Please turn with me in your Bibles again to Habakkuk 3. We'll read the last three verses, verses 17-19, which we will focus our primary attention on, although we'll be considering parts of the rest of the book and the whole theme of this book. Habakkuk 3, verses 17-19. Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food, though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like deer's feet and he will make me walk on my high hills to the chief musician with my stringed instruments. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for Habakkuk and this prayer that he offers up in light of what he comes to understand from your prophecy given to him. We pray that you would put this song in our hearts as we consider those circumstances and we would apply them. And that, Lord, in the midst of the seeming chaos and trials and challenges that surround us and that would send the world into a flutter, help us to stand as lights, as those who are confident in a power that is far greater than this world. A power that comes from our living God. Lord, You were not absent from the things that happened this week. You don't sleep or slumber. None of these things are outside of Your control. In fact, You ordain them. Help us as Your people to embrace what we see in Your Word, to live off these truths, so that by grace at a time such as this, many would come to Christ. We pray in His name. Amen. Most lost a normal week of life. Many lost electricity. Some lost a tool shed or a swing set or a gate or something of part of their property. Some lost trees and or a portion of their roofs. Others suffered significant material loss, water damage to their homes, submerged cars and destroyed furniture. And still others lost their homes altogether. Many wound up in shelters and still others lost even their very lives. We're told I think it's up to about 60 who have lost their lives from this hurricane. No one expected any of this but a few weeks ago. Store shelves empty, hour-long gas lines, desperate pursuits for batteries and ice, things that we normally take for granted and hardly even consider to be overly significant. Offices and businesses closed, billions of dollars of repair work needed, and on and on again. All in all, once again, the reality of the uncertainty, the instability and unpredictability of life has been brought to the forefront of our consciences. And this Tuesday, we vote to see who will fill the office of our presidency for the next four years atop an already desperately ailing economy, ongoing gross moral decline. A multi-trillion dollar deficit that we can never possibly recover from. They're saying now that if you were to factor in what we owe based on an individual basis, every single person, child, man, woman, child in our country would have a $50,000 debt at this moment. And an unemployment rate of 7.9%. What might God be saying to us in all of these things? Especially as children of the living God who ought to be able to discern the times, how ought we to stop in the middle of the hustle and bustle of life so that we might ponder what God might be saying through these providential events and realities? We are not called to be prophetic in the sense that we don't receive new revelation. but the good thing about the completed revelation that we have before us is that it addresses these kinds of things. We can look at symptoms, and not to say that everything is always identified with a direct cause in some way or another that's negative, but we can look at symptoms and say, well, what do these symptoms tell us? What does the nature of our country, of our spiritual life, of our understanding of who God is tell us? And those are some important things that we ought to consider. And we also ought to consider our place of respite and hope in the midst of such calamities. And I'm going to focus our attention especially on this second point. I think we should focus on the first point as well, but I want to focus on the hope. that God gives us as His people during such times as this. Brethren, I want to bring you encouragement this morning. I think many of you have suffered some great discouragement this week. Again, we can go from a scale of inconvenience to life-changing realities that some of us have experienced even in this room. And so I want to bring you some encouragement, some hope from the Word of God this morning on the heels of what we've just experienced and many will continue to experience for the upcoming weeks and perhaps even months and maybe even years. And in light of the bleak prospects facing our nation as a whole. You see, while the world by and large, brethren, could never even begin to approach the kind of hope that I'm going to speak about apart from Christ, there's no access, there's no knowledge, there's no understanding, there's no comprehending the hope that we're going to talk about this morning apart from Christ. But by the grace of God, we as children of God, we who are in Christ, can stand out as lights in this dark world showing that our strength and our stability ultimately depend not on our economy, not on the condition of our homes or the physical environment that surrounds us, but on the solid immovable rock of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is within the Prophet Habakkuk's short book here that I believe we can find the same encouragement that he found in the midst of what I believe to be far worse situations. Not to say we would not be heading there, but far worse situations. We can consider these things in light of what seems to be a shattered economic and general welfare outlook for us as a country and as a people. For Habakkuk was living at a time when great devastation would be coming upon the