Judgment and Justification: A Study of Habakkuk 2

Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Now, come along, let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

All right, let's go ahead and get our Bibles out, and we're going to turn to Habakkuk chapter two.

I'll give you a few moments to turn there with me.

Habakkuk, chapter two.

And by way of review, we're looking here at the prophet Habakkuk.

He is hearing from the Lord what he is to proclaim to God's people.

And essentially, it's a message of judgment.

It's a message of their need for repentance.

And what God tells Habakkuk is this.

Look, the people of Israel, specifically in this case, the people of Judah, are going to be judged for their sin.

And obviously at this point in time, Habakkuk is struggling with that message.

And.

And he's struggling with this God, why are you allowing this sin to just keep going?

And God answers that question with, well, I'm going to bring judgments, don't worry.

And I'm going to bring it from the Chaldeans or the Babylonians.

Now, there's some more confusion with Habakkuk on that.

Habakkuk is like, lord, okay, you're judging us, but why are you going to judge us with these evil people?

And God doesn't answer him right away.

And Habakkuk, chapter two, verse one, tells us that Habakkuk was going to wait, he was going to be patient, and he was going to listen for the Lord to answer him and be ready to change his mind.

And God does answer him.

And God essentially tells him, look, I have the authority to judge, and I can use whoever I would like to do that instrument of judgment.

But ultimately, God says, I don't overlook sin.

The Chaldeans are going to be judged for their sin.

And God assures Habakkuk that no sin will go unnoticed.

And then he says in verse four, at the end of verse four, but the just shall live by his faith.

And that is really the thesis, that is the main thought.

He says, you can live two different ways.

You can live in faith or you can live in your own pride.

And he is talking here about the pride of the Chaldeans, the pride of the Babylonians.

And he says, you really.

Pride and faith don't mix.

An individual who is characterized by pride will not be characterized by faith.

And a person characterized by faith will not be characterized by pride.

Because to have faith means to have humility, right?

Going to someone and trusting in them because they have something that I cannot accomplish.

And ultimately, that's what the whole gospel message is.

I cannot save myself.

I am not good enough.

I need someone more.

I must humble myself, I and come to Christ because he's the only way for salvation.

So it says here that the just or the justified shall live by faith.

So you can think about two different things here.

What we're hearing here is that God says there are some who are justified.

Remember that word justified means to be declared righteous by God.

And essentially God is looking at us and saying, yes, there is sin, yes, there, there should be judgment.

But because of your faith, I'm granting you forgiveness.

And ultimately, ultimately, ultimately we know that's through Jesus Christ.

We know that that is through God's grace.

So you can either live a life of those that are justified, or you can live a life of those who are judged.

But none of us want to face the judgment of God.

All of us deserve the judgment of God.

And so here, what Habakkuk chapter two is doing is contrasting what it means to be in God's good grace, to be in God's judgment, justification, or to be in God's judgment.

And so he says, okay, the just shall live by faith.

And if you don't live by faith, you're living in yourself.

You're living in your pride, you're living in your sin, and you're going to face judgment.

And now he's going to describe four woes to four different individuals or groups of people that are living in these sins that are manifested in pride.

And so look, look at it there with me in.

We're going to start in verse number nine.

Verse number nine, he starts these descriptions of these individuals who are living in sin.

And so this would be contrasting someone who's living in faith, someone who's living in their flesh, someone who is living in sin.

And he says, folks who live like this are going to face the judgment of God.

And so he describes this here.

And really what we're seeing is if we remove God from the equation, this is how people act, and this is how people are characterized.

And God says, that's not going to go unnoticed.

That will be unnoticed and there will be judgment.

So verse nine, he says, woe to him that coveth and does his Best to do his own bidding, right?

You see it there.

The end of verse nine says that he may set his nest on high.

So he's trying to save himself.

He's greedy, and he's trying to make it all about him.

He's trying to find.

Find a place of safety that he may be delivered from the power of evil.

So what is it saying here?

The greedy man tries to avoid judgment by his own works.

The greedy man says, it's all about me.

I'm going to try to figure this out.

I'm going to try to do this in my own pride, in my own strength, in my own wisdom.

So he says, this man, or characterized by these type of people are characterized by covetousness or greed.

They're going to try to save themselves.

They're going to save themselves from this thing.

And ultimately we know that they can't.

Verse 10.

Thou hast consulted shame to thy house.

