Resting Hard

Well, let's take our Bibles and let's open again to the book of Habakkuk. As you're turning there, I want to read this letter that I found hilarious this week. It's a letter from a fed up adult who's walking through some very difficult things and I will just listen it says this. I'm officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I've decided that I would like to accept the responsibilities of an eight year old again. I want to go to McDonald's and think that it's a four star restaurant. I want to sail sticks across the fresh mud puddle. I want to think that m&ms are better than money because you can eat them. I want to lie under an oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer's day. I want to return to a time when life was simple when all you knew were colors, multiplication tables and nursery rhymes. But that didn't bother you. Because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care. All you knew was to be happy. You were unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset. I want to believe that the world is fair, that everyone is honest and good. I want to believe that anything is possible. So I hereby resign from computer crashes, viruses, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, bank accounts, doctor bills, gossip, sickness and loss of loved ones. So here's my checkbook. Here's my car keys. Here's my credit card bills, my 401k statements and my cell phone. Nevermind, I'll keep the cell phone. I officially resigned from adulthood. If you want to discuss it further. You'll have to catch me first because tag you're it See you later, alligator. Now, I love that letter. That's hilarious to me. I think that's probably the heart of a lot of people that wasn't written by someone in our church. That wasn't written by someone in our day, but it could have been. It could have been I think all of us are looking for rest in this weary world. The adult world is exhausting. It's a world that's filled with worries. We tend to worry about retirement, we worry about our future, we'll be furloughed. We worry about problems of injustice, we see them on the news on a weekly basis. We worry about our health, we worry about heart disease, we're worried about cholesterol, we worry about all sorts of things that bring sleepless nights. And it's exhausting. It takes its toll. In fact, as I think through the Psalms, I think of David and, and all of his worries in life and some 42 he he was just sort of complaining about the difficulty of his life and he says of the Lord, all your breakers have gone over me. In other words, Lord, it's like I'm out to sea, and I'm out of breath. And every time that I come up for another breath, another wave hits me. And that's how life feels. It's frustrating. And to make matters worse, it's not fair. It's not fair. Maybe some of you are feeling that today. It's not fair. Life's not fair. We see that whenever we feel that whenever a boss furloughs something, cert furlough someone and then they take a raise for themselves for that same amount that they just furloughed, someone for. Why do the unjust prosper? That's our question. Maybe you're thinking about that. There's an employee at your at your work. He's a lazy employee, or she's a lazy employee. They were allowed to keep their job but you lost your job. It's not fair. Why is it maybe for some of you, my competitor, my business rival, they were able to get the paycheck protection plan, that paycheck protection program, but my business wasn't life's not fair. It's frustrating. And I think many of us are in that place where we just Just want to rest I feel it you know just the other night I was I was up late at night for some reason I couldn't sleep. I don't think it was anything stress related I'm really not enough stressful season. I hope you're not but I think I probably had too much caffeine. And I took that as the Lord just wanted me to walk around and pray for my children. So I went room to room and, and they were sleeping and I went into Caleb's room and sailor's room, and I just watched them sleep and just just be in blissful rest. I mean, one of them was like snoring the other one has like drool going down their pillow and, and they're just enjoying the simple rest of being a child. I mean, oh, to be a child again. Oh, to go back and enjoy the simplicity of life. No worries, no stress. You know, the lesson that I saw that night with my children is that faith snores my children had faith in their mom and their dad that all their problems will be taken care of. And then just resting easy, they didn't have the problem of not being able to sleep. You know, we need to go back to those days, we need to understand that God is our father. And we can rest. So today I want to talk to you about resting heart. I want to talk to you about resting heart when you don't understand. If you're just joining us, we're looking at the book of Habakkuk. This started in the Psalms, and we've looked at several passages now. But we're in the book of hepatic and we're talking about a series entitled trusting God when you don't understand and today I want to talk about resting heart when you don't understand wrestling