Habakkuk 3:13

This is Stu Epperson from the Truth Talk Podcast, connecting current events, pop culture, and theology, and we're so grateful for you that you've chosen the Truth Podcast Network.

It's about to start in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, and please share it around with all your friends. Thanks for listening, and thanks for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. ...but life doesn't usually feel that way. Jesus speaks of narrow gates and wide roads, but the masculine journey is filled with many twists and turns.

So how do we keep from losing heart while trying to find the good way when life feels more like a losing battle than something worth dying for? Grab your gear and come on a quest with your band of brothers who will serve as the guides in what we call the masculine journey. The masculine journey starts here now.

Welcome to the masculine journey. We're glad that you're with us this week, and I'm excited about this topic. I can't really say I would have said that a week ago because I didn't understand the topic when Robby was first talking about it. I'm like, yeah, we can do that. But no, it's a great topic, and so I'm interested to hear Robby tell us all about it and the conversation we're going to have, and it's on one of the books in the Bible.

I bet most Christians couldn't tell you're in the Bible. I'm just saying. Habakkuk-kuk-kuk. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly.

You're exactly right. Yeah, so I came across this verse, and it really is a puzzler, and any time I don't understand something, I know, okay, I'm going to learn something here, and you could tell it was deep, and the setup for me was spectacular because Habakkuk is going to share the 13th verse in his last chapter, which that's a big deal in Hebrew from a standpoint in the Hebrew alphabet. The idea of truth comes from the beginning of the alphabet, the middle of the alphabet, and the end of the alphabet, right? It's called a met if you can actually make those sounds of an aleph, a mem, and a tav, and that means the truth. Well, when you think of what Jesus said in the book of Revelation, that I'm the alpha and the omega, what he was probably actually saying to John, because John was Hebrew, is that I'm the aleph met tav.

I'm the truth. So he is the truth, and that letter in Hebrew that is the mem is the word that starts Messiah, the anointed one, and so the 13th verse is always going to be the mem verse in anything that's been written per the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. So it's set up the verse from my mind as being, this is going to be a messianic verse, and it's one of the few verses in scriptures where you see Mashiach or the Messiah named by the word Mashiach, and here it is as the 13th verse. So the way the verse reads in the King James Version, which is tough, and you can see why I puzzled. It said, thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for the salvation with thine anointed. Thou woundedest the head.

Do you like that? That's my, you know, shack, I mean, Shrek invitation there. Woundedest the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation unto the neck, selah, or uncovering the foundation, which is a key understanding of what's happening there. And my, you know, there's, it's like, how did he go for the salvation of his people through the anointed, and then what did he do to uncover the foundation of wicked, and what is that foundation of wicked unto the neck? So as the puzzle was, what a cool thing, if you think about it, that you walk with a band of brothers that you can go to, a piece of scripture that you've studied and think and share that to see, you know, what opens up. And man, what a treasure it opened up for us. Yeah, the pre-show was fun. I mean, we talked about a lot of things, hopefully we'll remember those and talk about them during the show, but God will provide other stuff if it's not that.

Yeah, so first up we have Rodney, you know, and Rodney has a whole set up because to him, you know, really neat. The verse spoke to the good, the bad, and the ugly. Yeah, and I know somebody mentioned it last week, I don't know if that kind of put it into my head, but this is about the first thing I thought of when you came up with this topic, Robby, was because I went through the verse.

It jumped me to Genesis 3.15, he shall bruise you on the head. And it was just this conflict between good and evil. And the good, the bad, and the ugly just came into my head and just kind of went, I was like, well, what would be in there? So I had actually watched it not too long ago.

Surprise, surprise. And then I was like, oh, right there at the opening scene where you're starting to see the tension between the good, which is Blondie, that's Clint Eastwood. And then the evil guy here, the ugly, who's named in the movie, that's Tuco, and that's Eli Wallach, and they're in a battle of trying to figure out each other. And when the movie opens, you're trying to figure out, what's the plot here?

