People of God in Christ, once again this morning we take as our sermon text just one verse from the third chapter of the book of Habakkuk. You may recall that two times ago we were looking essentially at Habakkuk 3, verse 2. The full text for that sermon was verses 1 and 2, but verse 2 by itself provided the main content for that message. Well, now we're up to verse 16 all by itself. And in between, which is to say last time, we heard the prophet's own report of what God had done in history. In verse 2, he writes, O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. But then in verses 13 through 15, Habakkuk gives his own report. In somewhat poetic form, he reports, he recounts, and describes and proclaims the great work of God to deliver his work from Egypt and to lead them into the Promised Land. And it truly is a rousing report. Having heard Habakkuk's report, we can say, mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. It's a report in which we hear of the coming of God, and the power of God, and the action of God, and the dominion of God over all opponents and all impediments. And all of it is based on the gracious favor of God toward the people he loves. But then we come to verse 16, and what do we find but, once again, a trembling, quivering prophet, crippled by fear. And isn't that just like us? We can open our Bibles and find just the right passage. We can stand amazed that God spoke to us from His Word exactly what we needed to hear. We can feel so strengthened in our resolve and so reaffirmed in our faith, only to get up and return to our lives just as worried, just as afraid, just as perplexed by the circumstances of our troubled lives. or we can come to church of a Lord's Day and we can be moved by the experience of a worship service, deeply blessed by the fellowship of God's people, greatly encouraged by a day of rest and worship, only to wake up on Monday morning and by midday, perhaps even by mid-morning, it hardly seems like we were ever in church at all. So verse 16 ought to be rather encouraging for us, in the same way that Romans 7 is so encouraging, as we recognize that we are not alone, and that even the prophets and apostles of God were not above the struggle of faith, and the experience of fear, and discouragement, and the temptation to despair altogether. I hear, and my body trembles, writes the prophet. My lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones. My legs tremble beneath me. So what's going on for the prophet Habakkuk? Didn't he just write, I have heard the report of you and your work, O Lord, do I fear? And wasn't he listening to his own report? Didn't he hear from himself the report that he just gave of the power and the fearful work of God for his people? Why does he now say, I hear and my body trembles? Well, it's because there is another sound to be heard, and it's the sound of an advancing enemy. It's the sound of the people of Israel, perhaps, talking, sharing the news, recounting the stories that they have heard of the ruthless cruelty and the barbaric terror of the approaching Babylonian army. An army that can only be stopped by God, while God Himself has now made it clear to the prophet that He will not stop them, and that He is even using them to bring judgment upon His people." In other words, the reason the prophet is trembling is because of the reality of fear. And that's the first point of this message, the reality of fear. We live in a fearful world. And there's really no other way around it but to be afraid. Isn't that where the prophet is? Hasn't he now come to the point of realizing that his fears are not going to go away? And this is no small fear. This is not just a matter of being unsettled or apprehensive. The prophet writes, I hear and my body trembles. My lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones. My legs tremble beneath me. Have you ever been that afraid? I'm going to guess you haven't. Or if you have, it was only for some short period of time, like a mother who spends an hour looking for her lost child. Or when a husband is counting the minutes because his wife hasn't shown up when she was expected. But consider that for the Prophet, the fear wasn't gone in an hour. and there was no happy ending to take away the terror. Well, why then do we expect to be able to live our lives without fear? And someone might say, wow, pastor, you're not being very encouraging. And you're right, I'm not, at least not at this point in the sermon. But this is important, that we come to terms with the reality of fear. We live in a fearful world, and contrary to what we may want to believe, God has not promised us a fearless life. He leaves us with many things to fear. There are few things that we can imagine that are not actually possible. So there are many things that we really ought to be afraid of. In fact, if we're not afraid of them, then there's probably something quite wrong with us. And yet, somehow, we might think we shouldn't be afraid, or that there must surely be some secret to escaping fear in our lives. There's not. That's the message of Habakkuk 3.16. And we might like John 3.16 better, but Habakkuk 3.16 is important too. The message that there's no secret hidden somewhere in Scripture. There's no verse that you just haven't discovered yet that is going to take away your very real fear. Well, what about Psalm 46? Doesn't Psalm 46 open with these words, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, and doesn't it say, therefore we will not fear? Well, yes, to be sure, these are the opening words of Psalm 46, but what does it say immediately next? Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. So Psalm 46 begins with the claim of faith, because God is our God, we will not fear. But then it proceeds to describe the fearful events that will befall the people of God, the earth giving way, mountains being hurled into the sea, the flood water surging, advancing, ready to take over the land, so that even the mountains tremble in fear at the swelling of the sea. So the mountains tremble, but we feel no fear. We need to see that the claim of faith in Psalm 46 is not the claim that we will fear no fear. And that's why there's more to the Psalm than just the claim, we will not fear. It doesn't end there. Verse 4 says, There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. So the psalmist is assuring the reader that not only is God our refuge and strength, but He is dwelling with His people. And so the psalmist invites, even calls upon the reader to come behold the works of the Lord. Even as Habakkuk reports and recounts and proclaims the work of God in the past, so we too need to hear of that work, to hear it often and to hear it regularly. And why? Well, because we're afraid. Because we have real enemies to face in this world. Because of the reality of fear in our lives. But what about the instruction and call of Jesus in Matthew 6? In Matthew 6, 25 to 34, we hear Jesus say over and over again, do not be anxious, do not be anxious, do not be anxious. Doesn't that mean that we ought to reach a point when we are not anxious? But if that's the case, then why did Jesus need to say it over and over and over again? And then, of course, he ends his instruction on not being anxious with these words. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. So do not be anxious about tomorrow, says Jesus. Why? Because you have enough anxiety just for today. Jesus wasn't promising us a trouble-free life, a life without real struggles and real fears. In fact, he's the one who said to those who would follow him, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. How can that not be a fearful thing to do? To take up your cross, to carry around daily the instrument of torture and death that cost our Lord his life. And yet, Jesus also said, I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that, have nothing more that they can do. And in many other places in the Gospels, we hear Jesus reassuring His disciples, reassuring us, saying, do not fear, do not be anxious, have no fear of them. Doesn't that mean that we should hope to never be afraid? To never feel fear, even for a moment? Well, I suppose you could argue that if our faith is strong enough, that if we keep our eyes on Christ and not look down at the waves like Peter walking on the water, well, then we will never be afraid. And that's the key, apparently. Have faith. Just believe. But then, what about Jesus himself? What about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, where He Himself said, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with Me. And going a little further, He fell on His face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me. So how can it be that the man of faith was yet so afraid? How can it be that the one who gives us faith and who modeled faith for us throughout his ministry could be so hard-pressed? In the Garden of Gethsemane, it's because, you see, of the reality of fear. And then, of course, there's Philippians 4, verse 6. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And there's 1 Peter 5, 6 and 7, which says, humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. And yet the very next verse in 1 Peter 5 says, be sober-minded, be watchful, your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. That sounds rather fearful, does it not? And so the Apostle Peter calls us to be sober-minded. but somehow that's not the freedom from fear that we want. We want, even expect, maybe even demand of God, not a life of being sober and watchful, but a life in which we don't have to be afraid at all. But in that case, what we want is not a better day in this life, but what we apparently want is heaven itself, because here in this life, We live every day with the reality of fear. So let's go back to the Prophet in Habakkuk 3 to see if he can help us. The second point of this sermon is the quiet of faith. Because as verse 16 continues, we read this from the prophet, yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. So let's look first at just these words, yet I will quietly wait. Here then is the quiet of faith. And notice to start that the prophet sets these two things side by side, fear and faith. He writes, my legs tremble beneath me, yet I will quietly wait. So here we see that fear and faith are not opposed to each other. In fact, we can even say that if there were no fears for us to face, then we wouldn't need faith. Word of God calls us to walk by faith exactly because we will have fears to face. And God's word calls us to walk by faith for as long as our fears continue, there will come a day when all fear will be gone. But you see, we're not there yet. We're not there yet. We're still here. We're still in a world that holds the reality of fear. And so in the same way, we need to see that fear and courage are not opposed to each other. In other words, fear and courage are not opposites. In order to have courage, we need not to be free of all fears. In fact, if you don't have fears, then you don't need courage. But since you have fears, Take courage, which doesn't mean that you won't be afraid, as you take courage, only that you will not let your fear turn you back. You will