Let's take our Bibles. We're going to go to the book of Habakkuk in chapter 3. This will be the end of our study. Our four-part study that has been seven weeks in the making, there's been a lot going on. I feel like I've been treading water since Monday when we got back. And it's just been one of those things. Remy got sick. So we've been dealing with that. We had company in town, which was great. That was very refreshing. But I'm very tired. I'm ready to rest. And tomorrow's off day can't come soon enough. But I'm excited about this study because we're going to see, really, in a way of comparison, chapter 1 and chapter 3. We haven't done this study in so long. It has been a week since we had talked about it, and I want to thank Mr. Louie Hernandez for stepping in place of the pulpit and teaching. He did an excellent job, as did Gary Stephan. I greatly appreciate that, and I value the fact that we have strong men that can stand in the pulpit and teach the Word of God. Amen. A lot of churches don't have that to begin with. So I count myself a very blessed man to be able to lean on those people around me. But the comparison we're going to look at tonight is a lot of what Habakkuk said in chapter one, and how he reflects in this song. By the way, a lot of people think that song is the last word in verse one. Shiganoath, Shiganoath, can you imagine? Turn on the radio and that's on the top 10. you know, now we're going to turn to Shigonoloph. That would be interesting. But you know in today's day and age that might not be surprising at all. But he goes from questioning God and asking about really if God's law is working, if God's judgment is slow to the point of it will never come to actually taking a look at the terror that was on the way from the Babylonians and deciding regardless of what's going to happen, I need to wait because God is my strength. I think this is really relevant for our times because as we continue to look at the world around us, I mean even our communities, things are trending in an ungodly direction. Many of you have had conversations with people in your workplace, with neighbors, with even family members, where the trend seems to go towards what do I want to do instead of what does God say we should do. And that should not be a surprise to us. And as we look at the sure promise of God that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, we have to realize that as we get close to the end, it is going to get to the point where judgment will happen, and it will happen swiftly. we will be delivered from the most severe period of judgment, which is the tribulation period through the rapture. And I encourage you to be here on Sunday mornings as we're going through the remaining prophetic timeline in scripture. But as far as tragedies and calamities and loss of life and extremely pressing and trying circumstances, we should not be afraid of those things coming, but we need to wait on the Lord. I said something in my message this morning about voting and I got an email from a friend of mine and he asked me for clarification on it. And I said very clearly, I go out and vote because I believe that's my responsibility as a citizen to do that. And I believe there are people who have lost their lives to preserve the opportunity for me to do that. So I take that seriously. But when I cast my vote, I'm doing my responsibility to this country. But I'm not trusting that vote is going to change this country. And I'll tell you why. Because this country is already on a direction against God. And I think it's foolish, I'm not gonna say the person who does it is a fool, but it's kind of foolish to think that we're gonna change our community through policy reform. Folks, people need Jesus Christ. And the way that they see Jesus Christ is they see you. They see the way that you carry your life. They see the way that you talk and the way that you raise your children. If you have the opportunity to raise children, you have what I think is the most important responsibility in the world, is in the home. How do we raise our kids in the home? And if we think simply going and campaigning every four years is enough to get this country on a track to honor God, you got another thing coming. I've said many times before, I'm usually a one-party, excuse me, one-issue voter, and it was about abortion. But as I started to read where this country is, it's no longer a discussion whether it's right or not. It's just a matter of when can it happen. And I've realized that's a battle that I'm not going to win, but I'm gonna stand for what I believe is right, what God says is right, and I'm gonna make sure I teach my family and live that way. But when I vote, I go out there to do my responsibility. But I know if this nation continues on the way that it's going, judgment is going to happen. We talked about, two weeks ago, the destruction of Babylon in Revelation. And we looked at that as we're talking about physical Babylon here in Habakkuk, and then that woman that rides the beast in Revelation that's described to have fornication with the world and all these different things. How the entire world mourned the sudden loss in the space of an hour. That entire city and all of its influence was gone. I don't know what nation that is. I'm not going to stand up here and tell you that I know. But whatever nation it is, before that destruction they were profitable, they had value, and then they were gone. We need to be really careful in thinking that we are going to better our communities without first pointing them to Jesus Christ. That's what people need. And anything outside of that, I'm not saying it's bad, but if it's replacing the teaching of Jesus Christ and the effort to win souls, it's not gonna last. It won't. I mean, there was a time in our country where the Bible, Christian principles were commonly accepted. were