Habakkuk: How Can I Be Truly Happy?

Hymn of the Ages

WELCOME

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)

In just a moment we’ll hear a reading from the text for today’s sermon in the book of Habakkuk. Turn there now.

While you’re turning, 4 quick announcements:

1) New Sunday School classes beginning July 4

OT Overview (Derek Dickens)

Apologetics (me)

Register online!

2) Office will be closed this week

Please pray for staff that will be traveling

If you need access to the building this week, go to the blue flag

3) TableTalk at 5:30 PM

Recently Kohl’s featured a Pride month ad campaign celebrating a polygamous family

How should we think about things like this? Does Jesus have anything to say?

Many years ago, Mark Twain—the beloved American author—was lecturing in Utah. After his lectures, a Mormon acquaintance began arguing with him on the subject of polygamy. After a long and rather heated debate, the Mormon finally said, “Can you find for me a single passage of Scripture which forbids polygamy?” “Certainly,” replied Twain. "'No man can serve two masters.'"[vi]

Twain’s tongue-in-cheek response is good for a laugh, but it’s not enough is it? Did Jesus tell us anything to help us think through this issue?

Tonight: Jesus’ teaching on the pattern of marriage (monogamy vs. polygamy)

Bring some food to eat, or a game to play and fellowship after!

Now turn in your Bibles to Habakkuk 3:12 as Ami Berlin comes to read for us.

Scripture Reading (Habakkuk 3:12-19)

Prayer of Praise (God is incomprehensible)

All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name

Only a Holy God

Prayer of Confession (Sterling Tollison)

Christ Is Mine Forevermore

NEW CITY CATECHISM #24

Listen again to the words we just sang together...

Mine are days that God has numbered I was made to walk with Him Yet I look for worldly treasure And forsake the King of kings But mine is hope in my Redeemer Though I fall, His love is sure For Christ has paid for every failing I am His forevermore

We need a Redeemer because we don’t honor God as we should, we forsake the King of Kings

We can trust this Redeemer, even when we fall

Because He paid for every failing! HOW? Through His death!!

Why was it necessary for Christ, the Redeemer, to die?

Since death is the punishment for sin, Christ died willingly in our place to deliver us from the power and penalty of sin and bring us back to God. By his substitutionary atoning death, he alone redeems us from hell and gains for us forgiveness of sin, righteousness, and everlasting life.

PASTORAL PRAYER

Father, thank you for sending Jesus our Redeemer

Thanksgiving—Adoption

“Adoption is . . . the highest privilege that the gospel offers.”

“Even before You made the world, You loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in You eyes. You decided in advance to adopt us into Your own family by bringing us to Yourself through Jesus Christ. This is what You wanted to do, and it gave You great pleasure. So we praise You for the glorious grace You have poured out on us who belong to Your dear Son.” (Eph. 1:4-6, NLT)

Prayer for PBC—We are Servants

“There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. You work in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.” (1 Cor. 12:4-7, NLT)

Prayer for sister church—Knotts Island Baptist Church

Pastor Jack Koolman

Prayer for US—Against materialism

A few weeks ago we heard from Your Word in the book of Amos what you thought about the materialism of your people

You rebuked them for...

Their vacation homes (3:15)

Large, beautiful houses (3:15)

Fancy furniture (6:4)

Plenty to eat (6:4)

Fine entertainment (6:5)

Large dishes and large portions (6:6)

Quality beauty products (6:6)

We have all these things in abundance!

“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’” (Heb. 13:5)

Prayer for the world—Austria

President Alexander Van der Bellen (protection for unborn, justice for vulnerable, human flourishing for all)

Against high suicide rates, alcohol addiction, abortion

Against nominal Christianity and the rise of Islam and the Occult

Bible-believing pastors to get training to faithfully lead their churches

Laborers

Pray for the sermon

SERMON

Mom’s tongue click during movies

One of the strangest times I heard that tongue click was while watching a 1999 CBS miniseries that told the story of Jesus. I still remember a scene where it depicted him laughing and starting a water-splashing fight with his disciples.

