story. It does not alter the trajectory of what came before.

Dispensationalists believe that the covenants, promises, and prophecies of the Old Testament are and will be fulfilled literally through the two comings of Jesus.

This includes all physical and spiritual realities along with all particular Israel, Israel's land, and universal entities, all nations, their lands.

While affirming the importance of spiritual realities such as salvation, forgiveness, new heart, and indwelling

Holy Spirit, dispensationalists do not believe physical realities are spiritualized or transcended with the coming of Jesus and the

New Testament era. This contrasts with non -dispensational systems which often,

I say often, not always, often see the New Testament as transcending, transforming, transposing, or spiritualizing the message of the

Old Testament. So we believe that what God said about literal things in the Old Testament are literal, that they will be literal until they are fulfilled, whether they were fulfilled at the first coming or will be fulfilled with the second coming and after.

Number two, the Messiah's kingdom is consistent, this is another area of continuity, is consistent with the kingdom promised in the

Old Testament. The Messiah's kingdom is consistent with the kingdom promised in the Old Testament. The prophets and the

Psalms predicted a future earthly kingdom of the Messiah where he transforms the planet and rules the literal nations of the world,

Psalms 2, verse 72 and 110, Isaiah 2 and verse,

Isaiah chapter 2 and chapter 11. Dispensationalists see these predictions, excuse me, and chapter 25.

Dispensationalists see these predictions coming to fulfillment as a result of the second coming of Jesus, the Messiah. Just as the

Old Testament promised a future tangible earthly kingdom over the nation, so too does the

New Testament in Matthew chapter 19, verse 28 and Revelation 19, verse 15.

The kingdom is not spiritualized or transcended, thus when John the Baptist and Jesus declared the kingdom of heaven is at hand in Matthew 3, 2 and 4, 17, they meant the prophesied earthly kingdom foretold in the

Old Testament. This is in contrast to some non -dispensational systems that often see the promised earthly kingdom of the

Old Testament spiritualized to present a reign of Messiah from heaven.

They're literal. Any questions about that? Yes. What? Psalm 2 and 72.

Yeah. Another area of continuity is Israel. Israel of the

Old Testament consists of the ethnic descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that comprise the nation of Israel.

Sometimes these Israelites are saved and sometimes they are not. Likewise, all 73 references to Israel in the

New Testament refer to ethnic Israelites or ethnic Israelites who have believed in Jesus who is the

Israel of God, Galatians 6, 16. There is no transformation or transcending of the concept of Israel.

There is no enlargement or expansion of Israel to include Gentiles, although there is an expansion of the people of God concept to include believing

Gentiles alongside believing Israelites, Ephesians 2, 11 through 22.

Thus, Israel in the New Testament carries the meaning of Israel found in the Old Testament.

This is in contrast to some non -dispensational systems that often view Israel as being redefined, enlarged or transcended to include

Gentiles. Gentiles are included. They're grafted into the tree, but the tree didn't change.

The tree wasn't destroyed. They were grafted in. Another area of continuity is the day of the

Lord. The coming day of the Lord that impacts both the land of Israel and the entire world is taught in the

New Testament as well as the Old Testament. Isaiah 13, one, excuse me, Isaiah 13.

First Thessalonians five, second Thessalonians two. The Old Testament prophets predicted that the day of the

Lord would involve the judgment of the nations, the regathering of Israel and an earthly kingdom following judgment in Isaiah chapters 24 through 27.

This scenario is affirmed in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 24 and 25. Number six, messianic salvation continues to be extended to believing just Gentiles.

This is an area of continuity. The Old Testament predicted that Gentiles would become the people of God because of the

Messiah in Amos chapter nine, 11 through 12. And that has happened in the New Testament times,

Acts 15. The coming of Jesus means that the Gentiles have been included in the covenants of promise and have a relationship to Messiah just as believing

Israelites do. Ephesians two, 11 through three, six. Another area of continuity, and I'm restating this again because this is so important.

Salvation by grace through faith alone. There's often, there may not be anything more important.

You know how I am. What's the best book in the Bible? Well, it's the one you're in at the time. So what's the best doctrine?

Well, it's the one you're studying at the time. And salvation by grace alone through faith alone is an area of continuity from Old to New Testament.

Dispensationalism affirms that salvation in all ages is by grace alone through faith alone, Genesis 15, six, and Romans four.

While the content of biblical revelation increases throughout the canon, there is great continuity regarding salvation.

Old Testament saints and New Testament saints are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, based on the atonement of Jesus.

As argued earlier, the claim that dispensationalism teaches multiple ways of salvation is false.

Moving to H, the New Testament quotes and alludes to the Old Testament in ways consistent with the original literal meaning of the

Old Testament writers. So there are approximately 350 quotations of the Old Testament in the

New Testament. While there are some challenging cases, the vast majority of Old Testament key uses in the

New Testament are contextual and consistent with the ideas of the Old Testament writers. This fact emphasizes continuity between the storyline of the

Old Testament and that found in the New Testament. Dispensationalists may vary to some degree on New Testament use of the

Old Testament, but overall, most affirm continuity between the Old Testament meaning and the

New Testament usage of the Old Testament. Then there are five major areas of discontinuity that are listed.

First, dispensationalism, excuse me,

Israel and the church. So dispensationalism affirms the biblical distinction between Israel and the church.

Israel consists of the physical descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that comprise the nation Israel. Some Israelites are saved and some are not.

But Israel always has an ethnic component in the Bible. The church, on the other hand, is the new covenant community of believing

Jews and Gentiles in this age who have believed in Jesus the Messiah. The church includes believing

Israelites, the Israel of God, Galatians 6 .16 and Romans 9 .6, but is not the same thing as Israel.

With the 73 references to Israel in the New Testament, none refer to the church, nor are

Gentiles ever referred to as Israel. Dispensationalism affirms that Israel is a vehicle for bringing blessings to Gentiles in Genesis chapter 12, but it is not

God's intent to make Gentiles part of Israel. From Exodus 19 onward, the nation Israel was the mediatorial vehicle for God's purposes in the world.

Yet, with Israel's failure, culminating in Israel's rejection of her own Messiah, the church becomes

God's vehicle for the gospel and kingdom proclamation in this age between the two comings of Jesus. God is still saving a remnant of Israelites, Romans 11, but in this age, the church is the messenger of God's kingdom program, taking the gospel to all nations.

When God saves the mass of national Israel in the future, Romans 11, 26, Israel will once again have a mediatorial role of service and leadership to the nations under Jesus the

Messiah, who at that time will be ruling the nations. Isaiah 2, 2 -4,

Matthew 19, 28, and Revelation 19, 15. But in this age, the church is the primary agent for God's kingdom purposes.

Israel has deep roots in the Old Testament, but the church is linked with all who have believed in Jesus the

Messiah and have experienced the new covenant ministry of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the church began on the day of Pentecost when the

Holy Spirit came upon the followers of Jesus in Acts 2. Some want to make the church the people of God of all ages, but that is not correct.

Jesus and the new covenant are the main ingredients for the church, and only New Testament saints have experienced these yet.

Any questions about that? Number two area of discontinuity, the

Mosaic covenant to the new covenant. The Mosaic covenant was a temporary and conditional covenant given to Israel at Mount Sinai, Exodus 19.

The era of the Mosaic covenant ended with Jesus' death and the establishment of the new covenant, Ephesians 2, 15,

Hebrews 8, 8 -13. Most dispensationalists hold that the Mosaic covenant was a unit that ended with the death of Christ.

We are now under Jesus' priesthood associated with the new covenant, not the

Aaronic priesthood or the Mosaic covenant. As the writer of Hebrews stressed, quote, when the priesthood is changed of necessity, there takes place a change of law also,

Hebrews 7, 12. As a result, dispensationalists believe Christians are under the new covenant, not the

Mosaic covenant. Likewise, Christians are under the law of Christ as our code for life, not the Mosaic law.

The law of Christ has many similarities to the law of Moses since God's moral standards remain consistent.

But the Christian is no longer bound by the Mosaic law as a rule for life. With 1

Corinthians 9, 20 through 21, Paul explicitly stated he was under the law of Christ, not the Mosaic law.

We are not offering sacrifices today. Christ is our sacrifice once for all.

And that is so important, once for all. Jim stressed that when he went through that section in Hebrews, once for all.

It was all that was necessary for eternal salvation for those who trust in Christ one time, not repeated sacrifices.

