We're good there. By the way, how impressive was Emma? Right? Little baby on the back doing the music stuff. Come on, that's amazing. That was really cool. You weren't bad either, Jeff, really. That's true. It's true, you weren't. All right, Habakkuk chapter 1. Everybody go ahead and let's turn there. I do ask people to read, so, and I do ask people to look at the text all the time, and I ask a lot of questions, and everybody's fair game. So have a Bible open and be ready, because Tristan, you're gonna read one through four for me, please. Nice and loud, with feeling. We'll see what he interprets that to be soon. Oh, wait. Can I get a volunteer? Oh, thanks, sweetie. Yes, please. Perfect. All right, so what are we hearing here? First impression. What's that? He's in a pickle? How's he feel about being in a pickle? Absolutely. Give me some phrases that express that. How do we know that? What phrases are telling you exactly what Jeff said? A righteous man upset by what he sees. What's he talking about? Give me specifics. Sorry? The wicked surround the righteous. That's not right. What else? Ooh, yeah. Now that's a different one. He says, he's asking God a question. We're gonna address that in a minute. What else? The law is paralyzed. What else? Destruction and violence are all around me. So anybody that is under the age of 16, tell me what you're hearing. Anger, fear, frustration, anxiety. You have to be under the age of 16 to answer. Yes, sir. exactly so he's doing what to God that is exactly right now let me ask you a question is that okay to do I know he's a prophet and he's doing it. I'm asking, is it okay? Is it okay to do? Yes. Yes. It is okay to do. It is okay to do. As a matter of fact, it's the first thing we should do. Before we go to friends, before we go to somebody else, we go to God with all things, don't we? Right? Now, there's some context here. There's two contexts, actually. There's the context of Habakkuk, which we'll get to in a minute, But then there's where this is all stemming from, all right? So there's two contexts. I'm gonna try to draw big enough. Let me know if you can't see the pictures. Doesn't make any sense without the pictures. All right, so we had, there's the Dead Sea, a river, Israel, this is Sinai. Don't count spelling, we don't count spelling here. Sinai, Egypt. Over here, there's a river. There's a thing here. All right, so there's the river. Here's the promised land. And then here's the ocean. That's a very bad picture. This is the ocean. OK, now, people of Israel have wandered all through. They got out of Egypt. They screwed up in Sinai. Then they had to wander around for 40 years, 40 years, 40 years, 40, 40, 40. And then they ended up right here, and Moses writes Deuteronomy. Roughly. Don't hold me to exact. But that's the idea. So, people of Israel are about to cross the river to go into the promised land. Who does not go into the promised land? Very good. Are you under 16? Who answered? No, I'm kidding. Alright, so Moses does not go into the promised land. But he writes a book, Deuteronomy, the second law, and what he tells them is basically it's a reiteration of all the stuff that they should have learned, should have known, and knew before they go into the promised land. And he gives them some warnings, and he gives them some promised blessings. So let's flip to Deuteronomy 28 really quick. There's a lot here we could turn to, but Deuteronomy 28 helps us, because it contrasts both. And Tom, could you read 28, one through seven, please? So what you're hearing there is you've got the people of God, millions of people, camped here. They've already conquered some areas here. But before they cross over, God has warned them. He said, look, there's a lot of peoples over here. They worship all kinds of funky gods. Do not worship those gods. You follow me. You do that, all that's yours. Then he gives them the flip side. So who can I pick on next? Mr. Laurie, would you please read 28, 15 through 20, and then 25? Okay. That's the flip side. So again, you've got millions of people here, the nation of Israel. about to enter the promised land without their leader of 40 years. Moses isn't going, Joshua's going. You wanna read what Joshua felt like? Look at Joshua 1, he's scared to death. Anyway, but they're about to go in here. And there's all of these idols and idolatrous people and all of the wickedness that's there and God is saying to them one thing, obey me, follow me, do not leave me. If you don't leave me, all these blessings are yours. If you leave me, all these curses are yours. Very clear. Yeah? OK. So they cross over. Then they start. And under Joshua, they do pretty good. Then what happens? You guys know this. Judges. Oh, everything goes south in Judges. Then they get into the kings, whoops. Then they get into the kings, right? You got Saul, you got David, you got Solomon, then the split, Rehoboam, Jeroboam. So we'll put that context over here. So we'll just put kings and the split. Now right here are the 10 tribes to the north. What happens to them? Have to be under 18 to answer the question. That's you, back row. Yes, captivity. Bonus points if you know by who. What's that? Nope. The other one. Assyria. I hear it. Good. All right, Assyria. I won't fight you. Assyria. Now, down here is Israel. The two tribes, Judah and Benjamin. What happens to Israel? Captivity, but later. Bonus points for the back row, who gets