Now we know there is no water-splash fight scenes in the Bible. But that wasn’t necessarily what bothered the Christians in my life when we watched that miniseries.

What bothered everyone I talked to was the depiction of a smiling, laughing, happy Jesus. Sure, Jesus had joy, but He isn’t supposed to be happy … is He?

This sort of sneering at the idea of happiness is actually pretty commonplace in American evangelical Christianity...

Since I was a little boy I’ve heard Christians say that there’s a difference between happiness and joy.

Happiness is based on what happens. Joy transcends circumstances.

Happiness is an emotion. Joy is a choice.

Happiness is trivial. Joy is deep and profound.

Happiness is for the world. Joy is for Christians.

TWO MAJOR PROBLEMS:

1) We are Hardwired for Happiness

Augustine— “Every man, whatsoever his condition, desires to be happy.”[1]

Blaise Pascal— “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.” [2]

2) The Distinction between happiness and joy isn’t in the Bible

Isaiah 52:7-8—How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” 8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion.

The Gospel is the Gospel of happiness!!!

Randy Alcorn writes, “I’ve looked at more than 2700 Scripture passages where words such as joy, happiness, gladness, merriment, pleasure, celebration, cheer laughter, delight, jubilation, feasting, exultation, and celebration are used.” [3]

No Christian would have distinguished between happiness and joy until about 100 years ago.

Puritan Thomas Brooks—“God is the author of all true happiness.” [4]

John Wesley—“When we first know Christ…then it is that happiness begins.” [5]

Charles Spurgeon—“May your Christian life be fraught with happiness, and overflowing with joy.” [6]

“A happy Christian attracts others by his joy.”[7]

George Whitefield— “It is the end of religion to make men happy, and is it not every one’s privilege to be as happy as he can?” [8]

“Does [Jesus] want your heart for the same end as the devil does, to make you miserable? No, he only wants you to believe on him, that you might be saved. This, this, is all the dear Savior desires, to make you happy, that you may leave your sins, to sit down eternally with him.” [9]

C.S. Lewis—“It is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can.”[10]

John Piper—“Call it what you will: joy, satisfaction, contentment. It doesn’t matter, they are all in the Bible. The Bible is indiscriminate in its pleasure language. If you have nice little categories for “joy is what Christians have” and “happiness is what the world has,” you can scrap those when you go to the Bible, because the Bible is indiscriminate in its uses of the language of happiness and joy and contentment and satisfaction. It is lavish in all of them, and none of them is chosen above the other.” [11]

How can I be truly happy?

Turn to Habakkuk 1

SHOW TIMELINE

Not exactly sure when Habakkuk prophesied, but we think it’s around 609 B.C.

100 years earlier the Northern Kingdom was destroyed by Assyria. But the Southern Kingdom still remained.

One reason the Southern Kingdom lasted longer was they occasionally repented when the prophets preached.

Occasional seasons of national revival

Such as during the reign of King Josiah, from 640-609 B.C.

Josiah led God’s people to a season of spiritual renewal unlike anything they had seen since David was king over 300 years earlier

But when Josiah died, his son, King Jehoiakim, did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

So Habakkuk brings his concerns to God. And his back-and-forth conversation with God is the content of this book.

In their conversation we find an answer to our question for today: How can I be truly happy?

The highway to happiness is trusting in God.

Before we go any further, let me show you why I think that’s the overall message of the book of Habakkuk.

The book of Habakkuk is a conversation between Habakkuk and God. Let’s see where the conversation ends...

‭‭Habakkuk ‭3:17-18‬—“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”

How does Habakkuk get there? By TRUSTING GOD.

Habakkuk 2:4—“the righteous shall live by his faith.”

This little book teaches us that the highway to happiness is trusting in God.

But what are we supposed to trust about God? Three Truths:

Trust that God is GOOD

Habakkuk 1:1-4–“The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. 2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? 3 Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. 4 So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.”

Habakkuk (like everybody) has this hunger for happiness. But he’s unsatisfied because his world is overrun with evil.

