Living by Faith

Ken Guenther

Habakkuk • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Introduction

What does it mean to be a believer? A person of faith? A person who lives by faith.

· 3 times in the NT, we find this phrase – the righteous will live by faith – , ,

· This is a quote from - “but the righteous shall live by his faith.

Does this mean?

· Going to church?

· Keeping all the fasts?

· Believing the right doctrine?

· Praying to God in times of emergency?

· Expecting God to keep you health and wealth?

I think Habakkuk shows us a much richer and fuller understanding of what it means to live by faith.

· Habakkuk has been given a difficult message by the Lord. God has asked him to accept this message and believe it, even though it is not the message that Habakkuk had hoped for.

· But Habakkuk accepts the message, and demonstrates his faith in his response to God’s message.

Asking God to make his glory known

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth. LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. -

This prayer indicates that the prophet now has no further arguments to make.

· He has made his complaint, heard God’s answer and come to realize that God is in control and will in his time punish the wicked.

· Now he leads God’s people to an acceptance of what the Lord has revealed to him.

It begins with worship

· The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him. -

· He comes to recognize again how great God really is – and how small and weak he is.

I stand in awe

· God had told him that he would be amazed – “Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. -

· Adopts an attitude of humility, submission, fear

· Leadership retreat in Thailand – Spiritual audit. “Have I maintained genuine awe of God?”

· “Is the awe of God growing in me? The awe of God inspires, it overwhelms, it intimidates my humanness, and it inspires worship.”

o I realized this was one area where I was not doing well.

o Over time, we can become too familiar with God. We don’t treat him with the awe and respect and fear that he deserves

o A month of meditating on passages about awe and reverence in Scripture.

Make your glory known again

· I have heard what you have done in the past. Do it again. Encore!

· You promised, For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. -

· I want that to happen.

· Like praying, “Your kingdom come.”

· Not a prayer for God to make things easier for Israel. Habakkuk is fully accepting God’s plan. He knows that if God will answer this prayer, life will be hard. They will go through terrifying times. Many of his people will suffer.

· But his concern – God’s glory

· Recognition that God’s glory would be seen in his wrath and punishment upon the wicked. Recognition that this would also make life very difficult for Israel. But Habakkuk, because he is a man of faith, wants this to happen. This is his heart’s desire.

But don't forget to be merciful as you display your wrath.

· In wrath remember mercy. In the midst of the storm, please give us indications that you still love us and won’t pour out your whole wrath on us.

· You are a great, holy, just God – you will punish the wicked

· But you are also a merciful God – you do not give us what we deserve

· Your mercy also demonstrates your glory

· Be merciful as you display your wrath. Spare your people even though they are also deserving of punishment.

· Why can we ask God to be merciful? Because of Jesus. God’s wrath was poured out on Jesus. So now we don’t experience God’s wrath.

· Dave Loewen’s response to the question, “How are you?”

o How are we expected to answer this question in English?

o Better than I deserve.

Meditating on what God has done in the past

God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed— but he marches on forever. I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish. Were you angry with the rivers, LORD? Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode your horses and your chariots to victory? You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows. You split the earth with rivers; the mountains saw you and writhed. Torrents of water swept by; the deep roared and lifted its waves on high. Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear. In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations. You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot. With his own spear you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding. You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters. I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. -

Habakkuk’s vision of God coming in wrath and power – 3:3-16a

· it is a time of tremendous upheaval

· But it is also a time of deliverance

· God is coming – and it is going to be amazing

He refers to various stories of what God had done for his people in the past

· 3:5 - Plagues & pestilence – reference to how God punished the Egyptians and the Israelites in the wilderness and during the time of King David

· 3:6 - Mountains shaking – reference to God appearing to them on Mount Sinai - the whole mountain trembled violently –

· 3:7 - Tents of Cushan and Midian in distress – God saving them through the judges like Othniel and Gideon

· 3:8 – 10 – Rivers and seas – God opening the way through the Red Sea and the Jordan River.

· 3:11 – Sun & moon stood still – during the time of Joshua

· Who is on center stage? Who is the hero of these stories? God

o Sometimes we think that David or Moses or Joshua are the heroes of the Bible

o Then we see how they make mistakes and fall into sin – and we are disappointed in them

o One of the things I learned about the OT narratives – God is the hero of every story

o If we tell the story in a way that makes David or Moses or Joshua or Elijah the hero, we have not been true to the Bible.

· His glory is on display – His splendor covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise.

Why is God doing all this?

· Is God angry with his creation? No, but his creation are instruments of his judgment.

· He is acting as judge

o In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations. -

· But he is not only coming to judge. He is coming to deliver his people

o You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot. -

God is active, not passive.

· Sometimes we see God as sitting in heaven, passively watching everything that is happening. Maybe shaking his head in disappointment. He smiles at this children, feels love toward them, hurts when they are going through pain. But he doesn’t do anything about it. He is passive while all this is going on.

· It is up to human beings to act.

· This is deism – believing in the existence of God, is God as creator, but not a God who intervenes in his creation.

