Wait for It

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

But in Marysville, we’re celebrating life We’re not celebrating pride because we worship the Lord of life our Lord is Life and we come to him for life That’s why we gather every Lord’s Day and to receive life from him and to be filled with his goodness we are nourished, we eat from Him. And as we start every week, so we start today, we are in assembling to look to our Maker and remember that our help is in the name of the Lord. Amen. And our scriptural call to worship comes from Habakkuk chapter 3. O Lord, I have heard the report of you and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it, in the midst of the years make it known, in wrath remember mercy.

You marched through the earth in fury, you threshed the nations in anger, you went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed, you crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck, Selah. Father, we gather as one people before you today to lift up your praises and worship you in spirit and truth. You have redeemed us from trouble and we can say with confidence that your steadfast love endures forever. We are here to celebrate your name with praise and prayer, remembering the Lord of life. Here we are before you on this Lord’s Day to refresh our souls in the rest that you have brought us into. To come and drink of your word, to eat at your table, Lord injustice surrounds us, but we put our trust in you. Bless our worship. May it be acceptable in your sight. Use us to magnify your name. Amen.

The Apostle James exhorts us to be quick to hear and slow to speak. Proverbs 10-19 says, And words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. And Proverbs 17, 28 says, even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise. When he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent. There is wisdom in silence and there is folly in many words, much folly in many words. The Bible is full of such exhortations. We’ve all encountered the sort of person who we would like to tell or advise to talk less and listen more. Sit down, be quiet. Maybe you’d like to tell me that. Maybe more often than not, that person is us.

The foolish man is only interested in venting his spirit. The world around him knows all of his thoughts because he holds none of them back. Some tongues are just too eager to open the door to the knocking thoughts. A little restraint will keep the household safe. Maybe we need a principle to combat the tongue that is too eager to speak. Maybe the principle should be just don’t do it. When you want to say something, just don’t. If you talk, there’s a risk that you’ll sin, so just don’t talk. Also if you talk, people are going to expect something of you, so just don’t talk. But actually, there are times when the sin is not in the words.

There are times when our silence is the sin. Specifically for us men. God was the one who gave us tongues. Words are God’s idea. We did not invent speech. God opened our mouths so that we would use them. Yes, our tongue has been twisted and perverted into all sorts of sin. Men get creative in how they sin with their tongue. But sinning in our silence is no less destructive than sinning with our words. What was Adam’s initial sin? It all happened so quickly, as sin does. Before we know it, we’ve gotten ourselves into a huge mess. Genesis 3, 6 is the explosion verse. This is the big bang, if you may. Genesis 3, 6.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate. Eve sinned by eating the fruit. But what was Adam’s sin? So much happens here in just the one verse. In Genesis 3.6, the course of human history was changed forevermore. Verses 1-5 is humanity’s watershed moment, right? The spring, the river is coming to a watershed. And as the serpent approaches Eve, Eve converses with him. The serpent gets her talking. He twists her words.

He twists God’s words. And at that watershed moment, while the serpent is deceiving Eve, we could either go down the river as was initiated, that is, naked and unashamed. Adam and Eve were created to be in fellowship with their maker and in fellowship with one another. They were made for perfect joy and full delight in God and his creation.

could either reject the serpent’s offer and continue down the river of delight, or it could steer the boat of history down the left side of the watershed into grief, despair, anger, and shame. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate. Eve took and ate the fruit of the tree. That was her sin. She then gave Adam the fruit that he ate. That was his sin. But was that his initial sin? God commanded Adam to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The instruction was given to him in chapter 2 verses 17 before God created Eve. Then in verse 21 God created Eve with Adam already holding that instruction. God took a piece of Adam and out of it made Eve, bone of his bones, flesh of his flesh. The instruction God gave to Adam, Adam was responsible to keep him and everyone that came out of him including Eve and

all of her children. Adam was responsible for keeping that instruction. It was Adam’s responsibility to ensure Eve was protected from deceit. What does it say just before the last three words of verse 6? We generally attribute Adam’s sin to those last three words of the verse. And he ate. That’s where we think we see the fall of mankind. But But was that Adam’s initial sin? Eating the fruit was Eve’s sin, but where was Adam while Eve was conversing with the serpent? Adam was right there with her. She also gave some to her husband who was with her. Before Adam decided to join Eve in eating the fruit, Adam’s sin was his silence.

