Finding Your Way in the Dark

Habakkuk 2:2-4 | November 15, 2020

Have you ever missed out on something that ended up being pretty valuable?

There’s a story from many years ago of a young man who was a freshman at Duke University.

Before he left for college his parents gave him a Bible and told him it would be of great help to him in his new life away from home. 

A few weeks into the semester he started writing letters to his parents asking for spending money.

They would write back telling him to read his Bible and listed specific verses of Scripture for him to read. 

He would write back saying he was reading his Bible, but he still needed some money.

When he came home for semester break, his parents told him that they knew he had not been reading his Bible.

How did they know?

Because they had taken that Bible and tucked $10 bills and $20 bills inside the pages of each one of those verses that they told him to read.

That college student had no idea how valuable God’s Word would have been to him that semester.

Far beyond some money stuck in the pages, the Bible is a treasure of great and unimaginable value.

Why?

John Piper put it this way…

The Bible is what the Creator and Ruler of the universe wants us to know – it puts us in touch with God’s thoughts about everything that the Bible addresses.

The prophet Habakkuk discovered the value of God’s thoughts first-hand. 

Habakkuk lived in a time when sin and injustice and violence had taken over the streets and the government.

A time when you really didn’t know who you could trust and who you could turn to. 

But Habakkuk knew he could turn to God – and he did. 

He prayed and pleaded for God to come and deal with the sin and injustice in his nation and God told him that he was going to send a wicked nation to come and destroy and take over the land.

Habakkuk didn’t understand that plan, so, he asked God what I think most of us would ask:

• “Why?”
• “That sounds like the opposite of who You are.”
• “Why are going to do things that way, Lord?”

And then Habakkuk waited for God to answer. 

And God did answer. 

What did he say?

And what does his answer have to do with you?

Let’s find out.

Listen to Habakkuk 2, beginning with verse 2:

2 Then the LORD answered me and said, “Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets,

Habakkuk was kind of having a question and answer session with the Lord. 

And the Lord wanted him to write the session down. 

God knew it would be important for people to hear because it would have a permanent impact on their lives.  

And that is still true today. 

You may not find $20 bills between the pages, but the Bible contains the very words of life – and those words have been written down for you and me. 

John Wesley

I want to know one thing: the way to heaven. God himself has condescended to teach me the way. He has written it down in a book.

John Wesley

Oh, give me that book! At any price give me the book of God. Let me be a man of one book. 

May the Lord give us a great love for his Book. 

For in the pages of his Book, we will find the truth that daily and continually sets us free. 

And it is just such truth that he wanted Habakkuk to write. 

But is God’s truth just for us to read?

Or should we do something with what we read?

Listen to the rest of verse 2:

2 “Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run.”

God tells Habakkuk, “Write my answer down clearly so that people can read it.”

And what should they do after they read it?

Run!

Run, Forrest, run!

• Run to the Lord!
• Run to trust the Lord!
• Run to obey the Lord!
• Run to tell others about the Lord!

Christian, when we engage with the truth of God’s Word we should run!

• Run to Christ!
• Run to trust Christ!
• Run to obey Christ!

Run to make much of Christ with our families and our friends and our neighbors and complete strangers in the Midlands.

Run to make much of Christ in Guatemala and South Sudan and Cambodia and to the uttermost parts of the world. 

We are not here just to sing songs and listen to a sermon and fellowship with one another. 

We are here to soak up more of the eternal truths of God so that we might be better runners.

Some people never start running – their Christianity is a social comfort not a spiritual commitment.

But those who do follow hard after Christ sometimes get tired and worn out…they get tired of running.

They get weak, confused, overwhelmed and stressed. 

They have a really hard time leaning on the everlasting arms of God. 

Do you ever feel that way?

Do you feel that way today?

That’s kind of what happened to Habakkuk. 

So, God gives him some encouragement. 

Listen to verse 3:

3 “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.”

 

3 “Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.”

The appointed time had not arrived yet. 

Habakkuk eventually told God’s people about the vision he had written down.

And they listened.

But then a few weeks went by.

And then a few months went by and they started saying…

• “Where is this wicked nation, Habakkuk?”
• “Where are these conquerors?”
• “Why should we listen to you, you, crazy crackpot?”
• “You don’t know what you are talking about!”
• “Maybe God hit the snooze button and he’s late!”

Charles Feinberg

Delay is only in the heart of man…

• God is not too slow
• God is not too fast
• God is always right on time

That was great news for Habakkuk because a wicked nation was scheduled to take over and he was confused.

