How Long O' Lord? | Pastor Harlow, January 4th, 2026

the sleep of death. Lest my enemies say, I have prevailed over him. Lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in the steadfast love. My heart in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord because he has dealt bountifully with me. I invite you now to stand as we continue in worship. [music] I heard [singing] an old story. How a savior came from [singing] glory. [music] how he gave his life on Calvary to save a rich like me. [music] I heard about [singing] his broken of his precious blood [music] atoning. Then I repented of [singing and music] my sin and won the victory. Victory in Jesus my savior forever. He saw [singing and music] me and he bought me with his redeeing blood. He knew him and all [singing] is [music] to him. He punched me to victory [music] beneath the [singing] cleansing blood. I heard [music and singing] about his healing of his power [singing and music] revealing how he made the lame to walk [music] again and cause the blind to see. And then [singing and music] he cried, "Dear Jesus, come and heal a broken [singing] spirit." And somehow [music] Jesus came and won to be the victory. Our victory [music] is Jesus, [singing] my savior forever. He saw me and bought me with his redeeing blood. Here [singing] [music] I am. I knew him and all my love is to him. He punched me to victory [music] beneath that cleansing [singing] blood. I heard about a man he's built for me in glory.

And I heard [singing] about the [music] streets of hope beyond the crystal sea about [singing and music] the angels singing and the old redemption story. And some [music and singing] sweet day I'll sing out there the song of victory. [music and singing] Oh, victory in Jesus my savior forever. He saw [music and singing] me and he bought me with his redeeming blood. [singing] He [music] knew him and all [singing] is to him. He brushed me to victory. [singing] Believe [music] the cleansing blood. Oh victory is Jesus my savior [singing] forever. He saw [music] me and he bought me with his redeeing blood. He [music] loved me. I knew him and all [singing] my love is to him. [music] He punched me to victory beneath the cleansing [singing] [music] blood. [applause] Praise [music] the Lord. [singing] His mercy is [music] stronger [singing] than darkness. New every morning. Our sins they are many. [music and singing] His mercy is more. [music] >> What love [singing] could remember no wrongs we have done. Omnal [music] knowing he counts not [singing] their son. Throw them into a sea without bomb. [music] [singing] Our sins they are [music] ready. His mercy is more. [music] Praise the Lord. [singing]

His mercy is [music] stronger than darkness. New every [singing and music] morning. Our sins they are many. His mercy is more. What patience would wait [music and singing] as we constantly ro? What father so [music] tender is [singing] calling us home. He welcomes the weakest, [singing] the vice, the [music] poor. Our sins they [singing] his mercy [music] is more. Praise the [singing] Lord. His mercy is more [singing] [music] stronger the darkness. to everyone. [singing] Our sins they are many. His mercy [music] is more. What riches [singing and music] of kindness he lavished on us. His blood was the payment. [singing] His [music] life was the cost. We stood in the debt we could never afford. Our sins [music] they [singing] are many. His mercy is more. Praise [music] the [singing] Lord. His mercy is [singing] stronger than darkness. to everyone. Our sins are many. His mercy is more. Praise the [singing] Lord. His mercy [singing] is more. Stronger than darkness. New [singing] every morning. [music] Our sins. They are many. His mercy is more. Our sins [singing] they are many. His mercy is [music] more. [applause] We invite you all to be seated as we prepare for offering. I'll need the microphone. All right. Uh good morning, church. >> All right. Uh as we continue our worship through giving, I'm just going to go ahead and go into prayer. Father, uh we

come to you, Lord. Lord, we thank you for this new day and this new opportunity to serve you and to worship you. And Lord, as we continue to worship you through our giving, we just pray that Father, we can be good stewards of of what you've given us. and uh and Lord that we can use this offering to to further your kingdom and multiply your people and we just pray this in the name of your son Jesus. Amen. So what is the third commandment and what is required in it? Well, we look at Exodus 20 verse 7. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. And then in Matthew 6:9, pray then like this, oh father, our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. And in Psalms 68 verse4, sing to God, sing praises to his name. Lift up a song to him who rides through the desert. His name is the Lord. exalt before him. In Revelations 15 3-4, and they sing the songs of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord, God the Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations, who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name, for you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. If you would just bow with me and pray. Father, we just uh Lord, as we come to you this morning, Lord, I ask that you just prepare our hearts. Lord, uh give Cody the words to speak. Lord, allow your words to be heard and and uh and that the hearts of the people are just prepared to receive your message. And we pray this in your son's name. Amen. >> [clears throat] >> Please stand again with us as we continue. >> Great is thy [singing] faithfulness, oh God, my father.

