Good morning, everyone. All right. We are in Habakkuk, or Habakkuk, if you want to try the proper pronunciation. And we're gonna be in chapter one, verse one through chapter two, verse one. So my job is really to put the ball on the tee for Brad next week. Because he gets to take us through the just shall live by faith.

So let's open up in prayer. Then we'll get some context.

Heavenly Father, we are your people. We are here gathered in your name on our Lord's day to worship you. Lord, we know to worship you, we need the help of your spirit. We need to do so with the right means, with the word of God. So we pray that you would empower us to honor you in this time. to honor you and how we understand and approach your word. I pray that you would stir our hearts up and turn our minds to the things in heaven where our Lord is seated, that we would be made like him as we perceive him through his truth here in this time. We ask this in his name, amen.

Okay. Let's talk about where we're at. The setting.

Now, I'll take us back to this chart for a minute. We'll get our bearings. Habakkuk ministered during the time, probably his writing is occurring during the time of Jehoiakim. Let me pull up, I put a different chart and a note here, which would be helpful for us. So let me put this up here. Give it a second. See if it'll come.

Okay. I drew this out because I was real, I had to figure out who's who and how does this go and why are these uncles and brothers and so I don't have a laser pointer. Maybe I do here actually. I'd have to turn that on.

At the top is Josiah. The red line is the order of where the throne got passed to. And when Josiah died, the people put Jehoahaz, his fourth-born son, on the throne. But he only reigned for three months, until Pharaoh Necho comes and marches him off to Egypt and puts Josiah's second-born son, Jehoiakim, who is sometimes called Eliakim on the throne.

Let's see here. Jehoiakim, Eliakim, second-born son of Josiah. So he's installed by Pharaoh Necho. He reigns for 11 years. Then he is taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. And Nebuchadnezzar puts his son, Jehoiachin, sometimes called Jeconiah or Coniah, on the throne. And he's also only there for three months before Nebuchadnezzar puts Zedekiah on the throne.

And maybe Nebuchadnezzar didn't put Jehoiachin on the throne. Let me see here. Jehoiachin, Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim, reigned three months, Jerusalem captured, temple destroyed, Daniel taken to captivity, deported to Babylon, but later shown kindness by Ithilmerida, king of Babylon.

And, okay, so he's removed, and Ebuchadnezzar puts Zedekiah on the throne, and he's the third-born son of Josiah. Jehoiachin's Evil is great enough that the Lord actually removes him from the messianic line. So none of his, so there is no blood descendant. Jesus is not a blood descendant of Jehoiachin. Joseph, Jesus' earthly father, is, but Mary's not. Mary actually comes from Solomon's brother, Nathan.

which is kind of fascinating. So Solomon's line, because of the evil of his sons, doesn't make it by blood to the Messiah, which I didn't know that until like three days ago. That's fascinating. I had no idea. I went to seminary.

But when Zedekiah's on the throne, and if you read Jeremiah, you notice that it kinda just, it kinda pinballs all around these kings. Sometimes he's talking to Jehoiakim, sometimes he's talking to Zedekiah, sometimes he's, and it doesn't even go in chronological order. I don't remember off the top of my head why Jeremiah's structured the way it is. but it's structured thematically, if I remember right, at least that much. It's not structured chronologically.

Now, Habakkuk's ministry is most likely during the reign of Jehoiakim. And here's why. In the very first verses of Habakkuk, we find out what is marking the, or, the kind of actions that are characterizing, there's the word, Israel, or Judah, the southern kingdom at this time.

Let me read to you verses one through four of Habakkuk. The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet beheld. How long, O Yahweh, will I call for help, and you will not answer? I cry out to you, violence, yet you do not save. Why do you make me see wickedness and cause me to look on trouble? Indeed, devastation and violence are before me, and there is strife, and contention is lifted up. Therefore, the law is ignored, and justice never comes forth, for the wicked surround the righteous. Therefore, justice comes forth perverted.