He refused to speak in the precise moment when speaking was what he needed to do. In that watershed moment, what steered the boat to the left instead of staying course on the right, changing the history of the world forevermore, was not Eve’s deception. It was Adam’s silence. It was Adam’s silence that destroyed his family. No matter what he thought in that moment, Adam could not get away with being passive. He did not have that option. Adam’s passivity was active. It was Adam’s passivity that actively steered the boat. None of us men can get away with staying silent in the moment that we must speak. If you speak when your wife is angry, you risk making her more angry.

So you choose to stay silent. And in your silence, you abdicate your responsibility to lead your wife. A man’s passivity is always active. If you speak when your 15-year-old daughter can’t figure out her emotions, you risk making a bigger mess of the situation. So you choose to stay silent. And in your silence, you make an even bigger mess than you would have otherwise. A man’s silence speaks. And if you speak when those in charge are leading the people astray, you risk the metaphorical or maybe even at times literal gallows. The leaders will hang you for speaking up. And in your silence, you allow the people you should have stood up for to be taken advantage of.

A man’s silence condemns him. Maybe some of you saw the news story this last week about a pastor in Louisiana who got arrested for beating up a heckler who threatened his wife, kids, and grandkids. This neighboring heckler has been jeering and slandering the pastor and this church for a few years, even during the COVID times they’re having a lot of problems. And then this last week, while the pastor was outside of his church fixing a bus, the young heckler started yelling profanities at him, and then started saying that he will rape his wife, rape his grandkids, and murder his family the next time the pastor is out of town, and he won’t be able to do anything about it.

So as the pastor approached to confront him, the heckler started swinging punches. So the pastor responded with his own punches and beat the heckler up for threatening to rape and murder his family. Whatever your judgment is of the pastor’s actions, One thing you cannot condemn him of is staying silent while his church and family were under attack. The tongue is a burden of responsibility. And like any responsibility we bear, abdicating it is never the right thing to do. Should we be wise with our words? Yes. Are there times, many times, when it’s better to stay silent, to choose to remain silent? Yes. But know that that is a choice that we make. The man chooses. He chooses to speak, or he chooses to remain silent. The man makes that choice. So it’s not actually a right to say, when in doubt, just keep silent.

The man has no option but to choose, and the consequence of his choice, stay with him and remain with his family. Yes, we do sin with our speech, but we also sin with our silence. So if this brings to light sin, that needs confessing, or maybe there are other things that need to be dealt with now is the time that we can confess those. So you’re invited, if you desire, and able to kneel in humble confession before the Lord and then all pray for us corporately. Father we confess that we are fools in our speech and cowards in our silence. We speak when we should stay silent and abdicate when we should speak up. Forgive us Lord for our silence forgive us for thinking we can get away with being passive. Lord because of our silence we’ve let the world take ground The culture around us steals and murders and gets away with it.

And still, many Christians refuse to speak. Grant repentance to your church. May Christians in our city, state and nation rise up for your honor as the line-hearted before. May we use the tongue you’ve given us to confess the Lordship of Christ over every domain. It’s in His name that we pray. Amen. You’re invited to stand for the reminder of the assurance of your forgiveness. Our text is from Psalm 32, verses 1 through 5. “‘Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.

For day and night your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. I said I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah. As we sin in our silence, so we are forgiven through our speech. We open our mouths and confess with our tongues. It’s in response to our words that the Lord forgives our silence. In our silence, like David, we waste our way. In our silence, our strength is dried up. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And that’s the reason for us to sing. The reading this morning is from Habakkuk chapter 2 verses 1 through 3. I’ll be out of the ESP. So Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 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. And the Lord answered me, write the vision, make it plain on tablets so he may run who reads it. 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. Father, as we open your word, open our eyes to see your wonders. Amen.

