Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life - Why Does God Do Nothing?

Episode Date: May 29, 2023

It would be possible to go to church for many decades and never hear a sermon on Habakkuk. It’s a short book in the Old Testament, and we know almost nothing about Habakkuk himself. But this book is very contemporary in its application.  This little book talks about how to handle evil times, whether those are society-wide evil times or just your own personal evil times.  Let’s see why this is so relevant to us. Let’s notice 1) what Habakkuk saw, 2) what he did, 3) what he heard from God, and 4) what it meant.  This sermon was preached by Dr. Timothy Keller at Redeemer Presbyterian Church on May 3, 2009. Series: Living by Faith in Troubled Times. Scripture: Habakkuk 1:1-17. Today's podcast is brought to you by Gospel in Life, the site for all sermons, books, study guides and resources from Timothy Keller and Redeemer Presbyterian Church. If you've enjoyed listening to this podcast and would like to support the ongoing efforts of this ministry, you can do so by visiting https://gospelinlife.com/give and making a one-time or recurring donation.

Welcome to Gospel in Life. As you may have heard recently, it is with sadness that we share with you that our founder and friend Timothy J. Keller passed away in the morning of May 19, 2023, at the age of 72, trusting in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection. While our hearts are heavy with the news of Tim's death and our prayers are with his family as they go through the grieving process, our spirits are also lifted because we know that he has a new life and is with his Savior and that one day we will see him again. And so with that hope in mind, we want to honor Tim's wishes and continue ministering the gospel during this season, because as you have heard Tim say many times, the gospel changes everything.

So listen now to his teaching and join us in praying for his family. Thank you. Tonight's scripture reading comes from Habakkuk, chapter 1 verses 1 through 17. The oracle that Habakkuk, the prophet, received. The oracle that Habakkuk, the prophet, received. How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you did not listen? Or cry out to you, violence, but you did 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 him and 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 seize 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 head long, 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 sand.

They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities. They build earthen 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 wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? You have made men like fish and a 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 dragnet. And so he rejoices and is glad. Therefore, he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet. 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 Habakkuk.

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. We know almost nothing about Habakkuk himself. We don't even really know quite how to pronounce his name because it's an Akkadian loan word. And so if somebody says to you, Habakkuk, you mean Habakkuk? And somebody says, well, my pastor says, he's a back-back, and that person says, oh, but that's an Akkadian 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'm just going to say, he's a back-back, because you've 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. Let me look at this first chapter and this other three chapters of the book, Habakkuk. Let me look at this three chapters under foreheadings. Let's notice what Habakkus saw, what He saw, what He did, what He heard from God, and what it meant.

What He saw, what He did, what He heard, and what it meant. First, what He saw. In verse 3, notice, it says, why do you make me look on injustice? But 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 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. The good King Josiah, who was the ruler of Judah just before Habakkuk, 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 Hebacchek says they're in verse 4. The law is paralyzed, that's God's law is not being obeyed. And there were military threats outside. And therefore, what you had now are evil times. And what he sees, not only are evil times,

but God not sending 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? 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 Why do you let this happen? Why are you absent? Why have you abandoned us? Now, the reason why we're bringing this out and right now is for this reason.

There are good times and they're evil times. A 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 10 or 20 years you're now will be better off, that our children's life will be better than ours, that our investments basically will go up,

that 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 gonna 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 happened. There's been an enormous amount of wealth taken away from us, and therefore, 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 will pretty soon go back

to the fact that every 10 years will 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 Lloyd Jones was a preacher in London, got out the book of a backer to preach because by 1950 people in Britain and Europe and big parts of the world felt like why is all this happening? Why such evil times? Why has God abandoned us?

Why has God letting all this happen? And he got out the book of a back at, because he said, if you understand the book of a back at, you never would have been surprised to what happened. You would have been ready. Are you ready? Maybe I'm getting the book of a back at God a little early. It's not 1948 in Europe, no, fortunately.

