WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.879 Ibles, scrab our bibles in turn to the book of 2 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:04.719 a backck. 3 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:06.679 If you need a Bible, just raise your hand. 4 00:00:06.679 --> 00:00:09.480 We're passing those out right now, Bibles and bulletins and pens. 5 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:11.320 Just raise your hand, catch the eye. 6 00:00:11.199 --> 00:00:13.039 Of one of our ushers and we'll get you whatever 7 00:00:13.080 --> 00:00:14.439 you need and turn. 8 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:15.480 To a backck. 9 00:00:16.839 --> 00:00:18.559 I give you a little extra time to find that one. 10 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:22.120 It's another minor prophet. If you have a bookmark from 11 00:00:22.199 --> 00:00:24.000 last week in Nahem, it's just. 12 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:26.399 To the right, okay, abackic. 13 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:30.079 There's a good opportunity for me to also remind you 14 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:32.600 to please please fill out a connection card. 15 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:34.960 We do that every week all of us. 16 00:00:36.119 --> 00:00:38.679 If you're a guest, it's great because you can leave 17 00:00:38.679 --> 00:00:39.759 some contact information and. 18 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:40.520 We'll follow up with you. 19 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:44.840 And if you're a member or a regular attender here, 20 00:00:45.439 --> 00:00:48.240 it's a really important pastoral tool that we would know 21 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:50.039 that you're here by name, So you've got the whole 22 00:00:50.039 --> 00:00:55.000 worship service to do that. And after the service, if 23 00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:57.439 you are new here, there's a table out in the 24 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:00.039 lobby called Step one and we'd love to connect with 25 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:02.880 you there. Answer questions, invite you into the life of 26 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:05.599 this church, and we'd love to do that there with you, 27 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:08.239 So turn with me to Habacic. 28 00:01:09.159 --> 00:01:13.519 Somehow I've lost this thing and get this strained out 29 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:15.280 all right. 30 00:01:15.760 --> 00:01:21.319 Also, this Wednesday is the first Wednesday of August. I know, 31 00:01:21.680 --> 00:01:26.040 I can't believe it. So six o'clock right in here, 32 00:01:26.239 --> 00:01:30.000 we're gonna have our congregational prayer meeting together, So a 33 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:34.120 whole church prayer meeting writing here at six o'clock. It's 34 00:01:34.159 --> 00:01:37.120 a it's an earlier time than we've usually been doing it. 35 00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:39.840 So we're kind of experimenting with that seeing if six 36 00:01:39.840 --> 00:01:43.280 o'clock works better for our congregation. And you can tell 37 00:01:43.319 --> 00:01:48.519 me by being there, So see you there six o'clock. 38 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:56.640 Now we're in Habakic. Everybody there? Awesome? How about those hymns? 39 00:01:56.680 --> 00:01:57.400 Just so awesome. 40 00:01:57.920 --> 00:02:00.200 One of the things I love about this congregation is 41 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:05.439 your readiness to worship together, regardless of musical style, of 42 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:08.199 what it seems like, no matter what. And this is 43 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:11.800 an amazing team leading us here and from the technology, 44 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:14.080 and no matter what the team leads us towards, you 45 00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:16.319 guys are just ready to worship the Lord. 46 00:02:16.719 --> 00:02:22.520 It's like your heart is in it. Praise God. Aback. 47 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:28.840 I've titled this message complaining to God complaining to God. 48 00:02:29.240 --> 00:02:30.680 I don't know if you have a picture of what 49 00:02:30.719 --> 00:02:33.960 it looks like to complain to God, maybe from your 50 00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:39.240 own life, maybe from maybe a movie. When I think 51 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:41.360 of complaining to God, the first scene that comes to 52 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:44.960 my mind is Lieutenant Dan at the top of the 53 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:45.520 mast of. 54 00:02:45.479 --> 00:02:48.400 A ship, just sort of shaking his hands towards. 