SB 6346 imposes a 10% tax on a Washington state taxable income exceeding $1 million per household in order to pay for more government entitlements and handouts and other administrative expenses. More socialist endeavors that are already driving many productive business owners out of the state and leaving our state worse off. Washington State government contracts incorporate DEI metrics into project awards and hiring decisions demonstrating the sort of unjust partiality the Bible speaks against. Gay relationships are not only promoted and celebrated in Washington, but those who oppose such unions are vilified by the highest holders of our office.

The SHIELD law defines gender-affirming treatment on minors as protected health care. And SB 5599 passed in 2023 let our state take children away from parents who object to mutilating their kids. Washington state doesn’t just encourage but forces fathers to sterilize and mutilate their own children. Our state calls evil good and good evil. The Washington state government paid half a billion dollars in legal claims in a single year for wrongs our government was proven in doing and is facing another $2.5 billion in pending liabilities. The state is sued and convicted by its own citizens and where does it get the money to pay the fines?

the same citizens through taxes. Where is the justice? If a crime is committed against you and the criminal is convicted, he does not pay any sort of retribution to you. Instead, you pay for his housing, his food, and fund his wages for however long his prison sentence is, not in order to bring justice, but in order to attempt rehabilitation. So you’re stolen from, and then you’re stolen from again. Abortion is enshrined as a fundamental right in Washington under RCW 9.02, the Reproductive Privacy Act. Our state maintains a stockpile of abortion pills, and just this March passed SB 5917, removing the requirement to recoup the cost, turning our state provider into a kill-pill distributor.

And then past SB 6182, it insured tax to fund abortion. Our land is defiled with blood guilt of child mutilation and child sacrifice, and the blood spring is still pumping. Washington state is full to the brim of injustice and corruption. These are just a few of the recent examples of the explicitly visible demonstrations of injustice. If we just scratch the surface a little bit deeper into land zoning laws, mandatory housing affordability fees, teacher unions, and backroom political back-scratching, the iceberg becomes a bit more visible. The injustice in our state is in good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. So what are we to do? The book of Habakkuk is a relevant example for dealing with injustice.

Sean preached through the entire book a couple of years ago. You can find those sermons online. And I thought the book was relevant to bring up again for us on this June Life Jubilee as we meditate on the injustice being done in our state. So you can open up your Bibles to the book of Habakkuk. We’ll be in that book. The book is Habakkuk’s cry to God about injustice in the land of Judah, which is seemingly going unpunished and not dealt with. God replies to Habakkuk that he will punish Judah with the fierce sword of Babylon, of the Shaldians. And that did not give any sort of relief to Habakkuk. It only made things worse.

What kind of justice was that? Babylon is not the prime example of an upright ruler bringing the sword of justice on the rebels. Babylon is even worse than Judah. His sword is one of murder, rape, and destruction. So Habakkuk cries out to God again and then receives another answer. The interpretation of the book is fairly straightforward. The parties are all identified. There’s no mystery about who or what Habakkuk and God are talking about. As the Lord commanded him, Habakkuk made the vision plain. So even though it’s not about us, there is plenty of application for us in this short gem of a book, especially for our time living here in Washington state in the year of our Lord 2026.

It’s hard not to grow callous, having to constantly tolerate injustice. We grind our teeth, we groan when we keep living our lives in this swamp. What can we do? And maybe that’s the worst part of it all. What can we do? Not only do we see and are affected by the injustice, but so much of the time we feel helpless about all of it, not able to effectively do anything about the thing. That’s the sort of situation that Habakkuk was in. In our helplessness, we too often respond by just venting about our condition, either to the people around us or on social media. We make our grievances known to whomever we think is listening.

Maybe on social media it’s a little bit easier because We don’t know if people are listening or not. But Habakkuk doesn’t start there. He doesn’t start by venting to other people. Habakkuk cries out to the Lord. He starts that way right away in chapter 1. O 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.

arise, so the law is paralyzed and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth perverted.” What can we do when there’s nothing that we can do? We can cry out to God. Too often, God is our last resort. After everything we’ve tried doesn’t work. After everything else when we’ve put already all of our chips into the middle of the table after all of our tactics have failed then when nothing else is left for us to do we cry to God in our desperation and that is good that’s good if we eventually get there if eventually we do cry out to the Lord that is a good thing lest we forget that God is our deliverer sometimes God doesn’t allow what we’re working for to produce immediate fruit in order to bring us to our needs. So when we do that is a blessing. But how much more blessed would we be if our first action, not our last, would be to cry out to the Lord?

