Speaker 1: Okay, Habakic.
Speaker 2: If you were here last week, you know how Habakic
Speaker 2: Chapter one starts, and it starts with a lot of complaining.
Speaker 1: Do we remember this?
Speaker 2: If you weren't here, I'm gonna give you a recap.
Speaker 1: It's fine. I'll get to that in a moment.
Speaker 2: But if you were here, you remember complaining, complaining to God,
Speaker 2: lots of complaining, some salty questions. And the remarkable thing
Speaker 2: about Habakk is not that he complains to God. There's
Speaker 2: lots of complaining to God in the Bible, probably more
Speaker 2: complaining to God in the Bible than we actually do
Speaker 2: in our Christian lives. And there's I think there's a
Speaker 2: mismatch there that probably needs to be addressed by real
Speaker 2: biblical lament and learning to do that well. But what's
Speaker 2: remarkable about Habakk is not that he complains. What's remarkable
Speaker 2: about Humback is that he progresses, and Abakic gets to
Speaker 2: this place in three chapters. He goes from complaining to
Speaker 2: this picture, Abacuck declares. At the end of this he says,
Speaker 2: God has made my feet like a deer's. It's kind
Speaker 2: of weird. Here's what he means. He says God has
Speaker 2: made me now, so that no matter what kind of
Speaker 2: terrain he puts me.
Speaker 1: On, no matter how mountainous.
Speaker 2: And difficult my circumstances are, He's made my feet like
Speaker 2: a deer's, so that I am secure in him no
Speaker 2: matter where he takes me, he declares, even if there's
Speaker 2: no food in the fridge, no gas in the tank,
Speaker 2: no furniture in the house. My strength is in God,
Speaker 2: My joy is in God. He's made my feet like
Speaker 2: a deer. It's a beautiful picture. In fact, I'll refer
Speaker 2: to it over and over again. Feet like a deer,
Speaker 2: feed like a deer. So if somebody shows up, Blate
Speaker 2: try to explain that one to them, like that's what
Speaker 2: he means when he says.
Speaker 1: Feet like a deer.
Speaker 2: But what's more beautiful than the picture of that faith
Speaker 2: is the progression that Habacchak takes.
Speaker 1: You remember what that guy looked like last week? How
Speaker 1: does he get there? How do we get there? I
Speaker 1: think this is.
Speaker 2: Why Habakk is written, not to just show us how
Speaker 2: Habaccic got from complaining to contentment, but how the people
Speaker 2: of God are to follow Habaccic's example of complaining to contentment.
Speaker 1: Now it's an example it's an example.
Speaker 3: It's not a formula.
Speaker 2: Even though I'm gonna speak in terms of four steps
Speaker 2: that Habaccac takes. Don't hear that as a recipe or
Speaker 2: a formula for God's people.
Speaker 1: But it is a worthy example.
Speaker 2: And I think that's what we see in these three
Speaker 2: chapters of Habacic is four steps that Habaccic takes to
Speaker 2: move from complaining to contentment, from.
Speaker 1: From a sour from a sour heart to feet like
Speaker 1: a deer.
Speaker 2: I'll lay out those four steps for you as soon
Speaker 2: as we finish reading our text and ask you to
Speaker 2: stand with me for the reading of God's word. And
Speaker 2: this morning we'll read chapters two and three.
Speaker 1: And then we'll get into the rest of the message.
Speaker 2: A Back, starting in chapter two, Back says, I will
Speaker 2: take my stand at my watch post and station myself
Speaker 2: on the tower. All look out to see what he
Speaker 2: will say to me and what I will answer concerning
Speaker 2: my complaint. And the Lord answered me. Write the vision,
Speaker 2: make it plain on tablets so that he may run
Speaker 2: who reads it for still the vision awaits is a
Speaker 2: point of time. It hastens to the end. It will
Speaker 2: not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it. It
Speaker 2: will surely come, it will not delay. And then God
Speaker 2: speaks of this nation that he's going to be using
Speaker 2: for his judgment purposes in Israel. Just if you weren't
Speaker 2: familiar with chapter one, that's who he's talking about right here,
Speaker 2: and he's gonna talk about the justice he's about to show.
Speaker 1: He says this, Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is.
