God Of Wonders

Introduction

At 5 p.m. tonight, the lesson will indeed be a follow-up from last Sunday morning’s sermon on the nature of Jesus’ kingdom, as we’ll be exploring the very significant matter as a result of the establishment and existence of Jesus’ kingdom, even till this time. The significant question is who is sitting on the throne? And so we’ll address that tonight at 5 o’clock. For the few minutes that we have this morning, I want you to take your Bible and turn to the tiny little prophetic book of Habakkuk. And so the best way to find that is to go to Matthew and take a left. And just a few pages over, you’ll find that tiny little book of Habakkuk. That I guess the appropriate word for me to choose this morning has been a wonder to me.

Habakkuk sees evil running amok among his own people. And he wonders why God hasn’t done something to this point about the evil that he sees. And so he cries out to God and says, Wilt thou not hear? I cry out to thee, violence, yet thou dost not say. Why dost thou make me see iniquity and cause me to look on wickedness? I don’t know what Habakkuk was seeing, but he could certainly ask that question if he were living today. At what he would see in our society. Yes, destruction and violence are before me. Strife exists, and contention arises. People are in odds all the time. He says, Therefore the law is ignored, and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous. And justice comes out perverted.

But it is the next verse that is the focus of our attention this morning, one that I have loved for a long time. Look among the nations, observe, be astonished. Wonder. Because I am doing something in your days. You would not believe if you were told. He goes on to tell Habakkuk about his plans to raise up the Chaldeans. Just as the Assyrians had come onto the stage and had asserted their power and expanded their kingdom for a time. God is now going to allow another kingdom, the kingdom of Babylon. And of course, we might remember Nebuchadnezzar, the great king, and his story as it relates to Daniel. He’s talking about that very kingdom and causing them to come to punish his own people. And of course, when he tells Habakkuk what he is planning to do, now Habakkuk has another alarm.

As he is now using this wicked and ruthless nation, even less righteous than his own to come and bring God’s punishment or judgment. I like this verse. Look among the nations, observe, be astonished, wonder. Our God is indeed a God of wonders. And when I read Habakkuk chapter 1 and verse 5, I’m reminded immediately of a text about God in the New Testament and the things that God does. In Romans chapter 11 and verse 33, oh the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments and unfathomable his ways. And if you might underscore what he is saying to Habakkuk in Habakkuk chapter 1 and verse 5, you might just use those words unfathomable, immeasurable as you might measure the depths of the sea.

1. God's Activity Astonishes

Unfathomable are his ways. You would not believe if you were told what I was doing, what I am doing. Habakkuk. Look, be astonished and wonder. What is your perception or thinking of God? Our God is a God of wonders. This lesson has five points, but I’m going to do something a little unusual. I’m going to give you the first three points all at the same time. And show you how these things work together. Number one, God’s activity astonishes. God’s activity cannot be thwarted by powerful men. And that same God is still active today. Are we impressed? Do we respond in astonishment? Do we understand about his activity? If God were to explain what he was doing even now, we would not believe if we were told.

It is that far beyond us, the one whose judgments are unsearchable, and his ways, as the King James says, pass finding out. On our way home, Wednesday night, Sherry and I were discussing the miracle of Joshua chapter 10. And so I would like you to turn over there briefly with me this morning to the great story involved in the conquest. Well, how many great stories are there? And if you want to say, Joshua, the whole book of Joshua is saying to us, God’s activity astonishes. God’s activity cannot be quarted by powerful men. Certainly, this story is telling us that.

And of course, you’ll remember Jericho. They have a little setback there after Jericho, but now they’ve been victorious at I, and the men of Gibeon have made their pact, which they should not have done. Israel should not have had that pact made with them, but since they did, they had to honor it. And now the kings of that land, the land whose iniquity was full, every city it seemed, had its own king. There’s a king of Jerusalem, a king of this city, Achish and a king of that city. And so all of these regent kings get together and say, We’re mad at Gibeon because they struck a deal with the nation of Israel, whose God is Jehovah. And we’ve already seen, they’ve already heard of what’s happened at Jericho and what’s happened at I.

And so we need to band ourselves together. And they put together quite a formidable opposition, these Amorites do. And they’re going to go attack the Gibeonites for their betrayal. They should have been a part of the coalition. But instead, they struck a deal with Israel. And so Gideon calls upon Israel as a result of this deal that they’ve made to come and help. And so Joshua, here he comes with the army and all the men of war with him. And the Lord says to Joshua, do not fear them. For I have given them into your hands. And not one of them shall stand before you.

