WEBVTT 00:00:00.650 --> 00:00:05.429 The watchman's faith, watching for God's justice. 00:00:07.030 --> 00:00:09.009 When he first stood before the British Parliament 00:00:09.009 --> 00:00:12.869 in 1789 and called for the abolition of the slave 00:00:12.869 --> 00:00:17.190 trade, few people took him seriously. Some rolled 00:00:17.190 --> 00:00:20.289 their eyes, others accused him of being naive 00:00:20.289 --> 00:00:24.210 or self -righteous. Many even, those who privately 00:00:24.210 --> 00:00:27.449 agreed with him, whispered that his efforts were 00:00:27.449 --> 00:00:31.690 pointless. The trade was too entrenched, too 00:00:31.690 --> 00:00:37.590 profitable, too accepted to ever be undone. But 00:00:37.590 --> 00:00:41.630 William Wilberforce spent the next 20 years introducing 00:00:41.630 --> 00:00:45.509 bills that failed, facing ridicule, political 00:00:45.509 --> 00:00:49.789 defeat, personal exhaustion. His friends begged 00:00:49.789 --> 00:00:53.369 him to give up. He grew frail and sickly. But 00:00:53.369 --> 00:00:56.149 through all those years, his faith never left 00:00:56.149 --> 00:00:59.770 him. He once wrote in his journal, God Almighty 00:00:59.770 --> 00:01:03.289 has set before me two great objects, the suppression 00:01:03.289 --> 00:01:05.989 of the slave trade and the reformation of manners. 00:01:07.090 --> 00:01:09.569 Those were not the words of a man chasing his 00:01:09.569 --> 00:01:13.450 own glory. Those were the words of a man learning 00:01:13.450 --> 00:01:17.989 to wait, like a watchman on the walls, trusting 00:01:17.989 --> 00:01:21.909 that God's justice would come, even if it came 00:01:21.909 --> 00:01:25.549 slowly. He didn't know when it would happen. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:29.040 but he still trusted and followed and didn't 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:32.400 change what he did based on what anyone else 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:37.159 did. And that's the same attitude we find in 00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:41.900 Habakkuk 2 verses 1 through 4. The prophet says, 00:01:42.120 --> 00:01:45.079 I will stand at my watchpost and station myself 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:49.459 on the rampart. I will keep watch to see what 00:01:49.459 --> 00:01:54.480 He will say to me. Habakkuk had cried out, to 00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:58.659 God because of the violence and corruption in 00:01:58.659 --> 00:02:02.840 His nation. The wicked seemed to thrive while 00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:05.920 the righteous suffered. And when God answered 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:10.419 that He would send Babylon, a nation even more 00:02:10.419 --> 00:02:15.080 brutal than Judah, to bring judgment, Habakkuk 00:02:15.080 --> 00:02:20.120 was stunned. How could God use them, the wretched 00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:23.719 ones who cared nothing for God? We, we, we... 00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:28.199 are the people of God. How can we be reprimanded 00:02:28.199 --> 00:02:32.039 by someone else? Someone who should be even worse. 00:02:33.219 --> 00:02:36.539 So he climbed the walls of his doubt, letting 00:02:36.539 --> 00:02:40.599 go of the reasons why God's ways didn't make 00:02:40.599 --> 00:02:44.719 sense to him. And he said, I will wait. I will 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:48.699 look out to see what God will say. It's a picture 00:02:48.699 --> 00:02:53.300 of faithful waiting. Trust mixed with impatience. 00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:57.639 if we're being honest, but still faithful waiting. 