There is no shadow [singing] of turning with thee. >> [singing and music] >> Thou changest not thy compassions they fail not love as thou [singing] has been thou forever will be. Great [singing] is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. [singing] Morning [music] by morning. mercies [singing] I see. All I [music] have needed, thy handath proided. [singing] Great is thy [music] faithfulness, [singing] Lord, unto me. Summer [music] and [singing] winter and springtime and harvest. Sun moon [singing] and stars in their courses above. Join [singing] with the nation [music] in manifold witness to [singing] thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is [singing] thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies [singing] I see. All [music] I have needed, thy [singing] handath proided. Great [singing] is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me. Pardon [singing] for sin and a peace that endureth. Light [singing] on dear presence to cheer and to guide. [singing] Strength for today and bright hope [singing] for tomorrow. Blessings, oh my [singing] 10,000 decide. [music] Great [singing] is thy faithfulness. Great is thy [music] faithfulness. Morning [singing] by morning, new mercies I seek. All [singing] I have needed, thy handath proided.

Great is [singing] thy faithfulness, [music] Lord, unto me. >> So do Lord, we do thank you for your thankful for your faithfulness. Uh we thank you for thank you for everything you are to us uh for this morning the opportunity to be together to worship you and um we just thank you for your love that is never ending in our lives. Amen. All right. Good morning. Uh it's children's story time. So if you are under or sixth grade and under, you're welcome to come. Man, I haven't seen you guys since last year. >> Oh, I know. I had to do it. >> How are you guys doing? You guys having You guys have a good Christmas? >> Yeah. >> You got a TV? >> You got a TV? Wow, >> that's crazy. >> Sonicack. >> Sonic backpack. Are you faster now? >> No. Oh, it's Oh, >> yeah. Cool. Yeah. Well, we had a great time in Canada. We were uh traveling around and it was minus 25 and we had a sauna though and I'm telling you, I know people think I'm weird, but saunas are the best. Okay, so we but we had a good time. We visit lots of family and got to visit with our cousins. And you know, when I was in Canada, I saw something because I go back home. That's that's where I grew up, right? I go back home and I saw in the woods um when we came into my parents' property that I grew up on and I saw the the remnants of an old fort that I had built once. How many of you guys have ever built a a tree fort? Yeah. Couple of you guys. How many of you want your own tree fort? Yeah, of course. Right. >> I just >> a small one. >> Right. Who who Okay. Who's who who has a tree fort at their house? What do you What do you love about tree forts?

>> Jace, what do you like about your You have a fort though at home that you go to? >> Yeah. What do you love about it? >> It has walls. Okay. So, okay, that's good. Does it have a roof? >> Yeah. Is it kind of Is it up off the ground a little bit? >> No, it's on the ground. Okay. Yeah. Josiah, you got one? >> Oh, yeah. You got time to yourself. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. You know, one of the things I loved about tree forts was you you're off the ground, okay? You're up you're up in the tree. You're kind of safe and secure from from imaginary bad guys, right? Brothers and sisters, right? You don't want them to come up there, right? And you can see for a long distance. You can see a long ways, you know, and uh uh one thing I always like to do is I like to go and gather rocks. like like I like rocks and I go stash them up there or I'd find a stick that looked like a gun. Okay. And you go put that up there, right? And you just it's kind of your own space. You can like you were saying Josiah, you can go to and be alone and think. And you know what? Sometimes I don't know if you guys had this, but when I was a kid, I kind of got picked on a little bit in school. And I'd have a long bus ride. It was like an hour and a half long. And I would get home and I'd be so tired and I'd be worn out and I'd be miserable. I'll be sad thinking about the day. I hated school and so I was just had anxieties and worries and I would go and I would run before I even talked to my mom because mom would probably have chores for me to do and I'd go run quickly with my backpack and I'd run up into my tree fort and I would just be alone for a little while and I would stay there until I would hear supper time and then I'd quickly go back inside. But yeah, tree forts are are great. We get to be by ourselves. But you know what? Um, in the Bible they