What are these men doing? And you have the good guy, Clint Eastwood, rescuing Tuco, and when he goes to rescue him, you're thinking, oh, he's rescuing him. And then it's like, oh, no, he's turning him in. Oh, he's getting the reward money. Oh, so he was just rescuing him because he wanted the money. And then next thing you know, you see Tuco getting hung, and he shoots him down, and then the next thing you know, they're splitting the money, which is, he's worth $2,000 when he goes into this scene.

So let's play this one. Wanted in 14 counties of this state, the condemned is found guilty of the crimes of murder, armed robbery of citizens, state banks, and post offices. The theft of sacred objects, arson in a state prison, perjury, bigamy, deserting his wife and children, citing prostitution, kidnapping, extortion, receiving stolen goods, selling stolen goods, passing counterfeit money, and contrary to the laws of this state, the condemned is guilty of using marked cards and loaded dice. Therefore, according to the powers vested in us, we sentence you accused here before us, Tuco Benedicto Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez, known as the rat, and any other aliases you might... ...to hang by the neck until dead.

May God have mercy on his soul. Proceed. Five for you, and five for me. Know how much you're worth now? No, how much?

$3,000. There are two kinds of people in the world, my friend. Those with a rope around their neck and the people who have the job of doing the cutting. Listen, the neck at the end of the rope is mine. I run the risks, so the next time I want more than half. You may run the risks, my friend, but I do the cutting. If we cut down my percentage, I will interfere with my aim.

But if you miss, you had better miss very well. Whoever double-crosses me and leaves me alive, he understands nothing about Tuco. Nothing. You can even hear it here as they're talking to each other, splitting up some money after they went and get it, and like, well, who's more important? The tension between the good guy and the bad guy and this whole thing. And in the end, actually, Clint Eastwood, he kind of triumphs in the way that he... ...because he knows something about the name on the grave or the money's buried, because that's what all these guys are heading for at the end of the movie, is this money.

And he lets Tuco live, but he first makes him think he's going to die, because Tuco earlier really tried to kill Eastwood in a very long, torturous walk across the desert. But I say all that because, to me, the whole thing that I'm wanting to set up here is tension, because in the Christian walk and the Christian life, it's all about tension. Not just good and evil, but it goes into everything we do. It's like, you're talking about election predestination versus evangelism.

How much do I do if it's already preset? There's so many things in the Christian life that you're trying to walk in tension on. I was kind of thinking of some things. It was like, between the Spirit actually working and then my obedience, well, where do I have to come in? Where does the Spirit do? There's just always this tension and security in the hand of the Father and the perseverance of my own faith. And the sovereign aspect of salvation and the volitional aspects of what I have to do. There's tension between our old nature, our new nature.

What can I actually resolve here? But I can't, but God can. And that's the hard thing, because I want to do everything in my own power. But I have to relinquish and die to myself, as we were talking earlier, to actually get me to go where I need to go. I can't just go, oh, I'm going there.

Because for me to get there, I have to die to myself. And that's that constant tension. And I just, that's what I loved about diving into this verse this week. It's been really fun, because we all had different takes on it. And just, the pre-show was one of the funnest we've had in a long time. It was really good. A lot of discovery. Yeah, the most conversation we've had, and from different angles. Yeah, much different angles.

We'll hopefully pull out today during the show, because that was, it was very profitable. Yeah, I really think Sam, you know, your understanding was extremely helpful. Well, thank you. The verse, I read it in a couple different versions, but this is in the New King James. I guess it's refreshed, King James. And it says, you went forth, let me put my glasses on, that'd make it a little, well, now I can't.

Let me make it bigger on my iPhone here. You went forth for the salvation of your people. And keep in mind, the Y's are capitalized in this, right? And for salvation with your anointed, a capital A.