The third area of discontinuity is this, dispensations. Like all

Christians, dispensationalists believe in dispensations, eras in which God works with his people in different ways. The pre -fall era with Adam and Eve was obviously different than the post -fall era.

There's a discontinuity. The present church age is different from Israel's previous theocracy under the

Mosaic covenant, another area of discontinuity. The kingdom that follows Jesus' return will differ in some ways from the present age we live in as Jesus rules from and over the earth,

Zechariah 14, 9. Yet even with the differences among these dispensations, salvation has always been by grace alone through faith alone.

I'm gonna stress that again. Based on the atonement of Jesus and nothing else.

Dispensations may change, but the way a person is saved always remains the same.

Again, Genesis 15, 16, and Romans 4. Dispensationalists debate the number and characteristics that make up the various dispensations as non -dispensationalists do, but they acknowledge that God has worked in different ways at different times.

Yet the way of salvation remains the same throughout history. Thus the dispensations evidence both continuity, salvation by grace through faith, and discontinuity, some of the things we've talked about.

Next one is D, the people of God. The concept of the people of God has varied throughout some dispensations.

To be clear, all God's people from the beginning to end are saved the same way, continuity. But the people of God concept has varied.

From Adam until Moses, there was no nation of Israel, so the people of God were not related to any one nation. According to Paul, this was also an era in which people were sinners, even though they did not have special, specific verbal revelation that Adam and Moses had.

See Romans 5, 13, and 14. With Israel becoming a nation, the people of God concept was strongly linked with Israel, and the message of salvation coming from Israel.

Under the Mosaic covenant era, becoming a believer usually meant becoming a proselyte to Israel.

Yet because of Jesus and the new covenant, the people of God concept expanded to include Gentiles, excuse me, to include believing

Gentiles alongside believing Israelites. This expansion of the people of God concept does not mean that Gentiles, believing

Gentiles, become Jews or Israel, as some non -dispensationalists believe, but they do become the people of God alongside believing

Israelites. This is what Paul discusses in Ephesians 2, 11 through 3, 6. 2, 11 through 3, 6.

And what Isaiah predicted in Isaiah 19, 24, and 25, and for further reference also see

Acts 15, 14 through 18. Let me just check something here.

The role of the Holy Spirit. Most dispensationalists believe the Holy Spirit's role of permanently indwelling saints began as a result of Jesus' ascension and pouring out of the

Holy Spirit, as described in Acts 2. Before his death, Jesus told the apostles that the

Holy Spirit lives with them, but will be in them, in John 14, 17. In his person and character, the

Holy Spirit never changes. He is the third person. And you know, we've numbered them.

It occurred to me one day that God may have a different number, because the three persons of the

Trinity are all God and are all perfect, all -knowing, all -powerful, sovereign.

So it's nice we mathematicians and OCD people have a numbering system.

So I'm gonna go ahead and continue to call the Holy Spirit the third person of the Trinity. His role and character, excuse me, his character never changes.

Yet during Old Testament times, he came upon some select persons for temporary indwelling for service. See Exodus chapter 31, verse 3.

His role of permanent indwelling and empowerment of all Christians for sanctification is closely linked with the death and ascension of Jesus the

Messiah. This does not deny that the Holy Spirit saved Old Testament saints, but there is greater enablement for sanctification with the coming of the new covenant.

See Romans 8, one through four. Thus, the role of the Holy Spirit is somewhat different in the

New Testament era. But again, his character has never changed. His power has never changed.

His authority, his sovereignty, none of that has changed. Any questions about that?

I think we're gonna finish early because the next thing I want to go through carefully and graciously as much as possible is gonna be the key differences between dispensationalism and covenant theology without alluding to any idea that either one is perfect.

The Bible is perfect. The Scripture is perfect. Everything I say,

I want you to all be Bereans. No, you don't have to go there because you'd have to fly and you'd have to quit work.

It's a long ways away, but I want you to think like Bereans. The Scripture is the most important thing.

And again, remembering that this is a theology of understanding how the future works, how things in the

Old Testament are linked to the New Testament. It is not about salvation. It is not about sanctification.

It is not about the Lordship of Jesus Christ in your life. It is about ecclesiology, the history of the church and how that works, and Israel.

It is about eschatology, the things of the future and how they all relate to one another.

And that's really important when we get into Daniel. A couple of things about that. Remember, those of you who have been here, I've stressed this on a number of occasions, but to those who haven't been here, there were a number of people who, starting in the third century, second century, excuse me, couldn't believe

Daniel was prophetic because there was just no way a guy could be that accurate. Therefore, he must have written in 200

BC, around 166 BC. He must have written a history of what happened in Babylon and all the things that subsequently occurred because it was too accurate.

Nobody could predict like that. That was a presupposition they made. The fact is, prophetic utterances in Scripture are just that.

They are statements about the future that God has made through various prophets that are accurate and true.

And so we're going to be studying some of those, again, in the book of Daniel. And so we felt that this idea of how to hang these on pegs, proper pegs, is going to be helpful for us as we go through Daniel.

And that's primarily the reason why we elected to go through this section on dispensationalism as an interim between Daniel chapter six and Daniel chapter seven.

Plus, it gave me time to work on Daniel chapter seven, which is really, really challenging and fun.

And I'm dumber than a post, so it's going to take some time. It's going to take some time. I appreciate your patience with me.

Any comments or questions about what we just went through? Additions, subtractions, deletions?

Oh, that sounds like a printer page. Okay, well, we're going to stop there.

Next week, we'll look at the key differences between dispensationalism and covenant theology just with an eye to understanding them.

That's all. Let's pray. Father, again, we reaffirm the fact that it is your scripture that is true.

It is the Bible that we trust. It is your word, the written word, and the

Lord Jesus Christ, who is the word incarnate, that we look to. Lord, we pray that as we study these things, we trust you to help us to simply understand the future and what you have planned in a manner that will be cogent to our understanding so that we can understand it.

That's what we're looking for, Lord, and so that we can give you glory for all that is coming, for all that has happened.

We know that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone. We continue to be committed to preaching that to the world.

The world needs that teaching now more than ever. Well, maybe not more than ever, but at least in our time, it seems like more than ever, when everything has completely fallen apart.

You are not. You are trustworthy, and you are patient with your creation, but the time is coming when it will all be wrapped up.

Let us be about the business of letting people know that. We thank you for your salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In his name we pray, amen. ♪

How majestic is your name ♪ ♪ Your name in all the earth ♪ ♪

You have set your glory above ♪ ♪

You have established strength because of your foes ♪ ♪

Still the enemy and the avenger is your name ♪ ♪

You have made him a little more than I've saw before ♪ ♪

Majestic is your name, majestic is your name, majestic is your name ♪ ♪

We'll extol you, oh Lord, for you have drawn me up ♪ ♪

And have not let my foes rejoice over me ♪ ♪

Oh Lord, my God, I cry to you for help ♪ ♪

And you have healed me, oh Lord, you have brought up my soul ♪ ♪

From she -oil, you restored me to life ♪ ♪

From among those who go down to the pier ♪ ♪

Sing praises to the Lord, oh you his saints ♪ ♪

And give thanks to his holy name ♪ ♪ For his anger is but for a moment ♪ ♪

And his favors for a lifetime ♪ ♪ Weeping may tarry for the night ♪ ♪

But joy comes with the morning ♪ ♪

As for me, I sit in my cross beneath ♪ ♪

I shall never be moved by your favor, oh

Lord ♪ ♪ You made my mountains stand strong ♪ ♪

You hid your face, I was dismayed ♪ ♪

To you, oh Lord, I cry ♪ ♪

And to the Lord I plead for mercy ♪ ♪ What profit is there in my death ♪ ♪

If I go down to the pier? ♪ ♪

Will the dust praise you? ♪ ♪

Hear, oh merciful to me ♪ ♪

Oh Lord, be my helper ♪ ♪

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing ♪ ♪ You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness ♪ ♪

That my glory may sing your praise ♪ ♪

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing ♪ ♪

You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness ♪ ♪

That my glory may sing your praise ♪ ♪ And I'll be silent, oh

Lord my God, I will give thanks ♪ ♪

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth ♪ ♪

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth ♪ ♪

Serve the Lord with gladness, come into his presence with singing ♪ ♪

Know that the Lord, he is God ♪ ♪

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth ♪ ♪

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth ♪ ♪

It is he who made us and we are his ♪ ♪

We are his people and the sheep of his pasture ♪ ♪

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth ♪ ♪

Make a joyful noise to the

Lord, all the earth ♪ ♪ Make a joyful noise to the

Lord, all the earth ♪ ♪ Make a joyful noise to the

Lord, all the earth ♪ ♪ Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise ♪ ♪

Give thanks to him, bless his name ♪ ♪ Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise ♪ ♪

Give thanks to him, bless his name ♪ ♪ Enter his gates with thanksgiving and bless his name ♪ ♪

For the Lord is good, his steadfast love endures forever ♪ ♪

And his faithful men of tenor make a joyful noise to the

Lord, all the earth ♪ ♪

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth ♪ ♪

Make a joyful noise to the

Lord, all the earth ♪ ♪

For the Lord is good, his steadfast love endures forever ♪

And good morning and welcome to Kootenai Church.

