Well, good morning again, and I encourage you to take your Bibles and turn to the end of Habakkuk, in Habakkuk 3 and verse 17. This is our third time together in this short, minor prophet. And as we've been discussing throughout our time together, The conclusion in verse 17, 18, and 19 is not where our prophet began in chapter 1, verses 2 through 4. This amazing declaration of faith in verse 17, this amazing demonstration of what it means to consider it all joy, my brethren, when you face various trials. Habakkuk says it this way, Yet I will exalt in the Lord. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength and he has made my feet like hinds feet and he makes me walk on my high places. We have seen the transformation of the prophet and it has been our goal to see that transformation in our life as well. I believe we can read and communicate verse 17 clearly, but I think where we begin to divide with the prophet is verse 18. We speak of the fig not blossoming, and the no fruit, and no yield of the olive, and no fields producing food, and the flock is cut off, and the cattle is not in the stall, and we immediately go to those areas of our life that are our disappointments, that are our discouragements, that cause us pain, those things that we've asked the Lord to remove, and yet He has chosen to keep those in our life. But our 18 is a little different than His 18. His 18 is, yet I will exalt in the Lord and I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. And oftentimes our 18 is discouragement, a lack of worship, anxiety, angst between people we love because the difficulty is so hard that we become a little prickly. I think that was the temptation that Habakkuk felt as well and yet it was through his dialogues with God that he transformed and that is why we have been looking at it. What are the steps required? What was it that God shared with Habakkuk and that Habakkuk discovered about God in these dialogues that created verse 18 versus the 18 that we are so prone to see in our own life. We've seen 6 up to this point. Two weeks ago we saw the first three in chapter 1, 1 through 11. The first one was that we were to continue bringing our requests and confusions to God. We saw that by example in chapter 1, verses 2 through 4, how the prophet continued to turn to the Lord. Even though he was confused, even though he was discouraged, even though he was disappointed with God's apparent inactivity, he continued to go to God because of who he believed God was and what he understood God to be. The ultimate authority, the one who is in control of all things. There is no one else to turn to. And so even though I'm not getting what I want, I will continue to go to Him. I will continue to run to Him. I will continue to cast my cares upon Him and I will not reject Him nor run away. Secondly, we saw that we are to look beyond what we can see. Verse 5 of chapter 1, God wanted Habakkuk to look and observe what he was doing. He wanted Habakkuk to redirect his gaze from the circumstances that surrounded him to see that God was doing something on a grander and a greater scale. that he was fulfilling his promises and he was using the rising up and the falling of governmental leaders to accomplish that. I am accomplishing my promise and you're not seeing it because all you can see is the difficulty in your life. Redirect your gaze. Look upon what I am doing. Thirdly, we were told that we are to remember that God does not think like us. Again, we see this in verse five, be astonished, wonder. He tells Habakkuk, God says, be astonished and wonder, because I am about to do something in your days that you would not even believe. I am going to blow your mind. I do things different than you do. I do things different than you would do them. You look upon what I do and you go, oh, God must not be active or God must not be in control. But that is the very opposite of what is true. He does care. He is active and he is in control. God was going to accomplish his plan through the avenue that Habakkuk could not comprehend nor predict. And that was he was going to use a wicked and feared Babylonian nation to bring about the judgment that Habakkuk was calling for in verses two through four. Remember that God does not think like us. His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are not our ways. Last week we looked at three more. We saw that we were to frame the uncertainties of our life in what we know for certain about God. Verse 12 of chapter 1, Habakkuk recalls what he knew to be true about God. Even though he didn't understand God's answer and he was confused by God's answer, he knew biblical truth about the character of God and that is what allowed him to continue to pursue and seek God. That was going to brace him as he was absolutely unstable by what God would say was His way of accomplishing His plan. Frame our uncertainties in what we know about God, in His goodness, and His love, and His kindness, and His sovereignty, and His holiness. We know these things to be true about God, and we are confused about what God has allowed to happen, but I will frame my uncertainties based upon those things that I am certain about. Fifthly, we saw that we are to synchronize or recalculate our watch to