Finding Mercy in the Madness

Habakkuk 3:1-7 | December 6, 2020

When do you start listening to Christmas music?

• Patrick’s Day?
• Cinco De Mayo?
• Labor Day?

Instead of just listening to Christmas music, what if you could write some Christmas music?

And more specifically, what if you could write a Christmas carol about God?

What would you include?

• Hope?
• Peace?
• Love?
• Joy?

Would you include words like this in your song…

George Frideric Handel

He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn

The Lord shall have them in derision

Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron

Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel

It might be strange to hear Brad say one Sunday…

“Please stand as we sing ‘Dash Them to Pieces’.”

And yet when George Frideric Handel sat down to write a song about the Messiah – the same Messiah that was born in Bethlehem – those were some of words he used to bring attention to the authority of God. 

The prophet Habakkuk was having a rough time. 

His country was falling apart, and he kept praying to God and he kept asking God to do something.

And God responded by saying that a wicked group of people called the Chaldeans were taking over the country.

That didn’t sound like an answer to prayer to Habakkuk, but God reminded him who he was praying to…

• The Lord of Hosts
• The God of Israel
• The Great I AM

And that was what Habakkuk needed the most – to remember that God is God and there is no other.

And after that roller coaster of a conversation Habakkuk is moved to write a song – a prayerful song about God. 

What does he write?

Listen to Habakkuk 3, beginning with verses 1 and 2…

1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth (shi-ji-noth). 2 LORD, I have heard the report about You and I fear.

What in the world is Shigionoth (shi-ji-noth)?

Well, it’s not a new latte flavor at Starbucks.

It seems to be a particular type of prayer or song – a prayer that has a sense of comfort and excitement and victory to it. 

But that doesn’t make sense – Habakkuk just found out his nation was going to be conquered.

It seems crazy that he would be writing an exciting song of victory.

But he wasn’t going crazy, he was finally starting to truly understand. 

He heard the report about God – he heard the truth about God – and he says…

• “I do fear!”
• “I am in awe!”
• “You alone are God!”
• “There is no one besides You!”

Habakkuk caught a glimpse of the greatness of God and his heart broke out into an exciting song of victory.

He could sing an exciting song of victory because he knew that God was good and just and right. 

He could sing an exciting song of victory because no matter what happened in his life he belonged to God. 

Do you have that confidence today?

• When the storm comes
• When unemployment comes
• When financial struggles come
• When family difficulties come
• When bad news from the doctor comes
• When death comes

Can you say with Habakkuk and the Apostle Paul…

• “Thanks be to God!”
• “I am His and He is mine!”
• “It might look like I have been defeated.”
• “But I have victory in Jesus!”
• “Jesus – who loved me and gave Himself up for me!”

We long for you to have that confidence today. 

Habakkuk continues to worship – listen to verse 2…

2 O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known;

Interestingly, he doesn’t say, “Revive, me, Lord!”

He says, “Revive Your work Lord – do again what You have done before!”

What does that mean?

Well, he’s doing is he’s thinking about the report of God – the story of God. 

• Who God was
• Who God is
• Who God will be forever

He’s not just thinking about his own situation in his own country.

He’s trying to drop back and get a bigger picture of what was really going on. 

In the coming verses, he’s going to sing about the past and the future.

He’s going to sing about what God has done and what God is doing and what God is going to do.

But before he starts singing about the past and the future, he sings something that sounds crazy.

Listen to the last part of verse 2:

2 In wrath remember mercy.

Wrath and mercy. 

Those sound like they go together like a bowl of Frosted flakes with water.   

How can you have wrath and mercy?

One involves getting what you deserve. 

The other involves getting what you don’t deserve. 

How can those two exist together?

Well, the prophet Jeremiah had been calling the people to repent and return to God for about 40 years, and God’s people kept going to church, but they refused to repent.

So, now, God is responding to their arrogance and their rebellion and his judgement was just and right and deserved.

The Chaldeans were taking over – and that’s the message God is giving Habakkuk to give to the people. 

Can you imagine?

He was going to have to preach that same sermon every Sunday – talk about not being liked by the congregation!

Well, like me or not, I’m going to repeat what I have been saying for weeks….

Praise God that you and I are alive in 2020!

This is our time as Christian Americans to make a difference in our nation and a difference in the world.

And how can we make that difference?

