Romans: Justification, Faith, and Imputed Righteousness: Sola Fide And Justification

Chilled Or Frozen

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: New Testament Studies

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2020-03-07

Synopsis: Pastor John Weaver uses the metaphor of being chilled versus frozen to describe the spiritual and moral state of a nation. Drawing from Habakkuk 1:1-4, he explains that when God's law is 'slacked' (numbed or frozen), justice fails, the wicked oppress the righteous, and wrong judgments prevail. He parallels Habakkuk's burden over Judah's corruption with modern America's decline, attributing it to a cold love for God's law. The sermon concludes with three responses: trust in the Lord, hold to righteousness, and love God's law.

[John Weaver] Habakkuk chapter 1 verses 1 through 4 started the book of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. And you can go back to Habakkuk chapter 1 The title of the message today is chilled or frozen. I think you will understand why a little bit later in the message. Look, if you would have back of chapter one, beginning there with verse one, the burden which a back of the prophet did see.

[John Weaver] Oh, Lord, how long shall I cry? And I will not hear even cry out into the violence. And I will not save. Why does that show me iniquity? and cause me to behold grievance, for spoiling and violence are before me, and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth, for the wicked doth compass about the righteous. Therefore wrong judgment proceeded."

[John Weaver] Each one knows the difference between that which is chilled and that which is frozen. If something is chilled, then it is movable. If something is frozen, then it is immovable. If it is chilled, it may be warmed up. If it is frozen, it must be thawed. I've heard people say, well, I have was nearly frozen to death. But that is usually not true. They were chilled or they were cold, but they were certainly not frozen to death.

[John Weaver] Because in reality, once you begin to freeze, you are literally unable to move. Interestingly, when one becomes extremely cold, and or prior to freezing, he becomes exceedingly lethargic and unable to move, and the brain slows down immensely. Consequently, people then do irrational things. For instance, people who are in the final stages of hypothermia engage in what is known as paradoxical undressing. Because their brain is not functioning correctly, And they're almost freezing to death. Their brain is telling them that somehow they are hot. And so they begin to disrobe and throw their clothes off in order to cool off when in reality they're freezing to death.

[John Weaver] Now, because your heart pumps less blood, your brain gets deprived of oxygen, and therefore you begin to have hallucinations. Improper functioning of the heart Also results in a reduced blood flow to the organs, which then places the body in shock and sometimes causes an absolute kidney and or liver failure as well. And naturally your pulse slows down. And when that pulse begins to slow down, it's showing you that you are really near death as well.

[John Weaver] Interestingly, our text in Habakkuk chapter one tells us that societies and nations die exactly the same way as when one is freezing to death. Societally and nationally, we have become, as a nation, apathetic, lethargic, unmoved, uncaring, and uncompassionate. And the truth of the matter is we're in a state of shock, and we cannot think clearly, nor can we think rationally. In fact, bluntly stated, We've lost our collective mind.

[John Weaver] You just have to understand we are hallucinating. Our body begins to shut down when we're freezing. And likewise, our society and our nation begins to shut down. And we begin to think, well, everything is still OK. Everything is rosy. Everything's going to work out when indeed we are dying. And we don't feel anything because our nerves are frozen. And the harder the cold, the more quickly we are numbed and the more quickly we lose our sense direction, safety, and rationality.

[John Weaver] Now, our times, I believe, are parallel to the times of Habakkuk. Habakkuk in verse 1 speaks of a burden. Look at it. The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. Now, a burden is that which is heavy. It is something that is weighty. It is something that presses down upon one. It's difficult to carry, and it oftentimes creates frustration, consternation and discouragement. And usually when someone has such a burden, they want it to be lifted or taken away. So now you're going to have to ask, since Habakkuk is talking about a burden, what was the burden that was pressing him down? Well, if you look in verses two and three, he tells you.

