Good morning, I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the Old Testament book of Habakkuk. If you're using one of the pew Bibles, the black pew Bibles, that'll be page number 665. Please, read along. Up until now, as I've moved through this book, this will be the third sermon in the series, we have seen the prophet Habakkuk live out his office as a teacher of the people of God. He came to the Lord with some powerful questions, and God answered very unexpectedly. And then Habakkuk came back with some more questions, basically saying, Lord, will God's enemies ever stop winning? Will you ever punish the people who hate your church. And our passage this morning is effectively the preface to God's answer to that question. Just the preface. So please turn to Habakkuk chapter two. And we're gonna be studying verses two through four this morning. And this is the heart of this book. The heart of the book of Habakkuk. Starting in verse two. And the Lord answered me, Write the vision, make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time. It hastens to the end, it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come, it will not delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. This is God's word. Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, as we come into this new year, we thank you once again that we are not left in this dark world to find paths, to find truths on our own. Thank you for giving us the light and the lamp of your word. Lord, you alone make us dwell in safety. And so as we come to this passage, please open our minds, open our hearts, help us to listen. It is so easy to be distracted. Help us to pay attention to the words of eternal life. And Father, help me. May I speak clearly. And anything that I say that is not true, I pray that it would fall away and never be remembered. May the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight. I pray this in the name of Christ, amen. By my count, there are some 200 plus times in the Bible where the New Testament officially quotes the Old Testament. Over 200 times, that's a lot of times. And that's not even counting the over 1,500 times that the New Testament alludes to the Old Testament with phrasing or words. And of those 200 plus quotations, it only happens 16 times where the New Testament quotes an Old Testament passage three times or more. That only happens 16 times where a passage has such theological weight and such power that it is used over three times in the New Testament. Our passage this morning is one of those 16 moments. The righteous shall live by faith. Paul cites this verse at the beginning of Romans. He also cites it in the middle of the letter to the Galatians, and the author of Hebrews cites it as well. Why is it so important? Why is this passage so central to the life of a Christian? It's because this passage speaks to how do you become right with God? How are you justified in his sight? And it teaches, just like the rest of the scriptures, we are justified by faith alone. Not by works, but by faith alone. Hidden in this very verse is the gospel itself. The gospel itself. And if we lose this emphasis on faith, if Habakkuk lost this emphasis, then we lose the gospel entirely. So if you recall, the prophet Habakkuk was having a dialogue with God. Perhaps you wish that you could have such a dialogue with the Lord. And yet, that dialogue was difficult, if you remember. Habakkuk began by coming to the Lord with the problems he was seeing around him. All of the church around him had forgotten God's word. They were not living faithfully. And he came to God and said, God, are you not doing anything about this? the Lord came back to Habakkuk and said, I am doing something about this. Guess what? The Babylonians are going to come and completely destroy your nation. Probably wasn't the answer that Habakkuk was looking for. So he came back to the Lord with some more questions saying, Lord, surely you're not going to destroy your people completely. Surely the bad guys aren't going to keep winning for forever. And he begins chapter two with this powerful statement of trust, saying, I will sit on my watch post, I will wait on my tower for your answer, oh God. And we have no idea how long Habakkuk was waiting. Could have been a day, could have been a month, it could have been a year. But these questions apply to you and me so deeply. Questions like, why does the world hate the church? Why is it so often that those people who wear the badge of Christian don't act like it? And most importantly, this is a question that's on my heart in this new year, when will our Savior come back? When will we see Jesus Christ face to face? These are the questions Habakkuk was asking. So listen intently. These verses are the words of life. So God's answer in this passage, we can break into three different parts easily. First of all, God's response is plain to understand. Secondly, God's response is perfectly timed. And thirdly, God's response is for people of faith. So let's look at verse two where we see that God's response is plain to understand. The Lord answered Habakkuk, write the vision. Make it plain, you could say simple. on tablets, so that he may run who reads it." So before the Lord even gets