As Joshua now has these men assembled and they march all night to Gilgal. And it says in verse 10, the Lord confounded them before Israel, and he slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon and pursued them. I mean, this was a massive army. And now once they are being routed, they all begin to flee. And he’s pursuing them all of these directions. God’s still going to help out in this battle as he throws very large hailstones from heaven. This is an amazing story in verse 11. And there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword. They had already won the battle and the skirmish with the swords that started it all, and they were already fleeing, but now he’s going to kill more with the hailstones that rain from heaven.

But they’re not done in this slaughter. Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said, In the sight of Israel, O Son, stand still at Gibeon, and O moon in the valley of Ajalon. So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jasher? The sun stopped in the middle of the sky, and it did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there was no day like that. I know I’ve never seen one. Have you? And there was no day like that before it or after it when the Lord listened to the voice of a man.

For the Lord fought for Israel.

One called No Day Like It. Before or after. There was no day like that. I remember being introduced to this story as a young boy sitting in Bible classes, like some of our children have been today and just being fascinated by this story. Look at that. He’s still grinning after all these years. Fascinated by this story. Astonishing. The wonder of it all. I mean, a battle that begins with the skirmish in the field, but then hailstones are involved, killing God’s enemies. And then the need for there to be more daylight as they are pursuing them. And Joshua asking that. Well, you talk about the faith and confidence that Joshua has in God, that he tells him, let the sun stand still. And then God listens and does what he requests.

And the sun just stays there. Perhaps not a full day, for about a whole day. Wonder what it was like on the other side of the world. I wonder if they had a really long night. If anybody was even living over there at the time. But you know, we look back at this story with our modern way of thinking, and of course, we understand that it’s not the sun that revolves around the earth. As it appears to them, as it appears, I’m pretty sure that was the understanding in Joshua’s day that the earth was the center of everything, and the sun revolved around the earth. I can understand why they so concluded. Oh, but we’re so much smarter than that now. We’re so much more enlightened.

And we understand that the earth is spinning and rotating, and it’s because of the earth’s rotation and spinning that the sun appears to arise in the east and go down the west, at least from our perspective. But it’s really the earth that’s moved. And many have said, if this story is true, the cataclysmic, don’t you love that word? The cataclysmic effects. If God were to suddenly cause the earth to stop spinning and to do so for that period of time, well, the earth couldn’t do that. That’s unnatural. Everything would go to chaos, all the laws of nature would be destroyed, and I guess we’d all be flying off the globe at a rapid rate or something, and already didn’t implode on itself. I don’t know what all would happen.

But look. This is the activity of God. If the God who created everything wants the earth to sit still for 24 hours, he has the power to make that happen without everything changing and seeming abnormal. There’s already some abnormalities, it seems, with the hailstone that’s falling, but he’s causing that. God, who is powerful enough to create a universe. I don’t know what he did to the earth that day. I wasn’t there, were you? I don’t know what he did to the earth, but I don’t question his power or ability to do it. Maybe the earth kept spinning and he moved the sun. What do you think of that? I don’t know. He could do it if he wanted. God can do whatever he wants. He is greater and bigger and larger because he can speak it into existence.

His power is infinite. His understanding is infinite. I love that verse about him. That’s one of my favorite verses in the Old Testament. Psalm 147 and verse 4. Great is our Lord and abundant in strength. His understanding is infinite. He counts all the stars and knows them all by name. I want to tell you somebody with that kind of understanding and power, this is nothing to him. But I want you to think about this story and the wonder of it. And then go back to the story of Habakkuk. Because when he talks about what he is planning to do in the days of Habakkuk, and you would not believe it if you were told it wasn’t anything on this scale. There wasn’t going to be any sun standing still in the middle of the sky for about a whole day.

In fact, there’s not going to be any miracles to be observed that I know about in relation to what God is doing.

2. God's Activity Cannot Be Thwarted by Powerful Men

And he is going to judge his people. As they do, as we know about the destruction of Jerusalem by the hand of the Babylonians. Beginning in 605 BC with the first deportation of captives to Babylon. And then in 597, and then finally the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar’s armies. God says, I’m doing that. But that’s not the way the Babylonians saw it. If you’ll look back in Habakkuk, he says he’s going to have to punish them too. And one of one of Habakkuk’s objections to all of this is that this is not a holy nation that you are using. And he says, but they are going to sweep through like the wind and pass on. But he says in verse 11, but they will be held guilty, they whose strength is their God.

They don’t realize that God is using them to accomplish his purposes. They think it’s all about them and their strength and their power. God says, I’m going to hold them guilty for that. But he’s telling them. He’s telling Habakkuk, I’m telling you I’m doing it. I’m bringing about judgment through these people. And getting back to our thoughts in this text. God’s activity astonishes. God’s activity cannot be thwarted by powerful men. This same God is still active today, and this is the point that I want to drive home to you. You need to be involved in what God is doing today. You need to find your purposes in God’s purposes. And there’s not any man powerful enough to cancel what God is doing. Not King Nebuchadnezzar. Not President Obama.