people of God in Israel. Well, the first thing I want to look at with you as we think about this book, and I hope that you know that don't let the name fool you, and because it's a short book and a minor prophet, we may tend to avoid these books. Let me just exhort you and encourage you to read the whole Bible, the whole Word of God. Some of us like to just spend time in Romans and the Gospels and the Psalms, and they're wonderful books. But brethren, these books are part of the Word of God and have something great to offer. They're a part of the picture And if you take Habakkuk out of the Bible, you have an incomplete Bible. It's not complete. And I say that to say that just because his name is Habakkuk, and that's probably not going to be the name of any of our children anytime soon, we need to see that this brother had something valuable to offer us. This short unique book of prophecy, centers upon the burden of Habakkuk. Verse 1 of chapter 1 says, "...the burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw." And it centers upon the burden of Habakkuk as he petitions the Lord regarding two matters that trouble him. Now, one matter is going to spill over into another matter. At the beginning of the book, there's one thing that troubles him. But then as God gives him a response to that one matter, a second thing troubles him as well. And we find how he has to process this and wrestle through this. And it reminds us in some sense of us as we try to contemplate the goodness of God, the holiness of God, the love of God, and some of the things that He allows and that He does and that He sovereignly ordains in history and we wrestle. And Habakkuk is in that position like we are at times when we just can't make sense of things. And so there are two matters that trouble him in this book. And the second of these two matters, as I said, comes forth in response to God's answer to the first matter. Both troubling issues arise out of the prophet's confused and conflicted conscience as he strives to reconcile his understanding of the character of God with present and future historical realities. He knows things about God to be true. About His character, about His perfection, His holiness, His goodness, His love, His kindness, His inability to commit evil. And yet there are things that God is going to do and that God is allowing even in the present that don't seem to jive with that character of God. And so he has some questions that he is wrestling with. Striving to satisfy his conscience then? The prophet does what we ought to do. He prays. He seeks God. He faithfully and patiently dialogues with his God. And brethren, we don't have time to read through the whole of this book, so I'm going to sum up the dialogue with you in some very brief general terms. What this dialogue is that takes place in these chapters. First, the book begins with a man of God, Habakkuk, a prophet, petitioning the Lord as to why God is allowing His people to continue on in gross sin in spite of His prayers. The Israelites were committing gross acts of evil consistently, and there was no repentance, and it was getting worse. And Habakkuk is saying, Lord, what is going on here? How can You allow this? How can You allow this to happen, especially in the context of Your chosen nation? the Lord almost seems indifferent to the ungodly actions of his people and this weighs heavily upon the soul of Habakkuk as he witnesses this and he sees that it's troubling him this conflicts with his understanding about the holy righteous character of God look at the first four verses of chapter one and you can appreciate his angst here and his suffering here in his soul reminds me a little bit of Lot, when he was in Sodom and Gomorrah, and the experience of that righteous man's soul was troubled by what he witnessed. Only this is among the people of God in Israel. Look at the first four verses. The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry? and you will not hear. Even cry out to you violence and you will not save. Why do you show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me. There is strife and contention arises. Therefore the law is powerless and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, therefore perverse judgment proceeds. So we can understand his burden here. The law is useless here. I mean, it's just getting worse. It's perverse. This is not just a simple regression from morality. This is an abandonment of what is godly. But then secondly, we see as this dialogue is going to become a dialogue now, as God responds in verses 5 and following, we find the Lord then responds to Habakkuk, reassuring him that he, God, is well aware of all that is going on. God knows full well every detail, everything, nothing is hidden. And that in fact, He is planning to deal with this matter in due time. That's one of those things that reminds me of the ark. Remember with Noah, when people went on in their wickedness, and it was wicked, and many years passed. And people began to say, oh, things are just going to continue to go on, and who is this God? And no big deal, because God seemed to be just allowing it, although really He was being patient, and they were building up their judgment. Well, that seems to be happening here. And God says, look, it's not getting past Me. Young people, you think we're getting away with these things and the sins of this country, and you say God doesn't care. No! He's taken it into account. He knows everything that's going on. In verses 5-11, the Lord reveals, in fact, His plan of action to Habakkuk. And here's a summary of what He says. In essence, what He's going to do, Habakkuk, He says, He's going to raise up the horribly wicked, terribly dreadful, and ungodly