Perhaps Habakkuk had once excitedly watched spiritual reforms, only to have his hopes crushed when God’s covenant people quickly returned to their wickedness

Violence, iniquity, wrong, destruction, strife, contention, injustice

The law, which was given to guide and restrain God’s people, seems paralyzed and ineffective

So Habakkuk asks “Why?” “How long?” Is God really good?

Do you ever look at the world around you and ask the same question?

Abortion, racism, sexual abuse, murder, injustice, religious persecution, etc.

Even more close to home are the personal pains we endure...

Physical pain (chronic, cancer, etc.)

Emotional pain (anxiety, depression, loneliness)

Relational pain (broken relationships, etc.

Spiritual pain (temptations, lack of assurance, etc.)

Where do you turn when you feel this way?

The fact Habakkuk is praying is evidence that, even if his faith is shaky, he still believes that God is good!

Christian, when your faith is shaky, take it to Jesus!

God answers Habakkuk’s prayer!

Before we look at God’s answer, perhaps you’re feeling a bit jealous. Why doesn’t God answer me?

2 Peter 1:3—His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, 4 by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Unlike Habakkuk, we have the complete Word of God. Scripture is sufficient!

Don’t wait on a “word from the Lord!” He’s already given you His Word!!!

“Well I still wish I could hear God actually speak to me!” Be careful what you wish for...

For anybody who thinks life would be easier if you had answer to all your questions, think again. Sometimes the answers make life harder, not easier.

Habakkuk 1:5-7–“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.

SHOW BABYLON MAP

The Assyrians are on the verge of collapse and another superpower is emerging: the Babylonians (sometimes called the Chaldeans)

God is going to deal with Judah’s sin by sending the Babylonians as instruments of His discipline

Imagine you’re praying to God, asking Him why He isn’t doing anything to stop the evils in America and He tells you He is doing something! He’s sending China or ISIS to destroy us.

This is tough. If Habakkuk is going to remain on the highway to happiness he must...

Trust That God is WISE

The prophecy God just gave to Habakkuk would be fulfilled in about 23 years. Soon enough for Habakkuk to personally witness the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.

SHOW BABYLON TIMELINE

God clearly has a plan, but Habakkuk doesn’t understand it.

So he prays again...

Habakkuk‬ ‭1:12-13‬—“Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. 13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?

The Babylonians are worse than Judah!!! How can God do this?!?

How in the world are you supposed to have joy when God’s plans seem so strange?

C.S. Lewis put it this way: “’If God were good, he would wish to make His creatures perfectly happy, and if God were almighty He would be able to do what He wished. But the creatures are not happy. Therefore God either lacks goodness, or power, or both.’ This is the problem of pain in its simplest form.”[12]

How do we respond to this? We know the answer! God is wise! He has a plan that we don’t understand.

“I don’t accept that.” We accept that in our stories, but we struggle accepting it in real life...

Think about Dumbledore

Reading the books for the first time, Dumbledore’s decisions don’t make sense.

Why won’t Dumbledore look Harry in the eye in book 5?

Why does Dumbledore make random overnight trips to find weird objects in book 6?

Why does Dumbledore trust Snape?  And why does Dumbledore tell Snape to do what he does at the end of book 6? 

Book 5 is painful because Harry gets so angry at Dumbledore and it appears Dumbledore has zero control over the uprising.  Yet, it is indeed Dumbledore who has control of the situation, not Harry.

Dumbledore is wise, he has perspective, he has a plan, he’s in control

HOW MUCH MORE WITH GOD!!!

NAHUM & JONAH!!!

Do you really believe God is wise?

Do you ask, “why me?” Or “what did I do to deserve this?” Or “how much longer?” Or “have you forgotten me?”

Charles Spurgeon reportedly said, "God is too good to be unkind, too wise to be mistaken; and when you cannot trace His hand, you can trust His heart."

The day will come when you will understand. Are you willing to wait until then? Are you willing to trust Him?

Habakkuk‬ ‭2:1‬—“I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.”

Once again, God responds to Habakkuk...

Habakkuk‬ ‭2:2-3—“And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. 3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

Yes, God will use evil to destroy evil. He’ll use the Babylonians to discipline Judah, but He’s not going to compromise His holiness.