into the substance of his response, he has these three verses of a preface. He doesn't even really get into the vision. If you see right here in verse 2, he tells Habakkuk to write the vision. I think that this vision is the rest of chapter two from verses five to the verse 20, which tells that God's enemies will be destroyed. Babylon will be punished for its sinfulness. But before even getting to that, the Lord deems it more important for Habakkuk to remember a few key things. And the first one is that God's ways are fundamentally simple. We can understand them. And remember, the office of a prophet His duty was not just to talk with God, have a wonderful dialogue, and then go and have a great day and just go on a nice walk and keep it to himself. No, the office of a prophet was meant to hear these words from the Lord and then convey it to his people, which is why God tells Habakkuk to write it down. He would be a terrible prophet if he didn't do this. Imagine if your mailman not only read every single letter that came into your mail, but he also, at a whim, just didn't deliver it at times. That's how Habakkuk would be if he didn't write this down, if he didn't make it plain for the people. And the same is true for God's church throughout all time. God always gives his church pastors, teachers, to explain his word to his people. So once again, I believe that the vision referred to here in this passage speaks to the rest of chapter two, which I'll cover in another sermon, which is the judgment that will come upon Babylon. And Habakkuk was meant to make this simple and clear by writing it down, writing it down, not only so that it would be sure and firm, but also so that it could be easily understood. He said, make it plain, obvious. And he also adds another qualifier. It needs to be so obvious that the person who is sprinting down the street can, at a glance, understand the message. Perhaps on a drive in our interstates here in South Carolina, you've noticed there are tons of billboards always by the highways. I just grew up with this. It was a fact. And it took actually me going to Europe and going to states like Vermont to realize that not everywhere has billboards. That's kind of interesting. Fun fact, only Vermont, Maine, and Alaska, and Hawaii have no billboards in their states. Just a little fun fact. But what's the strategy of a billboard? The strategy of a billboard is so that when you're cruising along, at the speed limit, when you're cruising along, you can glance and be like, oh, that's the ad, or oh, I need insurance, stuff like that. It catches you in a moment, and you understand what it's saying. That same strategy is applied to all advertisements, and in a sense, that's what God's saying to Habakkuk. You need to write this on a tablet of stone, hang it up where everyone can see it, maybe in the temple, so that people can glance at it and understand the truth. We don't know what was on that. I don't know how Habakkuk condensed an entire chapter into one tablet. But it could have been as simple as God will win. Or Babylon will be defeated. Which is a crazy message to hear in a couple decades when Jerusalem is surrounded by these people. Surrounded by the enemies. And there's a lot of comfort here. The fact that the message of God's word is fundamentally clear and easy to understand. It's the same with the gospel, right? Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. There are so many things we can disagree on, so many things that we can argue and haggle about and things that are important, but the fundamentals of God's work are clear and obvious. And this is why you hear this all the time. You should dedicate yourself to reading your Bible this year. We need to hear that at the beginning of each year, because sometimes you can open up the word and you can feel hopeless, right? You get to Leviticus, you get to those chapters in Ezekiel, and you're wondering, what does any of this mean? There are confusing parts of the Bible, but the central message is clear, and you can understand it with the help of the Holy Spirit. So first of all, God's response is clear to understand. Now let's look secondly in verse three. God's response is perfectly timed. Perfectly timed. This is what verse three says. For still the vision awaits its appointed time. It hastens to the end. It will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come. It will not delay. How similar this sounds to the words of the Apostle Peter in the New Testament. Listen to this from 2 Peter chapter 3, where he says, Right? With the Lord, one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is on as one day. In the wise words of Gandalf, right? A wizard is never late. He arrives precisely when he means to. God is never late. He arrives and things come to pass precisely when he means to. Habakkuk needed to hear this. Remember, we don't know how long he waited for this answer. We also don't really know how long it was between when he received this vision and then when Babylon did come and destroy Jerusalem. We don't know. There was a massive amount of patience required for him. And yet, you and I struggle with this. We want God to work on our schedule rather than the other way around, but this isn't even