God's. In chapter two, verse three, Habakkuk was reminded that God's timeline was different than his, and that he needed to be patient and wait on the Lord. That God was at work, even though he was working on a different timeline and a different clock, and that Habakkuk needed to submit his time to God's time. And then finally, last week we saw that we are to anticipate God's ultimate judgment. That He will reconcile all things to Himself. That He will make all things right at the end. In verses 6 through 20 of chapter 2 we saw how God's patience would not continue forever. that his patience did not equate to his lack of concern or his lack of ability to judge, but that he would bring judgment. He would bring wrath. He would bring his perfect punishment according to his perfect timing. And so Habakkuk needed to wait. And so this morning we want to jump back into this second conversation because I skipped something. We want to look at a very short statement that God makes in Habakkuk in chapter two, verse four, that had great meaning to Habakkuk and the people of Judah, but it also had much meaning in the New Testament. Chapter two, verse four, it says, Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him, but the righteous will live by his faith. As I was prepping for last week's message, I became overwhelmed by guilt. I didn't bring up what perhaps is the most important phrase in the entire Old Testament. I skipped right over it intentionally, but as I was skipping over it intentionally, knowing we were going to spend today, I was like, Lord, is that a cloud? Is there lightning in those clouds? Because are you going to strike me for not bringing this one up? I skipped over this verse because I wanted to keep our eyes on the forest and I knew that we needed to go back and look at this most important of trees. I wanted to spend our time on these three Hebrew words that make up this phrase. But the righteous shall live by his faith. This is a significant phrase. It was the cornerstone of Paul's understanding of justification. And it was the cornerstone of his argument of the gospel in the book of Romans. He looks back to this phrase to begin his argument, to establish his argument that faith is what brings about justification and not works. In Romans 1, verse 17, Paul emphasizes this term or he uses he points to this phrase and he emphasizes the term righteous on how people could obtain the righteousness of God. In Galatians chapter 311 Paul goes back to this passage and his emphasis this time is on the term faith as he contrasts salvation by works versus salvation by faith. And it's mentioned a third time in the New Testament by the author of Hebrews, and the author's emphasis at that time is the word live, as he's stressing the importance of living each and every day by faith and not turning back to Judaism. So it's mentioned three different times in the New Testament, each time looking back into the Old Testament at three different words that it's emphasizing. Righteous, live, faith. It is an extremely important phrase and some believe it expresses the central theme of the entire Bible. We are declared righteous based upon our faith and living in that faith. And I skipped it. But it is also a key verse in church history. This October we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. And it was this verse that gripped the heart and the mind of Martin Luther, who served as the catalyst for the eventual breaking away from the Catholic Church. And later, he was instrumental in forming the movement known as the Protestant Reformation. In Luther's day, the church had lost sight of the biblical understanding of salvation, salvation by faith. It had become salvation by faith, but really by works. And Luther hung his radical 95 thesis on the door of the Wittenberg church on October 31st, 1517, to express his growing concern with the corruption within the church and the corruption of the church's doctrine on the gospel. And it was this verse that spurred him on. Luther himself said of this text, Before those words broke upon my mind, I hated God, and was angry with Him because, not content with frightening us sinners by the law and by the miseries of life, He still further increased our torture by the gospel. But when, by the Spirit of God, I understood those words, the just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith. Then I felt born again like a new man. I entered through the open doors into the very paradise of God. So it was this verse that led to the salvation of the man who God would use to begin a movement that would call the church to return to biblical teaching and to a biblical understanding of the gospel. And yet I skipped over it. It became a centralized and foundational verse for the whole movement. sole fide, salvation by faith alone. And that is one of the five solas that came to define and summarize the key issues of the Protestant Reformation. Each of these Latin phrases represents a key area of doctrine that was an issue of contention between the reformers and the present church, the Roman Catholic Church. And today, they still serve to summarize key doctrines essential to the gospel and to the Christian life and practice. We are justified by faith in Christ alone, not by the works of the law. It is by faith in Christ that his righteousness is imputed to us, that we receive his righteousness, that when God looks at us, he sees the righteousness of Christ. And that comes through faith. And I'll say it one more time. And yet last week I skipped it. So, today I want to look at this verse and glean from it our seventh step. Our seventh step in transferring from chapter 1, verses 1 and 2 individual to chapter 3, verse 17, 18, and 19 individual. The one who can consider it all joy when you face various trials. The person who can exalt and rejoice in the Lord even when those things that you desire most in your heart are kept from you. Number seven, live in light of what you know about God. Live in light of what you know about God. In this short phrase, three words in the original Hebrew, which come almost as an aside, we almost miss it because the text surrounding it is describing the wickedness of the Babylonian nation, and the reader is anticipating what God is going to do to this wicked people. So God is answering Habakkuk's question about how can you use a more wicked people to judge a less wicked people, and they hear about the proud, the one whose soul is not right within him, and they're waiting. Okay, you identify that they're wicked. Now what's going to happen? So it's almost skipped. It's almost missed because the text surrounding it is describing this wicked, and the reader is anticipating what God is going to do. But it is not just a descriptor of the righteous in comparison to the wicked, because that's how the verse is laid out. He describes the wicked in the beginning of verse 4. Behold, look, watch, observe, for the proud one, his soul is not right within him. Take a look at that, and in contrast, the righteous, they live by their faith. So it's not just a descriptor of the righteous in comparison to the wicked. It is a foundational step in what we've been talking about. In moving from chapter 1 verses 2 through 4 to chapter 3 verses 17 through 19. Buried in the midst of the description and judgment of Babylon, we have this comparative statement. The puffed up, arrogant Babylonians whose soul was not right within them, who trusted in their own strength, who trusted in themselves and lived according to that, they were unlike the righteous. They were unlike the ones that God had declared as righteous. For the righteous will live by their faith. And this is where we find our seventh step. As we experience personally what Habakkuk mentions in chapter 3 verse 17, the absence of the fig, no fruit on the vine, no yield of olives, no food from the field, no cattle in the stall, sickness that remains, financial difficulty that continues, relationships that are broken. This step communicates that we are to steadfastly trust in God and live our lives based upon who God is. We are to steadfastly trust in God and live our lives based upon who God is. We are to believe who God has said he is and live our lives based upon that fact. And God wanted Habakkuk and the people of Judah to live by their faith. Verse 4, as we've said, begins the discussion on how he viewed this vile people and what he would do to them in their wickedness. He tells Habakkuk to behold, to see, to understand what's going on. These are a proud people. These are a people who are trusting not in God but in themselves. It says in chapter 1 verse 7 that they created their own justice and their own authority. So they didn't look to God's justice. They didn't look to God's authority. It says that they identified their strength to be their God, chapter 1 verse 12. They didn't look to God as their authority, as their ruler, as their creator. No, they saw their own strength and they worshiped their own strength. Verse four says that their soul was not right within them. That this pride was twisted. There was a twisted morality and their soul was twisted, their morality and worship was warped. It wasn't as it should have been. And then in verses 6 through 20, He declares their upcoming judgment, their just rewards for intending for evil what God was using for good. God sovereignly was using them. He was holy in His use of them, but they intended that for evil. And so He said, I will judge them based upon their intention. And it is in verse 4 that God contrasts the wicked, the proud, with the description of the righteous and how they lived. And the Hebrew word translated righteous in the Old Testament refers to an ethical or moral standard. And of course in the Old Testament that standard is the nature and will of God. It is the ethical and moral standard that God has set up in His law and through His character But this word is bound inseparably to the idea of judicial standing. Which makes total sense in the contrast of our passage. As God is speaking about those that are guilty. The guilty are proud and their spirit is twisted, is not right within them. And this is what will happen to them. He is casting judgment on them. God is saying that the declared righteous, however, live their lives by faith. There is a contrast here. There are two options here. The proud and the righteous. Those that I declare as guilty and those that I declare as righteous. He identifies two possibilities. The proud