God's Unbelievable Answer

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:04.839 If you'd remain standing for the reading of God's word this evening from the Prophet 2 00:00:04.879 --> 00:00:10.589 Habacock, Habacock Chapter One. I'll begin in verse one, but will mostly 3 00:00:10.710 --> 00:00:15.710 focus on versus five and following Barbacca chapter one, beginning in verse one. 4 00:00:16.269 --> 00:00:21.620 Listen, for this is the word of the Lord, the Oracle that Habacock, 5 00:00:21.660 --> 00:00:26.899 the prophet, saw. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for 6 00:00:27.059 --> 00:00:31.379 help and you will not hear? Or cry to you violence and you will 7 00:00:31.500 --> 00:00:36.210 not save? Why do you make me see iniquity and why do you idly 8 00:00:36.329 --> 00:00:41.929 look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me, strife and contention arise, 9 00:00:42.649 --> 00:00:48.210 so the law is paralyzed and justice never goes forth, for the wicked 10 00:00:48.329 --> 00:00:55.840 surround the righteous. So justice goes forth perverted. Look among the nations and 11 00:00:56.159 --> 00:01:00.159 see, wonder and be astounded, for I am doing a work in your 12 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:04.950 days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising 13 00:01:04.989 --> 00:01:11.269 up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation who march through the breadth of 14 00:01:11.349 --> 00:01:15.469 the earth to seize dwellings not their own. They are dreaded and fearsome. 15 00:01:15.790 --> 00:01:21.780 Their justice and dignity go out from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, 16 00:01:22.099 --> 00:01:26.700 more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Their 17 00:01:26.780 --> 00:01:30.780 horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle, swift to devour. 18 00:01:30.420 --> 00:01:36.609 They all come for violence. All their faces forward, they gather captives like 19 00:01:36.930 --> 00:01:42.129 sand. At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh 20 00:01:42.209 --> 00:01:46.450 at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. Then they 21 00:01:46.769 --> 00:01:52.799 sweep by like the wind and go on guilty men whose own might is their 22 00:01:52.879 --> 00:01:56.959 God. As far the reading of God's Word May he blessed it to us. 23 00:01:57.560 --> 00:02:10.189 Please be seated. It's really pretty easy to ignore television commercials most of 24 00:02:10.229 --> 00:02:14.270 the time, as long as you're not paying too much attention. They quickly 25 00:02:14.469 --> 00:02:20.819 just become background noise. But the ones that always seem to catch my attention 26 00:02:20.860 --> 00:02:27.099 are the ones that seem to be explaining some new kind of medication. Have 27 00:02:27.219 --> 00:02:30.569 you ever noticed these? They all look exactly the same. They must use 28 00:02:30.610 --> 00:02:37.330 the same footage of smiling people riding bikes are flying kites, and they only 29 00:02:37.370 --> 00:02:40.409 really last about ten seconds. They only have about ten seconds to explain to 30 00:02:40.449 --> 00:02:45.120 you what their product is and what it's used for, because the rest of 31 00:02:45.240 --> 00:02:53.039 the commercial is used to list the multitude and multitude of side effects. Most 32 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:58.039 of the commercials dedicated to tell in you all the terrible things that might happen 33 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:02.990 to you if you use this product. My side effects may include dry mouth, 34 00:03:04.069 --> 00:03:08.830 headaches, blurred vision, involuntary twitching, vomiting, persistent nausea, seizures, 35 00:03:09.270 --> 00:03:15.020 slurred speech, Comas and death, to the point where you're left thinking, 36 00:03:16.580 --> 00:03:24.900 how is this a cure? How is this helping? The solution oftentimes 37 00:03:24.979 --> 00:03:32.050 sounds worse than the problem. The cure sounds worse than the disease, and 38 00:03:32.129 --> 00:03:38.090 I can't help but be reminded of those commercials when I read God's response here 39 00:03:38.169 --> 00:03:47.199 to Habakic and to habacas complaint. HABACIC cries out to the Lord, complaining 40 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:54.520 