And so I'll get back to it again in a minute. You struck the head of the house of the wicked by laying bare from foundation to neck. And so I was reading through that, you know, the first verse where it talks about, the first part of that verse where it talks about you went forth for the salvation of your people, for the salvation with your anointed. For me, that's obviously Jesus, right? Jesus is the anointed. He went to rescue his people.

And how did he do it? He went and he said what he, he fulfilled what he said when he came. He said, you know, I am the way to the Father, right?

I'm the way to the Father. And the way that he became the way to the Father is to take away all the tools of the enemy that keeps you from getting to the Father, right? He took away the challenge of, well, you got to have sacrifices, you got to have all that. Well, he became the sacrifice so that they could never have to do that again, right? And so he became all those things and laid open and exposed the enemy from foot to neck, to all his little schemes and things that no longer had power, so that there was clear access.

You know, as I was reading through it, the scripture that came to mind is where it talks about the tearing of the curtain, you know, in the Holies of Holies. That, you know, even in the inner sanctuary is gone, right? We have direct access to the Father through Jesus. You know, the enemy has no hold on us.

The problem is we don't always live like we don't have a hold. Right, and I loved how you talked about we still have a lot of stuff in our lives that need to be exposed at the foundation of wicked, that still even, you know, even after you've come to Christ, obviously, there's a whole sanctification process. And, you know, hardly a day goes by, in fact, no day goes by where, you know, some of that stuff doesn't get, you know, pulled back to take a look at and then be uncovered and then realize that you've got an opportunity here that he's not poking you for nothing, that there's something he wants to get out to provide more freedom, more healing, and more what comes as a result. Absolutely, the question I'll take out of this is, okay, Jesus, where are you bringing those things up in my life that I'm still letting the enemy have a foothold? Right, that he has power in my life that I need to turn over to you. You know, you think about when silver is refined, right, it's refined under an intense fire that pops out the impurities, and that's why it's so uncomfortable, but I need those impurities out of my life so I can walk more deeply with you and with the Father.

When we come back, we're going to talk a lot more about this, but go to masculinejourney.org for the upcoming entrenchment, April 28th and 29th, masculinejourney.org. What we have at our boot camp is something that makes you stronger and gives you the strength to go on your regular walk with God. It's something that will make you be bigger than you were when you got there. Well, what kind of inspired you to come up this weekend? Oh, my goodness, just my faith in general.

You know, my father has passed down that heritage of just that Christian life, that Christian faith, and just godly morals and principles, and he's instilled that in my life, and I have children as well, and I want to instill that in their life. So when I get an opportunity to do something like this, I jump on it. I just want to be here, and I'm glad to be here.

It's a great opportunity. We're definitely glad to have you here as well. Any talk that stuck out to you this weekend that's really just kind of made your heart come alive, put that fire back in you?

Probably one thing that just stands out to me is John 15. It's just not being alone. Know that I have Christ on my side.

I can't do anything without Him, and I need Him in my life. I'm a very private person. I like to do things on my own. I don't like to ask for help, so that's hard for me to know I've got to ask Jesus for something, and then also just to rely on a band of brothers that I can look to and turn to and say, Hey, guys, I need help. I can't do this alone.

Register today at masculinejourney.org. Now, that's tension. Yeah, that's a little bit.

I tell you, for everybody who watched the old westerns, that jumps out at you, and even I think a lot of people that probably have never watched The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly probably actually have heard that somewhere. I mean, there's orchestras that have played it. There's all kinds of stuff in the history of that song, and it was just so simply made.

Just like guitar and something else, the guy had really not an orchestra of instruments. He just created all that stuff, very creative to create all that, and it's just one of those sounds that every time I hear it, I'm just immediately kind of the hair on the back of your neck kind of goes up. You come to attention like, What's going on? Oh, there's something important happening. Yes, exactly. That just tells you, Okay, yeah, all right, it's on now. And the way it's used throughout the movie is just so well done.

Yeah, it is good. Robby, do you want Andy to go next? Well, Harold's got something to say. Oh, he does.