The scene here is similar to what we see in Psalm 73.

Psalm 73:3,5,12 (ESV)

For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked…They are not in trouble as others are…always at ease, they increase in riches.

 

Psalm 73:13

Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure…

Have you ever felt like the psalmist?

• “Why do all these people get away with being wicked?”
• “They defy God and have a life of comfort and ease.”
• “Why am I wasting my time trying to honor God?”

Just like Habakkuk, the psalmist was overwhelmed and confused.

But then he finds an answer for his confusion that calmed his heart and mind.

Psalm 73:16-17

When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end.

• Sometimes it feels like nothing is going right
• Sometimes it feels like nothing is going to change
• Sometimes it feels like the Enemy is going to always win

In those moments, step into the sanctuary – not a building.

Rather, step back in prayer and remember that God is everlasting and holy.

Remember that God has an appointed time, and that time hastens toward the goal – that time will not fail. 

And though it seems like it tarries, wait for it. 

• It will surely come
• It will not delay

The clouds will part and Christ will return.

• Watch for it
• Wait for it
• Trust in it

God has more to say to Habakkuk.

Listen to verse 4…

4 “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him;

Although the Chaldeans were going to be victorious for a while, it would not last – eventually, they would fall. 

In fact, history records that within a 100 years of the Chaldeans great rise to power they were wiped off the face of the earth.

And why were they wiped away?

Because they were self-worshipping, prideful people. 

A person who does not have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ can’t help but be by default a person who is prideful and self-worshipping.

Walter Chantry

There are only two kinds of men who have ever lived on the earth: men of pride and men of faith.

Walter Chantry

This contrast is the key to history and it unlocks the meaning of every generation living on the earth.

Ever generation!

Every generation from the first man and woman until right now.

• The ancient Egyptians
• The ancient Greeks
• The ancient Romans
• The greatest generation
• The Boomers
• Generations X and Y and Z
• Millennials
• And every generation in the future

There have always been and there will always be only two kinds of people…

• People of pride
• People of faith

Which one are you?

Which one would the people you live with and work with and go to church with say you are?

Let’s be honest, most of us don’t think of ourselves as prideful – that’s always other people.

So where is pride in our lives?

• There can be pride in being materialistic
• There can be pride in being frugal

Or…

• We can be prideful with our hard work
• We can be prideful with our gifts and talents
• We can be prideful with our education
• We can be prideful with our reputation in town

Or…

• A church going person can be prideful with their religion
• An atheist can be prideful with their rejection of religion

C.H. Spurgeon

Pride is a strange creature; it never objects to its lodgings.

• You can be a prince or a pauper
• You can be a Christian or an atheist
• You can live in a palace or a homeless shelter

Pride ain’t picky – it will live anywhere with anybody.

The Chaldeans – the very people that God was sending to take over – were super prideful.

About 70 years after Habakkuk wrote the vision down, Belshazzar reigned as the Chaldean (Babylonian) King.

He was having a huge party one night, when suddenly, a mysterious hand appeared out of nowhere and began to write a message on the wall in front of him.

He was terrified.

The Bible says his limbs gave way and his knees knocked together. 

He could not read or understand the message himself, and that only increased his terror and his fear.

No one in his cabinet of advisors could help him, that paralyzed him even more.

His wife remembered how a man named Daniel helped King Nebuchadnezzar, so, the King sent for Daniel.

Daniel immediately reminded the king what happened to Nebuchadnezzar and how his pride drove him out into the wilderness where he lived like a filthy, crazy animal.

And then Daniel said this to the King…

Daniel 5:22-23

And you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, but you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven…the God in whose hand is your breath…

Then Daniel told the King was written on the wall…

Daniel 5:26-27

God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end…you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting…

Are you found wanting today?

Are you knowingly or unknowingly full of self-worship and pride?

Are you trusting first and most in yourself?

Or has the blood of Jesus Christ balanced the scales of your soul and brought humility, salvation, peace and joy?

Listen to the rest of verse 4:

4 “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.”

What is the opposite of pride?

Faith. 

What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Faith is not a 1969 Plymouth Road Runner that we can just climb in and drive.

Faith is not a smartphone that we can just swipe.

When it comes to our truest physical senses…

• We can’t see faith
• We can’t feel faith
• We can’t taste faith
• We can’t touch faith

But we believe it – it is real to us. 

And this is not just some blind religious faith – our faith has an object. 

What is the object of our faith?

