Join us on a thought-provoking journey into the prophet Habakkuk’s queries about divine justice and righteousness as we navigate through the sermon ‘Man’s Question, God’s Answer’ by Dr. J. Vernon McGee. This episode challenges us to trust God’s justice amidst a world riddled with wickedness and to find solace in faith despite unanswered questions. Through the narrative of Habakkuk, we’re called to embrace patience, realizing that God’s timetable transcends human understanding and His promises bring assurance and hope.
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith.
SPEAKER 01 :
Sin, evil, injustice. We don’t have to look very far to see that our world is a mess. And doesn’t it often seem like the wicked are the ones who are winning? Why doesn’t God intervene? Welcome to the Sunday Sermon on Through the Bible. I’m Steve Schwetz. And in this study, our teacher, Dr. J. Verna McGee, takes us back to the Old Testament to a time when a prophet named Habakkuk had a very similar question for God. He said, In fact, Dr. McGee named Habakkuk the prophet who had a question mark for a brain. That says it all, doesn’t it? It’s probably no surprise that Habakkuk’s favorite question for God was, why? Well, if you too have got questions for God, big or small, stay with us. There’s a lot to learn from today’s sermon, Man’s Question, God’s Answer. Let’s pray for one another as we turn in God’s Word. Heavenly Father, thank you that despite the fact the world seems to be out of control, we can trust you. Thank you that you love us even when we don’t understand your ways, when we have questions about evil and suffering. Thank you for giving us clarity and reassurance as we study your word. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now here’s the Sunday Sermon on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 02 :
Our subject of the morning is… man’s question, God’s answer. We do not have a text, but I would like to wade into the water of the word at verse 3. Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me, and there are that raise up strife and contention. Habakkuk is one of the prophets of the southern kingdom of Judah prior to the Babylonian captivity. We probably can pinpoint his period in history during the time of the reign of Josiah. And you will recall that That was one of the six periods of revival. It was a half-hearted revival to be sure, but a half-hearted revival was in the making and God graciously suspended the impending judgment of the Babylonian captivity to give this nation 11th hour reprieve. It’s always been God’s method, slow to anger, merciful, not willing that any should perish. Now this hiatus of judgment puzzled the prophet Habakkuk. He didn’t quite understand it. He had a problem. It was God’s reluctance to move when around, there was all of this evil, and God was permitting evil on every hand. And, well, apparently he was doing nothing about it, and that was the mystery for the prophet. He didn’t quite understand why a holy God didn’t move in and judge when it seemed so essential. A great many people today wonder why God does not move in. Well, Habakkuk is spelled with a capital Y. He is the Doubting Thomas of the Old Testament. Better maybe to state it the other way around. The Apostle Thomas is the Habakkuk of the New Testament. Both had a question mark for a brain. Both of them… were born in the objective case past Pluperfect and the interrogative mood. Both of them had a question. In fact, that’s all they did have was a question. I think that you can reduce the doubt of both of these men to one word. Why? Isn’t this, this morning, fundamentally the question of the human race? The oldest book in the Bible probably is the book of Job. That is the question that Job and his friends spent most of the book of Job talking about. Why did God permit evil to come to Job? Why? That’s the question. That’s basic to all questions today. Why? I think this morning it’s your question. And if it’s not, it’s mine. I think you can reduce all questions to the lowest common denominator, why. That’s basic to all questions. If you’re going to say who, when, where, how, you’ve got to go back and say why. Why? Now the question of Habakkuk was precisely this. Why was God permitting evil to manifest itself and run rampant in the nation of Israel. Why does God permit evil? That’s fundamentally the question. Why would a holy, gracious, good God permit these things to take place? I had the privilege of talking to two very brilliant young professors. One is teaching in Vanderbilt University, the other in Missouri. And both of them are fine Christian men, by the way. And it’s unusual to find men of their caliber and Christian testimony in the places that they are. They were telling me this, that the method that is pursued today by godless professors in our universities to destroy the faith of young impressionable people that are under their instruction, and they attempt to destroy their faith in the integrity of the Word of God, but they don’t go at it that way. I’m sure some of us thought that they made a direct frontal attack on the Word of God. They don’t quite do that. They use the same old bromide that is rampant today, and it’s this. You’ve heard this question. You do not believe that a God of love, a God that is tenderhearted, would permit evil in the world, do you? And all the suffering that’s in the world. You don’t believe that he’d permit that sort of thing, do you? And you don’t believe a God of love would have a place called hell, do you? May I say that that’s