Speaker 2: Not upright within him. But the righteous shall live by
Speaker 2: his faith. Moreover, Wine is a traitor, an arrogant man
Speaker 2: who is never at rest. His greed is as wide
Speaker 2: as shield like death. He has never enough. He gathers
Speaker 2: for himself all nations, and collects as his own all peoples,
Speaker 2: and shall not all these take up their taunt against him,
Speaker 2: And with scoffing and riddles for him, say woe to
Speaker 2: him who heaps up what's not his own, and for
Speaker 2: how long and loads himself with pledges.
Speaker 1: Well, not your debtor.
Speaker 2: Suddenly arise and those awake who made you tremble, who
Speaker 2: will make you tremble, And then you will be spoiled
Speaker 2: for them, because you've plundered many nations. All the remnant
Speaker 2: of the people shall plunder you for the blood of
Speaker 2: man and violence to the earth, to cities and.
Speaker 1: All who dwell in them.
Speaker 2: Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
Speaker 2: to set his nest on high to be safe from
Speaker 2: the reach of harm. You've devised shame for your house
Speaker 2: by cutting off many peoples. You've forfeited your life. For
Speaker 2: the stone will cry out from the wall, and the
Speaker 2: beam from the woodwork respond. Woe to him who builds
Speaker 2: a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity. Behold,
Speaker 2: is it not from the Lord of Hosts that people
Speaker 2: labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing.
Speaker 2: For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of
Speaker 2: the glory of the Lord, as waters cover the sea.
Speaker 2: Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink, who you
Speaker 2: pour out your wrath and make them drunk in order
Speaker 2: to gaze at their nakedness, you will have your fill
Speaker 2: of shame instead of glory. Drink yourself and show your uncircumcision.
Speaker 2: The cup is in the Lord's right hand. It will
Speaker 2: come around to you, and utter shame will come upon
Speaker 2: your glory. The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
Speaker 2: as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them
Speaker 2: for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
Speaker 2: to cities and all who dwell in them. What profit
Speaker 2: is an idol when its maker has shaped it a
Speaker 2: metal image, a teacher of lies, for its maker trust
Speaker 2: in its own creation.
Speaker 1: When he makes speechless idols.
Speaker 3: Woe to him who says to a.
Speaker 1: Wooden thing, awake to a silent stone, Ariyes.
Speaker 2: Can this teach Behold? It is overlaid with gold and silver.
Speaker 2: There's no breath at all in it.
Speaker 1: But the Lord is.
Speaker 2: In his holy temple. Let all the earth deep silence
Speaker 2: before him. A prayer of Habacchak the prophet. According to
Speaker 2: the Chickanoath, Oh Lord.
Speaker 3: I've heard the report of you.
Speaker 2: And your work. Oh Lord, do I fear? Can the
Speaker 2: midst of the years revive it? In the midst of
Speaker 2: the years? Make it known in wrath? Remember mercy. God
Speaker 2: came from Timon, and the Holy One from Mount Peron.
Speaker 2: His splendor covered the heavens, and the earth was full
Speaker 2: of his praise. His brightness was like the light rays.
Speaker 2: Shine flashed from his hands, and there he veiled his power.
Speaker 2: Before him went pestilence and plague followed at his heels.
Speaker 2: He stood and measured the earth and looked and shook
Speaker 2: the nations. Then eternal mountains were scattered. The everlasting heels
Speaker 2: sank low. His were the everlasting ways. I saw the
Speaker 2: tents of cushion and affliction, the curtains of the land
Speaker 2: of Midian, and did tremble. Was your wrath against the rivers,
Speaker 2: Oh Lord, was your anger against the rivers, or your
Speaker 2: indignation against the sea. When you rode on your horses
Speaker 2: and on your chariot of salvation, you stripped the sheath
Speaker 2: from your bow, calling for many arrows, you split the
Speaker 2: earth with rivers. The mountains saw you and writhed. The
Speaker 2: raging waters swept on the deep, gave forth its voice,
Speaker 2: It lifted its hands on high. The sun and moon
Speaker 2: stood still in their place, And the light of your
Speaker 2: arrows as they sped at the flash of your glittering spear.
Speaker 3: You marched through the earth in fury.
Speaker 1: You threshed the nations. In anger.