Okay, that's Habakkuk's complaint. If we were gonna put this in an outline, that's actually point one, Habakkuk's complaint, verses one to four. Notice what characterizes the kingdom, the society he's in. Violence, wickedness. Devastation, injustice, strife, contention. No one's following the law of the Lord. If there's any kind of justice, it's perverted because the wicked are surrounding the righteous.

So I don't know if that means that the, the wicked produce so many false witnesses that the righteous actually has no chance in the court system, or if it's that there's intimidation because they're surrounding him. I don't know, somehow justice is being perverted because the wicked are way more numerous and way better positioned, let's say, okay?

So then you say, all right, so that could be like after the Babylonians have destroyed the, the city and the temple, okay? Because that definitely fits with Zedekiah's reign. That fits with the three months of Jehoiachin. So why couldn't it be there?

Well, because in the following verses, the Lord says in verses five and six, see among the nations and look, be also astonished, be astounded, because I am doing something in your days. You would not believe it if it was recounted to you, okay? This is what he's doing in Habakkuk's days.

So Habakkuk's not ministering a hundred years prior to the Babylonians, because in verse six, I am raising up the Chaldeans, Babylonians. that bitter and hasty nation who walks on the breadth of the land to possess dwelling places which are not theirs. They are dreaded and feared. Their justice and exaltation comes forth from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, et cetera, et cetera. You see all this about the military might of the Babylonians.

So we can recognize a few things from this, okay? They can recognize Babylon is not under the, at this time, Babylon is not a weak nation being trampled by Syria. They're rising. They're at least rising enough to where even if they technically, if we were gonna draw a map at this time, are part of the Assyrian Empire, they're a vassal nation that's giving Assyria a lot of trouble and is becoming a competitor. So it's at least there. enough to where their army is strong enough that they're known for their violence, for their military power, for the fact that their rulers, their kings mock at enemy fortresses and are taking them over. And this is during Habakkuk's days in verse five, okay. So no one's following the law of the Lord, can't be Josiah's kingdom. Everybody followed the law of the Lord, Josiah's kingdom, even if it wasn't from the heart, but they did it because the authority of Josiah was such that he made sure they were following the law of the Lord.

But also before the Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and Judah, because, At this time, Babylon is rising, but they haven't yet come and conquered, okay? So where does that put us? Jehoiakim is the best. It's 11 years of time. That's the best fit for where Habakkuk belongs.

Why is that important? I think it really helps us see a couple things, okay? It helps us understand that the kind of stuff that Habakkuk is talking about, we don't need to understand violence and wickedness and injustice just in the abstract. We can actually go to Jeremiah, where's it at? Jeremiah 22. And we can see this. Where did I put this? Jeremiah. Go to Jeremiah 36, actually. That's a better section.

Jeremiah 36. And if that doesn't show you, Jeremiah is not a chronological book. You don't have that many chapters dealing just with Jehoiakim, but he shows up in a couple different places. In Jeremiah 36, Jeremiah dictates the word of the Lord to Baruch, Baruch writes it down. Baruch goes and reads it before the people in the temple. He then reads it before some of the, I guess we'll just call them magistrates, some of the authorities.

The officials, verse 11 of Jeremiah 36, then Micaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of Yahweh from the book. This is the scroll that was dictated to Baruch. And he went down to the king's house, into the scribe's chamber, and behold, all the officials were sitting there. Elishamah, the scribe, and Deliah, the son of Shammiah, Elnathan, the son of Ackbar, and Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah, the son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. And Micaiah declared to them all, the words that he had heard when Baruch read from the book in the hearing of the people.

Then all the officials sent Jehudai, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shalami, the son of Cushai, to Baruch saying, take in your hand the scroll from which you have read in the hearing of the people and come. So Baruch the son of Uriah took the scroll in his hand and went to them. And he said to them, and they said to him, sit down please and read it in our hearing. So Baruch read it in their hearing.

Now it happened that when they heard all the words, they turned in dread one to another and said to Baruch, we will surely declare all these words to the king, which is not a threat. Okay. Don't read that as a threat. Like they're saying, you know, be quiet because we're going to go tell the king. Um, no, they recognize they have to go tell us the king. They asked Baruch saying, declare to us, please. How did you write all these words? Was it at his dictation? Then Baruch said to them, he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink on the book.