Well, about 700 years before Jesus was born, God gave us very specific instructions for 2020.

That’s right, they weren’t just for 700 BC, they were for 2020 AD.

You see, there was a guy named Micah and Micah grew up in a farming community – a community a lot like the one that some of you grew up in.

A community a lot like two of the fantastic places I’ve been honored to pastor, up in Aulander, North Carolina, and over in Ridge Spring, South Carolina.

Micah was just a country boy and God gave him a message – and that message was for people who claimed that they were going to heaven when they die.

And what was that message that applies to every Christian past, present and future?

This is what God told Micah to write down…

Micah 6:8 (my adjusted translation)

What does the Lord require of you? To do justly, and to love mercy, and to humble yourself and walk humbly with God!

This is our time to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with God!

This is our time to stand firm in our faith and keep the good news of the gospel front and center. 

This is our time to stand firm in our faith without manipulating the message of gospel of Jesus Christ to try and match our social opinions or our politics.

Habakkuk had a difficult message to deliver.

It was a message that the people were not going to like.

Which might be why he graciously and boldly asks the Lord to still show mercy in the middle of wrath.

Someone said this was Habakkuk’s way of saying…

 

“Lord, may Thy will be done – and get it over with as soon as possible.”

But more than likely his request for mercy was because he knew that he himself had been shown mercy.

In other words, Habakkuk’s own heart never quit singing, “I once was lost, but now I’m found!”

Habakkuk’s message was going to be strong and condemning and it would demand a response of repentance.

The wrath of God was coming, and people needed to repent – and don’t be confused – sure the Chaldeans needed to repent – but the message was for the people of God to repent.

Here’s a little multiple choice…

• Frustration over restrictions
• Fear over viruses
• Anger over politics
• Repentance over personal sin

Which one are we hearing the most from Christians?

Andrew Bonar and Robert Murray M’Cheyne were two faithful Scottish preachers during the 1800’s.

They met together one Monday, and Bonar asked M’Cheyne what he had preached on the previous day.

“Hell,” M’Cheyne replied.

And Bonar responded, “Did you preach it tenderly?”

Habakkuk asked for mercy in the middle of wrath.

About 600 years after he asked, God perfectly answered the prophet’s prayer on Mount Calvary. 

The only place where mercy and wrath have perfectly met is on the cross.

God has displayed His mercy in the midst of His wrath through the beautiful, wonderful cross on which the Prince of glory died.

And God is still showing mercy today.

Habakkuk begins to look back on that mercy in his song – listen to verse 3:

3 God comes from Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covers the heavens, And the earth is full of His praise.

This part of the song reflects on what God has already done for His people.

But the purpose of looking back was to bring confidence for the here and now and the yet to come. 

Listen, we don’t sing songs about us on Sunday.

We don’t come to campus just to meet and greet people and see how their week has gone.

We don’t Zoom Sunday School just to see them on the screen or tune in to the live stream just to see who else has joined in and said “good morning” in the comments.

We gather to sing songs about our God!

We gather to meet and greet our Redeemer!

We are here to see and remember and discover more about the only One who is Holy, Holy, Holy!

His glory fills the earth!

There is no one else in all of creation whose glory has filled the earth, ut the glory of the Lord fills the earth. 

And that’s why we praise Him and not us.

And notice sandwiched in the middle of this verse is the word “selah”. 

What does that mean?

Sometimes Brad turns to Sherry during warm ups and says, “Say la!” – and they both sing, “La, la, la, la, la.”

I’m kidding – that’s not what it means.

Selah is kind of like a pause – like a stop.

• Stop and just think about what you just prayed
• Stop and think about what you just heard
• Stop and think about what you just sang

Let these things sink in.

God, the Holy One, appeared in Egypt and chose a people to rescue.

He delivered them from slavery and set them free. 

Selah. 

Just think about that. 

Here’s what that sounds like to us today…

John 3:16

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He even gave up His only begotten, unique Son…

• SELAH!
• PAUSE!
• STOP!
• WAIT!

Don’t run to the next part yet – please get this part first! 

God gave up his Son for you!

God crushed his Son on the cross to pay for the just and right and necessary penalty of your sin!

Just sit and marinate on that stunning truth.

Because of His great love, God gave His Son. 

• Not because you are a hard-working man
• Not because you are a pretty nice woman
• Not because you get good grades in school

No!