Not to compare you all to seals, but you are trained very good to sit down when the music starts.

Would you please stand as we sing this morning, Praise Him, Praise Him. Praise Him!

Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer! Sing, O earth, this wonderful love proclaim!

Hail Him! Hail Him! Highest archangels in glory! Strength and honor give to His holy name!

Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard His children! In His arms,

He carries them all day long! Praise Him! Praise Him!

Tell of His excellent greatness! Praise Him! Praise Him! Ever in joyful song!

Praise Him! Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer! For our sins

He suffered and bled and died! He, our Rock, our hope of eternal salvation!

Hail Him! Hail Him! Jesus, the Crucified! Sound His praises,

Jesus, who bore our sorrows! Love unbounded, wonderful, deep, and strong!

Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness! Praise Him!

Praise Him! Ever in joyful song! Praise Him!

Praise Him! Jesus, our blessed Redeemer! Heavenly portals round with hosannas ring!

Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever and ever! Crown Him!

Crown Him! Prophet and priest and king! Christ is coming!

Over the world victorious! Power and glory unto the

Lord belong! Praise Him! Praise Him! Tell of His excellent greatness!

Praise Him! Praise Him! Ever in joyful song! Come, gaze upon your

Savior! Behold your great High Priest!

Drawn near in awe and wonder, His cross has spoken peace!

Come, rest from sin and strife ye! Find endless stores of grace!

The heart that turns to Jesus is cleansed from every stain!

Oh, how deep, how wide, how strong! Oh, how vast the love of Jesus!

Oh, how sure, how sweet, how strong! Oh, how vast is love for us!

So lift your eyes to Jesus! Arise from doubt and shame!

His blood cries, it is finished! Our life is in His name!

Oh, how deep, how wide, how long! Oh, how vast the love of Jesus!

Oh, how sure, how sweet, how strong! Oh, how vast is love for us!

What now can separate us? Can death or pain or fear?

We have this strong assurance! In Christ we've been brought near!

And in His strength we'll labor! His promise is our hope!

Thus far His love has led us! His love will lead us home!

Oh, how deep, how wide, how long! Oh, how vast the love of Jesus!

Oh, how sure, how sweet, how strong! Oh, how vast is love for us!

Oh, how deep, how wide, how long! Oh, how vast the love of Jesus!

Oh, how sure, how sweet, how strong! Oh, how vast is love for us!

By faith we see the hand of God! In the light of creation's grand design!

In the lives of those who prove His faithfulness!

Who walk by faith and not by sight! By faith our fathers roamed the earth!

With the power of His promise in their hearts!

Of a holy city built by God's own hand!

A place where peace and justice reign! Who we will stand as children of the promise!

Who we will fix our eyes on Him, our soul's reward!

Till the race is finished and the work is done!

Who walk by faith and not by sight! By faith the prophets saw the day!

When the longed -for Messiah would appear! With the power to break the chains of sin and death!

And rise triumphant from the grave! By faith the church was called to go!

In the power of the Spirit to the lost! To deliver captives and to preach good news!

In every corner of the earth! We will stand as children of the promise!

We will fix our eyes on Him, our soul's reward!

Till the race is finished and the work is done!

Who walk by faith and not by sight! By faith the mountains shall be moved!

And the power of the gospel shall prevail! For we know in Christ all things are possible!

For all who call upon His name! We will stand as children of the promise!

We will fix our eyes on Him, our soul's reward! Till the race is finished and the work is done!

Who walk by faith and not by sight! We will stand as children of the promise!

We will fix our eyes on Him, our soul's reward!

Till the race is finished and the work is done! Who call upon His name! We will stand as children of the promise! We will fix our eyes on Him, our soul's reward!

So that I don't catch you by surprise five years from now and say, I had no idea Jim believed that. And yes, there are people who say that.

And then they're gone. Before you invest the next five, ten, twelve years in this ministry, you might want to know ahead of time exactly what we're all about.

And this is your opportunity at the membership class. October 16th and 23rd, you don't have to be a prospective new member.

You don't have to be seeking membership in order to attend. And if you're already a member and you want to refresh your course to find out if you really still are understanding everything that I teach, that I say

I teach, then this is an opportunity for you. We just need to know that you're planning to attend, so sign up on the sign -up sheet out in the foyer.

October 16th and 23rd. And we go from 10 a .m. to 2 p .m. Usually we're out just a little bit before 2, and we provide lunch and a lunch break for that as well.

Turn please to Psalm 140 in your Bible, Psalm 140. We're going to read together this psalm.

The prescript says it's for the choir director, a psalm of David. And since we have a lot of new folks who are here in recent weeks, and you probably weren't here for the last time that I explained this, as we read through a psalm, and I do so publicly, we come across that word selah every once in a while.

I will not be pronouncing that because the meaning of that, most likely it was a notation to mark either a musical interlude where the instruments would play without something being spoken or read because these were original songs, or it meant just pause and reflect upon what you have just read.

So it would be like reading Be Silent Now and Think About This. If I read Be Silent Now and Think About This, it would kind of destroy the purpose of putting that in there.

So I won't pronounce it, but I will take a break that will be sufficiently long enough for you in your mind to go over what it was that we just read in the previous verse and think about that because that's the point of selah.

Psalm 140. Rescue me, O Lord, from evil men. Preserve me from violent men who devise evil things in their hearts.

They continually stir up wars. They sharpen their tongues as a serpent. Poison of a viper is under their lips.

Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from violent men who have purpose to trip up my feet.

The proud have hidden a trap for me and cords. They have spread a net by the wayside. They have set snares for me.

I said to the Lord, You are my God. Give ear, O Lord, to the voice of my supplications.

O God, the Lord, the strength of my salvation, You have covered my head in the day of battle. Do not grant,

O Lord, the desires of the wicked. Do not promote his evil device that they not be exalted.

As for the head of those who surround me, may the mischief of their lips cover them. May burning coals fall upon them.

May they be cast into the fire, into the deep pits from which they cannot rise. May a slanderer not be established in the earth.

May evil hunt the violent man speedily. I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted and justice for the poor.

Surely the righteous will give thanks to Your name. The upright will dwell in Your presence. And please remain seated for the prayer.

Our Father, we thank You that You are worthy of all of our praise and our confidence and our trust. We speak about faith and we sing about faith and the role that it plays in our lives.

We look forward to the fulfillment of Your every promise. And we pray that You would use all of the means here of our gathering together and worshipping and singing and praising and fellowshipping, serving one another to strengthen our faith and to strengthen that gift that You have given to us.

We are grateful that You are worthy of our trust. We know that You are. You rule in the heavens.

You are sovereign over all things. Over all nations, all kings of the earth, all wicked and violent men.

And though the nations rage and the peoples plot vain things, we know that our God sits in the heavens and He laughs.

You laugh at this. You laugh at the wicked schemes of men knowing that You bring them to nothing.

Knowing that You preserve Your righteous ones and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. Our God is in the heavens and He does whatever

He pleases. This is the God we worship. This is the God we adore. And we thank

You that You have brought us into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ by Your grace. We do not deserve any of Your gifts.

We do not deserve redemption. We do not deserve the fellowship that we enjoy.

We do not deserve any physical blessings. If You were to take all of these things from us, You would have done us no harm.

You would have done us no wrong. But we thank You that by Your grace You have lavished upon us as Your people the gifts of repentance and faith and salvation that You have drawn us with cords to Yourself and brought us to Your Son.

We thank You for opening our eyes and our hearts that we may respond to the Gospel and that we may embrace

Jesus Christ in all of His glory and all of His beauty. And we pray that You would strengthen our hearts this morning in and through Your Word.

May You be glorified here in Your church, amongst us and through us, we pray in Christ's name.