But I don't know that you can ever get something like this out too soon. 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 Habakkuk 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 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, 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 all that, you know, confrontive, but in Hebrew it is. Because 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. It comes very close to saying that. Francis I understand he was a Hebrew scholar commenting on the use of this particular Hebrew word that's translated, are you not? Here in verse 12 he says most of the, he says most of the 96 occurrences of this word in the Bible are invigorous human arguments. Nothing, therefore, could have been more abrupt in the beginning of Habakkuk's second prayer in verse 12. There is nothing like it anywhere in the Bible. God is not being approached with courtesy and respect.

Habakkuk is an absolute anguish. And you know why? Because in verses two, three, and four, Habakkuk 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 to 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 Habakkuk says, you call that an answer? I just complained, 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 my back 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 lost it. He's, you know, it's over the top, it's in temperate. 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 book goes on. You'll especially see it next week when he says, I will now wait to see what God says to me, because after he prays once, God answers him in 5 to 11, he prays again, then God answers him again in chapter 2.

But here's the thing you need to realize. On the one hand, Habakkuk is challenging God. He's asking questions. He's struggling without, but on the other hand, he never even hints 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. But that's bold. But notice how he is dealing with it. He's not blogging about it. He's not writing about it. He's not even talking about. 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, it's sort of the problem 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, listen, I've been talking to people about God for years, I mean, that's my job. I'm a pastor and some of us sing 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 wipe you out because what's important is saying and acting and doing everything just right. So they would say, hebacchic is, oh, 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 human reason and in our perception. You know, it's ever since the Enlightenment, we have this enormous confidence in our perception and our human reason and in our perception. You know, it's ever since the Enlightenment, we have this enormous confidence in our perception and our 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

and evil, therefore I'm not gonna believe in Him. I don't need this. I'm outta here. Habakkuk is neither. Neither. Do you see? On the one hand, he is so honest, much more honest than traditional religiosity.

Not feeling like I got a bow and scrape and, you know, do not do anything wrong. He's intellectually, emotionally, incredibly frank. He's challenged, but on the other hand, he wouldn't even think of leaving. Not a million 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 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 have unconditionally faithful wrestling. Unconditionally, faithful wrestling. And I have to say over the years that that kind of person is almost 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. Thank you for listening to today's teaching here on Gospel and Life. As you process the news of Tim's passing, we recognize that you may be looking for a way to respond. To help with that, we have set up a page that gives you a way to share your condolences, submit a story of how Tim's teaching or writing has helped you, or simply how you can pray for the Keller family in this ministry. For more

information please visit gospelunlife.com slash remembering. That's gospelunlife.com slash remembering. Now here's the remainder of today's teaching. There's a place you know in Psalms. There's a couple places in Psalms like Psalm 88 and Psalm 39 that end 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 a backer. There's places in Jeremiah where Jeremiah does the same sort of thing. They're really, really upset, They're angry. They were confused in a backache too.

And Derek Kiddner, a great commentary, says something about these prayers. He says, these prayers make no more sense than Peter's statement to Jesus, depart for me, O 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 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 tobacco, why he doesn't stop talking to Habback.

Do you know why he puts the prayer of Habback in the Bible for us to read centuries later? You know what Derek Hinder is saying there? He says, God preserves these prayers. Why would he do such a thing? Are we supposed to pray like this? Well, not that. You know, we're not supposed to say things like that, but no. 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's

saying. I remain their God, not because they put on a happy face, because 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, it's 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, that's what makes you an unconditionally faithful wrestler. Because you know, you can ask, there's margin. You know that your salvation is 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 the God of grace, and God's grace makes you into an unconditionally

faithful wrestler, and that's how you you into an unconditionally faithful wrestler. And that's how you deal with evil times. And that's what Hebacchek 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 could say in his answer, but basically his answer is in verse five and six. And I want you to see that the two things he says are, I'm about to tell you, Habakkuk, something that you're not gonna believe, and or understand.

See that? In verse five, when he says, I'm gonna do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told. You're not gonna get it, you're not gonna understand. Then 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, a back egg 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.

Here's two things that you 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 and hear 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 a backache he's saying I don't understand you said you were going to be bringing salvation out of Israel To the world and yet so and yet Israel is turning into this corrupt awful thing. What do you, what, come on, God do something.