hard. Habakkuk is an amazing book. This is a guy who has a one on one with God. He has a question and answer with God. It's sort of an ask anything of God. And there's this play on words throughout the book of God, don't you see? And then God comes back and says yes, I see but really, you don't see You don't see everything that I see. And Habakkuk is being transformed. He starts with a question mark. And and we're going to see by the end of this book next Sunday, he is going to end as an exclamation mark and God is going to transform Habakkuk through a series of questions and answers to where he's standing strong in his faith. He has built his faith. And so that's really where I want us to go. I want us to learn not to worry, but to rest. I want us to learn to put our weight on the Lord but to wait on the Lord. Because God is doing a great work in our hearts and he's going to use this book. So let's stand together in honor of God's Word. And let's read from Habakkuk chapter two, how we can rest when life seems on fair Habakkuk chapter two verse six. Shall Not all these take up their time against him with scoffing and riddles for him and say, Whoa to him who keeps up what is not his own? For how long and loads himself with pledges? Will not your debtors suddenly arise and those awake, who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoiled for them. Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the people shall plunder you for the blood of man and the violence to the earth, to cities to all and all who dwell in them. Whoa to him who gets Evil game for his house, to set his nest on high to be safe from the reach of harm. You have device shame for your house by cutting off many people's you have forfeited your life, for the stone will cry out from the wall and the beam from the woodwork respond well to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity. Behold, it is not from the Lord of hosts that people's labor labor merely for fire the nation and the nation's weary themselves. For nothing, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea water to him who makes his neighbor drink. You pour out your wrath and make them drunk in order to gaze at their nakedness. You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink yourself and show your uncircumcision the cup in the Lord's right hand Will you come Will come around to you and an utter shame will come upon your glory. The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you as the destruction of the beasts that terrified them for the blood of man and violence to the earth cities and all who dwell in them. What profit is an idol? When its maker has shaped it a metal image a teacher of lies, for its maker trusts and it's his own creation. When he makes speechless idols. Whoa to him who says a wooden thing awake to a silent stone Arise, can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold, and silver. And there is no breath at all in it. But the Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him. I want you to remember the name Habakkuk means to clean or to wrestle. And that's what Habakkuk is doing. He's wrestling, to understand God and to understand the trouble of his days in the context of who God is. And maybe that's where you're at today. Maybe you're wrestling with the unfairness that's happening all around you in your life. Maybe you're saying it's not fair at work. It's not fair in this economy. Why is it that the corrupt the bad guys tend to win? And my goal is for us at the end of this service, to say that God is our rest that God is solved. He is powerful. A Gustin said it so well, he said man is restless until he finds his rest in God. I want you to see who God is. And I want you to find your rest in him today. So may God bless the reading and the preaching of his word, you may be seated. Okay, let's do this. We have three very timeless truths that I want to give to you. So that you can finally experience rest, three very simple, timeless truths that you and I need to see and cling to and wrestle with if we're ever going to experience the rest that God means for us to have. Number one if you're taking notes. First, if you want to have rest. When life feels unfair, you need to see the wicked headed for justice. You need to see the wicked headed for justice. They are on a trajectory for justice. Does it look like they're winning? Yes. Does it look like they're advancing in this world? Well, it's sort of like God says, Look at them. But then look again, you're not seeing all the things that I see they are advancing, but they're actually advancing to their own destruction. They're on the the rise, but really they're on the fall. Don't be fooled by the glamour. These guys are about to have a crash and and what comes next is this Whoa, to the nation of Babylon. And I love this section. One of the things that in this period of time this COVID-19 season that I've, I've enjoyed maybe a guilty pleasure. I have come to sort of despise the late night television shows, and I can't stand them, just to be honest with you. I don't think the guys that are doing them are that funny. And all they do is bash the president and then the senators