ARE YOU FAITHFUL? IS YOUR LIFE PLEASING TO GOD OR WILL YOU SHRINK BACK? -- THE RIGHTEOUS WILL LIVE BY HIS FAITH -- Hope for Today Through a Study on the Book of Habakkuk -- Lesson 7

Although there was a midnight ride, it is unlikely that Paul Revere road from town to town screaming at the top of his lungs, "The British are Coming!" According to History.com, "The operation was meant to be conducted as discreetly as possible since scores of British troops were hiding out in the Massachusetts countryside. Furthermore, colonial Americans at that time still considered themselves British; if anything, Revere may have told other rebels that the "Regulars"--a term used to designate British soldiers--were on the move. The warning given to the colonists and the militia by Paul and other riders enabled them to be prepared and fight off the British army's initial attack. Revere was captured by the British en route and never reached Concord; but he was soon released, and his purpose had been accomplished. He had given the colonial militia a key advantage by alerting them to the impending attack by the British. Paul had been faithful to the cause.

Habakkuk 2:1-2--I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved. Then the LORD answered me and said, "Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run."

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Habakkuk had the inside scoop straight from the Lord's mouth that the Chaldeans were coming as chastisement to the people of Judah. This warning should serve to cause the people to repent and turn from their sins...the only place this battle could be won (while the outward circumstances were not likely going to change). Because it was the Lord's doing, it would surely come to pass. In the last blog post, we saw that the Lord told Habakkuk to record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run. This was one message that was meant to be read and heard loud and clear! Whether they heeded its warning or not, the messenger who delivered it would be found faithful.

Habakkuk 2:3-4--For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; for it will certainly come. It will not delay. Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith. 

We saw last time how the prophecy is also linked to Christ's second advent. Revelation 17:1-20:3 speaks of a future destruction of the Gentile world rule at the Lord's Second Coming which is the greater fulfillment of this prophecy. How did we get that? You will remember Hebrews 10:37-39 includes a loose reference to our passage in Habakkuk. John MacArthur says that it is altered considerably so that it is more of an interpretive paraphrase drawing on other Old Testament concepts and contexts. Notice the resemblance: FOR YET IN A VERY LITTLE WHILE, HE WHO IS COMING WILL COME, AND WILL NOT DELAY. BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

There is a day coming when the Lord Jesus Christ will destroy Satan's diabolical world system. The Babylonians of Habakkuk's day were a symbol of this system. During the Tribulation period, we know that Babylon will again stand for an evil religious and political system headed by Anti-christ. The political system will destroy the religious system. Then, the political system will be destroyed by Christ at His coming in glory. 

The Church as been looking for this final end-time scenario for almost two thousand years. But we must not be discouraged because God's Word cannot lie. Though it seems as though He delays the fulfillment, it will surely come to pass just as the judgment of the Babylonians talked about by Daniel the prophet in Daniel 5:25-31 by the Medo-Persians on October 13, 539 B.C. was fulfilled. Notice in verse 3 all the references to time demanding we be faithful to wait upon the Lord to fulfill His Word.

Oh, we are such an impatient people. We want to press God into our molded time-frame and expect Him to work at our command. Lord, please forgive us for this sinfulness! We believe we know God and what He will do or what we think He SHOULD do and we get disillusioned when He doesn't conform to our will. We know He is the deliverer, therefore, the innocent should be delivered from their prisons. We know He is the healer, therefore, He should heal all believers of every sickness, especially those sicknesses that are unto death. We are so earthly minded that we cannot see that all things happen for a reason and a purpose that is part of His plan, not ours! This world and all that is in it is passing away. We must align ourselves with God's purposes to make sense out of anything that happens in this world. While we may see delay, the fulfillment of the vision hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail. Hastens means to speak, breathe, or pant. One commentator said that the truth in this vision is pictured as an animated, living word from God. The prophecy pants or hastens toward fulfillment, accomplishing, each step along the way, that which God desires for it.

Someone once said that God's disappointments are His appointments. God's delays are not His denials. We must ask ourselves if we live like this is true? Do we believe it?

I have worn a certain locket around my neck for approximately three decades. In fact, I have a white gold one and a yellow gold one. The inscription is Romans 1:16-17.  Over the years, people would ask me to quote the verse for them. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." Paul had known circumstances encompassing everything from prison to stoning. Yet, his boldness to proclaim the Gospel knew no limits. He knew that the Gospel was the only power (dunamis from where we get our word 'dynamite') to annihilate a dead heart of stone and give new life in Christ. Whatever circumstances in which he found himself, he knew that God had a purpose for it and that he only need to live by faith in Him. And that faith was reasonable. 