about the State of Israel. He complains about Judah. He begins by saying 41 00:03:54.560 --> 00:04:00.870 that things are not the way they're supposed to be and that God seems to 42 00:04:00.909 --> 00:04:05.389 be silent. Habakas complain throughout the first four verses of this chapter, is 43 00:04:05.550 --> 00:04:12.180 that the world is upside down because the law is ineffective. The world is 44 00:04:12.300 --> 00:04:16.180 upside down because justice is is bent. I mean the righteous are punished, 45 00:04:17.100 --> 00:04:24.100 sin is rewarded and the prophet longs to see justice go for to see an 46 00:04:24.220 --> 00:04:30.490 answer to the wickedness that surrounds the righteous. But he's not just making a 47 00:04:30.569 --> 00:04:33.490 request, he's not just bringing a petition to the Lord. No, here 48 00:04:33.569 --> 00:04:39.959 he's making a complaint against God. That is how he says. How long 49 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:45.160 shall I cry and you do not answer? Or why do you make me 50 00:04:45.560 --> 00:04:50.399 see iniquity? Why do you idly look at wrong? And he's making a 51 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:57.069 very pointed complaint. It's not a generalized kind of complaint, like why, 52 00:04:57.149 --> 00:05:00.509 Oh why, does this always happened to me? No, his his complaints 53 00:05:00.509 --> 00:05:03.470 are pointed. Oh Lord, you will not hear, you will not say. 54 00:05:03.550 --> 00:05:08.259 Why do you make me see iniquity? Why do you make me look 55 00:05:08.259 --> 00:05:12.939 at why do you look idly at wrong? You can almost see him pointing 56 00:05:12.980 --> 00:05:17.019 the finger at God. And his State is made all the more desperate because 57 00:05:17.019 --> 00:05:20.889 of how God has acted on behalf of his people in the past. I 58 00:05:20.970 --> 00:05:27.129 mean the Bible gives us a pattern of God hearing and seeing the miserable state 59 00:05:27.170 --> 00:05:31.370 of his people and so he acts to save I mean back when God's people 60 00:05:31.370 --> 00:05:35.000 were enslaved in Egypt, were told that during those days of the king, 61 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:39.560 the King of Egypt died and the people of Israel grown because of their slavery 62 00:05:39.879 --> 00:05:44.399 and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to 63 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:48.079 God and God heard their groaning and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with 64 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:53.949 Isaac and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel and God knew. 65 00:05:56.310 --> 00:06:01.589 But now Habakkuk is accusing God of failing to hear, failing to see, 66 00:06:02.829 --> 00:06:09.779 failing to save. He's longing for God to respond, he's longing for God 67 00:06:09.980 --> 00:06:16.899 to act against the injustices because he's longing for justice. But does he really 68 00:06:16.939 --> 00:06:24.050 know what he's asking for? Because here God does respond, however, he 69 00:06:24.209 --> 00:06:30.209 responds with an unbelievable account, for God's solution sounds worse than the problem. 70 00:06:31.610 --> 00:06:38.560 God's cure sounds worse than the disease. Notice here, in verse five, 71 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:45.160 he doesn't even preface his response with a greeting. The text doesn't even give 72 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:49.149 a pause to indicate the change in the speaker. A Bacca, just concluded 73 00:06:49.269 --> 00:06:57.310 his prayer saying justice goes forth perverted or bent, and the very next word 74 00:06:57.550 --> 00:07:01.620 is God saying look, in fact, in his one verse, Verse Five, 75 00:07:01.860 --> 00:07:05.500 God Commands The prophet to do for things. He says look, he 76 00:07:05.660 --> 00:07:15.100 says see, he says wonder, he says be astounded. He's received these 77 00:07:15.180 --> 00:07:20.290 complaints. And yet notice how God is not defensive. Our Lord doesn't show 78 00:07:20.290 --> 00:07:25.889 up to give an account of his actions. He doesn't give his reasonings for 79 00:07:26.089 --> 00:07:30.879 this or for that problem in the Prophet's life. Mean, though he's just 80 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:38.160 been the recipient of these complaints, he's not now on the defense, because 81 00:07:38.199 --> 00:07:43.680 God is not actually on trial. Judah is on trial, and so our 82 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:48.790 Lord immediately redirects the Prophet's attention. I mean how Bakak has just complained with 83 00:07:48.949 --> 00:07:54.029 all these problems in Judah. Why do you look? Make me see iniquity? 