things that were accepted without any discussion, but now it's almost an offense. Well, it isn't, it's not almost an offense. It is an offense, but everything else is acceptable. This is how things go. We should not be surprised by this, but we should be actively involved in our communities as an ambassador for Jesus Christ. Having said that, Habakkuk is now going to write a song here that reflects the fact that he knows this terror is coming, but he's going to trust in the Lord. Before we look much further, I want to look in chapter 3 in verse 2. This is page 957 in a Church Loan Bible or a Schofield Bible. Verse one talks about it being a prayer of Habakkuk, and this is written traditionally in a hemnic way. So this is as a, you could almost imagine this is a psalm. Some people wanted to include this as a psalm, but it was clearly something that Habakkuk had on his mind after God gave him the response in chapter two. He says this in verse two, O Lord, I have heard thy speech and was afraid. I just want to pause for a moment and go to chapter 1. I want you to see the change that has occurred. With information received, Habakkuk has now processed that information and come to a different conclusion about God, His judgment, and His timing. Look at chapter 1 and verse 1. The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see, O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save." Why dost thou show me iniquity in Israel, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me, and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore, now that's a conclusive word. I want you to pay attention to that. When you see therefore, Habakkuk is drawing a conclusion. This is what I would call a hasty conclusion. Because he sees all the sin around him in Israel. He sees all the contention. He's going to talk about the Chaldeans that are rising up and supposedly because they have power, Habakkuk is equaling that power to favor from God. But he draws this conclusion. The law is slack, meaning it's slow. It does not do what it is supposed to do. And judgment doth, look at these statements here, doth never go forth. For the wicked doth compass about the righteous, therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. So that's chapter one. That's Habakkuk's first response, first critique. He says, just as a reminder, I cry, you don't hear. I cry of violence with the intent of deliverance, you don't deliver. I see all this wickedness around me. Therefore, your judgment, God, is slow. It'll never come to pass. These are the statements of one who is questioning God's motives. God gives him a response in verses 5 through 11, and we covered that in the first message. Look at verse 12. We shall not die. O Lord, Thou hast ordained them for judgment, and, O mighty God, Thou hast established them for correction." So he realizes the purpose of the Chaldeans rising up. It's because of the iniquity and disobedience that is found in Israel. But then he levies another critique against the Lord. He says, thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Wherefore, if these things are true, wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he. And make us men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things that have no ruler of them." Meaning this is how the Chaldeans were sweeping through and taking other nations. As a fisherman throws his net into the water, the fish don't know what's happening, they just get caught up. So the Chaldeans are taking nations. He levies this critique against the Lord. He says, if you can't look at evil, then why is this being allowed to happen? Now you go to chapter three. Now you see verse two, and you have a man who, to me, sounds like Job. Job has all these friends telling him what's going on, what's wrong, how to fix it, as if God was some type of genie that just needed to be asked the right way, the lamp needed to be rubbed in the right place the right amount of times. God has a plan that he's working. We don't understand all the details, we just need to trust that his promises are true. And he says this now. He gets all that information in chapter 2 about how they're silly and dumb idols. Dumb meaning they cannot speak that rule the Chaldeans. The Lord is in his holy temple. Look at verse 20 of chapter two just as a way of reminder. But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him. All of these carvings and idols, creations of man, they have no power. They have the appearance of speech, yet they cannot speak. They have lips, but they don't speak. Eyes that don't see, ears that do not hear, noses that do not smell, yet the blood of men is required of them. Look at the prophets of Baal. parading around, dancing and dancing and dancing for hours, cutting themselves, physically injuring themselves to somehow show that their God was the right God. And at the end of it, what did Elijah do? He called on the Lord God and that fire was burned up and all those prophets of Baal were slaughtered. You say, well, that's extreme. It's not extreme. When we call the one true God a liar, you better be ready for what that consequence looks like. And I don't think people realize that, and you know what? Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. Someone is gonna stand before the Lord. I wanna make sure that people stand before the Lord at the judgment seat of Christ, not at the great white throne judgment where the result will be there in hell forever. We see all that critique from Habakkuk. He's asking, I think he's asking honestly. He doesn't understand, but now he gets it. Look at verse two of chapter three. O Lord, I have heard thy speech, which is all of chapter two, and I was afraid. Afraid, probably, as the chapter shows, at how the Chaldeans will be destroyed, and how it is a demonstration of God's destructive power. He is creative, but he also has the ability to destroy. O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known in wrath, remember mercy. O God from Taman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran, Selah. Now you've seen this word Selah, and there's a lot of different people saying different things, but what it really means is pause. That's what it means. Some people say it means amen. Some people think it means a musical break, which would be a rest. But if you think about pause, I think of these three words. Think on that. Think on what was just said. What was just said? The Lord's gonna revive work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known in wrath, remember mercy. Habakkuk is recognizing all of that stuff that I said about God being slow to judgment and judgment's never gonna come to pass because of how Israel prospers in its wickedness, there is coming a day. There is coming a day where they will have the wrath of God applied to them. If you read Lamentations, it's not a light reading at all. It talks about the suckling child, and this is most likely a child who is under a year old and still requiring nursing. The mouth of the child in Israel being so dry that it is stuck to the roof of its mouth, and it dies. The child being the only source, this is so grotesque, but the only source of food for the mother. women bleeding out in the street, men losing their heads. That destruction came on Israel. Jeremiah was called the weeping prophet because as he saw these things and he wrote them down, he knew they were surely coming. You go study that. It's horrible. It is inhumane, the destruction that came against them at the hands of other humans. But they also questioned and doubted God. Not those babies and those women and those men necessarily, but the nation as a whole posited itself against what God said was right. And Habakkuk saw what was coming, and he was afraid. That's why we should not take it lightly when this country does silly things, like opens up Congress to the prayer of some Hindu god. I think that happened in 2021. thinking that was, you know, oh, for diversity. What are we saying when we do that? You think God's going, oh yeah, that's the diversity prayer, no problem. That's the inclusion prayer, we just put that aside. We should not take it lightly when our country takes stands for wicked and immoral lifestyle and behavior. And if you're not careful, you'll be consumed of these things. This is why it's important to recognize the life of Jesus Christ, the person of Jesus Christ. You think he saw all with his wickedness when he was on the earth? Yeah, a lot more than you and I could ever understand, hello, because you know why? You're not perfect, and he was. You're a sinner, he is not a sinner. Look at the patience. Can you imagine knowing that you're going to the cross, a weight that drove the Lord to his knees, Yet hours before, your most faithful, and I put that in air quotes because we know how it went when Jesus went to the cross, your most faithful are bringing their parents to petition about who's gonna be greatest in the kingdom? You would've thought if there's any time for someone to lose their temper, that's the time, right? That's when you just gotta straighten them up. Jesus was patient. He was kind. He spoke with authority. He washed the feet of his disciples, something that was so uncommon that Peter said, I don't want any part of it. That's the job of a servant. You're God. These are the examples. We're not supposed to be consumed with rage that these things are gonna happen. We should have the heart of Habakkuk at the end of this chapter. You'll see that in a moment. Look at verse three. After we've paused, we think on what was just said. His glory covered the heavens. And the earth was full of his praise. Now we're gonna get into some imagery, mainly personification. This is when we give something that is inanimate human qualities. For example, when the sun shines, we might say, the sun smiled. Or when we talk about maybe a avalanche where the earth moves across the mountains and all that, we say like the earth shuddered or trembled. characteristics that are of humans, but it's not to say that these things actually have human qualities, but they can be compared that way and they can be understood. We're gonna see a lot of that here. His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise. He's gonna start now praising God who has just guaranteed these horrible things to come across Israel and the Babylonians. And his brightness was as the light. He had horns coming out of his hand, and there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence, this is literally the burning fire, and burning coals went forth of his feet. This is most likely referring to the creative act of God by his mouth when he spoke things into existence, they merely appeared. We don't understand that power. We cannot wrap our minds around it, yet the Bible says that it happens. So I'm going to trust that what God says is right. Because I know what man says. We know what man says. What does man say? We have to add all these years. We have to add all this terminology. We have to add all this theory to the existence of you and I. I take Psalm 139 seriously. When the Lord said, I am fearfully and wonderfully made, I believe that. You realize the miracle of your body? How we live. Breathing. Go do a rabbit hole Google search on your lungs. And the significance of how your heart works. How blood is carried throughout your body. Perfectly designed. That's God's creative signature. Look at verse 6. Habakkuk is reminding himself of these. He says, he stood and measured the earth. Who's measuring the earth? We can't do that. We kind of can understand circumference and all that, but nobody is standing up and then going like this on the whole earth with their hands. You ever