• The pastor?
• The church?
• The Bible?
• The music?
• The preaching?

No – the one, true object of our faith is the Lord Jesus Christ!

Christ is the continual, on-going object of our faith.

You know what I do when my car starts acting up?

I mean before I go watch YouTube videos on how to fix it.

The first thing I do is call my dad.

You know why I call my dad?

My dad knows a lot about cars.

I have learned over the past 32 years of driving to have faith in my dad’s advice about how to fix and repair cars.

How much more should professing Christians have faith in their risen Savior when it comes to how to deal with life in 2020 or any other year for that matter?

Paul said this about Jesus…

Colossians 1:16-17

For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

That’s a lot more than just car repair!

Do you know Christ?

Or do you just know things about Christ?

Whenever we go out of town, I always write my name, address and phone number on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope with our house keys.

On the outside of the envelope I write a note that say, “Thanks for watching the house for us.”

Then I go over to the grocery store and pick a random car in the parking lot and put the envelope under the windshield wiper and leave. 

Of course, I don’t do that!

That’s crazy.

Our neighbor has a key.

Why?

Because we know them and trust them. 

Geoff Thomas

The more you know about Jesus, the more you learn to trust Him. The less you know about Jesus, the weaker your faith will be.

How is your faith today?

Strong or weak?

True, saving faith is when a person looks to the cross and sees God erasing the guilt-drenched penalty of their sin through His own innocent Son and their response is:

• “Yes – I believe in that!”
• “I believe in the cross!”
• “Save me, Lord!”
• “Make me yours!”
• “You are the only investment that is perfectly safe!”

Your heart can’t say stuff like that to God and then casually go back to life as usual.

• Saving faith is keeping faith
• Saving faith is something we depend on
• Saving faith is what we build our lives on

What does that kind of faith look like in real life?

• Noah built an ark by faith
• Abraham moved his family by faith
• Joseph endured lies and prison by faith
• Moses wandered into the desert by faith
• Ruth endured her husband’s death and famine by faith

And on and on we can go with men and women over the last 4000 years that lived by faith in the one, true God.

The letter to the Hebrews describes some of those men and women this way…

 

Hebrews 11:33-34 (ESV)

…who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

And how were these things done?

Through faith. 

Simply put:

• Pride looks to self
• Faith looks to God

Are you living by faith in the fond memory of your profession of faith or the fond memory of your baptism?

Are you living by faith in the money you give to the church or the money you donate to charity?

Are you living by faith in your church attendance or your political party or your retirement plan or your favorite team?

Or are you living first and most by faith in Christ?

Faith in the only One that holds all things together?

2 Corinthians 5:6-7 (ESV)

So, we are always of good courage…for we walk by faith, not by sight.

When it is dark and we can’t see, we walk by faith. 

We walk by the same kind of faith that Habakkuk had. 

We keep believing in God’s promise that one day he will sort it all out – once and for all.   

If you can’t understand everything right now, that really is okay – walk by faith. 

We will not understand everything, nor does God have any obligation to explain everything – so, walk by faith.

Don’t be prideful – walk by faith.

• Walk
• Watch
• Wait
• Surrender
• Commit

Why?

Because Jesus loved you and gave Himself up for you – and he holds all things together.

He really does.

Message by Dow Welsh |

November 15, 2020 © Holland Avenue Baptist Church

 

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Above are pre-sermon manuscript notes

Sermon scriptures NASB unless otherwise noted

Lots of help from many pastors and theologians

Weekly help from Bruce Hurt at www.preceptaustin.org

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-infinite-worth-of-the-word-of-god