don't have like, it doesn't really talk about tree forts, but they have these things called watchtowers, okay? Watchtowers that are on top of like ram parts, right? You know what a ram part is? It's a part that you ram but you can't break down. It's it's a wall, okay? And it's made out of stone. And then on these certain parts of the wall, there'd be gigantic towers, okay? And there's kind of like a place where people could go and they would look and they could see if the enemy is coming. They could kind of get away. Well, there was a there was a a prophet named Habachok. Can you guys say Habachok? >> Habach. >> Habachok. Yeah. There was a prophet named Habachok who loved to hang out in watch in the watchtower. He would get away from the people because the people were driving him nuts. And he would go up there and he would complain. And you think, "Well, that's not good. Mom and dad tell me not to complain. Wow. Well, this Habach, he complained to God. You're like, "Oh, I'm especially not allowed to complain to God cuz God gives me everything. Why should I complain to God?" Well, Habachok was complaining because of the people. The people were evil. They were they were not following God's ways. And he knew Habach probably knew that judgment was coming. And he'd go up there and God, "How long will you let this evil continue? How long will you will you uh will I wait until I hear an answer from you? And he went up there every day by faith, waiting for God to to to give him an answer. And uh maybe I should open up my Bible here. And in in Habach chapter 2, it says, "I will take my stand at the watch post and station myself at the tower." And so he waited there until God spoke to him. And God finally spoke to him. And this is

the thing I want you guys to I want I want you to remember this verse. God spoke to him and said, "Hey, listen. Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright within him." And here it is. But the righteous shall live by faith. Okay? He was waiting and God told him that the righteous was going to live by faith. And that's what he was doing. He went up there by faith every day to listen to God. And judgment was going to come for his people. It wasn't the answer he wanted to hear. But God gave him some some good words that the righteous shall live by faith. And you know what? We can do that, too. We can go and we can pray to God. We can go to our forts and get alone and talk to God. But we don't need a fort to go and talk to God. Because you know what the Bible says about God? It says, "My name of the Lord is a fortified tower. The righteous run to it and are safe. You know, I brought lots of things into my watchtower, into my tree fort, things that were of no use to me, like a stick that looks like a gun. What good is that going to do, right? It's not going to do anything. But you know what? I should have brought I should have brought into my watchtower. I should have brought in a word of God and I should have brought faith and I should have gone there and I should have prayed to God and and and asked him to help me. And you know what? It doesn't matter where you are. If you guys have anxieties or if you guys have worries or trouble in this life, which you will, you need to be able to have God's word that you can take by faith to him and he will become a fortified tower that no enemy can knock down. Do you believe that? >> Yeah. >> Do you believe that? And in the meantime, ask your mom and dad to build you a tree fort because it's a lot of fun. Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, Lord, we thank you for this uh new year

and Lord, we thank you for your word and we thank you that uh no matter where we go, we can run to you and uh that you will be a strong uh tower for us, a defense against enemies and a place where we can find strength and security and peace. And Lord, I just pray that for these children for this next year that you would uh that you would guide them and protect them and love and show their show love to them in a way that they will understand that their faith may grow. And we pray all these things in Jesus name. Amen. >> Well, if uh you have your Bible, and I hope that you do, please turn with me to the book of Habach. How many of you this is your first time going through the book of Habach? >> Yeah. All right. >> For many of you, I'm very impressed uh that you guys have sat under teaching. Either that or y'all are liars. I don't know. Um the most people, I would say 95% of Christians have never heard a pastor preach on the book of Habach. Um, it's after uh Jonah and Micah and Nahm. It's uh in a part of the Bible called Minor Prophets. Not because their ministry was unimportant. It's just that their books are much smaller than like Isaiah. [laughter] Um but we are starting this series. We'll be in here for six weeks and then we're going to be in the book of Jude for about five. Um, one of those things that uh I do want to bring to your attention uh kind of as a save the date because it's uh it's actually really uh important and exciting is on March 21st and 22nd we'll have uh Creation Ministries International uh coming in uh Dr. Jonathan Saridy will be here uh and uh he's going to be giving his presentations on that Saturday and Sunday morning service and Sunday afternoon. If you've ever had questions about uh creation, evolution, uh discussions on that. Uh it's going to be

a great thing. Uh he his whole his doctorates and his thesis is on spectronomy which is the study of light. Uh and so if you ask them like some of those questions like okay if a star is 10 billion lighty years away how on earth does that light get here if the earth is six 10,000 years old he'll be able to answer those type of questions uh and uh so just a really neat time and uh want to encourage you to invite your friends once again that's uh in late March and so save the date write that down with your pens pen pencil lipstick mascara whatever you got and um and we'll move move on. Okay. I love preaching introductory sermons. Uh I love setting up contexts. Uh so that way everybody kind of knows because if you look at the book of Habach, you're kind of like, I guess it just fits here. And it kind of does, but it also fits with uh you know, Jeremiah and it kind of fits with Nahm and it and it kind of fits with second Kings and it kind of fits with all these different places. And so, uh, uh, this is a nice little timeline for you, uh, just kind of get an idea of where this story is in the Bible, uh, because if you don't know, you don't know, and it won't make a whole lot of sense to you. Um, the nation of Assyria uh, was a wicked empire that Jonah was a prophet to. Uh, Jonah was a prophet to the city of Nineveh, which was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. And they were wicked people that were doing wicked things and they were terrible and and God had had raised them up and they were really really bad. God sent his prophet Jonah as a way to show his heart for the nations even in the Old Testament and he preached the people turned away but it was a very brief repentance. It they they turned away for a season and then they were right back at their wicked ways. During that time uh they became the world's superpower. They destroyed Samaria in 2 Kings