Without Christ, we are dead in our trespasses and sin!

There is absolutely no reason that God should ever give up his Son for sinful, selfish people like you and me – but He did!

Because of His great love! Selah! Selah! Selah!

And after you Selah for a little bit, then keep going…

John 3:16

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He even gave up His only begotten, unique Son…so that whoever believes in, trusts in, clings to and relies on Him shall not perish and come to destruction and be lost, but have eternal, everlasting life.

God, the Holy One, still saves and rescues and redeems!

Habakkuk continues to worship…listen to verse 4:

4 His radiance is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, and there is the hiding of His power.

There are local stars and there are international stars. 

Local stars would be recognized by people in our area. 

But if those same people were to go to another part of the country or another part of the world, they would not be recognized in the same way as they are here.

But then there are international stars that almost everyone would recognize in almost any part of the world.

Why are these stars famous?

Because of something they do.

They are either on TV or radio or in movies or play some professional sport.

They are famous for what they do.

I once saw an article abouts stars with no talent.

Some people are stars today for no reason. 

They don’t really do anything, and they don’t have any talent – they’re just on TikTok.

Did you know that TikTok is actually a complete waste of time?

That’s why they call it Tik Tok (tick tock)?

It’s name is reminding you that your brain is slowly disintegrating with every one you watch – just kidding TikTok-ers…sort of just kidding.

But make no mistake, God has talent.

And he’s not just a local or an international star.

He is universally famous – in the heavens and on the earth and under the earth. 

And God is not just famous for what he can do. 

He is famous for who he is!

About 3,400 years ago, Moses was on Mt. Sinai and lightning flashed revealing the presence of God.

And when Moses came down from the mountain his face was lit up with the glory of God.

Why?

Because he had been in the presence not of a star, but of the One who made the stars – the One whose glory and fame fill and cover the earth!

Habakkuk keeps singing, listen to verses 5-7…

5 Before Him goes pestilence, and plague comes after Him.

6 He stood and surveyed the earth; He looked and startled the nations. Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered, the ancient hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting.

 

7 I saw the tents of Cushan under distress, the tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling.

Again, about 3,400 years ago God displayed his power over the nation of Egypt.

He supernaturally controlled…

• Weather
• Animals
• Viruses
• Plagues

Pharaoh, the leader of the nation, had set himself up as more powerful than God – like he was the end all of all end alls.

And God used a sinful man like Pharaoh to unpack his powerful, sovereign, always-perfect plans. 

Egypt saw God’s power – and not just Egypt – other nations, people who lived out in tents across the land and were not part of the people of God, were trembling. 

Why?

They saw and heard what God did to rescue and redeem his people.

Just like God told Habakkuk, the Chaldeans eventually came and took over. 

During their reign, there were three guys who ran into some trouble with the king. 

They refused to bow down to the king’s rule demanding that they worship someone besides the Living God.

For their disobedience, they were sentenced to death.

They were cast into a furnace that was so hot that the men who escorted them to their place of execution were killed by the flames. 

But by the grace and mercy and power of God, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego survived the fiery furnace. 

But what if the story had turned out different?

What if they had died?

This is what those boys said to the Chaldean king…

Daniel 3:17-18

…our God…will deliver us out of your hand…But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.

In 1940, British troops were surrounded by German forces at Dunkirk.

A British naval officer cabled a signal back to London.

The signal contained just three words.

What were those three words?

“But if not.”

• We might defeat the Germans
• We might defeat the Chaldeans
• We might survive the furnace
• We might survive 2020

We might survive the worst circumstance in our lives and in our family and in our church and in our jobs and in our country.

But if not…

If it all goes to hell in a handbasket, we have the mercy of the bells. 

I heard the bells on Christmas Day, and they peal more loud and more deep, “God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!”

Wrong shall eventually fail and right will eternally prevail because Jesus was born in a manger to bring peace on earth, good will to men. 

Come and worship, come and worship!

Worship Christ, the newborn King!