A nation's rage, kingdoms rise and fall

There is still one King reigning over all

So I will not fear, for this truth remains

That my God is the Ancient of Days None above Him, none before Him All of time in His hands

For His throne it shall remain and ever stand

All the power, all the glory

I will trust in His name For my

God is the Ancient of Days Though the dread of night overwhelms my soul

He is here with me, I am not alone

Oh, His love is sure and He knows my name

For my God is the Ancient of Days None above Him, none before Him All of time in His hands

For His throne it shall remain and ever stand

All the power, all the glory I will trust in His name

For my God is the Ancient of Days I may not see what the future brings

I will watch and wait for the

Savior King Then my joy complete, standing face to face

In the presence of the Ancient of Days None above Him, none before Him All of time in His hands

For His throne it shall remain and ever stand

All the power, all the glory I will trust in His name

For my God is the Ancient of Days For my

God is the Ancient of Days Would you please stand?

Lord, forgive us for our pride When our faith becomes a show

Dressed in righteous deeds to hide All the stains below We have judged your sons and daughters

For the sin that is our own May we now forgive each other

And lay down our stone Forgiven, forgiven

Through the blood of Christ we are forgiven

Lord, forgive us for our love Of the things we wish to own

We forsake the feast above For all the crumbs below Though you've made us sons and daughters

We do not the world disown May we find our greatest treasure is in you alone

Forgiven, forgiven Through the blood of Christ we are forgiven

Forgiven, forgiven Through the blood of Christ we are forgiven

Lord, forgive us for our shame

When we can't release the past When we're quick to take the blame

But forget we're free at last We avoid your sons and daughters

For the fear we don't belong Give us eyes to see each other

Through your only Son Forgiven, forgiven

Through the blood of Christ we are forgiven

Forgiven, forgiven Through the blood of Christ we are forgiven

In Psalm 51, verses 1 -4,

David says Be gracious to me,

O God, according to your lovingkindness According to the abundance of your compassion

Blot out my transgressions Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity

And cleanse me from my sin For I know my transgressions And my sin is ever before me

Against you and you only I have sinned And done what is evil in your sight

So that you are justified when you speak And pure when you judge I am a sinner

Your blameless Lord My sins against you

Can't be ignored They will be punished

I know they must

Your law demands it For you are just If you would count

Everything that I've done wrong

Who could stand But there's forgiveness with you,

God Have mercy on me Have mercy on me

A broken and a contrite heart You won't turn away

Have mercy on me Have mercy on me

Because of your steadfast love

Father of mercy You gave your

Son To make atonement

For wrongs I have done What you require

Jesus will fill I don't deserve it

And I never will If you would count

Everything that I've done wrong Who could stand

But there's forgiveness with you, God Have mercy on me

Have mercy on me A broken and a contrite heart

You won't turn away Have mercy on me

Have mercy on me Because of your steadfast love

Have mercy on me Have mercy on me

A broken and a contrite heart You won't turn away

Have mercy on me

Have mercy on me Because of your steadfast love

Because of your steadfast love

You may be seated. Please turn now to Hebrews chapter 10.

Hebrews chapter 10. We're going to read together verses 35 through 39. And before we do, let's pray together.

My Father, it is with great expectation that we come to your word. For we know that in the pages of Holy Scripture that you speak, your voice is heard, it is pertinent, it is relevant for the time in which we live, for the ages that we face now.

We pray that you would bless the preaching and teaching of your word, our understanding of it. We pray that you would open our eyes and our hearts to your word and grant us the illuminating blessing of the

Holy Spirit this morning. Be honored here, we ask in Christ's name. Amen. Hebrews 10 verse 35.

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

For yet in a very little while he who is coming will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith.

And if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

In the last few weeks we've been looking at the things that belong to us, the things that are ours, this great possession that we have, the great reward, a better possession, and the lasting one mentioned in verse 34.

We've been looking at the promise of the coming of Christ that is mentioned in verse 37. And we have been seeking to set our hope and our affections and our minds upon those things, to do as Peter says in 1

Peter 1, to set our hearts entirely upon the grace that is to be revealed to us at the coming of the

Lord Jesus Christ, so that we may have a heavenly perspective and a heavenly focus, knowing that we will receive those things that are promised.

If he who has promised these things is faithful and true, and if he keeps his word, and he will and he must, and if he has promised these things, then we know that we have them, that we will receive them in full.

And this is the precious certainty of all of those who have faith. We see with the eye of faith what the eye of the flesh cannot behold.

We count those things that are promised to us as if we already possess them, because we do, even though we are not enjoying those things in full just yet, we do already possess them.

They are ours. They have been granted to us. It is just a matter of time until we receive in full all of the experiences of the great blessings and joys that have been promised to us.

Those things that are promised, the faithful see as a reality with the eye of faith, not beholding it with the eye of flesh at all.

And so we are creeping ever so slowly, almost inexorably so, toward Hebrews 11. And it does seem slow, and it is slow, but we are getting there.

And I hope you're seeing the connection between the list of heroes in Hebrews 11, the faith heroes, and this warning passage that is at the end of chapter 10.

The end of chapter 10 tells us that those who have faith, have faith all the way to the end, not seeing the fulfillment of the promises necessarily in their lifetime, but they have faith all the way to the end to the preserving of their soul.

We are not like the apostates. We are not like the false converts. We are not like the make -believers who shrink back to destruction in the face of the world's hostility, in the face of the world's opposition, in the face of their hatred to the truth.

We do not shrink back. Instead, we continue and we persevere, seeing it all the way through to the preserving of our soul.

That is the promise. And we look forward to faith's reward because we are those who are willing to endure faith's reproach.

And last week, we looked at this quotation that we find in verse 37. For yet in a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.

We saw that. It was from the book of Habakkuk. And we just dealt with the first part of that and I promised that we would jump into the more familiar quotation which is in verse 38.

But my righteous shall live by faith. I promised that we would do that today and that is what we are doing. That is a more familiar quotation from the

Old Testament probably because you see it multiple times in the New Testament. It's quoted not only here, but we also find it in Galatians chapter 3 and in Romans chapter 1.

It is the battle cry of the Reformation that the just shall live by faith. It is that statement that Martin Luther nailed his hope and faith to, as it were, his confidence to that sparked the

Reformation that the just live by faith. That we are not accounted as righteous because of anything that we have done or because of anything that other saints have done on our behalf that are credited to us but that we are given the righteousness of Jesus Christ solely on the basis of faith and that our righteousness comes not because of anything that you have done or that I have done or that other saints have done but because of what a sinless one has done namely the

Lord Jesus Christ. That is the battle cry of the Reformation. It is the heart of the Gospel. I would say that it was the battle cry of the

Reformation because it is the heart of the Gospel. James Montgomery Boyce once said that this statement found in Habakkuk 2, verse 4 could rightly be considered not just a great text of the

Bible but the great text of the Bible. Imagine that. Of all the statements that we find in Scripture this one could be regarded as the great text of the

Bible. The heart of the Reformation. The battle cry of the Reformation. The heart of the Gospel.

The great text of Scripture. And where did we find it? In Habakkuk. Did you see that coming? Habakkuk.

Of all places. Now if the author of Hebrews thought that the book of Habakkuk was worth quoting and if the apostle

Paul thought that the book of Habakkuk was worth quoting and if those two authors were so familiar with that verse which has had such an oversized significance all the way through church history and biblical history then wouldn't it be advisable for us to be familiar with the book of Habakkuk and to spend at least one sermon on it?

Well that's what we're going to do so turn back to the book of Habakkuk. And again if you struggle finding that just go to the end of your

Old Testament start turning toward the beginning of the Old Testament and you'll find about five books back in is the book of Habakkuk.

Your bulletin says that the title of the sermon is Just Shall Live by Faith Part 1 so here's what we're going to do today.

Today we're going to look at this verse in Habakkuk and its context and next week then we're going to come back to Hebrews chapter 10 we're going to see how the author uses it here in verse 38 and then we're going to finish up chapter 10 next week.

Have you found the book of Habakkuk? A little bit more time? Alright here's what we're going to do today.

We're going to set the book of Habakkuk in its historical context. I'm going to describe to you the life and times of Habakkuk so you understand him and what he was facing and that helps sort of set the book in that context so we can understand what is being said there.

