If you would please take your Bibles this morning, let's go over to our long-awaited book, Habakkuk, there in your Old Testament, Habakkuk, right after the book of Naaman in the scripture. We're turning over to Habakkuk this morning, and after a lengthy introduction that ran through Mother's Day, Father's Day, and looking at the history behind the writing of Habakkuk, and I'll bring that out in future messages, Today we turn to the actual book itself. And so if you found your place there in Habakkuk chapter 1, let's pause together to pray and then dive into this glorious book, shall we? Let's pray together. Father, I praise you and thank you so much this morning that we have the opportunity to gather around your words. You are the God who gives us liberty, the God who gives us freedom, the God who gives us understanding. As the psalmist said, we walk at liberty for we seek your precepts. And so, dear Heavenly Father, I'm asking this day that you would do a majestic and heart-turning work in our lives because You are that most wonderful God, our wonderful Counselor, our mighty God, the one who gives meaning to us because of our glorious Messiah. Dear Heavenly Father, I praise you and thank you this day that we can gather here, that we can seek your face, that we can understand from your words how we ought to live, how we ought to think, how we ought to respond to the evil and the iniquity and the violence that is all around us. So, dear Heavenly Father, be glorified, I pray. Give us wisdom and understanding from above. Grant that we may see Jesus Christ, yes, even in these Old Testament prophecies. And Father, we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Habakkuk chapter 1 beginning with verse 1 and reading down through verse 5. Habakkuk chapter 1 verses 1 through 5. The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. Oh Lord how long shall I cry and thou will not hear. Even cry unto thee of violence and thou will not save. Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me, and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slack. Judgment doth never go forth, for the wicked doth compass about the righteous. Therefore, wrong judgment proceeds. Behold you among the heathen, and regard and wonder marvelously, for I will work a work in your days which you will not believe. though it be told you." Anytime you have ever heard a speaker stand up in front of you, whether it be a political speech or perhaps an educational lecture, there is that question that lingers in your mind, why should I listen to this? What possible connection can there be between what is being spoken with words, verbalized before me, and me here, now, practically speaking, right here and now? If you take a public speaking course, they would probably talk to you about what is called the motivated sequence. It's especially used in any kind of persuasion. It was developed by a Dr. Monroe at Purdue University back in 1930. And it's interesting that when you're trying to persuade someone, Dr. Monroe and countless speech teachers across the years have said, if you're going to get up, if you're going to speak, the very first thing you need to do is get the attention of the people. So is it any surprise that the very first step in the motivated sequence for persuasive speaking is the attention step. Now folks, we have to bear this in mind because that is somewhat a view of psychology that is being put forward to it. I'm not saying it's wrong, Any of you men who give presentations in your workplace, in business, any of you ladies who have to stand up and speak to others, you know full well that those kind of things are going on, and you have to raise the question with people, what's the relevance of all this? The so what question? Even in preaching, even any preacher, would help his hearers if he could get to that so what question somewhere inside the message so they know here's why in particular not just in a general sense but in particular here's how I could be different this week here's what you and I know we will be different if we learn to think think differently. The fact is you could be radically changed in your thinking even this week and by this time next Sunday you will be a very different person just because you learn to think about things differently. I want to point this out to you about God's Word, because this is something that every preacher and every teacher has to assume. If you really are one of God's people, if you really are today a born-again Christian, then every preacher and every teacher ought to be able to assume this about you. They assume that because it is God's Word, that God's people will pay attention to it. Simply because it is God's Word, even if right off the bat they don't see the practical relevance behind it, we assume because we are warning every man, we are preaching, warning, teaching every man that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. We're assuming this morning that if your DNA, in the words of James 1.18, he says, of his own will begat he us, he