So you bring shame to your house, to your family, to your people, by cutting off many people.

And so what the Bible says here is that a greedy person cuts off other people, bring shame to his family, bring shame to himself, because a person who is greedy is willing to cut other people down.

And ultimately we know that there is judgment in them.

And it says, and hath sinned against thy soul, verse 11.

For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

It's kind of interesting here what he does.

Habakkuk, basically from, from God, is picturing a beautiful house built by this man who is greedy.

And the very stones of the house that he is building, his own work actually turns on him and cry out against him in his greed.

And so the picture that he's painting here is that we can try to build our own house, we can try to build our own kingdom in our greed.

But eventually even that will turn on it on us, and it'll turn and it'll make us condemned in our own works.

And so here he says, look, you bring shame because you're cutting other people down.

The things that you think are valuable, the things that you think are going to last forever, the things that you think you did are going to crumble, and ultimately you're going to face judgment.

And so as much as the greedy man wants to run away from judgment, wants to save himself, wants to build his own kingdom, ultimately that all crumbles.

Ultimately that turns on him.

And so he says, if you're living in pride, you're living in greed.

If you're living in greed, you're living in judgment.

Ultimately, here we see this played out through these individuals that he points to.

So then we see verse number 12, woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, establisheth a city by iniquity.

What is he saying here?

He's saying, woe to those who are violent, those who live through violence in their life.

They try to get what they want through bloodshed.

And so the Lord was obviously displeased with greed, and now he pronounces a woe against those who live in violence.

And so obviously God hates violence.

Obviously God hates this violence based in selfishness.

And so he says, woe to them who build a town with blood.

Verse 13.

Behold, is it not of the Lord's host that the people shall labor in the very fire and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?

No, no, he's obviously speaking here to this, this vanity, this emptiness, this way of going will eventually lead to hopelessness and emptiness, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.

And so the violent man thinks that, you know, you ever heard the phrase might makes right?

Whoever is the strongest is the one who takes control.

And sometimes it's whoever is yelling the loudest sometimes tries to be the one who.

Who wins.

So the violent man thinks that, hey, if I'm powerful, I'm right.

So he feels as if he can abuse people for his gain physically and in some cases, emotionally.

And so there's this idea that living in my pride leads me to a place where I can abuse others for my gain.

And God hates that.

And so what we see here as, as the correction is this, that.

That God ultimately triumphs no matter what we do, no matter how we try to fight against others and against Him.

It says, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God.

That speaks to the covering of the power of God upon this world.

And it says, as the waters cover the sea, so just as there's so much water out there, the expanse of water as far as the eye can see, so the power of God is greater than any fighting, any violence that can ever be done here in our world.

And so God always prevails.

And so he corrects the violent man, he rebukes the violent man and reminds this man that God is ultimately triumphant in his judgment.

And we talk about this, you know, you have this idea that one day, one day the Bible says that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Some will do that through faith and through salvation.

Others will do that through fear and judgment.

And the ultimate thing that will happen one day is that there will be many.

There will be at one point in time, there will be, there will be complete agreement with everyone who has ever lived throughout history that Jesus is Lord.

Some will come and say, yes, I believe in him in faith, I trusted him.

I had my opportunity to believe in Jesus, and I believe in him.

Others will have doubted him and rejected him and lived a life of rebellion and ultimately see God's judgment upon them and say, well, Jesus is Lord.

That doesn't mean that they're saved.

It doesn't mean like they, they get salvation at the very end.

It means that time has run out.

And now they can't deny the fact that Jesus is God.

But at this point, it's too late.

And so what's being said here is this.

No matter what the violent man does, no matter how much it seems like he's conquering now, no matter how many kingdoms he builds with blood, ultimately God will reign supreme.

So that's the woe to the violent man.

So we have the woe to the covetous or the greedy man, the woe to the violent man.

And then we're going to see here in verse 15, woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink.

And so this is the woe to the drunkard.

This is the one who is controlled by outside substances.

And, and, and we see in this context, it's, it's talking about the drink.

But in our context today, in our world today, any substance that controls us and allows us to leave sobriety and being led by the spirit.

The Bible says, be filled with the spirit.

Be not drunk with wine, whereas an excess, but be filled with the spirit.

So the Bible basically says, are we going to allow a substance to control us, or are we going to allow the spirit to control us?