Then I'm going to give you an overview of the whole book with plenty of details. We're going to cover all three chapters and most of all three chapters and then you're going to see in chapter 2 verse 4 this statement that just shall live by faith and then we're going to connect it to everything that is in the book of Habakkuk so you can see how it relates to its entire context and how did

Habakkuk a just man how did he live by faith in his life and times and then I'm going to show you how Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4 is used in both the book of Galatians and in the book of Romans and here in the book of Hebrews and I'm going to tie together

Hebrews, Galatians, Romans and Habakkuk. I know that sounds very ambitious and I know some of you your eyebrows are up and you're like really from you

Jim? I know that that is a bit ambitious so we need to get started and the evangelism training thing doesn't start until 1 .30

so I have a tool at least that to do it. The book of Habakkuk now a little bit about Habakkuk in his historical context by the way if you pronounce it

Habakkuk that's fine I've heard it both ways Habakkuk Habakkuk if you pronounce it

Habakkuk that's not right that means you're from Clark Fort so if that's how you pronounce it then just understand that those of us on the outside with electricity and running water that's not how we pronounce it and if you're a kid counting the references to Habakkuk Habakkuk does not count so take that tally mark off of that in fact my

Habakkuk that I just said and that one I just said those don't count either so only Habakkuk or Habakkuk those are the only two

I had a Bible professor who gave a real convenient and easy way to remember how Habakkuk is spelled it's spelled with an

H and an A and a B and an A and a K and a K and a U and a K now if you were keeping notes and you wanted that a little bit slower it's an

H and a B and an A and a K and a K and a U and a K if you can keep all that together you know how to spell the book of Habakkuk Habakkuk has a number of unique features

I'm going to give them to you real quick first of all Habakkuk is prophetic though prophetic though a prophetic book

I should say though a prophetic book it is very similar to the Psalms in that there is a long prayer that is a part of the book in chapter 3 this long prayer and it has poetic descriptions of God that are very similar to what we find in the

Psalms a second unique feature is while other prophets declared God's message to the people

Habakkuk dialogued with God about the people it's a little bit different the other prophets declared what

God said to them to the people Habakkuk is God and Habakkuk having a dialogue back and forth about the situation of the people that's a little bit different and third other prophets proclaimed judgment against sin

Habakkuk asks God for judgment against sin a little bit different isn't it?

Lord, when are you going to deal with this? other prophets simply said here is how God is going to deal with it and Habakkuk is actually asking

God hey, can you come down here and deal with these people? because they are really starting to get on my nerves asking

God to judge the people for that now the timing of the book the book was written somewhere between 612 and 587

B .C. remember when you go back that way you are counting backwards centuries prior to Christ about 600 years before Christ Habakkuk was written written somewhere in that 25 year period of time between Babylon conquering the city of Nineveh which was the capital of the

Assyrian Empire and Babylon conquering the city of Jerusalem remember that there was a divided kingdom at the time of Habakkuk Habakkuk lived a long time after King David so after David Solomon reigned for 40 years at the end of Solomon's reign the kingdom was divided into the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom in 722

B .C. the northern kingdom fell to the Assyrian Empire capital city in Nineveh Gentiles came in destroyed that northern kingdom and took them captive and Judah persisted for another 100 and roughly 150 years after that until it fell finally in 612

B .C. During Habakkuk's lifetime and so he is writing right about 600 years prior to Christ during Habakkuk's lifetime the city the nation of Judah the southern kingdom had just come out of one of the darkest periods of time that that nation had ever faced let me describe it to you in 698

B .C. the Manasseh became king now you remember Manasseh was the son of Hezekiah Hezekiah wasn't a quasi good king and he had some good things and some bad things but toward the end of his life remember

God predicted or promised through the prophet Isaiah that Hezekiah was going to die and Hezekiah said no let me live and so God granted him another 15 years during that 15 years hindsight is 20 -20

Manasseh was born during that final 15 years remember at the end of Hezekiah's life what happened the

Babylonians came in and Hezekiah showed him all of the kingdom and Isaiah came to Hezekiah and said what have you shown him He said

I showed him everything my throne room my king my treasury all my gold my silver I gave it to them all and Isaiah said well look there's going to come a time when they're going to come in and they're going to take everything from you remember what

Hezekiah said at least there will be peace and truth in my days that's after I die alright that's good

I'm good with that as long as it happens after I'm gone that was all he cared about well his son Manasseh became king in 698

B .C. Manasseh ruled for 55 years if you think the present administration of this country is going on forever imagine 55 years of this

Manasseh introduced religious prostitution into the temple worship of Yahweh he introduced human sacrifice into the temple he killed the priests and set up altars to his

God he sought to extinguish all true worship from the nation of Judah he was the one who killed the prophet

Isaiah he later repented but the sin of the nation was so ensconced that it really sealed their fate after Manasseh died his king

Ammon became king his son Ammon became king and ruled for 2 years he was killed by some servants of his that was in 643 in 641

Josiah became king he ruled for 31 years he was 8 years old when he became king now that's a little bit of history bringing you up to Josiah because that's the life and times of Habakkuk Habakkuk lived during the life span and the rule of Josiah so Josiah ruled 31 years became king when he was 8 years old and here's what 2

Kings 22 says of Josiah he did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of his father David he did not turn his side to the right or to the left that's commendation isn't it he was a good king he did right in the sight of the

Lord his God and walked in the way of David in his righteousness and his justice David wasn't a perfect man but David had a heart for God and so did

Josiah when Josiah was 26 years old he led an effort to rebuild and to cleanse really and to sort of revamp the temple because it had been so broken down and so torn down by the false idolatry idolatry and the false worship that had gone into it and in the process of that reconstruction of the temple

Josiah found or the people who were rebuilding the temple found a copy of the Old Testament law and they brought it to Josiah and he read it and when they read it in his presence he came undone he repented because he realized how far the nation had fallen and he realized that God was going to judge the nation for its sin and so he led a comprehensive reformation of the entire nation drove out all the false gods broke down all the false idols and all the altars he burned and razed the houses of prostitution they were destroyed and Josiah led a reformation in which they celebrated the

Passover for the first time in hundreds of years so 2 Kings 23 says this moreover

Josiah removed the mediums and the spiritists and the teraphim and the idols and all the abominations that were seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem that he might confirm the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the

Lord before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might according to all the law of Moses nor did any like him arise after him however the

Lord did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath with which his anger burned against Judah because of all the provocations with which

Manasseh had provoked him the Lord said I will remove Judah also from my sight as I have removed

Israel and I will cast off Jerusalem the city which I have chosen and the temple of which I said my name shall be there now

Habakkuk lived during the life and times of Josiah and those were good times Josiah had made

Jerusalem great again he had led a national reformation and a revival over the whole nation and had expunged idol worship from the land and Josiah sorry

Habakkuk would have remembered celebrating that national Passover for the first time in his life and if Habakkuk were 45 years old when he wrote the book of Habakkuk if he were 45 or older he would have had some distant memories of the reign of Manasseh and Manasseh's sons and then the reformation led under Josiah and the only memory that Habakkuk would have had was the memory probably the best memory that Habakkuk would have had was that memory of the reformation that took place under Josiah the king he could have remembered possibly if he were an older man the dark days of Manasseh's reign and then he would have remembered how that light dawned and how there was that reformation there was that revival and Yahweh worship was instituted once again and the nation turned around and good things were happening he would have remembered the reforms the revival the repair of the temple the purging of idol worship and the first Passover national

Passover celebration of his life those were good times those were really good times and he would have had that firm in his memory but then

Josiah died in 610 BC Jehoahaz became king he reigned three months here's what 2nd

King says about Jehoahaz he did evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that his fathers had done and by fathers he doesn't mean Josiah he means

Manasseh he did evil in the sight of the Lord just as Manasseh had done Egypt eventually deported

Jehoahaz and appointed his brother Jehoiakim as king in 610 BC and Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years and here's what 2nd

King says of Jehoiakim he did evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that his fathers had done so Habakkuk saw the reign and rule of Josiah and then when

Josiah died his son was put into place and Habakkuk saw his son undo everything that Josiah had done he was only there for three months and maybe when he was taken away to Egypt and they put

Jehoiakim in he would have thought that's good three months was dark enough that was bad enough now we got another shot at this maybe

Jehoiakim will get it right no Jehoiakim did what was evil in the sight of the Lord just as Manasseh had done so here was

Habakkuk's quandary he had known a righteous administration he saw the blessing of God upon a nation and Josiah had been a godly king and then he saw rapid change we may even say that the administration that followed

Josiah's administration did undid with executive order everything that the previous administration had accomplished they just undid it all they just walked it all backwards in a matter of months he did he reinstituted the sin and the immorality and so Habakkuk would have seen this rapid change rapid change and not just rapid change but a massive change from one type of morality to an entirely different type of morality he would have seen the nation take a 180 degree turn away from walking in righteousness to walking in sin and wickedness and depravity he saw a nation rapidly descending into sin immorality and idolatry people rapidly turning to support their wicked leaders and following after their immorality the reinstitution of idol worship cult prostitution and human sacrifice