birthed us, he conceived us and birthed us, of his own will begat he us with the word of truth that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Here's what that means. That means every single time you are hearing something preached or taught here in a few minutes ago, in a few minutes in sunny school, when you hear it taught, when you hear it preached, it is corroborating with, it is resonating with your spiritual DNA. Those are some of the assumptions that we have before us this morning. But let's go back and raise the question that I ought to raise for you, in fact, just kind of give you a little insight into my heart. You know that many times when I stand at this pulpit, I will try to begin with something that helps you pay attention. It may have even come to your mind at times, well, I think he's being overly dramatic in the way that he introduces that. And so you might ask today, well, is that it? Is it because it's good public speaking theory, because it's part of the motivated sequence that the attention step is first, is that why you begin messages the way you do? And my answer to that would have to be no. I do understand the way public speaking works, but I think that preaching is actually very different. Well, why then would you say? Why is it that you would begin a message, why is it that you would present it with a dramatic urgency? Here's why. God's Word cuts cross-grain to depraved humanity. God's Word in all its purity runs in strong contrast to the way we as human beings think. And friends, when you see that collision, when you see that intersection, yes, You could describe it as dramatic. It's a dramatic contrast. In other words, it calls for a decision. It calls for you and me to learn to think differently. So let me try to put the shoe here, if I may, on the other foot. Let's talk about you for a moment. What if you wanted to present a message with the strongest possible urgency? Not merely urgency and not merely strong urgency. How would you go about presenting a message with the strongest possible urgency? If you today wanted to communicate something to your family, if you today wanted to prepare something that you would share in your workplace tomorrow, how would you go about that? And what kinds of words might you choose to use to communicate the strongest possible kinds of urgency? I would point out to you that I think we have help in the book of Habakkuk as to how to answer that question. This dramatic beginning of the book of Habakkuk absolutely introduces something that is a strong contrast to the way humanity thinks. Now, you might say, well, wait a minute. Is it then just dramatized? Is it just a way of sort of tweaking people's emotions so that you sort of catch the attention? Only if the questions that are being raised here are not really serious questions. Only if they're just sort of shallow, you know, just sort of stained glass windows type questions that nobody really wants to know the answer to anyway. And yet you find, as you open this book, it addresses some of the most serious, some of the most urgent questions that are on our minds, even, yes, this very day. What is it that he is addressing here? He addresses questions that every single one of us have to have answered. If we are going to live, if we are going to thrive in this world, have to have the answers to these. Otherwise, life doesn't make sense to us. This is why the editors of the John MacArthur Study Bible made this comment about the book of Habakkuk. The queries, the questions of the prophet Habakkuk represent some of the most fundamental questions in all of life with the answers providing crucial foundation stones on which to build a proper understanding of God's character and his sovereign ways in history. They went on to say, New Testament references ascribe unusual importance theologically to Habakkuk. Now, I don't know about you, but when I read statements like that, I think, I'm interested now. If scholars such as these say these questions address some of the most fundamental, some of the most foundational questions in all of life, And not only that, but God gives us answers to these questions. And not only that, but it reverberates into the New Testament so that the New Testament corroborates, reverberates with the very same answers and applies them. Now, I'm really interested. Because what that means for me is that even today, 2,000 years after the New Testament was written, even today, it's still practical, it's still relevant, it really helps us. And so let me start out with Habakkuk by giving you a riddle of sorts. When are the writings of a prophet not a prophecy? When are the writings of a prophet not a prophecy? Now, go back for a moment and think about what a prophecy is. A prophecy is a foretelling of God-given truth in the sense that it is a prediction. It's a prediction about what is going to happen in the future. That's what really most of the prophecies in scripture really are. I mean, read the book of Daniel, read the book of Revelation, read most of the Old