55 00:02:48.280 --> 00:02:51.439 Heaven and uh and going back and forth with God. 56 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:53.000 I'm not saying that's the way to do it. I'm 57 00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:54.759 not saying Lieutenant Dan is our example. 58 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:56.919 I'm just saying it's a picture. 59 00:03:01.439 --> 00:03:04.960 If you're here this morning as a non Christian, I 60 00:03:05.039 --> 00:03:08.400 just want to go ahead and start by saying I realize, 61 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:12.960 and I think Scripture realizes that there may be some 62 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:15.719 complaints that you have. 63 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:19.000 That you feel have really kept you from faith. 64 00:03:21.840 --> 00:03:26.240 It's also possible for us to become so fond of 65 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:31.479 our complaints that we prefer them to faith. 66 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:37.400 If you're here as a Christian, when. 67 00:03:37.199 --> 00:03:40.840 We start talking about complaining to God, you may have 68 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:43.879 questions like, is it ever right to complain to God? 69 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:48.919 What's the what are the right words, What's what are 70 00:03:48.960 --> 00:03:50.879 the right issues for me to bring up with him? 71 00:03:50.879 --> 00:03:53.560 What's the right posture? 72 00:03:57.360 --> 00:04:02.560 Well back a book about that a backic is like 73 00:04:02.599 --> 00:04:09.599 most of us, frustrated by terrible stuff, and he goes 74 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:10.719 back and forth with God. 75 00:04:10.759 --> 00:04:12.120 That's the whole book. 76 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:16.519 He goes back and forth, lots of complaints, and he 77 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:20.920 goes through what I'll just call a growth process. 78 00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:24.720 He goes through a growth process. 79 00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:28.560 He is not the same person at the end of 80 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:30.879 the book with the same posture at the end of 81 00:04:30.879 --> 00:04:32.600 the book that he is at the beginning. 82 00:04:33.680 --> 00:04:34.720 Not because God. 83 00:04:34.519 --> 00:04:38.199 Gives him some naive pat answers, not because he tells 84 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:44.160 Habakk what he wants to hear. But he does come 85 00:04:44.199 --> 00:04:50.680 out the other side with trust and joy, and his 86 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:57.920 readers were invited into that process, which we'll take in 87 00:04:57.959 --> 00:05:01.639 two steps. For us, we'll take in two steps. Here 88 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:08.879 are the steps next week and this week next week 89 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:14.079 Chapters two and three, This week, Chapter. 90 00:05:13.800 --> 00:05:16.199 One next week. 91 00:05:16.839 --> 00:05:20.040 If our aim next week is that kind of awe 92 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:28.199 and trust and joy and confidence, and we see how 93 00:05:28.199 --> 00:05:32.519 about to get to this week our aim is a 94 00:05:32.519 --> 00:05:34.079 little bit more modest. 95 00:05:35.160 --> 00:05:36.959 This week. Here's what I'm shooting for. 96 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:45.560 An open mind, an open mind that is ready to 97 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:46.920 let go. 98 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:54.040 Of a small minded view of God, to let go 99 00:05:54.480 --> 00:06:03.199 of a small minded view of God's work. And next week, 100 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:10.879 after we've spent this week letting go, next week will 101 00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:13.519 grab hold. 102 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:13.600 Of something else. 103 00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:19.199 If this week we open our minds, next week we'll 