Habakkuk would have seen all of that and the fact that the people so quickly followed the subsequent kings into those immoralities is probably the reason why the

Lord did not turn from the fierceness of his anger because he knew that although Josiah was leading a reformation on a national level and people were going along with this externally because that's what the king was doing under threat of death that the hearts of the people were not there with him and so when the next king became king everybody went wow

God we got rid of that Josiah character now we can just let our passions fly and we can have it the way that we've always wanted it and the people went right back to the previous way that it was under Manasseh very quickly the idol worship returned the immorality and in Habakkuk's day they faced international forces that were also at play there were three nations who all vied for dominance during Habakkuk's lifetime

Assyria was always on the horizon conquering people located five hundred miles away their capital city from Jerusalem they were always a threat

Egypt was to the south of them Assyria to the north Egypt to the south Egypt was kind of a main player on the stage at that time and then you had this upstart

Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian horde they were kind of coming onto the scene and conquering nations so you could sit down in Habakkuk's household at any given evening over some lamb chops and some herbs or whatever they ate in those days and you could ask your family around the dinner table so who do you think is going to invade us you think it will be the

Babylonians the Assyrians or the Egyptians you didn't know who you were going to fall to but you did know one thing that your nation was not strong enough to stand up against any of them so here's what

Habakkuk's life and times were like they had a weak military that could not fend off Egypt because remember the king who was became king after Josiah Egypt came in deported him took a whole bunch of the gold and went back they appointed another king a puppet king there and said you collect taxes and we'll be back to get that in a couple of years they had a faltering economy they were being taxed heavily just so they could send their money to another nation to prop up other nations they faced international threats of invasion a nationwide apostasy the moral fiber of their nation was disappearing before his eyes people were not interested in justice they didn't pursue justice people pursued pleasure violence and bloodshed were national pastimes child sacrifice was a national sacrament homes were falling apart crime was soaring idolatry was everywhere there was corruption at the highest levels of the government and the nation was at a historic low had never been lower it's hard to relate to that if only if only the

Bible were a little bit more relevant to the times in which we live right? so even though we might not be able to learn anything from Habakkuk we're going to go ahead and study the book anyway do you feel like I just read to you the headlines the last 12 months?

yeah how many of you have read Habakkuk in the last year? don't raise your hand I hope you have you see what happens when you dive into the

Old Testament? aren't you glad we don't unhitch ourselves from the Old Testament like Andy Stanley says? here's the book of Habakkuk chapter 1 in chapter 1

Habakkuk dialogues with God regarding sin and judgment in chapter 2 God explains the judgment that is to come not only upon the nation of Israel but also upon the

Babylonian Empire and then in chapter 3 we have Habakkuk's prayer so if you were finding the book of Habakkuk all the way through that whole introduction

I hope that you're there now Habakkuk chapter 1 now we're going to read the entire book with commentary

I promise you we'll get through it Habakkuk chapter 1 the oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw how long oh

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 and cause me to look on wickedness yes destruction and violence are before me strife exists and contention arises therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld for the wicked surround the righteous therefore justice comes out perverted that's a lament for the common man today isn't it?

the wicked surround the righteous and so justice comes out perverted justice is never upheld Lord why do you allow this nation to slide into such wickedness it's almost

Lord as if you have taken the restraint off of it and just allowed this whole nation to plunge headlong over the cliff into political moral spiritual and economic disaster and yet I got to look on this will you not do something to stop this?

obviously Habakkuk had seen so much change so quickly and he wanted God to do something to stop it and he had to have felt like the psalmist when the psalmist said when the foundations are destroyed what do the righteous do?

you look around and you see all of the foundations of the entire society begin to crumble what do the righteous do in such a situation?

that's what Habakkuk was seeing that's what he was facing this is how he was feeling this is a lament Lord why do you cause me to do this?

are you not going to come in and stop this? I cry out to you violence and you do nothing I beg of you to stop this and you don't even answer the prayer there's frustration and angst and anxiety in Habakkuk's lament so here's

God's answer in verse 5 look among the nations observe be astonished wonder because I'm doing something in your days you would not believe even if you were told for behold

Habakkuk here is the answer to the question will you stop this? will you judge this? verse 6 behold

I'm raising up the Chaldeans that is the Babylonians the Chaldeans that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs they are dreaded and feared their justice and authority originate with themselves what he means by that is they consider nothing outside of themselves a standard of justice or authority they view themselves as the ultimate authority it's almost as if they would say

I am the law whatever the king says that is the law that becomes moral and so there is no justice outside of them there is no authority outside of them they view that is the

Chaldeans view themselves as their own standard of justice and morality verse 8 their horses are swifter than leopards and keener than the wolves in the evening their horsemen come galloping their horsemen come from afar they fly like an eagle swooping down to devour all of them come for violence their horde of faces moves forward they collect captives like sand they mock at kings and rulers are a laughing matter to them they laugh at every fortress and heap up rubble to capture it then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on but they will be held guilty they whose strength is their

God he is describing the Chaldeans there they will be held guilty their strength is their God they worship their own strength but they will be held guilty and so the answer is the judgment was coming soon that it would be swift it would be thorough and it would be brutal the

Chaldeans were the most powerful army in the world at the time they were the most feared army in the world at the time and they were also the most brutal army in the world at the time

Nebuchadnezzar was scandalously prideful scandalously violent merciless and brutal so this passage describes the nature of the judgment they're coming in fierce dreaded swift keen and violent and they're going to clean house and I wish

I had a moment to just highlight for you how the description of the judgment that was going to fall upon the nation matched almost point for point their sin in fact

Israel had become a nation of violence and God says okay violence I'm going to punish you with violence you like violence? alright well we'll give you a little bit of violence you like lawlessness?

alright well I'll give you somebody who thinks he is the law you like idols? oh have you met my servant Nebuchadnezzar?

because when he comes in he's going to introduce you to idolatry in fact he's going to take you back to the idol capital of the world Babylon and there you're going to serve idols in fact if you don't serve idols they will throw you into lion's den that's how fun idol worship is going to be when you get to Babylon almost point for point the sin of Judah is answered by the judgment that is to come now notice

Habakkuk's shot verse 12 are you not from everlasting oh Lord my God my holy one? we will not die you oh

Lord have appointed them to judge and you oh rock have established them to correct your eyes are too pure to approve evil and you cannot look on wickedness with favor so 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? yeah

Lord I understand that we are bad but the Chaldeans have you seen the

Chaldeans? if they come in and they conquer us if they are an instrument in your hand to punish us then how can you look on favor and grant them success military success against us your people?

I mean yeah we've got a lot of problems which I just spelled out to you in verses 1 through 4 we have a lot of problems we do but we are no

Chaldeans by any measure those people do well they do violence those people are well they are lawless

I mean those people are well they are wicked I mean we are violent we are lawless and we are wicked but I mean those guys are even more so and so how can you look on wickedness with favor?

how can you be silent when the wicked swallow up those who are more righteous than they are? you see when

Habakkuk compared the condition of his people to the law of God he saw how wicked they were but when he compared them to the

Chaldeans they looked marginally better so how could the Lord use the Chaldeans to punish the

Israelites? that didn't make any sense if you are holy how can you approve of what they do and grant them success?