Babylon won’t get away with their evil. It may take some time, but eventually they’ll be punished too.

In Habakkuk 2:6-20, God lists five “woes” against Babylon

2:6—“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own...”

The Babylonians are thieves. Eventually they’ll be the ones getting robbed and plundered.

2:9—“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm!”

The Babylonians feel self-sufficient and safe. Eventually they’ll be destroyed.

2:12—“Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity!”

The Babylonians are violent and unjust. Eventually they’ll be destroyed by fire.

In that day, God alone will get the glory.

2:15—“Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink— you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness!”

The Babylonians use people to satisfy their own pleasures. Eventually they’ll be exposed and ashamed.

2:19—“Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, ‘Awake;’ to a silent stone, ‘Arise!’”

‭‭The Babylonians speak to gods that don’t talk back.

The day will come when God speaks and Babylon is silent.

Why does God interfere with Babylon’s happiness? Not all happiness is created equal!

Some pleasures will choke you

Luke 8:14—seed planted among thorns

The thorns that choke the life out of that seed include the “pleasures of this life.”

You can pursue happiness in the pleasures of sin, but it will choke out any potential for true and lasting happiness.

Some pleasures will enslave you

Titus 3:3—“slaves to various passions and pleasures"

Like the woman with the electrode in her brain. What made her happy eventually became her master.

You can pursue happiness in the pleasures of sin. You can tell yourself you want to be free. But you’re really a slave.

Some pleasures will fade

Hebrews 11:25 says Moses chose to be mistreated with God’s people rather than enjoy the fading pleasures of sin

Sin usually feels good! It will make you happy. But not for long.

Trusting that God is wise means trusting that His Word isn’t given to hamper your happiness. It shows you how to find true happiness!

The highway to happiness is trusting that God is wise. Finally, we must...

Trust That God is ENOUGH

By the time we get to chapter 3, Habakkuk’s circumstances have not changed. If anything they’re going to get worse.

The book started with a lament. You would think that it would end that way, but it doesn’t. It ends with a prayer and a song of joy.

‭‭Habakkuk‬ ‭3:17-19‬—“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places."

How can Habakkuk be happy when everything is going wrong?

Buddhist says to eliminate desire! Stop wanting anything, and then you’ll be happy!

NO! Fight desire with desire!!!

C.S. Lewis—“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”[13]

All these little things that bring happiness are like signs that point the way to the reality.

Driving to Disney World, the signs are meant to increase your joy in the real thing!

You may cheer when you see the sign, but you don’t park there. It’s not Disney World, but it points you there.

You don’t stop and burn it either because it’s not Disney World. It’s not supposed to be! It never said it was. It’s just pointing you there.

If the sign isn’t there, your excitement isn’t ruined either. It’s not Disney World!

The same is true with every God-given pleasure in this life that is uncorrupted by sin. Marriage, family, entertainment, coffee, a recliner, the ocean breeze, a sunrise, a loyal dog, the cool crisp air of fall, etc.

Enjoy these pleasures, but don’t park there. They’re not the object of our happiness. Jesus is! They’re just signs that point us to Him!

Don’t swear off these pleasures because they’re not Jesus.

Habakkuk isn’t going to burn his fields so he’s not tempted

But his happiness isn’t contingent on the signs!!!

Christian: You can have joy even if...

You lose your job

Your family

Kids abandon the faith

Cancer

The highway to happiness is trusting that God is enough.

Was Jesus happy?

He was the happiest human who ever lived!!!

He perfectly trusted God’s goodness

In the wilderness when He was tempted!

He perfectly trusted God’s wisdom

In the garden of Gethsemane

He perfectly trusted God was enough!

“Into Your hands I commit my spirit!”

You will find your deep and lasting happiness when you look to Him!

"[Jesus] is the highest good of the reasonable creature. The enjoyment of him is our proper; and is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Better than fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of any, or all earthly friends. These are but shadows; but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams; but God is the sun. These are but streams; but God is the fountain. These are but drops, but God is the ocean."[14]

Christ Is Enough

BENEDICTION

Let us leave here today... “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12:2)

Go in peace and happiness.