When the sage has something to say, say it. Yeah. There you go. Well, what occurred to me was that this is really a summation of both the Old and the New Testament. There's a song that I think says it all. The battle belongs to the Lord. If it belongs to him, we can't lose. And it's true that we suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune because Satan tries his best.

But in the end, he's a loser. And we're the winners because the battle belongs to the Lord. There you go. And speaking of battle, we got Andy. Right. And we were trying to figure out which one of you guys is the good and the bad, you know. I got no comment. I'll take the last one. Apparently Robby's got that covered. I'll go with the ugly.

I'll go with the ugly. So my clip's from the Ten Commandments, and I kind of went that way of how God stands up for his people and what he did then. But, you know, I don't know, really it probably should be the Rodney's clip should have been the Fifteen Commandments. Because when they were rattling off that dude's rap sheet, I think they had… He added a few. The good, the bad, and the broken commandments is what they should call that movie.

But, no, I did. I went with the Ten Commandments where the death angel comes and the firstborn's dying from Egypt. And, of course, the Israelites, they weren't Israelites yet, God's people. They had the Passover and they were putting the blood over the mantle. And, you know, this was Pharaoh's perspective of, you know, God was trying to get the Israelites out of Egypt.

In doing so, he had to do some pretty difficult stuff to finally get the enemy to let loose. And those very things that we were talking about, Old Testament, New Testament. Those Old Testament stories and, you know, getting out of Egypt and getting Egypt out of you and all that stuff comes to the point of God's doing it. God's using the anointed one, Jesus, to do that in us. So, this is from the Ten Commandments. Go ahead, Blake. I've known battle for thirty years, Pharaoh. But I've not known fear till tonight.

Aid, have the captains join their men. The coming of dawn we will strike. No firstborn Hebrew shall live.

Let the Hebrews go, great one, for we are all dead men. Who was your son? My firstborn. There is no magic cure, no spell to use. He is the firstborn of Pharaoh.

We have no skill before this pestilence. My father. My son. Your own curse is on him.

Where did you hear this? From Moses. I would not let his people go because your serpent's tongue hardened my heart. You only sought to keep Moses here.

You cared nothing for my throne or my son. I asked Moses for his life. The shadow of death is on his face.

No, he will not die. Captain, take my fastest chariot. Bring Moses to me. I will bring him, mighty Pharaoh. You are my only son. You have conquered Moses.

The foot of a slave is on the neck of Egypt. You are saved from the Nile to be a curse upon me. Your shadow fell between me and my father, between me and my fame, between me and my queen.

Your shadow now fills all things with death. Go out from among us, you and your people. I set you free. It is not by your word nor by my hand that we are free, Pharaoh. The power of God has freed us.

Enough of your words. Take your people, your cattle, your God, and your pestilence. Take what spoils from Egypt you will, but go. O Lord God, with a strong hand, thou dost bring us out of bitter bondage.

Tomorrow we go forth, the free nation, where every man shall reap what he has sown and bow no knee except in prayer. Well, it's like Robby was saying in the pre-show, you know, you just hear the pride of Pharaoh there. He did not want, I mean, look how many times he reneged on his, and he had too much pride. He did not want to be defeated by a God that was coming after to deliver his people.

And I look at it as this. Those Old Testament stories definitely feed into the New Testament. They all speak to our freedom, our deliverance, our protection from the enemy by God. But, you know, those were real stories then, too, and they really give us a mental picture of what that deliverance looks like. Look at the stories where God came into deliverance for his people. All the stuff as they were going into the Promised Land, but, you know, you have Elijah on Mount Carmel, you just, Noah. There's just a variety of ways that God comes after people to protect his people and to deliver them.

That's good. One of the things I heard in that clip, and you approached it, is the freedom is scary. Most people don't want freedom. We say we do, but we'd much rather have a set of rules and a set way that everything happens that we're used to, and we're comfortable with, and freedom is very uncomfortable. Well, that was the Israelites' take on it.