Habakkuk 1 verse 14 he continues this is Habakkuk why have you made men like the fish of the sea like creeping things without a ruler over them?

the Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook they drag them away with their net gather them together in the fishing net therefore they rejoice and are glad the

Chaldeans come into a nation like an empty net they just swoop up people gather them carry them away to Babylon verse 16 therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net burn incense to the fishing net these are idolaters they are worshipping their own military might their own abilities because through these things their catch is large and their food is plentiful will they therefore empty their net and continue to slay nations without sparing?

are they going to go back and empty their net and come back for another round and just take people again? come through and just wipe up everything mop up everything take everything from us?

is this what they are going to do? and these Chaldeans they won't even acknowledge that God is behind their strength they give glory instead to an idol so this is

Habakkuk's response to God and he is pushing the envelope a little bit you will notice that Habakkuk is not suggesting that God is not just but he is saying

I have a hard time reconciling what I know to be true about the justice of God with what it is that God has said is about to happen he is not suggesting

God is not just he is just saying I don't understand how this is possible how is it that you being just and righteous can do this?

that is what he wants an answer to how could God be just and reward those who were unjust? and use them to punish

Israel? at the beginning of chapter 1 Habakkuk questions God's goodness and his justice for not punishing sin at the end of chapter 1

Habakkuk questions God's goodness and justice because of how he was going to punish sin you think man this guy would complain if he were hung with a new rope no matter what it is he is perplexed about how

God can do what he is doing God is silent and he complains God says I am going to judge and he complains here is

God's answer chapter 2 I will stand on my guard post and station myself sorry this is Habakkuk speaking I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart

I will keep watch and see what he will speak to me and how I may reply when he is approved Habakkuk has made his case he says

I am going to step back and think about this and when God responds back to me I am going to see how it is that I will come back my counter argument

I am going to form my counter argument I am going to wait until God gives me an answer and then I think I got him I am going to come back and try I plead my case again

I don't think it is right for you to use the Chaldeans that doesn't seem righteous and just Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 2 then the

Lord answered me and said record the vision and describe it on tablets that the one who reads it may run in other words he said make this clear write it down make it clear make it available to everybody so everybody can see it everybody can get this message get it out to as many people as you can for this vision of the

Chaldean invasion and their destruction of Israel this vision is yet for the appointed time it is happening on a certain date it hastens towards the goal this promise will not fail though it tarries you just wait for it it is coming it will certainly come it will not delay and that is the passage that we looked at last week it is quoted in verse 37 of chapter 10 of Hebrews yet in a little while he who is coming will come we saw how the author uses this passage from Habakkuk 2 verse 3 to describe the coming of Christ he borrows some of the same language to say that that which is promised to us in the coming of the

Lord we have to wait for it we have to tarry for it but we know just as Habakkuk would have known that judgment was certain we can know with certainty that the coming of Jesus Christ with the judgment that accompanies that upon the wicked as well as the reward for the righteous it is just as certain as the coming judgment upon Babylon verse 4 behold as for the proud one his soul is not right within him but the righteous will live by his faith there is a contrast in verse 4 and verse 5 between the wicked

Chaldeans and Israelites and the one who is just and righteous and lives by his faith the faithful one is described as one who lives by his faith the proud one is the

Chaldeans and the wicked Israelites verse 5 therefore or furthermore wine betrays the haughty man so that he does not stay at home he enlarges his appetite like Sheol and he is like death never satisfied he also gathers to himself all nations and collects to himself all peoples that was the

Chaldeans this proud man intoxicated as it were like wine with his violence and his bloodshed he is never satisfied like a drunkard he just wants more continually and so Nebuchadnezzar and all the armies of Babylon they would come through and they wouldn't stop with Assyria and they wouldn't stop with Samaria and they wouldn't stop with Jerusalem they were going to continue to sweep right through why?

because they are filled with pride filled with arrogance drunk on their own power then beginning at verse 6 through the end of chapter 2 we have a taunt song that has five woes and each of these choruses or verses of this taunt song are intended to describe not just the sin of Israel but more specifically the sin of the

Chaldean army so here is God's answer to Habakkuk yes they are wicked but don't worry about it I'm punishing them as well because here are all the woes that are coming to the nation of Babylon for what they are going to do to you

Nebuchadnezzar was his servant Nebuchadnezzar was an instrument in God's right hand he would be the instrument that would come in and punish the land of Judah for their sin but God was going to turn around and punish

Babylon for their sin for their sins of idolatry so there are five woes here the first is a woe against greed and covetousness verse 6 will not all these take up a taunt song against him even mockery and insinuations against him and say woe to him who increases what is not his for how long and makes himself rich with loans will not your creditors rise up suddenly and those who collect from you awaken indeed you will become plunder for them this is

God addressing the Babylonians you will become plunder for them because you have looted many nations all the remainder of the peoples will loot you because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land the town and all its inhabitants the second woe beginning in verse 9 is against oppression woe to him who gets evil gain for his house to put his nest on high to be delivered from the hand of calamity there is an element of pride there if I can oppress others and take something from them

I can set myself up where I am above that same kind of oppression verse 10 you have devised a shameful thing for your house by cutting off many peoples you are sinning against yourself surely the stone will cry out from the wall and the rafter will answer it from the framework what

Babylon was doing they would be punished for their oppression and their wickedness verse 12 is a woe against violence woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with violence it is not indeed from the lord of hosts that peoples toil for fire and nations grow weary for nothing for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the lord as the waters cover the sea the fourth woe is against seduction and immorality verse 15 woe to you who make your neighbors drink who mix in your venom even to make them drunk so as to look on their nakedness you will be filled with disgrace rather than honor now you yourself drink and expose your own nakedness the cup in the lord's hand will come around to you and utter disgrace will come upon your glory for the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you and the devastation of its beast by which you terrified them because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land to the town and all its inhabitants they would be punished for their violence for their seduction for their morality and lastly there is a fifth woe for their idolatry what profit is the idol when its maker is carved or an image a teacher of falsehood for its maker trusts in his own handiwork when he fashions speechless idols woe to him who says to a piece of wood awake to a mute stone arise and that's your teacher behold it's overlaid with gold and silver and there's no breath at all inside it but the lord is in his holy temple let all the earth be silent before him there's this contrast at the end between the idols of Babylon and the true god

Yahweh the lord Yahweh is in his holy temple let all the earth be silent before him so Babylon what is

God's answer to Habakkuk how is it that you can use the wicked to punish those more righteous than they what is

God's answer that's not for you to concern yourself with you don't have to worry about this I'm going to deal with those who are even yet now more wicked than you are for I'm going to punish them for their greed and covetousness their oppression their violence their seduction and immorality and their idolatry they all will get what is coming to them and here's a message to all of the nations every nation has its reckoning every nation has its reckoning that ought to terrify you it should terrify the leaders of this nation every nation has its reckoning

Babylon is not going to get off Scott Babylon is not free God is just and he will not slumber he does not sleep and he will not tarry long judgment and justice will always come chapter 3

Habakkuk responds with a prayer a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet according to Shigioth Lord I have heard the report about you and I fear he responded appropriately right what did

I just say every nation has its reckoning and that should terrify everybody how did

Habakkuk respond to it Lord I have heard the report about you and I fear well Lord revive your work in the midst of the years in the midst of the years make it known in wrath remember mercy you have heard me pray this before Lord in wrath remember mercy this is my prayer

Lord in wrath remember mercy this nation the one in which we live and all the nations of the world you cannot escape they cannot escape the judgment of God all we can pray is like Habakkuk if you and I live through that judgment that in the midst of that wrath that God will remember mercy towards his people that is what

Habakkuk is asking for Lord in the midst of this wrath that you are describing that is going to be poured out on my people in the midst of that be merciful to us your people because Habakkuk knows you are going to see here in a moment that he has to live through this he is going to see it he had heard the report about God the vision in chapters 1 and 2 about God's justice that it does not sleep it does not slumber it is not tarrying it is coming it is inexorable it must come to pass it is unalterable there is an appointed time he knows that he knows that God is just and this causes him to fear but he prays that the

Lord would continue his work of redemption and mercy and in the midst of that wrath he would remember mercy then

Habakkuk uses language to describe God's deliverance and his judgment beginning in verse 3 and I am not going to read all verses 3 through 15 and comment on it but you will notice that if you read through that you will notice that some of the language that Habakkuk uses comes from episodes of judgment and deliverance in Israel's past the exodus out of the land of Egypt the crossing of the

Red Sea different judgments of God upon the nation he borrows some of the descriptions from other Old Testament passages you will notice in verse 5 before him goes pestilence and plague comes after him verse 6 the perpetual mountains were shattered verse 7 he sees the tents of Cushon under distress the tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling verse 10 the mountains saw you in quake, downpour of waters swept by illusions there to the flood the flood the exodus deliverance and other various supernatural judgments and deliverances in Israel's past he uses the language of that to describe this

God this is the vision of God that Habakkuk saw this is what he understood to be true about the nature of God this is what caused him to fear verse 12 in the

Indian nation you marched through the earth in danger in anger you trampled the nations you went forth for the salvation of your people for the salvation of your anointed you struck the head of the house of evil to lay him open from thigh to neck see it's not all about judgment there is a hope of deliverance there's hope of salvation that he mentions in verse 13 in verse 16 here is his prayer here is his lesson

I heard and my inward parts trembled at the sound my lips quivered decay enters my bones and in my place

I tremble because I must wait quietly for the day of distress for the people to arise who will invade us that's not good news is it