84 00:07:55.029 --> 00:07:59.939 And God says look, look among the nations, see and wonder and 85 00:08:00.379 --> 00:08:05.660 be astounded. And as if with a thunder clap, the prophets complaints are 86 00:08:05.699 --> 00:08:11.819 ended, as God redirects the Prophet's focus. I mean, the Lord has 87 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:15.889 not been death, he has not been blind, he has been at work, 88 00:08:16.930 --> 00:08:20.569 he has been completing a work that is so amazing, that is so 89 00:08:20.769 --> 00:08:24.730 astounding, you would not believe it even if you were told. He tells 90 00:08:24.769 --> 00:08:30.319 Abacak as he's telling him. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, 91 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:33.600 he says, that bitter and hasty nation who marched through the breadth of 92 00:08:33.639 --> 00:08:41.629 the earth to seize dwellings not their own. We know these Chaldeans as Babylonians, 93 00:08:43.309 --> 00:08:48.110 and so the Lord is raising up the Babylonians. The Lord is raising 94 00:08:48.149 --> 00:08:52.190 up a nation that is bitter, that is hasty, a nation that is 95 00:08:52.350 --> 00:09:00.980 ferocious, terrifying, brutal and merciless. And as he describes the devastations of 96 00:09:01.059 --> 00:09:05.980 the Babylonians, you can hear their power. He says in Verse Eight. 97 00:09:05.019 --> 00:09:09.409 Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves. Their 98 00:09:09.490 --> 00:09:13.610 horsemen, pressed proudly on their horsemen, come from afar. They fly like 99 00:09:13.730 --> 00:09:20.970 an eagle, swift to devour. These Babylonian soldiers are not even compared to 100 00:09:20.250 --> 00:09:26.480 people, but to the fiercest of wild animals, stalking and hunting their prey, 101 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:31.960 like an evening wolf ready for the kill, chasing after, hunting down, 102 00:09:33.120 --> 00:09:37.629 devouring, like leopards or like eagles, they all come for violence, 103 00:09:37.669 --> 00:09:43.070 all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand at kings. They scoff 104 00:09:43.429 --> 00:09:48.149 at rulers, they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile 105 00:09:48.230 --> 00:09:54.340 up earth and take it. They are ruthless right. They are powerful, 106 00:09:54.179 --> 00:10:00.340 ready to take what they will. As easy as one gathers handfuls of sand, 107 00:10:01.220 --> 00:10:05.539 they are gathering captives, both great and small. The most powerful nations 108 00:10:05.620 --> 00:10:11.409 in the lands bend and break at their wills. I mean fortresses are designed 109 00:10:11.490 --> 00:10:20.210 to keep the inhabitants safe and to keep evildoers at bay, and yet they're 110 00:10:20.250 --> 00:10:26.559 easily invaded and overthrown. Rather than even having to siege these palaces, surrounding 111 00:10:26.639 --> 00:10:31.120 them and forcing starvation upon the inhabitants, the Babylonians don't even have to wait, 112 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:37.590 we're told. They've got the numbers to simply pile up dirt ramps and 113 00:10:37.830 --> 00:10:43.070 March right in. They are skilled in warfare. And what's more devastating than 114 00:10:43.110 --> 00:10:50.580 their speed, or their power or their resources is their morality. First seven 115 00:10:50.659 --> 00:10:56.299 says they are dreaded and fearsome. Their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. 116 00:10:56.379 --> 00:11:03.850 So why are they so fearsome? Their very sense of justice, their 117 00:11:05.129 --> 00:11:11.169 notions of right and wrong, arise not from God but from themselves. They 118 00:11:11.210 --> 00:11:16.490 are their own judges and juries, and so that, by their notions of 119 00:11:16.649 --> 00:11:22.039 justice, they think what they're doing is okay, they think it is right. 