Christians will not always understand why God does what He does or is doing in their lifetime, but they must live by faith in Him. This statement is so important that it is found four times in Scripture: Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; and Hebrews 10:38.

Habakkuk had known both periods of national revival and spiritual decline. When he cried out to God, God's answer to him was not what he expected. God told him that He was sending the Chaldeans to judge His children. Now, Habakkuk had the dilemma of reconciling this coming judgment by God with God's moral standards. Maybe you have wrestled with God using the same type of questions as Habakkuk did. I certainly have.

What would be your response if you were told that God was going to destroy the Church today at the hands of a country far more ruthless and godless than the Church? Why was I sentenced to a prison sentence for something I didn't do when I could clearly see the corruption in the very system that imprisoned me? Why did you lose your job due to cutbacks when someone less qualified put forth your solution to a problem? Why did your cancer spread because a doctor misdiagnosed your case at the point when it could have been easily treated? Why did the one who killed your child get off because of an ineffective assistance of counsel or negligent, sloppy trial errors committed by a defense attorney in court? The list of situations that result in this type of moral outrage could go on ad infinitum.

When we find ourselves in circumstances like that, how do we respond? Some people pull away from the Church and the fellowship they know with other believers feeling somehow betrayed by them. How dare they counsel you when they have no idea what you are experiencing! Others decide that all they have believed about God has been a lie and walk away from Him completely.  God's Word is clear: The righteous man must live by faith. Martyn Lloyd-Jones gives a simple four-point outline to follow in situations like this when we don't understand what God is doing:

    (1) Stop to think. Don't listen to self, talk to yourself! That's my take on his famous quote. Often when we start listening to self, thoughts like this, "God must not love me anymore," or "What did I ever do to deserve this?" pop into our minds. Instead, we must go back to what we know about God.

    (2) Restate basic principles. Go back to the beginning. Find a firm foundation for your feet. Ask: What do I know to be true? Don't start your thinking focusing on the problem but how God has worked in your life in the past and what you know about Him. 

    (3) Apply the principles to the problem. In order for problems to be solved, they have to be put into the right context. We can say the same about problems we have with a certain text of Scripture. When we take it out of its context, we encounter all sorts of additional problems. When it is viewed in its context, the proper interpretation often comes to light easily. 

    (4) If still in doubt, commit the problem to God in faith. Here we see the most important part of all. Leaving the matter with God when we are still confused after doing all the above, is giving it to God as His problem to handle. 

When my mother was first diagnosed with cancer, struggling myself, I wrote her an email not knowing exactly what to say to her in person. It gave me time to think and pray about what to say that would be helpful. It helped me as much as it did her. I began, "I don't understand what God is doing, but here is what I do know..." I went on to list God's attributes and link them to Scripture promises. What I didn't know was the extent to which she found a firm footing there. After she died, I read in her journal of her cancer journey. She mentioned the email I had sent and how she had shared it with anyone and everyone...at the cancer facility and friends she encountered along the way. There was no hint in her journey of questions, complaints, or any fear. She placed her feet upon the truths of God's Word and lived by her faith.

Her example was an inspiration to me to apply the same principles and walk by faith into and out of a prison situation with faith intact--in fact, a faith having grown by leaps and bounds. The faith that saves also sanctifies. We are not called to be saved by faith then put our faith on a shelf, but to also live by faith.

Verses 5-20 of Habakkuk 2 focus on the 'proud one' of verse 4 as compared to the righteous who lives by his faith. We will look at that next time. There are only two different kinds of people in the world. Only two. Those who are saved and those who are not. That is not a politically correct statement today nor would it be well-received even by many who aim to stay neutral and tolerant inside the Church in the world. (Christianity is not a religion of neutrality.) But notice what the word says about the proud one. His soul is not right within him. BUT the righteous will live by his faith. The righteous is not just saved or justified by his faith, but he lives (sanctified) by his faith. He is saved by faith (a gift from God) and continues to live by that faith.

What does faith look like in the life of a believer? In your life? I recently viewed a video of a young couple who had gone through a tragic ordeal. They were using what they had gone through to speak to others of how they had gotten through it, never really mentioning the Lord to any extent. One person commented that their faith was extraordinary. Members of a religious organization that claims to be Christian while having added many practices and beliefs that are at variance with biblical Christianity, this was also their audience. What makes someone's faith extraordinary? People may be heralded as 'good people' by the world, but if they are not faithful to God and His Word, they are unbelievers.