Habakkuk just says I I'm filled with distress and angst over this and affliction

I feel like my bones are rotting because I just have to sit here quietly what can the righteous do and wait for this to happen

I know he knew it was going to happen in his lifetime he knew he just had to sit there and wait for these appointed people to invade his land and he had no idea what the future would hold for him except that judgment is coming

Habakkuk Habakkuk and it will be in your lifetime verse 17 this is his statement of faith now what does it mean that the just or the righteous will live by faith this is it verse 17 though the fig tree should not blossom and though there be no fruit on the vines though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls yet I will exult in the

Lord I will rejoice in the God of my salvation the Lord God is my strength and he has made my feet like Heinz feet and makes me to walk on high places if they come in and they seize all of my property

Habakkuk says I will accept it joyfully and exult in the God of my salvation it's almost like the language from Hebrews is borrowed from Habakkuk isn't it though the olive tree should fail and there be no food and the flocks be cut off and the herds fail and there be no cattle and there is nothing to eat and though I have everything taken from me

I will exult in the Lord my God and in his salvation because he by his grace causes me to skip around on high places like a deer out in the wilderness

I will not be tripped up I will not stumble I will not falter I will not fail not because I'm special not because I'm a big bag of chips and all of that but because God is great and if my faith is in him the just live by faith they are able to say in the worst of circumstances

I will exult in the God of my salvation even though all of this should fail and all of this should be taken from me

I have to sit and watch and wait for the invasion of my nation and the destruction of my people and if the fig tree should not blossom and everything is taken the just shall live by faith the just shall live by faith the righteous lives by faith this is what it meant for Habakkuk I know that this is coming

I see it happening around me but the righteous man lives by his faith he trusts in Yahweh for his protection for his provision for his preservation for his perseverance he lives by faith circumstances could not alter this for Habakkuk he knew that he would be sure and immovable and he would not slip because the just man lives by his faith

God keeps him steady strong do we just run around and shout drain the swamp put her in prison is that our battle cry we might want certain people to be in prison there might be nothing else in this world that brings me more joy than to see a bunch of people perp walked in orange suits into a penitentiary somewhere that might bring me great earthly joy and it would

I shouldn't say it might it would bring me great earthly joy but that ultimately is not where my hope lies because justice in this world will not be done so long as the wicked surround the righteous justice will come out perverted do we expect anything else when the wicked rule this is why it's true that when a righteous man rules the people rejoice but when the wicked rule the people groan it's misery when the wicked rule the wicked surround the righteous and justice is not done but he who is coming will come and he will not delay and again we're back to the just shall live by faith now that's the text of Habakkuk and I got time for this how is it that Galatians I told you

I promised you I would do Habakkuk and Hebrews and Galatians and Romans if I can remember that fourth book

I'll get to it Romans okay the book Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4 is quoted in all three of those all three of those

New Testament books I think I love the fact that I love the fact that this this statement which is so central to our theology is so central to our life is found in this obscure book in fact if you would ask most

Christians in this world in this country just in a Bible trivia game if you were to say who first said the just shall live by faith was it

Frank Sinatra A B Ruth Bader Ginsburg C Martin Luther or D Habakkuk most

Christians would probably think well I don't remember a Sinatra song by that name it doesn't sound like something Ruth Bader Ginsburg would say and this is probably a trick question it sounds like something

Martin Luther would say so I'll go with Martin Luther how many of them would have known that it came from Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4 and furthermore how many other than this group of select people that are here today would have been able to tell you the context of the book of Habakkuk and how significant that statement is it's so significant that we find it quoted three times in the

New Testament I'll read to you first Galatians 1 16 a familiar passage for I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the

Jew first and also to the Greek for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written but the righteous man shall live by faith then from Galatians 3 verse 11 and 12 now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident for the righteous man shall live by faith however the law is not of faith on the contrary who practices them shall live by them there's the context of each of those in the book of Romans the book of Romans tells us what it means to be a just man how is a man made just or made righteous in the sight of God the first three chapters are all about our sin everybody is unrighteous there's no one righteous no not one everybody is unjust the poison of asps is under their lips we are wicked we go astray from birth we have a sin problem and we are guilty and can never be regarded as righteous in and of ourselves but chapter 4 the righteous are justified by faith just as Abraham was justified by faith so that chapter 5 having been justified by that faith you and I can be at peace with God we can have the peace of the

Lord Jesus Christ and be righteous and then what does that righteousness do once it is imputed to us by faith just as it was to Abraham what does that righteousness accomplish by that we are sanctified

Romans chapter 6 and 7 we are secured Romans chapter 8 but what about Israel they were justified by faith as well but not all

Israel is Israel does the fact that God is justifying Gentiles by faith discredit Israel no not at all that's

Romans chapter 9 9, 10 and 11 so in the book of Romans the apostle Paul is answering the question how is a man set right with God the answer it is by faith we are justified declared righteous we begin our

Christian life by faith for the just man shall live by faith now the book of Galatians chapter 3 the book of Galatians the question is having been justified by faith

Romans how do I live do I live by the law do I go back to the law for my sanctification and my glorification and my day to day life and my growth and holiness no having been justified by grace because the law cannot justify a man

Romans so a man is to live by faith if the law cannot justify us the law cannot give us strength to live by grace so just as we are justified by faith and not by law so we are to live by faith and not by law that's the question that the book of Galatians answers how does a man die guess what it's by faith

Hebrews chapter 11 all these saints that died without ever receiving the promise we are justified and begin living our

Christian life by faith we live continually day after day guess what not by law but by faith and how is it that we die we die in faith having persevered all the way to the end to the preserving of our soul like those

Old Testament saints of old we will live and probably never see in our own lifetime the fulfillment of those promises but we wait and we look by faith just like those

Old Testament saints did just like Habakkuk did he was an Old Testament faith hero and he waited upon God trusted in God and lived by faith we start living our

Christian life by faith we continue living our Christian life by faith and we die in faith we are not like apostates we are not like fake believers make believers we begin continue and end in faith and Hebrews tells us what faith is like what faith looks like who it is that has it and what are the marks of faith

Romans the just live by faith Galatians the just shall live day by day by faith and Hebrews the just shall live by faith here's what faith is and all the way to the end the beginning of your

Christian life the middle of your Christian life the end of your Christian life it is all lived by faith that is why the just shall live by faith a trust in the providence the sovereignty the grace the goodness the wisdom the righteousness the justice the truth and the honor of Yahweh we believe that we embrace that and we hold fast to that all the way to the very end having been justified we continue to live and we will die in faith waiting for the fulfillment of the promise but always certain that the promise will be fulfilled the just shall live by faith let's pray our

Father we love you and we thank you for your goodness and for your word you are so merciful you are so good you are just and you are righteous and as your people we do not know the future we do not know what you have in store for us in this world or in these times in which we live but we know that you are righteous and good and we cannot question your wisdom you are infinite and perfect in all that you do all your ways are good and just and you are accomplishing around us and amongst the nations all your good and sovereign purposes and so we trust you and we pray that you would give us grace to live by faith having been justified by it having been sanctified by it that if necessary we would even die in faith never seeing in our own lifetime the fulfillment of these promises and we pray that you would strengthen us and encourage our hearts together and we thank you for this precious book of Habakkuk and for the times in which he lived and for the message that it has for us today use it we pray to steal our hearts in truth for thy sake and for your glory we pray in Christ's name

Amen Please stand This is my

Father's world And to my listening ears

All nature sings And round me rings

The music of the streams This is my

Father's world I rest me in the thought

Of rocks and trees Of skies and seas

This had the wonders brought This is my

Father's world The birds their carols raise

The morning light The lily white

Declare their maker's praise This is my

Father's world He shines in all that's fair In rustling grass

I hear him pass He speaks to me everywhere

This is my Father's world Oh let me ne 'er forget

That though the rump seems oft so strong God is the ruler yet This is my

Father's world The battle is not done

Jesus who died shall be satisfied And earth and heaven be one

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all

You are dismissed Prisoners chained

And set them free Those bescattered

God shall arise Oh sing his praise

Lift and see your

Savior Mighty Savior God shall arise

In the skies Became a servant Clothed in flesh

You obeyed And in you was no sin

You were counted guilty And died our death

God shall arise And those bescattered

God shall arise Oh sing his praise

Lift and see your

Savior Mighty Savior God shall arise

Nations Say you are awesome

Every kingdom Sing praise

Nations Say you are awesome

Let every kingdom Sing praise

God shall arise And those bescattered

God shall arise Oh sing his praise