Speaker 2: You went out for the salvation of your people, for
Speaker 2: the salvation of your anointed.
Speaker 1: You crushed the head of the House of the Wicked.
Speaker 2: Laying him bare from thigh to neck. You pierced with
Speaker 2: his own arrows the heads of his warriors who came
Speaker 2: like a whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to
Speaker 2: devour the poor. In secret, you trampled the sea with
Speaker 2: your horses. The surging of mighting waters I hear, and
Speaker 2: my body trembles. My lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness
Speaker 2: enters my bones, and my legs tremble beneath me. Yet
Speaker 2: I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to
Speaker 2: come upon people who invade us.
Speaker 1: Though the trig Though the fig tree should not blossom,
Speaker 1: nor fruit.
Speaker 2: Be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail,
Speaker 2: the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off
Speaker 2: from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls.
Speaker 2: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, and will take
Speaker 2: joy in the God of my salvation.
Speaker 3: God.
Speaker 1: The Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like
Speaker 1: a deer's. He makes me tread on my high places
Speaker 1: to the choir master.
Speaker 2: With strength, stringed instruments. This is the word of the Lord.
Speaker 2: You may be seated. That's a shift.
Speaker 1: That is a move.
Speaker 2: If you remember chapter one, and we'll recount. If you
Speaker 2: remember chapter one, a backick has made a lot of progress.
Speaker 2: When he gets to the point where He's like, though
Speaker 2: there be no food in the fridge, though there be
Speaker 2: no furniture in the living room, Yet my joy is
Speaker 2: in God, My strength is in God. He's made my
Speaker 2: feet like a deer.
Speaker 1: That's change or to the steps?
Speaker 2: What does God take him through?
Speaker 1: Process wise?
Speaker 2: I think we could break it up into four steps. Again,
Speaker 2: it's not a formula, but it's a pretty good example.
Speaker 2: Here's the first one, asking real questions, asking real questions.
Speaker 1: That's what chapter one is all about.
Speaker 2: We saw in chapter one that like feet like a
Speaker 2: deer is not where Hebbacic starts. God is my strength
Speaker 2: not where Hibactic starts. He's bringing complaints to God. He's
Speaker 2: like Chapter one, verse two, how long is this gonna
Speaker 2: go on?
Speaker 3: God?
Speaker 1: How is it gonna be? How long is it gonna be?
Speaker 2: Like that, which I have to say, is the most
Speaker 2: relatable complaint. Whenever God is unfolding hard things, whenever he's
Speaker 2: taking us into rough terrain and we're wondering what's gonna change,
Speaker 2: is it gonna hurt, what's gonna happen? I think maybe
Speaker 2: the most relatable complaint is.
Speaker 1: How long?
Speaker 2: And God brings challenging answers to that God basically says,
Speaker 2: I you're wondering what's gonna change. I'm gonna tell you
Speaker 2: what's gonna change, and you're not gonna really like it.
Speaker 2: Verse five of chapter one. Look and be astounded. This
Speaker 2: is gonna be your challenge. Ibacic is going to be
Speaker 2: to believe what I'm going to do. And Habakk then
Speaker 2: turns around with some real questions, and he's like, you're
Speaker 2: gonna do what You're gonna use them to judge us.
Speaker 1: Don't you know how wicked they are? Aren't you? He says?
Speaker 1: Aren't you pure? Aren't you holy? Aren't you fair? How
Speaker 1: can you get someone like that to judge us?
Speaker 2: I mean, I know we're in bad shape, but them is?
Speaker 1: And how long is this gonna go on?
Speaker 2: Was Hebacic getting real or was he just grumbling? It's
Speaker 2: pretty ambiguous, But here are the lessons.
Speaker 3: That we learned. It is never right.
Speaker 2: It is never right to be angry with God. It
Speaker 2: is never right to grumble against him. But whether what
Speaker 2: we have in our heart is grumbling and ungodly anger
Speaker 2: or legitimate biblical lament, just real questions that we want
Speaker 2: to bring to God, whether it's wrong one how we're
Speaker 2: feeling or right.
Speaker 1: The right place to bring it all is to him.
Speaker 2: Bring your real questions. By real, I mean gut level.