the way they begin. Why does God permit evil, men and women, to prosper? That’s the way they begin. And then they destroy, don’t you see, confidence in God, in the character of God. And then they move from that to destroy confidence in the word of God. Now that’s not new. That’s as old as the human family. The enemy used that same method in the Garden of Eden. That’s the way the serpent came, the way Satan came in the Garden of Eden. He came not with a frontal attack on the word of God. He says, you don’t mean to tell me, Eve, that God doesn’t want you to eat of that tree. Why, honestly, you mean a good God would keep you from eating of that tree when you’d have the knowledge of good and evil? You see, it was to destroy confidence in God. Then the move was to destroy confidence in the word of God. As God said, and then the attack is made upon the word of God. That’s the method. And that, may I say, happened to be the question of God’s prophet, if you please. Why will a God of love and a holy God, why will he permit evil in this world? Now, Let’s look at the specific question of Habakkuk fitted into the local situation of his day. Now, will you notice what he says here? Why dost thou show me iniquity? The man walked about in the nation. And as he walked about, he saw sin, iniquity, evil, injustice, all of that taking place. And he said, why? Why don’t you do something about it? Have you ever felt the same way? I’m sure if you’re a normal human being today and even a child of God, that question has come to your mind many times. And he goes on. He says, for spoiling and violence are before me and there are that raise up strife and contention. I see these wicked prospering and you do nothing about it. And good people are being put down. Therefore, the law is slack. No, you never enforce the law. And judgment doth never go forth, for the wicked doth compass about the righteous, therefore wrong judgment proceeded. This is the question of the prophet. I’m sure it’s your question, and I’m sure it’s my question today. People were getting by with sin, and God’s doing nothing about it. Why doesn’t God do something about the injustice that’s in this world today? Why did he permit communism to arise? Why did he permit a man like Hitler to appear? Why does God permit in America today all of this sin? Why doesn’t God do something about sin? Why doesn’t God judge the wicked? Why does God permit evil men and women to prosper today? And you see it all the way from Hollywood to Washington, and they’re getting by with it. Let me tell you, God seems to be doing nothing about it. All the way from the beboppers of the West Coast to the Bobby Bakers of our capital. Now, David, by the way, all of God’s men have been faced with this problem. David was faced with it. Listen to David. He says, But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. Well, he got his answer, by the way. In Psalm 37, he says, fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. He got his answer, but just a moment, let’s stay with Habakkuk. He doesn’t have his answer yet. Now, God speaks to him and God tells him that he’s going to do something about it, that actually they’re not getting by with sin at all. But you listen, God says, While my people continue in sin and my prophets continue to warn them and urge them to turn back to God, I am preparing to deal with them. Verse 6, Habakkuk 1, below, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful, and their judgment and dignity shall proceed of themselves. And then he goes on to describe the What awful avengers they’ll be. And my friend, when you come to 605 B.C., and then again in 593 B.C., and then again in 587 B.C., and you see Nebuchadnezzar camped outside the wall of Jerusalem, and finally his army makes the breach in the wall, they burn the city, destroy the temple, and then take the people into captivity, and you see what happens. You know that God wasn’t exaggerating when he said that these people that were coming would be his instruments of judgment upon God’s people. Now, the thing that he’s saying here to Habakkuk is this. You think that I’m not doing anything about evil. I am doing something about it. I am preparing a nation down yonder on the banks of the Euphrates, and I’m shutting them out temporarily. They can move, but when the time comes and judgment, the cup of iniquity is filled up, and God never lets judgment come until the cup of iniquity is filled up. And then he says, I will let them pour into this land and take my people in judgment. Now, you might think that’s an answer, but that was no answer for Habakkuk. To tell the truth, it created a bigger problem than he had at the beginning. It raised a greater question than his first question. And the question now is just simply this. You don’t mean to tell me, Lord, that you are raising up a pagan, heathen nation to to come and chastise your people, they are more wicked than we are. And instead of us being judged, you ought to judge them first. It’s amazing how we can tell God how to run his business. And even a prophet, you know, did that. And many Christians today are telling him that. But he doesn’t seem to follow any of our suggestions. Now, this is the thing that after God had described the coming of the Chaldeans, here is now the question of Habakkuk. This is his second question. It’s a bigger one. Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine holy one? We shall not die. And I think there should be a question mark there. This book, by the way, is filled with question marks. There are 11 that our translators have put in here. Candidly, I think you could put a question mark after practically everything except the last chapter. It’s filled with question marks. And he says, but we shall not die. You don’t really mean it. And here’s the man who a few moments before had been saying to God, why don’t you do something? God says, I am doing something. I’m preparing this nation down here to come and chastise my people. He’s not going to be satisfied with that because he didn’t like Chaldeans. And he knew that they were a very brutal people. Art thou not from everlasting? O Lord, my God, mine holy one, we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment. And, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. Thou art of pure eyes than to behold evil. and canst not look on iniquity. Wherefore, lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth a man that is more righteous than he? Now, his question now is this. Why are you permitting us to suffer at the hands of a nation that’s more wicked than we are? They should be judged, not us. But he’s already said God should judge them. You see, he’s got a bigger problem before him now. Why must this happen to us and not to them? That’s a question any pastor hears today many times. Why did God let this happen to me? And I know somebody, and they are not near the Christian I am, and they never have any trouble at all. Have you ever heard that question? Well, God gives this man an answer, and his answer to him, of course, is simply this, I’ll judge them in time. I intend to deal with the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, the same thing that God said to Isaiah. God said to Isaiah concerning the northern kingdom, he said, the Assyrian, oh Assyrian rod of mine anger. I’m using them as a pole to chastise my people, and when I get through with them, I’ll judge them. Now, he says, I’ll take care of the Babylonians in time. May I say this just aside? You can push it aside, too. I’m convinced that God has used Russia to humiliate the United States. I’m convinced that God has permitted communism to spread to embarrass Christianity. It has revealed to us our shabbiness, our shoddiness, our sinfulness, our superficiality, and our sophistication. That’s what communism has done. And it has a dedication today that we are having difficulty to match it anywhere in the world. God has permitted it for a purpose, chastise. The thing that disturbs me, I wonder how far God’s going. Now, God’s answer is more specific And more definite to this man, let’s get back to the text. Chapter 2, will you listen to him? I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer when I’m reproved. Now the question of this man, though unanswered, did not cause him to lose his faith. And that today causes a great many Christians sometimes, or professing Christians, to lose their faith because God won’t give them all the answers. Now, Habakkuk did not lose his faith. Habakkuk said this, I do not have the answer, but I’ll go to my tower where I can see and I’ll wait because I’m confident God has the answer and he will reprove me and rebuke me. I’m confident he has the answer, but I don’t know what it is. Now, may I bring that down? It’s not for you and me to question God. We’re to believe God and trust him today. When you and I today even lift our voice and say, why? That’s almost blasphemy. For a little preacher down here, especially a child of God, look up and say, why? Why? God says, I am not giving you the answers. I’m asking you to trust me. I’m asking you to walk by faith. You and I set our will over the will of God when we question what he does. Now, will you notice? He says this, for the vision is yet for an appointed time. The Lord answered him now. But at the end, it shall speak and not lie. Habakkuk, I have the answer. You won’t live to see it worked out in time, but it’ll be worked out in time. And I ask you to believe me. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it’ll not tarry. Behold, his soul, which is lifted up, is not upright in him. And I’m not dealing with that aspect of the subject today at all. I want to get God’s answer. Here is what he’s saying. But the just shall live by faith. The just shall live by faith. What he’s saying to Habakkuk is this. There’s always been a question about the translation of this. We’ll see something in just a moment. But He’s saying this to him, Habakkuk, I want you to know this, that I do not give you answers to all the questions of this life. And the main reason I do not is not because I do not have them, but I want you to walk by faith. And that’s the only way that you can walk by faith. We are told we walk by faith and not by sight. And therefore God says to you and me many times, my child, I’m asking you to walk with me and believe me. He didn’t say he’d give us the answers. But now before I get into that, let me say that this statement here, but the just shall live by faith. It just happens to be such an important statement that the three major epistles in the New Testament quote it and make it very basic, if you please. Paul in Romans, the great declaration of the faith that saves, he gives it to us. He says, I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it’s the power of God unto salvation that to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith to faith, for the just shall live by faith. And then this epistle moves into the great theme that God justifies a sinner by faith. He asked you to do the same thing he asked Habakkuk to do, to believe him