them? Duncan. Babylon, very good, all right. So, Isaiah writes about this time period. And Isaiah is warning the people. What's he warning them about? So, for those of you that may not be versed in this, how does this work? There's God up here, there's the people down here, and there's kind of three offices. There's a prophet, there's a priest, and there's a king. Kings rule on behalf of God. Prophets, oops, sorry, priests intercede for the people on behalf of God. Kinda goes that way, that way and that way. And then prophets kinda say, they say what God said. So prophets hear from God, they talk to the people, and they remind them of what was said. So what you're gonna see in the book of Deuteronomy, well, sorry, the book of Habakkuk, in any prophet, they're always gonna be referring back to God said this. Now, Deuteronomy's the easiest place to go because it's so clear, but there's lots of stuff back there that we refer back to. They're always pointing back. They're saying, God said, God said, God said, therefore do, do, do, because God said, do. That's what they do. That's what the prophets do. They're always reminding people what God said, trying to call into account, and then bring them forward into what they should do next. And you'll see that here. You'll see that here for the book. Now that's a lot of context. That's covenantal context, kind of functionality, and historical context. But all that sets the table. So now we've got Habakkuk, who sits right there. And during his ministry, that happens. So in Isaiah, he's trying to prevent. There's a warning. Now Isaiah gets told in Isaiah 6, look, I'm sending you, God says to Isaiah, I'm sending you and you're going to preach and teach and do all this stuff. It's not going to do a bit of good. As a matter of fact, I'm going to use you to harden their hearts, not the other way around. But you're warning and then you tell them to wait and be patient, etc. Habakkuk is a different deal. Now you ever wonder, How many of you are familiar with Isaiah 6, right? Isaiah sits in front of God, yeah? He sits in front of God, God says, oh, who am I gonna send? Isaiah says, send me. And then God says, good. And then he says, your entire ministry is gonna be to deaf ears, and it's not gonna work out well at all for you. And you ever wonder how Isaiah felt about that? I think Habakkuk gives us a really nice glimpse into what a prophet feels like as he's staring around at the people of God and what's happening all around him that he can't prevent. And he wrestles with that. He wrestles with that hard, because he sees what should be, and he goes to his God, and he has to wrestle with God over what he knows should be, and it isn't, and it isn't gonna be, not until later. So there's a lot of good context there. So let's flip back to Habakkuk four, I'm sorry, Habakkuk one, verse four. I wanna focus on one thing that Frank said. Frank, do you remember what you said? Do you remember what you said? You don't remember what you said? Okay. Well, Frank, I want you to turn. Yes, what was it? Yes. So there's a difference between saying, between saying, oh, all this stuff is going wrong. And then he asks a specific question. He says, why are you making me look at this? Why are you making me look at this? Let's flip to Deuteronomy. I'm sorry, Isaiah chapter three. And Frank, you get to read this. Isaiah chapter three, verses one through four. Remember we talked about the similarity of Isaiah's context? It's not exactly the same, but it is similar. Isaiah 3, one through four. Yes, sir. Whoop, wrong verse. I did. Hold on. Think of a Deuteronomy verse. Let's see how fast I can find it. Sorry. Deuteronomy 28, 63, please. Deuteronomy 28, 63. Because Habakkuk asked the specific question, Lord, why are you making me look at this? Is that 2868? Okay, 2863. It's all right, you can borrow mine if you need them. Okay. So what does that verse say? Yes, ma'am. I can see it on your face. Yeah. But what's God's attitude about it? Exactly right. Does anyone have a different translation of that word by any chance? Instead of delight? It's all the same across? Okay. The idea there is that God told you so, in a sense. And God is glorified that way, because God is laying out for your people, very clearly, for his people, very clearly, if you do this, you will be blessed. If you don't do this, you will be cursed. By the way, there's a lot of warnings, from Deuteronomy to Habakkuk, there's a whole ton of warnings, believe me. God did not abandon his people between now and then, you know that. So God has been calling them, and calling them, and calling them, and calling them, But this verse makes it very clear in Deuteronomy. And remember our contextual verses were Deuteronomy 28. I will bless you, I will curse you. And then he says, I will delight either way. Either way, I will be glorified. And so in answer to Habakkuk's cry, Lord, why are you making me see this? Is because he is a prophet could record it for God's people so that we could see this. and God is glorified, even through the destruction of his people, that Habakkuk is about to live through, that he is about to live through. All right, so let's go back, and let's read the next section of Habakkuk chapter one, five through 11. And who can I pick on? Yes, sir, what's your name? Eli, that's right. Thank you, Eli. Five through 11, please. So let me ask you this, Deuteronomy 28, one through seven, you read