and they're just not funny. And they're sort of proud and they're sort of elitist. I have to tell you during this period of time i have i've truly enjoyed that. Everything has sort of been stripped from all of those shows. It's sort of a guilty pleasure of mine that these guys who are just so polished and and they've got a studio audience with applause signs, laughing at their jokes, all that is gone. There's no makeup artists, there's no special effects are lighting team to help them in their production. And now they're shooting all of these late night comedy shows from their living rooms from home, and no one laughs and then you sort of watch those or you see a clip on YouTube and you're like, wow, these these guys really aren't that funny after all, and all the all the props have been sort of stripped away. And I love that. I love that. You know, I think that's sort of what's going on in verses six through 20. God is showing the reality. You think this nation of Babylon is so great and so unstoppable. Let me show you the real thing. Let me show you Babylon stripped away. Let me show you the reality of who these people are and the trajectory of where they're headed. Look at verse six. Let's start looking at this. By the way, this is a taut song. This is a tough song This is every sports team if you ever go to a football game don't you? Don't you love taunting the other team? Don't you love just sort of singing defeat over them? That's that's what this is. This is a divine threat. These, these five was there are five words in this song five verses of this taunt song. And this is the song that Israel will sing over the fallen Babylonians. This is the song that God's people will pick up and sing when Babylon falls they will essentially dance on babylons grave and this will be the song that they sing. Let's look at it five verses. We're just gonna run through these really fast and these are the things that God will judge number one is abuse. Number one is abuse. Look at verse Six whoa to him who heaps up what is not his own for how long and loads himself with pledges. Alright there's there's a row right the row here is a divine threat it's a prophetic word you're not going to get away with with this. You're headed towards judgment This is a whoa upon the nation of Babylon you're headed towards judgment. And what he's saying in verse six is Babylon is like an abusive schoolyard bully. But there's another bully coming. There's another nation coming and they are going you Babylon is taking advantage of of nations or this other nation is coming to destroy Babylon. Look at verse seven. It says in verse seven, will not your debtors suddenly arise and those awake who will make you tremble, then you will be spoil for them. This is kind of a play on words in verse seven. Whenever you put someone in Your debt. In ancient days it was called putting the bite on someone. What this is saying is that Babylon you have put the bite on someone you've created a world of, of debtors to you have slaves to you. Well, those debtors are going to rise up and they're actually going to bite you. You put the bite on them, they are going to bite you back. That's what this is saying. This is a divine reversal reversal, where the bigger bully is coming and you're about to get the same treatment that you dished out. You are abusive. Now, get ready. You're about to be abused. Look at verse eight. Why? Why did why is this going to happen? Because you've plundered many nations. You've done this. You're guilty. And I think this is a great word to the people of God. Let's Not Fall in to the sins of our culture. Let's not be this way. I had a boss like this. When I first started working at a hardware store and and he was an immoral guy, wicked guy. He would yell As employees, he would, he would, he would be abusive towards his wife, mistreating his wife. And he sort of got his away he got his wife sort of pushing people around. And, and to me, it was really obvious that no one wanted to work for him. And eventually his business went under the entire operation went under. And I'm thinking to myself, yeah, that makes a lot of sense, actually. He was abusive in his relationships. And there's a divine reversal. And this is a warning to all of us. If you and I are abusive in any way, there is a return for that abuse. There is sowing and reaping. If you sow abuse, you will receive the consequences. That's the first Whoa. God is going to repay those who exploit the vulnerable, who abused the vulnerable. Let me just say something to you and this may come as a timely word from your pastor. One article, I read this wieck shared how in this time of COVID-19, the amount of pornography consumption has gone through the roof, it has skyrocketed. Unbelievable. People without things to do people that are are not used. They're usually at a job now they're stuck at home. And the amount of pornography consumption in America has skyrocketed. Let me just say this to you. If you're engaged in that, there are consequences coming. Let me just say, two simple words that maybe would just be burned in your mind. God sees. That's that's exactly what he's telling Habakkuk Habakkuk I see