I'd like to turn to Habakkuk chapter 1. We get to Jonah, Mekah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah is the next one. So it's in there among the minor prophets. There are only three chapters in it. We just want to go to chapter 1 and commence at the first verse, please. Habakkuk chapter 1. The words of verse 1. The burden which hath occult the prophet did see. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not see it. 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 slacked, and judgment doth never go forth. For the wicked doth compass about the righteous, therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. Behold ye among the heathen in regard, and wonder marvellously. For I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For lo, I raise up the Canadians, a bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible, dreadful, Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far. They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence. Their faces shall sub up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. They shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them. They shall deride every stronghold, for they shall heap dust and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over and offend, imputing this his power unto his God. Amen. We're just ending our reading at the end of verse 11 tonight. We know the Lord will add His own divine blessing upon it. In considering this minor prophet, We know little by way of his whereabouts or even of the time that he wrote his book. On the grounds that it was written before the captivity of Babylon, as many suggest, the date of his writing points to the reign of Manasseh. And the state of the land would correspond to what we find in these words. It may be a little book that you are not often found therein, but there is great teaching, of course, and it is part of the inspired Word of God. What we do know for sure is this, that His name Habakkuk means embracing, or we can bring it out into the English more so into meaning a wrestler. And if you think of Jacob, of course, as he famously was to be wrestling with the angel at Peniel, you have the both meanings seen in that one who wrestles is laying hold upon and embracing the other. Habakkuk was a prophet of the Lord. He was a man who wrestled with sinners in his day, and especially so against their sin. We can see that here is a man who is greatly troubled by what he saw, by what was happening. He was anxious in his own mind. reconcile what he saw to what he believed. And what he saw was Israel in a backslidden condition. She had turned away from God. She had forsaken her God. And as a nation, she was given over to the false gods and to the other ungodly pursuits. In other words, what followed apostasy, as so often is the case, was a general moral and political decline. And you know, men and women, when we give it a closer look, we may even come to the conclusion that what he saw and what caused him anxiety is exactly what is concerning so many people tonight in our land. The sin of our land has been brought about because ultimately there has been a turning away from God. And there has been a turning away from the truth of His Word. An apostasy is rife. Many of our people who have got to understand this have never been taught the Word. We are dealing with a generation of people now, our own people of our own kith and kin, if you like, and there is an ignorance over the basic truths that you and I were fed upon. That's how far gone we are. The opening verse gives us something of his credentials, for he's called a prophet. He was God's spokesman to the people. Furthermore, he is a man of God who is burdened. I suggest to you, therefore, he is therefore a good man to consider. I want you to see, first of all, the burden of a godly man. The word burden, you'll notice, is found in the opening verse. And from what follows, we're given to see what his response was to his burden. It was to take it to the Lord in prayer. Verse 2, O Lord, how long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear? There is something that indicates a continuance in praying. Even cry out unto thee of violence and thou wilt not save. He brings it to the Lord. But notice with me something of what the cause of his burden was. He was troubled because it seemed that God had been silent to his praying. We have read that in verse 2. How long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear? The question may be asked, why has God not answered the prayers of his faithful people? Why has revival not come? Here is something that has been prayed for a long time by the remnant of God's people. But understand that this is not just something about the church that we might speak about the church collectively. But there are questions that God's people might be inclined to ask regarding their own life, regarding their own prayer, praying. Why has God not answered my prayer concerning the salvation of that loved one? Why does it seem that God is still silent to me about that matter? Why is it that so many believers are sick? And that was the reasoning of Habakkuk here. O Lord, how long shall I cry and I will not hear? He was burdened because it seemed that God was silent to him. But you know, his burden went deeper than that. He was concerned because of the sin that was committed in the land. Verse 3, Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance for spoiling? Spoiling is the word for robbing, if you like, robbing one another. And violence are before me, and there are that raise up strife and contention. Before them was sin of every kind. Immorality and evil was rampant. And all that he could see was what caused him to be grieved. And while sin abounded before his eyes in every hand, there was also a slackness in the places of authority. Verse 4, Therefore the law is slack, and judgment doth never go forth, for the wicked doth tell us about the righteous. Therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. He did not apply the law honestly. There was lawlessness abroad, and the result was that the judgments were twisted, the judgments were distorted. There never seemed to be an acquitting of the innocent and a condemning of the wicked. The ruling was given on the wrong side against a good man before the wicked man. And this was the source of great trouble to this man of God, to this prophet. And then, because it seemed that God had permitted these things to happen, and it seemed that he was silent through his praying, He was concerned because he was witnessing the consequences of prolonged and unhindered sin. There was unbridled wickedness. There was slackness in the very judging of sin and iniquity. There