tried to hang something on the wall that needs to be leveled and also in the center? It takes three people. It takes three people to figure that out. God, when he stands up, he can look at the whole of existence and measure it with pinpoint accuracy. All of it, correct. He beheld, He looked, and drove asunder the nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered. The perpetual hills did bow. His ways are everlasting. As everything else decays and goes away, the Lord remains the same. He is God. He's outside our understanding of the second law of thermodynamics. Things get worse as we get further along. They don't get better. I saw the tents of Kushan in affliction. And the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. This is a reference to the nomadic tribes that were on the outer side of Israel who are probably going to get the brunt of that Chaldean Babylonian power and destructive element first. Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? This is most likely a reference to when God split the Red Sea. Did God strike the Red Sea because he was angry with the water? Did the water have any kind of sin that it committed in which God was putting some punishment on it? No, this is actually directly against the idea of Baal worship. This is a great thing to go look up on Britannica. But if you go and check out how Baal, that system worked, which by the way was many gods, you'd be hard pressed to find exactly one that is Baal, but it's a lot of different things. It was a lot of godly powers given to creative elements. like they would call the waters Judge River. And so as the river overflowed and led to the catastrophe of villages around them, they would look at it as a sacrifice to Judge River. When the river overflowed and took over those people but then settled and brought new crop and brought new foliage and growth, they would say, praise be to the Judge River, he has given to us. It's a very Native American way to look at things. That was common in a Native American culture, this idea of sacrificing to creation. Egypt, one of the most powerful gods in their lineage of gods was the sun god, Ra. they worship the sun. And if that's all you have to go off of, you would think the sun is very important. It keeps the waters at bay, it allows things to grow, you then worship towards sacrifices for rain, all that kind of stuff. What he is saying here is that God did not strike the waters out of some vengeance against the water itself. When God moves, it's with a purpose. Continue on here. Was thine anger against the rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation? Can you imagine that picture? What would the chariots of God look like? I'm telling you right now, and I know this is going to sound funny, but if you went out there to Tampa Bay and all of a sudden you saw somebody riding on the waves that is not a jet ski or a boat, you are immediately wondering, who is that man? I saw one time I was driving over the bridge to Clearwater and I didn't know this company existed, but they have these little jet skis or boats that look like cars. Have you guys seen what I'm talking about? And I thought I saw a Corvette on Tampa Bay. And I was like, that's crazy. Wow, things have really gotten insane. Like, the last model of the Corvette I heard was a Stingray. So I thought, they literally, they did it. They did it. You can drive your Corvette into the water. Then I found out what that was. But can you imagine seeing somebody with that kind of creative power? Not a Corvette on the water. but a chariot that is self-moving, that rides with all power and authority. Who's the man that's standing on that? We don't understand that power. We have a bunch of stuff in superhero lore and all that that try to paint us a picture of that, but folks, there is one who can do things we will never understand. The description of Jesus that we read this morning in Revelation chapter 1 is an awesome description. And I don't mean awesome like that's cool dude. I mean we should be in awe of that description. His eyes as a flame of fire. He holds the churches in his hands. His feet of hot brass. This is the intent to brand, to make a mark. A robe of white signifying purity. his hair being of white and flowing, is likely to his age-old wisdom, his never-ending wisdom. Somebody like that knocks on your door, you're like, who are you? You're probably wondering, this is a man of power and authority. Look at the rest of this here. Now this is where it gets a little graphic, gets a little intense about the destructive elements of God. Thy bow was made quite naked according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy words, Selah. Pause on all that that we said from verse five to here. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. The mountains saw thee, and they trembled. Mountains don't tremble, but that's a human characteristic. So what do we call that? That's personification. So as you and I would imagine, someone shaking in fear, so the mountains also quake at the authority of God. And they trembled, the overflowing of the water passed by. This is the idea of a flash flood, most likely. The deep uttereth his voice and lifteth up his hands on high. This is probably talking about the flood where, and by the way, Ken Ham. Answers in Genesis, they do a really good job on telling you how significant and chaotic the flood was. It wasn't just rain coming down, it was also the springs bursting forth. I don't know if y'all remember about two weeks ago, we had a small flood here. And I mean, it was to the extent where Waters Avenue, Waters Avenue, haha, that would have been funny if Waters Avenue had water on it, finally living up to its name. But Hanley Road over here was so high that cars were trying to drive through and they just, whoop, became float little pool toys and floated away. Can