what this evil nation of Babylon is doing, exploiting people. And you might be saying right now, you know what, this is a victimless crime. Right? Nobody knows I'm doing this in private. I'm not hurting anybody. But let me just say this to you. With every click with every single Search with every time that you get on your phone, your device, and you log in, and you watch that stuff you are creating need for young ladies, for young women to be abused. And you need to repent. The numbers of people doing this even in the church are astronomical. This is something that God despises. And he issues a divine Whoa. And as you watch those things you are you've realized that you are actually creating a supply need for abused people. God is saying today, repent, turn from that. It will bring destruction God sees you need to repent. And that includes all sorts of abusive if you are abusive in your family if you are abusive as a boss, if you are abusive in a relationship, God sees how you act sploit the vulnerable, and God will repay number two, we're going to run through these number two. The second row is greed. And you might write these down under point one abuse and then greed. The second one is greed. In verse nine, it says whoa to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high to be safe from the reach of harm. Now there's a couple of elements here that I want you to see. The first one is there's a cup. The image is a house being built on a tie cliff, the image of building this house through through gain and through through greed is a dual purpose. The first purpose is for an easy life. We see gain here we see that there on high, it's an easy life. We love the lavish joys of life. The second need of a person pursuing greed is is really safety. That's what I on high is like the image is like a bird going to the highest tree Finding safety, right? You're safe from the reach of harm. Both elements were on display in the city of Babylon back. I believe that the image here is Babylon. And it's sort of like a house that's being built. And I have a few pictures that I want to put up. Some of the ruins are still in Babylon. They had incredible engravings along the walls. Let's go to the next picture. This is what it looks like today. The city of Babylon walls are still in place. That's just how massive how powerful this nation was. Here's an artist's rendering of what the city looked like. Back in the day. The walls were 300 feet tall. The walls were absolutely stunning. They were massive. In fact, it was said that along these walls, six chariots could race one another at the same time. And then, throughout the city, there were these massive guard towers, it was an incredible feat of safety 250 guard towers. There were these these eight massive gates in the city. And so if you wanted protection, this was an incredible place you could go for protection. However, look at verse 11. What's the result though? These greedy people who are building the city who are trusting in the city to keep them safe, the stone will cry out from the wall and the beam from the woodwork will respond. there's coming a day when there will be a disastrous downfall for the city. This beautiful house isn't as strong as you think it is. One day the beams are going to burst out of it. There's going to be destruction on a level you can't comprehend. Because safety is not gathering more and more resources for yourself. Safety is putting your weight on the Lord. It's waiting on the Lord. We learned that last week. That's what God's God's people need to do. Yeah, when we first started this series, we we Started with proverbs 18 verse 11, in this very simple thought, a rich man's wealth is his strong city, and like high walls, in his imagination, and this is, this is the thought for us today. If you are trusting and just gathering in more and more money and you want to bring in more money and more resources and more stuff, and you think that's going to bring comfort and safety, you are only going to see that happen in your imagination. Only in your imagination will that bring safety to your life. Only in your imagination will that bring will that bring peace and prosperity in your life? greed will betray you. It's not a safe place to hide. I love this story. There's a story about a father and a son. And they went to go see grandma who was in a nursing home and they went to go visit grandma. They sat next to grandma and grandma had this dish of peanuts right here. On the table, and the little boy was very excited about that he just started greedily sort of gobbling them up and, and he'll just eat peanut after peanut and before he knew it, he ate the entire dish of peanuts and, and the father was just talking with grandma and didn't notice what his son was doing. And he noticed when his son had done, he had eaten all of grandma's peanuts, and he felt the need to apologize to Grandma. Grandma, I'm so sorry. My son has eaten all your peanuts, and I didn't even notice it was happening. I should have stopped him. I'm so sorry. And grandma said, Oh, that's no problem at all. You know, I actually I actually just like the chocolate on the m&ms. So I just suck the chocolate