And so here he addresses the one who takes outside supplements and substances and tries to appease himself with, with what he thinks is comfort and, and peace, which eventually we're going to see what that brings.

So it says, woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink that puttest thy bottle to him and make us him drunken also.

And so what we see here is that an individual's drunkenness eventually leads to affecting others.

And that's what it says here, that he is going to not only be drunk himself, but put us the bottle in the hands of another to make him drunk, that thou mayest look on their nakedness.

And so it speaks here through.

Through the prophet Habakkuk from God that he is rebuking those who are not only drunk themselves.

Yes.

But also that are leading and promoting that lifestyle around others.

And it's kind of unique that he talks about this because I know many of you have different walks of life and have gone through different seasons, and maybe you can relate to the fact that other people who are allowing substances to control them seem to want other people to join in with them.

Like, you're not having fun.

Come on, have fun with me.

And there's that pool, and there's that desire to have more come with them.

And that's what he's addressing here in this case.

And so though they thought that this substance, in this case alcohol, made them feel good, God says that it fills them with not goodness.

What does it say in verse 16?

Thou art filled with shame for glory.

Drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered.

The cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.

And so he says, instead of the good outcome that someone who abuses these substances expects, it's actually shame.

It's actually the bad outcome.

And it addresses here nakedness, and it addresses here being uncovered and being in shame.

And what we can see here is this.

What it does, is it.

Any substance that is going to control us allows us to get to a place in our life where we're not making the right decisions.

Modesty's thrown out the window.

Shame is.

Is ultimately the outcome.

And actually, many people lose their shame when they taken these substances.

And so that's what it's talking about here, in this case, Ephesians, chapter 5.

We.

We see that Paul says, be not drunk with wine, whereas an ex.

Excess, but be filled with the spirit.

And so the contrast to this would be someone who is filled with the spirit.

So the, the damage of drunkenness goes beyond just the.

Just the act itself, right?

I mean, that is destructive for the individual.

So let's say someone who's abusing drugs or abusing alcohol, it is destructive for them.

But what we actually see in this passage that Habakkuk is talking about is it is destructive for that person, but it's also destructive for those around them.

So, so it's a.

It's one of those sins that will inevitably impact others around us.

And, and that's what he's.

What he's saying here is he's saying, hey, look, as you can see, you.

You pass that cup to the other person.

And, and in that case, it says here that they go uncovered and that their, their shame on them, and then shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.

Which means basically, we're not able to control what we say.

We're not able to control what we do.

And instead of God controlling us, we are having that substance control us.

And so this speaks to someone who is living in pride.

This speaks to someone who is living outside of faith.

It doesn't mean that someone of faith is, is, is in, you know, immune to having these sins in their life.

But essentially, as Christians, we know that we can either walk in the spirit or we can walk in the flesh.

And so an individual who's walking in the spirit will walk in accordance to the things of God.

An individual who's walking in the flesh will act in accordance these things that are listed here.

And so we see a woe to the drunkard, the woe to those who allow substances to appease them and control their life.

And so what we can see here is that God says, you know what, you think that cup is going to give you some, some type of sub, substantial sufficiency?

No.

God promises a cup for them, but that is the cup of judgment, not the cup of pleasure.

Though sin.

The Bible does say that sin is, is pleasurable for a season, but in due time there will be judgment.

And ultimately, what we have to understand is that we don't want to be judged in the sins that we have committed.

All of us to some degree can recognize in our life that, hey, we are characterized by some of these elements here in this passage.

I mean, all of us, maybe we haven't gone to a place of total destruction in our life, but many of us in our life have carried, turned our hearts over to the flesh and allowed the sin of pride to pervade our life.

But what the Bible says is that when we come back to faith and when we understand who God is and what he has done for us, we're able to walk in the spirit.

So he's.

This is a warning to those who are walking this way.

And so the last woe here is in verse 18, woe to the idolater.

And typically, when we read about idolatry in the Old Testament, in our culture today, there's a temptation to just kind of skim over idolatry because we are under the understanding.

And by the way, it's a, it's a lie that we don't have an idolatry problem in our culture today.

Why?

Because we don't build statues and worship them, even though many people do.

But what we can tell through scripture is that idolatry is not just based to golden idols that are built.

Idolatry is based in worshiping anything outside of God, putting anything above God, putting any graven image, whether it's a, you know, I don't know, it could be a vehicle, it could be a hobby.