So have you ever missed out on something that ended up being super valuable? Yeah. There's a story from many years ago about a college freshman that went off to Duke University. His parents gave him something valuable, and the valuable thing that they gave him was not just a pile of money. They gave him a Bible, and they told him, Is you're beginning your new life away from home. It's It's really good. You should take this book and spend time with this book. This book will help you in life. So he goes off to college. He's there for a few weeks, maybe a month or so, and he starts writing his parents and letters saying, Hey, and I really, really need you toe. Send me some more spending money and his parents would respond. Hey, look, just just read your Bible, you know, just just read your Bible. We've even going to give you, hear some verses for you to go read in your Bible. And so he wrote back, Yeah. Hey, I'm riding, I'm reading my Bible and, you know, thanks for the verses and everything, but really, I still need some spending money. So you know, that'd be great. And so they would write back some or versus Hey, just read your Bible and you read these verses. So break came around. He came home for the holidays. They're sitting there at the dinner table. His parents said, Look, we know you're not reading your Bible, I think. What do you mean? You know, how do you know I'm not reading my Bible? They said because all those verses that we gave you to read on all of those pages we put $10 bills and $20 bills, and we put money all in your Bible for you to find for spending money. See that kids off at college? No clue how valuable that Bible would have been to him the whole semester. No, Look, don't go away from here thinking that you're going to find tooth fairy money in your Bible. Okay? That's that's not the moral of the story. But there is a picture here that reminds us that far beyond some money in between the pages, the Bible is a book of extreme, An unimaginable value. Why? I love how one pastor put it. The Bible is what the creator and ruler of the universe wants us to know. It puts us in touch with God's thoughts about everything that the Bible addresses. That's astounding. The creator of the universe has given you a book so that you can exactly know his thoughts on everything in that book. It's what he wants you to know. It's what he wants you to know. That's why the Bible is so valuable profit back. He learned about those thoughts of God. He learned about that Truth of God firsthand back. It lived in a time where his whole country was full of sin and violence and injustice. It was a time where you didn't know who to turn. Thio didn't know who you could trust, who you could depend on, You know, the kind of stuff that we don't know anything about, right? But he knew he could turn to God. And so he did. He turn to God and he begged and he pleaded. He prayed. God, would you please please, please fix this injustice, this wickedness, this violence, this sin in my nation, God answered and said, Okay, I'll do it. And he said, The way I'm going to do is I'm going to send a wicked nation to come in and conquer you. And that's how we're going to deal with injustice and a back, just like we would his first thought was What? Mhm. Why, God, God, that seems like the opposite of how you would do anything. Why in the world is that how you're going to solve this problem? I would imagine all of us have a time where we say, why, Lord, Why so got hurt? A box prayer and his plea. He heard his questions and he answered tobacco. So what did he say? And maybe slightly more importantly for us today. What does what God answer toe Tabaka have to do with you? What does this Old Testament stuff have to do with you today? We'll see if we can find out a pack of Chapter two beginning with verse two. Then the Lord answered me and said, Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets. Ah, back. It was kind of having a question and answer session with God, and God wanted him to write it down because he knew it would be important for people to read it. He knew the important for people to hear it. God knew this was going to impact people's lives. And so he wanted him. Thio, Write it down. Listen, the same is still true today. The truth of the Bible is not just some old ancient book. You may not find $20 bills in the pages, but the truth that is contained in the Bible are the very thoughts of God for you. The very words of life for you. This is his book. John Wesley is widely known, is the founder of the Methodist Church. He once said this. I want to know one thing the way to heaven. God himself has condescended to teach me the way he has written it down in a book. Oh, give me that book at any price. Give me the book of God. Let me be a man off one book May the Lord give us in these days a great love for his book. This one book that God has been so kind to give to us because in the pages of his book, you will find and I will find over and over again for our daily life and for our life in general. We will find freedom freedom. The more we look into the truth of God's word, we will find the freedom that can be found in Christ. We can be set free, over and over and over again from anything and everything that begins to overwhelm and confuse us. It's just truth like that. Tobacco needed to write down. But is it just for us to read? Is that all? We just were supposed to kind of read the Bible and that'll be good enough? Or is there something else we're supposed to do? Listen to the back of rights next or what? The Lord tells a back up to right next. Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets that the one who reads it may run. God says, looking back, I need you to write down what I'm telling you. Write it down clearly so that people can read it. You know, even a child. Anybody can read this and they can make a connection with this. And I want you to write it down because after they read it, I want him to run with it. Run, Forrest, run! I want him to run, Run! Run with this. What does that mean? It means when we hear the truth about God, we run to God. We run to trust God. We run to obey God. We run toe, let people know that we are trusting and obeying God. And if we were toe fast forward that to our lives, away from a box life. The only thing that is different is maybe just just one word. And that is when we read the Bible. When we hear the Bible, when we read a devotion or we hear a sermon, we hear somebody pray God's word. When we interact with the truth of God, we should run with it. We should run to Christ. We should run to obey Christ. We should run to trust Christ. We should run to help our families trust Christ. We should run to help our neighbors trust Christ. We should run to help our friends trust Christ the people that we work with complete strangers that we bump into in the Midlands. We should take the truth of Christ and we should run with it to Guatemala or South Sudan or Cambodian to the uttermost parts of the Earth. Because, as we saw earlier, if all the birds need is Jesus than all the world ultimately needs is Jesus. So we send Operation Christmas child boxes to the uttermost parts of the globe so that those Children will have some presence, but they will discover the gift they need the most. We send people in mission trips, and we give money to missions because we want to be sure that Jesus doesn't show up and see us running a country club at 812th Street. See, we don't we make sure that the gospel leaves this room because that's what we've been called to do because we've read God's truth. We've heard God's truth and we're running. We're running. We're not just here to sing songs and listen to sermon to fellowship toe one another to kind of hang out at the church. We're here so that we will become better runners. Now. Some Christians never start running. Maybe I should say Cem, professing Christians never start running. Their interaction with Jesus is Mawr social comfort than spiritually committee. And then there's other people. That man, they run hard, but they're running with the Lord, and you know what happens when you run hard I mean, I don't know, because I don't run. But you people who run you know, when you run hard, you get tired. You know, you get tired. That's why I don't run. I get tired, like, you know, in 10 yards not walk. But I'm not going to run. You get tired and you know what happens when you get tired. You get confused, you get frustrated, you get angry, you get overwhelmed. Robotics, they're different. He's experiencing the exact same thing. And what happens in those times when we get tired and worn out? Thio bar a line from an old him. We just really struggle toe lean on the everlasting arms. We do like way Don't want Thio. You know, we would rather be mad and angry and frustrated. We rather scream out and post a million things on social media about our anger and how much we hate everything that's going on. But we're not quick toe lean on the everlasting arms sometimes because we're tired. Our anger, it makes us tired. Our fear makes us start. Our apathy makes us tired. Maybe you feel that way today. Maybe you're worn out. You're mentally worn out. Maybe you're physically worn out and and you're thinking, Gosh, I got nothing left. Tabaka had some days like that. He seemed to be having a day like that now. So what does God do? What he encourages. How does he encourage? Listen? Verse three for the Vision is yet for the appointed time. It hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail, though it Terry's wait for it, for it will certainly come. It will not delay. This is great encouragement. The appointed time had not arrived yet. A box was writing down this vision from God, and eventually he let the people hear the vision. They were able to read the vision. In other words, they heard the sermon from tobacco. On Sunday morning. They heard the Sunday school lesson. They heard the small group Bible study. They heard the January Bible study. They heard the message of God. But then a few weeks went by and a few months went by. And those same people who had walked out that day and said, Man, tobacco, Great sermon, man, that's fantastic. Are they tell their Sunday school teacher, you know, week later, they text Thanks so much for what you said, boy, that that really helped me this week within a few weeks goes by a few months goes by and the people started saying a back where these wicked people I mean, what's going on? I mean, why should we listen to you? Some of the people started thinking man Tabaka keep. He must be some liberal crackpot. Others were thinking, Gosh, he must be some fundamentalist nut job. Why should we listen to this guy? What he said is it's not coming true. Charles Feinberg says this delay is only in the heart of man. If you chew on that, his son delay is Onley in the heart of man. In other words, the concept of delay is something on Lee. I have the concept of something being delayed. Is something on Lee you have. God has no delay. He's not too slow. He's not too fast. He is always right on time. And that would be super encouraging tobacco because he just heard this weird, confusing news that God sending someone to take over the nation. So to hear that God does everything on time would be encouraging to him. The picture we have here is very similar to what we see in Psalm 73. And so I'm 73 that the Psalmist is writing. And he says this for I was envious of the arrogant. When I saw the prosperity of the wicked. He said this They're not in trouble as others are. They're always a tease. They increase in riches. Been there, right? He's rich, We could people. They get away with everything. They don't seem to have any problems in life. And then he said this surely in vain. I have kept my heart pure. Been there. God, these people don't honor you. God, these people do the wrong thing. And yet their companies still make lots of money and they get elected and they live in nice neighborhoods. God, God, what is going on? Why do the wicked seemed to prosper? And the psalmist says I'm wasting my time. What am I doing in this stinking church? Listen to this stinking preacher! Why wasting