chapter 17. And Samaria at this time was part of a northern kingdom known as Israel. You had the big civil war, had northern kingdom of Israel, had the southern kingdom of Judah. Okay? Uh this southern kingdom uh was a good kingdom that had good kings, bad kings, all that kind of stuff. And so, put yourself in a Judeian's shoes for a moment. They got to see covenant faithfulness, right? God protecting them. But they also got to see what happened when people abandoned the covenant of God. What happens to believers, to followers, to the people of God when they forsake the covenant? They were destroyed. and it was not a very good thing. In order to secure their safety, King Ahaz of Judah, he became Assyria's vassel. Now, they've never, the people of God have never really been great at being vassels. And so, um, in 701, the Assyrian king Sinakarb, he invaded Judah. He surrounded Jerusalem, the city, uh, which is, uh, right here in this timeline. Uh, King Hezekiah is the king at this time and uh, Hezekiah turns to the Lord and what does God do? God spares the city of Jerusalem. And even if you look at Assyrian uh, documents even back then, it shows that uh, uh, they invaded Judah. It shows that they trapped King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, but not once does it mention them taking the city. Why? because God's faithfulness in his word always stands. Um then in 687, Judah got one of the worst kings in the Bible right here. This is Manasseh's reign. Manasseh was a wicked, wicked, wicked king. You see Hezekiah, the king before him, he destroyed all the high places. that that's where they would uh uh make offerings to false gods. But Manasseh, he rebuilt them. He set up more altars to false gods known as Baal. Uh he worshiped the sun and the moon and

the stars. He put idols inside the temple of God himself. He even fashioned an asher, okay? And put it in the very dwelling place of God. I want you to just think about how evil that is. He even permitted things like sorcery and mediums and necromancers and fortune tellers. He encouraged that kind of behavior. He was a wicked wicked man. And he had the longest reign of any king of Judah. Look at look at what else it says uh in 2 Kings 21. Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And not only that, but Manasseh, he even sacrificed his own son as a burnt offering in the valley of Henim. This is a evil and a wicked king and it's permeating all of the society of that time. Now Nahm he arose and he is he is preaching against all of these acts. He sees the injustices, the persecutions and he preaches against the Assyrians and they collapse under this weight. They collapse. And while this is collapsing, while while the Assyrians are are imploding and they see these injustices, they see these persecutions, they see these wicked rulers. Thankfully, wicked men die. And then they had another good king and his name was Josiah. He was a good king. He was eight years old when he took the throne. And for eight years, there's not much known about Josiah's reign. But when he was 16 years old, the word says that Josiah began to seek the heart uh began to seek the God of David, his father. You see, true change comes from the heart, not from other places. And around the age of 20, Josiah, he began to reform the nation of Judah. And he began to destroy the high places that Manasseh had built, destroy the idols and remove

the the bales and all the pagan priests. He even went into the northern kingdom of Israel and he cleansed those high places as well. In 6:21, what they did was they went in and they found the book of the law. This is the book of Deuteronomy. And he took it to a prophetist. Her name was Halda. And Halda, she confirmed two things. One, that judgment was coming because of the generations of rebellion. But then secondly, Josiah would be spared because of his humility. And Josiah, he renewed the covenant and he led the Passover for the nation of Judah. And for all intents and purposes, Judah was looking much, much better. And God was blessing that nation abundantly because of Josiah's godly leadership. But inside the hearts of many of the people, nothing actually changed. Assyria began to collapse. And Josiah, he sought more independence, but nations have a way of exerting influence and control. And Egypt began to march north. And in 609 BC, Pharaoh, Nico, and King Josiah, they f met in a battle at uh the Valley of Megiddo. And King Josiah, he was killed in battle. A good king died and the prophet Jeremiah he was crushed absolutely devastated and within m month months Josiah's son Jehoahaz was deposed in Egypt with its influence installed a puppet leader his name was Jehoakim and injustice returned rapidly despite Josiah's best efforts the hearts of God's chosen people were against the Lord. Nineveh is destroyed, but Babylon begins to rapidly ascend in global influence, which is where Habach prophesies to a nation that is in turmoil and despair. How on earth could God let something like this happen? Why does God permit for evil to permeate societies? And I hope that you're starting to see some of those parallels in our culture today. It's not because our nation is identical to Judah, but because human [snorts] nature has not changed.