the way the world works. All of life around us paints the truth that it is always the greater party that dictates the timing to the lesser party, not the other way around, right? No toddler comes to his mom and says, guess what? I'm going to kindergarten tomorrow, and you're gonna take me. In the military, no private comes to a general and says, hey, I'm getting promoted in six months. Plan the ceremony. It's not how things work. And yet in our minds, we can catch ourselves, no doubt how Habakkuk was maybe, wanting to dictate the ways that the Lord works, perhaps even in the return of Jesus himself. Out of the same mind, comes praising of the Lord, but often out of the same mind comes the idolatry of thinking that our way of timing is best. That should not be. The phrasing here that God uses is also really interesting. Remember, a lot of this book is poetic. It's poetry. And right here, the vision of the future, the vision of judgment on God's enemies, there's a lot of personification that is happening. Verbiage that makes it seem like it's a person look at it. God is saying that this vision is awaiting an appointed time It is longing to take place not only that but this vision is Hastening to its end. It's like there's an eagerness to the fulfillment of the judgment a Little bit more of personification. It's saying this vision cannot lie. It will surely come to pass and as we'll see in my next sermon. All of chapter two is the fact that God's enemies will be punished, even though God sent them. They will be punished. And yet, the certainty of God's promises is linked directly with the certainty of his character. It will happen. It must happen. And it's almost like here, the judgment of God is not just an entity. It's not just a thing. It's not just an event. It's a person. It's a person who will come, right? There's so much personification happening here that the justice of God upon his enemies is not just a time, it's not just a thing, it is a human being. It is Jesus Christ, right? Jesus Christ is not just our savior. Remember, he's also the judge of the world. And when the Greek translators of the Old Testament worked through this, they saw this there. that this vision hastening to its end is not just a thing, it is a person. And so if you read this passage in Hebrews chapter 10, that's the way the author of Hebrews uses it. This is not just something that will come true, this is someone who will come. And so Habakkuk here, in all of his longing for justice, in all of his longing for things to be made right, was really longing for the Lord Christ to come. Is that not where we are right now? Jesus came in peace as a child, welcoming all to salvation. But when he comes again, he will not be coming in peace. He will be coming to make war on the enemies of God. for the sake of his own glory. For the sake of his own glory. And I love the patience described in the hymn that we'll sing at the end of the service today. From a few more years shall roll, the last line says this, tis but a little while, and he, Jesus, shall come again, who died that we might live, who lives that we with him may reign. Then, O my Lord, prepare my soul for that glad day, Oh, wash me in thy precious blood and take my sins away. We need to hear this. God's answer, God's response is perfectly timed. And the beauty of this is we can trust that God's timing in the grand things is perfect. Like the coming of Christ as a baby, his crucifixion, his return. And we need to let that filter down in our minds to how we think about even the little things. Perhaps going into this new year, there are questions on your mind. When am I going to get well again? When is that family member going to come to know the Lord? When am I going to have a spouse? When am I going to have a family? When is my job going to be normal and secured? Or when will this struggle with this sin stop? If we can trust the Lord in the grand things, We must let his perfect timing filter down to even those things. God's timing is sure. His anger may tarry for a moment, but his loving kindness is for a lifetime. So from this passage, we see that God's response is clear. Also, God's response is perfectly timed, and finally, we'll spend the rest of our time right here. God's response is four people of faith. Four people of faith. Remember Habakkuk's situation. Jerusalem in the next couple decades was going to be surrounded, laid siege, taken over, and destroyed. That's what Habakkuk just learned. And so his mind is bristling with questions like, when is this gonna happen? What is it gonna look like? Am I going to survive? Is my friend going to survive? What does the future look like? And God deems it in his own wisdom that the more important question is not what will happen, but who do you belong to, Habakkuk? Whose are you? It's interesting, Jesus does the same thing in the 13th chapter of Luke. People come to Jesus and say, did you hear? King Herod killed all of these Jews and then threw their blood into the sacrifices. Who sinned? Why did this happen? What's the purpose? What is God doing? And Jesus looks at them and he says, unless you likewise repent, you all will perish. There are important questions in our day, but we need to remind ourselves there are