off the m&m and put the peanut in the dish itself and so he can have all the peanuts he wants. And I bet that kid's eyes got really big at that moment when he realized that those were just the peanuts left from the m&ms. But I think it illustrates the point that that greed always brings pain, greed, always brings a divine reversal and we need to avoid this. We need to repent of this. A third Whoa, God will judge violence. We see that in verse 12. And verse 12, whoa to him who builds a town with blood and found the city on iniquity, remember that word violence, it appears over and over throughout this book. It's that word Hamas. And Hamas is, is the the name of that terror organization in the Middle East. And remember, their motto is we love death as much as Jews love life. That's the motto of Hamas. These people are people who have founded cities with blood and iniquity. And what happens is the Lord is going to return that on him. On the city behold, it is not from the Lord of hosts that the people labor merely for fire and the nation's weary themselves for nothing. God is going to return justice to those who act in Violence and that's a great thought for us to, to just have some self examination. Are you and I living in violence? That's an interesting thought. is America a violent nation? You know, I think that all of us would probably say yes. I mean, we look around we watch the evening news and their school shootings. And we saw this video this last week of this young man in Georgia that was that was shot while he was out running. There is daily violence happening in America in our time. You know, I think about just the violence on the unborn, the violence on on those who have been aborted just this past year. You know, I saw this meme that went up on Facebook just the other day, I thought it was perfect just to illustrate the days we're living in. It says it's insane that we live in a society where people can walk into a planned parenthood to receive an abortion, but one needs to meet in a dark alley. To receive a haircut. That's the day we're living in. We're, we are a confused nation. We are a violent nation, and we need to repent. We need to turn from that. And I think this verse is an encouragement to us. Because every time that you and I get frustrated, living in a nation like this, it's almost like God is saying, I see this, I will fix this. In fact, verse 14, gives us an amazing promise for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In the same way, I love this. I love this prayer. Lord, as the waters cover the sea, the depths of the ocean, we know that your glory will cover the whole earth one day, and though it looks like Babylon, it just does just keep taking cities, and they just keep taking captives and they keep relocating captives that never ends. Actually, God is saying all of that's going to washed away by the glory of the Lord. Let's keep going. I know I'm running out of time. Number four, God will judge immorality. immorality won't have him who makes his neighbor's drink, you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order that you may gaze at their nakedness. The Babylonians were known for their drinking parties they were known for, for getting drunk and getting others drunk. And the problem with drunkenness is that it progresses into other sins. In fact, verse 15, one of my professors at Dallas Seminary called this sort of the spring break verse of the Bible. drunkenness, bad decisions, exploitation. Notice that the drunkenness getting people drunk these drinking parties are in order to gaze at their nakedness. People start doing some very bad things. This is right at our but look at the reversal in verse 16. You will have your feel of shame instead of glory. Drink yourself, show your uncircumcision the cop in the Lord's right hand will come around to you and utter shame will come upon your glory. A day is coming, shame is coming, and it will be humiliating. You will experience the divine reversal the justice of God. Last one idolatry, idolatry in verse 18. What prophet is an idol? I mean, let's just think about this. This is a nation by the way that loved idolatry. They worshiped a God called Mar Duke. Not to be confused with Marmaduke. But Martha they worship Marduk and, and this giant statue was laden with gold, it had so much gold on it. And the point here is that that what can a statue do? Look at verse 19. Can this teach behold, it's overlaid with gold and silver and there's no breath at all in it. In fact, do this open to Isaiah 46 I want you to see this Open Isaiah 46 God shows the absurdity of worshipping idols. He tells Israel he says bale bows down niebo Stoops, their idols are on beasts and livestock these things carry you are born as burdens on weary beasts. They stoop they bow down together. They cannot save the burden but themselves go into captivity. What he's saying is you create these idols, and then you have to care for them and they are a burden you have to carry them around. But then he says in verse three, listen, oh house of Jacob, all the remnants of the house of Israel who have borne by me from before your birth carried you from the womb, even to your old