104 00:06:19.199 --> 00:06:22.800 see how God fills them. A bit of a cliffhanger, 105 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:30.639 because here's the thing we got to come to grips with. 106 00:06:30.800 --> 00:06:41.800 Sometimes God handles terrible stuff by using terrible stuff. Let's 107 00:06:41.839 --> 00:06:47.600 read chapter one of Habakk. We'll read chapter one and 108 00:06:47.639 --> 00:06:50.879 the first verse of chapter two, which you'll see, is 109 00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:58.079 like the perfect picture of an open mind. The oracle 110 00:06:58.160 --> 00:07:03.199 that Habakik the prophet saw, Oh Lord, how long shall 111 00:07:03.240 --> 00:07:06.279 I cry for help? And you will not hear? Or 112 00:07:06.319 --> 00:07:09.959 cry to you violence? And you will not save? Why 113 00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:13.800 do you make me see iniquity while you idly look 114 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:18.399 at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me, Strife and 115 00:07:18.519 --> 00:07:23.959 contention arise, so the law is paralyzed, and justice never 116 00:07:24.040 --> 00:07:28.040 goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, and so 117 00:07:28.240 --> 00:07:37.319 justice goes forth perverted. Look among the nations and see 118 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:41.560 wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work 119 00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:45.199 in your days that you would not believe if told. 120 00:07:46.000 --> 00:07:50.160 For behold, I'm raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and 121 00:07:50.279 --> 00:07:53.519 hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth 122 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:57.680 to seize dwellings not their own. They are dreaded and fearsome. 123 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:01.279 Their justice and dignity go forth from them. Their horses 124 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:05.160 are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves. 125 00:08:05.319 --> 00:08:09.480 Their horsemen press proudly on their horsemen come from afar, They. 126 00:08:09.319 --> 00:08:12.720 Fly like an eagle, swift to devour. 127 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:17.560 They all come for violence, all their faces forward. 128 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:21.199 They gather captives like sand at kings. 129 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:26.800 They scoff at rulers, they laugh, They laugh at every fortress, 130 00:08:27.000 --> 00:08:30.360 for they pile up earth and take it. And then 131 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:33.720 they sweep by like the wind and go on. Guilty 132 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:42.840 men whose might is their God? Are you not from everlasting? 133 00:08:43.039 --> 00:08:47.120 Oh Lord, my God, my holy one, we shall not die. 134 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:52.279 Oh Lord, You've ordained them as a judgment, And you, 135 00:08:52.600 --> 00:08:57.440 oh Rock, have established them for reproof. You, who are 136 00:08:57.480 --> 00:09:01.720 of purer eyes than to see evil, and cannot look 137 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:05.919 at wrong. Why do you idly look at traders and 138 00:09:05.960 --> 00:09:08.320 remain silent when the wicked swallows up a man more 139 00:09:08.360 --> 00:09:12.799 righteous than he? You make mankind like the fish of 140 00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:17.000 the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. He 141 00:09:17.120 --> 00:09:19.720 brings up all of them with a hook, and he 142 00:09:19.840 --> 00:09:22.639 drags them out with a net, and he gathers them 143 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:23.399 and his dragnet. 144 00:09:23.480 --> 00:09:25.440 So he rejoices and is glad. 145 00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:29.720 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to 146 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:32.879 his drag net, for by them he lives in luxury 147 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:37.080 and his food is rich. Is he then to keep 148 00:09:37.159 --> 00:09:42.120 on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever. 149 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:45.039 I will stand. 