Testament major prophets and even many of the minor prophets, and here's what you find. You find that by and large, they are making predictions about things that are going to come to pass. In fact, that has a very minor role in Habakkuk. Wait, isn't he called the prophet? Isn't it the prophet Habakkuk? Why would that have a minor role if he's predicting? You say, well, okay, I bet I know what the answer is. A prophecy is not only a prediction, a foretelling of something, It's also a preaching. It's a foretelling, a telling forth of God's Word. So, maybe what you have in the book of Habakkuk is a very strong message to God's people. In fact, it's not. It is not a message addressed to God's people. I don't know about you, but when I read that, I scratch my head and go, huh? How could it be? I mean, look, it's just got to be one or the other, doesn't it? This is part of the riddle of what you find in the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk's name means embraces. It's been used to convey one who embraces. Friends, that's really significant for you and me today. The appeal, every single time you hear God's Word, every time you hear something preached, every time you hear something taught, the appeal is always going to be, it always will be, for greater faith. greater dependence, greater trust, more trust in the Lord. And so it's significant that Habakkuk, whose very name means embraces, really helps you and me to understand something. Remember Isaiah 64, verses six and seven? Remember that we are all as an unclean thing and all of our righteousness as are as filthy rags and we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have driven us away and he goes on to say and there is none who calls upon the name of the Lord there is none who stirs himself to take hold of God Think about Habakkuk's name Embracing God, finding God, taking hold of God in very difficult circumstances. In a society that seemed nonsensical, it seemed absolutely senseless. Notice, if you will, those very first words in the book of Habakkuk. He refers to it as the burden, sometimes translated as the oracle. The name burden here, the word burden, conveys something that is very heavy to carry. This is why, in the MacArthur Study Bible, they pointed out that these are not shallow questions. These are fundamental. These are foundational. If you don't know the answer to these questions, you will be depressed and discouraged and ultimately want to give up on life. But the fact is, it is the burden of Habakkuk. It is the burden of one who embraces God. So what difficulties, what problems do you bring to this service today in your heart, in your mind? What is it that you're troubled about? What is it that it just doesn't seem to make sense out of life? And there doesn't seem to be any help at all in the media or in the culture or in the the silly, vain, empty nostrums that the world tries to say to be like a band-aid for what are really serious wounds. How does this help us? It helps us to know that the burden is of one who embraces God. It's the burden that he is concerned about. It is really, really serious. Well, what is it that he's so concerned about? Look if you will in verse 2 when he says, Oh Lord, how long? Oh Lord, how long? You and I might wonder, is it okay to ask God that? I mean, is that the right thing to do to ask God that question? And dear friend, what you would find is, if you go into the Psalms, you would find that the psalmists were constantly asking that question, how long? In fact, if you went back and studied Moses, and we'll do this in a future message, but if you went back and studied Moses, you would find that the Lord himself asked Moses, how long will I have to put up with these people? When you think about that, it's almost like the Lord saying, you're asking how long? Okay, well, we'll get in line. I was here first. I'm raising that same question. How long? How long will God have to put up with the native hostility of mankind in rebellion against him? And what Habakkuk is raising is the question of, think about the consequences here. I mean, think about what's happening. He says, oh Lord, how long shall I cry? Uh-oh. Habakkuk is praying about this. Habakkuk has been seeking the Lord. He has been praying about this. With what result? Look at it in verse two. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry and you will not hear? Whoa, wait a minute. If Habakkuk is addressing this the right way, he's addressing it to the Lord, and it's as if the Lord is not even listening to him, not even paying attention to him. And yet I would say that if we were to go around and privately ask a number of people here in the congregation and they were to be transparent, they would say, I've been there. It seemed like I prayed very earnestly about things, and I don't know, I sure didn't get the answer that I wanted. I got an answer, God's always answering, but I didn't get the answer that I wanted. So what is the nature of what he's questioning here? He says, verse two, oh Lord, how long shall I cry and you will not hear? I even cry out unto thee of violence and you will not save. Now we're in trouble. Because what he's doing here, what Habakkuk is doing is, he's actually referring to some really serious parts of the Old Testament, including Deuteronomy chapter 28, where the Lord promised he would deal with such violence. He promised that he would pour out the consequences on his people for these kinds of sins. What Habakkuk is lamenting in this passage is the sins of the southern kingdom. That would be the kingdom of Judah. Remember, the northern kingdom, Israel, those 10 tribes, had already gone into captivity to the Assyrians. Now he's lamenting the really serious problems in Judah, in the southern kingdom. And remember, Just 11 years before, they had had one of the greatest kings that had ever lived in Judah. His name was Josiah. And Josiah, under his leadership, there had been a tremendous revival. They celebrated the greatest Passover that had ever been celebrated since the time of Samuel and the judges. It was remarkable. What happened? Josiah's first son lasted about three months and he was replaced, and his other son went on to do the very same kind of wickedness that Manasseh, his great-grandfather, and Ammon, his grandfather, had done. And so it's like the nation is right, just right again, going right down the slippery slope and just crashing down like an avalanche of abomination, just crashing down. So Habakkuk's raising the question here, Lord, what are you doing? Why aren't you dealing with this? Why don't you deal with what's going on? Look at verse three. He raises a second question. Why? Two questions. Oh, Lord, how long and why? Why is it, Lord, that you show me iniquity and cause me to behold grievance? Here's an Old Testament prophet. He knows the Lord. He knows the scripture. He loves the Lord. He has embraced the Lord. He says, Lord, it's like it's right in my face. All this stuff, the grievance that's brought about by abominations and iniquity, and it's just like it's right in my face. Friends, isn't that exactly what it seems like to you today? Isn't it exactly the next time you turn on a news broadcast, it's right in your face or in society, right in your face. And Habakkuk is raising his fundamental question, Lord, how long are you going to put up with this? I said, Lord, why did you cause me to have to see this iniquity and cause me to behold grievance? He goes on in verse three, for spoiling and violence are before me and there are that raise up strife and contention. He says in verse four, the law is slacked and judgment does never go forth. There's an injustice here. The wicked seem to get stronger and stronger. They compass about the righteous and therefore wrong justice, wrong judgment. injustice continually goes forth. So he's raising the question here, Lord, how long are you gonna put up with this? Hey, let me just pause for a moment to ask, does the iniquity in our society bother you? Does the violence bother you? Now, here's one of the reasons I'm raising this question. Folks, even our games today, and I'm thinking primarily of video games, even our video games are using violence for entertainment. Can you see how we would become jaded, insensible to life if that's our entertainment. Most recently in the NFL, the National Football League, I heard somebody say the other day that NFL stands for not for long because of the physical abuse that each player's body must take. He knows he has a relatively short time in the NFL, but most recently what's happened is There have been a number of studies that show that they are having concussions that later on in life, some of them are ending their lives in suicidal depression. And it appears to be because of the violence that we see on the screen. And so here's what people are saying now. They're saying, wait a minute, if they can't make those kind of hits, it's going to destroy the game. Whoa, think about what that means. that if we don't see that kind of violent hit, we don't see something that could send somebody off the field on a stretcher. If we don't see a concussion, then, oh, it's just, you know, oh, for the good old days. When the fact is, it's actually shortening the lives of people. We have to raise this question today. Does violence even bother us anymore? Not preaching against football. I love watching a football game. But we have to raise the question today, am I becoming insensible to all the violence that's around me? Am I even thinking about what's happening anymore? If so, my friend, I would like to point out to you, if you really don't get it, you really don't get why violence would trouble you or why this kind of wickedness would vex you, then I'll just tell you right now, you'll get very little out of the book of Habakkuk. You just won't. Why? There's no point of contact. You won't understand that there is stuff that he describes that is very vexing. It is deeply troubling. But if I'm speaking to someone today who says, wait a minute, I am troubled by this. I am vexed by this. Then