that he’ll save you, he’ll justify you, and you’ll stand before God, absolutely having your guilt removed by simply trusting the fact that Jesus Christ died for you on the cross. Now, that’s not all. God not only asked us to believe him, to be justified by faith, but Paul in Galatians He quotes this again. And in the third chapter, the 11th verse, he says, but that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God. It’s evident for the just shall live by faith. Now, Paul in Galatians puts the emphasis not on justification as he did in Romans. He puts the emphasis on faith. Faith is non-meritorious, but you and I are guilty before God, and we’re also polluted. You see, when man sinned in the Garden of Eden, sin moved two directions. Toward God, it made man guilty, and toward man, sin made man polluted, corrupted him. That’s what we’re seeing in Leviticus, that man was polluted by sin. Now, by faith, and a polluted man hasn’t anything. A leper can’t bring anything that’s clean to God. And faith is non-meritorious, but it’s the only thing God will accept from you today. And that’s the reason that Paul could say, I’m crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not our Christ liveth in me. I live by the faith of the Son of God. loved me and gave himself for me. Now in Hebrews, the other epistle that quotes this, we find again a tremendous statement. And the statement in the 10th chapter, the 38th verse, and it’s quoted, by the way, right before the 11th chapter that shows how man lived by faith. He says now in 1038, now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. Now, will you notice what he’s saying here is this is the way you’re to live. You see, God justifies you when you come to Christ and accept him as Savior. He justifies you by faith. And the only thing that you hold out is faith. And my friend, from then on, it’s a life of faith. We walk by faith and not by sight. God is saying to Habakkuk, Habakkuk, I have all the answers to the problems of life, but I’m not putting all the answers in the back of the book of life for you now. I’ll give you those answers someday. I know this, that when I used to study mathematics, they used to put, and I don’t know whether they still do it or not, put the answers in the back of the book. And I don’t know about you, but the way I work problems, I went back, I got the answer, I worked toward it. That is our problem today, is we want the answer to work from the answer. God says, I do not give it to you. I want you to stay with the problem for me. And you’ll walk by faith, by going with me, step by step. Now, Habakkuk, will you follow me now very carefully? Habakkuk looked into the future, and as he looked into the future, he saw the sin of his people, and God says the Chaldeans are coming. Habakkuk said, why? Why? Why? He looked into the future. Will you listen carefully? We look back on the past. It’s history now. We see the answer to Habakkuk’s questions. God sent his own people into captivity. He did something about their sin. Habakkuk says, why do you let me see iniquity? God says, I’m doing something about it because you’re right. I’m of I’m holy. I can’t even look upon it. I am going to judge it, but I’m patient. And there came a day when they came. But wait a minute. God says, I’m going to make this thing work out for your good and my glory. Listen to what he said in verse 5. Behold ye among the heathen, the nations, and regard and wonder marvelously, for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. And when Paul began his missionary journey, he went to Antioch of Pisidia. And I think I’ve said here several times that I believe Paul’s sermon at Antioch of Pisidia is one of the greatest sermons ever preached. Well, when Paul was there in Antioch of Pisidia, he went back and quoted from Habakkuk this very verse. Now, will you listen to this? In the 13th chapter of the book of Acts, where this is recorded, verse 37, “…but he whom God raised again saw no corruption.” Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets be Behold, ye despisers and wander and perish. Now listen. For I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. Now, Paul, yonder in Antioch of Pisidia, says this as he goes back to Habakkuk. When God sent his people into captivity it looked dark and doleful, but God used that experience by sending them into captivity and bringing them back under the subjection of a foreign power and keeping them there. that it was possible for him to send the Savior into the world and made it possible for Paul to go out all over the Roman Empire preaching that through Jesus Christ, his death and burial and resurrection, men can be forgiven of their sins. I say to you, God said to Habakkuk, Habakkuk, believe me, I’m going to work this thing out for good. My beloved, that is without doubt one of the most wonderful things. God answered Habakkuk, as far as I’m concerned. But you’ve got to go to the watchtower of history and look back. God judged Babylon also. And today, go and look at Babylon. It lies under the dust and rubble of the ages. Daniel said, thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting. It’s a silent but eloquent testimony that God does something about evil. He judges it. Let me translate the interrogation of Habakkuk into our day and the language of our day. Why does God permit evil? I point you to the cross of Jesus Christ. That’s God’s answer today. He has an answer for the evil of this world. Why does not God judge the wicked today? I have the answer for that. The second coming