[John Weaver] He says, O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save. Why does thou show me iniquity and cause me to behold grievance for spoiling and violence are before me? And there are that raise up strife and contention. So Habakkuk then was praying, crying and beseeching and begging God for relief from the violence and the corruption and the injustice and the wickedness.

[John Weaver] Seemingly his prayers were unanswered. God. almost shut heaven up, it seems, and Habakkuk is complaining, Lord, I don't understand this.

[John Weaver] Now, the interesting thing when you look in verse 2, He asked, how long, Oh Lord, shall I cry? And that will not hear even cry out to the violence. Now the word for violence in the Hebrew is the word. And it literally is translated in our Bibles as violence, cruelty, wrong, injustice, unrighteous. And it refers to that, which is false and wicked and ungodly.

[John Weaver] Now the prophet then is complaining also in this passage of what you and I would call violence done by the abuse of the sword of justice. Let me paraphrase that again where you will understand it. He's referring also to violence done to the people by their own government. He's referring to that violence and that corruption done by people in power. Let me give you just a quick quote from Matthew Henry. I'm going to give you just one sentence. I'm going to pause and explain, and then I'm going to give you the rest of the quote. Matthew Henry in commenting on this passage says this, that no man could call what he had his own. But in defiance of the most sacred laws of property and equity, he that had power on his side and had a mind to would take what he wanted, though he had no right on his side. Now, let me just stop. So here he's talking about people who are in power, who have the power to take, but not the right to take.

[John Weaver] I just read this week of one company, a trucking company, that sent one of their employees by plane to another state in order to purchase trucks for their company. The man was carrying about $200,000 cash. The Department of Homeland Security and the TSA confiscated the money. They stole it. And they left him 10,000. They said it was, no one could have that much money unless they were involved in drug deals. And interestingly enough, the company that sent him had the evidence where they withdrew that money from their own account and had a purchase order for the trucks. However. The government still refuses to give them the money back. So therefore, a lengthy court case and a very costly court case will probably develop, which means the company will probably lose that money because it would end up costing more to sue for it. And to get it back. And so they'll probably end up just simply losing it. And it may destroy the company as well. Who knows? But I'm just saying, this is what Matthew Henry is saying is happening here.

[John Weaver] Those who have the power to take, do so even though they do not have the right to take. He goes on to say this. The land was full of violence as the old world was. The prophet cries out of violence, iniquity and grievance, spoil and violence in families, And among relations and neighborhoods and among friends and commerce and in courts of the law, everything was carried out with a high hand.

[John Weaver] And no man made any scruple at a scruple of conscience of doing wrong to his neighbor. In other words, it didn't bother him to steal. It didn't bother him to defraud. It didn't bother him to extort. He says so that he could make a good hand of it for himself. In other words, that's all he was concerned about. It does not appear that the prophet himself had any great wrong done to him. Then he adds in losing times, it fares best for those who have nothing to lose, but it grieved him to see other people wrong. And he could not mingle. He could not, but mingle his tears with those that were oppressed. Then he says this note doing wrong to harmless people as it is iniquity in itself. So it was a great grievance to all those that are concerned for God's Jerusalem or God's people who saw and who sigh and cry for the abominations of this kind.

[John Weaver] He complains that the wicked doth compass the righteous one honest man. One honest cause shall have enemies besetting him on every side and many wicked men in Confederacy against it, run it down. Nay, one wicked man with so many various arts of mischief sets upon a righteous man that he perfectly besets him or basically destroys him. So Habakkuk then is actually crying to God because of all of the corruption, all the violence, all the wickedness that he sees.

[John Weaver] It's much like Job in Job 19 verse 7. Job said, but I cry out of wrong, but I'm not heard. I cry aloud and there is no judgment. Job was saying, God, why don't you do something? I don't understand why I'm suffering this because I've done no wrong. Well, this is exactly what Habakkuk is saying. I don't understand this because this is wicked, this is wrong, and you know it's wrong, and I know it's wrong. So what is exceedingly egregious in such a situation is that the wicked man has the power, and the righteous knows that everything that is happening contrary to the law of God. Moreover, he knows that God cannot and does not approve of it in any way. Now, if you look in verse 13, here's what a Bacchic says of God. Watch carefully. He says, thou art of pure eyes and behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. Now watch the question. Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously? and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoured the man that is more righteous than he.