Not any ruler on the face of this earth. And that’s the point that God is making in Isaiah chapter 40, when he talks about the confidence that Israel is having in these foolish and false idols, and then the real God in comparison, he who reduces rulers to nothing. It’s inconsequential what kind of freedoms might be limited. We were talking about the purchase of guns this morning. Everybody in Texas, oh my, we’re so scared to death. Our government’s going to take our guns away from us. And there’s a gun shortage. Did you know that? Everybody’s buying up all the guns. Oh no. Hitler banned guns. Remember that? And then look what happened as a result of that. It’s repeating history. This is going to happen. You better get your gun while there still is one.

Some of you have 45 already. Look at another. What if the government takes our guns? So what? Oh, it shouldn’t happen. I’m here to tell you it probably won’t happen. But I could be wrong. But even if it did, wouldn’t change a thing. God is still the ultimate power. And he will accomplish his purpose as he who reduces rulers to nothing. The nations are like grasshoppers. A drop in the bucket. He says in Isaiah chapter 40. He blows on them and they go away. Men are carried about carried away with their pomposity and their supposed power. Nebuchadnezzar was no different. The Babylonians were no different, whose strength is their God, but their strength is no match for the ruler of the universe. Look what he did to those kings of the Amorites.

That large, massive coalition of armies that stood against God. He says, not one of them is going to stand before you. And if that’s what God wants, there’s lest we be found fighting against God. As Gamaliel warns in Acts chapter 5 and their opposition of Peter and the apostles. Look, what all of that tells us? I don’t know what’s going to go on in the world, what’s going to happen with our government or certain freedoms that are going to be restricted, but I do know this. No matter what happens, you better find yourself in alignment with the purposes of God. And so I think the moral of this story this morning, as we look at the God of wonders, who is still active today, just like he was in the days of Habakkuk.

3. That Same God Is Still Active Today

Yes, sometimes he worked by a miracle, and those stories fascinate us as we see here about the sun standing still in the middle of the sky for about a whole day. God, more often in the Old Testament, even, worked through providence in the arranging of his circumstances, as we’ve seen in the Gospel of John. Jesus not being grabbed, not by some miracle, not like a force field. God put a force field around Jesus. It was a visible force field. Isn’t that how he protected him? Providentially. The soldiers just didn’t arrest him. His time had not yet come. God is working providentially. He’s not always working by the suspension of natural laws or what we might call a miracle or a sign. That God is still active today.

4. You Need to Enlist in His Cause

And you need to enlist in his cause. I want you to look at 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter 2. And I use the word enlist because that’s the word the New American Standard uses in that text. We think of a list enlist as signing up for the military, right? People enlist as soldiers because they have some kind of patriotic sentiment. Perhaps they’re thinking that this will provide some discipline for their lives, and certainly it’ll provide some discipline, won’t it, Mike? And there’s this patriotic sentiment, and you want to represent your country. Look, we’re talking about enlisting in the greatest cause on the earth. God’s kingdom and the hearts of men and women. More about that tonight. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 4, he says, he’s also told Timothy to suffer hardship with him as a good soldier.

And then he says, no soldier in 2 Timothy 2 and verse 4, in active service, and that’s the only kind there really is in Jesus’ kingdom. There’s no inactive service. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life. He’s a soldier. He’s committed to a cause. He’s training for a cause. Entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. That’s why there’s all of this chain of command and listening to the one over you, listens to the one over him, because you’ve got to do what a soldier is commissioned to do by his government.

We are about the business of pleasing the one who has enlisted us as soldiers. There’s a lot of stuff in the world that keeps people busy. What are you doing with your life?

Well, a lot of us are pursuing an education that leads to a vocation. A vocation, hopefully, that will provide the necessary dinero to live so that we can eat our meals and have our places and have our transportation, to pay all of our bills, to eat our food, to take our trips, to have our pleasurable moments that we seek. And people pursue these things in a lot of different ways and pursue a lot of different things with the money that they are able to amass in this life. And people can get consumed in all of that and forget about what it’s really all about. That those things are ultimately meaningless. Unless we have enlisted in this cause. Unless we find our purpose in his purposes.

And then he talks about in a house, in a large house, there’s many vessels. There’s gold and silver and earth and ware and wood. And perhaps our vessels are a little bit different than first century vessels, but ladies, you all know this. You have your favorite cooking pans, your favorite utensils, your most useful ones that you use all the time. And he says, everything has a different level of worthiness to you. Some to glory, some to dishonor. I bet there’s some pans that sit somewhere in your house in one of those cabinets or on a shelf that you hardly ever touch it. Hardly ever need it. And then there’s ones that sit in the front that are always useful. They’re right there. I might need to get my hands on that.