of Christ. The first question is answered by the first coming of Christ. Why does God permit evil? Why doesn’t God judge the wicked? Look to the second coming of Christ. God has the answer to your problems, my beloved. Now let’s make this personal. We’re now moving out on the political side. national level, but now let’s make it personal. Why does God permit this to happen to me? Is that what you’re saying today? Why did God let this happen to me? May I say this, and please, let’s not let this out. I want to answer this. I do not know. Honestly, I do not know. I stayed in a motel in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, where I could have gone out in front of it and thrown a rock over into Oklahoma. I would say that I could hit a golf ball that far, but these fellows would know it is too close. But it wasn’t far, and I went over into Oklahoma. We drove several miles into Oklahoma. You say, well, why do you say that? My dad’s buried in Oklahoma, and I never get into that country without I become just a little nostalgic. Thinking of this message, I remembered a boy 14 years old. I stood by the dead body of my dad who’d been killed in a cotton gin. And as I stood there, it’s almost a half a century ago. I said then, oh, God. Why did this have to happen to me? And my friend, I don’t have the answer to that this morning. And a little later on, a few years ago, out here in Pasadena, I stood by a little white casket and I asked the same question of God. Why did you let this happen to me? I do not have the answer this morning. But I want to say this to you. I have gone to my watchtower and I shall wait. I shall wait. I am trusting the one today who has the answer. And he said to me, just put your hand in mine and walk with me through the dark and I’ll give you your answers when the time comes. But trust me now. I don’t know about you, but I’m trusting. He said, without faith, it is impossible to please God. He that cometh to God must believe that he is. That is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him. The just shall live by faith, my beloved. God has the answer to your problem. Do you believe him? Well, you trust him. Now, follow me again for just a moment and I’ll be through. God created man in his own image. In the image of God created he him. Male and female alike. Created he them. Now that doesn’t mean physically because God is not corporeal. And I think it means more than the Trinity. I think it means that, but I think it means infinitely more than that. Let me just be suggestive this morning. I can’t go into detail. God is a personality. And when he created man, he made him different from any other creature. He made him perfectly self-conscious. You and I are conscious. We are self-conscious. I hope you are this morning. You’re still awake. You’re self-conscious this morning. You say, well, I’m not Vernon McGee. And you may be very happy of that. But you know that you are who you are. You can say, I am. And then God gave to man a moral nature. And with that, a responsibility. Man could say, you know, I can… Choose this here, not choose that, because this is wrong and this is right. Man has that moral nature. Psychologists would like to get rid of it today. It’s marred, but you can’t get rid of it. And that’s the responsibility. And man can say, I ought. Only man can say, I ought, he says. Oh, how many say that today? I ought to do this. That’s because you have a moral nature. And three, God gave to man, and I think God took a big chance when he gave to man a free will, ability to choose, an ability to choose evil. I can’t go into that this morning, but with that man can say, I will. Man can say, I am, I ought, I will. Man like God in that respect. Now this got marred. Part of it got marred. Part of it is practically wrecked at the fall. But my friend, may I say this quickly to you now this morning, you can trust Christ. That’s the way out for fallen man and sin today. And when you trust Christ, he begins a work in you. And that work is he wants to conform you to the image, if you please, of Jesus Christ. He wants to make you like the Lord Jesus Christ. That is his goal. That’s his object. Have you ever noticed how the Scripture emphasizes that? We like to quote Romans 8, 28, don’t we? Why don’t we go on with Romans 8, 29? They belong together. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to those called according to his purpose. Now, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. Now, God is working on a plan today. of bringing a group of people who will trust Christ into conformity to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s his plan. Predestination has to do with that plan and that plan alone, of conforming those that are his own into the image of Jesus Christ, back to what God intended man to be before he failed. Let me give another scripture, 2 Corinthians 3.18, but we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed, transfigured, you remember I gave that, are transfigured into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is in the world to take these who’ve trusted Christ and to form Christ within them. 1 Corinthians 15, 47. The first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. Now listen. And as we have borne the image of the earthy. That’s the reason all of us look alike. Because we’ve borne the image of the earthy. We’re all sons of Adam. We’re all really kin to each other, some more kin than others, but we’re kin. We’re born in the image of the earthy. Now listen, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. God