more, there are most important questions to wrestle through. There's a lot of things going on in our world. I have no idea when this conflict with Israel and Hamas will end. We have no idea how long this territory war between Ukraine and Russia will last. Who knows how long abortion will continue unfettered in our country? Who knows what the political sphere of the United States or even South Carolina will look like in the decades to come? Who even knows what the church will look like? But I can tell you one thing, those questions are important. There is a more important question. Who do you belong to today? Who do you belong to today? And that is what the Lord is doing to Habakkuk. Before even getting to the question of judgment, the question of justice, the question of how and when and why, God starts off fundamentally with saying, who do you belong to Habakkuk? The world or me? Because the truth is there's only two types of people in this world, as this verse shows us. There's the wicked and the righteous, those who build their life on a foundation of rock and those who don't. So we are gonna dive into the detail of this phrase right here, this one verse. Why? Because it is like a precious diamond. and every second spent examining its contours is of eternal significance. So let's look at the first half. See what this verse has to say about the person who does not belong to God. Verse four, the first half says, behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright within him. starts off with this word, behold. This word appears four times in the book of Habakkuk, and each time it's referring to God's enemies, to non-believers. So it's meant to catch our attention. We don't really use language like this anymore, but it's almost like it's saying, look here, pay attention, wake up, this is important. Because if we don't understand the characteristics of unbelief, we won't know what to run away from. A lot of times in the Bible we see these pictures and these words describing those who don't know God, and those are important because it gives our heart a check. It helps us to remember. So look at how this person is described. It says he is puffed up. The imagery here is of a person who is deeply self-oriented, prideful, who only cares about himself. The King James Version calls this person, it says his soul is lifted up. We use the same imagery in our own world, right? You know, you give someone a compliment and you say, hey, don't get a big head, right? It's the idea of a balloon, right? You get compliments, your head gets bigger, and then pop, it'll blow up someday. that won't actually happen. But we use this same language when somebody gets too big for their britches. They think only about themselves and they think that they're the best thing since sliced bread. That's this person right here. And this is the same word that the Lord uses to describe the people of Israel in Numbers 14 when they try to take the land by their own strength. God said, don't do it. And they're like, we're gonna do it anyway. It's the same word. Their hearts were lifted up. So for Habakkuk, this word was describing the pride of the Babylonian Empire, but it also was describing the pride of the Israelites who were forgetting their maker. This is the mind of man by nature, a love of self, a desire for complete autonomy. I love the way Dr. Campbell described it. Our catechism begins with the beautiful truth that as Christians, we don't belong to ourselves, because if I belong to myself, I would screw things up. We belong to God, whereas the person who doesn't belong to God definitely wants to say, I belong to me and me alone. There is an untamed pride in the hearts of people who don't believe in the Lord. Psalm 10 says this, verse four, in the pride of his face, the wicked does not seek the Lord. All his thoughts are, there is no God. So however humble, however gentle, however philanthropic unbelievers might seem in the world, we need to remember that deep in their conscience, there is this pride because they have said to the king of kings, I don't need you. We have to remember that. Look at this next phrase. The unbeliever is described as someone whose soul is not upright within him. Proverbs 15, 21 says this. Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense. But a man of understanding walks straight. Straight, it's the same word. There is a moral incorrectness in the heart of the person who rejects God. And you might be thinking as we read this, I'm a Christian, and this is sounding like things that describe me. Maybe you're thinking that. Here's the difference. You fight it. You fight this pride. It arises within you, and you hate your sin, and you confess it, and you're at war with it. That's the big difference. The person described here is not at war with his sin. He's at peace with his sin. And here's the truth. The way that someone responds to God's word is indicative of the healthiness of their heart. The way they respond to God's word is indicative to the healthiness of their heart. And such a mindset of rejecting God's truth, rejecting his word, shows that a person has a deeply sick soul that needs healing. We can't see each other's hearts. I can't know what y'all are thinking. You don't