Why Does God Do Nothing- Timothy Keller Sermons

tonight's scripture reading comes from habc 1 veres 1-1 17 the Oracle that habach the prophet received how long O Lord must I call for help but you do not listen or cry out to you violence but you do not save why do you make me look at Injustice why do you tolerate wrong destruction and violence are before me there is strife and conflict abounds therefore the law is paralyzed and Justice never prevails the wicked hem in the righteous so that Justice is perverted look at the Nations and watch and be utterly amazed for I am

going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told I am raising up the Babylonians that ruthless and impetuous people who sweep across the whole earth to see Dwelling Places not their own they are a feared and dreaded people they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor their horses are swifter than leopards fiercer Than Wolves at dusk their Calvary gallops headlong their Horsemen come from afar they fly like a vulture swooping to devour they all come bent on violence their hordes Advance like a Desert Wind

and gather prisoners like like sand they deride Kings and scoff at rulers they laugh at all forfeited fortified cities they build earn ramps and capture them then they sweep past like the wind and go on guilty men whose Own Strength is their God oh Lord are you not from Everlasting my God my Holy One we will not die oh Lord you have appointed them to execute judgment oh rock you have ordained them to punish your eyes are too pure to look on evil you cannot tolerate wrong why then do you tolerate the treacherous why are

you silent why the wi while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves you have made men like fish in the sea like sea creatures that have no ruler the wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks he catches them in his net he gathers them up in his drag net and so he rejoices and is glad therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his drag net for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food is he to keep on emptying his net destroying Nations without Mercy

this is the word of the Lord it would be possible to go to church for many decades and never hear a sermon on habach it's a short book in the Old Testament three chapters we're going to spend about five weeks going through it and here's the reason why it's very very contemporary in its application um we know almost nothing about habak himself we don't even really know quite how to pronounce his name because it's an Acadian loone word and so if somebody says to you habach you mean habac and somebody says well my pastor says

Hab and that person says Ah but that's an Acadian loan word and no one really knows how to pronounce it you'll say good real homework you've done your homework and they'd be right of course but I was just going to say habach because you know you got to say something got to say it some way let me show you almost immediately why this is so relevant to us and why we're taking times like this a time like this to go through this little book um let me look at this first chapter in this of the

three chapters of the book of habc uh let me look at the three chapters under four headings let's notice what habac saw what he [Music] saw what he did what he heard from God and what it meant okay what he saw what he did what he heard and what it meant first what he saw in verse three notice it says why do you make me look on Injustice but the the word injustice is a pretty General word it means evil or sorrow or grief and what he's saying here is you know why have you put

me in a position where all I see is evil in um Ecclesiastes 9 there's a very interesting verse that goes like this as fish are caught in a cruel net as birds are taken in a snare so men are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them uh the good King Josiah who was the ruler of Judah just before habach uh gave people the feeling it gave people the hope that there might be good times coming for the country but his sons were terrible Kings there was moral corruption and Injustice inside the society that's

the reason why habach says there in verse four the law is paralyzed that's God's law is not being obeyed and there are military threats outside and therefore uh what you had now are evil times and what he sees not only are evil times but God not send me to do anything about them he says Lord why aren't you listening to me in verses 2 3 and 4 why aren't you doing anything why do you do nothing say why do you tolerate all this why do you let this happen why are you absent why have you

abandoned us now the reason why we're bringing this out right now is for this reason there are good times and there evil times good time good times are when we think that things are basically getting better and better we might have a good year or a bad year but essentially we assume that every the 10 or 20 years from now will be better off that our children's life will be better than ours that our investments basically will go up the the value of our homes will basically go up so things will basically get better and

better from 1870 to 1910 in North America and in Europe that's how everybody felt Good Times things are going to get better and better we might have a bad year but basically things are on their way up but the first part of the 20th century Saw World War I Great Depression worldwide depression World War II Holocaust by the end of the 40s people were starving to death every winter thousands of people were starving to death every winter in Europe and during that period of time nobody believed that things would be getting better and better they

wondered if it would ever happen again those were evil times decade after decade of things not getting better problem after problem just taking it one day of a time now where are we it would be certainly too soon to panic but on the other hand it would be silly for us considering that things have happened in the last year in our society economically certain institutions have fallen apart that we would never in a million years would have thought that could have happen uh there's been an enormous amount of um uh wealth taken away from us

and therefore uh it would be really foolish on the one hand to panic but it would be also very foolish to think in a year or two good times will be coming back why maybe you know people constantly in history have thought good times are normal that's just not true as soon as you start to say well things pretty soon go back to the fact that every 10 years it'll get better you know we'll be out of this and everything will go back to the way it was and things will be getting better and better