Then the officials said to Baruch, go hide yourself, you and Jeremiah, and do not let anyone know where you are. Not intimidation, they're saying we have to go tell the king, but they're seeking Baruch and Jeremiah's safety. So then look at what happens here, and this is Jehoiakim. So they went to the king in the court. but they had deposited the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scroll, and they declared all the words in the hearing of the king. And the king sent Jehudai to get the scroll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and Jehudai read it in the hearing of the king as well as in the hearing of all the officials who stood beside the king. Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month with a fire burning in the browsier before him. 

And it happened that when Jehudai had read three or four columns, Okay, the scrolls were, they'd be laid out like this, and as you're reading it, you would unroll it, and then you would roll it up. Okay, so it'd be two rolls on either side. And it would be written, it was written, I should do it the other way, because it's, actually that was right for you, because it's written left to right, or right to left, and as they, They would write in these columns, and you can see this in Hebrew scrolls today, though they wouldn't have been using the same script. They would have had a Proto-Hebrew at this time, because they got the script we know from Babylon. But it's written in columns, I guess in the same way you got a double column Bible, that same idea. And so as they're reading it, The king, verse 23, it happened that when Jehudai had read three or four columns, the king cut it with a scribe's knife and threw it into the fire that was in the brazier until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. Yet the king and all his servants who heard all these words were not in dread, nor did they tear their garments. 

even though El Nathan, and Deliah, and Gameri interceded with the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. And the king commanded Jeremiel, the king's son, Sarai the son of Azariel, Shalemi the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but Yahweh hid them. 

And then in the next section, you see Yahweh provides for the scroll to be replaced. So that's what marks the period of time that Habakkuk is writing. Okay? Hatred for the Word of God, not just a disregard for it, right? It's not just that Jehoiakim said, just get it out of here, I don't even want to listen. I mean, it was a destruction of it, right? 

A scribe's knife, which would have been used to score. They wrote really neatly. See, how did they do that? Well, they actually made like their own version of lined paper because they would score. put a really faint scoring across it with a level so that they could then write really neatly on that line. So you had these knives and everything to prepare the parchment and the, yeah, it would have been parchment at this time, which is animal leather that's made really, really smooth. 

So, He, Jehoiakim's kingdom is marked by this. Now recognize that there's those who fear the word of the Lord. That should be encouraging to us. That's a Romans 11 kind of situation. The Lord always has a remnant of people who fear him and honor him. But this is what Habakkuk is ministering under. 

So when we read, we'll go back to Habakkuk now. When we read that there's violence, Okay, and violence, which is wicked violence, which is injustice, right? Which is what, you know, we see that in our cities all the time. People acting selfishly, gangs moving about, selfishly rioting. It's like every other weekend, there's another news article about, people rioting somewhere in our nation, in some of our big cities, if not in our own city. And there's strife, there's contention, nobody's following the law of the Lord. That's what is marking the time of Habakkuk. Now, Habakkuk sees all of this, and this is the classic, this is the classic, I don't wanna say conundrum, but the burden that all of us feel, all right? We look at 2020, 2021, we look at LA burning itself down, Portland burning itself down. Was that the same time that we had Kenosha, is that Wisconsin or Minnesota, wherever, burning itself down. It's the nation falling apart is what it looks like all around us.

And you look at all that and you go, Lord, how long are you going to allow the world to exist in this state? And I'm using instances from our own country because it's, you know, it's right outside our back door kind of idea, right? Let alone violence we see in the Middle East, let alone violence we see in, or the war we see in Ukraine, let alone all that stuff, right? Or the, or the, millions of people being, I think it's millions of people, being abused in China, or the Christians dying left and right in Nigeria, or what have you, let alone all those areas, even just, it's just in our own backyard.

And the natural response is to look at that and say, when are you going to come and fix this, Lord? Right? Not out of spite, not out of anger, but out of a genuine burden of looking at the evil of the world and desiring the Lord to set it right. That's where Habakkuk is. Okay? That same heart. So we know this. We read this from Habakkuk and we say, I get it. Right? I can see it exactly the same as he did.