It could be, you know, something that we're watching on the television.

It could be anything.

It could be money.

We know that anything that takes place of God is an idol.

And so that's what we're seeing here.

And actually, I would say that America and the world has an idle problem.

It's, it's, it's looking at things and it's putting things above God.

So look at verse number 18 with me.

It says, what profiteth the graven image?

So anything that's made that the maker thereof hath graven it.

The molten image.

A teacher and a teacher of lies that the maker of his work trusted therein to make dumb idols.

He's basically asking a question here.

He's saying, what, what profit does a graven image have when we know that there's someone who's made it?

It's.

It's a teacher of lies.

Verse 19.

Woe unto him that saith to the wood, awake to the dumb stone, arise.

He says, that's really what we're doing.

We're taking something that's dead and trying to make it alive.

That's how foolish it is to take an item or a possession or a thing that we worship and spend time with and say that it's something that is worth it.

And he's saying here, like this is how silly it is.

He says, you're going to expect wood and a stone to teach.

You know, how crazy is.

He says it's like saying this.

Arise, stone, it shall teach.

Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

And so in.

In contrast to this lifeless idol, the Lord says, hey, there is something that you can worship that's alive.

Verse 20.

But the Lord is in his holy temple.

Let all the earth keep silence before him.

So he says, there's things that are worth worshiping, okay?

And the only thing that is worth worshiping is, as we see here, the true Lord God.

Verse 20.

That's the only thing that we should be worshiping.

Anything outside of that is idolatry.

And so he says, the, the problem with the idolater is that there is a Huge discrepancy between the thing that he's worshiping, whether it's a piece of stone or a piece of wood or an item.

It compare that lifelessness to the God of all the universe.

He says, that's the problem.

That's the issue.

And so he deals with the greedy man, he deals with the violent man, he deals with the drunkard.

And now he's dealing with the individual who is the idolater, who.

Who treats inanimate objects like they are alive with intelligence that can teach him things.

And so through it all, the point is, is clear.

Habakkuk is basically being told by God and communicating to others that ultimately all of these individuals that are falling into the trap of these sins will eventually be judged if they don't come in faith to God.

And it's the same thing for our society today.

Our society today is going down the path of all of these things.

If you look at it, I mean, you could characterize our society as.

As covetous.

You characterize our society by violence, you can characterize our society by drunkenness, and you can characterize our society by idolatry.

And it's always been that way.

The fact of the matter is, is that that's man's nature.

That's sinful nature.

It's not like it just got bad after 2020, okay?

There are seasons of.

Of change within the world, and there's.

There's es and flows with societies.

But I would encourage you at some point, if you're.

If you are a studier of history, which I would encourage you to do if it helps you understand about things about scripture.

I think it's a good thing to study.

Go back and study the Roman Empire.

Go back to study the things that were happening back at the time of Paul that he was preaching against.

It wasn't like the Roman Empire were these great people that were really just moral and just missed the point of God.

The people in the Roman Empire were doing the same things that are happening today, and in many cases, even more public than it is today.

And you can't even imagine that, but that's how bad it was.

There are passages of scripture that allude to this in First Corinthians about the people in Corinth.

I mean, to be someone who was evil, to be someone who was a fornicator, to be someone who was just completely given over to the flesh meant they would call them.

Hey, you're being a Corinthian, okay?

So the point I'm trying to make is this.

These Sins are not new.

I mean, obviously, thousands of years ago, these individuals were characterized by these sins.

And thousands of years later, we are still characterized by these sins in our culture today.

So what do we do?

Well, as believers, we stand up.

And where does it start?

It starts with individual repentance.

Okay?

We cannot expect our society to be effective for the cause of the truth of God unless we as Christians stand up, right?

Always in the Old Testament, what was it?

It was the call for God's people to stand up to those pagans, right?

God wasn't looking at the pagans and saying, well, you know what?

They should be acting like, like believers.

Because you know what the truth is, is that it was Israel's.

Was Israel's responsibility to stand up and to make that change and to impact those societies around them.

And that's the same thing for us as Christians today.

We are called to impact those people around us.

And so the problem comes is when believers, the people of God live characterized by these things that the world are characterized by.

And what we have to see is that at the end, and it's all summarized in verse 20, right?

The only one that's worthy of our worship, the only one that's worthy of.