and why how do you know that we don't know that we might be starting into evil times are you ready and in 1950 or so David Martin LY Jones who was a preacher in London got out the book of habach to preach because by by 1950 people in Britain and Europe and big parts of the world felt like like uh why is all this happening why such evil times why has God abandoned us why is God letting all this happen and he got out the book of habak because he said if you understand the book

of habach you never would have been surprised at what happened you would have been ready are you ready maybe I'm getting the book of habac out a little early it's not it's not it's not 1948 in Europe no fortunately but I don't know that you can ever be U get something like this out too soon so so that's what he saw evil times God not there God abandoned us that's what he saw now secondly what did he do how did he respond and to understand how habach responded you need to see he did two things

two things on the one hand he was bold and he was honest in fact verse uh you know in verse three you see where he says why do you tolerate wrong boy that's bold boy that's honest he's challenging God but in verse 12 he actually does something that is even more remarkable but it doesn't come out in the English in verse 12 you see he says uh oh Lord are you not from Everlasting which means Eternal or infinite are you not infinite now in English that doesn't come across as as all that um you know

confrontive but in Hebrew it is because that's a it's a uh it's a rhetorical question it's a particular construction and you know a rhetorical question is not a request for information it's a punishing statement and essentially he was saying something like this he was essentially saying I thought you were infinite you were supposed to be this great God infinite wise Everlasting but you're not comes very close to saying that Francis I Anderson who's a Hebrew scholar commenting on the use of this particular Hebrew word that's translated are you not uh here in verse 12 he

says most of the he says most of the 96 occurrences of this word in the Bible are inv vigorous human arguments nothing therefore could have been more abrupt than the beginning of habach second prayer in verse 12 there is nothing like it anywhere in the Bible God is not being approached with courtesy and respect habach is in absolute anguish and you know why because in verses 2 3 and 4 habach says why are you letting evil and Injustice Reign look at my Society look at Israel You're supposed to be bringing salvation out of Israel into

the world it's all corrupt it's a mess why are you letting evil and Injustice reign in my nation and God answers in verses 5 to 11 and we'll get back and look at it a little bit more but here's what he says in verses 5 to1 11 he says I'm raising up the Babylonians I'm raising up the most ruthless bloodthirsty people that the world has ever seen and they're going to sweep across the world and they're going to crush and Conquer your country and habach says you call that an answer I just complain why are

you letting evil and Injustice Reign and your answer is way do you see I'm going to send more evil and Injustice I'm going to send more violence and oppression that's what I'm going to do and habac says very close to saying are you nuts I mean when he says I thought you were supposed to be infinite and wise I mean he's he's he's lost it he's he's you know he it's over the top it's intemperate but he's bold he's emotionally and intellectually realistic he's wrestling he's challenging God that's the first thing he does you know

what the other thing is you see now it's a little easier to see as the as the book goes on you'll especially see it next week when he says I will now you know wait to see what God says to me because you know after he prays once God answers him in verse 11 5 to 11 he prays again then God answers him again in in Chapter 2 but here's the thing you need to realize on the one hand habach is challenging God he's he's he's asking questions he's he's he's struggling with doubts but on

the other hand he never even hints at at the thought never even enters into his mind that it's an option to walk away from God to stop obeying God to stop praying to God to stop following God it's not even an option you know why because yes on the one hand he's saying God I think you're contradicting yourself well that's bold but notice how he is dealing with that he's not blogging about it he's not writing about it he's not even talking about it he's praying he's saying my Holy One you know in the midst

in verse 12 even after he says something that's one of Francis Anderson said is sort of the the probably the most insulting thing that anybody says to God to his face in the Bible he then says but my Holy One he is wrestling Faithfully as he challenges God now um listen I've been talking to people about God for years I mean that's my job I'm a pastor and so I'm always seeing how people treat God and almost nobody treats God like this on the one hand you've got people in traditional religious communities who say oh

you don't question don't ask that question oh I mean I think they see God as this King that you have to appease and you better not say anything or he'll just you know he'll wipe you out because what's important is saying and acting and doing everything just right so you know they would say habach is oh you don't you know you don't question you don't wrestle you don't ask those questions on the other hand modern people especially in New York City we have this enormous confidence in our personal in our human reason and in our