Habakkuk starts his cry by saying, oh Lord how long shall I cry for help and and you will not hear me.” He’s been praying for a while. He’s been coming to the Lord about this repeatedly. This is not his first time opening his heart before the Lord. So with us, crying out to God should be where we start, not where we end up. If we’re going to complain, if we’re going to complain, we should complain to the Lord before we do so to others. God then gives Habakkuk an answer, which like I said, only made things worse for Habakkuk. So he calls out to God again. Habakkuk is an example for us when in the face of injustice.

We’re going to be in chapter 2, verses 1 through 3, the verses that Jim read for us. And so if you’re paying attention, I’m going to have three main points as we draw from Habakkuk’s example in chapter 2 verses 1 through 3, 3 points. Habakkuk 2, I will take my stand at my watchpost and stationed myself on the tower and look out to see what he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint. And the Lord answered me, write the vision, make it plain on tablets so he may run who reads it. 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.

The first thing that we can take from this passage is the need for us to stand. That’s point number one. Stand. I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower. When Christians read Jesus say, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth, a lot of times they think that means that they should sit down. I’m supposed to be meek and humble, so I should get out of the way. But what sort of men were the men who the Bible described as meek? Although there were a lot of others with characteristics of meekness and humility, there were only two men specifically for whom the word meek was used in the Bible.

The first was Moses, Numbers 12.3. Now the man Moses was very meek more than all people who were on the face of the earth. Moses, the man who stood in the face of the sovereign of the Egyptian empire, the man who stood in the middle of the Red Sea as it parted and all the Israelites walked through just before stretching his hand over the sea so that the sea came down to kill all the Egyptians. The man who stood while the people he was leading were ready to kill and overthrow him as He asked the Lord to open the earth to swallow up Korah, Dathan, and Abarom with their wives, sons, little ones, and all that belonged to them, and they all went down alive to shew,” the Bible says.

This is the man that the Bible calls very meek more than all people who are on the face of the earth. We don’t define meekness. The Bible does. The second person for whom the word meek is used to describe was Jesus. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Jesus, the man who took a whip and beat people with it while overturning tables and driving them out of the temple. The man who when the lawyers confronted him about insulting them when he was speaking against the Pharisees, like he didn’t know that he also insulted them, doubled down his insults against the lawyers.

The man who refused to back down to the point of torment and death. Both Moses and Jesus constantly refused to sit down when others would have had them too. And these are the particular men whom the Bible decides to call meek. We are to be meek before the Lord, so that we can stand before men when we must. But we can see where Habakkuk takes his stand. He takes his stand, he says, at his watchpost and stations himself on the tower. So there’s a few things for us to draw from where Habakkuk is deciding to stand. First, Habakkuk calls it my watchpost. I will take my stand at my watchpost. This was his station. This was his place to stand.

This was the role God assigned to the prophet, and so that is where he stood. The role God has for us is where we should stand. In whatever domain God has placed us in his providence, whether or not we think we belong there, that is where we are. And that is where we must stand. Second, Habakkuk stations himself on the tower. Stationed myself on the tower. This is an elevated vantage point for Habakkuk and is different from where everybody else is standing. Nobody else is there. He’s stationing himself apart from the rest of the people. Some might look at that and call it pride or arrogance. Who put you up in that tower? Who allowed you to be up there?

The way maybe they would have accused Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego for standing when everybody else fell down to worship the idol. And because those three men remained standing in the public square, they also remained standing in the fiery furnace. In a world going downstream, Christians must be accused of standing in arrogance, although that accusation must be slander. Christians mustn’t stand in arrogance, but they must stand at an elevated vantage point. They do have a perspective the rest of the world does not. In a sense, they do stand above because God has raised them. We are to be differentiated. And third, Habakkuk takes a stand in a watchtower.