Speaker 2: But also what I mean by real is are you
Speaker 2: ready for an answer. It's not a real question unless
Speaker 2: you're actually looking for an answer. Remember last week we
Speaker 2: talked about questions that are like walls instead of windows.
Speaker 2: A real question is a question that opens the window
Speaker 2: for an answer. And you, if you're if you're a parent,
Speaker 2: you know there's a difference between asking a question and questioning.
Speaker 2: But either way, whatever you've got, bring it to him.
Speaker 2: Bring him your real questions, gut level, open up a window. God,
Speaker 2: This is how is really is in my heart.
Speaker 1: That was a backs first step.
Speaker 2: And he went up and says in verse one of
Speaker 2: chapter two, and he went up and said, I'm actually
Speaker 2: going to wait for an answer for this.
Speaker 1: Step two.
Speaker 2: He goes from asking real questions to hearing God's promises.
Speaker 1: And I think.
Speaker 2: That that is like a solid example for every one
Speaker 2: of us that if we are going to move whatever
Speaker 2: God's unfolding, if we are going to move from complaining
Speaker 2: to contentment, if we're going to get to this place
Speaker 2: of dear footed faith, we have to start hearing God's promises,
Speaker 2: and that's what God brings. He says, I'm going to
Speaker 2: tell you about my justice. I promise I am just.
Speaker 2: I promise I am bringing it, he says. In verses
Speaker 2: two and three, he says, the Lord answered me, write
Speaker 2: the vision, make it plain on tablets, wait for it.
Speaker 2: It's not going to delay. I'm making you some promises here.
Speaker 2: And it would be easy for us to look at
Speaker 2: that and say, oh, I see how Hubaka got there.
Speaker 2: God gave him something special. God gave him secret knowledge,
Speaker 2: and that's how he went from complaining to contentment. If
Speaker 2: only I could go up on a tower and God
Speaker 2: would bring me something special, then I know I could.
Speaker 1: I could have feet like a deer. But that's not
Speaker 1: at all.
Speaker 3: What's going on.
Speaker 2: What does he say to habakk write this down for everybody.
Speaker 2: This isn't just for you, Habakic, this is for all
Speaker 2: the people. And not only is it for all the people.
Speaker 2: It's exactly the kind of thing that I promised from
Speaker 2: the very beginning. If you look at Deuteronomy, I said,
Speaker 2: this is how I'm going to use other nations to
Speaker 2: discipline you, and I will discipline them. There's nothing new here.
Speaker 2: This isn't secret. This isn't special for you, Hubachic. This
Speaker 2: is for everyone that everyone who reads it will act
Speaker 2: on it. They'll run with this. This just aligns with
Speaker 2: my character. It's not secret.
Speaker 1: It's the same promises that I've made from the beginning.
Speaker 2: But I'm gonna remind you of them. I'm gonna give
Speaker 2: them to you fresh. You know what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 2: I'm going to bring justice to the wicked, and I'm
Speaker 2: gonna bring glory to my name. He says, you see
Speaker 2: it in verse six, for example, this people that gather
Speaker 2: all the nations as if they are his own and
Speaker 2: plunders everyone around them. The plundered will plunder him. What
Speaker 2: goes around is gonna come around, because I'm gonna bring
Speaker 2: it around. You know, what goes around doesn't just come around.
Speaker 2: God brings it. God is the one who sees his
Speaker 2: justice laid out in his universe. He says, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: bring justice to the wicked, and I'm gonna bring glory.
Speaker 1: To my name.
Speaker 2: This this this instrument that has been in my hands
Speaker 2: and is going to be in my hands.
Speaker 1: This is what he says about.
Speaker 2: Him in chapter and chapter two, verse four, And this
Speaker 2: is this is key.
Speaker 1: This is absolutely key.
Speaker 2: In fact, the New Testament picks it up in three
Speaker 2: different places. What does he say in verse four is
Speaker 2: is this one is puffed up this instrument. I know
Speaker 2: I'm using this instrument, but I will judge his instrument
Speaker 2: as well. He's puffed up. His soul is not upright
Speaker 2: within him. But here's the thing, Habakik, here's the key.