It was like, let's go back. Let's go back and get the leaks and the constant food source. I happened to put my faith out there and live day by day by God providing.

But, yeah, you're right. One of the most intriguing things about the verse to me was the word foundation. Like, what is the foundation?

And, again, it's an interesting thing. In Hebrew, you've got a word that can be wonderfully good but horribly evil. So here you have the foundation of evil, but the word itself is unbelievably beautiful because you're seeing God's foundation. And so those who are a little bit familiar with Hebrew, and I know Sam loves this, but the word foundation begins with a yud.

Ah. And the yud would often indicate light, right? And you think about the foundation that light is in so many different ways, that in the beginning, you know, let there be light. And so what's the evil foundation? The opposite of light is darkness, right, and deception, and all those things. And then the second letter is the letter psalmic, which has to do literally with a foundation, with the idea of gravity itself.

But it's unity. Like, you come together in marriage, it's a circle, it's a wedding ring, right? And so when you think about all the things that have to do with love and unity, it's foundational, and unity is foundational. And you think how mad God gets when you begin to see striving and convention, that kind of stuff. But what's the foundation of evil? Evil, the exact opposite. Division, divide and conquer, right, and all that stuff.

The last letter is really beautiful because it's the letter Dalit, which often means love, but it certainly means humility and service. And so, you know, Jesus took that unbelievable humility position at the cross that literally broke the head of evil right there, as we have an opportunity to take that. But the exact opposite of humility is what?

Pride. And so, as you were talking about, Sam, he did uncover all these aspects of what the foundation of evil would be. And you can know all this stuff, but that doesn't do you much good unless you actually ask God to begin to uncover it in your life, like you were talking about, Sam. And let's go there to see where he can bring us some healing from the bondage, because like you said, we need to see the agreements that we've made with evil, the foundations that we've created.

Yeah. You know, what are we trapped in so that Jesus can help break through that? And that doesn't happen until we're totally exposed.

Like a good poser that I am, you know? Yeah, think about that. Well, I think it can happen without us being totally exposed, but we tend to not let it happen until we're totally exposed. Which gets back to naked, right? Yeah, it gets back to pride, too, right? You know, I'm going to keep covering up. I'm going to keep covering up. All right, I'm going to give you a little bit, you know, but no.

Maybe my shoes, but that's it. You know, then no, there's more required, and that makes it tough. Right, right. So it's a beautiful verse to really ponder in so many different ways that you have that idea of the foundation, and then you have the idea up to the neck, right? And as Andy pointed out, the word pharaoh in Hebrew is very much connected to the idea of a neck, because who was it that was not allowing?

It's a restrictive process. Your neck keeps the things in your mind from coming to your heart. And so that idea of your neck is the tightened place, the narrow place that ideas have got to get from your head to your heart. And so often when they are doing Passover satyrs and stuff, they actually refer to stiff-necked, not being the idea they won't turn their head like the equestrian term, but the idea of their neck won't let the ideas of their heart flow back up to their mind. So in Scripture, when it talks about pharaoh being stiff-necked, that's what it's referring to.

And he even says it in that clip. Right, and then it's cool that God's standing on the neck of Egypt. As Andy pointed out, that's right there where you can get an idea of that exposure of all the pride that was right there, but that, again, coming with the answer of the firstborn being the painting that God was going to make. And I'll say what I said in the pre-show, that you cut the Bible anywhere and it bleeds red.

It's a beautiful thought, and clearly in Habakkuk 3.13 you get there. Yeah, I think one of the things for us to consider is the enemy has a unique plan for each one of us. He knows what works, right? And so what may work on Robby may not necessarily work on me or may not work on Andy, so he knows our story, he knows our history, he knows what works.

And so turning into God and saying, God, I need you to expose these things so I can see where he's tripping me up and keeping me from deeper unity with you. Go to masculinejourney.org to register for the Lexington Entrenchment, April 28th and 29th. Again, masculinejourney.org. This is the Truth Network.