savage people of the Chaldeans to bring judgment upon the Israelites. He's going to bring a savage, terribly ungrateful, unmerciful, wicked nation to come in and deal with His own people. This unrelenting barbaric nation would conquer Judah, destroying and exiling many, unknowingly fulfilling God's judgment upon His people. In other words, God was going to use this nation, but the nation was going to do it for its own purposes, and according to its own desires, and even boast in it. And God is the one that's driving that ship, although they are guilty for doing it as a means of their own selfish gain. Now that poses a second problem. So Habakkuk's probably knocked off his feet now. He said, Lord, you know, how can you allow this wickedness to go on? Why aren't you doing something? But then he hears the way God is going to deal with it, and that even throws him into more of a whirlwind. You see, upon hearing this, Habakkuk is even more troubled, leading him to respond to God with a second question. Look at verses 12 and 13. God has, in verses 5-11, revealed what He's going to do with the Chaldeans, these horrible, savage-like people. but then look at what he says in verses 12 and 13. What Habakkuk says, Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, You have appointed them for judgment. O Rock, You have marked them for correction. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he? You see what Habakkuk is saying here. In essence, Habakkuk is troubled because he has a difficulty understanding how God, who cannot even look upon evil, would in fact use a godless, wicked nation to bring judgment upon a nation that's more righteous than itself. In other words, Lord, I did want you to do something about the sin in our nation and to deal with it, but I didn't know you were going to take an unrighteous, ungodly, worse nation to deal with us in such a harsh way. See, we kind of, when we pray to God and we want Him to deal with something, we'd like it to be wrapped in a nice bow. We want God to come to our country, right? And kind of ring the doorbell and say, hey, here you go, and this is how I'm going to overcome this with grace and forgive you. And here's the love of God, right? That's all you hear at times from some pulpits. God loves everyone. He has a wonderful plan for your life. What we don't realize is that more often than not, God gives much grace, indeed he does, he's patient, but it takes a great act, a squashing act, to bring a nation to repentance, to bring a remnant of people to repentance, and that's what happens here. Perhaps, brethren, we could better appreciate the prophet's concern if we brought it into our own modern day context. Let me modernize what we're told here and what Habakkuk is trying to wrestle with and so we can appreciate his thoughts. What if God, brethren, were to use North Korea or Iran to conquer and devastate the United States of America? What if he were to give some of these tyrannical, barbaric, worst case scenario peoples, who have no concern for life whatsoever, now it's arguable that we have hardly a concern for life when we murder millions and millions of babies each year, but I'm just saying, we know that the people over there, there's a barbarism that is beyond comprehension. What if he were to use them to come in and to sweep this nation out from off its feet? As ungodly as our country is, what if God gave us over to torturous, merciless, immoral, godless savages who had no concern for the dignity that comes with being a human being? You see, even in our own country, as grossly immoral as we are, there's something we can say that's positive about us. We tend to help other nations in need, even with this kind of a crisis that's going on. There's a common grace in our nation, isn't there? We see people. Now, we see some of the horror stories and gas stations, people cutting in line. We see that, too, and people getting into fights. But we also see this effort of people trying to help. We saw that in September 11, 2001. People banded together. There's something of a... of a positive nature to our country in that respect when it comes to humanitarian efforts. Whereas in some of these other nations, that grace is not even there. Well, brethren, this was what it was like. If you can imagine, I'm using Iran and North Korea. You can imagine what it was like for Habakkuk. The Chaldeans would have been a terrorist-like people, if I can use that kind of language. Very ungodly and immoral people. This was what it was like for God to deliver into the hands of the Chaldeans His people. And that is why Habakkuk is now troubled with this second concern. And so he lays the question at the feet of God, and humbly, I love this part, he lays it at the feet of God. He's saying, Lord, I am confused. I don't understand how you could do this. But the way that he presents it to God, while it's in the form of a plea, while there's an argumentative side to what he's saying, he lays it before God with a sense of humility, and he waits for God to respond. Look at me at chapter 2, verse 1. If we could have such a heart as this, and we're confused, brethren, about what God is doing, what He's allowing, what He is ordaining, It would take us really far. Because even in this gross misunderstanding and confusion, look at what Habakkuk says when he pours out his case before God. He says, I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart. and watch to see what He, what God will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected. When I am corrected, I will wait." He's confused. The logic doesn't add up to him. But he says, I'm going to wait like a watchman. I'm going to wait there and stand and wait for God to come and respond to me