00:02:58.780 --> 00:03:02.120 Habakkuk doesn't pretend to understand. We don't 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:06.960 have to always understand, but he believes that 00:03:06.960 --> 00:03:12.759 God must speak, that God's justice, even if it's 00:03:12.759 --> 00:03:19.379 delayed, is still sure. And God does speak. He 00:03:19.379 --> 00:03:23.259 does tell Habakkuk to write the vision down plainly 00:03:23.259 --> 00:03:27.719 so that it can be carried forward, so that people 00:03:27.719 --> 00:03:31.979 can keep running toward hope, for the vision 00:03:31.979 --> 00:03:36.939 awaits its appointed time. Though it linger, 00:03:37.219 --> 00:03:40.379 wait for it. It will surely come. It will not 00:03:40.379 --> 00:03:44.659 delay. In other words, you may not see it yet, 00:03:45.819 --> 00:03:49.199 but you can trust it will come. as soon as it 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:54.879 can. Faith is not wishful thinking. It's the 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:58.120 decision to cling to God's promises when the 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:04.020 evidence seems thin. The proud, those who trust 00:04:04.020 --> 00:04:07.340 in their own strength, their own wisdom, their 00:04:07.340 --> 00:04:12.840 own timing, they will fall. But the righteous, 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:15.759 God says, will live by their faith. And that's 00:04:15.759 --> 00:04:19.740 what sustained people like Wilberforce. He didn't 00:04:19.740 --> 00:04:24.980 see quick results. He saw years of defeat, and 00:04:24.980 --> 00:04:28.720 yet he trusted that the vision of God's justice, 00:04:29.579 --> 00:04:34.459 not what his nation saw as justice, but God's 00:04:34.459 --> 00:04:38.639 justice, was certain. When Parliament finally 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:43.160 voted to abolish the slave trade in 1807, Wilberforce 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:48.170 broke down in tears. And when slavery itself 00:04:48.170 --> 00:04:54.009 was outlawed in the UK in 1833, just days before 00:04:54.009 --> 00:04:57.870 His death, He knew that faith had not been in 00:04:57.870 --> 00:05:04.129 vain. See, that brings us to Luke 17, 1 -10, 00:05:05.009 --> 00:05:07.449 where Jesus gives His disciples a lesson about 00:05:07.449 --> 00:05:11.870 faith, forgiveness, and humility. He begins with 00:05:11.870 --> 00:05:16.569 a warning, temptations to sin are sure to come, 00:05:17.790 --> 00:05:21.629 but woe to the one through whom they come. Well, 00:05:21.649 --> 00:05:24.990 great! The sinners are going to get what they 00:05:24.990 --> 00:05:28.170 have coming to them. So doesn't that mean that 00:05:28.170 --> 00:05:31.589 disciples can start speaking judgment upon all 00:05:31.589 --> 00:05:34.170 the terrible people around them and make sure 00:05:34.170 --> 00:05:36.569 they rub it in their face as to how much God 00:05:36.569 --> 00:05:39.800 despises them? and how the disciples are now 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:45.139 the ones in charge. But he tells them that if 00:05:45.139 --> 00:05:49.500 someone sins and repents, even seven times in 00:05:49.500 --> 00:05:54.379 one day, they are to forgive. Is it any wonder 00:05:54.379 --> 00:05:58.439 the disciples responded, increase our faith? 00:05:59.339 --> 00:06:01.379 They're saying, Lord, that sounds impossible. 00:06:02.800 --> 00:06:05.439 How are we supposed to do that? To let them off 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:09.050 the hook. to trust you have it under control 00:06:09.050 --> 00:06:13.189 when we cannot see them suffer as they deserve. 00:06:14.850 --> 00:06:18.430 But Jesus answers in a very surprising way. If 00:06:18.430 --> 00:06:20.709 you had faith like a mustard seed, you could 00:06:20.709 --> 00:06:25.170 say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted 00:06:25.170 --> 00:06:29.189 in the sea and it would obey you. See, faith 00:06:29.189 --> 00:06:33.769 isn't about size or how much there is. It's about 00:06:33.769 --> 00:06:37.930 where. you place your trust. Even a small faith, 00:06:38.470 --> 00:06:42.129 when placed in the promises of God, can move 00:06:42.129 --> 00:06:46.129 things that seem immovable, especially our own 00:06:46.129 --> 00:06:50.110 hearts. Faith isn't something we build up through 00:06:50.110 --> 00:06:53.810 effort. It's something that grows when we act 00:06:53.810 --> 00:06:57.949 in trust, being willing to bury it in the ground, 00:06:58.509 --> 00:07:01.750 wondering if it will get lost and forgotten. 