[John Weaver] Now, let me explain verse 13. For he says of God, thou art of pure eyes and to behold evil and canst not look upon iniquity. Now, we do know that God does behold evil and God does look upon iniquity, but he beholds it and looks upon it to condemn it and to judge it. So what does Habakkuk mean? Here's what he means. Thou art of pure eyes and behold evil approvingly, and canst not look upon iniquity condoningly. In other words, God only is Holy. And so God cannot condone it. God cannot approve it.

[John Weaver] And therefore he asked this question, how in the world can you sit quietly when the wicked is devouring a man more righteous than himself? Now. It's much like the truth that is found in Psalm 7 in verse 9. I quote this passage almost daily, and I pray this in my prayers. Because in Psalm seven, verse nine, the Bible says, Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but established out of the just for the righteous Lord tried the heart of the reins. So it's a lawful biblical request to ask that the wickedness of the wicked come to an end. I don't know about you, but I would like to see the wickedness of the wicked come to an end in Washington, D.C.

[John Weaver] and in our state governments and in our local governments as well. And that's what he said. Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish thou the just. So it's heart rending for a child of God to see evil and wickedness prevail and triumph. He knows the suffering that's ultimately going to bring.

[John Weaver] Now, just as in Judah, Jerusalem and Israel of old, there were divisions and strifes and factions. Just like it is today in America, just like there were separations in the old Jerusalem in the old Judah in the old Israel so today there are also These same destructions that we're witnessing in our nations now we see in here the wickedness we see in here the violence and all of this is done in defiance of law and justice now Usually when someone stands up and exposes all of the corruption and the wickedness and the violence, he usually is rewarded by being arrested and imprisoned himself while the wicked go free and the corrupt ones remain unjudged. And the truth of the matter is those who are in power and those who are corrupt despise those who would expose them and rebuke them and reprove them.

[John Weaver] Let me show you a verse. I want you to hold the book of Habakkuk, but I want you to turn back to Isaiah, Isaiah, the major prophet, Isaiah, Jeremiah. Look, if you would, in Isaiah chapter 29 and verse 21, Isaiah 29 and verse 21. Here's a very interesting verse, Isaiah 29, verse 21.

[John Weaver] It says, talking about the corruption now, that to make a man an offender for a word and lay a snare for him that rebuketh in the gate and turn aside the just for a thing of naught. Now let's go back to verse 21, that make a man an offender for a word. Do you realize there are laws in this country? That will make you an offender if you call someone by the wrong gender. It's just like, uh, the man in England that I told you about several months back who was fired from his position. He was a doctor. He was fired from his position because he refused to call a six foot bearded man, ma'am. Well, that's what he's talking about. That make a man an offender for a word. Well, what's the next part of this verse? And lay a snare for him that rebuketh in the gate. What's it mean by rebuking in the gate?

[John Weaver] Where did the king sit? Where did those in power sit in the gate? In other words, it was an open government, so to speak. And so when someone came along then to rebuke or reprove those who were sitting in the gate, those who were in power, they laid a snare for him. They didn't like it. They despised that. And then he says in the latter part of verse 21, and turn aside the just for a thing of naught. In other words, they would take a bribe to turn aside the innocent. and the righteous and the just.

[John Weaver] So obviously, clearly, you have the problems today that we had then. The major problem is that wickedness today is not only plain, it is also public. And there's absolutely nothing being done about it. And it does not matter if it is the Black Panthers intimidating voters at a voting station, even being armed there, or Antifa riding and blocking streets and attacking those who oppose them, or the corruption that is in Congress of all of those who've taken an oath to uphold the Constitution, who violate it on every hand. So the corruption is not only plain, it's public. And although sometimes it is exposed, it seems that absolutely nothing is ever done about it.