Mata? They seem to have all the comfort, all the ease. I'm living over here in the middle of my stress and my anxiety and my anger and my frustration and my apathy. Why am I trying toe honor. The Lord never been there. Never had those thoughts sometime in the last few weeks. But then something happens. He's struggling. He's got some questions. We're going to have questions. But then it gets an answer for his question. Listen to some 73 16 and 17 when I pondered toe. Understand this when I was like I don't understand. It was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God. Then I perceived there in. Sometimes it feels like nothing is going right. Sometimes it feels like nothing's going to change. Sometimes it feels like the enemy is always going to win, and in those moments, stepping of sanctuary. I'm not a building Step in to this place where you are alone with God and you remember who God is. You remember that the birds don't work for anything, and yet he meets their needs. He will meet our needs. Let me take it to the strongest degree I possibly can, and I'll just keep it. Person. God will meet my need, even if my need was death. He's that kind. He's that good. You'll meet my need. Whatever it is for me to gain Christ, he meets our needs. So when the Psalmist stepped into the sanctuary, he went, Oh, yeah, I forgot. God is everlasting, everlasting, everlasting. God is holy, holy, Holy God is other, other other. And when he makes a schedule, it's always kept. God's appointed time is always met. God's never not on time. A box says that brights down for the people, man. God heal. He will hasten towards the goal. You know what we're thinking? Yeah, if you're hastening rehab, but see over and over and over again. We have this picture from God to his people. Hey, it's going to happen. You just hang in there. You keep trusting. It may seem like it's delayed to you, but it's not God's never tardy. He's always right on time. And so tobacco was watching for the Lord he was watching for God's timing. He was waiting for God's time, but he was trusting in God's timing because he knew he could trust God. God has more to say. Tobacco. Listen, continuing in verse four. Behold. As for the proud one, his soul is not right within him. The Cal Deion's were the people that were coming to take over there, also known as the Babylonian Zones. They were coming toe takeover. They were going to rule the world, but not forever, because they were proud. In fact, history tells us, with a 100 years of them taking over the world, they were completely wiped off the earth. Why? Because they were self worshiping, prideful people, self worshiping, prideful people. Let me just share some things very humbling. Without a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. By default, a person can't help but be self worshiping in private. Walter Chantry put it this way. There are only two kinds of men who have ever lived on the earth, men of pride and men of faith just to And he says this. This contrast is the key Thio history, and it unlocks the meaning of every generation living on the earth. Every generation, every generation, from the first man and first woman tow us every generation, every generation, either a person of faith or a person of pride. Every generation. Ancient Egyptians, ancient Greeks, ancient Romans, the greatest generation, boomer Generation X and Y's and Z's the millennials. Everybody, every generation to come. Every generation there's only two kinds, a person of faith or person of price. So the question for our hearts is this Which what are we? Which one are you? What would the people who live in your house say, What would the people that you work with or go to church with or hang out with on the weekends? What would they say? Would they say You're a person of faith or they say You're a person of pride. Let's be honest. Most of us don't think we're proud people, okay? We don't We just don't way think prideful people or that's what other people do. So how is it that any of us could be prideful? Well, let's just think there's some ways you can be prideful if your materialistic right, you can. You eat prideful of your materialistic. You could be super prideful. Also, if you're frugal both and materialism could be pride. Frugality can be proud. You could be prideful about your hard work or your gifts or your talents or your education or your reputation around town. Those things can be sources of pride, but get this Ah, church person can be prideful about their religion, and an atheist can be prideful about their rejection of religion. Trust virgins To this pride is a strange creature. It never objects to its lodgings. You can be a prince, or you could be a popper. You can be a Christian or you can be an atheist. You can live in a palace or you can live in a homeless shelter. Pride and piggy pride will live anywhere with any body. The Canadians, the very people that God was sending to take over the world. They were super super private. About 70 years after Tabaka wrote down this vision from God, there was a king over the Cal Deion's named Belle Shazzer, and it's really interesting. He was having this huge party one night and in the middle of his party. All of a sudden, on the other side of the room, there was this mysterious floating hand writing on the wall, and it completely freaked him out, and he got afraid really fast. He couldn't understand what was going on, but this message was being written on the wall. Now some people would say, Well, he was three sheets to the wind. That's why he didn't know it was going on. Don't matter, he could not read the message. He couldn't understand the message. And that made him afraid. So he got his best advisers having you guys. What? What? What is this thing? His best advisers. No clear that paralyzed him. The Bible literally says that his knees gave way, that his limbs were knocking together. He was shaking. He was terrified. This is the king off the nation that ran the world. He was terrified of this hand, writing on the wall. Then his wife remember that there was this guy named