Judah had laws. It had courts. It had institutions that still functioned. But justice was perverted. It was ineffective. God's word was around, but it was ignored on a large scale. Worship and sacrifices, it continued, but repentance was absent from the people. Even the priests were complicit. And when Jeremiah confronted them, they wanted him dead. Not because he was wrong, but because the truth threatened their stability. And we must be honest that these same dangers still exist for Christians today. Scripture, it warns us that people, they will gather to themselves teachers who tell them exactly what they want to hear rather than what God has said. In faithful exposition of texts gets replaced with comfort. Conviction gets replaced with affirmation. And many are content with religion that never cause them to obey the Lord or to turn their hearts to the Lord. And the book of Habach, it speaks into moments just like our own, not to entertain us, but to wake us up from our slumber. I I want you to imagine for a moment that you're sitting at a four-way intersection, right? There's there's uh uh lights on each one and uh all the lights are green. All right. And everyone everyone comes to the middle because no one knows who has the ride ofway. People are honking. They're blaring. And the system is technically working, right? The roads are there, the lights are on. Uh people are are are driving on the roads. The rules exist, but the design has failed and people are getting hurt. That's the world that Habach lived in. The law was written. The temple was standing. The priests were working. The courts were still meeting. But justice had broken down. Laws were being ignored. And evil was winning. And Habach, he doesn't start by

preaching at the people. He starts by crying out to God, which is important for you and I to understand because it's not asking is God real? He's asking, "Where is God?" Because holding on right now seems pretty darn pointless. You see, Habach, he's not questioning God's power. He's questioning God's timing. He's questioning God's purpose. And I think that that's where many people are in the church today. And that's where many people are in the world. If you've ever looked at the world or the state of the church or even your own life and you've just kind of wondered, "How long, Lord? How much longer am I going to have to hold on?" Then the book of Habach is for you. So if you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we read Habach chapter 1 verses 1-4 God's word it says this the oracle that Habach the prophet saw oh Lord how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear or cry to you violence and you will not save? 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. So the law is paralyzed and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth perverted. And so Lord, in this uh first Sunday of 2026, we just uh u we ask that as well. Lord, how long how long will it be? Uh not uh in a complaining or uh heartless or uh even faithless kind of way, Lord. But we we want you here. We want you to rule and we want you to reign. We want you to return. Uh we want all the stuff that we have to deal with in this world uh to just be under your complete authority and we know that it is but we we want your visible kingdom here God. Uh we want your leadership over our

lives. Your visible personal leadership Lord but in the meantime help us God uh to live faithfully under what you have already said in your word. You've made it clear how we are to live, how we are to live by faith and how how we are to be loving towards our neighbors and to be generous and to be kind and gentle and uh all those things that we talk about often. Help us Lord uh to live by that kind of faith, a living faith, an abiding faith, a faith that uh rejoices in the truth. Help us God. Father, we love you. Please speak to our hearts today in Jesus name. Amen. >> Well, the first verse today introduces the subject uh about the oracle that Habach the prophet saw. If you could raise your hand if your translation says something other than oracle. Maybe it says burden. It says burden for you. Yeah, couple of y'all. Awesome. Okay. It says uh and that's probably a better translation because it's actually a heavy message that Habach is sharing here. We don't know anything really about Habach other than he was a prophet of the Lord. This message that was given to him by revelation from God. But it's also an anguish prayer. If you're taking notes, the first point that I want you to write down is the prophet's burden. The importance of the first verse is not that he saw this message. It's not important for us to really know how it came about, but it is important for us to know where it came from. This burden is ultimately a revelation from God himself, not from man. This isn't because uh this writing is not because of emot uh Habach's emotions or his frustrations or anything like that. It's not venting. It's not just simply responding to culture. This leads us to the fact that the burden is heavy because reality can be confusing at times. I mean, think about how confusing it would be to live under Manasseh.