Of our commitment, the only one that's worthy to teach us is the Lord God.

And at that time, we know that the Lord was dwelling in the holy temple, and that was his presence.

That's where he was at that time.

But today, okay, theologically speaking, God is not dwelling in the temple there in Israel, okay, where is God dwelling today?

The Bible says that our bodies are the.

The temple of God.

And so we as Christians are indwelled by the Spirit, therefore we are carrying around God with us, right?

And the opportunity for us is to say, you know what?

As a believer today, I know that I have the presence of God in my life, and therefore I cannot be characterized by these things.

And if I do fall into the trap of these sins, specifically the sin of pride, that leads to these four outcomes.

I have to come back and die to my flesh and yield the spirit.

If I find myself into a place of idolatry, I need to be.

I need to be aware of that, and I need to have a heart of repentance.

Repentance is turning myself away from that action.

Repentance is not feeling sorry for what I'm doing.

You guys know that there is the reality that I can feel bad for committing this sin, but keep doing it.

You've seen that happen in your own life, right?

You and I've seen it happen in my life, man, I really wish I didn't do that, but I'm just going to keep back, keep doing it.

And the truth is that true biblical repentance starts with a broken heart, a broken and contrite heart.

And it comes to a place where we have to understand that sin is.

Is an offense against God.

You remember when David was dealing with his.

His sin and his repentance, specifically with the sin with Bathsheba, he talks to God and he says, God, I've sinned against you.

And, and so every time that we fall into the trap of pride or we fall into the trap of.

Of covetousness or, or any of these sins, we have to realize that, hey, I need to have a broken heart over this.

I need to have humility.

I need to have repentance.

Why?

Because to get back to a place where I'm living in faith, I have to be living in humility.

And to be living in humility, I have to understand that I don't have the strength to do this on my own.

Just like that covetous man.

He tried to build his nest on high.

He tried to avoid the judgment of God.

There's no way that we can avoid God's wrath if we are living in our own sin.

So what does that mean?

As number one, as believers, we don't have to live under God's wrath anymore.

That's the beauty.

Romans, chapter 8.

No more condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.

But at the same time, you know what?

It would be just like this.

I was watching this documentary where I forget what animal it was.

It might have been a tiger or a bear or something.

And they had this animal who had been injured, and he had been living in captivity for a long time.

And there was that day where they said, okay, we're going to release him back into the wild to have freedom again, right?

Every animal's dream, to be back and running in the wild.

And so they get him out there, and I don't know if you guys ever seen a video like this.

They.

They throw open the cage and everyone gets back.

And the animal just sat there and he just stayed in the cage.

He didn't know what to do.

And in his mind, he was like, the door was open.

He had the freedom, but he stayed there in bondage because he didn't know anything else.

He was comfortable with getting fed every day.

He was comfortable with everything, how it was going, and he didn't want to go back to that freedom.

And I think that's what happens as Christians.

Sometimes we are the.

The door is thrown wide open of the jail cell.

Like we are free from the bondage of sin and death.

But so many times we're living like we used to live back in those old ways.

And we're basically going back into the jail cell, putting those chains back on and trying to live that way.

And God says, no, you're free from that.

And so the beauty is, is that we no longer have to live under the judgment of God.

When we are believers, we are free from that condemnation.

Now, are there still consequences for our sin?

Sure, right.

There's still consequences for our sin.

And ultimately we have to be aware of that.

But the Bible says if we're living by faith, this is not going to be our desire anymore because we are saved from our sins, past, present and future.

But what I would say is this, and this is sometimes a common false teaching within the church is this, hey, you know what?

I'm a sinner, you're a sinner.

We're just humans.

So therefore, you know what?

Just, just give up the fight.

We're all going to sin anyway.

And it's almost like a justification for just keeping on in sin.

Well, the Bible says in Romans, chapter six, verse one, Paul says, don't continue in sin, God forbid that.

The reality is, is that none of us can live a perfect life, but all of us can strive to be more and more like Christ and avoid those sins that so easily beset us.

As the Bible said, lay aside every weight.

And so here in this passage of scripture, the, the.

We're really dealing with two different types of people.

For the unsaved person, they're still living under the guilt of their sin.

And the Bible says ultimately they're going to be living in the judgment of God one day if they don't repent.

Now we as believers are no longer living under the bondage of sin.

We are living in the freedom in Christ.

And so in the New Testament, it talks all about that.