age, I am he and two gray hairs I will carry you look at the difference with idols. You have to carry them you have to support them. They don't help you. They don't give you advice, but God says As I will carry you through this life, I will care for you. Friends, this is the word of God to Babylon. When you serve the idol of money when you serve the idols of this life, when you serve the idols of entertainment, God will bring about a divine reversal. You need to run from that. There's no future in that. In fact, we see that all that came to pass in, in Daniel chapter five, we see the story of King Baptists are throwing his party and all five of these elements of Whoa, were happening. And they have this depraved party and people sinning. And in fact, the king, he calls for the elements of the Jewish temple to be brought to him the cop and and they were going to toast their their idols, they're going to toast their their foreign gods and when they do this, this is one of my favorite parts of the whole Bible. This remember this the hand appears out in thin air and starts writing on the wall and they don't know what it means and and they have to call down Daniel in and Daniel comes in to interpret it. And Daniel reads it. He says, Oh, yeah, that means that you've been judged that, that you are about to have a great fall that it's over the party is done. And that's exactly what happens that very night The king is killed, the Babylonian Empire Falls to the Persians. And so this is a great word to God's people. Does the fairness of the unfairness of life keep you up? Maybe in politics, maybe in business, maybe in your own family? Here's God's word. They are not advancing. They are falling. They're falling into their own judgment. And that ought to challenge us. We ought to pity them. This is the closest to heaven they will ever get. But this is also the closest to hell that believers will ever get. Yeah, life is hard. But let's not envy them. Let's not imitate them. Let's fully reject that. path because their trajectory is destruction. So that's our first point that we need to see the wicked headed for justice. But second point, we need to not take justice for ourselves. Don't take justice for yourself. Friends, when you find your rest in God, it doesn't mean that you have to get your pound of flesh from other people. We all have this temptation to sort of just be like that moment in Braveheart, you know, just crying out freedom and just get our revenge. But what this passage shows us is that's not how the Christian lives we put our weight on the Lord. And again, he reminds us over and over in this section of Scripture, that he's got this, that he is the one who will bring justice. We see that in verse 14. Very interesting passage again, again, this is one of my favorite verses for the earth will be Filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. I love that last line as the waters cover the sea. The ocean needs nothing. By machinery to make waves that it makes its own waves. It does its own thing. It doesn't need man's power to operate. God's justice is powerful and unstoppable. It is like a wave of the sea that comes against man's sandcastle. Right? Have you ever done that? You ever gone to the beach and you and your kids, you build a sandcastle right on the shore, and a wave comes in towards the evening tide, and it just wipes out the sandcastle. That's the image. God's justice is like the ocean waves that come against the works of man and will bring them crashing down. Right down Romans 12 verse 19. Romans 1219 says, beloved, never avenge yourself. But leave it to the wrath of God for it is written, Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. You don't have to seek justice. You don't have to seek revenge. God is a good father who takes care of his children. You know, if someone comes after my children, I will stop them. I will protect my children, I will get justice. I sort of think of this like that, that movie take and you remember that movie taken? Where the little the the girl is taken across overseas and the dad gets on an airplane and he chases down the bad guys and he gives them justice. That's sort of the idea of what's happening in this passage. In Romans 12. God says Vengeance is mine. They'll not get away with it. So don't be tempted to get even. You have a father who has said he will make things right. Don't be tempted to go after someone and hurt them. That's not your job. I'll never forget being on staff at a church in Anaheim. And there was this guy on staff who, who was told no by one of his bosses. And I can't remember what it was whether it was teaching a class or leading a ministry or whatever. He was given the note from the senior pastor. And this guy was so frustrated by being told no, that he ended up taking justice into his own hands. He wrote a letter out to the entire church and mailed it out to the church. The people the church saw right through it, they saw that ungodly heart, they saw that that's not what a man of God does. They saw him being proud they saw him being an submissive and his life descended into judgment. That's where it heads if you seek your own justice, God says