perception you know it's it's ever since the enlightenment we have this enormous confidence in our perception and our inh human reason and so what we say is I don't see how God could be bringing anything good out of this I don't see why God is allowing all this suffering evil therefore I'm not going to believe in him I don't need this I'm out of here habach is neither neither do you see on the one hand he is so honest much more honest than traditional religiosity not feeling I got to Bow and scrape and you know

not not do anything wrong he's intellect emotionally incredibly Frank he's challenging but on the other hand he wouldn't even think of leaving not in aill years in fact when he says my Holy One I think this is what he's saying I think he's saying I wouldn't be upset if I thought you weren't holy but I know you are I wouldn't be upset if I thought I could walk away but I know I can't because if I can't figure out life with you how in the world am I going to figure out life without you on

my own where where else do I go you have the words of eternal life that's why I'm so upset I'm upset not because I think well hey I don't need this God I'm not going to see this is not don't question or I'm not going to believe in a God Who does these things neither of those things at all you don't have on the one hand dishonest legalistic appeasing of God and you don't have on the other hand honest Frank rejecting of God you have unconditionally faithful wrestling unconditionally faithful wrestling and I have to say

over the years that that kind of person is almost is very very rare and you know why because it takes gospel Grace to produce that person it takes gospel Grace to produce unconditional faithful wrestling and unconditional faithful wrestling produces Grace here's why there's a place you know in uh Psalms there's a couple places in Psalms like Psalm 88 and Psalm uh 39 that end with with the psalmist saying leave me alone That's How It Ends there's places in job where job says things just about as strong as habach there's places in Jeremiah where Jeremiah does

the same sort of thing they're really really upset they're angry they're confused and habach too and Derek kidner a great commentary says something about these prayers he says these prayers make no more sense than Peter's statement to Jesus depart from me oh Lord but the very presence of such prayers in scripture is a witness to God's understanding hear that the very presence of such prayers is a in the scripture is a witness to God's understanding he knows how we speak when we are desperate you know why he doesn't Smite habach why he doesn't stop talking

to habach do you know why he puts the prayer of habac in the Bible for us to read centuries later you know what Derk hner is saying there he says God preserves these prayers why would he do such a thing are we supposed to pray like this well but not that you know we're not supposed to say things like that no we shouldn't be we shouldn't be talking to God like that well then what are they there for he knows how we speak when we're desperate and here's what he say saying I remain their God

not because they put on a happy face cuz they don't not because they have perfect emotional self-control because they don't not because they're doing everything just right because they're not I remain their God because of my grace because my relationship to them is not based on their performance because of my unconditional covenantal commitment committed love the reason he has the freedom to make these kinds of questions is because he knows something about the grace of God so if you know the grace of God you that's what makes you an unconditionally faithful wrestler because you know

you you can ask there's there's margin you know that you're not your salvation's not based on doing everything right so knowing the grace of God on the one hand gives you the freedom to ask but on the other hand knowing the grace of God convinces you there's no place no place but with God that you could possibly make it in life so you never leave so unconditionally faithful wrestling proves even though you're not doing everything that God is a god of Grace and God's grace makes you into an unconditionally faithful wrestler and that's how you

deal with evil times and that's what habc is done that's what he's doing that's what he's become and you'll see this more and more okay thirdly so that's what he saw evil times that's what he did to face evil times now thirdly what did he hear God's first answer there's a lot we can say in his answer but basically his answer is in verse 5 and six and I want you to see that the two things he says are I'm about to tell you habach something that you're not going to believe and or understand see

that in verse 5 when he says I'm going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told you're not going to get it you're not going to understand then he says I'm going to raise up the Babylonians that ruthless and impetuous people who sweep across the whole Earth you see habach says why all this Injustice and violence where's your salvation and God says I'm going to bring more Injustice and more violence into your life and that's how I'm going to work my salvation in the world and you're not

going to understand it now here's what we're learning there's two things that we should learn from this statement and of course again this is a series so I think this will get more clear as if you stick with the series series and here the rest of them as well but here's the start first of all what God is saying is don't you dare Judge Me by your own timetables your own time measurements and your own calendars you see for habach he's saying I don't understand you said you were going to be bringing salvation out of