[John Weaver] Now, let me show you. I want you to turn from Isaiah to Jeremiah just over to the next book and look in Jeremiah chapter nine, because Jeremiah is complaining about the same exact thing that Habakkuk is complaining about. And of course, Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. So look at Jeremiah chapter nine, beginning there with verse one, and let's read through verse six. Watch carefully. Jeremiah nine, verse one. Jeremiah says, oh, that my head were waters and my eyes, a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people.

[John Weaver] The words basically said, I've cried until I can't cry anymore. And my prayer is that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears so that I could keep on weeping because my people are being killed. They're being slaughtered. And then he says this. Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for wayfaring men that I might leave my people and go from them. So now he says, if I could just get away from all of this violence, all of this corruption, all of this filth, I would do it. Why did he want to get away?

[John Weaver] Here's why he said, for they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men, and they bend their tongues like their bow for lies, but they are not valid for the truth upon the earth, for they proceed from evil to evil. They know not me, saith the Lord. Take ye heed every one of his neighbor, and trust you not in any brother. For every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will walk with slanders. And they will deceive every one his neighbor, and will not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity.

[John Weaver] Their habitation is in the midst of deceit. God says through deceit, they refuse to know me, saith the Lord. Wow. We've reached the stage in this country where lawlessness and wickedness and rebellion is not only insolent and impotent, it is now brazen and in your face, it is Utter, complete contempt and defiance and daring you to do anything about it.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to go back to Habakkuk chapter one. Look again at verses two and three. Watch this because here is what Habakkuk is complaining about. He says in verse two, Oh Lord, how long shall I cry? And that will not hear. Even cry out into the violence and thou will not save Why does thou show me iniquity and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me and There are that raise up strife and contention So Habakkuk is really complaining that God is not answering him that there has been no redress of grievances and that nothing has changed So he asked this question Lord Why are you showing me such iniquity?

[John Weaver] Why have you cast my lot in such a time and in such a place? Why do I have to sojourn among these people? Why do I have to live among all of this trash? Lord, I'm crying out to you. I'm begging you. I'm beseeching you. But Lord, you're not answering. You're not saving me. You're not saving the people. Lord, I don't understand this. You are of pure eyes that behold evil and cancel look upon iniquity. So I don't understand it. So he's crying and asking the Lord for redress of grievance.

[John Weaver] Now, the question you have to ask is this. How did Judah and Jerusalem get in such a state? What brought them to the position that violence and corruption and wickedness were rampant and evident and had the high hand and the high position. Let me make it a little more personal. What has brought America to the place where we are today?

[John Weaver] Now, let me tell you something. There's at least two people in this room older than I am, but I know this. Things have changed in this country since I was a boy. And they have not changed for the better. They have changed for the worse. So here's my question. What brought Judah and Jerusalem to this place where they were eventually destroyed? And what is bringing America to the place where we are being destroyed?

[John Weaver] Well, the answer is in verse four. Look what he says. Therefore, the law is slacked and judgment doth never go forth for the wicked doth compass about the righteous. Therefore, wrong judgment proceeded. Now, first of all, let me explain in verse four. He says, therefore, the law is slacked. The Hebrew word for law is the word Torah. The word Torah usually refers to the first five books of the Bible, which are the books of the law. But the word Torah actually means authoritative direction or authoritative instruction. In other words, the Torah, the law of God, is God giving us authoritative instruction and authoritative direction as to how we live and walk and to please him. Many times you hear people talk about, well, that's the law of Moses. No, it's the law of God as given through Moses. Moses was merely the mediator, but it is indeed the law of God. Now, here's a verse that many of you probably can quote, but think about this. Micah 6 in verse 8, the Bible says, he showed the old man that which is good.