I would point out to you that really the Lord does give us answers here. All right, question. Why? Why on earth hasn't the Lord humbled these arrogant politicians that we have? Anybody here believe our politicians are arrogant? Just out of curiosity, I have to take a quick poll? No. And why hasn't the Lord dealt with that? Have you ever raised that question? How on earth has the Lord allowed them to get away with it? Look, in Acts, when a Roman politician got up and exalted himself as God, boy, the Lord dealt with him with worms. I mean, he died almost on the spot. And here are people who are saying things like, there's nothing I need to ask God for forgiveness for. Really? Are you serious? Question, why hasn't the Lord dealt with arrogant politicians? How long is the Lord going to put up with the murderous regimes that we see in Africa and the Middle East? If you read the right news sources, you see almost every week Christians are being slaughtered. It happens all the time. Lord, Why don't you deal with this? How long are you gonna put up with this? When you have prayed so fervently, why doesn't the Lord turn around a marriage that is in trouble? How long will you have to endure the painful rebellion of a young man or a young woman? Why won't the Lord bring an end to some old deviance, long war against God? And you know the kind of people I'm talking about. Why in the world would the Lord allow that to go on? Why doesn't he deal with it? We're almost continually bombarded with news of more violence. The Orlando shooter killed or wounded more than 100 human beings. The murderers in San Bernardino killed 14 people last December, injured 22 more. It's hard to remember. Is this true for you? It's hard for me to remember a local nightly news broadcast that did not include the word murder or manslaughter. It's hard for me to remember one. And we've become so used to it, so accustomed to it. Why does the Lord allow this iniquity and violence and grief and strife and contention to occur right in front of your face? Look, there was a time in the history of this country, same thing was true in England, Victorian England. There was a time in this country when we all knew what was going on. I mean, it's like you've heard me tell before about my mother knew what was going on. But it was like it was all kind of restrained. It was there, but it was restrained. Is that the way it is now? Uh-uh. It's like it's all out of the closet. It's like it's unrestrained. It's like you are wicked if you refer to that as evil. Now you're the one with the problem. It's like it's all out there and growing worse. Sin is gathering a head of steam and taking us deeper and deeper into the darkness. And by the way, whatever happened to our system of justice? The prophet Habakkuk here posed that question. It still rings true today. He's asking in verse four, he says, look, it's like the law has been made void. Have you thought about that lately? Does it sound like to you like the constitution of the United States has now been void? and it's being set aside. In fact, the whole concept of law itself seems to be very much in jeopardy. Those are exactly the kind of questions he's raising here. He says in verse four, therefore the law is slacked and judgment does never go forth. The wicked doth surround or compass the righteous, therefore wrong judgment proceeds. Recent Supreme Court decisions try to destroy the very meaning of what it means to be a human being. And they're redefining institutions such as marriage and family. The concept of law is being voided. All right, I'd like to raise this question then. What should you do if this morning the things he's saying there resonate with you. Look at the very first two words in verse two. Oh Lord. When Job was being written, Job had quite an argument with his human friends who were also arguing with him and criticizing him. You know what Habakkuk is doing? He's taking every one of these straight to the Lord. And by the way, he's been doing it for a while, because he tells you, I did cry, Lord, and you haven't heard me. But nevertheless, he's doing the right thing, and he's saying, oh, Lord. So let's go back to that riddle I raised a few moments ago. When is a prophecy not a prophecy? Or when is the writing of a prophet not a prophecy? The answer from the book of Habakkuk, which does not include very much at all about predictions. There's a small one in the next couple of verses after this passage, but it doesn't include very much about predictions and it's not a message to God's people. Well, look, if it's not those, what is the book of Habakkuk? Here's the answer. It's a prayer. It's a dialogue with God. It addresses some of the most foundational and fundamental questions, but it also includes God's answers. The questions run deep, God's answers run deeper. Really deeper. By the way, that's what is really troubling to Habakkuk is that God's answers run deeper than his questions, as we shall see. This is the shocking part about it. But as I say here, Habakkuk is raising questions