00:07:02.759 --> 00:07:06.779 trusting it to the waters of baptism and our 00:07:06.779 --> 00:07:10.660 own grounding in faith, forgiving when we'd rather 00:07:10.660 --> 00:07:14.839 hold on, serving when we'd rather be thanked, 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:19.579 believing when we'd rather give up. You can imagine 00:07:19.579 --> 00:07:22.000 if someone like Wilberforce lived in our time, 00:07:22.199 --> 00:07:24.500 how many people would have found ways to tear 00:07:24.500 --> 00:07:27.959 him down? They would have said he was too idealistic, 00:07:28.519 --> 00:07:33.300 too privileged, too naive. They would have found 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:36.399 fault in his manner, his motives, his methods, 00:07:36.839 --> 00:07:39.939 maybe even the people he associated with. If 00:07:39.939 --> 00:07:42.660 only you would stop focusing on something so 00:07:42.660 --> 00:07:45.620 hopeless, William. We've got it all figured out. 00:07:45.839 --> 00:07:48.819 Join the rest of us in achieving victories that 00:07:48.819 --> 00:07:52.519 we can see. Then we can make the world work the 00:07:52.519 --> 00:07:57.459 way we want. He was a brilliant man, popular, 00:07:57.800 --> 00:08:02.439 ambitious, a man destined for power, but... Just 00:08:02.439 --> 00:08:06.879 as all terrible things come, Christ got a hold 00:08:06.879 --> 00:08:11.560 of them. And Wilberforce came to faith and began 00:08:11.560 --> 00:08:16.100 to see the world differently. He saw the wickedness 00:08:16.100 --> 00:08:19.439 of the slave trade. Men, women, children treated 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:22.699 as property. And he thought, surely God wants 00:08:22.699 --> 00:08:26.399 me to do something about this. Maybe he assumed 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:29.800 that if he obeyed God, success would come quickly, 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:33.440 but year after year it didn't. The slave trade 00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:37.120 was just too profitable, too entrenched. He faced 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:39.779 ridicule, exhaustion, and loneliness. And like 00:08:39.779 --> 00:08:43.340 Habakkuk, he must have stood at his own watchtower 00:08:43.340 --> 00:08:49.139 and prayed, Lord, how long? Like Hananiah, publicly 00:08:49.139 --> 00:08:52.399 contradicting Jeremiah in the temple saying God 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:55.240 would end their suffering in Babylon within just 00:08:55.240 --> 00:08:58.779 two years and restore all the exiles and temple 00:08:58.779 --> 00:09:01.519 treasures even while Jeremiah warned that they 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:04.500 should watch to see what would happen or like 00:09:04.500 --> 00:09:07.240 the false prophets telling King Ahab what he 00:09:07.240 --> 00:09:10.580 wanted to hear while the true prophet Micaiah 00:09:10.580 --> 00:09:14.240 warned of God's judgment or like Micah exposing 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:17.100 the self -interest of the prophets of Samaria 00:09:17.480 --> 00:09:19.879 where their prophecy depended on whether they 00:09:19.879 --> 00:09:23.779 were being paid or praised, and their message 00:09:23.779 --> 00:09:27.679 of peace being a product of comfort and corruption, 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:32.679 not divine truth. People love to find reasons 00:09:32.679 --> 00:09:36.080 to stumble and avoid listening to God's words 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:40.940 of command. Reasons to discredit those who make 00:09:40.940 --> 00:09:44.059 them uncomfortable. You're not on the winning 00:09:44.059 --> 00:09:47.779 side, you're sounding like the losers. It's easier 00:09:47.779 --> 00:09:51.059 to critique someone's tone than to face the truth 00:09:51.059 --> 00:09:55.220 of what they're saying. Faith, though, keeps 00:09:55.220 --> 00:09:58.980 us listening. Faith doesn't make excuses. Faith 00:09:58.980 --> 00:10:02.779 keeps our hearts open to correction by God, open 00:10:02.779 --> 00:10:05.320 to the Spirit, to the possibility that God may 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:10.379 be calling us to change. That's what the disciples 00:10:10.379 --> 00:10:13.519 had to learn. That following Jesus meant more 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:17.179 than believing in miracles. It meant humbly forgiving, 00:10:18.500 --> 00:10:22.320 faithfully serving, trusting God even when obedience 