in the book of Habakkuk, and it's been a blessing for me, not only to, I preach through this at the church plant, but it's also been a blessing for me to teach through it here in the Sunday school. We're gonna look at the last three verses, chapter three, verses 17 to 19, but just before we do, let's start with a word of prayer. Father, thank You so much for the morning You've given us, and thank You so much for this Lord's Day, this time where we get to quiet our hearts. quiet our minds and gather together to worship you and to hear from you through your word. So I pray today, Lord, that you would just anoint each Sunday school teacher, be with the kids and teens downstairs, be with us here. We pray for the service to follow also at 10 o'clock and we thank you for Brother Carbo being here and we just pray that you'd anoint him as well as he opens your word. So be with us today Lord teach us much much and may we not only be hearers But doers of your word and we'll thank you in Jesus name. Amen So We know that the title of this series is Living by Faith in Troubling Times. And, you know, the world is once again in troubling times, and I don't want us to get lulled to sleep because of certain administration being in, and people may think, oh, this is great. Don't get lulled to sleep, folks. Our hope doesn't come from Washington. Remember that. But Dr. Harry Ironside, a great preacher of the past and commentator, said concerning these last three verses of Habakkuk, he said, the last three verses are the expression of a truly revived man who has learned to find all his springs in God, okay? And that's where we must be. We must realize that everything we have, comes from the Lord, and he will care for us, and he will never leave us or forsake us. But in the beginning of the book, just as a little introduction before we wrap the book up today, in the beginning of the book we found that Habakkuk was bewildered, he was confused, he was filled with questions and perplexities, and today we will see that the book closes with one who has found the answer to all his questions. And the satisfying portion of his soul is none other than God himself. And again, remember the title of the series, Living by Faith in Troubling Times. And since the fall of man in Genesis 3, there have always been troubling times. And as long as the earth is ruled by sinful men, there will always be troubling times. So what are we to do, how are we to live? And remember, the theme of the book is found in chapter two, verse four, but the just shall live by his faith. And remember, this verse is repeated three times in the New Testament in three different books by the Apostle Paul, the just shall live by his faith. And we can live in fear, we can choose to live in fear, and always be in the valley, where it's dark, where we can live by faith and climb above the valley to the mountaintop where the sun shines brightly. Now, we realize there are valley experiences in our life, right? And what does the Psalm promise us? Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, what's it say? Thou art with me, right? There are valley experiences, we know that. but we don't wanna live in the valley. And sometimes there are things we can only learn in the valley, but we wanna be on the mountaintops with God too. And this is a wonderful passage dealing with that. So notice in the Valley of Fear, verse 17, look at verse 17 with me. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, The labor of the olive shall fail, the field shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. So this was the coming situation for Judah. Okay, we know that Babylon was on the door, at the door, Babylon is at the door, Babylon is just about ready to invade and to begin their captivity of Judah. And this is about to happen. Keep a finger there and turn back a few books to the book of Lamentations. Lamentations falls between Jeremiah and Ezekiel. And the book is the Lamentations of Jeremiah. And what Habakkuk, we just read in verse 17, is what is about to happen. And now Jeremiah is writing this as it's happening. Okay? Prophesied in Habakkuk, fulfilled in Jeremiah. Lamentations 2.12, the Bible says, They say to their mothers, where is the corn and wine when they swooned as the wounded in the streets of the city when their soul was poured out into their mother's bosom? So what is lacking? Food, right? Look at chapter four of Lamentations, verse four. The tongue of the suckling child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst. The young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them. And then verse 9 of the same chapter says, They that be slain with a sword are better than they that be slain with hunger. For these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field. Jeremiah is describing the terrible end of so many in Judah, and Habakkuk is prophesying that, a total agricultural and financial breakdown of Israel. You have to remember that it was a different time. It was a time where Where, you know, we have, I don't know how all the finances work. Remember I told you that, you know, my financial advisor called