was an oppressing of that which was good and right to the exalting of that which was sinful and evil. And because of this, the wicked had the confidence to beset and to surround the very righteous. He could only bemoan the fact. Because of this state of things, verse 4, therefore the law is slacked. See that word slacked? It's interesting to note that it gives a thought of intermix. It's like the man whose pulse beats low and yet it is not noticed. And therefore the sign that he is not in good health is missed. If you come back with me, you'll see the first time that the word is mentioned in the scripture is Genesis 45. I think it brings up in that picture quite adequately. Genesis 45 in the words of verse 26. The brothers come back. This is after Joseph reveals himself to them. They went up out of Egypt and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, and told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive. What a message! And he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not. The word there translated as fainted. Jacob's heart missed a beat. It intermitted. He got weak and he fainted. And so was the case with the justice and the upholding of judgments in Habakkuk's day. It was missed. It was slack. He was greatly troubled and grieved at these things. But I wonder tonight, is that the state of our hearts? It ought to be in the face, of course, of abounding sin. The danger, men and women, is that we become conditioned to it. Conditioned to it to the extent but at the point that it doesn't really move us. It doesn't really concern us. It's just a normal. May God help us instead to be a burdened people. Habakkuk wasn't conditioned, he was burdened. And what did he do? He brought that burden to God in prayer. Let me show you secondly tonight the answer from God. From not having God answer his prayers, Habakkuk is even more startled when God does answer him. He was to be privileged in that he had the word of the Lord come to him. But the message that the prophet received was mysterious in that it wasn't the answer that he expected. Habakkuk thought that the need was for God to come and chastise the nation. It would be a great booth and revival blessing. But in fact, God came to give them a different message altogether. Look at verse 6. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. God was going to raise up their bitter enemy against them. The Chaldeans would come in against them and overcome the land. You can see the description there that God uses of what sort of people they were. There's two words in verse 6. It says that they're bitter and they're hasty. Here was a nation that was bitter against God and they were bitter against the people of God and true religion. And they would cause bitterness and they would cause calamities and distresses wherever they came. And the other word is that they're hasty. They were hasty in their determination. They were swift and they were nimble in their motions. They were active and vigorous in the pursuit of their plans. Now that wasn't the sort of answer that Habakkuk expected. You know, sometimes we've got to learn that lesson as well, that God answers prayer not by the way which we imagine He will. Now there are times when God permits things to become worse before they will ever get any better. There may be times that there's the arising of the Chaldeans against you and against me, but you will notice that it was also an answer which was disbelief. Verse 5, Behold ye among the heathen in regard, and wonder marvellously, for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you. God was preparing Habakkuk. Here's the answer I'm going to give, and you're not going to believe it. The Chaldeans of all people were those whom God was going to use at this time. For if His people would not be brought to repentance by the long-suffering and by the patience of God, then He would take another course of action with them. What was to take place would be so startling that it would not be believed. It would be thought incredible that so many judgments, should combine into one in every circumstance strangely concurred to enforce it, so that great a nation as Israel should be reduced, and that they should be broken, and that God should deal so severely with His own people." You see from the words of verse 5 that it would be their day, in their day, in your days, in your generation. There was a judgment that would come upon them suddenly. Do you know, that's not the first time in which the ways of God have been misunderstood. That was the same attitude that prevailed in Noah's day. Noah prepared the ark. For he had received the message of judgment from God. And I believe as Noah built that ark and commissioned the building of it, he preached We know he was a preacher of righteousness and he warned the people. He warned his own day and generation. But the Adly cry was against Noah. Don't listen to that man. Don't listen to that extremist. He is all this alarmist. He's threatening evil that will come upon us in the form of a flood. And the whole thing is impossible. Until the day that the flood came. Luke reminds us that they were destroyed. Just as impossible as it would be for fire and brimstone to come down and fall upon the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Just as impossible as much as the Chaldeans would be raised up to come in and destroy the nation of Israel. The trouble with the nation of God's people was they didn't believe the prophets. For even though it would be disbelieved, yet it was certain just as those other judgments were. I was certain because God had decreed it. The hand of the Lord will be seen in it all. See verse 5? For I will work a work in your days. Verse 6? For, O I, raise up the Chaldeans And God did bring this judgment against this nation so that they were led low. And He did raise up the Chaldeans to come in against Him. You see, dear people, His Word and His promises are sure and they are certain. They are sure and certain in grace, but they are also sure and certain in judgment. So much so that Paul quotes from these verses. If you turn over to Acts chapter 13, Acts chapter 13 in the words of verse 41. And here he's preaching. And it's particularly to the Jewish people in the synagogues. Verse 38, Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. He's preaching Christ. And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. He where therefore lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets, here he takes them to Habakkuk. Verse 41, Behold, ye despisers in wonder and perish, for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. And he brings them back to their old Hestanist scriptures. the Scriptures that they had, of