that ought to be addressed as Deuteronomy chapter 28 tells us that the Lord will deal with those kind of things. And you can see that in your notes. It is really interesting when you see how a prophecy works that the prophet will say, if it's a question, if it's a prayer, he raises questions and then he says, thus saith the Lord. Here's what's missing here. It's not in this passage. It's not in the text that we're looking at right here. What is? Well, look at verse four. He says, therefore the law is slacked, judgment does never go forth, for the wicked doth compass about the righteous, therefore wrong judgment proceeds. Behold, verse five. It's just like the Lord starts speaking. Behold ye, plural by the way, behold all of you among the heathen and regard and wonder marvelously for I will work a work in your days which you will not believe though it be told you. What he does here with a series of four verbs is he communicates urgency. Remember that question I asked you a few moments ago? If you had to stand up before people and you had to communicate a message with the maximum possible, the greatest possible urgency, how would you go about it? I mean, what would you say? We have part of the answer here. Here's what the Lord does. With four strong terms of alarm, four strong terms of alert, the Lord answers them. And not only does he answer them, but he answers them in the plural. Habakkuk is making this prayer to his God as an individual, but what the Lord is doing is he's showing us why it's practical for you and me today. He's answering it to the faithful remnant. He's not just saying this is an answer for you Habakkuk. He's saying this is an answer for all God's people who will pay attention to it. Look at those four words. He says, look, strongest urgency here, look at behold. See. Don't just let the light come into your eyes, but discern it. Think about it. I mean, see what is happening right in front of you. He says, behold and regard it. Think about it. Be astonished. In our translation, when it says wonder and then it says marvelously, those are two separate verbs. He's saying here, be astonished or wonder. And the second verb is wonder or marvel at what you are seeing. Now I raise the question here, if you wanted to communicate a message with the strongest possible urgency, how are you gonna top that? How are you going to say it more strongly than what was said here? Why was this alarm sounded? Look at the very end of verse 5. The Lord says, I will work a work in your days which you will not believe though it be told you. And remember, he's speaking to the faithful remnant. You wouldn't believe it if I told you. Look, when God himself says that, And we know, we're really dealing with answers here. God himself says, though I were to tell you this, you would not believe. That really highlights the importance of you and me depending on God's word, on exactly what God said. It shows us that we're not going to be able to get it by other means or discern it. No, we have to go back to see what did the Lord himself say. Remember that what Habakkuk is doing here is he's addressing fundamental human problems. These are very serious. They run very deep. Part of the alarm is that God's answers run even deeper and the message of this book is so astonishing, so wonderful, that those who hear it will have a hard time believing. Unless they change the schedule on this, this next Monday morning, a week from tomorrow morning, is July 4th. Around 9 o'clock in the morning, you will hear the mournful wail of the tornado sirens. Our county tests them each first Monday morning of the month. They test out the tornado sirens. And as you hear that mournful wail on Independence Day, I hope it will come to your mind that we are losing our independence in this country on Independence Day. And that mournful tornado siren is like an alarm to all of us, to pay attention, to think about what's happening. That would be an indication of an alarm, of how an alarm would work. or perhaps later on this summer you'll be watching a TV broadcast or radio broadcast and all of a sudden here comes this grating buzzing across the screen across the sound you think what what's going on and it's usually the National Weather Service alerting you to the fact that there is a severe line of thunderstorms that are proceeding toward us, perhaps even involving damaging wind and tornadoes, and that's the way of raising the alarm. Perhaps you've been in a hospital room where suddenly an alarm went off and a nurse came rushing in, or You heard an alarm sounded and a whole group of people pushing a cart rushed down a hallway. What was going on? Well, somebody was in serious trouble. There was an alarm. There was an alert. In the very same way, I think the Lord is doing the very same thing for us. So now let's see if we can go a little deeper and get practical. Would you turn with me? Hold your place here in Habakkuk chapter one and turn with me over to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. Why does this have any practical