Speaker 2: The righteous shall live by his faith. The righteous shall
Speaker 2: live by his faith. And then he doesn't elaborate on
Speaker 2: what that means at all. Then he just goes on
Speaker 2: to talk about the puffed up one, the justice that
Speaker 2: he's gonna bring, the glory he's gonna bring to his name.
Speaker 2: He just leaves that hanging out there. But the righteous
Speaker 2: shall live by his faith. Now that's not to say
Speaker 2: that God doesn't clear up what that looks like. He
Speaker 2: does by the end of the book, But right here
Speaker 2: he doesn't elaborate. I'm gonna bring justice to the wicked,
Speaker 2: the plundered, will plunder, the plunderer, the one who built his.
Speaker 1: House with blood.
Speaker 2: He's talking about the Babylonians series like they they would,
Speaker 2: they would enslave people all around them and exploit them
Speaker 2: and threaten them they would build their towns off of
Speaker 2: slave labor.
Speaker 1: Says that woe to those who build houses.
Speaker 2: Of shame, says, even the house is going to cry
Speaker 2: out against that. Woe to those who build what does
Speaker 2: it say in verse twelve builds towns out of blood?
Speaker 2: Says what I have constructed for you is for you
Speaker 2: to labor for nothing. If this is going to go nowhere,
Speaker 2: you think you're building something glorious, You're building it for fire.
Speaker 1: And that's my idea, because the earth is going to
Speaker 1: be filled. Here's what Here's what's going to fill the earth.
Speaker 2: Not your empire, not your dominion, not your glory, not
Speaker 2: your might. The earth verse fourteen will be filled with
Speaker 2: the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the
Speaker 2: waters cover the sea.
Speaker 3: I promise you.
Speaker 1: Hear this. I promise you.
Speaker 2: It's the same promise I've been making from the beginning.
Speaker 2: I'm reminding you of it now, says this wicked nation
Speaker 2: has gone around and made its neighbors drink. There's a
Speaker 2: picture basically of the violence done to the neighbors around them.
Speaker 1: You've made them drunk with your violence. But guess what.
Speaker 2: The cups in my hand, and I'm bringing it back around.
Speaker 2: I will bring justice to the wicked. This is the
Speaker 2: people that trust in worthless things.
Speaker 1: That teach lies.
Speaker 2: The basic lie of an idol is that this idol
Speaker 2: is anything, but I.
Speaker 1: Will bring glory to my name. The earth will be
Speaker 1: filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.
Speaker 1: Let it verse twenty. Let the whole earth keep silence
Speaker 1: before the Lord in his temple. I promise, God says,
Speaker 1: I promise. I'm bringing justice and I'm bringing glory again.
Speaker 1: It would be a mistake for us to say, well,
Speaker 1: if God would would meet me up on a tower
Speaker 1: and give and give his promises to me, then I
Speaker 1: would listen.
Speaker 2: A back has already is already the representative that we need.
Speaker 2: He's already written this down. God specifically said, write this
Speaker 2: down so that everyone can read it. Trust my promises.
Speaker 2: Hear them now, hear them from my word. I'm giving
Speaker 2: them to my people.
Speaker 1: We have received more and better promises yet from his word.
Speaker 3: That though we.
Speaker 2: Are being slaughtered like sheep, we are nevertheless greater than conquerors.
Speaker 2: That to be away from the body is to be
Speaker 2: present with the Lord. That those who are in Christ
Speaker 2: now under In Christ, there is no condemnation for you
Speaker 2: that promise.
Speaker 1: Death?
Speaker 2: Where is your sting? I will work all things out
Speaker 2: for good for those who know me.
Speaker 1: Those are the first two steps Tobaccak takes.
Speaker 2: He asks real questions, he brings it, and then he
Speaker 2: opens up his ears and he interprets all of his
Speaker 2: questions through the lens of hearing God's promises. What's the
Speaker 2: third step. The third step is what we see in
Speaker 2: chapter three. He sees God's work. He sees God's work.
Speaker 2: That's what we have. In chapter three, Habacchic reflects.
Speaker 1: On the work of God. Now let me just let
Speaker 1: me just say.
Speaker 2: In chapter three, you see Habacic say, oh Lord, I've
Speaker 2: heard the report of you. This is chapter three, verse two,
Speaker 2: Oh Lord, I've heard the report of you and your work.