Message by Dow Welsh |

December 6, 2020 © Holland Avenue Baptist Church

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Above are pre-sermon manuscript notes

Sermon text scriptures NASB, others usually ESV

Lots of help from many pastors and theologians

Weekly help from Bruce Hurt at www.preceptaustin.org

"But if not!" article

So when do you start listening to Christmas music? ST Patrick's Day, Cinco de Maya. Labor Day. Come on, some of you I mean, I have friends. This thing is running all year long. Well, what? Instead of listening to Christmas music, what if you could write some Christmas music and maybe more specifically, what if you could write a Christmas Carol about God? What would you include in a Christmas Carol that you wrote about God? Would there be hope? How about peace? It's, um, love. It's enjoy from this sound like good things to put in took her since Carol. Would you put any of these things in your Christmas Carol? He that dwell within heaven shall laugh them to scorn. The Lord shall have them in derision. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. I don't know. It might be strange if Brad stood up one suddenly and said, Please stand as we sing. Dash them to pieces. Join together. Come on, let's go. And yet, when George Frederick Handel sat down to write a song about the Messiah, the same messiah that was born in the manger those air. Some of the words that he included to bring attention to the authority of God. Tobacco was having a hard time in life. His country was falling apart and he was praying to God saying, Where is your authority? Why aren't you using your authority toe deal with this lawlessness? Why aren't you using your authority toe? Do something. Just God, please, please do some. And God said okay. I'll use my authority. I'm going to send ah, wicked people to take over your country. If you're a back, you have to be thinking that's not the answer I was looking for. In fact, God, that's that's kind of the opposite of what I was looking for. But God began to talk to her back and he let him know, Hey, remember who you're praying to. You're praying to the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, the great I am. And that is exactly what a back needed he needed to hear. He needed to remember that God is God and there is no other. That is what his heart needed the most. Listen, whatever you think, you may need, whatever you feel like you need whatever financial thing or emotional thing or political thing or social thing, whatever it is, whatever holiday thing, whatever it is that you think you need or you feel that you need, I promise every single one of us need in the deepest part of our hearts. Exactly what Tabaka God a message and a reminder that God is God and there is no mother. So he hears that from God. He gets that message and his response to hearing that was to write a Christmas Carol. Well, kinda. He wrote a prayerful song. And what does this song say? Well, let's find out. Listen to back in Chapter three, beginning with Verse one and into Verse two. A prayer of the back of the Prophet According to the season off Lord, I have heard the report about you and I fear Well, I know what you're wondering. What in the world is a surgeon off? Well, it's not a new flavor of latte at Starbucks. Little little something different. It seems to be a type of prayer that's marked with comfort, excitement and victory. Mhm. Alright. None of that fits this moment. Okay. Ah, back up. Just heard that his country was going to be taken over, that his nation was going to be conquered. It seems absolutely ludicrous and crazy that he would write a song about exciting victory. But he isn't going crazy. In fact, for the first time in this conversation with God, he's starting to get it. He's starting toe, understand? You see, he heard the report about God. He heard the story about God in his mind and his heart. They heard the story of God. And he went, I do fear I do stand in all I do remind my heart Now that you alone are cod, you have no rival. You have no equal God. There's no one besides you. And when that hits his mind, it hits his art and his heart breaks out into a song of victory. See, he can write a song of victory because he remembers that no matter what happens, God is good and God is just and God is right, always and forever. And he could write an exciting song of victory because no matter what happens, he knows that he belongs to God. So do you have that confidence? Do you know that you belong to God When the storm comes when the loss of a job comes when financial struggles come when family difficulties come When difficult news from the doctor comes when death comes, Do you have the confidence to say with tobacco on the Apostle Paul and so many others? Thanks be to God in the hard moment In the difficult moment when it sounds like your prayer is not being answered Do you have the confidence to say thanks be to God? The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Do you have the confidence to say in any moment? I am his and he is mine. The confidence to se Teoh anyone. You know what it may look like. I'm defeated, but I have victory in Jesus Jesus the same Jesus born in the manger, The same Jesus that was crucified on a cross. The same Jesus that rose from the grave. The same Jesus that ascended into heaven. The same Jesus that is coming again. The same Jesus that loved you and gave himself up for you. Do you have confidence and him? Do you have confidence in the authority of God in Jesus Christ, you can. You just have to remember the hordes of Jesus Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven. It's near, it's at hand. Repent and