Habakkuk 3:17-19: Summary:Habakkuk finishes his lyrical prayer with a loveliest resolve. Framing God's sufficiency by counting the cost of the nation's sin, grieving the result of the impending exile, the prophet resolves: as I have God, all is not lost. Indeed, where one has God, they have all they need or could ever want, even a joy that no terror can finally steal away. The believer's joy, being God Himself, is not situational or circumstantial. It is ultimately impervious to the change in wind and tide. Habakkuk takes joy, then, in God, focusing specifically on how the Lord has saved him, strengthened him, and given him a song to share with all who suffer for righteousness. Not suffering, but salvation will have the final say for all who live by faith.

Sermon Outline:

Framing the sufficiency of God for seasons of suffering. (3:17)

Standing on the sufficiency of God for seasons of suffering. (3:18-19)

Habakkuk 3:1-16: Summary:

Living by faith, the righteous prophet responds to God's Word with humble and hopeful prayer. God's purposes cannot be thwarted and though it includes the suffering of His own, His own will take heart and grant God to do whatever is most fitting to His glory. Though it involve a cross, faith pleads for a revival of God's work, 'in wrath remember mercy.' God shows up responsively. By faith, Habakkuk sees the Lord. He's granted to see the promise of Genesis 3:15 upheld and reaffirmed in his own day and situation. As promised, as in the Exodus, God will save His people through the judgment of His enemies. What they devised for their victory, God's designed for their downfall and the deliverance of all who believe. Seeing this, the prophet finds himself in a personal Gethsemane. He quakes, but doesn't falter. Living by faith, he resolves to wait patiently for the promised mercy of God. Like another, Habakkuk will bear his cross for the joy set before him.

Sermon Outline:

The prayer of faith under trial. (3:1-2)

The promise(s) for faith under trial. (3:3-15)

The perseverance of faith under trial. (3:16)

Habakkuk 2:5-20: Summary:

God's answer to Habakkuk continues. Having addressed his own people, he now directs his attention to Babylon. Though this nation may think its power uncontestable, it will find that all its wickedness will come back on its head. Though his people are chastened, God has not abdicated his throne. He still rules heaven and earth. He still speaks. And all that would boast in themselves and stand in opposition to his glory will be silenced.

Sermon Outline:

To the one storing up judgment for the future

To the one who would have safety at any cost

To the one benefiting off of others' pain

To the one finding joy in others' shame

To the one who trusts in the work of his own hands

Habakkuk 1:1-2:4: Summary: Habakkuk despairs over the spiritual condition of Judah. If he's pained by it, why doesn't God seem to be? And when God answers, why is the answer not revival? On the farthest end, why is it judgment by means of a wicked enemy? In revealing His knowledge of the Chaldeans, God reveals His control over the situation. His purpose will not be thwarted. Still, acknowledging this, how can the everlasting Holy One ordain the evil as instrumental in the judgment of His people? It seems out of character that the righteous should perish at the hands of the wicked. Habakkuk takes to his post and waits for the Word. God's answer is intended to fuel the faith of His people. It's for running under the weight of a cross. What God says will come to pass, so best not to be prideful. Instead, 'the righteous shall live by his faith.' By faith, the sinner is justified, and the justified is stabilized, and the stabilized is enabled to view present sufferings in light of the life won for them in that great reversal: Christ and Him crucified. This world is meant to give way to a never ending one.

Sermon Outline:The righteous surrounded: Habakkuk's perplexity over the state of God's people. (1:1-4)

The righteous exiled: the Lord's unexpected answer to the plight of the righteous. (1:5-11)

The righteous stationed: Habakkuk's perplexity over the content of God's answer. (1:12-2:1)

The righteous quickened: the Lord's sure Word for the waiting of His suffering saints. (2:2-4)

Acts 26:2-29: Summary:

Paul is on trial for his hope in the resurrection. Given a pulpit, he addresses the king on the matter. Pleading for patience, Paul recounts his roots. Laying the foundation for the dramatic reversal in his life, he speaks to his upbringing and notoriety within Pharisaical Judaism, and how that led him, against hope, to oppose Jesus by persecuting the Church. In the midst of his rage, however, his hope found realization where he'd have never imagined it: the risen Jesus. Meeting him, Jesus apparently converted, then commissioned Paul to preach the message he once tried and failed to destroy. And because he obeyed Jesus, he was on trial. It is not incredible that God raises the dead. He's God. Jesus lived. The Church endured. Paul was new. This was the Word of God. And it wasn't like it all happened in a corner! Christ and Christianity confirm for the world that God will raise the dead---and that it's essential that one become a Christian by faith in Christ.