Speaker 2: Oh Lord, do I fear? And then he gives us
Speaker 2: like sixteen verses of God's work. But here's the thing.
Speaker 2: What Habaccic sees is not new work. What Hebaccic sees
Speaker 2: is what God has already done amongst his people in
Speaker 2: his word. And habaccik just gives us an entire verbal
Speaker 2: collage of who God is based on what He's done.
Speaker 2: Here's what we see in here. We see God parting
Speaker 2: the Red Sea and the Jordan.
Speaker 1: Trampling the waters.
Speaker 2: As HABACCC puts it, puts it trampling the waters with
Speaker 2: your horses. We see the plagues that God used in
Speaker 2: Egypt to rescue his people, right he says, pestilence and plague,
Speaker 2: followed by your heels. We see the conquest that of
Speaker 2: the people of the land. We see the confusion of
Speaker 2: the armies that invaded them. We see Joshua and God
Speaker 2: stopping the moon and the sun in order for Joshua
Speaker 2: to win battles. We see the earthquakes of Sinai. At
Speaker 2: all of this, you see this throughout this chapter. And
Speaker 2: this isn't enumerated in back. It's not saying like, let
Speaker 2: me tell you the fifteen things that God did. He
Speaker 2: takes all of these works of God that he is
Speaker 2: vividly recounting in front of in his mind. He takes
Speaker 2: all of them and he mashes them all up together
Speaker 2: for a picture of who God is.
Speaker 1: It's like.
Speaker 2: When your kid gets the twenty four colors of clay.
Speaker 2: You know, all these little little clay bars, and then
Speaker 2: are all different colors you got, the blue you get,
Speaker 2: the red, you got the green. And then what's the
Speaker 2: first thing they do? They just mash them all up together.
Speaker 2: It's the first thing I did. I ruined many clay
Speaker 2: sets as a kid. You just mash them all together.
Speaker 3: And what do you have? You have a big ball and.
Speaker 2: You can still pick out the colors. They're all mashed
Speaker 2: up together, and they're them coming apart, and they're just like,
Speaker 2: what is this a representation of everything? And this is
Speaker 2: what Habaka gives us, A giant mashed up ball of
Speaker 2: what God has done in his people.
Speaker 1: Here you go, this is who your God is. Do
Speaker 1: you see his work?
Speaker 2: Do you reflect back on what He's given to us
Speaker 2: in his word and see who he is all mashed
Speaker 2: up together. It's like it's like job. If you're familiar
Speaker 2: with the end of job. How job is confronted by God?
Speaker 2: And God's like, Hey, you've been asking questions like a backic.
Speaker 1: You've been asking questions.
Speaker 2: I got answers, Not exactly answers, more like I've got
Speaker 2: a picture for you. Here I am. Where were you
Speaker 2: when I measured the earth? Do you know where I
Speaker 2: keep all the snow? Do you tell the lightning bolts
Speaker 2: where to go? Hey? How about you and I go
Speaker 2: for a walk through the bottom of the ocean. And
Speaker 2: what Habaca is getting is something similar. And Job of
Speaker 2: course responds to that. He's like, I get it in
Speaker 2: my guts, I get it. I see who you are,
Speaker 2: and I could get something similar here. He's just confronted
Speaker 2: by the works of God amongst his people Egypt, Sinai,
Speaker 2: the Jordan, the.
Speaker 1: Red Sea, the planks, and a back is like, I
Speaker 1: get it, he says in verse six at sixteen.
Speaker 2: Right, yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Tremble when I reflect on your work.
Speaker 2: When I see who you are as reflected in the
Speaker 2: works you've done, my legs give way.
Speaker 1: And the author of Hebrews picks this up as he's
Speaker 1: writing to his audience. The author of Hebrews picks up
Speaker 1: this verse right here from Habacic from chapter two, verse four.
Speaker 1: The righteous live by faith.
Speaker 2: He says, you gotta see him, You got to look
Speaker 2: to him. What you need is endurance, and that endurance
Speaker 2: is going to come from faith. Don't you know what
Speaker 2: the scriptures have said, the righteous shall live by faith.
Speaker 2: It was by faith that Noah saw what God had done,
Speaker 2: and saw what God would do, and moved to a
Speaker 2: place of obedience and contentment.