clean, too. Believe in rely on trust in Jesus first and most, and by his grace he will give you the confidence that he has gotten and there is no other. A backup continues to sing. Listen to Verse two. Oh Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years in the midst of the years. Make it known. It's interesting. He doesn't say Revive me, Lord, he says, Revived your work. God do the stuff that you do. Just do that again. See what he's doing is he's again listening to the report of God. He's hearing what God said to him. He's remembering what God said to him, and as he gets that report, he's remembering. Oh, yeah, I forgot. This is who, God waas. This is who God is. This is who God will be forever and ever and ever and ever. 40 years ago, interview with Parade magazine, Billy Graham reminded the country that America is not God's Onley kingdom. See what a box doing is, he's not just thinking about what's happening in his country. He's not just thinking about what's happening in his nation. He's stepping back. He's seeing the bigger picture of who God is, what God has done and what God is going to do. The definition, the character of God. He's going to start singing about what God's done in the past. He's going to sing about what God's doing in the present. He's going to sing about what God's doing in the future. He's going to sing about what God has done. He's going to sing about what God is doing right now, and he's going to sing about what God is going to do. But before he sings about those things, you sing something that sounds absolutely crazy. Listen, the last part of hers, too, in Wrath, remember Mercy, Wrath and Mercy. I mean, those sound like they go together like orange juice and toothpaste. It sounds like they go together like a bowl of frosted flakes with water poured over it. They don't sound like go together at all. How in the world can these things be together? You have one, Rath. It means you get what you deserve, and then you have mercy. You get what you don't deserve. How did those two things meet? For about 40 years? Another prophet, Jeremiah, had been calling God's people to repentance, and God's people kept going to church. They didn't stop. They don't miss a Sunday, but they refused to repent. They just wouldn't do it. And so now, in this moment with tobacco, God's saying, Okay, I'm going to deal with the rebellion of my people. I'm going to deal with their unwillingness to repent, he says. The way I'm going to deal with is the guardian's air coming to take over. And that's the message I want you to give him. Well, how about that? Bless his heart. Can you imagine every Sunday? That was a backache sermon, By the way, some wicked people are coming to take over. And, you know we need to repent. I mean, I'm thinking after one Sunday, people were going to be tired here in that sermon, right? Well, like me or not, I will continue to repeat what I've said the last few weeks. And I pray that your heart can hear it. Praise God that we live in 2020. Praise God that we live in 2020. This is our time. We're not accidentally here. This is our time to make a difference in our families. This is our time to make a difference in the church. This is our time to make a difference in the community. To make a difference in our country and make a difference in the world. Friend, this is our time. This is our time. Praise God for this time. How can you make a difference? How can you make a difference? About 700 years before Jesus was born, God gave us instructions for what we're supposed to do in 2020. That wasn't just for 700 B. C. It was for 2020 80. You see, there was this guy named Micah and Micah grew up in a farming community out in the country. A community. A lot like some of you grew up in a community a lot like to communities that I've pastored in Orlando, North Carolina and Rich Spring, South Carolina. Cut your towns. Simple, loving, fantastic people. Michael was just a country boy. He was a country boy, and God gave him a message. God gave him a message and he said, I want you to go give this message to anybody who professes to follow after me. No words. This was a message for people who said, Hey, I'm a Christian and I'm going to heaven when I die This This was a message for people who profess to be followers of God. And what was the message that God gave mica to give to people past, present, future, including us today? Well, Michael's message goes like, This is from Micah 68 God told my gun, Just ask the question. What does the Lord require for you? What does God want you to do? And then he said, I could give him this answer to do justly toe love, mercy toe, humble themselves and tow walk humbly. What's gone. This is our time to make a difference in the world. This is our time to do justly toe love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. That is how we make a difference. Those were the instructions from God. This is our time to stand firm in our faith and keep making a big deal out of the good news of Jesus Christ. Not just a Christmas, but all year long. This is our time toe stand firm in our faith and not manipulate the gospel to try to match our social opinions or our politics. No, this is our time to take the light of the gospel and shine that light into the darkness of social opinion into the darkness of social media, into the darkness of politics in tow. All the darkness of the world. We have the light Christian. We have the light Christian we have. But why we have the light, Praise God. We have the light praise God. We have a message of good news of great joy, but it's a message that kind of begins like this. Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is in hand. So you back up. He had a tough message. It was a message of the people were not going toe like, which is probably why he graciously says, God, could you bring some mercy into the middle of this wrath? Somebody once said, It's almost like what my what a box saying is this? He said, Lord, thy will be done. Get it over with as quickly as possible. Come on Godless. Let's make this thing. I think probably the reason he prays for mercy is because he had received mercy. He understood mercy. God had given him mercy. In other words, there was never a day of a box life that he woke up and I'll make it modern and put on a mask or didn't put on a mask. There was never a day that he didn't wake up and say I once was lost. But now I'm found. I once didn't have mercy, but now I've received the mercy of God and that changes every moment. Every moment a box message was going to be hard. It was going to be strong. It was going to be condemning. It was going to be a demand to respond. The wrath of God was coming and people needed to repent. Now don't be confused. Yes, the wicked county and people needed to repent. But the message was primarily going to God's people. God's people needed to repent. It's quick, multiple choice. Just a real fast one today. Here you options. Hey, frustration over restrictions, be fear over viruses. See anger over politics de repentance over personal sin. We do those again real quick. A frustration over restrictions, be fear over viruses. See anger over politics, de repentance over personal sin. Which one are we hearing the most from professing Christians in 2020? I mean, really, we're not. I talked a lot of professing Christians. I follow a lot of professing Christians on social media. I listened to a lot of different sermons from a lot of different churches all over the world every week. I gotta be honest. I'm not hearing a lot of repentance from God's people, not hearing a lot of repentance of her personal sin from God's people. God's people are where they are in this scene in this moment because they ignored Jeremiah for 40 years. Even if we just go back to Billy Graham's comment from 40 years ago, America is not God's Onley kingdom. We have to step back and say, What is God doing in the universe? Because when we connect to that, we'll find the fuel, the energy and the answers. We need to be the very best Christian Americans we can be. But if we don't step back, then we'll miss the message from God. We'll miss it. Andrew Bonner and Robert Murray machine were two faithful Scottish preachers during the 18 hundreds. They met together one Monday. As the story goes, they were talking about the sermon from the previous day and Bonner as MacShane. Hey, would you preach on yesterday? I'm ashamed. So I preached on Hell, and Boehner said, Did you preach it tenderly? The message is hard, but but our voices are not supposed to be hard. We're supposed to speak the truth, but we're supposed to speak the truth with love. That's not easy, but it's doable. It's doable. Back asked for mercy in the middle of wrath, and God answered his prayer That exciting and he said, God, would you give mercy in the middle of your wrath? And God answered his prayer. Isn't it fun when you when you pray to God and you see an answer to prayer? Well, he prayed and never saw the answer to his prayer because the ultimate answer to his prayer didn't come for 600 Mawr years. Are you willing toe live and pray today for the good of 2070? Are you willing today to live for Jesus in such a way that it makes a difference in 30 70 or whenever the time is until Jesus Terri's are we willing today to pray that God's will would be done, even if we don't see our prayer answered in the way we want to answer? So how did the back? It's prayer. Good answer. Well, 600 years later, in a little town called Bethlehem, God answered his prayer. You see God and bringing Jesus into the world made sure that Jesus got from Bethlehem to a place called Calvary. Outside of Jerusalem and on Calvary, God brought justice and mercy together, the just penalty of sin and evil and wickedness in 25 B. C. And 2020 80 the just penalty for sin and evil and wickedness was met with the mercy of God in and through Jesus. Through the wonderful cross, God answered tobacco ox prayer. Mercy came running. God displayed his mercy in the midst of wrath through the beautiful Prince of Peace on the Cross. And it's interesting. God is still showing that same mercy today. He still it's he's still saving. He's still rescuing. He's still redeeming back of singing about it, and now he's going to look back a little bit to some of those past things. Look at verse three. God comes from Tiemann and the Holy one from Mount Pair N Salah Hiss Splendor covers the heavens and the earth is full of his praise. This is the part of the song where back it's reflecting back on what God's already done for his people. But his purpose and looking back, was to help in the here and now and the yet to come. He's wanting us and wanting his own heart and wanting his Here's to no look. We can look back and see what God's done and that will help us right now, and it will help us in the future as well. You see, when we come here, we don't come to sing songs about us. We don't show up on campus just a meet and greet and find out how people have been during the week. We don't log in on a zoom Sunday school classes to see people's faces on the screen. We don't stream the live service just to see who else jumps in and comments and says, Good morning. Those things were all good and they're great and they're helpful. But we gather, we meet to sing songs about the one who has no rival. The one who has no equal the name above all