I will take care of justice. I'm a good father. Notice why we don't have to go that route. Look at verse 20. But the Lord In his holy temple, let all the earth keeps silence before him. Throughout this book, there's this interplay. There's this play on words God you don't see in chapter one. And then God comes and says, No, you don't see, right. There's this. There's this interplay of seeing and really seeing, looking and looking deeper. God says, You don't see how wicked are we say, God, you don't see how wicked they are. And then God says, No, no, you don't see how wicked they are. I see everything. I'm in the holy temple. And God is showing that he has all the power, and even these wicked people, they're just on a leash. Babylon is not out of control, like a free agent. God is in his holy temple. He is in complete control. God is that's a great thought for God's people. God is in control of all things. Martin Luther said it well. Even the devil is God's devil. God is sovereign. Now, if someone breaks the law, I'm not saying that you don't seek justice. What I am saying is that we don't have to be God's justice. When someone hurts you be humble enough to realize that you may be wrong. You may not have all the facts, don't immediately transform into Rambo and go get your justice. You don't have to do that. God is a big God. So let's leave justice with God and let him accomplish His justice. If you want to rest, you have to see the trajectory of the wicked that they're headed towards justice. You don't take justice for yourself. And lastly, remember God's plan to preserve us. God has a plan to preserve us. We need to remember that, that all of us, every single one of us deserves the justice of God. Friends, listen, You're no better than your worst enemy. And if you and I got God's just Today, we would both be in hell. Now I know that message isn't preached much today the message of of hell and God's justice. But I want to say this, there is a hell. It's a real place. It is a real destination for many people like these paladins. God is the judge. That's his job. My job is to tell you the message to preach the message to proclaim the message, your job is to respond to that message. And God will judge me if I don't give you this truth. So So here's what you need to hear today. None of us deserve God's grace and God's mercy. None of us are better than anyone else. We all have this problem of sin that separates us from a holy God. And the book of Habakkuk starts with Habakkuk saying, God, these people are really bad. And God says, I know they're bad. I'm going to judge them and I'm gonna send worst people to judge them. And Habakkuk says you're gonna send worst people we're not as bad as those Guys, we're all bad. Listen to me, every one of us has sinned. Every one of us has broken God's law. All of us deserve God's judgment. And I think what we do sometimes is we play this, this horizontal comparison game. Well, I'm not as bad as that person. And then that person says, Well, I'm not as bad as as that adulterer. And then the adulterer says, Well, I'm not as bad as the murderer. And then the murderer says, I'm not as bad as Hitler, always into Hitler. There's always this horizontal comparison game. That's not how it works. We're all guilty. But God has provided a way for the guilty to be preserved. Habakkuk two, four, remember that verse. The righteous shall live by his faith. This is how the guilty are made right with God. This is how they're preserved through judgment and it's by faith. And by the way, if you're if you You're new to church or if you just stumbled onto this stream and you're watching today, this is the story of the Bible. This is what the Bible is all about. It's about the just living by faith. See in Romans Four, three, and you might even write that down. In Romans Four, three, it has this verse, it says, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. That's how to just live by faith. Abraham wasn't righteous. Abraham wasn't right with God. He believed God, and his faith connected him to Jesus Christ's righteousness, God's perfect son. That's why Peter calls Jesus the Righteous One who was given for the unrighteous to bring us to God. God's plan was to send His Son to offer him up for us all for whoever would believe in his name. That person by faith would be preserved. Therefore, because God had mercy on us to preserve us and provide this plan. Whoever would trust and God the Son Jesus Christ would be spared from his wrath. Let's remember that this week. We can rest hard because God has a plan to preserve us no matter what comes, no matter the financial insecurity, no matter a downturn in the economy, no matter a wicked boss, no matter unjust circumstances. We in Christ are safe. You have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ are safe. You're safe no matter what comes. God has given his plan to preserve his people. Are you resting? I had a dear friend, his name's Ed. And growing up, he was never at rest. It's such a sad story. His family was so religious, and they were always trying to work their way to be right with God. A sister was a nun. His his mom was was in the church and she sort