that. What was God's promise to the nation of Israel if they obeyed? How were they gonna handle their enemies? Just like this. Doesn't this sound like a blessing to Israel? Rather than a blessing on Chaldeans, another name for the Babylonians? So, let me ask you this. What are you hearing when you read this? What about verse five? What's God's attitude as he presents this? Exactly, and this is gonna be a show. This is an example of God's power using this nation, isn't it? He says, behold, I am gonna work a wonder among you. You won't even believe it until you see it. What does that suggest? That attitude about that. Yes, yes, it does. It does. All right, we're gonna keep going through this and Habakkuk does respond. At this point, by the way, Habakkuk's stomach is dropping through the floor. We know that. But let's go ahead and go through this quickly. What are some of the things that God tells Habakkuk about the Chaldeans? What are they like? Bitter and hasty, what else? Dreaded, fearsome. What else? They are good at what they do. And what do they do? Violence. What else? Proud, haughty. Excellent. How do they treat kings and princes? They scoff. How can they do that? These are important people. Why are they allowed to do that? Because they can beat them up. They can beat them up. So let me ask you about verse 7. Verse 7. Jeff, read verse 7 for me again. So tell me about that verse, anybody. Their justice and their dignity go forth for themselves. Anybody have a different translation than that? Their what? Just anything, if you've got something different. Verse 7. Okay, same idea. What's that verse telling us about the Chaldeans? Well, they do. Not in the way we would define it, but what God is saying about justice and dignity. So they don't have godly justice and dignity. So they don't really have justice and dignity, right? But where's it coming from? From themselves. Where does ours come from? From God. There is no justice without righteous law. We don't have righteous law without God. And dignity comes from obeying righteous law. If you don't have righteous law, you can't have dignity, right? I mean, it all fits. What he is saying here, what God is saying here is that their justice and their dignity, things that we derive from God come from themselves. So talk to me too about verse 11. Ms. Jane, can you read verse 11 for me again? What does that mean? Absolutely. Absolutely. So this is the people that God is sending to destroy his own people. So before we read Habakkuk's response to that, I want to hear your response. Thoughts? Comments? Yes, sir. And God is using them to execute His justice. So, they may think it's their justice, but it's actually God's justice. They're the tool He's using to execute justice on God's people because they disobeyed Deuteronomy. Excellent. What else? That's really good. It's like you want it the world's way. This is how the world works. That's good. What else? Really? Yeah. Hmm. That is really good. Here's this amazing show, except that it's happening to me. What else? Yes, ma'am. Yeah. Yeah, that's a great question. She's asking, for those that may not have heard, she's asking, is God's delight, correct me if I'm wrong, in the judgment on his people, or is it his delight on that he will finally redeem his people? And the right answer is yes. It's both, yes. Because he said he would do it, and he's doing it. He said that they would sin this way, and they did. And so he's doing what he said, and then you'll see in the rest of the book, Habakkuk, how he's doing this and what Habakkuk comes up with based on this. So it's all there. But eventually, it all is part of his redeeming, glorifying plan, so yes. But that's a great question. So, Trey, did you have a comment before I? Horrible. And this, by the way, is the nation. So the Assyrians conquered the 10 tribes, but the Assyrians got conquered by a combination of the Medes and the Babylonians. And then the Babylonians kind of came to the forefront. So at the time, this is the country. Now the Medes get them later on. That's when Darius comes in, but that's later. But this is the country, like this is the biggest dog there is in the whole world right now, is Babylon. And he is sending that hammer to hammer this particular nail. And it isn't pretty when they do this stuff. There's other texts where it talks about literally chaining people up and loofing their lips together as they walk down in a row and other sensitive parts. It's just, it's awful. It is awful. And at this point, Habakkuk literally is shaking in his boots, and we see that later on. All right, so let's go ahead and get to Habakkuk's response. I don't want us to run out of time. I need to pick on a new person. Yes, sir. Can you read Habakkuk three for us? I'm sorry, Habakkuk one, verses 12 through 17, please. Nice and loud. Yep, of chapter 1. And Duncan, if you want to help him out, you can. Oh, OK. Not a problem. Duncan, do you want to read it? Or Duncan, do you want to read it for him? OK. Very good. Let me pause it right there, if I may. Okay, hold on. So Habakkuk is here talking. What's he saying? Yes. Now, where does he get that, though? He's making statements back to God, but where's he getting that? Chapter one, eyes of faith. It's beginning. So he's speaking back to God and he's making conclusions. He says, what are the conclusions that he's making here in 12? He's actually making conclusions. God says, I'm