know what I'm thinking, right? We don't have that kind of vision. But the Lord does. And perhaps you're seeking a solid friendship this year, or you're looking for a spouse, or you're trying to evaluate the people in your life, in your sphere. This is one of the first characteristics to go to. How does this person respond to God's word? That is always a good evaluation. And Habakkuk needed to hear this, right? There are simply some people in this world who will not respond to God's word. And that's so sad, but it's true. But then, this passage, this verse ends describing the person who belongs to the Lord with this beautiful verse. but the righteous shall live by his faith. The righteous shall live by his faith. Three things to learn from this one verse, and then we'll be done. Three things. First of all, faith is the only way to become righteous. Faith is the only way to become righteous. That's what this little word right here, by, means. It's the means. The means of righteousness is by one's faith. So what does it mean to be righteous? Let's start there. Righteousness is a word that's usually used to describe God, his moral perfection, his complete uprightness. There's nothing wrong in the Lord. And yet here, it's used to describe a human being. And a lot of times in the Bible, it's used to describe people. So what does it mean to be righteous before God? Righteousness is the divine seal of approval. Righteousness is the judge saying forever, not guilty, and you can't be tried again. Righteousness is the declaration, you're a citizen of heaven. Righteousness is the jailer opening the cell and saying you're free to go. Righteousness is a mother and father adopting a child once and for all. Righteousness is that heavenly look of favor. from your father. That's all wrapped up into the term righteousness, forgiveness, a love that will never let you go. And so the question of this passage is, okay, how does somebody gain that status of perfection in the eyes of God, of complete and unending love? By going to church? By reading your Bible a lot? By praying? By being a pretty good person? By being faithful to your spouse? By going to a good school? No, faith. Faith and faith alone. Faith is the only path to righteousness before God. Because nothing you can do could possibly bring you into a favorable position before God. We are simply too corrupt to our core. Faith alone in the grace of God is the only way. And this is how Paul used this passage in Galatians chapter three. Let me read chapter three, verses 10 through 11. He says, all who rely on works of the law, basically anything you can do, are under a curse. For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not abide by everything written in this book, and who does them. Now it is evident that no one is justified, made righteous before God by the law. Why? for the righteous shall live by faith. And Paul cites this verse from the Old Testament. This verse is sensual to the gospel. You and I, every day, we either come to God clinging to ourselves to some extent, or we come before him naked, helpless, saying, I am yours, save me. There's no middle ground. There's no middle ground. And think of how this verse would have been important to Habakkuk. In that moment of turmoil, when he's thinking about his beloved city, Jerusalem, about the church, and the fact that everything was about to go to complete destruction, it's as if God is coming to him, holding him in his arms and saying, how did you become my child, Habakkuk? How did you become my person? Was it because you had a really great day? Or is it because you believed in my mercy? Habakkuk needed this reminder. Perhaps the best example of this is the thief on the cross, is it not? Do you remember the two thieves on either side of Jesus? One scorned Christ along with all the others. But then there was another one who said, have mercy on me. Let me be with you in paradise. What did that man bring to the table? Literally nothing but his problems. But he sat there on that cross and in that moment he believed in his heart that the mercy of this man is deeper than the depths of my sin. Faith alone is the only way to become righteous in God's sight. Number two, the righteous life is always marked by faith. The righteous life is always marked by faith. It's such a tendency of humans to start something really well to have really wonderful motivations at the beginning, and then it fizzles out. New Year's resolutions, maybe, hopefully not this year, right? It's like you go to college, perhaps, maybe you remember those days, and by the time you graduate, like you go there with such excitement. I'm gonna learn, I'm gonna memorize everything, and then you graduate, and you think, I never want to touch a book ever again. But the reality is, you go to college so that you can be a lifelong learner. There are some things that we are never meant to graduate from. And in our sinful way of thinking, we can view faith that way. Okay, faith is the thing that got me onto the bus of salvation, but then I need to start driving it myself, I need to start fixing everything, and then eventually I'll take over, because God did such a great job getting things going. No, once again, it's like the Lord is