you imagine if water then started to come up from the ground and burst through houses and burst through roads and buildings? Their whole foundations are now at risk and compromised and they come down. That's the significance. I think that's the imagery here that is being described. When it says the overflowing of water passed by, the deep uttereth his voice. I think this is the deepness of the earth, those waters that are underneath, and they lift up their hands on high. This is a picture of that water rising and breaking that barrier between the ground. When that happens, it is death. It is not life. You will die in those situations and circumstances. There was a study done about how quickly you and I, an average person, would drown if we were cast overboard in the night. You know the first thing that goes? It's not the shock of the cold water, a lot of people thought that. The brain does not know what is up and down. And most likely, you will swim down thinking you are swimming up, and it's over. 20 seconds, you'll be dead. Can you imagine if we saw chaotic flooding like that? Water bursting out of the ground? Foundations being eroded away? The world has seen that before at the flood. And this is the same God who issued that. He is going to do the same against the Chaldeans. Not with a flood necessarily, but that power of judgment that is within His mouth only, He will bring it to pass. Habakkuk is, he has yet to say his statement yet. He just said, I was afraid, let me talk about God. And he proceeds to go on. Look at this next statement in verse 11. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation. At the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear, meaning on the Lord's command, those things rise and fall. They stood still. Thou didst march through the land in indignation. Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger." We talked about threshing and what that means. It's a Bible word. It's a farming word. We don't thresh today. But if you remember, the threshing floor is a place where the farmer would come and take the wheat and beat it against the ground. as that would happen, the lighter chaff would blow up into the air, it would just, because it's lighter, and the wheat would fall and remain on the floor because it was heavier. You say, well why couldn't he just, you know, sit there and, you know, pick the wheat off? Because wheat and chaff somewhat look similar? Jesus gave a parable about that. That's interesting to go and read. But because the floor has a slight dip in it, as the wind comes through, it picks up the chaff, swirls it up and out. So all that you have left is the wheat. Great illustration. The anger of the Lord is described as one who threshes. God is gonna take that nation of which was the most powerful of its time, and he's gonna slam it against the threshing floor of his judgment. He has the power to do that. We don't understand that power here on the earth today. What's the most destructive power that we have today? I would probably say the nuclear bomb, right? We saw the effects of that. God's power is greater. It's described of Jesus when he returns as having a sword that proceedeth out of his mouth. And literally, as people hear this word that is sharp, they combust, they're done, and the blood will be as high as the horse's bridle. We don't understand that power, yet it's in the possession of God. Verse 13, thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people. What was the purpose of this indignation, this anger in which the heathen will be destroyed? for the salvation of thy people. Speaking of Israel, even for salvation with thine anointed, thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation upon the neck. Think on that. What does that mean? The head is removed. That's how quickly it will be done when the Lord's judgment comes. This great mighty man, a hunter, a fighter, he is a conqueror of nations as one who throws his net overboard and gathers in the fishes. At the moment of his arising to go against the Lord, the head will be cut off. Done. I haven't done a lot of research on this, but I'm pretty sure if you lose your head, you're done. There's none of this to check. It's over. Things cease. He found, discovering the foundation unto the neck, and it was removed. Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of the villages." Again, very graphic, but the idea of the sudden piercing of a sword to nail somebody's head against the block. Over. No struggling, nothing. It's that quick. They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Now this is now Habakkuk is changing to look at what is going to happen to Israel. They, being the ones that the Lord says here has cut the, he's found the foundation at the neck. The stave goes through the head. But they are gonna do damage before that judgment. They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. They're rejoicing, they're giddiness, ooh, they're so excited. Was as, to devour the poor secretly. You see that kind of stuff today. People that say one thing and mean another that try to scam you out of stuff. I mean, we have a whole section of our contact list with people's names like this. You say, who is this? Whoever Mr. Likely is. Who's Mr. Likely? Mr. Scam Likely. The calling companies have listed him. And there are people, there were people in this church one time that almost got swindled out of $20,000 Oh this, oh that, go do this, go do that. And I'm so glad that she called me before that happened and said, this doesn't sound right. And I said, because it's not, just hang up the phone. We'll get it taken care of. But that's money that can be, well most of it can't be replaced, but think about swindling an entire country away from God. Putting people on a path that leads to destruction. There are people who are going to be held accountable for that. And can I say something to you tonight? I don't want this to be a shock. It's not your job to figure out who they are. It's not our job to bring that judgment. We need to win people to Christ. That's our job. I kind of get bothered when I see people go down this rabbit trail of like this social justice stuff. Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. We need to win people for Christ. Let's get busy sharing the gospel, loving our neighbor, making sure that we're planting seeds and watering seeds, not for our own gardens, although that wouldn't be bad, but to actually lead people to an understanding of Jesus Christ and live the truths of God's word in our life. God is going to sort all that wickedness out. He knows. There's nothing that is hidden from Him with whom we have to do. That's from Hebrews chapter 4. All things are described as open and naked before God. Everyone's going to stand before the Lord. We need to do what Christ commands us to do. And there is wickedness in the world, folks. It's not going away. It will not go away. We need to trust the Lord. Verse 15, thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses through the heap of great waters. Again, we can't understand that. You step on a big wave, you're not going to be held up, you're going under. You're going to be pulled under. God has the ability to defy what we commonly understand. So here's the last part that Habakkuk says about how he feels about the destructive power of the Chaldeans that's coming. When I heard, my belly trembled." Does that ever happen to you? Have you ever been struck with news so grievous that it causes your stomach to just stop? It's like your heart drops through your body. I've had that kind of news delivered to me. It stops you in your tracks. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble. When he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops." So Habakkuk sees this disgusting power, this unstoppable force of the Chaldeans coming over into his land, knowing that it's the judgment of God. He concludes to this, although the fig tree shall not blossom, no food, neither shall fruit be in the vines, no hope of food. The labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, and the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. from the smallest inconvenience to the largest. You go from the tree not having any fruit, to the tree not having any fruit giving ability, to the whole land being dry, to the ones who till the ground, the oxen, there's nothing in the herd, there's nothing. It's death and decay, you will starve, you will die. Habakkuk sees this and he draws this conclusion. Verse 18, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. How in the world do you naturally draw that conclusion? How do you look at death and starvation and bloodshed and you say, I'll trust in the Lord? It's not a matter of if it's gonna happen. Habakkuk knows it's gonna happen, it's just a matter of when. He likely experienced that. How do you come to that conclusion of saying, I'm gonna trust in the Lord? Here's what I'm going to offer to you and how you get to that conclusion. You look at the example of Jesus. The Garden of Gethsemane was probably, outside of the cross, our Savior's strongest moment of testing. Not to prove that He really was God, none of that, but it was an example He says, this cup to pass from me is gonna become the thing that he hates. But he concludes, not my will, but thine. That's not a prayer for him, that's a prayer for us. Whatever you want, Lord, let it come to pass. And it's easier to come to that conclusion when you're walking closely with the Lord. When you're far from him, your knowledge of him is, it's like a memory, it's like a dream. When you wake up and you're trying to remember it, the less you are able to hold on to. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy, where's the joy? It's not in his life. It's not in the circumstances that are coming upon him. I will joy in the God of my deliverance. I know it says salvation, but that is to be delivered. Habakkuk's deliverance would be experienced when from his death he would pass into glory. The Lord God is my strength. Notice, he doesn't say the field in which the Lord God provides is my strength. The tree, the ox, the donkey, the technology, the food stash, the money, where is his strength? It's in the Lord. The Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like hind's feet. You check out the mountain goat and you know what that is. Mountain goat shouldn't be on a mountain. You go, that doesn't work. He would fall off. Look at the design of his back legs. If you saw my legs go like that, you would think we need to pray for our pastor. He's broken both of his knees severely. He may never walk again. He's not praying specifically that his legs be turned into goat legs. But as the mountain goat is able to cross treacherous terrain, so he asks for the same type of strength. And he already has it. He already has it. He has the Lord. The Lord God is my strength and he will make my feet like Heinz feet and he will make me to walk upon mine high places to the chief singer on my stringed instruments. I like that last line. It's a little bit of after he wrote this, he says, get this to the guy who makes the music, write a song about this. I want you to go to Revelation chapter 19 in closing tonight. At the second coming of Christ in glory, we see a picture painted of the strongest army at the time on the planet, ready to make war with the Son of Man. It's not going to go well, but they know what they're doing. This is the description of that event. And I saw heaven open. I'm sorry, this is Revelation 19 and verse 11, page 1348. And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire. We already have an idea of who this might be. The context clue in chapter one. This is Jesus. On his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called, I love this title, the Word of God. And I think of John 1, and the Word of God was made flesh and dwelt among us. This is Jesus. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. This is most likely the church. As described from the marriage supper of the Lamb in verses 7-9, And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite. This is to smack. This is to take down the nations. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Another context clue. The Bible's a farming book. It's got a lot of farming language. What's a winepress? It was an area where the farmer would take all of the grapes from the harvest and stomp on them so as to get all the juice out and leave all the skins at the top. And of course, that that was produced was called new wine, which was not alcoholic. It's what we would equivalent, or what we would call grape juice. It's exactly what it is. It's sweet. It's rare. It's not something that you go about, you know, It's not like, can I get a water? Can I get a grape juice? You know, it's not, it would be something that was more of a luxury. But God here, Jesus is described as he is going to use the fierceness of that wine press. The armies below will be crushed as easily as the farmer with his feet crushes the grapes beneath them. No farmer goes to crush them grapes and all of a sudden those grapes are like, and they push back. That's not going to happen. The farmer has absolute control over that. So will the Lord in his destructive power. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. That's the highest it'll get, folks. And he knows you, if you've put your trust in him. He knows you by your name. 17. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls, that's a bird, that fly in the midst of the heaven, come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God. that ye may eat the flesh of kings, the highest, the flesh of captains, second highest, the flesh of mighty men, third, the flesh of horses, the power they ride on, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. People talk about Armageddon as being some nation against a nation. That's not what Armageddon is. Armageddon is the entire world system and all of its inhabitants actively going against the Son of Man. That's Armageddon. That's not happening in a couple of months. no matter what people on CNN or other places might try to tell you. It's not World War III. This is a world that has totally given over to sin and is now in opposition to the Son of Man, who is the Son of God. And the beast was taken, Verse 20, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, and with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant, what would be remaining? If the beast and the false prophet are removed, all that's remaining is the army of the world. The remnant were slain. with the sword of him that sat upon the horse by Jesus. Which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls, the birds, were filled with their flesh." This is the illustration, a picture of those birds eating as to the total destruction of all of those great battle, military, whatever it may be, those men of power that the world put their trust in to have victory. They lie motionless. They are food for the birds. The Lord will then reign, according to the rest of the scripture here, for 1,000 years, and Satan is bound for that period of time, and then he's let loose. And he deceives even those who are under the rule of Jesus. There are people who are gonna be convinced by what the devil says and try to make war with the Lord again. That'll be squashed down. And then there will be the great white throne judgment, of which we read about at the end of chapter 20. And the dead, both small and great, they all are brought before the Lord, and they are judged according to their works, and they will be found wanting, and they will be cast into the lake of fire. And then we go on into eternal glory. Who's the we, the ones who have put their trust in Jesus Christ? It is a very serious thing as we see our world continue away from God. But please know, if you have put your trust in Jesus Christ, You will not be judged with the world. You'll be chastened by the Lord. You'll have a loss of rewards. There'll be a high opportunity cost while you continue to sin here on the earth. But you are a child of God. Now what's the world going to do to us? That's a tougher question. Look what they did to Jesus. Jesus said to the apostles, they did this to me, They're gonna do it to you. I don't know how bad it's gonna get. People ask me all the time, you can close your Bibles. They say, is there some type of pre-tribulation event? I don't know what that means, okay? But what I would assume that means is, is there some period of massive persecution before the tribulation? The church has already gone through massive persecution. Read those letters that were written to the churches. Read the one written to Smyrna. the destruction of those people. Not by the hand of God, but by the hand of evil and wicked men. Do a study on martyrs and how they died. Grotesque deaths. There were some men, even after they were killed, years later, their body was dug up and rehung. I don't understand that kind of wrath. I don't understand that kind of anger. That's what all the world has to offer for the children of the Most High. But we don't need to be afraid. We don't need to have fear. We're found in the Lord. So I don't know how bad it's going to get. I'm going to thank God for today. And if tomorrow is the day of my death, then I know I will be with the Lord. You know, the greatest thing that I want to do is make sure that whoever is in my circle of influence knows how to get to heaven. That's the most important thing. And you know who is in my sphere of influence now? That