Israel to the world and yet Sal and yet Israel is turning into this corrupt awful thing what what are you what what come on God do something and God says I am doing something I'm going to raise up this this terrible Babylonian Empire they're going to come and conquer the Jews and they're going to take them out in Exile habak says you call that an answer and so the answer and well you know God says yeah and you know what we can see something that habca couldn't see if the Jews had not been taken off

into Exile they never would have spread throughout the whole Roman Empire in synagogues you know after the Exile though a lot of them came back and they rebuilt Jerusalem most Jews stayed in dispersion and therefore in every in every city in the in the in the ancient world you had synagogues you had Jews and god-fearers Gentiles who had been pagans who began to study God's word and began to you know uh get interested in the god of Israel and when Christianity began to spread and you can see this in the book of Acts and historians

will tell you this the most receptive people in the entire world to the gospel in the very beginning of the Christian Mission were not the pagans and not the Jews but the Gentile god-fearers the people who were part of those synagogue communities and they embraced it and it was through them that Christianity spread through the world and here's the great irony I was just reading a book the other day very recently that said Human Sacrifice um the Coliseum the uh violent public spectacles infanticide and slavery itself were things that in the ancient world were complete

Givens all human societies did them but because the Babylonians came up and took the Jews off into Exile and then because the Greeks conquered the world which made Greece Greek the lingua Franca so the first form of globalization so for the first time you could write a book and everybody in the world could understand it like the Bible and the Romans rose up and they conquered everybody so you could you could travel everywhere because everybody was at peace because they were under Rome and you had the pox ROM on and you had the roads in

other words if this succession of dominant world powers the Assyrians and the Babylonians and the Greeks and the Romans hadn't Arisen Christianity never would have spread and this book said here's the irony the violence of those great Nations led to Christianity which which has made all nations less violent you think habc could have seen that of course not you know um at the end of uh you know when the Communists took over China they kicked all of the western missionaries out and you know we white people think well you know nobody can work without us

of course and so we were oh my goodness you know the Western missionaries are leaving China a 100 Years of Christian Mission work down the drain and we all know now you know everybody saying why why did God allow that to happen you know habach of the you know World saying why is God abandoning China know white people think if we're out of there God's abandoning China um but because the Christian missionaries were kicked out the Chinese took over their own Christianity they made it indigenous and as a result it's one of the most vital

fastrowing Christian movements in the world it's going to it's going to change I think the history of the world because when you get 300 million Chinese Christians uh which could happen in the next uh you know 100 years that's going to make a huge difference and why because you know what as you saw the missionaries 100 Years of what it looked like missionary work going down the drain at the end of you know when the Communists took over and cast them all out we could we didn't have the perspective Joseph was doed on by his

father Jacob and he was so idolized by his father he had ruined Joseph's character he had spoiled him Joseph was on his way to becoming a cruel and evil man and the whole family was on its way to being a dysfunctional abusive pathological family system and there was a famine coming you know which they were all going to starve to death anyway and what what did God do to save the family physically and and emotionally and psychologically and spiritually 20 years of misery for Joseph he was sold into slavery then he was put into prison

everything went wrong everything went wrong but when you look back after years perspective of years you realize that every single thing that went wrong had to happen if God was going to help them that family and yet we sit here and say I don't get it I want to know now well you can't in fact fact When God Says in verse 5 habach it's almost comical by the way he says to habach okay you want an answer to what I'm doing I'll tell you but you're not going to understand it he's I'm going to tell

you but you not going to get it so habach tell me what you're doing god well if I tell you you're not going to understand it tell me okay here it is I don't get it I told you you wouldn't get it well fact let's let's be a little more comical about this um let's push the comedy since you're laughing anyway uh you have a 5-year-old child some of you have 5-year-old children you know okay you know why they're always screaming always screaming because they don't understand what you're doing you know they want something to

eat they reach out for it you know it's poison or it's just too much sugar or something they reach out for something you take it away scream why you know they don't understand and you can sit down and try to explain it to them verse five say okay honey you want an next explanation let me tell you about the basics of nutrition you know a 5-year-old just not going to get it so what do you say you say honey you have to trust me and then about five minutes later you say shut up if you

don't trust me oh child even though you can't possibly understand why I'm doing many of the things that I do you're going to die now here's what I want to know why is it that the average person in New York City says I don't understand why God allows this evil and suffering I don't understand why God it doesn't make sense to me and therefore I won't believe in him in other words God is way way the distance between you your mind and God's mind is vastly infinitely greater than distance between a 5-year-old mind and a

parents mind and you expect to understand everything God does that would is to say God has to make sense makes no sense to say I've got to understand God that and it has to make sense what he's doing makes no sense in fact you're worse than a 5-year-old because in the end the 5-year-olds do trust their parents you're less mature than a 5-year-old if you walk away from God and if you don't trust God even though sometimes what he says doesn't make sense you're going to die spiritually maybe physically so what he heard was God