cradling Habakkuk, looking him in the eyes and saying, How did you begin? By faith. How will you end? By faith. Everything around you might look chaotic and destructive. The church itself might seem to fall apart. But what marks God's people? Everything going well? Or faith primarily? When the Jews came to Jesus in John chapter six, they came to him and said, what work do we need to be doing to be doing the work of God? And Jesus responded, the chief work of God is to believe in the one that he sent. There are many good works for you to work on and to be disciplined in in this year. Never forget the chief one, faith alone. Faith alone. As Dr. Campbell said earlier, without faith, it is impossible to please God. Anything done not in faith is sin, and we have to hold to that tightly, because if we look at ourselves at all for favor in God's eyes, we're demeaning the perfect life of Jesus. We're demeaning his mercy. And this is how the book of Hebrews uses this verse. The life of a Christian doesn't just start by faith, it always is one of faith. Number three, last one. Only through faith can we live with God forever. Only through faith can you live with God forever. Notice the tense right here. It doesn't just say the righteous lives by his faith. It says shall live, will live, future tense. Did this apply to Habakkuk's day to day life? Yes. Habakkuk was looking forward to a life beyond this one. And when everything around him was caving in, when everything seemed like it was gonna fall apart. Once again, it's like the Lord was holding Habakkuk close and saying, is this world your final home? Where are you a citizen? Of the earthly Jerusalem or the heavenly Jerusalem? And don't we need this reminder so often? We need to remember that this world is not our home. I love the last verse of that song we sang earlier. Unto the grave what will we sing? Christ he lives, Christ he lives. And what reward will heaven bring? Everlasting life with him. There we will rise to meet the Lord. Then sin and death will be destroyed. And we will feast in endless joy when Christ is ours forevermore. Yes, the gospel can make a lot of changes in your life right now. But primarily, the good news of the gospel is that there is a new life to come when Jesus returns. A world where righteousness will dwell, where we will be saved from this present evil age. And when Jesus appears and we will see God face to face, and sin and death will be no more. And here's the thing, it's not like the reality of heaven makes things not painful today, right? That would be a very stoic response to the gospel saying, ah, well, I'm going to heaven. That didn't hurt at all, it's not true. But it does put them in a different perspective. It does put them in a different perspective. When the pains of this life are real and hard, but then you think, they will not last forever. The days of my sorrow in this earth cannot compare at all to the glory that is to be revealed when Jesus returns. This is why I love the Lord's Supper, and I'm so thankful we're having it today. The Lord's Supper is not just something that we celebrate now and look back. The Lord's Supper points us forward to a better feast to come. We feast by faith right now, but then we will feast with our eyes in the presence of God, the righteous shall live by faith. So here are a few little questions to stick with as I close. First of all, do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Who do you trust in, not just for tomorrow, but with your whole body, your life, your soul, your everything? Is it you or is it God? I encourage you, believe in the mercy of the Lord to cover your sins. The death of Christ can cover anything that you have done, anything that you're doing, anything that you will do, but you must trust in His mercy. All that the Father gave to Christ will come to Him, and anyone who comes to Him will never be cast out. For those of us who have known the Lord for many, many years, perhaps, do you cling to faith alone still, or has some trust in yourself crept in, like maybe it did for Habakkuk? Remember, faith is not just the way you begin. It's the way that you end. It's the way that you live your whole life. T'was grace that brought you here thus far, and grace will bring you home. Do not lose your first love. Come back to simple faith this year. And lastly, I urge all of us, especially as we have the supper, focus your mind heavenward. Remind yourself that the life that comes from faith is one that will happen when Jesus comes back. Every part of our bodies and our souls and our beings longs for something permanent. And when Jesus comes, he will take us to a place where moth and rust will not destroy, where there will be a new heavens and a new earth. But until that day, the righteous shall live by faith alone. Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. It is powerful. It is difficult. And yet it gives life. Lord, I pray that we would be not only hearers of this word, but doers. Help us to believe more earnestly this year than we did before. Grow in us the faith that we so often lack. And may we, like Habakkuk, cast our eyes not just to this life for hope, but to the heavenly life to come when Jesus returns. And I pray this all in his name, amen.