But what can happen is that we can revert back to that old way of living and, and lose the joy of our salvation and lose the impact of what God has called us to have and miss the opportunity to serve him and to love him and to ultimately lead people to the truth of Jesus Christ.

And so when we see this passage of scripture, I think a lot of times we say, well, oh man, I was prideful today.

Does that mean I'm going to be judged by God?

Well, the reality is, is no, none of us can live perfectly.

But at the end of the day we should be striving to be living as, as verse four says in Habakkuk chapter two.

Okay?

The just shall live by faith.

Live by faith.

We're saved.

I talked about this on Sunday morning.

We are saved by faith.

And that's a one time thing.

That's justification.

But the Bible also calls us to live by faith, to live and to walk in faith.

And that's something that's harder for me, right, because it's very easy for me to go back to that day where I trusted in Jesus Christ as my Savior.

It's very easy for me to go back to that moment where I knew that no longer am I bound for the destination of destruction in hell, but now I have the destination of heaven.

But sometimes it's difficult for me to live in faith in the day to day.

And so I, I want you to see another passage of scripture that we can address and that is Hebrews chapter 11.

And, and I want you to see Hebrews 11, verse 6.

And some of you are very familiar with this passage.

But I think it's important for us to go and understand this passage because I think that so many times in, in Christianity, the broad scope of faith, people think that faith is just this one time thing that we do.

So I put my faith in God back in 1985 or whatever.

And so I, I have faith in God because I placed my faith in God that day.

And yes, you put faith that God would save you, but there are things that we have to do on our daily walk to trust in him and to rely on him.

Because I, I don't know if this is something that you struggle with, but for me I struggle with the fact that yes, I believe God can save me from my sins.

I believe God can send me on a path to eternal life with him.

But I struggle with God taking care of my day to day.

Which is, which is what Satan wants to have happen.

Satan wants us to doubt God on the day to day.

So we go to Hebrews chapter six and we're talking about this idea of faith.

The just shall live by faith.

Not just, just be saved by faith, but be living by faith.

And so it says here in verse 6, but without faith it is impossible to please him.

Now there, there are some scholars that look at that and they say, well that just means salvation.

You can't please God unless you're saved.

But I believe that, you know, obviously as Christians we can walk and please God by our actions today.

And so I think here what it's saying is that we can't live a life of faithlessness in the day to day and please God and obey him.

Because what does it take to obey Him?

It takes faith.

Like, I'm not going to obey the things that God has called me to do unless I trust that he is going to keep his word.

So let's say, for example, hypothetically speaking, God calls you to do something in the ministry, in the church, and you say, well, Lord, I know you're calling me to do that, you've made it very clear to me, but I don't think that I can do that.

So therefore what I'm going to do is, is I'm just going to trust in my own understanding of this and not trust in you.

Now there's no way that we can please him in that because we're disobeying Him.

He's called us to do something.

We're disobeying him because we don't trust that his call is sufficient.

We're trusting in what we do.

So what we have to understand here in this case, it says, but without faith, it's impossible to please him.

Verse 6 of Hebrews 11.

And then, I love this second part.

He says, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

And so it's, it's real life things that test our faith.

And for us to understand that if we seek after him in faith, he will reward us.

It says, diligently seeking him, He's a rewarder of them.

So, so God is not going to punish us if we trust him.

That's just the reality of things.

And then if you go through all of Hebrews chapter 11, right by faith, Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark, right?

So he, his faith was proved or demonstrated by building the ark.

Okay, you could go through all these by faith.

Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive a for inheritance, obeyed, and he went out.

And so it's not the action that saves us, it's not the action that keeps us saved, but it is the action that demonstrates true faith.

And for us as believers, that's the test of faith.

We can say all day that we have faith, but when God tests our faith, are we willing to say, look, I'm trusting in him and I'm not preaching that.

Hey, it's works that save you.

It's not, it's authentic faith that saves us.

It's authentic faith that grows us.

For by grace are you saved through faith and then not of yourselves.

But what I am saying, and I don't think we can get around it in Scripture, when we are tested with faith, we can't just say, well, I've got faith.

Here's the test.

Well, I'm not going to trust God.

That's not having faith.

What it is, having faith is taking a step in trusting in him to do the things that he has called us to do and to not do the things that he has called us not to do.

And each one of these examples in the book of Hebrews has a real life example.