course. And he's quoting from that very book that we're in tonight. And he's warning the people of his day that they were like their fathers in the days of the prophets, for they had not accepted the Messiah. They had rejected Him. They had crucified Him to the cross. And God would move in judgment And hence the Romans did come in. And the temple in Jerusalem, it was to be destroyed. Something that the people never believed would happen. And the Jews were cast out. The Saviour was to speak of it in Luke's Gospel, chapter 19. Luke 19, in the words of verse 41. And when he was come near, he beheld the city. and wept over it." Saying, if thou hadst known even now, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but neither hid from thine eyes. For the day shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, encompass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." A people who had the very Messiah, a people who had the very Savior and Christ of God in their midst, a people who saw the miracles that He had wrought, and yet they rejected Him. They had despised the day of God's visitation. And the Savior warns that the enemy would come in, and their temple would be laid flat, and stone would not become another stone. You look at this in the book of Habakkuk, the answer of God, doesn't it remind us that God can, and God does use at times the most unlikeliest of instruments, so that his purposes are fulfilled. We can turn that around, of course, to our encouragement. He uses you and me in the work of the Evangelist. He uses you and me, men and women, sinners saved by grace, as the means of spreading out the gospel and scattering the good seed of the Word. He doesn't use angels or angelic beings. Great men, He uses those that are the lowest, the nothings, to confound those things that are wise. I want to show you just finally also not only the burden of a godly man and the answer of God, but I want you to see the folly of the enemy. It's obvious that the words of verse 7 and following or speaking of the invincible power of the Chaldeans. Their power would mean that they would have supremacy in the land and the nation of God would be brought into captivity. Even if that be so, the prophet is brought to consider the following. They would not recognize that they were but tools in the hand of God. And that's all they were. For notice the encouragement that you can take from verse 6, For lo, I raise up the Calivians a bitter and hasty nation which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. God not only controls Israel, but He is in control of the Calivians as well. And there is a truth that you can apply to every nation on this earth. I don't care what size it is considered to be. Obama has sworn in for another term. China's rising, Russia's there, and all the rest of them. You just put that truth over every one of them. It's God that raises them up, and you apply that to every people in this earth. They're under His power. They're under the control of a sovereign God. God hasn't lost control. God's sovereign. They can only do what God permits them to do, for we must remember what the nations are before of Christ's holy God. We see it in Isaiah chapter 14 and the words of verse 15. Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as a small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the eyes as a very little thing. We're not much here, are we now? And that's the nations. That's not just one or two people. That's the nations. They're just counted as a drop in the bucket. Verse 22. It is He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and He inhabits thereof far as grasshoppers, that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, that spreads Him out as a tent to dwell in. He is in control. God is over all things, and He is working out all things according to His great plan and purpose. And what we must do is never lose sight of that. And if God is bringing His people away, which we would never have expected, then it is for our purpose, it is for His purpose, and it is for our good. And so when adverse circumstances come against us personally, we ought to be asking not merely why has God permitted this, but rather what is the Lord teaching me through this? The folly of the enemy is that they attributed their success to their own gods. You look at verse 11 that we read, Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over and offend, imputing this his power unto his God. They overstepped the mark. They thought that their success was because of their own military power, and they boasted of that fact. but soon God would show them that they were but a tool in His hand. And as He could raise them up, so He could cast them down. And you know, that was the encouragement that was to come to the heart of the psalmist. For Psalm 73, in the words of verse 2 and 3, But as for me, my feet were almost gone, had well I slipped, for I was envious of the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked." You just take time to read the rest of those verses. And there's the psalmist and he's overcome. The wicked were doing well. They had been prosperous. They had no bands in their death. Their strength was there. Their strength was there. You read those verses. Until you come to verse 17, Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places. Thou castest them down into destruction. Hither they brought into desolation as in a moment. They were utterly consumed with terrors. That's a picture of the sinner awakening in hell as in a moment. It's only when he got to the sanctuary did he understand therein. Dear people, that's the God whom we trust tonight. And that's the God to whom we come in prayer to this evening. And we do so through the Saviour who was conquered. And the One who reigns forever. And we might ask the question tonight, how great was His victory? Let me just remind you how great it was. Colossians 2 and 15, and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. He conquered principalities and powers on the cross. He triumphed over the great adversary, over death, hell and the grave itself. and because our Saviour has conquered, therefore how great are the spoils for us, his people. Take encouragement from that very truth, as you consider maybe a similar picture to our own day as that which you read about in Habakkuk, and how he was burdened I trust the Lord will bless even that little study in those opening verses to our hearts tonight. We've entitled it, by the way, A Burdened Wrestler. I should have said that at the start, but that's what he was. He was a burdened wrestler. A man who wrestled. A man who was in touch with God. May the Lord bless us tonight as we come to our season of prayer.