and the faithful. Possibly Habakkuk, but most likely the people of Judah saw the Babylonians as the wicked. They saw the Babylonians as the one who deserved judgment. And anyone who was a Jew, and anyone who wasn't as bad as the Babylonians, they would fall into the second category of the righteous. Their righteousness was comparative. Theirs was, look at me, compared to the Babylonians. I look pretty good. I like to watch documentaries on criminals because I look pretty good. Murderers, thieves, those who extort. Man, whoa, I look really good. I might have raised my voice last night to my children or to my wife, but yeah, they're all alive. But God establishes two groups. those that are proud, whose souls are not right within them, and those who live by faith. He speaks of the ones who are guilty before Him and those that are declared innocent before Him. It is only those that live by faith that are declared righteous. Not those who don't act like the Babylonians, those that live by faith. Not those that are comparatively good or those that come from the nation of Israel. Not those who haven't done the really big sins or are better morally than other people that they can point to. Not those that have a list of merits or a list of works that they can point to and those that come from a good religious background. No, there are two groups. There are the proud, And there are those who live by faith. But it is faith that comes through grace that triggers God's declaration of righteousness. It is what is required. It is what causes God to look upon an individual and say, righteous. Romans chapter 4 verse 3 says, For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. He believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness, that the righteous will live by faith. Abraham was justified based upon his faith. The righteousness of Christ was imputed to you and I at that moment of belief, in that moment of a recognition of the end of ourselves, that there was nothing we could do. There was no righteous deed that we could accomplish. There was not something that we could avoid. No, we were helpless, and we believed in the gift of the perfect lamb, and at that point, we are declared righteous. And so in comparing the wicked Babylonians to his declared righteous, he was not simply giving the hearers hope that their enemies were going to be dealt with, which he was, but he was challenging them to look deeply into this thing called faith. I only have two categories, the proud and those who have faith. Where do you fall? Where do you fall? The ones that I declare to be righteous, the ones that I declare to be innocent, they live by faith. Is he talking about me? Am I the righteous? Am I free from the wrath that he's promised to bring down? I know I'm better than the Babylonians. I know I'm not as fierce. I know I'm not as, I don't worship false gods. That's not me. But the righteous live by faith. Do I have this faith? The Hebrew word translated faith is the word imunah, which can be translated faith or faithfulness. There's a question as to which one should be used here. Should it say the righteous live by their faith or should it say that the righteous live in their faithfulness? One commentator put it this way, An outward life based upon an inward conviction. That is faith. And that is our understanding of the word faith from the scriptures. That it is inseparable belief and lifestyle. So the righteous live by faithfulness absolutely because the righteous have faith. Because the righteous believe. Turn to Hebrews chapter 11. Famous chapter on faith. And the author of Hebrews says this about faith in verse one. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was, what? Righteous. God testifying about his gifts and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. By faith, God was taken up so that he would not see death and he was not found because God took him up. For he obtained the witness that before his being taken up, he was pleasing to God. And without faith, it is impossible to please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him. By faith, Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen in reverence, prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness which in accordance of faith. By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he had to receive for an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith, he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, following heirs of the same promise. For he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. First, in this passage, he says that faith believes that God exists. It is a mental and conceptual idea that you grab a hold of. That this faith believes that God exists. that he did not come into being, that he will never go out of being, he is not becoming or growing or changing, he is the I am, the one who has ever existed. Faith is the belief that he does exist with total conviction and assurance. That's what it's saying in this text. Second, the author of Hebrews says that faith believes that God is the rewarder of those who seek him. Not only is there a belief in his existence, but there is a belief in a type of God. Namely, here in this passage, that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. But