There’s vessels like that in everybody’s house. The illustration then is what kind of vessel are you to the Lord? Are you an honorable vessel? Sanctified. Useful to the master. Prepared for every good work. Well, if that’s to be the case, then you’re going to have to go back to that abstaining from wickedness passage. And from the following text that says, flee from youthful lusts and pursue. If you want to be a vessel for honor, useful to the master, you need to pursue right things, pursue righteousness. You need to pursue a life of trust in God, faith and love. Love for God and love for people by his definition, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Ultimately, our lives will matter little if we’ve not done this.

5. Regard His Patience as Salvation

There’s one more point that flows out of this lesson about the activity of God, yes, even today. I know he’s doing things that, well, we would not believe if we were told. There’s another thought in Scripture that pertains to this lesson this morning. And that is this that we need to regard his patience as salvation. And I want you to turn to 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3, and we’ll wrap up there this morning. This God who astonishes and wonders destroyed the world with a flood. He has kept the present heavens and earth reserved for a day in which he will destroy them not with water, as he promised not to do anymore. But he is going to destroy this globe with fire. The works that are there in everything that happens in this world, every person, every material object is going up in flames, and he’s going to destroy the elements with fervent heat.

He hasn’t done it yet, because we’re still here. But the day of the Lord will come. People will not be ready. He will come as a thief in the night.

Well, I know he made this promise 2,000 years ago. But a day with the Lord is of a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day, and that fact should not escape our notice. Be not ignorant of this fact. That the Lord is not slack concerning his promise. He says in verse 9, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. Again, the repentance that is consistent with becoming a vessel for honor, useful to the master, and finding ourselves in God’s purposes. And he says, as a result of the destruction that will one day come, which hasn’t yet, all these things are to be destroyed. What sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat.

He encourages us to be found diligent, in peace, spotless and blameless in verse 14, looking for a new heavens and new earth, verse 13, where righteousness dwells, and then this, and regard the patience of our Lord, verse 15, to be salvation. The reason why I love this verse so much is it tells me why I’m here today and why you’re still here today. The Lord is still being patient. He’s still awaiting people to find their purpose in God’s purposes. How often does it cross your mind when you awaken to a particular day? That this day today could be this day described in 2 Peter 3? When I look at all the wickedness around me, I wonder sometimes how God can wait. But who knows about the activity of God?

I would not believe if I were told. I don’t know what God has planned. And I said many times about this text, it’s somewhat arrogant on our part to assume that it’s going to happen in our time because of our circumstances. This could be hundreds, thousands of years yet in the future. I mean, the day with the Lord’s a thousand years, a thousand years one day, I don’t know what’s going to happen in the world, but I do know it can come at any time, and people aren’t going to be ready, and so I need to be ready every day. How often are you thinking about this? When you do think about it, does it change anything? I’ve been thinking about it several days this week since I’ve been preparing this lesson.

What if today were the day? I think this is a healthy thought to have.

Conclusion

Be astonished. Wonder. I’ll tell you what’s not going to matter anymore. I was writing this sermon on Friday, and I was more than a little perturbed. My internet had been out for five hours. And I knew it was because the guys were working in the yard next to me, laying some cable, and they had cut me off, and they went home early on Friday and left me without internet service. And I was a little bit perturned. That my neighbor next door, whether he had internet service, but I didn’t. Well, I made the phone calls, got all that fixed. But I was thinking about when this day happens. Who’s going to care whether or not they have internet service? Who’s going to care whether the satellite is working or it’s being interfered with rain and a thunderstorm?

Who cares? Who will care about their beloved internet or television or music or iPhones? You name the technology. We’re not going to care. That will all be rendered useless and meaningless. Somebody said recently, you made me realize I don’t get to take my iPhone to heaven with me. That’s right. That’s right. Not going with you. You see, this thought is helpful to us. It helps us to put things in the right perspective. I don’t know what all God is doing, but I know what he’s looking for today. He’s looking for people like you and me to offer to him the devotion that he deserves. This is his day. This is the Lord’s day. The God of wonders deserves this. And you could not have better employed yourself than in doing this today.

Get a good perspective about your life and about your purpose. Determine to be a vessel for honor. Enlist in his cause. And I’ll tell you, if this lesson doesn’t say anything else, if you haven’t done that, it says you better get after it. You better act right now while there is still time and opportunity. Won’t you come if you need to? Respond to your for your salvation while we stand and sing this morning.