And God says, I am doing something. I'm going to raise up this terrible Babylonian empire. They're going to conquer the Jews, and they're going to take them out in exile. And the Bible says, you call that an answer, and you sort of the answer, and you know, God says, yeah. And you know what, we can see something that Rebecca 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. After the exile, there were a lot of them came back and they rebuilt Jerusalem, most Jews stayed in dispersion. And therefore, in every city in the ancient world, you had synagogues, you had Jews stayed in dispersion. And therefore in every city in the ancient world you had synagogues, you had Jews and Godfairers, Gentiles who had been pagans who began to study God's word

and began to 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 Godfirs, the people who are 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, the Colosseum, the violent public spectacles, in fantasy side, and slavery itself, where 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 an 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 Poxermon and you had the Rose.

In other words, if this succession of dominant world powers, the Syrians 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 has made all nations less violent. You think I have back, I could have seen that, of course not. At the end of, when the Communists took over China, they kicked all of the Western missionaries out. And we white people think, nobody can work without us, of course.

And so we were like, oh my goodness, you know, the Western missionaries are leaving China a hundred years of Christian mission work down the drain. And we all know now, you know, they're always like, oh, why, why did God allow that to happen? You know, Habakkuk of the world saying, why has God abandoned in China? You know, white people think if the world saying, why has God abandoned China? Why people think if we're out of there, God's abandoning China.

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, fast growing Christian movements in the world. It's going to change, I think, the history of the world. Because when you get 300 million Chinese Christians, which could happen in the next 100 years, that's going to make a huge difference.

And why? Because as you saw the missionaries, 100 years of what it looked like, missionary were going down the drain at the end of, when the communists took over and cast them all out. We didn't have the perspective. Joseph was doded 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, in which they were all going to starve to death anyway. And what did God do to save the family physically and emotionally and psychologically and spiritually?

Twenty 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. Yet we sit here and say, I don't get it. I want to know now, well, you can't. In fact, when God says in verse 5, Habakkuk, it's almost comical, by the way. He says to Habakkuk, okay, you want an answer to what I'm doing?

I'll tell you, but you're not going to understand it. He's like, I'm going to tell you, but you are not going to get it. So, Habakkuk, 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, in fact, let's be a little more comical about this. Let's push the comedy since you're laughing anyway.

You have a five-year-old child, some of you have five-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 5. So, okay, honey, you won an explanation. Let me tell you about the basics of nutrition. You know, if five-year-old just not going to get it. So, okay, honey, you want an explanation? Let me tell you about the basics of nutrition. You know, if five-year-old just not gonna 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 gonna die. Now, here's what I wanna 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 in a five-year-old mind and a parent's mind. And you expect to understand everything God does?

That would be to say God has to make sense, makes no sense. To say I've got to understand God, and he has to make sense what he's doing, makes no sense. In fact, you're worse than a five-year-old because in the end, the five-year-olds do trust their parents. You're less mature than a five-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. E.fearful saints, fresh courage take.

The clouds 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 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 chapter 13 verse 41 says this amazing statement. He's talking to them, he's preaching the gospel, and he's talking about Jesus, and he says, 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. for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe if you were told. Paul looks at Habakkuk chapter one verse five,

where God says, I am 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 Habakkuk,

that principle that I bring light out of darkness, that I can bring, and I do bring, salvation of redemption out of injustice and wrong and evil and suffering. That principle finds its ultimate 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 in essentially 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 he back it 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 got, 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 your evil times. And you must look at what's going on in your life.

And you say, I don't understand what God could possibly be doing here. And of course I already said, look, be careful. Remember, children don't understand parents, I'm giving you, but here's the ultimate, look at the cross. Because on the cross, you actually have, in a way, the ultimate Habakkuk. Because Habakkuk is perplexed, and Habakkuk 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 yet he's faithful. Well, the ultimate Habakkuk was the one in the garden of Gisemini 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 dine 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. He went, have back it, 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, all that weight, that he was faithful, and he stuck to it for you in 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 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 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 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. And Jesus, let me pray for you, amen. Thank you for listening to today's teaching. We recognize that many of you will want to respond to the news of Tim's passing. If you would like to know more about how to share your condolences or to share a story of how Tim's writing or teaching helped you, or if you just want to know how you can pray, please visit gospelunlife.com slash remembering. This month's sermons were recorded in 1996 and 2009. The

sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.