it is a belief that God is not just any God, He is the God, the God of holiness and justice and wrath. He's the God of love and mercy and grace and provision and patience. So faith is belief. It is belief in God. First, that He exists, and secondly, that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. But as the passage continues to describe faith, it describes it as active. It is an active belief. Look at verse 4. We see that Abel, by faith, offered sacrifice. That belief in God and that belief that God was a rewarder of those who seek Him, that belief was only demonstrated through action. Verse five, that Enoch was pleasing to God, that he set his life in order to bring honor and glory to God and to please Him. Verse seven, Noah, by faith, prepared an ark. And in verses eight and nine, that Abraham obeyed, he lived as an alien. This is a faith in God, but it is living our life on the basis of what we believe. It's that classic illustration of, do I believe this stool will hold me up? Well, you won't know if I believe it until I sit on it. And that's James point in James chapter two, verse 17. It speaks to this very point. And in verse 17, it says, even so faith, if it has no works is dead being by itself. So the righteous in Hebrew or in Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4, you can go back there, are those that believe in God and act upon that faith. And live in light of that faith. That is why this word is translated steadfastness, reliability, fidelity. Because it's speaking of the life that is seen based upon that inward conviction of what is known. Faith or faithfulness here is turning to God. It's understanding and believing that He is and it's believing who He said He is and living in accordance with that fact. Look back with me to chapter 1 verse 12 and remember what Habakkuk did immediately following the first answer by God. He reminded himself of what he knew to be true of God. That he was everlasting. That he was his covenant God. That he was the keeper of his promises and we will surely not die. That he was holy. That he was sovereignly in control of all things. Appointing and establishing. And that he was his rock. And Habakkuk exemplified that he believed this to be who God was. And he believed that God had the answers to his questions and the authority to command the people when he waited for God's word. And as soon as he heard it, he wrote those words down and he sent those words to those in Judah so that they could benefit from them as well. The faith mentioned here was manifested in his life through action. It is manifest when we live our life in recognition of those realities. When we live holy lives based upon the fact that we believe that God is holy. when we run to his shelter and protection because we truly believe that God is our rock and there is no one else or nothing else that we can run to that will provide that safety. That is faith. Faith is the running to him. Faith is when we humbly recognize and humble ourselves and submit to his sovereignty and to his plan when we listen to and believe and live according to his word. So, who does God deem as righteous? The faithful or those with faith? Yes. For someone to be faithful in righteousness, it naturally entails dependent trust in God and that steadfast trust is manifested in their life and in that life lived out. And the righteous shall live by faith. That speaks of doing. It speaks of activity. And so it eradicates any contrast between using the word faith or faithfulness. It's believing in God and living in light of that belief. Faith in God is demonstrated by faithfulness to God. So because I believe God to be holy and sovereign, because I believe that he's my creator and the one who deserves my life and my worship, even if my prayers appear to go unanswered, even if the pain continues to stay with me, I will continue to live my life in the light of who he is and not in the light of my circumstances. We are tempted to live in light of our experience, in what I saw, in what I feel, in what I taste. And so I live in this pain, and so I respond, or I live in light of that pain. I'm downcast, I'm focused on myself. I don't look outward to serve other people because I am hurting. Don't you recognize that? He says, live in light of who God is and what you know Him to be, rather than in light of your own circumstances. I am still financially, I'm in financial difficulty, and so I'm gonna focus in on myself, and I'm going to respond at any way I can make money, rather than focusing on who God is and living in light of that. Take, for example, our belief that God is judge. that He is the God of judgment and that He will bring ultimate judgment at His perfect time. How does faith work out? What does that look like? Well, if I ultimately believe that God is the God of judgment, then I will follow the example of Christ in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 23. Listen to this. While being reviled, He did not revile in return. While suffering, he uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to Him who judges righteously. He did not respond because he knew God would. He didn't have to because he knew God would. Think with me to Romans chapter 12. I