of tried to earn her righteousness by by making the non uniforms and her whole family was trying to work to be right with God. Well, Ed was a 10 year old and, and his best friend who he played baseball with was just went through tonsil surgery just had his tonsils taken out. And so ad went to his friend's house, he sort of snuck into the house. he snuck into his friend's bedroom who had just had surgery. And something tragic happened. He convinced his little buddy to get up out of bed and to go play baseball. Really bad decision. They snuck out past mom pass brother into the backyard and they started throwing the ball. And once that happened, his little buddy the stitches sort of broke loose in the back of his throat. And he started to bleed. His mom ran outside seeing what had happened. And in that backyard, that little boy died. stitches fell open, the wound was exposed and the little boy died. And that's a true story. And was dramatically affected by this. For the next three or four years, he would go to school, but he didn't have many friends. He was depressed. You see, being very religious. He knew that he had done something. He was living in this the standard of good and bad and he he knew he had done something absolutely terrible, something that would send him to hell. He had been part to killing his little buddy, his friend, is an accident, but it was on his conscience. As he's walking around at school years and years of just pain and disappointment. He eventually came in contact to someone with someone that shared the gospel with him. The true gospel, not of works but of grace. And, and the man said, Ed, I just want to ask you You know, if you were to die today, where would you spend eternity? And Ed said, Well, I already know that I would go to hell. And he told him the story of, of how at age 10 his little buddy had died in the backyard. And the evangelist was heartbroken that ad had been living with that grief and he said, you know, Ed, you are going to go to hell. But it's not because of that. It's because of your sin. It's because you need righteousness, you need the righteousness of God. You need to repent of your sin. And the moment that you turn from your sin and you turn towards God to be your Savior, to Jesus Christ to be your savior, he'll wash away all your sin. And at that moment, Ed's burden Ed's grief, that guilt that he had born for years, was finally relieved and add believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. And God took away the wrath that was on ad and put it on the sun Jesus Christ and Jesus His righteousness went to add an add became a believer. I want to ask you today have you found that rest? For some of you, the sermon highlights the fact that you're still in bondage to sin, that you're still under the wrath of God. You're not just lukewarm. You're lost and loving it. You are on the very path of the wrath of God that we read about today. You're living in drunken, abusive pornography, and idolatry. And God is speaking to you today saying it's time to repent. It's time to turn from that before it's too late. It's time to turn in faith to Jesus Christ, and have the justice of God satisfied by the cross of Jesus Christ. And I want to say to you if you do that you finally have rest. Second, I think this passage reminds us not to take justice for ourselves. God is the judge. We don't have to stress out trying to fulfill the justice of God. We don't have to pursue those things. Has somebody damaged you? Has somebody done wrong to you, I want to encourage you just let it go and let the Lord deal with that person. He's more than capable. He sits in the heavens, he sees everything. You see this much, he sees everything. So rest. And third, I think this passage calls us to holiness. Let's remember today that we serve a God who sees everything. Let's not pause, follow the path of the wicked. And if you're here today, and you need to repent of some sin before the Lord, this is your moment to do that. Corrie 10 boom, said it so well. If you look at the world, you'll be distressed. If you look within you'll be depressed. But if you look at God, you'll be at rest. Friends, let's rest in him today. Let's rest hard Even when we don't understand, I'm gonna pray for us then we're going to worship. Father, we thank you for this passage and what it means to the believer. It means that we can sleep and rest because we know in terrible difficult times, our God is working. Even when we don't understand our days and we have to wrestle like Habakkuk is wrestling. Father, we can rest in you we can find our fulfillment new. Lord, I pray that God's peace would flood God's people. I pray that our eyes would be open that we serve a God who is in the know, a God who sees past present and future at the same time. Father, that there is not one molecule that's out of place, that you are sovereign, that you are holy, and that you're good and and that your people can trust you. Father, we love you. We thank you for this word. We pray that you'd be glorified in and through this message as it goes out to your people. We pray that Things in Jesus name, amen. Let's stand together and let's worship as we conclude