So the Lord's answer is striking. Let me pull up the whiteboard here. The Lord's answer is striking because... Oops. Jehoiakim. Got complaint. I meant to write this down, but I got ahead of myself. Complaint and then the Lord's answer. The Lord's answer, I guess we could say the Lord's answer part one, because he's gonna give another answer in chapter two. The Lord, his answer is striking because it's not, It's not what we're looking for, which is, when is the Lord Jesus going to come back, put his feet on the Mount of Olives, cause the mountain to split, bring his people into it, and judge his people? And judge the enemies of his people. When is that gonna happen? That's what we're looking for.

His answer isn't this great eschatological, cataclysmic, it's coming, prepare kind of thing. The other minor prophets have been giving us that as well, so it's not like that's not in Habakkuk's theology. But he's looking at a present problem and saying, when is this present problem going to be dealt with? And the Lord tells him, I'm raising up a nation to deal with it, and it's coming soon, in your lifetime, in your days, he tells Habakkuk.

But what marks this nation? What marked The Babylonians. Notice there's some verse, I already started reading it, but I'll just highlight a few things from verses six down through 11. They are bitter and hasty. They possess dwelling places which are not theirs. They're dreaded and feared. Their justice and exaltation come forth from themselves. So they're kind of like the Assyrians. They just determine what's right because they're strongest. Their horses are swifter than leopards and sharper than wolves in the evening. The horsemen come galloping from afar. They fly like the eagle swooping down a devourer. They come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. They gather captives like sand. They mock at kings. Rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress. they sweep through like the wind and pass on, but they will be held guilty, they whose power is their God.

So at the end of verse 11, there's a hint of, he's already about solving the problem that Habakkuk is gonna bring up just in verses 12 through 17, well, through chapter two, verse one.

But what characterizes these people is a lust for power, a disregard for the good of any other nation, and violent oppression and taking of everything they want. I mean, that's, I guess I said the same thing four different ways, but that's what marked them, okay? Godlessness, violent godlessness.

So the natural question, which we ought to be asking is, okay, wait a second. I confess with scripture that God is good. Righteous, through and through. So righteous that if evil were to come into his presence, it's not the Lord that's affected, the evil is snuffed out. That's how holy he is. You see that with the way they have the holy of holies and the holy place and the whole temple and all the barriers set up. If you and your sin, without going through the proper channels, march boldly into the holy of holies, your life is on your own head because the Lord is holy, needs to be treated as holy.

So the question comes up, how is it that a holy God can make use of such a wicked people in his holy judgment? Isn't the use of an unrighteous instrument unrighteous? You see the question, the conundrum?

And then Habakkuk puts even another element into this confusion. when he says, he says in verse 12, are you not from everlasting? Okay, so that's his eternalities being expressed. Oh, Yahweh, my God, my Holy One, we will not die. You, oh, Yahweh, have placed them to judge and you, oh, Rock, have established them to reprove.

Verse 13, your eyes are too pure to see evil. You cannot look on trouble. Why do you look on those who deal treacherously? He's talking about the Babylonians. How can you use them is his question. Why are you silent when the wicked swallow up, he's talking about the Babylonians here, those more righteous than they? In other words, everything he said in verses one to four is not nearly as bad as Babylon is. What he said about Judah, is that Judah's not following the Lord, they're sinful, they're wicked, they're pursuing evil, but they're not nearly as evil as Babylon.

So at the end of verse 13, why are you silent when the wicked, that's Babylon, swallow up those more righteous than they? Judah. You have made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things without a ruler over them. The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook. drag them away with their net, gather them together in their fishing net. Therefore they're glad and rejoice. They offer a sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their fishing net because through these things, their portion is rich and their food is fat. Will they therefore empty their net and continually kill nations without sparing? He's looking at the problem here and he's noticing this.

Okay, so the Lord's answer is, that he's raising Babylon to judge Judah. Okay? So then the Habakkuk's confusion is And this is verses 12 through chapter two, verse one. Habakkuk's confusion is this. If God is pure, we need to talk about purity. So we'll talk about that after I just put the syllogism in place or what will amount to a syllogism. If God is pure, he can't use an impure nation to judge a relatively righteous one. That's the conundrum. If this, then this. Because because doing so would, let's say, contaminate the Lord. That's the reasoning, okay? 

