Word of Salvation – Vol. 39 No.45 – December 1994

 

Living By Faith

 

Sermon by: Rev. B. Gillard

Scripture Reading: Habakkuk 1:12 – 2:20

Text: Habakkuk 2:4b

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

I wonder if you have ever heard someone giving a word of personal testimony about how they became a Christian.  I am sure it went something like this.  Before they became a Christian life was very difficult or unspectacular, but when they became a Christian, God blessed them in the most spectacular way and they became very wealthy and successful.

There is a group of Christians who organise special meetings where you go along to have a meal and listen to a successful Christian businessman give his testimony.  Invariably, it is the same message each time.  The man became a Christian, or in a special way put God first in his life and then became very wealthy and successful.  The message is clear enough: it pays to be a Christian.

Well, congregation, I have no doubt that it pays to be a Christian and that the Lord blesses His people and honours those who honour Him.  But is this an accurate picture of what being a Christian is like in this present world?  Does becoming a Christian mean that one has a fairy-tale-ending kind of a life and thus lives happily forever after?

I think there is much in the Bible to indicate to us that this just is not the way things are at all.  As a matter of fact, being a Christian can mean that one may have far more trouble and more difficulties than before.  We see this in the life of the prophet Habakkuk.  What a hard time he had with his faith and with his God.  We read about that in chapter 1.

What was the problem?  Well, he could not understand where God was and why He did not do something about what was happening in the world.  The lie seemed to be more powerful than the truth.  Injustice was more powerful than justice.  There were more unbelievers than believers and God’s cause in this world seemed to be getting nowhere.

Habakkuk had been praying and praying about things for ages.  He prayed for revival; he prayed for God to do something about evil in the midst of His people.  But God did not seem to do anything.

But then God spoke to him and told him what He was going to do.  And that alarmed Habakkuk even more.  God was going to raise up the ruthless Babylonians and use them as an instrument of his judgement.  When Habakkuk heard that, he was even more confused than before.  How could God use those who were more evil, to punish those who were less evil?

So he poured out his heart before God and asked for an explanation.  And God in His goodness gave him an explanation.  God gave Habakkuk a message, which was so important that it needed to be written down so that a herald might run with it.

What was the message?  What did God say to Habakkuk long ago and what is He saying to us now?  I believe the message is this: Have faith in Me!  Believe in Me!

That is what God wants us to do.  He wants us to believe in Him and trust in Him.  And He wants us to do that, not only when things go well, but also in times when things seem beyond our understanding and when we experience difficulty and hardship.

That was God’s message to Habakkuk and to us today.  Why is this?  Why does God ask us to trust him and have faith in Him always and in every circumstance?  There are several reasons for this and I would like to remind you of them today.

1.  The first one is simply this: God has everything in hand and He has everything under control.

I wonder if you sometimes think that everything in life seems to have completely gone mad and out of control.  Don’t believe it!  That is what Habakkuk thought, but he was wrong.  The Lord was in control then and now.  He knows exactly what He is doing.  You see, Habakkuk did not see the big picture.  That is also the trouble with us.  We don’t have the right perspective either.  But God does.  He knows the beginning from the end.  Everything fits in to His overall plan and purpose.  But God in His goodness has given us a glimpse of the big picture as well.  You see, this is what He is talking about to Habakkuk when He says:

For the revelation waits an appointed time, it speaks of the end and will not prove false.  Though it linger, wait for it, it will certainly come and won’t delay.

What is he talking about here?  Habakkuk is talking about God’s great plan of salvation for His people and the ultimate overthrow of the ungodly man.  The Babylonians will be raised up, but they won’t last long.  If they live an ungodly, violent life, then they will die.  The day will come when the knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.  The Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth be silent before Him.

You see the Lord our God is in control.  He will accomplish the salvation of His people.  He is going to make all things new.  He will create new heavens and a new earth.  And in the light of that renewal our sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to those who love Him.  ‘Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and not delay.’  The ungodly man will not have the final say, nor will error prevail over the truth of God.  God’s salvation and purposes will come to pass.  That’s why the Lord our God wants us to have faith in Him and trust in Him, no matter how impossible such things must seem of fulfilment today.  No matter what struggles and difficulties we may be having in life, we may be sure that our God reigns for ever and ever.