Daniel who would help the previous one of the previous kings, Nebuchadnezzar. And so Bell Shazzer he sent for Daniel and Daniel came to him. Daniel came to him, and the first thing he said Waas he said, Look, do you remember the story about King Nebuchadnezzar? Do you remember how he was so prideful that he ended up living like an animal out in the wilderness? Crazy out of his mind? Do you remember that? And then Daniel said this And you, bell Shazzer have not humbled your heart though you knew that story. But you have lifted up yourself against the Lord of Heaven. The God in whose hand is your breath. And then Daniel told him what the message was that nobody could read on the wall. God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end. You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Are you found wanting today? Maybe. Put another way, Where are you with God? Where is your relationship with God When you look at your life? Are you following after God? Are you running after God? Are you reading and running after Jesus? Or are you knowingly or unknowingly full of self worship and pride? Are you trusting first and most in yourself? Or are you trusting first and most in the blood of Jesus that has conquered sin that has balanced the scales of your soul and brought salvation and peace and joy and contentment and happiness and satisfaction forever and ever? And then, are you a person of faith? Are you a person of pride? Listen to the rest of us four God says, Behold, As for the proud one, his soul is not right within him, but the righteous will live by. His faith was the opposite of pry the opposite of pride is faith. What's faith? Very simply, The Scripture says this in the letter to Hebrews. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction, the confidence of things not seen. Faith is not a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner that you could just get in, crank up and go somewhere. Faith is not a smartphone that you can just swipe and get what you need. When it comes to the truest sense of our physical senses, we can't see faith. We can't taste faith. We can't touch faith. We can't feel faith. But we believe in our faith. Our faith is really it's not something made up. And it's not blind faith. We're not foolish people blindly running after a building or a sanctuary or denomination or a religion. No, our faith has an object. What is the object of our faith? Is the object of our faith, the denomination or the religion, or the pastor or the church now faith for a Christian? The object of our faith is the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nowhere else we set our faith. Jesus is the continual, ongoing object of our faith. There is no changing, no shifting from that. No one's going to come up with something better. No pastor, no preacher, no church. No religion will ever come up something better than Jesus. As the ultimate Onley object of pure undefiled faith, you know what happens when one of my cars start messing up? Something goes wrong with the car. I mean, before I go on YouTube and try to figure out how to fix it, you know? What do I do first call my dad? You know why I called my dad? Because after 32 years of driving, I have great faith and confidence in my dad's understanding of cars. He usually knows exactly what I need to be thinking about and what I might need to get fixed. How much more should we use? Christians have confidence and faith, and the one who has risen from the how much more should we have confidence and faith in the person of Christ, the one who has satisfied the penalty of sin and rescued us? How much Mawr should we have confidence in Jesus in 2020 and 2021 any other moment in our existence because of what he has done? Apostle Paul is writing to the Church of Colossi. And he said this for by Jesus. All things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones or Dominions or rulers or authorities or queens or kings or presidents or senators or representatives or pastors or deacons or anyone else. All things were created through Jesus and four Jesus. And in Paul writes this and Jesus is before all things. And in him, all things hold together. That's a lot more than car repair. Do you know this, Jesus? Not. Do you know things about Jesus? Do you know this Jesus, this Jesus that holds the world together and that nobody and no one can ever stop that. You know, whenever we go out of town, one thing I do is I take a little note pad and I write my name and my address and my phone number and my email on the piece of paper. And then I get my house key, and I put all that in an envelope and on the front of the envelope. I just right. Thanks for watching our house while we're gone. And then I drive up to Publix and going parking lot and I just stick that envelope under the random windshield wiper of some car in the parking lot. That's, you know, that's what I do when we go out of town. No, I don't do that. That's crazy. Our neighbor has a Keith. You know why? Because we know him. We trust him. This trust and Jesus. We're not asking you to be some crazy super religious freak. This is unbelievably easy. God gave us his book. Read the book. Run with what you read. It's not rocket science. It really isn't. Geoff Thomas said this. The more you know about Jesus, the more you learn to trust him. The less you know about Jesus, the weaker your faith will be. How's your faith today? How is your favorite everything going on in the world right now? How's your when you think about mask or no mask? We think about social distancing or no social distance. You think about statistics and whether they're true or whether they're inflated. Whatever you think, truthfully, I don't care, because I don't care what I think either. What I know is what we need the most is a greater knowledge of Jesus because God meets the needs of all the birds through Jesus. And all we need is Jesus. All we need is Jesus. I pray that he will help us not see that asshole. So imagine Are you strong or weak today? Where are you with your faith? Are you strong? Are you weak? See, True saving