today says to those that are his own, I don’t give you the answer to why I permit certain things to happen to you, and why suffering should come, and tragedy oftentimes I don’t give you the answer, but I want you to know this. All things are working together for good that I might conform you to the image of Christ. That’s what I’m working on. I’d like to close with an illustration. We’ll just have to suppose this one. Suppose that you lived in the day of Michelangelo. Suppose that you were his neighbor. And one day you went down to see him. He had his studio there in his home. And he said, I have something to show you. And he took you in and he showed you a great big huge piece of the dirtiest looking rock you’d ever seen. And it was shapeless. It was terrible looking. And you said, well, why in the world, why’d you lug that old piece of dirty rock here in your studio? He says, well, I have in my mind a an ideal. Maybe it’s the one he made of Moses or maybe the one of David. I intend to take that rough block of marble and I’ll take my chisel and I’ll take my hammer and I’m going to make it into a beautiful white ideal. You’d say, oh, believe me, brother, I don’t see how you can do that. And you leave. A year goes by and you go down and visit him again and he says to you, Come in. And you go in and he shows you. Maybe it’s that one of Moses. Beautiful, white piece of statue there. And you say, my, that’s beautiful. What an inspiring thing it is. He’d say, you remember when you were here a year ago and looked at that old dirty piece of marble? That’s it. You’d say, I can’t believe it. Look, the Holy Spirit is in the world. He’s the artist. that by the Spirit we might be conformed to the image of Christ. He has the ideal in his mind. He knows what he wants to do with you. And he uses two things. He uses the chisel of discipline. He uses the chisel of your circumstances. He uses the chisel of suffering. And he digs deep because we are a piece of old, dirty, shapeless, cold, unyielding, Rock hard as knife. But he doesn’t give up. He takes the chisel and he uses the hammer. And the hammer is the word of God. And he begins to work. Takes time because we’re not lovely. We are crude. We are hard. We’re unyielding. We are cold. We’re unlovely. We’re unsightly. Will you forgive me for saying that about you? But it’s true. That’s what we are in his sight. A piece of just a block of shapeless marble. But he, the Holy Spirit, has the ideal. He takes the hammer of the word of God and takes the chisel. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. And he child trains every son that he receives. And he begins to work. And when he begins to work in your life and my life and suffering comes to us and things come that we cannot understand, we look up and we say, why? Oh God, why? He says, that’s all right. You’re just a hard piece of marble and I have to dig in deep to make you the kind of a person I want to be in heaven someday. David saw that. David said in Psalm 1715, I shall be satisfied when I wake in thy likeness. Beloved, it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Will you trust him? Will you believe him? As our heads are bowed this morning in prayer, If you are here today without Jesus Christ, this unlovely, unsightly piece of marble is not only those that have come to Christ when he begins working with them, but it’s your picture also. You’re dead in trespasses and sins. You are suffering from the leprosy of sin, polluted. He can cleanse you and he can forgive you. He can remove your guilt, and he can remove the pollution in your life. And then he alone, he alone can bring you into conformity to his will. And he says it’s by faith, all the way by faith. Would you trust him this morning, this wonderful Savior? Oh, he may dig deep in your life, but He’s not doing it to hurt you. He’s doing it that he might cause all things to work together for good to them that love God. That you might be conformed to his image.
SPEAKER 01 :
If you take away just one thing from this message, let it be this. We may not get answers to all our questions, but we can trust Jesus. If you’re wondering who God is and how you can know Him personally, we’d love to help. Click on How Can I Know God in our app or at ttb.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE to have a few free resources sent by mail. Our sermon, Man’s Question, God’s Answer, is available to share or listen to again in our app or at ttb.org. There’s also a free digital booklet version of this same message titled, Why Doesn’t God Do Something? You’ll find it all at ttb.org. And don’t miss this daily study this week as we continue in Habakkuk chapters 1 through 3. And next week on the Sunday Sermon, we’ll hear Darkness and Light, the Day of the Lord. Hop aboard the Bible bus when it comes round your corner next time. Now as we go, let’s take it to heart, this powerful word from Habakkuk 3. Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord is my strength. Whatever we’re facing, I pray that you choose to rejoice and trust in the God of your salvation. You can be confident that he’s your strength and he will carry you. I’m Steve Schwetz, and for all of us at Through the Bible, we’re grateful for your presence on the Bible bus and your partnership in taking God’s whole word to his whole world. Join us each weekday for our five-year daily study through the whole Word of God. Check for times on this station or look for Through the Bible in your favorite podcast store and always at ttb.org.