2.  But let me give you the second reason why God asks us to trust in Him, and it is the most important reason of all.  It is mentioned here in the fourth verse, ‘the righteous will live by his faith.’

You see it is faith in God that saves us.  There is a contrast being made here between the ungodly man on the one hand and the man who is right with God on the other hand.  What is it that distinguishes one from the other?  The answer is – faith.  The ungodly man is the man who believes in himself, the man who thinks that he is sufficient in himself.  It is the man who lives by his own wits, or his own cunning, or his own strength to exploit others, like the ancient Babylonians.  The man who is right with God, on the other hand, and the only man who is right with God, is the man who does not believe in himself, or trust in himself or have confidence in himself, but instead puts all his confidence in God.  The righteous will live by his faith.

When the apostle Paul wanted to explain to both Jew and Gentile God’s way of saving sinners, he pointed them back to God’s message to Habakkuk.  The righteous will live by faith.  Habakkuk had to have his faith in God restored and believe that God was just in all His ways.  He had to be sure that evil would not triumph, that God’s purpose of salvation would be worked out.  God reassured Habakkuk that it would.  But I think you and I are in a far more privileged place today then he was.  We can see exactly how God is bringing all this to pass and how just and perfect God is in all His ways.  For God has demonstrated His justice in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the one who came into this world and the iniquities of us all were laid upon Him, so that God might be just and the justifier of everyone who has faith in the Lord Jesus and God’s way of making us right with Him.

And now God says to us all: have faith in me, trust in what I have done for you and you will be saved.  Even though your sins may be great, and even though you may feel yourself unworthy, nevertheless have faith in me.  Believe me when I say that I will put your sins behind my back and remember them no more!

We must have faith in God and His great plan for our salvation, for without such faith we cannot be saved.  For the righteous man will live by his faith.

The Protestant Reformers rediscovered that great truth.  And it brought salvation and life to millions and transformed whole nations.  Today, it needs to be rediscovered again.  Man in this twentieth century thinks that he is his own saviour and he trusts in himself.  Through his great abilities and scientific achievements he thinks there is no limit to what he can do.  He is puffed up, his desires are not right within him.  He is just like the ancient Babylonians.

But the man who lives by faith in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will be saved.  Such a person has faith in the redeeming work of Christ on the cross.  He believes that God has all things in control.  He is convinced that Jesus Christ will come again upon the clouds of heaven to make all things new.  And he believes that God’s great plan of redemption will come to final fulfilment in a new heaven and a new earth.  He is willing to stake his whole life on that hope.  That’s the man who will be saved in the last day!  That’s the man who will live and not die.  The righteous will live by his faith.

What about you?  Have you got that kind of faith?  Do you believe in God and trust in Him with all your heart?  Are you clinging to God and to His word and promise?  That’s what faith is and everyone who has faith in God’s mighty plan to save us in Christ Jesus will be saved.

3.  Let me briefly mention the third reason why this kind of faith is so important.  The reason is that when you have this kind of faith, then you will have peace and you will be more than conquerors through Him who loved you, no matter what the circumstances might be.  To see that you only have to turn to the third chapter of this book of Habakkuk, where the prophet with faith restored says,

‘Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet will I rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.’ (vs.17)

What was it that enabled the prophet to say that?  The answer is: faith.  Faith and confidence in his God.  Faith that He was the one who has all things in control.  Habakkuk believed that God’s perfect plan of salvation would come to pass and all who trust in Him have eternal security.  The sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; He enables me to go on the heights.

The apostle Paul said the same thing in his great epistle to the Romans, chapter 8, when he summed up after explaining God’s great way of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, and he asked:

‘Who can separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword?  In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us.’

Faith in a great God who has all things in hand, and who saves us completely in His Son – that’s the message of the Bible.  It was God’s message to His ancient people through the prophet Habakkuk.  It was preached by Paul and rediscovered by the Protestant Reformers and it brought life and power to the world and to the church.  It is the message we all need to hear and take to heart again today.

Amen.