He ruled for 55 years. That's a long reign in the ancient world. And then to go to Josiah who ruled for 24 years. And then to go back to Jehoakim. But then his brother JehoaZ was there for just a little bit. It it'd be very tumultuous to go from from a culture that celebrated necromancy and child sacrifice and things like that to we're going to obey the Lord to not anymore to hey here's another guy and we all know that he's an Egyptian puppet. It it would be so confusing. But Habach is wondering, "How could God allow for a king to die so young? How could God allow for injustices to go unchecked? How can the wicked rule over God's own people? How can I live faithfully and morally when all the pressures seem so burdensome?" But this burden, it drives Habach to God, not away from him. And notice what Habach does. He takes his cares to the Lord. And he we are invited to take our cares to the Lord. Why? Because he cares for you. The Lord loves you. And you can take all of your burdens and all of your care and all of your stuff to the Lord. And there's no minimizing the weight. He just unloads his burden. You see, Habach Habach's faith is not proven by his by his silence or his ability to just grin and bear it or anything like that. It's his faith is proven by his perseverance and prayer. And some burdens like for you, you might have a big strong back and you might think I I can carry some of these burdens, but other burdens are going to press down on you so deeply that you are not going to be able to carry them alone. they will crush your soul. But Habach, he shows us that faith does not mean pretending that the weight isn't there. It means that we have a place to take our burdens. Jesus himself, he said this. Oh, I didn't put the slide in. Sorry.

Matthew 11:es 29 and 30. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. You see the prophet, he does not solve the problem before he prays. He prays because the problem is too heavy for him to carry by himself. And so what about you? Is your heart burdened by the evil that you see in our culture or have you become numb to it? Habach's not numb. He cries out, "Lord, how long do I have to cry out to you over this?" The righteous are crushed while the wicked seem to thrive. It's just like what the psalmist says. "Oh Lord, how long will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?" You see, God's silence, it can be especially painful when injustice is obvious. When Josiah ruled Jeremiah 22:16, he judged the cause of the poor and needy. Then it was well, is not this to know me, declares the Lord. But all of that changed overnight. Jehoakim replaced righteousness with exploitation, and those under him followed his example. And yet there's no response from God. And so then what do we do when God seems silent? What do we do? God's silence has always been one of the greatest trials of faith. And it's going to be one of the greatest trials of your faith as well. If you've ever gone through the period where God doesn't seem to be speaking to your heart, you know how deafening that silence can be when you feel like you're just trudging through and pushing through. A great quote that I heard is that a silent heaven is one of the greatest mysteries of our existence. And Habach is not the only person that has ever struggled with this. Many Old Testament prophets dealt with this. Many pastors, many of your brothers and sisters that are sitting in here right alongside of

you have dealt with the silence of God. Even in the heavens, the saints, they cry out, "Oh, sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" How long is this going to take? How long do we have to put up with rampant violence? That word violence here in Habach is the word Hamas. So you take that however you want to. But it refers to Hebrew system uh systemic brutality and the abuse of power. How long Lord will you tolerate evil? How long God will these conflicts continue and peace just collapse? How long Lord will your laws be ignored in justice be perverted? How long? And Habach, he prays because silence hurts the most when you know that God can speak and he can speak at any time. And it's in those moments that God, he feels so distant from us. He feels maybe disengaged and maybe you feel a little bit of uh injustice. But it's in those times of silence that the Christian is challenged to seek the Lord in a deeper way, to continue pursuing God, to seek his face. Sinclair Ferguson, he said, "Faith is not a denial of despair. It is a defiance of it." >> You see, God is not indifferent when he is silent. Habach, he doesn't walk away. He doesn't harden his heart. He presses deeper in prayer. And when injustice is happening, things that are going on that we don't like, it can lead to us being bitter, complaining, we can seek the heart of the Lord instead of growing bitter or complaining. And God, he delights in it. When we bring our frustrations to him, we can talk to God about who he is. But this is urgent because look at look at the verse. Why do you make me see iniquity? Why, God? Why do you look idly at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife and contention arise. What do you do when evil is everywhere?

He's overwhelmed by the evil in his nation. And I think that we can all relate to evil permeating society. Judah was a rotting nation. the promised land. It was filled with depravity and corruption. I mean if good if God is good and he is all powerful then why is evil allowed to flourish? And that's a classic argument that atheists have asked. If God is able to intervene and chooses not to, then they say he's heartless and unloving. If God desires to intervene but is unable to, then he's powerless. At least that's what the atheist says. But they wrongfully assume that evil exists outside of us. The biblical truth is that evil exists because humanity exists. We shouldn't ask what's wrong with the world. We should be asking what's wrong with humans? What's wrong with humanity? See, God, he allows evil to persist in our world for three reasons. They're not on the screen, so you'll have to listen to these. Just a quick aside, I wrote this paper in college. It was on these and retribution theology and it was due when I had my app indextomy and I finished it while I have no memory of [laughter] it and I sent it in and I got to read it later and uh so here you go. Don't worry, I did all the research beforehand. Um the first reason is because God is longsuffering. What that means is that God is patient with you and I. He loves you. He loves you so much. And if he destroyed all evil immediately, that's us. That's all of us in this room because we've done evil things. But God's patience reveals his character. Isaiah says that God, he