150 00:09:45.559 --> 00:09:48.639 I will take my stand at my watch post and 151 00:09:48.720 --> 00:09:52.320 station myself on the tower and look out to see 152 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:55.279 what he will say to me. But I will answer 153 00:09:55.639 --> 00:10:00.440 concerning my complaint. This is the word of the Lord. 154 00:10:03.879 --> 00:10:09.000 So there we have it, complaining to God Habacchic in 155 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:14.399 this back and forth when you can see already, and 156 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:18.080 this back and forth is this first chapter is got 157 00:10:18.120 --> 00:10:20.960 three parts to it, right, starts with Habaccic complaining and 158 00:10:21.399 --> 00:10:24.759 God answers him. And then Habacic is like, whoa, I've 159 00:10:24.799 --> 00:10:29.240 got more complaints. And so we're gonna take those three 160 00:10:29.320 --> 00:10:31.960 parts of this back and forth like this. I'm gonna 161 00:10:31.960 --> 00:10:38.039 call the first one bringing complaints, the second part challenging answers, 162 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:48.960 and the third open questions, bringing complaints, challenging answers, open questions. 163 00:10:52.240 --> 00:10:55.840 So let's go with part one. Bringing complaints. 164 00:10:58.360 --> 00:11:02.720 I mean, that's what he does, this guy Habaca. You 165 00:11:02.759 --> 00:11:06.120 see verse one, the oracle that Habakac the prophet saw. 166 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:11.639 So Habaka is a prophet and he is ministering at 167 00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:15.039 kind of the worst time in Israel and Juda's history. 168 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:20.679 Is his ministry is during some of the worst kings 169 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:23.759 and some of the grossest behavior from the people who 170 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:26.759 call themselves the people of God. And so that's what 171 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:35.559 he starts complaining about. He's like, your people stink. And 172 00:11:35.559 --> 00:11:41.120 in verse two he brings me. He starts with two, 173 00:11:41.159 --> 00:11:44.879 and three and four. He just brings three verses of complaints. 174 00:11:46.279 --> 00:11:50.519 And here's the curious thing. Here's what we have to wonder. 175 00:11:53.799 --> 00:12:01.799 What is the nature of these complaints. What's his posture? 176 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:07.279 Reverent? Irreverent? 177 00:12:09.080 --> 00:12:11.919 Well, I mean the verse two he says he's clearly 178 00:12:11.960 --> 00:12:15.759 concerned about God's help. Why he's like, I cry for help, 179 00:12:16.720 --> 00:12:23.519 I cry to you. But also what's he saying about God, 180 00:12:25.399 --> 00:12:28.399 You're not doing it. You're not helping. You're the helping God, 181 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:34.559 You're the saving one. You're not saving Verse three. I mean, 182 00:12:34.600 --> 00:12:37.440 he's clearly concerned for a stop to violence and a 183 00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:39.159 stop to iniquity and wrong. 184 00:12:39.480 --> 00:12:45.080 But also, God, you're not doing anything. You're idly. 185 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:51.200 Watching, isn't that what he says? You're just twiddling your 186 00:12:51.240 --> 00:12:59.000 thumbs God verse four. Clearly he's concerned that God's instructions, 187 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:02.759 his law and justice go forth untwisted, that the righteous 188 00:13:02.799 --> 00:13:05.360 would prevail and the wicked be thwarted. Because right now 189 00:13:05.399 --> 00:13:07.799 the righteous are being thwarted and the wicked are prevailing. 190 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:15.519 So Habacca is like, what's the nature of these complaints? 191 00:13:15.639 --> 00:13:20.759 Habacic is kind of bringing the right stuff, right, I mean, 192 00:13:21.399 --> 00:13:23.840 certainly there are some things that Hebaccaic and God are 193 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:28.200 agreeing about. Same with you, as you get frustrated over 194 00:13:28.279 --> 00:13:30.399 terrible things. I am sure there are things that you 195 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:31.600 were frustrated about that you. 196 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:33.960 Can complain about. And God's like, yep. 197 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:43.240 So he's kind of bringing the right stuff, maybe in 198 00:13:43.320 --> 00:13:44.000 the right way. 199 00:13:46.000 --> 00:13:46.399 Don't know. 200 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:57.960 Jury's ow, we'll see. But here's the thing. Maybe he's 201 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:01.639 bringing the right stuff, Maybe he's bringing in the right way. 202 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:13.600 He's for sure bringing it to the right person. I'm 203 00:14:13.639 --> 00:14:17.440 not saying who backs the perfect example. Like I said, 204 00:14:17.519 --> 00:14:31.960 he's in a growth process. But lamenting lamenting is usually right. 