What does a watchman do in a watchtower? The watchman looks out for danger for the sake of everybody in the city. The watchman stands apart from others, but he does so for their sake, not to distance himself from the people, but in order to serve them. And so are we to do. In our assigned role, we are to stand apart from those around us in an elevated vantage point for their own sake. We may not yield or give ground. We are to remain standing. Thomas Watson said it this way, as feathers will be blown every way, so will feathery Christians. We aren’t to be feathery Christians. Instead, as Paul said, we are to be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.

That’s point number one. In the face of injustice, we stand. The second thing we take from this passage is that in the face of injustice, we see. That’s point number two. See. I will take my stand at my wash post 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. What does the watchman do in the watchtower? He’s watching, right? He’s looking. He is seen. And what exactly is Habakkuk looking to see? Look out to see what he will say to me. Habakkuk has made his cry to the Lord and now he stands to see what the Lord will answer him. The seeing that Habakkuk is doing is not generative seeing. He’s not choosing what to see.

This is receptive seeing. Habakkuk is patiently waiting for what the Lord will show him, what the Lord will answer. He is open to God for whatever answer God will give. And so there are three applications here for us. First, when we are standing to see what God will say, where are we to look? We are to look into God’s Word to see what the Lord has said to us. We put our eyes to God’s Word as we look to the Lord for His answer. The Christian who is not letting the Bible pour over him, who is not patiently looking into the word for God’s answer, who is not searching and studying to find what the Lord has revealed, is not in a position to receive the answers that he’s looking for.

And he’s not in a position to be asking the questions that he is. God has revealed to us every answer that he intends for us to know. Deuteronomy 29, 29, the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children, that we may do all the words of this law. So yes, there are many things that God has chosen not to reveal to us. Much of God’s decorative will we won’t understand. But we find solace in the fact that everything that God does want us to know, He has revealed to us. We are only to look. And we know that with the Holy Spirit abiding in us, we have the ability to see what God wants us to see.

God has given us His word and has empowered us with His Spirit. We are only to look and see. Second, the watchman looks to see, but he doesn’t decide what he sees or when he’ll see it. Like I said, his seeing is not, is receptive. It’s not generative. And that means that the watchman’s job is one that requires patience. The watchman sees and looks with patience. As we look into God’s Word, not everything becomes clear to us right away. But we keep looking into it, wrestling with the text, letting the Word pour over us day after day, patiently looking to see what the Lord will say to us. And look at what Habakkuk is ready for.

He says, I will look out to see what he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint. Habakkuk is not only expecting for God to give him an answer, but for God to give him such an answer that Habakkuk will have to answer back to him. Habakkuk’s heart is open for God’s answer to correct Habakkuk’s perspective. Habakkuk’s cry to the Lord was not out of line. He longed for godly justice. He was flinching the correct way and it hurt and grieved him to see injustice getting away with it. But as he makes his cry to the Lord and then as he stands to see what God will say, he is ready for his perspective to be changed. The Lord showed Habakkuk that he wasn’t looking at the full picture. No injustice will be left not dealt with.

And after God showed him what is to come in the remaining chapters, Habakkuk is no longer crying in desperation. Rather, he responds by praising the Lord and faith for his coming justice. Those were the verses for our call to worship this morning. In chapter 3, O Lord, I have heard the report of you and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years, revive it. In the midst of the years, make it known and wrath, remember mercy. You marched through the earth in fury. You thresh the nations in anger. You went out for the salvation of your people. For the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. God has revealed to us that no injustice ever gets away with it. All wrongs will be made right. So third, when we look into God’s word to see what the Lord will say to us, we ought to look with a humble receptivity, ready for our own perspective to change.

In our seeing, we look to God’s word, we look patiently, and we look with humility. And that’s point number two. In the face of injustice, we see. And the third thing we take from this passage is that in the face of injustice, we say. So there’s three S’s for you. I did not go to seminary. I did that all on my own. Point number three, say, we stand, we see, and we say. I do it for my kids. That way it’s easy for them to remember. Stand, see, and say. And the Lord answered me, verse 2, write the vision and make it plain on tablets so he may run who reads it. Christians don’t have an option to remain silent. We may not. We are commanded to speak.