Sermon Outline:

Paul's Christian hope. (26:2-8)

Paul's defense of the Christian hope. (26:9-26)

Paul's Christian hope for the 'almost Christian.' (26:27-29)

Galatians 6:11-18: Summary:

Paul pours out his heart in these final words of the letter to the churches of Galatia. The flood of love is filled with the cross of Christ. The false teachers' concern is their own glory and comfort. Thus, they preach circumcision for man's praise and to avoid man's persecution. Their preaching isn't aimed at obedience to God, but only earthly acclaim. Their boast is in their success rate. Paul however cannot fathom boasting, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his love for Christ's churches, Paul holds all self-boasting at a great distance, exalting instead in the power of the cross, for which he's identifiably suffered. What counts is the new creation that testifies to the absolute sufficiency of Christ and Him crucified. Among the Israel of God, His true people, that's the rule by which we walk; and as we do, we have every reason to repose in the peace and mercy of God. The tested apostle has said his peace. All that's left is to ask Christ for still more grace in staying true to the Gospel of God.

Sermon Outline:

The large letters of a cross-exalting minister. (6:11-12)

The exemplary boast of a cross-exalting man. (6:13-14)

The defining rule of a cross-exalting church. (6:15-16)

The fitting benediction of a cross-exalting letter. (6:17-18)

Galatians 6:6-10: Summary:

Continuing with the theme of walking in the Spirit, Paul urges the Galatians to support those who teach the true gospel, sow to the Spirit and not to the flesh, and continue to love your neighbor as yourself. True teachers will not teach you to obey the law, but rather, because of the freedom found in the grace of Christ, to love one another rather than self. The freedom found in Christ is not to be used to serve the flesh. Sowing to the flesh, will just like in the physical world of sowing seeds, will reap fleshly results. While sowing to the Spirit will reap heavenly results. Paul argues that a day of eternal reaping is coming. And what we sow now will be reaped at the proper time.

Sermon Outline:

Heirs of Grace Will Support True Gospel Teaching (v. 6)

Heirs of Grace Will Sow to the Spirit (v. 7-9)

Heirs of Grace Will Seek the Greater Good of the Body (v. 10)

Galatians 6:1-5: Summary:

The grace of the Gospel creates a different community than man-centered law-keeping. The law, inciting the flesh, leads to sin, rivalry, hypocrisy, and conceit. The Gospel, fixated on Christ, supplying the Spirit, and stirring up faith, creates and cultivates a culture where love and holiness are a constant passion and care. Paul thus calls the Galatians to exhibit this. A sincere and gentle care for corporate holiness, with a cross-centered humility that bears the burdens of the body squares with, both, the truth of the Gospel and the reality of grace in the soul. Though we have been justified by faith, a judgment of final validation remains for the people of God. For this reason, it remains vital that we test ourselves by the law of Christ. Coattail Christianity won't work. Each will have to bear their own load. All you do to maintain an abiding zeal for growth in truth and grace will not be in vain.

Sermon Outline:

Heirs of grace will live to support congregational holiness. (6:1)

Heirs of grace will love to lighten congregational burdens. (6:2-3)

Heirs of grace will look to their own work for attestation. (6:4-5)

Galatians 5:16-26: Summary:

By His work, Jesus has purchased the power for our walk. He has lived by, died to procure, risen to receive, ascended to send down, and sat down to mediate---the Holy Spirit. As He is not a Gift promised through Moses, or able to be obtained through the flesh, it is foolhardy and unbiblical to come under the yoke of that covenant for living to God. The righteous shall live by faith. Presently, this remains a battle, just a battle Christ has equipped us to win under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, the Christian will prove that Christ is enough for the Christian life. We will be evidently His. The works of the flesh are evident, as is the fruit of the Spirit---and those who belong to Jesus have crucified the flesh! In the new birth, we died, and we arose with the Spirit of God's Son in our hearts. Just so, having come alive by Him, we're to walk by Him. This finds concrete expression in entire, increasing, church-edifying obedience to God. It's the formation of Christ in us on display. Against this, there is no law.

Sermon Outline:

There is a spiritual warring in our Christian walking. (5:16-18)

There is an evidential warning for our Christian walking. (5:19-23)

We have then a vital calling: walk by the Spirit. (5:16, 24-26)

Galatians 5:7-15: Summary:

Paul affirms, the Galatian believers had started well; but as steadfastness in the truth agrees with smoothness of gait, their toleration of a false gospel had hindered their running. They were attempting to go forward with a backward looking limp. Paul assures them a self-justifying view of the Mosaic law is not from the God Who called them in His grace. And as they were united by faith in Jesus, they needed to know: a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Paul expresses his confidence in Christ that, as Christians, they'd adopt the apostle's view and 'cast out Ishmael.' As with Paul, faithfulness would come at a cost. Forfeiting what stroked the flesh in order to preach the cross would come with a cross to bear, but that only confirmed the divine truth of it. Paul wishes the troublers would reap in full what they've falsely sown. Christ has set these churches free that they might learn to love one another, fulfilling the law in the power of the indwelling Spirit.

Sermon Outline:

Running free insists on fidelity to the truth of the cross. (5:7-12)

This fidelity will call out hindrances to freedom. (5:7-9)

It will also cast out hindrances to freedom. (5:10b)

It will finally bear a cross in keeping to the cross. (5:10a, 11-12)

Running free will look like love serving one another. (5:13-15)