205 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:37.080 Some of the people with the strongest prayer lives are 206 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:48.600 those who lean into lament, who aren't content to just 207 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:53.679 bring their tidy little requests and to bring their tidy 208 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:58.480 little points of thanksgiving to God that they know check 209 00:14:58.519 --> 00:15:04.639 all the right boxes, but are ready to bring what's 210 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:08.159 really in there out of the basement and bring it 211 00:15:08.200 --> 00:15:19.240 to God. As Psalm says, I pour out my complaint 212 00:15:19.320 --> 00:15:22.399 before him, I tell my trouble before him. 213 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:25.720 Lament is good. 214 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:38.679 Biblical lament isn't grumbling, which is not good, right. Biblical 215 00:15:38.759 --> 00:15:45.000 lament is bringing complaint to God. Sinful grumbling is bringing 216 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:52.399 complaint against God. So I suppose we have to ask 217 00:15:52.399 --> 00:15:57.159 ourselves this question when we bring our complaints to God. 218 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:03.639 Is our complaining biblical lament or sinful grumbling? Or does 219 00:16:03.679 --> 00:16:07.440 it kind of seem to slide around and. 220 00:16:09.639 --> 00:16:13.759 Hit both before you're done? Is that fair? 221 00:16:15.720 --> 00:16:24.200 I mean, Habaccics truly seems to slide around Moses's complaints, 222 00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:34.919 seem to slide around Job's complaints. Certainly slide around lots 223 00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:46.000 of real biblical reverent lament in Job, and then sometimes 224 00:16:46.000 --> 00:16:52.399 he just takes a left. And here's the thing about 225 00:16:52.399 --> 00:17:00.759 those saints about Hbaccic Moses job others. God never says, 226 00:17:01.399 --> 00:17:09.200 how dare you? He corrects them with mercy. He moves 227 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:12.839 them because they're willing to be moved. 228 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:15.160 You know, the people of. 229 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:18.400 Israel in the wilderness, they brought grumbling before the Lord 230 00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:18.880 and God. 231 00:17:18.920 --> 00:17:19.960 As God went to. 232 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:22.680 Correct them, they just stiffened their neck and they're like, no, 233 00:17:22.880 --> 00:17:24.599 I'm gonna be hardened in my grumbling. 234 00:17:29.880 --> 00:17:32.559 I was really their great fault. 235 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:41.160 Not that they had a complaint, not that they brought 236 00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:53.279 it to God, but they wouldn't hear him when they did. So. 237 00:17:53.400 --> 00:17:59.559 If your complaints slide around between biblical lament and sinful 238 00:17:59.559 --> 00:18:03.519 grum grumbling, let me just tell you, without advocating or 239 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:06.920 even like suggesting that sinful grumbling isn't sinful it is. 240 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:09.440 I'm just saying, where else are you going to go 241 00:18:09.480 --> 00:18:15.799 with it? As John Piper said, I was at a 242 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:20.160 conference with Piper and he was on job. Is the 243 00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:23.480 only thing I remember from the whole conference. He's in 244 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:27.799 this Q and A session and here's what I'm getting at. 245 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:32.279 The question that the conference attender asked, was it is 246 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:37.119 it ever right to be angry with God? And Pastor 247 00:18:37.160 --> 00:18:41.799 Piper said no, it's always wrong to be angry with God, 248 00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:43.279 that's always wrong. 