me and said that I can retire for about a week and a half with the money that I have. But what do we know? Our finances work, you know, Wall Street, all that kind of stuff. But in these days it was a very agriculturally, it was an agricultural culture. And so when these things failed, You know, everything failed. So it was a total agriculture and financial breakdown. Although the fig tree shall not blossom. No blossom means no promise of fruit to come. Because the blossoms are the fruit. And if the fig tree isn't blossoming, then what's to follow up? There are no figs, okay? Neither shall the fruit be in the vines, no grape for the vines. The grape was very important for the nation of Israel and for culture really in those days, to provide the wine and the things that were needed. No labor of the olives, I'm sorry, the labor of the olives shall fail. Olives were important not only to their social life, but their religious life, right? What we would call extra, virgin olive oil, you know, the first pressings, they were given to God for the lamps in the temple and for the anointing and whatnot. But, so, the labor of the olive shall fail. And there was nothing for that. And the field shall yield no meat, no grain for even the basic necessities of life. You know, what is the basic necessity of life? Bread. And there's no grain in the field. And the flock shall be cut off from the fold. The sheep and goats were scattered from the sheepfold. And sheep, again, very important in the culture, not only religiously, but for food and for clothing. And then the last one, there shall be no herd in the stalls. No cows, ox, bulls in the stall to do the heavy work. So for Judah, no figs, no grapes, no olives, no grain, no sheep, no goats, no cows, no bulls, no ox or donkey meant a total agricultural devastation, total breakdown of their financial economy. This was their source of income, it was their source of livelihood, and it was their provision. And what is described is worse than any depression that America has ever faced. So a modern way of saying this, for us to understand here in America, we could say this. Although I have lost my job and I have no hope of getting one, And there is no money in the bank. All the farmland and crops have been destroyed. The store shelves and home cupboards are completely empty. There's no fuel oil or gas to heat my home or run my car. In fact, there isn't even a car in my garage. So pretty bad, right? Pretty bad situation. So this is the valley of fear. And so many chose to live there in that day. But we come to verse 18, and we see the mountain of faith, verse 18 and 19. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord is my strength, and He will make my feet like hind feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places. So friends, quite often the way out is the way up, right? So many of the Psalms, one of my favorite Psalms, and I like to share with people, I will lift up mine eyes, right? Quite often we see depressed and down people. Where's their head? Down, right? Their chin is in their chest and they're down. I will lift up my eyes. Unto the hills. Why? From whence cometh my help, my help cometh from the Lord. So the way out is the way up. Don't look around at the situation, but look to the Lord. I will rejoice in the Lord. And this word rejoice here means to jump for joy. It's not just, oh, I'm really happy today. Habakkuk was jumping for joy, okay? Jumping for joy. We have a baseball player with us, and we've all seen World Series, right? And when people win the World Series, right, the guys just go, all right, you know. No, what do they do? They jump for joy. I remember back in the day watching the Mets beat the Red Sox in the World Series, and the last out was made by Sid Fernandez. And you know, what did he do? He threw that glove up in the air, and he jumped, and Gary Carter came out, and they were just, you know, and it was a great time. So notice he says, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. Joy here means to spin around. It's a very strong emotion. Okay? He's not just happy, his excitement shows. What is about to happen in Judah? Verse 17, right? That's about to happen. But yet Habakkuk is rejoicing. not just rejoicing. I imagine he's running through the streets telling the people, you know, that God, what God can do. Friends, you and I are not to simply endure, but rather to rejoice in the Lord and be filled with joy, right? I've said this before. You've heard me say it. Too many of us look like we've been baptized in pickle juice. We're sour, right? We've got things to shout about. Oh wait, wait, we're New England Baptists, we can't, you know, let's, you know, shout a little bit, you know, say amen. Spin around, Bill, jump up, spin around, you know, you know, watch your knee, but you know, at your age, you gotta be careful, but you know, and we have so much to be thankful for. And don't just simply endure, but rather rejoice in the Lord, be filled with joy. Our happiness is found, I'm sorry, our happiness is not found in the circumstances we find ourselves in. Our joy is found in a person, not in