It's not theoretical.

It's not like he and Abraham sat on that hill and said, I do believe that God exists.

I do believe God will send.

No, what did he do?

He took action to demonstrate that he trusted.

And every case that you look at here, there's.

There's action tied to that faith.

It's not the action that is the faith, it's the faith that produces that.

And so I say all that to, to demonstrate what Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 4 is saying.

The just, those that are saved will live by faith.

We are saved by faith, and we are sanctified by faith.

Okay, A lot of people think, well, I know I'm not saved by my works, but I feel like I have to work to grow as a Christian.

You grow in your faith, you grow in your spiritual walk.

Just as you were saved, you're saved by faith.

You were sanctified by faith.

Now ultimately, it's the actions that get us there.

But we're not going to.

You know, I can sit here and memorize Bible verses all day.

That means nothing unless I'm doing it in faith.

I.

I can feed the hungry.

I can, I can serve in a ministry of the church.

It means nothing unless I'm growing in faith.

I want, I want to take you to one other passage here because I think that so many times we think that the spiritual growth comes through just being more of a good person.

Just, I need to try harder to be a good person.

But, but I want you to see First Corinthians, chapter three.

And this will be the last passage of scripture that we look at.

The Bible very clearly tells us how spiritual maturity happens.

How do we get to that place where we are people of faith, characterized by our faith?

Well, some might say, well, you know what?

I just need to, I need to be in more Bible studies.

I need to follow Pastor Josh's Bible study more.

And I need to, I need to make sure I have all of my eyes dotted and my T's crossed in his class or whatever class.

But what we're going to see here in this passage is that true growth can ultimately only come from one source.

So look at it here with me in 1st Corinthians 3.

Paul is talking to the Christians in Corinth, and he's saying, look, you should be on the meat.

I need to teach you about some things about spiritual growth, but you're not ready.

Verse 1.

He says, and I brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual.

He's like, I can't speak to you in spiritual matters.

Why?

But as unto carnal or fleshly, even as unto babes in Christ, he says, you guys are still spiritual babies.

You're still in the flesh.

I use this analogy all the time.

A baby is selfish, okay?

As, as cute as they are, as, as, as cuddly as they are, they are selfish.

All they want is their food.

All they want is their sleep.

All they want is their comfort.

And so what is he saying here?

He says, I can't even speak to you on spiritual growth and, and, and maturing because why?

You're still fleshly, you're still selfish.

You're still all about you.

You're babes in Christ.

He says, I have fed you with the milk, and the milk is a necessity.

Everyone needs milk, okay?

Everyone does.

All babies need that formul formula or milk to give them that growth.

And he says, I.

But I've not been able to feed you with me.

I have fed you with milk and not with me.

I can't feed you with me.

That, that's the solid foods.

That's, that's maturity.

And really, when people talk about meat, they're not just talking about deep things like, not just talking about end times and, and, and, and tough stuff.

It's talking about deeper things of the faith that are actually applied, okay?

Because we can sit here and be theoretical, but really the meat is the, the more difficult things to do within our faith.

And so it says here, I wanted to feed you with meat.

I couldn't.

For hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet.

Now are ye able.

He says, you're not ready for it.

And we do need to give people the appropriate nutrition at the appropriate time.

So Paul recognizes that, but he's like, you need to get to that spiritual maturity.

Verse 3.

For our.

For ye are yet carnal Fleshly, selfish, walking in the flesh.

For whereas there is among you.

And then he says, this is how I know that you're still like fleshly.

You're still carnal.

Because with them comes envying, envy or greed.

Okay?

Kind of similar to Habakkuk.

For whereas there is envying and strife, strife is fighting, conflict, divisions.

Are ye not carnal and walk as men, walk as fleshly men.

He says, you're not walking spirit led.

You're walking as a man of this world, not a man of God.

Verse 4.

For while one saith, I am a Paul, so he says, some of you are like, I'm from Paul, Paul.

I'm a follower of Paul.

In other, I am of Apollos.

I follow Apollos.

He's my man.

That's who I'm following.

He.

He says, here though, are you not carnal?

That's fleshly.

It's fleshly to follow a person.

So the spiritual growth does not come from Paul.

Spiritual growth does not come from Apollos.

He says in verse five, who then is Paul?

Who is Paul?

Who is Apollos?

But ministers are servants by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man.

He says, so you're not learning from a man.