249 00:18:43.799 --> 00:18:44.799 God is right. 250 00:18:46.799 --> 00:18:49.559 And our and our and what is right and righteous 251 00:18:49.960 --> 00:18:51.920 is for us to acknowledge that He is right and 252 00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:53.160 to not be angry with him. 253 00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:54.880 But but but. 254 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.880 If you are angry with him, the right thing to 255 00:18:59.880 --> 00:19:03.319 do is bring it to him, because he already knows. 256 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:06.799 Where else are you gonna go with that? 257 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:12.000 So, whether your heart is full of biblical lament, or 258 00:19:12.039 --> 00:19:15.839 your heart is full of sinful grumbling, or it's sliding around, 259 00:19:15.960 --> 00:19:19.880 like so many times the people of God's hearts are 260 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:21.920 sliding around, where are you gonna. 261 00:19:21.640 --> 00:19:22.240 Go with it? 262 00:19:24.880 --> 00:19:35.599 But to him, maybe the question isn't so much are 263 00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:39.599 you bringing biblical lament or are you bringing sinful grumbling? 264 00:19:40.079 --> 00:19:43.240 Maybe what we need to ask ourselves is am I 265 00:19:43.319 --> 00:19:50.279 bringing my complaints to God at all? Or am I 266 00:19:50.440 --> 00:19:53.920 just pretending a little tidy religion and leaving how I 267 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:56.880 really feel and what I'm really thinking and my real 268 00:19:56.920 --> 00:19:59.799 complaints and my real questions and my real. 269 00:19:59.640 --> 00:20:02.039 Concern learns down in the basement. 270 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:09.920 To just play with yourself, just fill around with it yourself, 271 00:20:10.079 --> 00:20:15.480 just grumble about it yourself. Just keep it to yourself. God, 272 00:20:15.519 --> 00:20:24.119 I'll talk to you about the tidy things. Bring those complaints. 273 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:33.519 Where else are you gonna go? Instead of being afraid 274 00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:35.440 to bring our honest complaints to God, I think we 275 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:40.640 should be afraid not to. So how does God respond 276 00:20:42.960 --> 00:20:45.759 a back ache is bringing his complaints. That's the first 277 00:20:45.799 --> 00:20:48.720 part of this exchange. Here's the second part of the exchange. 278 00:20:49.079 --> 00:20:51.599 God provides some challenging answers. 279 00:20:53.079 --> 00:20:53.799 Right, I say. 280 00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:58.640 Challenging because the very first verse of God's piece of 281 00:20:58.720 --> 00:21:01.400 this is the key verse of our whole text says 282 00:21:01.400 --> 00:21:05.000 in verse five, look among the nations and see wonder 283 00:21:05.079 --> 00:21:07.160 and be astounded, For I'm doing a work in your 284 00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:13.000 days that you wouldn't believe if told. 285 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:13.079 You're not gonna believe this. 286 00:21:14.279 --> 00:21:16.200 Now that the sense there in verse five is not 287 00:21:17.319 --> 00:21:21.359 you are not able to believe this, is rather this 288 00:21:21.440 --> 00:21:26.279 sense here's your challenge back The challenge is to believe this. 289 00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:32.119 The challenge is to believe this. And that's key because 290 00:21:32.160 --> 00:21:35.039 eventually Habakik does come to the place where he believes this, 291 00:21:35.960 --> 00:21:41.680 and there are many who don't. Paul picks this verse backup. 292 00:21:41.720 --> 00:21:44.240 There's only two verses in all of ABAC that are 293 00:21:44.319 --> 00:21:47.200 quoted in the New Testament, and this is one of them. 294 00:21:47.319 --> 00:21:49.480 And Paul picks up this verse when he's preaching the 295 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:54.079 Gospel in Acts, chapter thirteen, and he says, here's the challenge. 