our possessions. And who is that person? The God of our salvation. none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And this attitude will change your life, because joy is a fruit of the Spirit, right? The fruit of the Spirit is love. What's the second one? Joy, right? And if we're producing, you know, if the Spirit lives within us, and we're producing spiritual fruit in our lives, What's going to be one of the things people are going to see in our life? Boy, not just enduring. Hey, how you doing? Good. What's the Lord doing? No, nothing. You know, we have a lot to be thankful for, even when we're going through difficult times. Can you imagine going through some of the difficult times you have gone through without the Lord, right? We've all, life is filled with difficulties, that's life. And we have to thank the Lord for being with us and going and making sense of this crazy world. So our inward peace does not depend on our outward prosperity. Our hope and faith does not rest in the things of this earth. That's why that whole health and wealth and prosperity gospel, that's from the pits of hell, right? Some of the dearest saints I have known have been some of the poorest people. They didn't realize they were poor. They had God. They were rich. I had the privilege of being in the Philippines seven times. And when you think of the Philippine economy versus the American economy, you know, we are wealthy and these people are poor. And you know what? They don't realize it. The ones that know the Lord, they don't realize it. And what a joy it is to be with them. So verse 19, the Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like hinds feet and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. So fellowship with God. The Lord God is my strength. Where do you find your strength? The Hebrew here for strength can also be interpreted wealth. So where do you find your wealth? Pastor Andrew just preached from this a couple of, maybe last week it was, look at Matthew 6. Very familiar. The Lord is our strength, he is our wealth, Matthew 6, verse 19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break through and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, where thieves do not break through nor steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Right, where's your wealth, where's our wealth? You don't wanna be looking at your retirement right now. Right? With everything that's going on with the stock market and all the tariffs and all the adjustments, we're told that, oh, it's just an adjustment. Okay? That's fine. But man, if that's where our hope is, we're in trouble. You know, but we need to be laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven. In God, we find our strength. In God, we find our satisfaction. In God, we find our salvation. And we need to start living like that. Too many Christians feel that if their situation goes south, God must be mad at them, right? How many times have you spoken with somebody who is going through a particular trial or maybe a sickness? And sometimes their first response is, God must be angry with me. If you've examined your heart and you found that this is not because of sin, it could be, not could be, it's a trial that's meant to increase your faith and to prove who God is, right? He's proving himself to you and he's being with you. Too many people have that attitude. If I'm a Christian, I'm supposed to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. No, not necessarily. Spiritual healthy, spiritual wealthy, spiritually wise. He will make my feet like hind's feet." Hind, a female deer. And this implies swiftness with which God enables him to escape from his enemies. Turn back to Psalm 18. Psalm 18, verse 33. He maketh my feet like hind's feet, and setteth me upon my high places. So Habakkuk must have remembered the words of David here, right? He will make my feet like hind's feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. High places, or places of safety, away from the enemy, chaos, and problems below. Probably not only the safety, but the moral elevation above the sin of the earth is implied here too. Look at Psalm 104. Psalm 104, verse 18. The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, the rocks. for the conies. So again, the illustration here is those high, you know, going high like many of these animals do, the hinds and the conies. We saw both of these. Conies are the rock badgers. We saw both of these when we were in Israel. and they are very comfortable. You ever see some of those nature shows where they have those rocks, those goats that walk on the rocks, and you're like, how in the world? They're even better than those rock climbers, and that's the picture here. No one is gonna go up there to bother you, and the higher you go, the closer you get to God, and the greater fellowship we have with him. And so the book, the verse in the book ends with, to the chief singer on my stringed instruments. Chapter three was a song to be taught and sung to Judah. Remember chapter three, verse one, a prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet upon Shigionoth. And