going to send the biggest, most most powerful nation that currently exists to come in and to destroy you. And then the first thing he says back to him is, God, we're not going to die. Where does he get that? Isaiah, that's true. What is Habakkuk doing here? Yes, what's God's promise? Yes. Exactly. So first lesson of Habakkuk, not the first. Good lesson from Habakkuk. He gets hit with news like this. What's the first way he responds? He goes back to God in prayer, good thing. But then what's he already doing with this message that has been given to him by God? How's he interpreting it through the eyes of faith? And promises. And promises. So I'm gonna skip around. Duncan, can I get you to read as well? Read 13 through, nope, sorry, just read 13 for me. Okay, so there's a couple of statements in here that are all faith-based. In 12 and 13, so give me the faith-based statements. Just shout them out. The first one is we shall not die. What's the next? God can't look at wrong. Very good. Now where he goes with that is you can't look at wrong, so you're gonna punish these guys. That's where he's going. We haven't read that yet. But what about in 12? They've been ordained for what? Judgment. Again, back to Deuteronomy, right? And what else? Establish them for reproof, for correction. Correction is not a death sentence. Correction is correction. Meaning, I'm going to live, we're going to continue, and we're going to get better. We're going to come through this, right? None of which God said in those verses right there. True? So what he's doing is he's resting on the promises of God that he already knows. By the way, that's another lesson. We should know the promises of God so that when these things hit us, we don't have to go look them up. But anyway, he already knows these things. And so he's already in his mind taking those promises and interpreting what's coming at him through the eyes of faith. Through the eyes of faith. So I just wanted to pause there. Luke, could I get you to read 14 through 17, please. Actually, read 13. We'll get a running start at it. 13 through 17, please. All right, 13. So he makes a statement of faith. God, your eyes are too pure to look upon this kind of evil. That's the Jason paraphrase. But then he does what? He goes right into what? God made them so he can use them. True, yeah. And what's he asking particularly in verse 13? There's a question here that's in the prophet's mind. He'll answer it later, but he's asking the question now. What's the question? Yes. What does he base that question on? Yeah. God, your eyes are so pure. How can you use this? How can you even partner with this? How can you be glorified in this? How can you allow this? Lord, I look around me. It's tearing me up. And then how can you use this nation, this bitter, hasty, brutal, murderous nation to destroy your own people? Now, he knows that this is for correction. This is for judgment. This is for all these things. He says that. But then he's overcome. Lord, you're this, they're that. How can you do this? And he asked that question. All right, 14 through 16, what's he laying out there? What's the gist? He uses a number of analogies, but what's the gist? This is their accomplishments. Very good. Now what is, let's talk about each of these. Fish of the sea and creeping things that have no ruler over them. What is that about? No. Yeah. In a sense, yeah. Because we are a ruled people. A protected people. We are God's people. The fish aren't. The creeping things aren't. There's no ruler there. They just die, and they live, and they die again, and they get eaten, and then they're part of the circle of life. Lion King. Anybody that's seen the movie. Right? They don't have a ruler that's looking out for them, that's protecting them, that's doing these things, that has this sovereign plan. Now we know that the fish and all that's part of God's sovereign plan. What he's talking about is that all of a sudden this protected people don't look protected anymore. Now they're just like all the other creatures. They have no king, they have no God, they have no ruler protecting them and leading them in a sovereign way. It's like God, you've allowed us to just be like these fish, like the worms, like the animals, like the hunt and be hunted, in a sense. And then he talks some more. 15 and 16, what's going on there? Mary Beth, you were getting to it. This is a story, a little mini story that he's telling us. Mm-hmm. So the fisherman goes out. They catch all these fish. Awesome. They're having a great time. They rejoice. They're glad. Then what do they do? Who do they give thanks to? Their net. You kidding me? However, lest we get too proud, what do we attribute things sometimes to? ourselves, a lucky hat, lucky day, something else. We have particularly excellent skills in one area or something like that, and we go in there and say, oh, I pulled that off, whatever it was. Right? However, we know that's the wrong answer. But that's the way he criticizes them. Basically, they sacrifice or they give thanks to whatever it is that they think brought them what they got. Doesn't matter. And if they need to, they'll make up a god. They'll craft it. They'll fashion it. They'll layer it over with gold and silver. And they'll stick it on a pedestal. And they'll come up with a whole bunch of rituals to worship that god that they think got them there. So in ancient times, even, travelers would come