296 00:21:54.200 --> 00:21:55.400 The challenge is to believe this. 297 00:21:57.400 --> 00:22:00.960 Don't be be careful, he says, be careful to have 298 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:06.279 an open mind. Don't be like those that Habakik is 299 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:10.640 referencing who aren't able to believe that God can do 300 00:22:10.720 --> 00:22:13.240 what he says he can do, and that God is 301 00:22:13.319 --> 00:22:19.359 doing things the way God decides to do them. God 302 00:22:19.400 --> 00:22:21.839 is saying, here, the challenge is to believe my work. 303 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:25.079 It's bigger than you think. You've got small thoughts of. 304 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:27.960 My power and my promises and my plans. You're gonna 305 00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:31.119 have to let that go. You're gonna have to have 306 00:22:31.160 --> 00:22:41.319 an open mind, says in verse six, because look, I'm 307 00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:47.039 raising up the Chaldeans, which is another term for the Babylonians, 308 00:22:46.759 --> 00:22:51.480 that bitter and hasty nation, which is a little ironic, 309 00:22:51.559 --> 00:22:54.880 because if there's anything that Habakk is leaning towards in 310 00:22:54.920 --> 00:23:00.000 all of this, it's bitterness and being hasty. I'm raised, 311 00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:06.240 I'm braising up that nation. And then he goes through 312 00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:10.000 verse seven through through eleven. He just lays it out. 313 00:23:10.079 --> 00:23:19.200 He's like, these people are fearsome, they are dreaded, they 314 00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:26.279 are wicked. You talking about terrible stuff. Watch this terrible stuff. 315 00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:31.519 I told you. I told you in Deuteronomy twenty eight. 316 00:23:31.559 --> 00:23:32.640 He says, I told. 317 00:23:32.359 --> 00:23:35.799 You I was going to I can act this way, 318 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:41.359 I can bring this, I can use this. He uses 319 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:44.759 the same terms as he uses in Deuteronomy chapter twenty eight, 320 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:48.039 like an eagle, and that should. 321 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:48.759 Trigger her backic. 322 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:51.319 Oh, yeah, you said that you might bring another nation 323 00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:56.440 like an eagle. Here's the thing, verse eleven. Right at 324 00:23:56.480 --> 00:23:59.119 the end of it, verse eleven, here's the thing God 325 00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:00.880 himself is using. 326 00:24:01.160 --> 00:24:02.319 The godless. 327 00:24:06.519 --> 00:24:12.319 Calls him guilty, guilty men whose strength is their God. 328 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:16.680 And that's that's ironic because where Habaka gets to in 329 00:24:16.720 --> 00:24:18.200 the end, like what I told you, he's in a 330 00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:19.880 growth process, and part of it is he gets to 331 00:24:19.880 --> 00:24:24.359 the point where he's like, God is my strength, But 332 00:24:24.400 --> 00:24:25.640 for these people, it's just the opposite. 333 00:24:25.680 --> 00:24:28.119 Strength is my God. 334 00:24:29.960 --> 00:24:36.759 And God is handling terrible stuff by using terrible stuff. 335 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:45.119 This would be like if you complained to. 336 00:24:45.160 --> 00:24:49.960 God now and you said your people are entangled in 337 00:24:50.119 --> 00:24:58.680 sexual sin and lives of selfishness, and churches are saying it's. 338 00:24:58.519 --> 00:24:59.680 Okay, it's perfectly fine to. 339 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:04.720 Live like yeah, And pastors all over are popping up 340 00:25:04.920 --> 00:25:12.680 disqualified like a fish kill, and God says, yeah, terrible stuff. 341 00:25:14.440 --> 00:25:17.720 And your challenge, your challenge is gonna be to get 342 00:25:17.720 --> 00:25:22.400 your head around this because I'm going to handle that 343 00:25:22.559 --> 00:25:25.720 with even more terrible stuff. I'm gonna send a persecution 344 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:28.119 that's gonna close the doors of eighty percent of the 345 00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:30.359 churches in this country. 346 00:25:31.279 --> 00:25:35.599 What are you talking about. I'm bringing my complaint to you. 347 00:25:35.680 --> 00:25:38.000 That's terrible stuff is going on, and you're gonna give 348 00:25:38.039 --> 00:25:39.720 me that. 349 00:25:39.720 --> 00:25:42.200 That's the tool that you're going to use. 350 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:45.839 You're gonna have that crooked stick in your hand, You're 351 00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:49.160 gonna have that wicked instrument. 