· That is not how Habakkuk sees him.

· 3:12-15 – God is on the march. He is on the move. He is a warrior. He is going into battle and totally destroying his enemies.

Has Habakkuk seen God do this in his day?

· No, not yet

· 1:2 – How long must I call for help but you do not listen, or cry out to you, “Violence” but you do not save?”

· He has not yet seen the Babylonians come to judge Israel. He has not yet seen God judge Babylon for their pride.

So how does Habakkuk see all this?

· God revealed himself to Habakkuk in a vision

· But the vision is based on his knowledge. Habakkuk remembered the stories that his parents and ancestors told him about what God had done in the past

· How important it is to tell Bible stories to our children.

o Not just stories from the NT, but stories from the OT.

o My mother reading Bible stories to us every night

o First year of Bible college – Bible class was boring!

· The greatest story – the story of Jesus. God gave his son to die for us. There is no greater demonstration of God’s commitment to help his people than that.

Meditating on what God had done in the past causes him to fear God now

· I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled.

· The longer he meditates on who God is, the more his sense of awe is deepened.

· Living by faith – believing that the God of the Bible is the same God today.

o Expecting him to act

o Believing that he is acting, even when you can’t see it right now.

· Living by faith = Fearing God even when you don’t yet see his actions today

Choosing to rejoice in the Lord Anyway

Habakkuk’s response to what he has seen - 3:16-19

Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. For the director of music. On my stringed instruments. -

This is a great illustration of what it means to live by faith – 2:4

Believing the promises even when they take a long time

· I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.

· God had said, “Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.” -

· I will punish the wicked, even though it may take a while.

· Habakkuk says, OK, I believe that you are not a God who procrastinates because you don’t want to act. You are a God of action. In your time, you will do what you have promised. I will wait.

Rejoicing in the Lord despite difficult circumstances

· Vs. 17-18 - Some of the most famous verses in Habakkuk.

· Habakkuk is not talking about a theoretical possibility. He recognizes that the people who will invade Judah will destroy their crops and steal their animals, and leave them poverty stricken, if not dead. Yes, eventually God will destroy the destroyer, but meanwhile there is going to be a lot of misery.

· Yet he is confident that he can be joyful, worshipful and an overcomer, whatever life may bring.

· New York Times – amazed that so many people were thankful after Hurricane Harvey hit Houston. Records what people were praying as they gathered to help a old woman who home had been flooded

o “I thank you, Lord, for the things that you’ve given us, the grace and mercy that we take for granted.”

o It was just stuff, they told themselves, the accumulations of this earthly life, not an eternal one. Everyone was safe. God was still good.

o “Lord, I want to thank you that we’re not in worse shape than we are, because we know that others have suffered even more.”

· Life is not fair. Some enjoy prosperity and others who are just as or even more faithful to the Lord have very little or are deprived of everything.

· You may not lost everything in a flood or a hurricane. But sometimes we struggle when we see others have so much more than we do. How come we don’t receive the blessings that other people have.

o When I was 24 years old, and left for the mission field, I had no less than any of my friends. We were all poor. Driving old cars, did not own a house, had very little money in the bank. At least I didn’t have any debt.

o Now 30 years later – I still drive an old car, I don’t own a house, and I am not sure that we will ever be able to afford to buy a house in Canada. My friends – have several new cars, they own big houses, sometimes more than one house, they take vacations to expensive places

o God has been good. We have never gone hungry and we have always had a place to live.

o When I travel to countries like the Philippines or Vietnam or even some of the places in Ukraine, I have every reason to be thankful for what God has given us

o But when we go back home to Canada, we compare ourselves with our friends and relatives over there – and we see how much less we have.

o And sometimes it is difficult to rejoice in the Lord.

o So what has God taught me? To trust his promises. God is no man’s debtor. To find my joy in the Lord. To recognize that God is my greatest treasure. To believe that the reward in heaven is going to make it all worth while.

· If we suffer in this life, that does not mean we cannot rejoice in the Lord. We can be content, thankful, even joyful, even when we do not have money or possessions.

· God is our Saviour. He is our greatest Treasure. If God is for us, who can be against us?

Confident in God’s strength even when we feel weak

· After his vision of God’s power, Habakkuk felt weak - decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled

· But he found strength in realizing that this great, powerful, victorious God was his strength.

· Quotes a victory psalm of David’s when God had given him victory over all his enemies.

· He was weak, but God was strong. God would help him overcome all the problems that were coming.

· In fact, God’s power is often revealed in weak people. Think of Mary, a young teenage girl who gave birth to the Messiah, David a young boy who defeats the giant Goliath, Samuel, an even younger boy who hears the voice of God when no one else in Israel is able to hear from God.

· God delights in showing himself strong through the weak.

· He gets glory when the weak are able to triumph in difficult circumstances.

Application:

So what does it mean to live by faith?

We ask God to make his glory known

We meditate on what God has done in the past and we expect him to do it again

We choose to rejoice in the Lord, even when we are in difficult circumstances and feel weak.