will leave room for the wrath of God. Verses 17 through 21 talks about don't become overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. I will leave room for the wrath of God and not take my own revenge. I will never pay back evil for evil. I will respect what is right in the sight of all men. And if my enemy is hungry, what am I going to do? I'm going to feed him. And if he's thirsty, what am I going to do? I will give him drink. How do I respond to the difficulties of life? I live in light of who God is. God is good. God is kind. God is loving. God is wise. And I live in accordance to that, not in accordance to the pain and in light of the pain that I'm going through. That's the seventh step. Live by faith. Live in accordance to what you believe about God. Because what I'll suggest to you is that most of the time we live in light of our experience. We respond because of our experience. Have you ever confronted someone and said, ah, you were really nasty? Well, I was tired. My children didn't go to bed last night. One of them had cholera. Couldn't sleep through the night. And so they live based upon in light of their experience. I wasn't feeling good yesterday. And so that's why I acted the way I act today. What God is telling Habakkuk is that we are to live based upon who he is, not based upon our experience. As we conclude our time this morning, I want us to first of all, think deeply about our response, not just to the difficulties of life, but to the greatest difficulty of life. not some sort of sickness or financial struggle, not some emotional distress. No, I'm talking about sin. I'm talking about the condition of our heart and the place that puts us in relationship to a holy and just God, guilty. We are declared as guilty. We are declared as his enemy. We are declared as the object of his wrath. What is your response to that? Is it the response like the Babylonians? Is there a pride in you? Being puffed up and thinking that there is something that you can do, some work that you can accomplish, some sin that you can avoid that will somehow endear you to Him? You are puffed up and your soul is not right within you. Or, Have we, have you personally placed faith entirely on the person and work of Christ for our salvation, for our forgiveness of sin? We saw he said proud, we saw puffed up, but for someone to have faith, they absolutely have to humble themselves and recognize that they are helpless. For it is through faith in Christ that we are reckoned as righteousness. There are only these two categories, pride and humility, proud and faith. How are you responding to the greatest of difficulties? But also, think about how you're responding to the difficulties of life. Faith is both the door into the kingdom, right? We enter the kingdom by faith, but it's also the road we travel while in the kingdom. That's Galatians 3. You thought you started one way and then you were going to be sanctified another? No, we're sanctified through faith. It is what is required for salvation, but it is also required for living as the redeemed. We live by faith. We live our lives in light of who he is. So even if our lives are difficult, even if our trials continue and our pain remains, our lives are based and lived upon who God is and not upon what we're experiencing. That is why at the end of chapter 3, Habakkuk can say in verse 18, Yet I will exalt in the Lord. Why? Why can he exalt in the Lord? Why can he rejoice in God? Because God is good and kind and loving and he is living in light of that. He's obviously not living in light of his circumstances because his circumstances haven't changed from chapter 1 to chapter 3. As a matter of fact, they've only gotten worse. He was upset that the Jews were sinning and between chapter 1 and chapter 3, God communicates this thing about the Babylonians. Are we responding as the proud? determining how best to respond to our circumstances, looking at ourselves as judge and doing whatever it takes to survive, or are we responding in faith in light of who we know God to be? That is the life of faith. That is the life of the righteous. How do we move from chapter one to chapter three? We live our life in light of who God is. Let's pray. Father, we thank you again for your word. We thank you that you see us who are sinners both by nature and by choice, and yet you loved us so much that you sent your son to die on our behalf. And by faith in him, you declare us righteous. You look at us as righteous. And we thank you. Lord, that process of faith entering salvation is the same process of living our saved lives. It is believing in you and living according to that belief. So teach us who you are. May the truths that we sing at church and the truths that you declare through your word, may we grab a hold of them. May we own them. May we meditate on them. And Lord, then may we respond to those truths. As we gaze upon your holiness, Lord, may we reject sin and turn from it. When we look upon your love, Father, may we love you in return and may we love our neighbor as ourself. Lord, may our faith be seen in our deeds and our actions. Father, we can only do that through the work of your spirit, and we pray for his help. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.