352 00:25:56.000 --> 00:25:57.720 I mean, that's just a hypothetical example. 353 00:25:57.720 --> 00:26:00.880 But the challenge again, the challenge is to believe that 354 00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:06.440 God's work may be bigger than you thought. I've seen 355 00:26:07.480 --> 00:26:13.640 I've seen families come to thrive and flourish. 356 00:26:12.880 --> 00:26:20.799 Spiritually because of devastating bankruptcy that only God could use. 357 00:26:22.039 --> 00:26:24.480 I'm convinced I'm going to see a marriage come to 358 00:26:24.599 --> 00:26:32.920 real healing because of cancer. Pastor Seth used the term 359 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:42.759 this morning, the grace of misery. Can you let go 360 00:26:44.839 --> 00:26:52.240 of small thoughts? About what God should do. That he 361 00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:56.359 gives and he takes away, that he rescues and he disciplines. 362 00:26:56.640 --> 00:26:59.440 That he can draw straight lines with crooked sticks, and 363 00:26:59.480 --> 00:27:06.039 even what he made crooked, who can make straight? And 364 00:27:06.119 --> 00:27:10.920 that's how Paul uses this verse in his preaching and 365 00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:18.440 Acts thirteen. It's like, be careful, be careful to have 366 00:27:18.519 --> 00:27:24.720 an open mind about what God has done. All right, brothers, 367 00:27:25.400 --> 00:27:29.119 the rulers of this people fulfilled the prophets by condemning 368 00:27:29.160 --> 00:27:37.559 the Christ. They executed him wrongly and an injustice. They 369 00:27:37.559 --> 00:27:40.480 did all that was written of him in their wickedness. 370 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:42.759 They took him down from the tree. They laid him 371 00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:49.279 in a tomb. Talk about terrible stuff injustice and wickedness 372 00:27:49.319 --> 00:27:53.519 and suffering and death to bring you justification and freedom 373 00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:57.519 and life. 374 00:27:57.759 --> 00:28:02.440 Be careful have an open mind to believe what God 375 00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:03.119 has done. 376 00:28:03.440 --> 00:28:07.880 If you have seen and benefited from God's use of 377 00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:14.799 the most terrible cross for your most glorious good, be 378 00:28:14.920 --> 00:28:17.960 careful to have an open mind to believe that sometimes, 379 00:28:18.039 --> 00:28:20.880 if he chooses, he can handle terrible stuff by using 380 00:28:20.920 --> 00:28:26.240 more terrible stuff. If he can use a terrible cross 381 00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:30.960 to take our savior and exalt him before the watching world. 382 00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:33.240 If he can take a terrible cross and take a 383 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:38.359 desperate people and rescue them and save them, bring them 384 00:28:38.359 --> 00:28:41.359 to himself, and give them a robe of white, and'll 385 00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:44.000 train them in righteousness. If he can take a terrible 386 00:28:44.039 --> 00:28:48.079 cross and use that to take people from every tribe 387 00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:51.640 and tongue and nation and gather them together, that they 388 00:28:51.640 --> 00:29:01.039 would stand and sing the praises of their king. If 389 00:29:01.039 --> 00:29:04.160 he can use a terrible cross, be careful to have 390 00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:09.359 an open mind, to trust that he is who he 391 00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:13.400 says he is, and he does what he says he does, 392 00:29:13.920 --> 00:29:21.279 including non Christian, including even taking a rebel like you 393 00:29:22.039 --> 00:29:31.000 and restoring him to himself and forgiving you, making you 394 00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:42.759 his own. Have an open mind. That's the challenge. And 395 00:29:42.839 --> 00:29:46.079 he says to Habakak, you're struggling to get You're going 396 00:29:46.160 --> 00:29:50.240 to struggle to get your head around this. You've brought 397 00:29:50.279 --> 00:29:57.200 your complaints. I've challenged you with my answers. How does 398 00:29:57.279 --> 00:30:03.680 Abacak respond, Well, that's the third part of this exchange, 399 00:30:03.799 --> 00:30:12.200 which I'll just call open questions. Open questions. A Bachick 400 00:30:12.279 --> 00:30:15.839 then lays out some questions in response to this. You 401 00:30:15.880 --> 00:30:19.519