so that I can answer when He corrects me. Brethren, again, and I know I just said this recently, I think maybe last week or within the last few weeks, Habakkuk was a prophet of God, was he not? And although he was a prophet, I want you to see again evidence of the fact that he too had to patiently wait upon God for a response. We have this misconception again that prophets just communicated with God and they got responses back and forth like they could just pick up the phone and dial 1-800-HEAVEN and God would respond right away. That's not what happened. Prophets did not always, in fact oftentimes, they did not receive immediate answers to their petitions. God strengthened their faith in much the same way He does ours by causing them to wait upon Him so that they might strengthen their faith and trust in God during times of confusion and trouble. Habakkuk, just like Elijah, was a man like us in many ways. Only Habakkuk did not have this, so he had to receive, as a prophet of God, direct revelation. Here the prophet humbly waits, anticipating that in due time, God will correct his own understanding of things. He knows he must be an Arab because God cannot change. God must be who He says He is. And so the confusion is there, the math doesn't add up, but he's going to wait for God to come and correct him. He knew that the dilemma rested within his own confused soul, and that his all-knowing, perfectly righteous and holy God would, in due time, provide him with a word of instruction and correction. He knew that those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength and mount up with wings like eagles. Okay, brethren, then secondly I want to move on. Now that's kind of the general context of what's going on in this book, the two concerns of Habakkuk, one spilling over to the other. Secondly, I want to now give you the peaceful solution that is given to Habakkuk by God. God graciously responds in due time, and I want to summarize some of those thoughts, the solution that's given him by God. You see, in due time, we find the Lord responds to Habakkuk with a universal statement of blessing concerning the righteous, followed by universal statements of woe against the wicked. God then moves beyond just the context of Israel and the Chaldeans and their wickedness and the righteous, and comes to general categories of wicked and righteous. There's only two categories of people in the sight of God. Those who are righteous in Christ, those who are unrighteous outside of Christ. And so he addresses those broader categories following Habakkuk's response there as he's waiting for the Lord. And this leads the prophet to the only place where he can find strength and stability during the terrible times of judgment that would soon come upon his people. Knowing in advance what was to come. This was the only way. Imagine knowing in advance that your people are going to be exiled. That homes are going to be devastated. That many are going to be killed and ravaged and the land would be destroyed and exiled. The rest would be exiled. Knowing in advance that this was coming. How do you find peace and stability? Let alone, when we don't know, and after the effects, things happen like what happened this week, which is quite minor compared to this, but it's still an element of suffering, how would you handle it knowing beforehand the exact results of what was to take place? How would you have a comfort and stability? Well, that's what happens here. Look at chapter 2, verses 2 through 4. Habakkuk is waiting. Then the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it will speak and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come. It will not tarry. Behold, the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. Here we have, brethren, that foundational Old Testament text which the Apostle Paul used to confirm his universal understanding of the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Our Lord ensures Habakkuk that those who humbly set their trust in Him that those whose lives are governed by God's promises, by His words, are those who are just in the sight of God. And that confidence in God and His promises will be used by God to carry them through every difficulty that life brings their way. So this is not guaranteeing in any sense that we're not going to suffer, whether it's material loss, or physical loss, or sorrows, or psychological challenges, whatever it might be, or medical issues. It's not saying that. But what it is saying is that those who have their confidence in God and live according to His promises, those who rest themselves on the Word of God, on His grace in Christ, He will carry them through every single calamity of suffering that they face. Then, in verses 5-20, our Lord also confirms that the wicked, again these two general categories, broad categories, broader than just Israel and Chaldea, universal, timeless categories, the wicked and the righteous, the faithless and the faithful, In verses 5-20, our Lord confirms that the wicked will not succeed in their endeavors. In fact, He pronounces woes universally upon all of the wicked who have not faith in God, continuing in their prideful ways of disobedience. God here reassures Habakkuk of the fact that his justice will not fail. Wasn't that what Habakkuk was looking for in all these questions? How can you allow this? But Lord, if you judge us in that way, what about that nation? And in essence, what God says to Habakkuk is this. He says, Habakkuk, listen. I want to take you beyond even just the immediate circumstances into the broader scope of this, the bigger view of this. The wicked are getting away with nothing. I will deal with Babylon later on in the Chaldeans. I am temporarily using