Pure, how should we understand pure? If you're interested in the Hebrew, it's Tahir, or Tahir, excuse me, that's a hey, not a heet. And it's used 204 times in the Old Testament. One of the dictionaries that I was looking at, the most helpful Hebrew dictionary, or theological dictionary of the Hebrew language that there is, says this, let me read to you. 

a quote here, it's just really helpful. In the great majority of cases, forms of this word appear in the priestly literature. About 44% in Leviticus numbers, about 16% in Exodus, especially of the pure gold for the cult, which is a word for just the formal religious practice. In academic literature, cult doesn't mean like Jehovah's Witnesses, it means the religious, the formal religious practices and organization, and about 14% in Chronicles and Ezekiel. It's used to describe the quality of gold to be used in making the ark, Exodus 2511, the mercy seat, 2517, the table, 2524, various vessels, 2529, the lamp stand, 2531, the plate, 2836, the incense altar, 3030, et cetera. 

The word is also used to stipulate how one is to become pure after childbirth, Leviticus seven through eight, or a discharge, Leviticus 25, 13, or leprosy, Leviticus 14. So this word for pure, it has connected to it the idea of being holy and set apart and in such a way that you can dwell with God. Okay, that's the idea of this word. That's how it's used. 

So the obvious theological significance of this term is that it refers to moral purity. God is totally unstained by evil. So then here, how could he make use of it, even ordain slash decree it without being contaminated by it? Okay, he's pure, he's set apart, there's no stain in him, so wouldn't then using something that is stained and impure rub off on him? So I just phrased this another way, does God's ordination of evil make him culpable of the evil actions of his creatures? Okay, that's the conundrum, all right? 

And Habakkuk is, is so struck by this that he says in chapter two, verse one, I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the fortification. I will keep my watch to see what he will speak to me and how I may respond when I am reproved. 

Now, I'm gonna break with Pastor Gary here, okay? This is dangerous. I don't do this often, and I don't do this with a light heart. But Pastor Gary has framed this as Habakkuk really kind of in his pride and arrogance saying, I already know how I'm gonna answer the Lord when he responds to me. Now I'm not convinced that's right, okay? And if Pastor Gary wants to correct me, I'll take the correction, okay? 

I think, maybe I'm just putting myself in here, but I think Habakkuk is so troubled by this that he's running to the only source he has to get an answer to his conundrum, which is the Lord. And he's not gonna let the Lord go until he gets an answer, because he needs an answer. I think that's what's going on, okay? If I get a call this week from Gary Custis saying, you missed it, okay? And here's what S. Lewis Johnson said or something like that, then all right, I'll back down. But I think that's what's going on. 

And part of the reason is that at the end of verse one, at least the way the legacy translates it, says, how I may respond when I am reproved So he's expecting a correction to his thinking. He knows that there's something, I think his theology is telling him, I'm not seeing something right, but here's how I'm seeing it, but I must be missing something. Lord, show me how to think about this. I think that's what's going on, okay? 

Now, that is all a big, putting the ball on the tee for Brad to come next week and solve the conundrum. But let me give you, let me give you at least an approaching of an answer, but I'm not gonna run through the following chapter. I'll point out this and you can just see it in your Sunday school book if you just flip to the next lesson. 

The title is The Just Shall Live by Faith. And it comes down to this. You have to trust the Lord. You have to trust the Lord. The Lord is at work. His ways are higher than your ways. He is not a man that he should change or be, or even if we're gonna apply that to this setting, be made impure by the use of evil instruments. He is the Lord, the sovereign God over all. Trust him and follow him and see how he works. That's really the kind of theology at large here. And we'll see that as Brad takes us into the next one. 

And then as we get to the end of the book where Habakkuk says, he expresses that kind of heart where he says in the end of chapter three, 

though the fig tree should not blossom, 
there be no produce on the vines, 
though the yield of the olive should fail, 
and the fields yield no food, 
though the flock should be cut off from the fold, 
and there be no cattle in the stalls. 
Yet I will exult in Yahweh, 
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. 
Yahweh the Lord is my strength, 
and he has set my feet like hinds feet, 
and makes me tread on my high places. 