little girl, Rami. She's in my sphere of influence. My daughter's going to know. what's right and what's wrong. Not so she can live a good Christian life, you know, she's two years old. But when the time comes for her to be able to put her trust in Jesus Christ, I want her to know what that means. That's my responsibility as a father. And then as a pastor to my community, I want the people to know the truth. Not as so much as the deeper things of God, but how you can know that you're going to heaven when you die. That's why I give the gospel at the end of every message. Because it's the only thing that truly matters. You can't have the kind of faith that Habakkuk had if you don't know where you're going when you die. Habakkuk's strength is in the Lord because he knows he's going to go be with them at some point. He suffered. He suffered mightily. Like I said, you go read the first three chapters of Lamentations. It's gruesome. the destruction of Israel in that way. But there's also salvation that is found only in Jesus Christ. This hand represents you and me. This block of sin represents sin. I put it on top of my hand because the Bible says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. God loves us very much, but he hates our sin because it separates us from him. In order to get to heaven, we have to be perfect, just like God, but we all fall short. That's what the word sin means. It means to miss the mark. So to be a sinner is one who misses the mark. Now God loves us, but this sin has to be paid. The wages of sin is death, eternal separation from God in a literal fire burning hell. The wages of sin is not good works, turning from sin, promises to start something new, giving of time and talent and treasure. It's not a prayer. It's not a moment of commitment. The wages of sin is death. And Hebrews 9.22 says, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. So not only does somebody have to die, they have to shed their blood and that blood has to be sinless. I cannot die for you to save you, nor can you die for me to buy my salvation. We need a savior. This hand represents Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, fully God and fully man. And God demonstrated his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You know that Jesus went to the cross. You know that He died on the cross, was buried, and rose again three days later. People know those facts, but they don't know why He did it. Some would say He did it because it's an example of how we should live our lives in that kind of selflessness, willing to die. That's not why He did it. It was done because it was the only thing that would be accepted as a payment for our sin. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. Jesus shed his blood. He offered his body as the spotless Lamb of God. John 3.16 says, for God so loved the world, that's you and me, that he gave his only begotten son, that's Jesus Christ, that whosoever, again, anybody, whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's how you can know you're going to heaven. Not by good works, not by a promise to do better. Those things are great. I'm not knocking those things, but if you're trusting in yourself and your works to get to heaven, you're not gonna make it. You're not gonna make it. We need Jesus, amen? Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Just put your trust in him. There's a young lady here today, walked in a little late, she's got a lot going on. She heard enough about sin, about her condition, and about Jesus, that she put her trust in Jesus Christ. That's a great day. That's a good thing. And if you're here tonight and you say, Pastor, that makes a lot of sense to me. Why not put your trust in Jesus Christ right now? You might say, I'm not ready for this change. It ain't about change. It's not about commitment. It's about who are you trusting in? If you think you're good enough or have enough money or think you're not as bad, you got another thing coming. You got to be perfect. We're not. That's why God offered his son to do what we could never do, because that's what love is. And I encourage you, if you're here tonight and it makes sense to you, would you put your trust in Jesus Christ? Let's go to the Lord in prayer, please. Every head is bowed and every eye is closed. Before we have James come up and sing a closing song, I just want to ask if there is anybody here tonight that says, Pastor, I came in unsure that I was going to heaven. I'm trusting in myself. I was trusting in my family's religion. Or I just thought that I didn't have to worry about it because I wasn't as bad as what I see in the world. But if you tonight recognize that you need a Savior and you have put your trust in Jesus Christ, I want to pray for you. If tonight it made sense that you can know you're going to heaven and you believe on Jesus Christ for that eternal life that is offered only in Him, I'd like to pray for you. Would you just slip your hand up and let me know? Raising your hand doesn't save you. This is not to elicit an emotional response or pad numbers. I just want to know if there's anybody here tonight that says, Pastor, would you pray for me? I just put my trust in Jesus Christ. I now know I'm going to heaven. Anyone before we close? Heads are bowed, knives are still closed. We don't know how dire our circumstances will get, but we know we are trusting in the faithfulness of God. Be a light in your community while you can. Be an ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ. and recognize that the Son of God, for those of you who have put your trust in Him, He knows you. He cannot deny Himself. Let that be your peace, joy, and motivation. Father, thank you for our study tonight. Bring us back here safely for our prayer meeting. I ask that all of us here would be strengthened. In Jesus' name we pray these things, amen.