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:28.799 felt ordinary. The parable of Jesus, it ends 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:32.120 this passage, who among you would say to your 00:10:32.120 --> 00:10:35.559 servant who has just come in from plowing or 00:10:35.559 --> 00:10:38.759 tending sheep? Come here at once and take your 00:10:38.759 --> 00:10:42.059 place at the table. Would you not rather say 00:10:42.059 --> 00:10:45.639 prepare supper for me? Put on your apron and 00:10:45.639 --> 00:10:48.379 serve me while I eat and drink and later you 00:10:48.379 --> 00:10:52.960 may eat and drink. And he concludes, so you also 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:55.620 when you have done all that you were ordered 00:10:55.620 --> 00:10:59.559 to do, say, we are worthless servants. We have 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:03.659 done only what we ought to have done. What a 00:11:03.659 --> 00:11:07.299 harsh and strange thing for Jesus to say, especially 00:11:07.299 --> 00:11:09.740 with so many of his closest disciples around 00:11:09.740 --> 00:11:13.919 him. But what Jesus is saying, is that faith 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:16.480 is not about achieving some type of victory that 00:11:16.480 --> 00:11:20.740 we want to see or possess. It's not a transaction 00:11:20.740 --> 00:11:24.240 where we follow because we're looking to be rewarded. 00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:28.059 It's a relationship that's rooted in trust and 00:11:28.059 --> 00:11:31.980 gratitude, which means that we follow even the 00:11:31.980 --> 00:11:35.320 parts of what God wants that others may not be 00:11:35.320 --> 00:11:39.019 willing to support, even the ones closest to 00:11:39.019 --> 00:11:43.909 us. The righteous live by faith. not for applause, 00:11:44.830 --> 00:11:49.710 not for control, not for pride. Wilberforce may 00:11:49.710 --> 00:11:52.629 have never seen himself as a hero. He definitely 00:11:52.629 --> 00:11:55.850 saw himself as a servant of Christ, doing what 00:11:55.850 --> 00:11:58.389 needed to be done. And when his opponents mocked 00:11:58.389 --> 00:12:02.570 him, he neither retaliated against them, nor 00:12:02.570 --> 00:12:06.250 gave up. When his own party abandoned him, he 00:12:06.250 --> 00:12:10.350 kept showing up. And that's mustard seed faith. 00:12:11.350 --> 00:12:17.870 Small. steady, persistent, waiting to blossom 00:12:17.870 --> 00:12:22.070 in God's timing. With persistent patience, the 00:12:22.070 --> 00:12:26.669 UK changed because of evangelical revival, moral 00:12:26.669 --> 00:12:31.370 reform, and growing public conscience, even while 00:12:31.370 --> 00:12:34.330 other countries had to force their own people 00:12:34.330 --> 00:12:38.750 to change through warfare and money. If Habakkuk 00:12:38.750 --> 00:12:42.340 teaches us to wait on God's timing, and Jesus 00:12:42.340 --> 00:12:46.240 teaches us to act in humble obedience, then together 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:49.019 they remind us that faith lives in the tension 00:12:49.019 --> 00:12:52.299 between waiting on God's timing for the fulfillment 00:12:52.299 --> 00:12:56.039 of righteousness and doing only what God allows 00:12:56.039 --> 00:13:00.759 while accepting that we may not always win. Faith 00:13:00.759 --> 00:13:03.080 waits for the vision to be revealed while it 00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:07.240 keeps forgiving, keeps serving, keeps believing. 00:13:08.620 --> 00:13:11.120 Sometimes that's the hardest kind of faith. Not 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:14.480 the mountain moving kind, but the day in, day 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:18.440 out kind. The faith that keeps loving someone 00:13:18.440 --> 00:13:22.059 who hurts you. The faith that keeps praying for 00:13:22.059 --> 00:13:25.559 a child who's wandered away. The faith that keeps 00:13:25.559 --> 00:13:28.480 working for justice when change comes painfully 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:33.029 slow. The faith that says, That fighting against 00:13:33.029 --> 00:13:35.870 moral debauchery and harming the unborn does 00:13:35.870 --> 00:13:39.269 not require that we step around the poor, the 00:13:39.269 --> 00:13:43.230 