There's this whole hymn, this prayer, that's like a hymn that is chapter three, where he's expressing faith and trust in the Lord, even though he doesn't see everything clearly. So that's where the book is running, and that's the solution. 

There is a massive theological truth that we need to see in this, okay? And it's this, God is absolutely sovereign. This is sort of bread and butter Trinity Bible Church doctrine, but like hear me out, okay? Because this gives you the ability to go out into your job and get beat up by your boss who just doesn't like you, and then go talk to your neighbor who then says something really harsh to you because your dog ran onto their lawn or something. And I'm just thinking of just all the difficulties that happen in life. And then to turn on the news and see that there's chaos and disorder and cities burning to the ground and everything, and to go, what is happening? 

We have to know this truth. God is absolutely sovereign, okay? How do I make that point from this book, from just what we've seen so far? Notice that when Habakkuk brings his complaint in verses one to four, that the Lord says, I'm already doing something. Okay? The Lord didn't need to be, he's not a Greek God, right? He's not capricious. He doesn't have to be stirred up. You don't have to throw rocks at his window until he finally comes out. You don't have to give him the right sacrifices to get him on your side. He's absolutely sovereign. He's already working. He is working right now. Because he says, see among the nations look, be also astonished, verse five, be astounded, because I am doing something in your days you would not believe if it was recounted to you. He is already working to bring about his purposes, okay? Let me read to you. The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith, chapter five on divine providence, paragraph one. If that's too small, I apologize. I'll read it here.

God, the good creator of all things in his infinite power and wisdom does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things. from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, to the end for which they were created, according unto his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and mercy.

Notice this. He's a creator of all things, and he upholds, directs, disposes, and governs all creatures and things. Everything. He's absolutely sovereign. We see that here in these verses.

The Babylonians exist for this purpose. And we think about it just historically, Babylon exists as a nation, the Neo-Babylonian Empire, for about 70 years, which is the period of the exile. because it's not a Babylonian king that sends Judah, Zerubbabel, and then back to build the temple. It's Cyrus, king of Persia, of Medo-Persia.

Babylon exists for the purpose of judging and then, kind of ironically, safeguarding the people of Israel and the temple stuff, the theological word stuff, for 70 years. so the land can have rest as it should have had rest according to the law of God. That's remarkable. How is that? How is that? Because the Lord is absolutely sovereign bringing about his good purposes for his good ends, okay?

In chapter three, paragraph one, the particular Baptist also said this, this is on God's decree. From all eternity, God decreed everything that occurs, without reference to anything outside himself. He did this by the perfectly wise and holy counsel of his own free will, freely and unchangeably. Yet God did this in such a way that he is neither the author of sin, nor has fellowship with any in their sin. This decree does not violate the will of the creature or take away the free working or contingency of second causes. On the contrary, these are established by God's decree. In this decree, God's wisdom is displayed in directing all things, and his power and faithfulness are demonstrated in accomplishing his decree.

The Lord is absolutely sovereign, okay? This sovereignty extends, this is where we gotta be careful, but we have to say it right. This sovereignty extends even to the sinful actions of sinful people, okay? Now this is gonna bring up a conundrum in your mind, but bear with me, okay?

Paragraph four, here's how they frame this. It's just very helpful. The almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in His providence that His determinate counsel extends itself even to the first fall and all other sinful actions both of angels and men. and that not by a bare permission, which is how we tend to think about it, that he permits things, he allows things to happen, but notice, that not by a bare permission, which also he most wisely and powerfully binds, and otherwise orders and governs, and a manifold dispensation to his most holy ends, "'Yet so as the sinfulness of their acts "'proceeds only from the creatures and not from God, "'who being most holy and righteous, "'neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.'"