[John Weaver] And what does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God. So here's my question. Where do you learn to do justice? Where do you learn to walk humbly with your God? How has he showed you that which is good? And the answer is from his law. May I remind you that in Romans 7 verse 12, the apostle Paul said, wherefore, the law is holy and the commandment, holy, just, and good. And the gospel of grace, the gospel of justification by faith alone, has not nullified the law. That's why in Romans 3 in verse 31, the apostle Paul asks, do we then make void the law of God through faith? Then he says, God forbid, yea, we establish the law. You see, the law of God not only instructs us as to how we are to live and walk and please him, It tells us that which is right and wrong, that which is holy and unholy. The law also restrains. So there is the restraining aspect of the law.

[John Weaver] How does the law restrain? By the penalties that God demands for violating the law. Let me give you a good, clear illustration. The Bible says the murderer shall be put to death. You remember in Genesis chapter nine, God said, whosoever shedeth man's blood By man shall his blood be shed. And when you get to the book of Numbers chapter 35 and verse 31, God says, moreover, you shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death. He shall surely be put to death. So God says, no, when a man murders, he is to be executed.

[John Weaver] Now, if a man is contemplating murdering another man, And if he knew absolutely for certain that once he was caught, he himself would be executed, it would tend to make him think twice before he murdered someone. But you see, the problem is today, a murderer knows that he's not going to be executed. Usually he'll get a life sentence, which means he can probably be out in seven years. You know what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter 18, verse 11, because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily. Therefore, the heart of the sons of men in them is fully set to do evil. Someone today that murders.

[John Weaver] If he is found guilty and if he is sentenced to death. He will spend years on death row and still may never be executed because there'll be an appeal after appeal after appeal. I remember years ago, I don't remember how long, probably 40 at least, maybe even longer. I was preaching in a little country church and I referred to this verse Ecclesiastes 8 in verse 11. And I said, you know, in the old days when a man murdered or a man was guilty and was found guilty, usually within a week, two weeks or a month, he would be taken out and hanged. And after I got through preaching, one older man came up to me and he said, Preacher, young man, he said, I attended as a boy the last hanging in this county. And he said, the man was condemned one week and he was hanged the next week.

[John Weaver] He said, it made a mighty impression upon me. Sure, that's exactly what the scripture says. So the word Torah here refers to God's law. So he says in verse four, Therefore the law is slacked. We're talking about the divine law God's law now look at the word slacked He says therefore the law is slacked the Hebrew word is the word poog which literally means to be slacked To be made feeble to be made faint listen to numb and to become benumbed Since the word means to numb or to become benumbed, we could also say that the law is frozen or paralyzed. It has become numb. When we think of the word slack, we mean that no one is paying any attention to it.

[John Weaver] I used to ride horses all the time. And I would just drop the reins down over the saddle horn, wouldn't even hold them in my hand. And the reins were slack. That meant that horse had to go wherever she wanted to go, unless I picked the reins up and pulled her in. When we understand the word slack, we're saying that the law is now where no one pays any attention to it. It's lost its vigor. It's lost its restraining and correcting power because it is not being executed.

[John Weaver] Now, when you think of the word slacked here as being translated as numb or to become numbed or frozen or paralyzed, then you would have to think about Matthew 24 and verse 12, where our Lord said, because the iniquity of many shall abound. The love of many shall wax cold. It shall wax cold. And the Greek word is the word psycho, which literally means to grow cold or become cold. And it speaks then of a waning love. So it should be obvious today that our modern day politicians, our governments, our philosophers, our professors, our educators, and even many ecclesiastics. Have no love for the law of God. They don't even think about it.

[John Weaver] They have no desire for it. And the divine law is the source of all right. And when it becomes chilled, when it becomes frozen in the people's heart, then the people then become numb to that which is right and true. There cannot be any real justice. There cannot be any real judgment apart from God's law. And the sentence of human courts should be in conformity to the sentence of the divine court. The sense of justice and the sense of right and wrong are powerless when the love of God's law is frozen or paralyzed in our lives.