Lazaruses of the world, and ignore the infirm, 00:13:43.470 --> 00:13:45.769 and empower the corrupt and lie to ourselves 00:13:45.769 --> 00:13:49.169 about what is right in front of us. Even now, 00:13:49.230 --> 00:13:51.950 there are voices that try to redefine injustice 00:13:51.950 --> 00:13:55.789 as something good. You can still hear people, 00:13:55.830 --> 00:13:59.090 even on our own time, saying that slavery in 00:13:59.090 --> 00:14:02.279 some way was a blessing in disguise. that it 00:14:02.279 --> 00:14:05.539 brought civilization, education, or job skills 00:14:05.539 --> 00:14:09.440 to savages who sold each other into slavery as 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:12.000 if people who called themselves Christians back 00:14:12.000 --> 00:14:15.600 then were excused when doing the same evil practices 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:19.320 as the heathens. Some even claim that there's 00:14:19.320 --> 00:14:22.360 no real inequality among races anymore as if 00:14:22.360 --> 00:14:25.320 history's wounds simply healed themselves that 00:14:25.320 --> 00:14:29.019 quickly. But faith doesn't look away from reality. 00:14:29.660 --> 00:14:32.220 Faith doesn't make excuses for the sins of the 00:14:32.220 --> 00:14:35.799 past or the struggles of the present. Faith tells 00:14:35.799 --> 00:14:38.080 the truth and then keeps trusting that God's 00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:42.899 truth will lead to healing, not denial. The proud 00:14:42.899 --> 00:14:45.440 refuse correction. They say, we've done enough. 00:14:46.379 --> 00:14:50.559 The righteous though, live by faith. And faith 00:14:50.559 --> 00:14:54.419 is humble enough to listen, to learn, to keep 00:14:54.419 --> 00:14:57.669 repenting and moving forward in hope. Living 00:14:57.669 --> 00:15:00.250 by faith in our world means something both very 00:15:00.250 --> 00:15:04.830 ordinary and very bold. It means holding fast 00:15:04.830 --> 00:15:07.970 to God's promises while living with open hands. 00:15:08.690 --> 00:15:11.389 It means doing what's right even when it's unpopular 00:15:11.389 --> 00:15:15.250 and seemingly unrewarding. It means forgiving 00:15:15.250 --> 00:15:18.049 when others don't, listening when others shout, 00:15:18.549 --> 00:15:21.970 serving without needing recognition. Faith doesn't 00:15:21.970 --> 00:15:25.330 have to be big to be real. It just has to be 00:15:25.330 --> 00:15:28.789 alive. clinging to God's promises however small 00:15:28.789 --> 00:15:31.470 the grip might feel. The watchman on the wall 00:15:31.470 --> 00:15:34.909 waits for justice. The servant in the field obeys 00:15:34.909 --> 00:15:38.110 with gratitude. The disciple forgives again and 00:15:38.110 --> 00:15:40.309 again and together they bear witness to the same 00:15:40.309 --> 00:15:44.450 truth. The righteous shall live by faith. When 00:15:44.450 --> 00:15:47.509 we look at people like Wilberforce or even at 00:15:47.509 --> 00:15:51.250 Habakkuk and the disciples, we're reminded that 00:15:51.250 --> 00:15:54.269 faith isn't about being strong and large. It's 00:15:54.269 --> 00:15:57.519 about being steady. It's about trusting that 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:00.159 God's vision for the world, a vision of mercy, 00:16:00.679 --> 00:16:05.960 justice, and then restoration, will not fail, 00:16:06.419 --> 00:16:09.159 even if it feels slow in coming and we do not 00:16:09.159 --> 00:16:15.179 feel in control. So we wait. We forgive. We serve. 00:16:15.940 --> 00:16:19.480 We speak truth, not in arrogance, but with grace, 00:16:20.379 --> 00:16:24.159 even forgiving ourselves, because we're willing 00:16:24.159 --> 00:16:29.190 to admit to our own sinfulness. And we live by 00:16:29.190 --> 00:16:32.970 faith. Not in what we can see, but in the one 00:16:32.970 --> 00:16:35.950 who is promised to make all things new. Even 00:16:35.950 --> 00:16:38.029 small faith, Jesus says, can move mountains. 00:16:38.889 --> 00:16:41.429 Even small faith, Habakkuk says, can outlast 00:16:41.429 --> 00:16:45.549 empires. And even small faith, your faith and 00:16:45.549 --> 00:16:48.529 mine, can make the light of Christ visible in 00:16:48.529 --> 00:16:54.009 a world that still longs to see it. By His grace 00:16:54.009 --> 00:16:56.190 alone. Thanks be to God.