them, however, to their own ignorance, to bring judgment upon the rest of the world because of the rebellion that's going on. But then at the end I will strike my rod and deal with them as well. The wicked will not get away with it, but the righteous will be justified by his faith." You see that? The two broader categories of what he deals with. He takes Habakkuk out of his immediate circumstances. into the broader realm and gives him light to understand that God is just, that his confusion was indeed confusion, because he got lost in the immediate, in the temporal circumstances. How can I possibly process the fact that in this time period in history, there are wicked people who are more wicked than us that are coming in to punish and judge us because of our wickedness. It doesn't register. And so God lifts him out of that small area and says, Another picture. I will deal with all wickedness. And I will deal with all who are just because of their faith in Me. The just will live by faith. The wicked will be judged. And God's glory... I love this phrase. It's right here in the book. Right here in Habakkuk. One of my favorite phrases. In all this, as He brings it into these general categories, and the glory of God will cover the earth as the oceans cover the seas. As the waters cover the seas. It's not the end of it all from God's standpoint. Habakkuk, you're thinking a little small now. Let me get you to the universal. Nobody's getting away with anything. I am bringing upon a judgment on this whole world. I am dealing with all wickedness to the extent that my glory will be what's manifested in this whole world. What's rightfully mine will be proclaimed and revealed as such. And I will come out glorious and victorious. And so, When a back exceeds that picture, it leads him to the only place of contentment and rest that you could possibly find in light of the coming Chaldean invasion. And that rest is both in the sovereignty and in the goodness of God. Those two pillars of the Christian faith, the sovereignty of God and the goodness of God. Two things that we depend on. In light, again, imagine that he is anticipating the devastation that's going to come in advance. He knows what's going to happen, and yet he is able to stand. And verses 17 through 19 of chapter 3, some of the most cherished, precious words that we could ever take during times of calamity, He is able to say with a sincere heart because he understands those realities. Notice then Habakkuk's final outlook on the thoughts that had troubled him. There's resolution to his confusion. He deals with the two problems that his conscience was wrestling with. While what he was beginning to see before his own eyes, recorded at the beginning of this book, caused him to wrestle with that which seemed to be in conflict with God's holy character, Habakkuk was reassured by the Word of God that God is just and good, and that He will fully accomplish all of His holy will in accordance with His holy character, and He will be glorified. Remember that wonderful psalm that talks about God being our strength and our help. A very present help in times of suffering, in times of trial. God is a very present help. And one of the ways in which it concludes is it says, I will be exalted in the earth. And then following that, God is our refuge, right? He is the refuge of his people because his glory is attached to the prosperity of his people. Well here, Habakkuk is able to even rejoice because he was once again reminded of the big picture of God's sovereignty over all matters, and this was his resting place. In chapter 3, verses 1-16, what Habakkuk does in his prayer, in fact. After he gets that response from God, he offers up this prayer. It's a song, in fact. It's played on these stringed instruments. We're told at the end it's a song of worship to God. And what he does is he builds upon what God had told him by reflecting upon God's sovereign and faithful acts of the past. In other words, God speaks to Habakkuk, He explains to him the situation, brings him into those broader categories and gives him that understanding, and he rejoices because he goes back and says, well, yes, what God is saying now is consistent with what He's done in the past. And so he looks back in his own mind and he ponders and postulates about past activities, past history, and he's able to say, yes, indeed, what God is saying in His Word is consistent with what He's done in the past. And that helps him move forward. Brethren, it is important for us, as we read the Word of God, and it addresses us in the present, and tells us about present issues, and how God cares for His people when we read Romans 8, and all things working together for good, and the promises that God gives to us, that He will finish what He's begun with us, and so on. And even the calamities we face as God's people, how they're used for good, Isn't it behoove us to go back and look at the past and to confirm that and say, yes, what God says in His Word about my present is confirmed by the past. God has been consistent throughout all of history. He's been faithful. He hasn't changed. And that's the kind of thing that lifts us to the top of the storm so that we can walk on water with Peter as our eyes are fixed on Christ. This helped to strengthen Habakkuk for the future. And so, he can joyfully conclude with the unnatural words found in verses 17-19. Let's read those words again. Keeping in mind we're dealing with an agricultural economy here too. Remember Habakkuk was not writing this on his iPad. He did not have the technology and the revolution that we've had and all the things that we have today. He says, though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food. Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills. Brethren, what does all of this have to do with us in the year 2012? What does this have to do with us, some of us who have lost homes and vehicles and suffered great material damage, some of us who have lost jobs before this, some of us who recognize the great regression of our country in a moral sense, in every sense, and see that we're heading in a direction, a cliff, more important than the financial cliff that everyone's talking about, is the cliff of our morality. We've already gone over that. And where we're heading, the cliff of God's judgment. How can this provide us with strength, stability, and encouragement amidst the calamities, the trials, and the tribulations that we must continually face in this life? Why was this written down for us to read today? Why are we given this? Well brethren, I want to answer that in a few applications in accordance with what we've gone over here. First, Let us continue to thoroughly remind ourselves of something that I think you hear often from this pulpit. And I hope that you continue to hear often from this pulpit. To remind ourselves of the sovereignty of God over all matters. Over every single detail of our lives. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His knowledge, without His doing. Not a hair falls from your head apart from the ordained will of God. Every intricate detail of life is holy within the bounds of His sovereign care. Every drop of water that is seeped into some of your homes has gone exactly to the distance that God had ordained it. It went up to this part of the wall, and we say, wow, I'm so lucky it didn't go to here. It's not luck. God ordained it. And some of us say, well, look, if this didn't happen, I could have saved this, but I lost this. It's God's ordination. He ordained that for good, and I'm not trying to minimize that. or say, hey, it's no big deal, because it is. It's something we can grieve about. But I'm saying you don't want to lose sight of God's sovereignty in this. See, there are times when God may stretch us during such times, even with His silence, because we don't understand the whys. Lord, why did you have to take my vehicle? Lord, why did you have to take my boiler? Why did you have to take my roof? Why did you have to take my home? There are times when God may stretch us with His silence, but by faith in His promises, the just shall live by faith. Even when things seem to conflict with our own reasoning, and that happens, we're like Habakkuk, aren't we? We need to humbly trust that God is yet working with the big picture in ways that we cannot comprehend. God is thinking a lot broader than 2012, October 30th and 31st and November 1st and 2nd. God has got a bigger picture. We're kind of, and I don't want to say this in an unsanctified sense, but we're kind of trapped in the time and the minutes that we're living right now. And so we experience this, but God is out here and says, look at the end of the tapestry, my friend. And you know what the good news is? We have the end of the tapestry right here. We don't know how we get there. We just know that it takes a lot of poking of holes with a needle. We don't need to know the future. See, brethren, the reality is we don't have to understand all the whys and hows of life. Why? How is God doing this? What does He do? Why is He doing this? We don't always know that, except for the broader principle of what we have in Romans 8, for our good. If we needed to know the hows and the whys, then God would have provided them for us. If we needed to know the hows and the whys, then we wouldn't have to live by faith. But rather, God has given us those things which we do need and which are far better. Things which strengthen and improve our faith. Imagine if God allowed us to understand the hows and whys of the immediate or what's going on now, but didn't tell us where we were heading. That'd be a lot worse. Well, we don't know where this is going, but we do understand that God has done this in my life for this reason, but we don't know where this is heading. See, God says, listen, you're gonna get here. That's definite. How you get there, leave it to me. Trust me, Abraham, just leave. I'm going to send you to a land that's flowing with milk and honey. You'll get there. Well, Lord, what about this? What land? Where? Abraham, just take your stuff and leave. He has given us all of the promises in his word. And brethren, not one of them has failed. Not one of them will ever fail. Not a single promise. And they are more than sufficient to provide us with all that we need to find strength and stability to persevere through every unknown path and conflict that we will ever face on this side of heaven. They are sufficient. Is God not sovereign over hurricanes and gas prices and all of the conveniences and inconveniences of life? How many of us have stood on a gas line this week and had to wait an hour or two hours? I know some of you I spoke to had to wait two hours or two and a half hours and you found out that they ran out of gas before you got up there. How many of you at that moment said, Lord, praise God. Praise your name, Lord, that you caused the gas to end. And I'm on, I'm next to E and I have to look somewhere else because I know this is for my good. Anybody do that? How many of you while you were on that line and other people were in shambles, and I know you're in your car probably and it may not be conducive to do this, but you were able to stop and say, you know, what way can I minister to some of these other people to be an example, to interact as I'm on this long line, maybe try to make conversation? How many of you saw this as a providential opportunity? Now whatever was done