You say, James, where is that in scripture? I'm gonna show you a couple things, okay? Because the way they frame this theologically is just right on the money. If you go to Genesis chapter 50, This is, you know this. You probably don't even have to flip there. You know where I'm going. Genesis chapter 50, Joseph's brothers who abused him, tore his fancy robe off him that his father had given him, threw him in a pit, and then sold him into slavery. None of those things are righteous. None of those things were good. They acted out of sinful anger and it doesn't matter how prideful or arrogant their little brother was, they had no right to treat him that way. 

This is a classic to not return evil for evil situation. The fact that they poked you in the eye doesn't give you an excuse to poke them in the eye back. They say to Joseph, you know, they come with this whole lie about how Jacob had told them that Joseph should forgive them and everything, because they're afraid Joseph's, you know, he's the prime minister of Egypt. He's going to use all of his power to abuse them now that their dad is gone. 

And Joseph says to them in verse 19 of Genesis chapter 50, do not be afraid. Am I in God's place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. in order to do what has happened on this day to keep many people alive. Notice both. The same event, Joseph's harm and being sold into slavery, the same event is purposed by both God and man. One purposes it for evil. One purposes it for good. You see that? 

So is God culpable for the sin of the creature? Joseph's brothers, no. But did God ordain and decree and bring it about? Yes. You track with me? Okay, important, okay. 

Go to Exodus chapter 14. This is, This is where we see secondary causes, okay? This is not philosophy. This is theology straight from the text. All right, you've got ultimate, proximate, and, oops, I'm gonna take that away, and efficient. These are causes. Okay, ultimate equals God. Nothing happens without God decreeing it, desiring it. These are secondary causes. If you wanna think about it with the cross, Acts tells us that the ultimate cause is God. He brought this about in order to save many people. Proximate would be the Jews who came up with all the false charges and twisted Pilate's arm enough to make it happen. Efficient would be the Romans who actually did the nailing. of the Lord to the cross. Okay, you with me? Just three levels of causation. All right, in, we're gonna talk about ultimate and secondary, so primary and secondary, because these are two subcategories of secondary, proximate and efficient, or subcategories of secondary. 

When Israel is at the Red Sea, and notice how the Lord has providentially led them to where they have no escape. They have to just, all they can do is depend upon him and look to him for salvation. They're at the Red Sea, behind them are Pharaoh's armies, okay? But before you get to that moment, why did Pharaoh pursue them? You can answer that a couple different ways, but notice what happens here at the beginning of Exodus chapter 14. 

Now, Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, speak to the sons of Israel so that they turn back and camp before Papi, Ha-Hiroth, sure, between Migdal and the sea. You shall camp in front of Baal-Zephon, opposite it by the sea. And Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, they are wandering in confusion in the land. The wilderness has shut them in. Thus, I will harden Pharaoh's heart with strength, and he will pursue them. And I will be glorified through Pharaoh and all his army, so that the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh. And they did so. So notice what the Lord does here. The Lord is going to bring about his victory over Egypt. In order to do that, he brings about a situation where Pharaoh will act a certain way, to Pharaoh's own destruction. Notice the Lord says to the sons of Israel through Moses to go to a specific place because then Pharaoh will see it and will then pursue them. And that is the means by which the Lord hardens Pharaoh's heart. You track? You follow? This is what happens, Exodus chapter 14 verse 5,

Then the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people. And they said, What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us? So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him, and he took six hundred choice chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with the officers over all of them. And Yahweh hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, with strength. And he pursued the sons of Israel, as the sons of Israel were going out with an exalted hand. Then the Egyptians pursued them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them, camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zaphon.

So, the Lord, the Lord brings about his decree by directing events such that people will react in a certain way and act in the way that he desires them to act for his good purposes to be able to come about. Pharaoh's pursuit of the Israelites was evil. It was sinful. just like every time he said, I'm not gonna let them go, or said, I will, and then went back on his word. Every single one of those times was sinful. God is not culpable for Pharaoh's sin, but God brought about situations in order for Pharaoh to sin so that the Lord would be able to have glory over Pharaoh in the total destruction I mean, that's too far in the total subjugation of Egypt beneath his almighty power. You follow?