[John Weaver] Just this past week, I was listening to our Christian radio station And Ravi Zacharias was on. I was listening to what he said. And he gave a quote. And it stuck with me. He was watching a TV program where Judge Robert Shapiro was being interviewed. And the interviewer asked the judge about justice. And judge Shapiro gave this answer. There is a moral justice and there is a legal justice. The courts always consider the legal justice.

[John Weaver] Now, let me explain that. What he meant was very clear. Judicially speaking, legal justice is not necessarily Moral it has been cut loose from the law of God and there is absolutely nothing moral about it It now revolves more around political correctness Politics and legalese it can be legal and yet at the same time be immoral Because it has no reference now to God Morality ethics and righteousness Have now fallen before the idols of political correctness and legal declarations.

[John Weaver] Let me show it to you. Hold the book of Habakkuk and go in your Bibles to Psalm 82. Go back to Psalm 82 and let's begin reading there with verse one and read through verse five. Psalm 82 is a Psalm to the magistrates. It's a psalm to the judges. And he says this. God stands in the congregation of the mighty. He judges among the gods. Now, the word gods there does not refer to idols. It refers to the judges. In fact, in the book of John, our Lord interprets this because he said that he referred to the judges as gods.

[John Weaver] And this is what he's doing. All you have to do is look at the context. So he says, God standeth in the congregation of the mighty. He judges among the judges because he's the judge of all the earth. Now look, if you would, how he, we know it's referring to the judges. Verse two, how long would you judge unjustly and accept the persons of the wicked? Here's what judges are supposed to do.

[John Weaver] Defend the poor and the fatherless. Do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and the needy, rid them out of the hand of the wicked. But will judges do that? No. Look what he says. Verse five. They know not. Neither will they understand. They walk on in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are out of course. So when you have no moral justice and all you have is legal justice, it basically turns the world upside down and throws everything out. Of course, that's exactly what he's talking about in the book of Habakkuk.

[John Weaver] Now judges are to rule for God and uphold his law. When you get to the book of Deuteronomy 25 in verse 1, the Bible says this, if there be a controversy between men and they come to judgment, then the judges that judge them, listen, they shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. Well, that's interesting. The judges shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. May I ask you a question? How does a judge know what is righteous? How does a judge know what is wicked?

[John Weaver] Who determines what is just and who determines what is unjust? Who determines what is righteous and who determines what is wicked? Obviously, according to the Bible, it is God that determines and declares and details that which is right and that which is wrong. So, let me show you. Hold Habakkuk, but go back in your Bibles to 2nd Chronicles. 2nd Chronicles, 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles. Look in 2nd Chronicles chapter 19. 2nd Chronicles chapter 19.

[John Weaver] And let's begin reading there with verse 4. Because King Jehoshaphat has done that, which he should do. He's brought the people back to God. So second Chronicles 19 and verse four, the Bible says in Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem. And he went out again throughout the people from Beersheba even to Mount Ephraim and brought them back unto the Lord God of their fathers. What else did he do? Verse five. And he said, judges in the land throughout all the cities of Judah, city by city, watch and said to the judges and said to the judges. Take heed what you do, for you judge not for men, but for the Lord who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you. Take heed and do it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respective persons, nor taking of gifts. What did he tell the judges? You're not judging for man, but you're judging for the Lord. The law has slacked. The law has become chilled and frozen.

[John Weaver] Why? The answer is because our love for God and his law has been chilled and frozen. And we have in our country today a very faint pulse. Old John Trapp, the Puritan, said this on verse four. Listen carefully. Therefore, the law is slacked. An elegant metaphor from the pulse, which in a dying man beats faintly. The law, that is God's law, is the pulse of the commonwealth. If it stir not at all, the commonwealth is dead. If it have but slow motion, the commonwealth is weak. But if it keep an equal course, The Commonwealth is in good constitution. Lex lux, the law is a light, said Solomon. But the deluge of sin had well not put out this light in Israel, who was now grown in a manner lawless through long impunity. And that's exactly what has happened in our country. Our country has grown lawless through long impunity because the law of God is neglected. Now, if you will note in verse four again, if you go back to the book of Habakkuk chapter one, if you'll note in verse four, there are three consequences for a chilled frozen, slackened, paralyzed law.