faith is when a person looks the cross and they see Jesus accepting and absorbing the guilt drenched penalty of their sin. And that person looks at that, believes in that and says yes, my confidence is that yeah, I'm going toe Believe in that. I'm going to believe in the cross. I'm going to believe in the crucifixion. I'm going to believe in the resurrection. And I'm going to believe in the ascension because of the crucifixion and the resurrection. I'm going to believe in the Lord so God, I've seen this truth. I've got this truth. Please save me. Please make me yours. God, you are the Onley investment that is perfectly safe. And when a person makes a commitment like that, I promise they don't forget it at the buffet after church on Sunday To turn to Christ is to commit your entire life to Jesus. Saving faith is keeping faith. Saving faith is something that we depend on every day of the year. Saving faith is something that we build our lives on before we get married or if we get saved after we get married or whenever we are in life. When we come to Christ, we begin to build our life on Christ. We don't just build our life on our experience. We don't build our life on what we already know. We build our life on Christ. I've always kind of jokingly said, but I am undeniably no, a passionate pumps and fans. But I'll tell you this. When I was growing up, my blood did run orange. And then I found Jesus and I quit saying, because Jesus is first and most Clemson's great love it, Thank God for it. But Jesus is the one who will say, Welcome home, my good and faithful. So So we turn to Jesus because he is all we need. But what does that face look like? Think through the whole of the Bible. Okay, here's a few examples. Noah built an ark, but faith by faith, you building art. Abraham moved his family perfect. Joseph endured lies and slavery and prison by faith. Moses wandered in the desert by faith. Ruth endured the death of her husband and a worldwide famine by faith. And on and on. We could go for the last 4000 years at least of men and women and boys and girls that lived their life by faith in the one created, growing true creator God, no matter what was happening on any given day of their life. And I love how the letter Hebrews describe some of this Hebrews, Chapter 11. It says this. These folks who through faith, conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises. How about this one? Stop the mouths of lions. Have you done that this week? And I stopped the mouth of a lion this week. This is amazing stuff. When we consider everything that's stressing us out right now, everything that we're frustrated with anything that we might face in life. We are here worshiping the God that has helped people stop the mouth of a lion. This is our God. That this is our God. By faith, they were able to quench the power of fire, escape the edge of the sword were made strong, out of weakness became mighty and war put foreign armies to flight and how they do that stuff. They did it because they went to the right schools and they raised just enough money. Now they did it by faith, by faith in the simplest way that we can think about this again. There are two types of people in the world those who live by faith and those who live by pride and simply put, pride looks to self and faith. Looks to God. So where is your faith today? Are you looking by faith just to the fond memory of your profession of faith? Are you looking by faith just to the fond memory of your baptism? Are you looking by faith just to the money that you give to the church or that you give to local charities? You're looking by faith just in your church attendance in person or online? Are you looking by faith to your favorite political party or your favorite team or to your retirement plan? Is that where your faith, your primary faith, is first and most or is your faith in the one that holds all things together. Paul was writing to folks at Corinth and he said this. So we are. This has to be a misprint. Bible had to get this word wrong. So we're always of good courage. I think it didn't miss that, for we're always of good courage for we walk by faith, not by side. When it's dark and we can't see, we walk by faith. We walked by the exact same faith that tobacco walk bites. It's not different. It's the same faith We keep believing in God's promise. We keep believing and have confidence in the fact that one day God will sort it out and he'll sort it out once and for all. Listen, I want you to cut yourself some slack, okay? If you're if you're flipping out, angry about everything happening in the world, look, just cut yourself some slack, okay? Because there's a lot of stuff to make us angry. If you're flipping out, afraid about everything that's happened in the world, look, just cut yourself some slack. There's a lot to make us afraid. Okay, it's it's okay. We're just going to But don't keep flipping out. Read and run. Walk by. Faith, flip out for three minutes, not three hours and then read and run, read and run, read and write. Listen, we're not going to understand everything that's going on. You're never going to understand everything that's going on. Goodness, I'm, you know, Lord willing, Halfway through life, I've never understood everything that's going on, and I never will. And neither will you just cut yourself some slack on that. We're not going to know everything that's going on. God's made no obligation that he's going to explain everything to us. But we can still read and run and walk laughing. We can. It's it's not impossible to do so if we were toe just kind of pull this into one little sentence, all the tobacco. Except we could just say this. Don't be rifle. Just don't do it. Read and run. Walk by Faith. Watch by faith. Weight by faith, Surrender by faith. Commit by faith wide. Why should you do that? Why should you keep keeping the faith one reason, and I really hope this reason crabs your heart in the days ahead. Here's why. You should keep your faith because Jesus loved you and gave himself up for you. And he holds all things together. He really does