before, forget about because that's done, that's covered. But what about from this day forward? Is God not sovereign over every aspect of our economy? By faith, brethren, let us stand fast today, trusting God for tomorrow. How many of us live in tomorrow? What's going to happen tomorrow? When is the electricity going to go on? What if I can't get food? What about my children? What about this? What about the repairs in my home? When is this going to get done? When is my business going to be functioning again? And the Lord says, Whatever I've given you today, I'm not asking you to do more than I've given you. Whatever I've supplied you with today, my grace is sufficient. Deal with today. I'll take care of tomorrow. I can do that. The sovereignty of God, brethren, was the very cornerstone of Charles Spurge's insanity. Charles Spurgeon will tell you, he would have told you himself, if you read his stuff, and he suffered some great, great things, great tragedies, if I can word it that way. He was a man who suffered much, but he will tell you that the only reason he can get up in that pulpit, the only reason he can encourage anyone else, the only reason he can maintain sanity is because he had absolute confidence in the complete and total sovereignty of God. Many people want to throw out the sovereignty of God today. Oh, well, God is sovereign. That gets rid of man's free will. I don't want man's free will. I want to wake up every day and to know that whatever I go, I'm responsible. I need to take action. But wherever I go, God is the one controlling everything, every circumstance. That's the kind of God I want. If we could but continually bring ourselves to say that God is sovereign over this present matter, and every one of us fails to do it. I'll leave here today and I'll be home. It's happened before and I'll be there with my wife and I'll get frustrated about something. Didn't you just preach about God's sovereignty? If we can just understand that this is His handiwork, that this is all for some good work in me and for His glory from the minutest detail of having to break up an argument between your children to having to replace an entire home, then we can stand firm no matter what challenges come upon us. That's first. Secondly, brethren, that's one pillar. Along with our understanding of God's sovereign direction over our immediate circumstances, We need a second pillar. Sovereignty alone is not going to get the job done. Because sovereignty can come with cruelty, can't it? Let us always reflect upon the fact that God's sovereign direction has, as an ultimate goal in mind, our salvation, brethren. Our good. Our completed salvation. I'm not talking about salvation in the sense of, okay, yeah, I'm saved. I'm talking about salvation in the sense of God completing what He started with us. The whole package. No circumstance and no created thing can ever change your complete salvation in Christ. Nothing can change that. Now, I've said to some people who've suffered greatly, a young lady who lost virtually everything in her home, got to see this, and I know some of you can even relate to that. And I said, you know, one of the blessings, though, in this, and it's easy for me to say this, because I didn't lose that, but is that that young lady who has two children, imagine if she lost one child, but she had her home, and everything in there was perfect. No electricity loss, had all the gas in the world, but she lost a child. She would never trade that, would she? Brethren, as significant that is, as that is, even greater, imagine if you could have everything else restored like that and lose your salvation though, and not have your standing in Christ. You see, our salvation remains incomplete in the present from our standpoint. It's being worked out. Christ has already accomplished it. So in one sense, it's a proclaimed completion. But in another sense, it's being worked out. But it will most assuredly find its completion in due time. That's guaranteed. In spite of the horrible judgment that was to come upon his own nation, Habakkuk could joyfully sing the words that we just read in verses 17 through 19, brethren. Now let me take those words and translate it into modern-day language that would suit our context. I think we need to do that because we don't have fig trees. We do, but that's not predominant fig trees and the olive and so on. Those things are already in our supermarkets, right? It's already made for us in that sense. So let me give you the modern day language of what Habakkuk is saying here. Though I have no occupational means of supplying for the needs of my family, I want to work. I don't want to promote laziness here. I desire to work, but I can't. It's not possible because of what has just happened. Though every grocery store, every restaurant, and every means of acquiring food is shut down, Though the stock market crashes and the U.S. dollar completely loses its value. Though the economy of the United States of America completely collapses. And though God closes every material window of blessing which we have taken for granted for hundreds and hundreds of years. Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. That's what he is saying here. I know where I stand with God in Christ. And you see, brethren, if we're holding on too tightly to all these other things, we're not going to be able to say that. I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day. I know that I will sit and sup at the marriage supper of the Lamb. And I know that even here the Lord God is my strength. We should tap into that theology. He will make my feet like deer's feet and He will make me walk on my high hills. My God will yet uphold me. Nothing could ever rob me of my eternal joy in Christ. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73, 25, and 26. Jesus said it well to His disciples when He was preparing to go to the cross, as they had clung to Him and rightly depended upon Him for three and a half years, and did not understand or expect what was about to happen. He gave them that wonderful discourse in John's gospel. And he said to them, in the world, you will have tribulation. Not just in case you have tribulation. You may have tribulation. You will have tribulation. But be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. In me, he says, you have peace. You see, brethren, what this all comes down to, if I could summarize it in one sentence, is this. whatever the calamity, whatever the inconvenience, whatever the level of suffering, without, again, degrading the sorrows connected to that, if we can ponder the fact that we are in union with Christ and all that entails in connection to His glory, We can have peace in the midst of the storm, in the midst of the trials and the calamities. We don't have to run around frantic, saying, what do I need to do to survive tomorrow? Such confidence of hope and assurance, however, only belong to the true children of God. That's a promise for the people of God. There's a wicked side I spoke about. There's an unrighteous and unfaithful side of that equation, too, as we saw in Habakkuk. And so I want to ask you this morning, are you a child of the living God this morning? What if that storm that had come was much worse? God, I was thinking about that. The grace of God taught us with this hurricane, what would it take to take this small island that we live on and just completely drown it? It wouldn't take much. Could it be that the temporal form of calamity that we've seen, which while it has affected many, at the most, for most, it's been material loss, some it's been life loss, and again, I don't want to degrade any of that, but it could it be God saying to us, to those who are unsaved, let this be a picture, let this be a caution to you to understand that at any moment, I can take your life from you, that all that you are enjoying in this country, and in your freedoms in this country, and in your sin, I can take you away in a moment, and you will have to give an account to me in judgment. Are you a Christian? Are you one who God has justified through faith in Jesus Christ? If not, then you can expect nothing but the woes and curses of God upon your soul. If you're not a Christian, you ought to wake up every day and say, you know what? I am terrified because I am not right with my God. If you're resting your confidence in the United States of America, If you're resting your hope in our economy, or your job, or the president, or the stock market, or anything else that is bound or tied to this short-lived life, then you are banking everything on a mirage that will soon blow away like a vapor. And then you will face God and have to give an account to Him for how you have lived this life with the body and the breath that He has loaned to you for His own glory. You were created for His glory. People love to claim their rights. My right. My right. You have no rights in the sight of God. Your right is to do His will and to bring Him glory. And you will give an account to that. And you will be held to the standard of His holy law found in the Ten Commandments. those commands which every one of us has failed to keep. But if you repent of your sins now and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you call upon Him, trusting only in Him to bring you to God, then you can have full assurance of hope to which only God's people are entitled. You can confidently rejoice in the God of your salvation no matter what trial comes upon you. Don't bury the signs that God has given you in a failing, dying world. He's just brought that home to us in the last week in a very in-your-face way. Don't bury it. And go on, because He'll let you go on. He'll let you rebuild. And your judgment will be greater when He takes your feet out from under you and you face Him in judgment. May God give you the grace to ensure that you are in Christ this day if you don't know Him. To ensure that you are safe, that you are labeled among those who are just because they live by their faith. Let's pray. Father, we do thank You so much for Your Word. We thank You again for every page, every word, every single letter of Scripture, which is for our good. Timeless truths, Father, not abandoned historical realities that have no meaning. You have given us what we need to hear. And Father, as we seek to clean up and to restore life in some sense with respect to this storm that has taken place, we ask, Father, that You would help us to ponder You in the midst of this. To not lose sight of You. but to seek you all the more. That those who know you, Lord, would not be swallowed up by circumstances and follow in the footsteps of the world in how we handle these things, but would be able to still yet, even in grief and sorrow, be able to say that we rejoice in the God of our salvation. that we would stand in Christ and be a testimony to others and serve others, look outside of ourselves. At this time, seeing it as an opportunity to say that there is a God who is sovereign and a God who saves. And that you don't have to live in the realm of unpredictability if you're in Christ. And Father, we pray for those in this room who don't know You today. You know who they are. We ask that they would seek You today. That they would cry out to You and be certain that they would lose sleep until they are certain that they are in Christ. We ask your blessing now as we take the supper. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.