Teach, proclaim, declare. These are different words the Bible uses to command us to speak. No matter how dangerous our tongue is, no matter how much sin it produces, not speaking is not an option for the believer. We need to learn to speak well, to speak without sinning, But we must speak. We must say. When we look into God’s Word, we see that it tells us to do so. Just like He instructed Habakkuk to make the vision plain on tablets so he may run who reads it. So in this section of say, first we are to say what we see. The Lord told the watchman, write the vision. What we see in God’s Word is what we are to say.

Second, we are to make it clear. Make it plain, God told Habakkuk. But what about being winsome? What about nuance? What about caution and charity and patience? If a lack of nuance makes the message less clear, then yes, let’s use new ones. And if a lack of winsomeness pollutes the message, then yes, make it winsome. But the goal that we’re after is clarity in our saying. We are to make it plain. People shouldn’t have to decipher what we mean or where we stand on the subject matter. It should be clear to them. Will others get offended? Maybe. But that’s not what we should be concerned about. Our first concern is to clearly say what God showed us in His Word.

To say what we see. We are to make it clear. Third, we are to make sure it’s not ignorable. On tablets is what Habakkuk was told. Not scrolls that could be rolled up and put away. not paper that could be burned or destroyed, but tablets that could be posted permanently, are saying should not be easy to ignore. It should be bold and potent. And fourth, it is to produce action in others, so he may run who reads it. Whether this running is a herald who is to run with the message, or the people who are to flee from the city about to be destroyed, the point is that the message produces a response in others. Our saying should lead others to act. That’s the whole point. In the face of injustice, we are to stand, see, and say. We’re just talking about this at our life to life this last Friday. What Glenn pointed out was that what What Christians ought to do is stand and speak and then remain standing.

When a world around us is giving way and falling apart, when injustice reigns and the innocent are destroyed, when the authorities are not only not protecting their people but are the ones whom we need protection from, Christians are to stand, to see, and to say. We are to stand where God puts us on an elevated vantage point for the sake of others. We are to look into God’s Word to see His answer, doing so patiently, being ready for our perspective to change. And we say what we see, clearly, in a way that is not ignorable in order to bring others to action. And then what? What do we do then? We stood, we saw, we said, not like Caesar, I came, I saw, I conquered, a little bit different.

But still very close. There’s also a conquering endeavor. The meek shall inherit the earth. Habakkuk 2, 1-3, I will take my stand on 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. And the Lord answered me, write the vision, make a plate on tablets so he may run who reads it, 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. After we stand, see, and say, then we wait for it. We wait on the Lord. If it seems slow. Wait for it. It will surely come. It will not delay. The Lord is about to tell Habakkuk that he will judge not just Judah but the Shalden’s. It seemed far away for Habakkuk but he was told to wait. The Lord fulfilled his word. Where There is Babylon today.

It’s a desert. Who even are the Chaldeans? Trump is dealing with the Iranians. That’s how surely God’s Word was fulfilled. It will surely come. And that’s how surely it will be fulfilled in our future. What God revealed to us, we are to wait for, knowing that it will surely come. Justice will come. Mercy will come. We stand, see, and say, and then we wait for it. And how do we do that? How do we stand where God puts us on an elevated vantage point for the sake of others? How do we look into God’s word to see his answer patiently being ready for our perspective to change? How do we say what we see with clarity in a way that is not ignorable and brings others to action?

How do we keep saying that? How do we wait for the Lord? We do so by putting our faith in the sovereignty of our Lord. The very next verse is what triggered the running of so many in the history of the church. From Apostle Paul being ignited to spread the gospel to the Gentiles, to Martin Luther igniting the fire of the Reformation, Habakkuk 2.4, Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright within him. But the righteous shall live by his faith.” The righteous shall live by his faith is the fundamental cry of the Christian worldview. We’ve played around with the rallying cry, viva fide, live by faith. And that verse that Paul and James both quote in the New Testament, the righteous shall live by his faith, is given in the context of waiting on the Lord to fulfill his word, to bring about judgment on the wicked.