restrains his anger. so that we would not collapse before him, that we would not grow faint before him. So God, he allows evil to persist because it's actually a mercy. Why? Secondly, because God, he desires your repentance. He wants you to trust in him. That's why he delays. That's why he puts up with the evil is that he wants you. Look at this. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. And he has a whole laundry list of things at the end of Romans 1 there that he talks about. Do you suppose, oh man, that you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? That's why that's why he delays. But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. The silence Habach feels is actually God extending mercy for his people to repent. However, we also learn that patience abused becomes wrath that is stored up for judgment. That's why delay is dangerous for you. If you are here and you do not know Christ, you're not guaranteed tomorrow. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to trust in Christ. Don't wait. Don't presume that you're just going to continue on in life. Your life can be over like that and then it's too late. This is why delay is dangerous for people that continually live live in sin. It's not meant to be comforting. It's not meant for you to take it as God affirming what you do. But we also know that God allows evil to persist because there is a certainty of judgment. God,

he's not overlooking evil. He's recording evil. What does it say? For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil. Evil and corruption and sin only continue now because listen, judgment is coming later. And when it comes, it will be complete. It will be just. It will be unavoidable. There will be no place for people that are corrupt to hide. We can look at our world and we can see tyrants rise and tyrants fall. Some tyrants get what they deserve. Some don't. Some political corrupt people, they get exactly what they deserve. Some don't on this side of eternity. But listen, on the other side of eternity, there is something far worse that is awaiting each and every person that does not trust in God. How long, Lord? Why are you delaying? But God's silence is not permission. It's patience. God is storing up wrath for the nation of Israel. When evil is tolerated long enough, the next thing to collapse is justice. And people under God's covenant, they're starting to harm each other. Why is this happening? Habach says that destruction and violence are before me. Strife and contention, they arise. Why is it that abortion clinics open when churches decline or close their doors? Why do the rich build more wealth while so many suffer in poverty? Why do corrupt leaders seem to get slaps on the wrist while average people get the book thrown at them? Why is there so much spiritual abuse in churches or coverups? We must remember that there is a day of judgment that is looming over each person that is outside of Christ. But let me ask you, when you see those things, do you get broken over sin or do you become numb to it? Do you engage with the Lord or do you entertain yourself to death? Just swipe down to the next reel. Swipe down to the next

And sometimes we feel like self-medication is our only option when justice is broken. Habachi says something that should all give us pause. He says the law is paralyzed. It's not forgotten. It's not absent. The Hebrew word here is pug, which means to be feeble, to be frail or powerless. See, the best law in the world is useless if it's not upheld. God's law, the moral framework meant to restrain evil and protect the weak, still exists in Judah, but it's lost its power because the people responsible for enforcing it refuse to submit to it. In Habach's world, the worst thing that righteous do at this time is to appeal to the courts, to appeal to a, you know, a judge because the unrighteous already outnumbered the the unrighteous already outnumbered the righteous. The verdict was already decided. It was whoever had the biggest bribe. Justice had become weaponized in the hands of the powerful. It's not chaos, it's corruption. And that's why the prophet cries out, "Why do the righteous suffer? Why do the wicked flourish? Why does God seem to do nothing? And Habach knows that God is righteous. He knows that God is the judge of all the earth. And so, he dares to bring his protest to God himself. See, Habach here, he's not arguing with the Lord. He's appealing to God. And and God, he he enjoys it when we bring our appeals to him. When Job when all of his friends were having polite theology discussions and all the systematic uh discussions, they knew about God. But Job, he spoke honestly about his hurt and he knew God. And God said that what Job spoke was right. The psalmist, they do the same. The prophets, they do the same. Even Christ on the cross, he cries out, "Why have you forsaken me?" And this kind of lament, it flows from a deep conviction

that God, you are righteous even when we don't understand your ways. God, you are good even when the world around me does not seem good. Habach, he says that the wicked, they surround the righteous. Some of your translations might say him in the righteous because without justice, the righteous have no other refuge than the Lord. There is no place for the righteous to go. The faithful have no voice but to go to God. And that's when obedience to the word becomes costly. The righteous, that is those who follow the Lord God, not people that are morally good. the righteous, they don't adopt the methods or the beliefs of the wicked. Instead, what happens is they suffer and the result is devastating. God's people experience his his authority not through his law, but through the discipline of foreign powers. And God, he's going to tell Habach here that he's raising up the Babylonians for for judgment. And that just sends Habac for a whole another loop. But when God's law is ignored, justice doesn't disappear. It becomes perverted. And when justice collapses, the righteous suffer when the wicked rule. In a society that rejects God's authority through his law, will experience God's authority through judgment. You see, our world is not very different from Habachics. There's widespread corruption among our nation's leaders. And the judicians did The judicial system is weaponized. We know that even against the righteous. We see widespread violence on an unimaginable scale. And sure, some things have changed recently. But what about in 10 years? What about in 20 years? What about your grandchildren? You see, it's about reaching the heart. And if we want to see our nation changed,