120 00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:26.840 They don't hide their deeds in the darkness of night. They don't look 121 00:11:26.879 --> 00:11:31.840 behind them to see who might be watching US carry out these acts. Verse 122 00:11:31.870 --> 00:11:39.549 Nine says they come for violence, all their faces forward. There's no sideways 123 00:11:39.909 --> 00:11:43.950 glances, there's no hesitations. They're not wondering. Do you think this is 124 00:11:43.990 --> 00:11:48.460 okay? Do you think anybody will see us? They are coming for war 125 00:11:48.980 --> 00:11:56.940 and they will not be reasoned with, they will not relent. They sweep 126 00:11:56.019 --> 00:12:01.730 by like the wind and go on. Guilty men whose own might is their 127 00:12:01.929 --> 00:12:07.769 God. So their final authority on what is right, on what is wrong, 128 00:12:07.970 --> 00:12:13.450 on what is just and unjust, is their own strength. They listen 129 00:12:13.570 --> 00:12:20.240 to and obey their might as one obeys a god, for they are governed 130 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:24.440 not by reason, not by law. Instead, they are governed simply by 131 00:12:24.559 --> 00:12:33.389 their own strength. Might makes right, and far more devastating than their skill 132 00:12:33.549 --> 00:12:43.830 in battle is their unrestrained appetite for violence. So how then, how is 133 00:12:43.110 --> 00:12:50.620 this an answer to Habakkuk's prayer? How is this a solution to the problems 134 00:12:50.659 --> 00:13:01.049 facing Judah? It actually does sound incomprehensible. It sounds unbelievable. Imagine taking 135 00:13:01.090 --> 00:13:05.570 your car to a mechanic due to a host of problems, only to be 136 00:13:05.649 --> 00:13:11.049 told we fixed it right, the steering no longer squeaks, you don't need 137 00:13:11.090 --> 00:13:16.399 a new transmission. Great, where is it we threw in the bottom of 138 00:13:16.440 --> 00:13:22.279 the ocean? How is this fixing the problem? It isn't. This just 139 00:13:22.480 --> 00:13:28.950 making everything worse. How is this an answer to Habacock's prayer? I mean, 140 00:13:28.990 --> 00:13:35.590 how is the answer to injustice more injustice? How is the answer to 141 00:13:35.870 --> 00:13:43.860 Habaccuck's complaint of violence, more violence? God is perfect, his justice is 142 00:13:43.259 --> 00:13:50.820 perfect and pure. And so Habacock will ask why, why would our pure 143 00:13:50.019 --> 00:13:56.769 God possibly dirty his hands with such a wicked instrument like these Babylonians? And 144 00:13:56.850 --> 00:14:01.409 yet, from our passage, God is demonstrating a few things. First of 145 00:14:01.450 --> 00:14:07.090 all, see that this is an answer to Habacock's prayer. This may not 146 00:14:07.210 --> 00:14:09.840 be the answer that he was looking for, it may not be an answer 147 00:14:09.879 --> 00:14:15.919 that makes sense to the Prophet, but despite his complaints, God actually is 148 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:20.120 not idle. God does not sleep, he is always seeing, he is 149 00:14:20.200 --> 00:14:28.029 always hearing, and God agrees. Judah is wallowing in violence, Judah is 150 00:14:28.669 --> 00:14:37.309 lacking injustice. And so, secondly, we see that justice will come, 151 00:14:39.340 --> 00:14:43.419 even though it appears as though the wicked are prospering, it is a temporary 152 00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:48.019 prospering, even though it feels like their violence never ends. God will bring 153 00:14:48.059 --> 00:14:54.610 an end to the UNRIGHTEOUS, as Paul tells us and reminds us in Romans 154 00:14:54.649 --> 00:14:58.409 chapter two, verse three. Do you suppose, O man, that you, 155 00:15:00.169 --> 00:15:03.370 who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourselves, that 156 00:15:03.529 --> 00:15:07.759 you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume, on the 157 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:13.120 riches of his kindness and kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's 158 00:15:13.120 --> 00:15:16.759 kindness is meant to lead you to repentance, but because of your hard and 159 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:20.909 impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of Wrath, 160 00:15:20.990 --> 00:15:28.590 when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. Peter says that the Lord is 161 00:15:28.789 --> 00:15:35.549 not slow, rather he is patient, and so here in Abacock were remind 162 00:15:35.740 --> 00:15:39.899 that that God does hear, he does answer the prayers of his people, 163 00:15:41.179 --> 00:15:46.379 and we reminded that prayers for justice will be answered by our perfect judge, 164 00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:52.250 and were called to see here the God's ways are higher than our ways, 165 00:15:54.250 --> 00:16:00.610 as the Prophet Isaiah Records in his fifty fifth chapter, where God says. 166 00:16:00.649 --> 00:16:03.519 My thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways, declares 167 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:07.320 the Lord. For as the heavens are are higher than the earth, so 168 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:12.279 are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. And 169 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:18.519 so while we hear an unexpected and an unbelievable answer to have ACCAs complaining prayer, 170 00:16:18.990 --> 00:16:23.389 we're also called to see that God's ways are perfect. But we don't 171 00:16:23.389 --> 00:16:29.029 always get an explanation, though. God doesn't give a defense for his actions. 172 00:16:30.149 --> 00:16:33.740 He will judge sin, even if here it is through a bitter and 173 00:16:33.860 --> 00:16:41.419 hasty nation. Sin and wickedness will be cursed, and even though we don't 174 00:16:41.419 --> 00:16:45.179 yet see why God would use the Babylonians in the judgment of his people, 175 00:16:45.220 --> 00:16:52.450 at least we ought to notice that there is justice being dispensed here. We 176 00:16:52.529 --> 00:16:56.529 are shown a brutal a, a severe punishment on Judah for her sins, 177 00:16:56.769 --> 00:17:03.480 but it's a severe punishment that fits a brutal and severe crime. We're shown 178 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:08.720 that those in Judah who prey upon the weak will be preyed upon themselves, 179 00:17:10.759 --> 00:17:15.309 that those in Judah who commit violence will have violence come upon them, that 180 00:17:15.470 --> 00:17:22.109 those in Judah who shed blood will have their blood shed. For do you 181 00:17:22.150 --> 00:17:30.180 see how God is using the very weapons of the wicked against themselves? Those 182 00:17:30.259 --> 00:17:33.099 who deal in injustice will be treated to the injustice of the Babylon Niance. 183 00:17:36.059 --> 00:17:37.900 And is that? There's certain a certain kind of justice to that, a 184 00:17:38.900 --> 00:17:47.009 justness to that? God is balancing the scales, he is making recompense, 185 00:17:47.970 --> 00:17:52.329 he is paying back the wicked for their deeds. In this astonishing word, 186 00:17:52.369 --> 00:17:59.960 God is using Babylon to declare holy war against Judah. For, don't you 187 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:04.480 see, it's through violence that God is cursing violence, through injustice God is 188 00:18:04.599 --> 00:18:12.390 cursing injustice. Even through death, God is cursing death, and you may 189 00:18:12.470 --> 00:18:18.990 marvel, how could this be? And yet in this act, I think 190 00:18:18.069 --> 00:18:23.269 we do see a glimpse of the Gospel, that even here we get a 191 00:18:23.349 --> 00:18:32.380 picture of the cross. After all, speaking of injustices, is there a 192 00:18:32.619 --> 00:18:40.140 greater injustice then what Christ experienced before pilot? There you have the sentencing of 193 00:18:40.579 --> 00:18:45.650 the only truly innocent man to have ever lived, and there you have the 194 00:18:45.809 --> 00:18:52.890 death penalty being assigned to God in the flesh. Is there a greater act 195 00:18:53.450 --> 00:18:59.599 of injustice than that? Is there a greater act of violence then the killing 196 00:18:59.759 --> 00:19:04.480 of the pure and spotless land am of God. Is there a greater display 197 00:19:04.599 --> 00:19:12.309 of human wickedness and lawlessness than the crucifixion of Christ? And yet they're at 198 00:19:12.390 --> 00:19:18.309 the cross. Don't you see God using the weapons of Satan Against Satan? 