Ultimately, they're just servants professing the truth of God.

I'm going somewhere with this, so just follow me for a second.

He says, Paul speaks.

He says, I have planted some.

Plant the seed Apollo's watered, but God gave the increase.

That word increase also means growth.

Okay, The Greek word there just means growth or fruit.

So what does that mean?

That means, yeah, God uses Paul, or God uses you and me to plant the seed in other people's lives.

The truth of God.

God uses a palace to water.

God uses other Christians to water.

But ultimately spiritual growth only comes through God, through a relationship with him, through trusting in him, from.

From growing in him.

And.

And so he says, so then neither is he that planted anything, neither the he that watereth, but is God that gives the increase.

And so we.

We could go further on that, but ultimately what he's saying is this.

He says, if you want to grow, if you want to mature, if you want to be characterized by faith, it's not faithful.

Faith in a person outside of Jesus Christ is not faith in a pastor.

It's not faith in a teacher.

It's not just faith in myself.

It's not just hard work.

Ultimately, true growth comes from the word of God being planted in people's lives, being watered and fostered.

But ultimately it's God who gives that increase.

And so when we look at that book of Habakkuk and we say, the just shall live by faith, man, I just really need to strive harder to be more faithful.

It's not so much of us trying harder.

It's us relying on God more and understanding him more.

And so faith is dying to self, surrendering ourselves over to God and saying, God, I know you're a rewarder of those who diligently seek you, so I'm seeking after you.

And that's what it means to not only be saved by faith, but also to live by faith.

And so I hope that that is something that can help us.

Especially if you look at those.

Those four areas.

And some of you would say, well, Pastor, I'm not.

I'm not a idolater, I'm not a drunkard, I'm not a violent person, and I'm not even someone who is very covetous.

Well, you know, it, it.

All of us to some degree, have fallen into that trap at some point in our life, whether, whether it's to the.

The.

The tenth degree or the second degree, but all of us to some varying degree have fallen into that trap of pride.

And what I would encourage you to do is think about, hey, you know what, am I characterized by faith, or am I characterized by me trying to handle it on my own?

And that's what Habakkuk 2 is all about.

Just, are you gonna live by faith or are you gonna live by your own works?

And if you live by faith, the Bible says we don't have to face the judgment of God, so we can live in those two areas.

We can either live in humanity itself, not just us, but you can either live in justification or live in judgment.

And none of us want to live in the judgment of God.

We want to live justified in his truth.

And so I hope that that was encouraging for you.

We're going to come back next week and we're going to look at Habakkuk chapter three.

We're going to essentially see the conclusion of the book.

And really, it's a prayer.

Starting In Habakkuk chapter 3, verse 1, there is a prayer of revival.

And that's really what the outcome should be, right?

So when we.

And essentially what's happening here is God says, okay, here is the truth.

Here is why you need the truth.

Here's why you need God, because this is what you characterize.

Greed, selfishness, all these things.

And then he says, and ultimately, what does that produce?

Well, it produces as we're going to See in chapter three, a prayer for revival.

And that's really where our heart should be.

If we know where we are and we know where God is and we know where our world is, really, we should come to a place of revival.

And we want, you know, I think a lot of times churches want.

We, we.

We use the word revival a lot.

Revive.

We want revival.

And, and I don't know if.

If everyone even knows what that word mean.

Means revival means new life to be re.

Re not reborn so much as the idea of just being revitalized in the truth of God.

But anytime in scripture, we see revival.

It's always tied to repentance because we're not going to be revived in the truth of God if we just think that everything's okay.

We need something to change, to move forward.

And so in many cases, that means that we have to come to a place of repentance.

We have to come to a realization of what I need to do.

Because sometimes we think of corporate revival like, hey, you know, it's a church in America.

We need to get on fire for God.

The way that we get on fire for God in America is that I need to get on fire for God.

Right?

I can't affect anybody else other than ultimately I can do what I can do for the Lord.

And hopefully my revival that's happening in my life is spurring other people's revival.

But ultimately I can't wait for somebody else.

Okay?

And I think that's a lot of times what we do.

We.

We say, well, someone else start.

I don't want to be the first one.

And so the Bible says very clearly the revival and the repentance starts in our own heart.

So we'll talk about that next week when we come back.

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing.

Blessing for you.

You would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

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Thank you so much.

God bless.

Have a wonderful day.