Okay, it's helpful because it doesn't, we think of God's sovereignty as either We can be tempted to think of it as some kind of video game or something, or some kind of remote control car or something like that, where you have the controls, or where God is the controls, and you're the remote control car, and he's just moving you around. So you don't do anything unless he moves you there. It's bigger than that, because that would mean that he is directly bringing about like everything in your desires and your wills and your heart and all that, and therefore he's like putting sin in you, right? He's leading you into sin, but God doesn't tempt anyone, nor is he tempted, James says. What he does is order his creation in such a way that everything occurs the way he desires it to fall out. Okay?

So, questions, comments on all of this? I went a little long, but I'm happy to clarify some of this right now. This is our opportunity to, before I release you. So, yes?

God doesn't allow things to happen. He desires things to happen. Yes. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Because it's occurred to me why you're speaking. But it seems like our ability to get this, inability to get it, or inability to get it, in some respects kind of proves it. Because his ways are truly higher, and his thoughts are truly higher. And we should, like Habakkuk, then be content, be faithful, Let him do his work. You said that our inability to understand this kind of underscores the fact that God's ways are truly higher than our ways and we just need to trust. Yes? But it doesn't mean that we just Right. Right. Yeah, and we can confess all of this as true without compromising that prayer is effective. Because the Lord is even stirring us up to pray, right? There's nothing that the Lord has promised us that he's not bidden us to ask for in prayer. So it all works together. That's from John Calvin, so you know it's right. Thank you. Somebody chuckled. Any other questions?

Yes, ma'am. I don't think everything is God's perfect will, like he would have wanted us to behave the way we've behaved, but he'll use it for his glory. I can agree with that, because we talked about this. So I can agree with that. I've talked about his perfect will as in his moral will, like what is proper, what is good, than what is morally upright and righteous, absolutely. Yet at the same time, he ordained, or decreed, to use the theological word, Adam and Eve's fall. He decreed all this stuff. And why? Well, because he's bringing about the greatest display of his glory.

But yeah, does it mean that he desired them to sin? Well, he decreed it, so he desired it for his glory, but he didn't desire it in that it was good for them to do that. Both those things can be true. Where does it say that it was his will for them to eat of the fruit? We're putting it together from everything we've said about how the Lord sovereignly works. Yeah, but that's His prescriptive. But where does it say, is there a place in the Bible where it says, I put it there, I knew that they would do it. I put it there, and they would be tempted, and they would do it. Because before that, they didn't have the sin.

It was God's will to put Pharaoh to harden his heart. Yeah. I can't think of a Bible verse that says it cleanly, but it is not overstating it to say it is the inevitable conclusion of the teaching of scripture that God has brought about everything that has happened, including the first sin of our first parents, in order for him to receive glory and honor. Well, he's God, he will get glory and honor regardless. Anyway. Without the fall, there's no cross. Pardon? Without the fall, there's no cross. Without the cross, we don't see God's character on full display. Is that after the fact or prior? Well, now we're in superlapsarian and inflapsarianism, and no one's been able to solve that one. Oh, that was my question. I don't think we should be able to solve that. Yeah. So that, OK. Yeah. That answers it. Yeah.

All right, final question or comment. Both are fine, but this is my chance to help you and help everybody, or at least try to. I think we just need to trust the Lord, period. Amen, and that's where Habakkuk's running. Yeah. No matter what happens. That's why that's in our memory work before Sunday school. Amen. OK. If I get a bunch of emails, I guess I'll I'll have to say, you had your chance. No, talk to me about it, okay? I wanna help. And if I say, well, we need to bring Pastor Will in to help us, we can do that, okay? Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we praise you for your great and glorious might, your absolute sovereignty over all things and bringing about your good purposes. We praise you that the sinfulness of mankind is not able to thwart your good purposes, but is even used by you to bring about your glory, what amounts to your glory, what brings you glory. We see that most clearly in the cross. We praise you for our salvation. I pray that you would now equip us by your spirit whom you've given us in the new covenant to worship you rightly as your people, that we would do so in delighting in the Lord and delighting in his word as we would come to worship you together in the coming hour. Bless even our time of fellowship here during this break and bring us into Christ likeness, Lord. We ask this in his name, amen.