relevance still to you and me today? Well, if you look in Acts chapter 13 beginning with verse 40, you see that Paul here in a sermon that he preached at Antioch of Pisidia, he actually quotes from Habakkuk chapter 1 and verse 5. And you see it in Acts chapter 13, verse 40. Beware, therefore, lest that come upon you, which was spoken of in the prophets, and here in verse 41, he quotes verse five, at the back of one. Behold, you despisers, and wonder and perish, for I work a work in your days, a work which you will in no wise believe, though man declare it unto you. If Paul's still preaching this in a synagogue, What's it really all about? We'll look back at verse 23. Beginning in verse 14, Paul here is delivering a sermon, an evangelistic sermon at the synagogue, and look at who the central person in his message is. Verse 23, of this man's seed, God, according to his promise, raised up unto Israel a Savior, Jesus. that is the seed of David, of the seed of Abraham, raised up the Savior Jesus. When John, speaking of John the Baptist, had first preached before the coming of the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel, and as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he, but behold, there comes one after me whose shoes, the shoes of his feet, I am not worthy to lose. Now here's the question. What did they do with Jesus? You and I today are concerned, from Habakkuk chapter 1, we're concerned about the violence in our society. And it is. It's severe. It's growing worse. With the advent of games and of terrorist sleeper cells, it's going to get worse. How should we respond in a situation like that? Well, Habakkuk's message goes to verse 28, and it says, though they found no cause of death in him, yet they desired that Pilate, that he should be slain. For no good reason, they put Jesus to death. You may remember, we went through the book of Mark. I raised the question. In fact, I put a note for you online, if you wanna go back and listen to it. Pilate raised the question, what evil has he done? The two greatest justice systems of the day and perhaps in history said, what evil has he done? He hadn't done any evil. And yet the violence that we're speaking of was visited on our Lord Jesus Christ, who had done no evil. Why was that? We know. We know it was for our sins that the violence was visited upon him. We know he suffered. We know that God raised him up from the dead. We are astounded and marveling because here's what Habakkuk said, though it were told you, you would not believe. Now we think of that in a negative sense. We go into Habakkuk and we see it in a negative sense. But the Lord is still bringing forth this amazing work in the sense of where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. I'll tell you where we're going with this. In the very next few verses, he's going to tell them about the invasion of the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, who were going to come down. Habakkuk's saying, oh, Lord, wait, wait, wait. I wanted you to deal with the wickedness of my nation, but not with them. The Lord's going to bring them crashing in. Why? Well, if you go to Galatians chapter 4, you would find the words, You see, that's how the Lord looks at it. He is going to deal with iniquity. He is going to deal with sin. He is going to deal with wickedness, with the deepest possible answers. This is why when Habakkuk raises the question here about foundational, fundamental human hostility against God with all the violence and all the things that are happening that you and I read about online and we see in our newspapers almost every day, we can trust in this fact. God has answers. He is giving us here in Habakkuk chapter one. He's showing us. He is saying, behold you among the heathen and regard and wonder marvelously. I will work in your days, which you will not believe though it were told you. Dear friend, God's ways are higher than our ways. But here's what we do need to know today. God has answers. We wrestle with understanding. God has answers to the most fundamental, most foundational questions of life. Let's be like Habakkuk as we work through this series. Let's embrace God. Let's take hold of God and trust him for how he will show us to increase our faith. Shall we bow our heads together? In just a few moments, we're going to sing stanza of a closing hymn. Just before we do, friend, go back and raise the question. Haven't you been troubled? Haven't you been bothered by the things that we are seeing? Isn't it wonderful to know that the Lord has answers and we can find them right here in his word. May I encourage you today, then, place greater faith and trust in him. Father, I praise you and thank you for what you've shown us today, and I ask now, Lord, as we sing together, that we might rejoice, that we might have an increased faith, a trustworthiness that you really do address the most foundational and fundamental questions in life. Lord, help us, we pray, to truly embrace you, and we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.