Speaker 1: His feet were like it, dear.
Speaker 2: It was it was by faith that Abraham saw what
Speaker 2: God had done and saw what God would do, and
Speaker 2: he moved forward in faith. It was by faith that
Speaker 2: Moses did the same, and Jacob did the same. And
Speaker 2: he says, by faith, look to Jesus, the Author and
Speaker 2: perfector of our faith. You want to know how you're
Speaker 2: going to move from complaining to contentment, It's going to
Speaker 2: be faith.
Speaker 1: Look to him.
Speaker 2: He's the one who's opened up the way for you.
Speaker 2: He's the one who's made you a people. He's the
Speaker 2: one who's sacrificed so that you would be pure, sinless forgiven.
Speaker 2: Look to Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith, who,
Speaker 2: for the joy set before.
Speaker 1: Him, endured the cross.
Speaker 2: As God unfolds this difficult to reign, he has not
Speaker 2: not gone forward in it. He's walked difficult to rain.
Speaker 2: Look to his work and then last step he takes
Speaker 2: cling to his person, clinging to God's person. That's where
Speaker 2: Habaka gets to at the end of chapter three. He's
Speaker 2: asked real questions, He's heard God promises, he ards God's promises,
Speaker 2: He's seen God's work, and now he is viscerally responding
Speaker 2: to who God is.
Speaker 1: And he paints his picture of faith. My feet are
Speaker 1: like a deer.
Speaker 2: My joy is in him, my strength is in him.
Speaker 2: No matter what happens, he says, though there'll be no
Speaker 2: fruit on the vines, no herd in the stalls, Yet
Speaker 2: I rejoice in the Lord.
Speaker 1: And we look at that. We look at that, and.
Speaker 2: We say, I want that kind of faith. And here's
Speaker 2: the mistake we make. We think it's about the strength
Speaker 2: of the faith. It's beautiful, but it's a mistake to
Speaker 2: think that the essence of faith is on the quality
Speaker 2: of the faith. Heard from Tim Keller really well put
Speaker 2: probably use some of his words.
Speaker 1: When Jesus.
Speaker 2: Spoke to the father whose child was sick and dying.
Speaker 2: Father came to Jesus and said, my child's dying. And
Speaker 2: Jesus says, here's what I want you to do. I
Speaker 2: want you to turn around and go home child to
Speaker 2: be well. That man turn around.
Speaker 3: In faith.
Speaker 2: Pretty sure it wasn't well, Jesus said it. I believe it.
Speaker 2: That settles it. I'm not even thinking about this any more.
Speaker 2: We're done. I'm walking all the way home. And seemed
Speaker 2: like it was more than one Day's journey in John
Speaker 2: chapter four. You know what else there is there to
Speaker 2: think about? No, all the he didn't have to have
Speaker 2: that level of confidence. Now there's such a thing as
Speaker 2: growing in faith. There's such a thing as deepening in faith.
Speaker 1: The faith he had to have was only this. He
Speaker 1: just had enough, had.
Speaker 2: To have enough faith to turn around. The essence of
Speaker 2: this kind of faith is not the quality of the faith.
Speaker 2: It's not the strength of the faith. It's the object
Speaker 2: of the faith. He says, God is my strength. I
Speaker 2: will rejoice in the Lord. That's all I've got. That's
Speaker 2: all I need. Not because I have worked myself up
Speaker 2: into this place of strong, deep quality faith, but because
Speaker 2: of the object of my faith. If you trust that
Speaker 2: a chair will hold your weight, how deep does your
Speaker 2: trust need to be, just enough to sit in it.
Speaker 2: That's the secret of Abatic's faith, not the quality of it,
Speaker 2: on the depth of it.
Speaker 1: It's the object of it.
Speaker 2: God himself is the object of his faith. If there's
Speaker 2: no food in the.
Speaker 1: Fridge, no gas in the tank, no furniture in the house,
Speaker 1: I will rejoice in the Lord. He has made my
Speaker 1: feet like a deer, because he is my strength. He
Speaker 1: is my joy.
Speaker 3: All the faith I need.
Speaker 1: Is enough to cling to him.
Speaker 2: I just need to be able to cling to him.
Speaker 1: That's how I'll go from complaining to contentment.