other names We come to sing and worship and praise God We meet together to greet our redeemer We gather together to see and remember and discover Mawr and Maura about the Onley one who is holy. Holy Holy See, we're not here for us. We're here because we need God. And God is gracious to remind us that his glory fills the earth, right? Think about the coolest, nicest person you've ever known. I mean, I got I got to in my mind right now. Are a leader in G A leader in my church when I was growing up Two of the galleys people I've ever known. Guess what? Their glory never filled the earth. The nicest, coolest, most godly people that you know. Their glory will never fill and has never filled the earth. But the glory of God. No one else in creation, but the glory of God fills the earth. That's why we praise him and not us. Ah, back. It's just trying to help its heart say, Oh, God, please help me fix my eyes on you and then notice in the middle of all this he throws in a word there. Salon. What does that mean? Well, sometimes on Sunday morning, when when Brad and share your practicing Brattle turned to share and you say it's a lot and they both practice together Go la, la, la, la, la I made that up. That's not true. OK, no se la by definition means toe pause. It means just just to take a moment to take a moment. And remember what you just heard prayed or remember what? You just prayed to pause and to take a moment, What you just heard in the sermon or or what you just sang in a song. It means Thio to pause, and it means to stop a while back. It is doing is he's trying to remember something that God has done in the past as a moment to pause a and and so what is that? Well, God, the holy one, he calls him rescued each. He went to Egypt, chose a people and rescued them out of their slavery and set them free. Sailor. Just just pause on that for a moment of all of the world, God goes to Egypt. He chooses the people that are slaves. They were not cool people. They had not been to the best schools. They were not from great families. Everything about them was not great. They were slaves. God chose them. He rescued them. He freed them. Salon. Here's what that sounds like to us today If we were to modernize and a little bit for God so dearly laughed and dearly prized the world that he gave his on Lee. Sure, sailor. Pause! Stop! Wait! Um don't Don't run to the next part. Just stay there and marinate for a second. God gave his shine. He gave his son God, according to Scripture, crushed his own son to deal with the just and right and necessary penalty of sin. But that's stunning. This is what God's done Because of his great love. God gave his son for you not because you're a hard working man, not because you're a nice woman. Not because your grades air okay now without Christ were dead in our sins and our trespasses. And yet in that moment, when we're dead in our trespasses for no reason at all. God has no reason to rescue sinful, selfish people like us. But he does, and he did, because of his great love sailor, because of his great. And then after you say a lot for a moment, you go home with the rest because God so dearly loved and dearly prized the world. But he gave his only son that whoever believes in his son, whoever trusts in his son, whoever clings to his son, so not perish but rather will have everlasting life because of God's great love. That's what a back it's doing. He's remembering that the holy one saved, rescued and redeemed in the past. And he's remembering 700 years before Jesus was born in his lifetime, God was still saving, redeeming and rescue, and he's reminding us that this year and for the rest of eternity, until Jesus returns, God will be saving, rescuing and redeeming it is what he does back. It's reminding his heart of that. He's he's singing it and he keeps singing Listen to Verse four. His radiance is like the sunlight he has raised flashing from his hand, and there is the hiding of his power. You know there's local stars, local celebrities, and there's international stars, international celebrities now local star around here, people will recognize them, you know, see who they are. But if they go to another state or another community or another country, people may not recognize them as a star or a celebrity. Now, international stars different. They go anywhere in the world, and generally speaking, people will recognize them. They'll they'll see who they are. And why would they recognize them? Well, because of something they do right. Either they're of a TV star or a movie star or a political star or a sports star mean there's. There's some aspect of something that they do, that everybody knows who they are. I saw an article a few years ago. It was talking about stars who have no talent. It was great. It was really funny, because there are people who who are famous for absolutely no reason. You know, they don't have a talent or a skill, you know, they're just on tick tock. That's it. You know, they're just on tick tock. You know, in case you don't know, this Tic tac is actually a complete waste of time. I don't know if you know this, but remember, the name is tick talk. In other words, they're telling you with their name, we are slowly disintegrating your brain every time you watch. I'm just kidding. Tick doctors Kind of kidding. Make no mistake. God, He's got talent and his talent is local on Lee, and his talent is an international Onley. The whole universe is clear on the talent of God. The whole universe is full of his glory. If the church is shut down in America, I promise you, the rocks will cry out. God's glory will never not be known in the universe. And what a privilege we have today toe lift