The context of that foundational verse in all of Christianity is putting our faith in God in the face of injustice. Whatever God has revealed to us, that’s what we are to believe. And that’s how we are to live. We are to live by faith. God didn’t reveal all the things to the Old Testament saints as He has to us. So the object of their faith wasn’t yet complete in the way that ours is. But as much as the Lord did reveal to them, as much as He allowed them to see, they were to believe. And they were to live by that faith. And so are we. And we know so much more. We have so much more to stake our faith and hope on.

God has sent Jesus Christ to conquer Satan’s sin and death. Christ has paid the price for sin by nailing it on the cross. He was buried and on the third day rose victorious. Christ is our Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth in whose name is our help. It’s on that confession that we stand. It’s by that confession that we see and it’s that confession that we say. It’s because Jesus is Lord that we can wait for it. Brooks Pottinger is a pastor in Washington, D.C. It’s the church that our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, attends. I wanted to close with a quote from an article that Brooks Pottinger recently wrote. I thought it was relevant.

The article is titled, Faith Like a Stone Wall. So maybe he’s trying to be provocative.

probably is, not ignorable. This is what Brooks Pottinger says, here’s my call to you and I especially have the men in view at this point. Be a stone wall. In these topsy-turvy days of cultural chaos which only promise to get wilder as the election looms, be a stone wall. Resolve to trust in God’s providence with deep prayerful and unwavering conviction. But don’t do it for your own peace alone. Do it as an intentional act of love for your people. Know that they are looking to you to see how to respond to the uncertainty of our day and will mimic what you show them, be it faith or fear. Offer them faith. Strong, sturdy, joyful faith in a strong, sturdy, sovereign Lord. He is perfectly in control and he is always writing a better story. The righteous shall live by faith, waiting on the sovereign Lord as they stand, see, and say, Father, our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. And we know that name. You have revealed yourself to us. You have sent Jesus Christ to come and defeat and conquer. To come and win. It is finished. He has rose

from to death and has ascended to sit at your right hand. And in that context, Lord, is where we live, in that context is where we stand. Lord, help us to stand sturdy and resolute. Help us to see clearly, to look into your word. Help us to say what you have for us to say. Bless us, Lord, in Jesus’ name, amen. The Lord has judgment in store for the wicked. God will not let any injustice slide. Every sin will be dealt with. Every crookedness will be made straight. We do take solace in that. It’s supposed to give us comfort. We are to be encouraged when we hear that. God will judge the wicked. But what does God have in store for his people?

What does God prepare for us? A feast. Psalm 23, you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. In the midst of our battles, in the presence of our enemies, the Lord sets the table and invites us to have a seat. As we stand in the midst of battle, we sit at the Lord’s table. With injustice surrounding us, our cup overflows with blessing. Do we see it? Can you taste it? O, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

So much of the Psalms is the psalmist surrounded by injustice, violence, and evil, crying out to the Lord and rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord while he’s still in the midst of the injustice. While the enemies still surround us, we are too delight at the table of our Lord. Wherever we stand, God invites us to sit at the table that he has prepared for us and to taste and see His goodness. If we cannot see the goodness of the Lord in the midst of our trouble, our eyesight is skewed. If all we taste in our mouth is the bitterness of this life under the sun, our palate is not yet set. If our troubles have clouded out the goodness of the Lord, Our vision is out of proportion.

Our troubles do not overshadow our Lord. They submit to him, the Lord is good, taste and see. That is what this communion table helps us to see every Lord’s Day. It is real bread and real wine that we partake in in the midst of our trouble. We are celebrating while in the midst of battle. And this celebration is a sampler of the Lord’s goodness to us. The table that God is preparing for us is so much more. Saints of Trinity Evangel Church, your charge today is this. Don’t be silent. Speak. Sing. And bless the Lord. This week you will have trouble. You will witness injustice maybe towards others, maybe towards yourself.

And in the midst of that trouble, don’t grow silent in cowardice or in bitterness. Stand before the Lord, see what he is showing you and speak. Use your words to bless the Lord in whatever circumstance God has prepared for you. The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man. The dead do not praise the Lord, nor do any who go down into silence, but we will bless the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord. Amen.