Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So, Part 4

Welcome to Delight in Grace, the teaching ministry of Rich Powell, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. 2 Corinthians 5.15 says that Christ died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake died and was raised. A life surrendered to Christ requires giving up our own life of autonomy in exchange for a life of following after Him. And in Him, we turn away from the small life of pleasing self to become children of the good and gracious King. Let's listen to this message from Habakkuk 2 titled, Faith, Doing Life God's Way. This is part three of a message that was first preached on November 18th, 2018 at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem.

If you want to hear the entirety of the sermon, visit www.delightingrace.com. So much of life today, isn't it? The human manipulation. This is what the Chaldeans were going to do to Judah. It's what Judah was guilty of. That's why God is bringing judgment upon them. But the autonomous life is a life of manipulation.

Why? I manipulate my objects of trust. There's one word for that, idolatry. We can do the very same thing.

We can elevate someone or something to a place that belongs only to God. And we do it for trust, for guidance, for security, for satisfaction. Hear this.

This is a hard statement. It might be hard to swallow, okay? But hear this. To the degree that you are not trusting God, you are living your story using people and loving things for your guidance, security, and satisfaction. You're doing exactly what Judah was doing.

You're doing exactly what the Chaldeans were going to do to Judah. You see, that's the life. That's the autonomous life. That's living life my way. That's living my life my way.

That is Habakkuk 2.4, Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not right within him, my life. But there's another option, 2.4b, the righteous shall live by his faith. That's living life God's way. In the midst of all of this destructive autonomy that the prophet is seeing as the Chaldeans are coming down like a flood on Judah, even to judge the wickedness of autonomy and faithlessness, the righteous shall live by his faith.

Why? Because it is not my story. It is God's story. My existence is not my story. It is God's story.

And so, as we have this whole chapter here as a polemic against the destructiveness of the autonomous life, there are glimpses that we need to find where, as we live in a context of destructive autonomous living, where we are called to faithfulness. Look at verse 14. Living life God's way means that we need to see him.

We need to see him. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. That is a promise. This is the word from a sovereign God who says, this is my creation. I am guiding history.

And here's where it's going. Do you know that? Do you understand?

Do you believe that? That's living by faith. It's a living God's story. And the word glory here for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.

It's a word that means weightiness. It's a word that only relates to God in the sense of he is our creator. He made everything. Not only did he made it, but he sustains it. And not only does he sustain it, but he has redeemed it to himself through the work of Jesus Christ. He will redeem all of creation short of those who will refuse him. But the glory of the Lord, the weightiness speaks of his perfections, the perfections of God. Imagine God's perfect goodness. There is nothing wrong or evil or bad or deceptive in him at all. He is absolutely good.

Learn this. God is good. Period. His goodness does not depend on the circumstances of your life. And whenever somebody says to me, God has been good to me, my first response is, was there ever a time he was not? God is good. Say it with me. God is good. Period.

Know that. You see, that's living a life of faith. When you understand that regardless of the junk that's going around you or even in you, God is good, always. It's his very nature. He cannot be anything but good. And a good God will oppose evil.

Here's the problem. Sometimes that evil cuts right through my heart. His perfections, his perfections will prevail, his perfections will flood the earth. He affirms this in verse 16.

Look at the end of the verse there, the cup in the Lord's right hand will come around to you. That is God's justice and his flood will overcome the flood of chaos through the corruption of autonomy. It will overcome that because God is a sovereign God. So we need to acknowledge his sovereignty. There's only one appropriate response to sovereignty.

What is that? Surrender. What is it you need to surrender? You need to surrender your autonomy to his sovereignty and that manifests in submission in worship. That's living by faith.

And when you do that, your life will not be empty and helpless but will be characterized by being secure and satisfied. Not only do we need to see God to keep our undistracted focus upon him but we need to hear him. Look at verse 20, it's the last verse in the chapter. And this is in contrast to the lifeless idols. Not only do we need to see God, we need to hear him.

Verse 20, but the Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him. The lifeless idols are just that. They are lifeless objects that we tend to personify in order to make them the object of our trust. But these are lifeless idols.

They cannot hear, they cannot see, they cannot teach. And yet how prone we are to worship them. But God says in contrast, he is the living God. He is the living God. He is the communicating God.

He is the drawing God. He is relational being. He draws us to himself.

It says in the New Testament of Jesus Christ, in him is life and this life is the light of man. We need to see him, we need to hear him. We need to listen to him. We need to listen to him versus the distracting noise of autonomy.

Because there is so much calling for you to practice autonomy today. But we need to listen to him instead of the distracting noise of autonomy. You need to be focused upon him as you listen to him. Jesus said something very striking. What does listening to him look like? Matthew chapter 7, he says, the man who hears my words, he who hears my words and what?

Does them. In other words, you didn't just attend the lectures. You actually let the words sink in and you let those truths transform your life so that it changes the way you're walking in the day today. He who hears my words and does them is like the man who builds his house upon a rock so that when the waves come crashing in, the storms of life, all of the stuff that disturbs life, you're standing fast. Why? Because you have built upon the rock.

What is that? It is God's self-disclosure. We've listened to it.

It has transformed us at a level of heart and mind. That's living by faith. That's hearing him. That does not end in humiliation and meaninglessness, but that is a life that ends with significance and impact, a life built upon the rock, hearing him. Life God's way is seeing him, it is hearing him.

Lastly, it is trusting him. Back to verse 4, the righteous shall live by his faith. Verse 4, that is living by faithfulness.

It could be translated faithfulness. It is the idea of walking with God. In other words, God isn't something you just do from time to time like 10, 15, half an hour in the morning or Sunday mornings. God isn't something you just do.

The just shall live by his faithfulness. It means you are walking with God. You do life with God. You're walking with him. You are in tune with God.

Your eyes are fixed on him. He is your reference point. So that throughout the course of the day, everything that you do is referenced by who God is and what his character and purpose is. That's living by faith.

That's building your life upon the rock. He is your end and he is your means. If you've been reconciled to him through Jesus Christ, you have received grace through faith. Grace through faith means we all understand that you're saved by grace, right? Meaning that you have received through faith, you've received the righteousness of Jesus Christ and therefore by that righteousness, God justifies you.

You are accepted before a holy God. That's grace through faith. But did you also know that we live by grace through faith? The day by day where the rubber meets the road, we live by grace through faith. The just shall live by faith. Walking with God in tune with him, we live by grace practicing the presence of God and knowing the very power of God in our lives. To live by faith means that we see him, we hear him and we trust him.

This is not a free fall. This is a great adventure because you have solid ground to build your life upon when you live by faith. There is a verse in the New Testament that expresses this just perfectly. The two ways to live life. You can live life my way or you can live life God's way. The autonomous life or the faithful life.

Which one is yours? Where are you with that? This is 2 Corinthians 5.15, look at this verse. He died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves. Those who live, who are they? That's the righteous. That is those who have the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ through faith.

Because we have none of our own. The righteous shall live by faith. He died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves. You see that's the default.

That is the human default MO. Living for self. Life my way. Jesus died so we wouldn't be held captive to that. No longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.

You see there's the two stories right there. Living life my way, living life God's way. Which one are you?

In the day to day. Do you have backup plans? Are you using people and loving things? For your security, for your significance, for your satisfaction?

For your guidance? Or are you trusting God? Thanks for joining us here at Delight in Grace. You've been listening to Rich Powell, the lead pastor at Grace Bible Church in Winston-Salem. The Delight in Grace mission is to help you know that God designed you to realize your highest good and your deepest satisfaction in Him. The one who is infinitely good. We hope you'll join us again on weekdays at 10 a.m.