across. And one of the first places they would visit sometimes would be the priest of the city or the local shaman or whatever it was. And they would ask, who are the gods here? And they said, well, we've got six. If you want to go fishing, you need to sacrifice to the god of the river. If you want to go hunting, you need to sacrifice to the god of the forest. If you take a deer, that's this god, and you need to do this, this, and this, and three backflips, and then throw two pieces of gold into the coffers. Literally. Literally. You'd go in and figure out the protocol. Now, they knew. They were not dumb people. They knew that part of this was cultural, part of this was, hey, you know, you gotta grease the ponds a little bit if you're gonna come and take some deer out of the forest, I get it, okay. But then there was also a part that was superstitious and was in there. So this whole bit about sacrificing to their net is not as ludicrous as it sounds, and it still goes on today. You think about the Catholic Church with all the various saints. You've got a saint for this, a saint for that, a saint for this, so many candles here, so many things there. You've got ancestors in the Asian religion. Your ancestors look out for you. You sacrifice to them. You pray to them. You worship them, right? There's a wonderful cartoon out called Coco about the Day of the Dead, your ancient ancestors. It's a fun cartoon. Don't recommend the theology in it. It's all still there. All right, 17. God, he asks another question. What's the question? How long? How long? How long will it last? How long will you reward this bitter, hasty nation? How long will all that I am seeing go on? That's what he asks. Now, we're not gonna do chapter two, but I wanna read 2-1. Jeff Roach, could you read 2-1 for me? This is Habakkuk. This is the last thing he says before the Lord answers him, go ahead. Does anyone have a different translation? King James anyone? No? He says, I will stand watch to see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer when I am reproved. So what's going on there? By the way, God speaks again in verse two. But what's going on there? What is Habakkuk expecting? What has he done in 13 through 17? And then what's he expecting based on what he's done? Yes, sir. What's that? He read Job. Tristan, you had your hand up. How? Yes, by talking to him. But what kind of an answer is he expecting? Reproof. Reproof. Why? Yes. Yes. Yeah. For those of you that may not have heard in the back, he's saying he's indicting God. He's complaining. He's doing it respectfully, but he is laying it out there. That's what Jeff said. And I agree. So overall, what have you seen from the prophet Habakkuk so far? Just give me one word answers. What's he like? What's happening? What? Faithful. What else? He's upset. What else? He's old. Bold. It's about to say old. What else. He's confused. Very good. He's he is dead set confused. That's for sure. What else. Passionate. That is exactly right. Jeff said that he doesn't approach God in some far off way, but he approaches him like a friend, like his Lord that's close to him. And he treats him like they can have a conversation, which is spot on, and isn't that what God wants us to do? Absolutely right, absolutely right. So I've got some pieces down here at the end, three levels, individually, us and Habakkuk as human beings, You see where Habakkuk is at, sometimes we get there as well. This is a good pattern to copy. When you read through Habakkuk 1, you see a prophet, okay, so he's okay with God. God has picked him as a prophet. Bad news comes, he goes to God. He's looking around him, he's seeing the world at large, he's going to God. And he is forthright. He is forthright, and he's laying it out there. Okay? So historical, their history and ours. So the nation of Israel had its zenith under the kings. Then it went down. This is its final decline in its history. So keep that in mind as far as our history as well. And then the then and the now. So then we were in the kingdom phase. Christ had not come and accomplished his work. Now, now Christ has accomplished his work, and we are the victorious church, the victorious church. And the end, the song that we sang points forward to that, but he's looking forward to that, and we're in the age where it's already happened, at least partially. Any comments, questions, additions, subtractions before we close? Okay. Oh, yes, sir. Yes. I think that's the hardest thing you'll learn all night. I don't know. You'll have to ask Mr. Roach. Mr. Roach knows what a coda is. You can ask him afterward, okay? I don't know. I don't know what a coda is. My musical theory is poor. All right, I will pray for us. Our gracious and heavenly Father, we thank you so much for the blessing of your word. Father, every word of your word, even the most difficult, even the most hard to fathom, even the most hard to take. Lord, I can't imagine what it would have been like to be Habakkuk, to hear this word, and to know that his loved ones, his country, his all in all would be going through this tremendous trial. But Father, I pray that you would bless our study of this book, that you would bless our efforts as we seek to please and to glorify you in all things. Thank you for our pastor. Thank you for 50 years for him. We pray for many, many more. We ask that you would bless him as well in his coming years of ministry. In Jesus' name, amen.