saying this may I paraphrase the famous hymn it's almost like God is saying here I move in a mysterious way my wonders to perform I plant my footsteps in the sea and ride upon the storm blind unbelief is sure to Air and scan my Works in vain I am my own interpreter and I will make it plain ye fearful Saints fresh courage take the CL clows you so much dread are big with mercy and shall break with blessings on your head okay so that's what he saw evil times that's what he did to face evil

times that's what he heard and now lastly let's just say what did it mean when when when God said I am doing something in your day that you will not believe I'm doing something out there in the Nations that you will not believe I am going to be bringing salvation out of judgment I'm going to be bringing Justice out of Injustice I'm going to be bringing Salvation And Justice out of violence and oppression and Injustice I know you don't understand it but that's what I'm doing what does that mean years later Paul in Acts 13:41

says this amazing statement he's talking to them he's preaching the gospel and he's talking about Jesus and he says uh God raised him from the dead therefore I want you to know that through Jesus the Forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you through him everyone who believes is Justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses okay and then Paul adds so remember what the prophet said look and be utterly amazed for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe if you were told Paul

looks at habach 1:5 where God says I'm going to be doing something you'll never believe something most astounding I am going to bring Salvation out of judgment I'm going to bring Salvation and Redemption out of Injustice and violence and Paul says he was talking about Jesus he said wait a minute no he was talking about the Babylonians but see what Paul is saying is the thing that God said to habach that principle that I bring light out of Darkness that I can bring and I do bring Salvation Redemption out of Injustice and wrong and evil

and suffering that principle Finds Its ultimate and supreme expression in Jesus Christ you know why because when God came into this world and went to the Cross he took the Judgment we deserve he didn't come in strength he came in weakness he didn't come in Triumph he came and essentially he experienced a kangaroo court he experienced absolute Injustice he was tortured and he suffered and he died why because he's Holy See habc says I don't understand why you put up with injustice how you can bring Salvation out of Injustice if you're holy and God says

on the cross that's finally explained because on the cross because he's holy because he can't just forgive us because our sin has to be paid for because what we've done toward him and toward each other has to be paid for because he's a just God he experienced judgment on the cross he paid our penalty he took the Judgment in himself and so he is the ultimate example on the cross of bringing salvation out of judgment and therefore bringing light out of darkness and therefore bringing Redemption out of suffering and evil and difficulty and people were

standing there in front of the cross looking at Jesus saying I don't see what good God could ever bring out of this and of course it was the ultimate good and now you must look at your life and you must look at evil times and you must look you know at what's going on in your life and you say I don't understand what God could possibly doing here and of course I already said look be careful remember children don't understand parents I've given you but here's the ultimate look at the cross because on the cross

you actually have in a way the ultimate habach because habach is perplexed and habach is very confused and he's angry and he's upset and he's wrestling with God and he says where are you God and and yet he's faithful well the ultimate habach was the one in the Garden of Gethsemane who said father is there any way out of this if it be possible let this cup pass from me Jesus was so wrestling with God's ways that in the garden he actually says is there any way out of this and yet he also said nevertheless

not my will but thine be done unconditionally faithful wrestling for you and on the cross you know what Jesus actually said where are you God and God was really gone because he was taking our penalty and you know what that means Jesus Christ was truly abandoned on the cross see when habach or you or I say Lord why have you abandoned us the point is that abandonment is not real God is working he's working he's doing things and he's working in spite of the fact that we don't do things right in spite of the fact

we say the bad thing to him in spite of the fact we don't keep our cool we don't keep our emotional self-control why why is he still faithful to us because on the cross Jesus was really abandoned he got the abandonment we deserve so that when you're in evil times you only feel abandoned but you're not and if you know that Jesus Christ bore he was faithful he bore that all that weight that he was faithful and he stuck to it for you and evil times when they came upon him then when your evil times

come upon you you can say I know God's working somehow I know God loves me and therefore I will be faithful and patient for him see Jesus in a sense is saying to you when you look at my death and Resurrection you realize dark times can come upon a person that doesn't mean that God's abandoned you dark times can happen to people who don't deserve it that's how it happened to me but I want you to know there is a reason for everything God is doing and someday you'll know what it is until until then

trust me believe in me look to me let's pray Our Father we are so grateful that the Lord's Supper is a a way of remembering that you're with us no matter what you're with us all the time you're with us even when we feel that you're not there because on the cross your son was abandoned in our place because you left him and put our sins on him him you will never leave us teach us how to deal with evil times whether they're social and widespread or whether they just come to us as individuals by

looking to Jesus and remembering that you're with us in Jesus name we pray amen [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music]