199 00:19:22.029 --> 00:19:26.299 Do you see God wielding the violence of men's hearts, wielding the injustice and 200 00:19:26.420 --> 00:19:33.259 senselessness of men? Do you see God killing death itself in the death of 201 00:19:33.380 --> 00:19:40.009 Christ? After all, Peter tells us in acts chapter two, men of 202 00:19:40.130 --> 00:19:42.769 Israel hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by 203 00:19:42.890 --> 00:19:47.250 God, with Mighty Works and wonders and signs that God did through him in 204 00:19:47.329 --> 00:19:52.410 your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus delivered up according to the 205 00:19:52.569 --> 00:19:59.000 definite plan and Foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of 206 00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:04.960 lawless men. And yet, through the hands of lawless men, God was 207 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:11.269 at work, bringing judgment against the very lawlessness that hung Christ on the Cross, 208 00:20:12.390 --> 00:20:19.069 bringing judgment upon sin, your sin and mine, ultimately to curse death 209 00:20:19.109 --> 00:20:26.700 itself in the very death of Christ. And yet, is Peter Continues, 210 00:20:26.819 --> 00:20:30.420 God raised him up, looseing the pangs of death, because it was not 211 00:20:30.579 --> 00:20:36.410 possible for him to be held by it. It is because Christ is without 212 00:20:36.410 --> 00:20:41.450 sin that makes what he suffered so unjust, so vile and so lawless. 213 00:20:42.609 --> 00:20:47.089 And yet it's also because Christ was without sin that he suffered the curse, 214 00:20:47.609 --> 00:20:53.400 not for himself but for sinners. And so do you see the lengths your 215 00:20:53.599 --> 00:21:00.240 Lord has gone to to cure the disease, to truly remedies sin and death, 216 00:21:00.680 --> 00:21:07.190 to truly crush Satan and his schemes? It took the death and resurrection 217 00:21:07.789 --> 00:21:11.869 of the spotless son of God, for God's justice is perfect. He will 218 00:21:11.950 --> 00:21:18.859 not tolerate sin forever. And will you find yourself standing on your own facing 219 00:21:18.940 --> 00:21:26.339 the flood of God's swift and perfect justice, or have your sins already been 220 00:21:26.380 --> 00:21:30.619 crucified, dead, buried with Christ, so that you will be raised in 221 00:21:30.700 --> 00:21:37.809 the righteous perfections of Christ himself? Truly, Christ has undergone both the terrors 222 00:21:37.849 --> 00:21:42.809 of the nations and the Justice of the Lord, and death could not hold 223 00:21:42.849 --> 00:21:48.680 him. Death had no claim on him. So that if you trust in 224 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:52.680 Christ, if he is your hope, death has no claim on you either, 225 00:21:53.839 --> 00:22:00.000 and he will raise you on the last day. Truly, we have 226 00:22:00.039 --> 00:22:10.869 an astounding Lord who works salvation for his people sometimes wielding unexpected in just things. 227 00:22:11.869 --> 00:22:15.339 And yet if God can use the very injustice, the worst injustice, 228 00:22:15.339 --> 00:22:19.500 this world has ever seen, for the greatest good the world has ever known, 229 00:22:19.859 --> 00:22:26.339 if he can use the crucifixion of Christ to bring about the greatest blessing 230 00:22:26.859 --> 00:22:32.730 and end to curse and end to death, then surely he can use the 231 00:22:32.769 --> 00:22:37.730 sufferings, he can use the evils that we see around us for his glorious 232 00:22:37.849 --> 00:22:41.410 purposes. And we don't always see the reasons why, we don't always know 233 00:22:41.849 --> 00:22:51.240 the wise, we do know him and by knowing him more and seeing that 234 00:22:51.400 --> 00:22:56.000 his justice is perfect, we can rest in his justice, because it's his 235 00:22:56.200 --> 00:23:03.750 justice that declares you forgiven. It's his justice that declares you righteous and holy 236 00:23:03.950 --> 00:23:10.390 in Christ. And this is something we would not believe even if we were 237 00:23:10.430 --> 00:23:15.059 told it takes a work of God in our hearts, takes the gift of 238 00:23:15.180 --> 00:23:21.220 faith that we would respond in faith and love and in hope for our Lord. 239 00:23:22.380 --> 00:23:23.420 Amen. Let's pray