not let fear make you change your course in life. But you will courageously continue in your fear, despite your fear, to follow Christ and to run your race. And so yes, cast your anxieties on the Lord, but then don't be surprised when you feel those anxieties again very soon after you've cast them on the Lord. And don't think that something is wrong, whether with you or with your faith or with God, when you continue to have anxieties. It's just that you're not in heaven yet. You live in a world that holds the reality of fear. You live a life that requires faith. And by faith, courage. But what about this quiet that Habakkuk speaks of? Yet I will quietly wait, writes the prophet. The word quiet is usually an adjective. We say it sure is quiet in here. Or the baby is quite quiet right now. Or, this really has been a quiet morning. But quiet can also be a noun, so that we can speak of the quiet of faith. The text puts it in the form of an adverb, but the result of quietly waiting is that there can be for us the quiet of faith. I like that expression. The quiet of faith. And again, the first thing to see is what this doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that we are no longer afraid. But even as we are afraid, it means that we are quiet. And this shows us that the proper response to fear is not to try to find a way out of it, but to decide what we're going to do with it. And it's terribly important. to ask, what do you do with fear? In other words, how will fear move you? What will it cause you to do? If we were animals, which we are not, despite what secular science tells us, but if we were animals, there would only be two choices. Fight or flight. Either you face up and fight, or you run away. In our case, running away usually means that you leave off doing the thing you're called to do. You abandon your calling from God and run away. or fighting means that we handle our fear in another poor way. It means that we respond in anger and frustration and with a desire for revenge. Instead, what the prophet calls us to do by his example is to wait. And this is why the point here is the quiet of faith, because faith involves waiting, not just passing the time, but waiting in hope. Romans 8, 24 and 25 says, for in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees, but if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. The question is, what was the prophet waiting for? He wasn't waiting for the Babylonian army to be turned back. God had made it clear to him that the Babylonians would not be turned back. He certainly wasn't waiting for the Babylonians to come and to do their worst. Instead, verse 16 finishes like this, "...yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us." In other words, he was waiting for God's judgment to fall to the Babylonians. So here then is the third point, the desire for justice. Because the point of coming to terms with the reality of fear is not fatalism. The point of quietly waiting is not to accept defeat. Yes, we must accept the reality of fear. Yes, we must quietly wait with little that we can do at times. But what are we waiting for? We are waiting for the day when God will judge his enemies. Do you remember what Habakkuk wrote back in chapter 1, verse 12? He wrote, Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. And remember that it couldn't be that Habakkuk knew that he would escape the onslaught of the Babylonians. God hadn't promised him that. What then was he talking about? How would he not die? He was claiming eternal life from God. And in the same way, the prophet's quiet waiting was not fatalism. It was not to accept defeat. Instead, the prophet again lays claim to an eternal God, a God who will surely judge his enemies, a God who will surely one day bring an end to all our fears." And so what we come to realize is that the Prophet's waiting is exactly our waiting. His waiting is not even like our waiting. His waiting is our waiting, because we too are waiting for the same judgment of God upon this world. And we too must be looking forward to that day, not because we want revenge upon our enemies, but because we long to see justice. For now, yes, we have much to be afraid of. For now, there's a little more that we can do, but quietly wait, quietly, because we know that there is a day of judgment that is coming. There is a day when the enemies of God will be not just turned back, but destroyed, removed forever from the kingdom of God. And in that day, our fears will be ended, and we will no longer we will no longer be afraid. In the end, what we need again is that eternal perspective. Oh, the importance of the eternal perspective that God gives us in His Word. Because the report that we receive in God's Word of the mighty work of God, that report includes not just what God has done, but what He will do." So whatever we're afraid of, and there is much to be afraid of, it will be removed, it will all be brought to an end. For now we wait, and with the promises of God and Christ, we quietly wait. Even in the midst of our fears, we enjoy the quiet of faith and we await the day of justice that will come by way of the judgment of God. Amen. Would you please pray with me? We thank you for this eternal perspective, O God, that you give us in your Word. We see it here. At the end of the prophet's prayer, O Lord, help us too to quietly wait. Help us in faith to anticipate that great day when all our fears will be ended, will be removed, will be brought to naught, exactly because You, O God, are eternal, because You in Christ have given us eternal life. In His name we pray. Amen.