it's ultimately by sharing the gospel and meeting people where they're at and teaching them and selling them taste and see the Lord is good. He's the only shelter for us. And so what do you do when you look around and you see the silence of God and you see injustice on a wide scale? Well, look at Habach. He doesn't get an immediate explanation. He doesn't get immediate relief or comfort or anything like that. But what he does get is God. He gets communion with God. He gets time with God. Before God ever answers Habach, he teaches him how to wait. How long will I have to put up with this wait? And so as we close this morning, let me summarize what Habach teaches us about dealing with the silence of God. Not with cliches, but with faith. So head, heart, hand, head, God, he wants you to know that when he seems silent, he is not abandon his throne. His silence isn't absence. His delay is not indifference. His patience is not permission. You need to know that God, he sees evil much more clearly than we do. He hates injustice more deeply than we ever could. But his timing is governed by wisdom, not by urgency. So [clears throat] we have to know that we know that we know that God is righteous even when his ways don't make much sense to us at least in that time. Heart God. He wants you to believe that you can bring your complaints to him and not nurse them in bitterness. Habach does not suppress this anguish. He doesn't sanitize his prayers. He doesn't get himself all organized. He pours it out to the Lord. There's a world of difference between complaining to God and lamenting to God. One hardens the heart while others deepen faith. So if you're burdened by what you see in the world, whether it's corruption, injustice, evil, hypocrisy, whatever it is, what we learn is that God, he

invites you to come to him and ask him, "How long, Lord? How long do I have to see these things, but also teaches us to trust God, not to accuse God?" God, he handles our honesty really well, and he welcomes your cries in hand. God, he wants you to lean into him. Don't pull away. So spend time with him in prayer instead of grumbling, in scripture instead of speculating what's going to happen, in repentance, instead of resenting. Habach, he shows us that faith, it doesn't mean that you have all the answers. It means staying near God even when the answers are withheld. And so when you see injustice angering you or the culture exhausting you or anything like that, lean into the Lord. Keep praying. Keep trusting. Keep obeying. Cling to him because God's silence is not the end of the story. And next week we're going to see that when God speaks, sometimes his answer can be pretty unsettling as well. But God, he is far more sovereign than what Habach could have ever imagined. Now, at this time, uh we are going to move into a time of communion. Uh and then we're going to sing the doxology and then we have a an extremely brief time of business just to approve a housing allowance that we just forgot to do at the last business meeting. It'll just be a quick show of hands. Uh so uh at this time I'm going to ask my brothers to come forward as uh we prepare our hearts to partake in communion. Communion is also known as the Lord's supper. It's a symbol of uh of what Christ did for us on the cross. Uh the bread, it represents his body. The juice represents his blood shed for you. And so, uh, you do not have to be a member of First Baptist Church in order to partake in communion, but you do have to be a believer. And if you're not certain on whether or not you are a believer, then just quietly let the tray

move past you. Um, and and then come and talk to me afterwards. We we want you to partake in communion and and be baptized and take take part in the ordinances. Um if uh if maybe you have unconfessed sin, uh the Bible it tells us to leave our gifts at the altar and go and resolve it and then come back. Just let it quietly go past you and and commit to getting whatever that might be right. That way you can fully participate in communion uh next month when we celebrate it. I'm going to pray and uh then we're going to distribute the elements and Miss Charlotte is going to play for us. So, if you would bow your heads and close your eyes as we prepare our hearts for the Lord's supper. And so, Lord, we do thank you so much for this day that you've given to us. [snorts] Uh we thank you for the fact that we can come to you with our hearts cries. Uh Lord, that even when we are struggling with silence, you still in invite us to uh your table uh to taste and see that you are good. uh to celebrate uh exactly what it is that you did for us by purchasing our redemption and remembering the costly sacrifice of God in the flesh dying for a rotten sinner like myself. Lord, just what an extravagant love that we remember this morning. Help us, Lord, to uh to take it with delight in reflecting on the cost of uh what it means for our redemption. God, we love you Lord in Jesus name. Amen. >> [music] >> What do you think? Are you