our voices in song and prayer in hearing for the glory of God. Let us never underestimate that privilege. The glory of God fills the earth. He's not just famous for what he can do. He's famous because of who he is. About 3400 years ago, Moses was up on a place called Mount Sinai, and the lightning was crazy, was flashing all around him, revealing the power and the presence of God. And when he came down off the mountain, the people were looking at him and they're like, Whoa, who just what happened to your face? Because it was lit up. It was shining in a way they had never seen. Why, because he had been and the presence of God. The whole earth is full of God's glory back and keep singing Verse five he stood and he surveyed I'm sorry. Before him goes pestilence and plague comes after him. He stood Verse six and surveyed the earth. He looked and startled the nation's. Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered. The ancient hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting. I saw the tents of cushion under distress. The tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling again about 3400 years ago. God displayed his authority, and his power over the nation of Egypt got supernaturally controlled weather and animals and viruses and plagues. God had supernatural authority over those things, and the leader of the nation Pharaoh, he felt like he was the end all of all involves that he didn't answer to anybody. He set himself up as the most powerful, as if his glory filled the whole earth. But it didn't and yet God used that sinful, arrogant, pompous, wicked, misguided man to perfectly accomplish his sovereign plants. That's what God did. Egypt. They saw God's back. They saw it. And not just Egypt. A bunch of people intense from far away. They saw it too. They saw these things happen. They saw God do supernatural things that were unexplainable and it caused them to tremble. Why they could not get over what God would do to save those slaves. Friend, we need to tremble more. Not at the election, not out of virus, not at any of our health or financial issues. All those things were really. But if we're going to profess to be Christians, we need to tremble. Mawr. When we look at the cross, we see what God has done the the unexplainable supernatural authority of God through Jesus. To rescue us from sin, we need to tremble more, just like God told her. Back at Cal, Deion's eventually did come and take over, and during their reign there were three guys that had a little trouble with the Chaldean King. See, the King had had said that there were going to be some idols that needed to be worshiped, had toe bow down and worship some idols. They could not just worship the one true living God and these guys rely at Sorry, we can't do that. We can Onley worship the one true living God. It wasn't, you know, a random tax law. Okay? He said I need you out bowing down before this idol and they said No. Now we can't do so. They were arrested and they were sentenced to death and they were going to be killed, Executed in a fiery furnace. The furnace was so hot that the guys that took them to go into the furnace, the flames and the heat came out and killed them before they got the guys. Even in the furnace, that's how hot it was. But the grace and mercy of God save those three. God should write me shocking have been to go with their names. God's mercy safe. But what if he didn't? What if the story was different? What if those guys die? What if What if they were burned up a the same time that those soldiers were burned? Or what if they got into the furnace and and they were burned up immediately? But what if they adopt? Well, they thought about that in the past. I thought about what God had done in the past. And so they were prepared for the president. They were prepared for the plague and the virus and the fiery furnace. They they were prepared because of who God was in the past. They were prepared in the present to deal with future. This is what those three guys said to the county in King Daniel, Chapter three, our God will deliver us out of your hand. But if not, be it known to you, O King, We will not serve. Your gods are worship the golden image that you have set up. 1940 British troops were surrounded by German forces at Dunkirk. British naval officer sent distress signal back to London, and the signal had only three words. I was reading something interesting this week that I'll just make quick note of in normal settings today. No one would understand this distressing. And I would say sadly, many in the church would not understand this distressing. So praise God and mercy to the British people of 1940 that they knew enough about the Bible to read a coded message, the three words that were contained in that distress signal or this. But if not, it's all the message said we might defeat and survive the Germans. But if not, we might defeat and survive the Cal Deion's. But if not, we might defeat and survive the furnace. But it's not. We might defeat and survive 2020. But if not, we might defeat and survive the absolute worst circumstance that happens in our home and our family and our church and our community and our heart and our mind and our country in the world. But if not, But if not, if everything goes to hell in a handbasket, we will still have mercy off the bells. I heard bells on Christmas Day and they peeled louder and deeper. God is not dead, nor does he sleep. The wrong will fail and the right will eternally prevail. Because Jesus was born in a manger to bring peace on Earth. Good will to man. Do you have that confidence this So been coming. Worship come and worship worship. Christ, the newborn king