Positionally, believers and unbelievers are as different as night and day. Practically, sometimes it is not as easy to tell the difference as it should be. Unbelievers and believers have two completely different natures. Unbelievers have a sinful nature, are still in their sin, and have their minds set on sinful desires. The believer has a new nature regenerated by the Spirit, the mind of Christ controlled by the Spirit, and a desire to live in accordance with Him. The sinful mind of the unbeliever is death, hostile to God, and does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so (Romans 8:6-7).  Every believer is born to his parents physically, then born again spiritually from above. God takes out the heart of stone which is in every man replacing it with a new heart, one of flesh (from sin-hardened to Christ-softened). The Holy Spirit changes our desires from those which are sin-focused to God-focused. Before His work in our hearts, the desire to please God was foreign to our hard hearts of unbelief, but a believer longs to glorify God in all she thinks, says, and does. 

Romans 8:8 says that those in the flesh cannot please God. Unbelievers walk in the flesh and do the deeds of the flesh as a way of life (Galatians 5:19-25). The believers walks in the Spirit by faith. Hebrews 11:6 tells us without faith, it is impossible to please God. Pleasing God should be the goal of all believers. Those who want to please God seek Him by faith, walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh, and walk worthy of our calling in obedience and submission to the will of God. We don't live perfectly or sinlessly, but God makes it possible to please Him through the power of His Spirit who lives in our hearts. 

We are saved by faith, and we live by faith (Hebrews 10:38). Our lives are characterized by faithfulness. Hebrews 10:38 ends with this: BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM. To shrink back is to fall away to destruction or perdition (vs. 39). Judas was called the "son of perdition". The man of lawlessness (the Anti-christ in 2 Thessalonians 2:3) is referred to as the "son of destruction". 

Why would anyone shrink back from Christ? To shrink back here is used of those who from timidity hesitate to avow what they believe. They renounce Christ when it is not convenient for them. In their hearts, they are ashamed of Christ and His gospel. 

In Romans 1, Paul said that he was not ashamed (to feel shame for something) of the gospel. Why? He knew (firm conviction, in faith believed) that the gospel was the power of salvation to all who believed. Ashamed means "disgraced" or "personally humiliated." Paul had not misplaced his faith in the gospel. The gospel would never let him down. He had not chosen to align himself with the wrong person in living his life for Christ. His confidence resulted in boldness to proclaim the truth everywhere. 

I must ask: Does my life reflect bold confidence in the Gospel? Living unashamed of the gospel means we proclaim it and apply it to our lives showing that we believe it. Allowing sin in our lives to go unchecked, indulging in worldliness and carnal desires or blatantly disobeying Scripture betrays what we profess. It shows a lack of confidence in the message we proclaim. To live unashamed of the gospel means we proclaim it; but it also means we apply it to our lives and show we believe it. 

Earlier in Chapter 10 of Hebrews, the writer warned in verse 35: Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. In other words, in times of persecution, some professing believers are tempted to deny their identification with Christ and other Christians often leading to apostasy. Apostasy is the opposite of faith. Faithfulness to Christ includes endurance and perseverance with Him through thick and thin because the one who is faithful knows his Lord and believes Him.

1 John 2:28--Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. Revelation 16:15--"Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame." 

Faith, according to the writer of Hebrews, is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Faith is the confidence in God to believe His ways are right, holy, and perfect. Faith is reasonable, just like it is reasonable for me to expect my spouse or my children to be faithful. True love wants to please the recipient of that love. Hebrews 10:39 says: But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. 

The Bible says that it is impossible for sinful man to please Him. Why? Because only Christ pleases the Father. Therefore, only those in Christ can please the Father. The unbeliever is characterized by God as proud. On the contrary, the righteous, in order to live by faith, must be humble as they look to God and rely on Him for all things. It takes humility for true repentance before God. It takes the work of God in a person's heart for salvation. God removes the heart of stone and replaces it with a heart of flesh that longs to be obedient to Him in all things. True believers want to know God more, to love Him more, to walk in the righteousness they now love, and to love others as they love themselves. Unbelievers are a law unto themselves (Romans 2:14). They are lawless--unfaithful to God, their Creator. Interestingly, there is no word for faith in the Hebrew language. The word, however, translated faith in Habakkuk means firmness, faithfulness, fidelity. To have faith is to be faithful. Justifying faith will manifest itself in faithful living before the Lord. 

Hebrews 10:19-23--Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Are you faithful?