we learned that that word Shigionoth means a mournful song, right? A song with emotion. So friends, Everything may be gone in an instant, but God will abide. And in him is all the abundance we need. And we need to start living that way, right? All the other stuff is just stuff. My dad, you all know the whole experience. He lived with us his last year of his life and we had to move him out of New Jersey to get him here. And he had a house and a garage and a basement and attic full of stuff, right? Where is it now? Gone. Somebody else's. Right? Our, you know, we should not look to our stuff, but we should look to God. He is all the abundance we need. And what beautiful confidence in God we see here with Habakkuk. You know, the beginning of the book, this was not Habakkuk. Right? He's questioning God. God, what's going on? Why are you doing this? Well, first, why aren't you doing anything? And then, why are you going to do that? And then God just continues to talk to him, and Habakkuk is living by faith, and even though he struggles with some of the answers God gives him, this is victory at the end. This is victory at the end of this book. And everything may be gone in an instant, but God will abide, and in him is all the abundance we need. What beautiful confidence we see in God. Although Habakkuk was shocked by the initial news of God's judgment upon Judah, he had perfect peace in the midst of terror and the fear around him. Why? Because he was on the mountaintop with God. And that's a great place to be, on the mountaintop with God. So Habakkuk starts in confusion and fear but ends in victory and faith. Habakkuk had come full circle. He had triumphed over doubt and discouragement and despair and defeat. He began in the valley. Asking why, Lord? And remember, the Lord is still with us in the valley. And remember, the Lord doesn't mind our questions. But he ended up safely on the mountains, protected by a strong, saving God. The way to get out of the valley of fear is to come and meet the Lord on the mountain of faith. And to be with the Lord in the mountains is to be over our circumstances in the valley below. Like Habakkuk, we may have why questions that God has not chosen to answer yet, right? And God doesn't always answer the whys, the why questions that we have. But we should be more interested rather than asking why, searching for the great who, W-H-O, God, searching for him. Like him, Habakkuk, we must not become weary of waiting and watching for his answers. God is always working. And according to Romans 8.28, how is he always working? For our good. I must admit, sometimes we're going through a particular situation and we may say, I don't see how this is gonna work out for good, but if we keep our eyes on the Lord, and we seek that fellowship with Him, when we get to the other side of that, guess what? It's for good. It's for good. When I think of my own life and my own salvation and how I came to the Lord, and then after being a prodigal and going away for the Lord and coming back, there are a lot of rough places and a lot of rough things, but God brought me back and meant it all for good, for which I praise Him. So the key to victory in our Christian life, friends, is to walk in faith and worship, knowing that God will answer in His own way and in His own time. and just patiently keep on keeping on. Don't just endure. Get excited about the Lord, right? Do a glory lap. Get up and shout. And let's show the world that our God supplies. Passage we just studied has been compared, and turn with me to Philippians 4. Philippians 4, verse 11. Paul says, not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound everywhere and in all things. I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer needs. Verse 13, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. I read a book one time by, I don't remember who it was, I know it was an old book, it was a Puritan author, but based on verse 11, the book was called The Divine Art of Contentment. You know, being content. We live in a society that's not content, right? They have to have the latest and greatest phones and this, that, and the other thing. And, you know, we need to learn to be content. And one way to learn to be content is to know that God is enough. And when you have God, you have everything you need. Warren Wearsby, the late Warren Wearsby said of Habakkuk, never doubt in the dark what God has told you in the light. Right? So what God has told us in his word, when it gets dark in light, when it gets dark in life, don't doubt what he's told you. Don't doubt the promises, because it's very easy to doubt. It's very easy to fear. It's very easy to grow afraid. And, you know, there are things in life that, you know, are fearful, but God is greater. All right, so I hope that this book has been a blessing to you as we seek to live by faith in troubling times, you know, and these are troubling times. The great news is Jesus is coming again, and I think very soon, and we're thankful for that, you know, but in the meantime, here we are. So how are we to live? We're to live by faith and to know that God is enough. Amen?