[John Weaver] Look what he says in verse four. Therefore, the law is slacked. Here's the first one, and judgment does never go forth. Here's the second one. For the wicked doth compass about the righteous. And here's the third one. Therefore, wrong judgment proceeded. Now, the first consequence is that judgment does never go forth. That is, it's never pronounced. It's never issued, it's never pointed out, it's never performed. So justice then is rested, distorted, and essentially denied. That which is moral, godly, and righteous falls in the street.

[John Weaver] Depravity, oppression, and tyranny hold sway. Now, I want you to hold Habakkuk and turn back in your Bibles to Isaiah 59. The first major prophet, Isaiah, Look in Isaiah 59, and I want to read beginning there with verse 13. Look in Isaiah 59 and verse 13, we're talking about the first consequence of judgment, never going forth. So in Isaiah 59 and verse 13, the Bible says this in transgressing and lying against the Lord.

[John Weaver] And that's what people do when they deny his law. in transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing away from our God. Now watch carefully. Speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood and judgment or justice is turned away backward and justice stand to the far off for truth is fallen in the street and equity cannot enter. Yeah, truth faileth. And he that departed from evil maketh himself a prey. And the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. What did he say? He said, We've departed from the Lord, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Judgment is turned away backward. Justice standeth afar off. Truth has fallen in the street. Inequity, that which is right, cannot enter. Truth faileth, and anybody who departs from the corrupt scene makes himself a prey. Now, he gives you then this first consequence of the law being slackened, that is judgment, true judgment, true justice does not really go forth.

[John Weaver] Secondly, the second consequence is that the wicked encompasses the righteous. Of course, the Bible teaches very clearly that when wicked men rise, the righteous hide themselves. Why? Because the wicked are in power and they hate and despise the righteous. As a crown encircles the head, so the wicked then will encircle the righteous. The wicked him in and seek to overthrow the righteous. They surround and besiege the righteous.

[John Weaver] It's just like walking on the street and you walk up into a gang of thugs. What do they do? They surround you. They fix it where you can't escape. There's an interesting verse referring to our Lord in Psalm 22 and verse 16, referring to his crucifixion. Listen to this. For dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my feet. What did he say? The dogs have compassed me about.

[John Weaver] And you have to remember in the New Testament, it was the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Herodians who were always after him, tempting him, seeking to ensnare him. And likewise, it was the Judaizers after the Apostle Paul. And even today, the wicked still plan and scheme to destroy the righteous. When some of these plans and schemes are exposed, And I've read some of them, and I think, who in the world could ever dream up such a wicked, vile scheme?

[John Weaver] And yet, that's what they do. That's their lives. The Bible says in Psalm 31 in verse 18, listen carefully. Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous. Lying lips that are speaking against the righteous. Psalm 94 verse 21, they gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous and condemn the innocent blood. And then in Proverbs 24 verse 15, lay not weight, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous.

[John Weaver] Spoil not his resting place. So they lay in wait. And God says, you better not do that. So the second consequence of the law being numbed or paralyzed or slackened It's the fact that the wicked encompass the righteous. The third one is this look in verse three of verse four. He said, therefore wrong judgment proceeded. When the law is chilled, when the law is frozen or slackened, not only does justice and judgment never go forth, not only are the righteous encompassed with the wicked, wrong or wicked judgment always proceeds. It is not truth that proceeds, but error. It is not that which is right, but that which is wrong.

[John Weaver] It is not that which is moral, but that which is legal. Old John Trapp said it correctly. He said this, a judge is to retain the decency and gravity of the law, to do nothing of partiality or popularity, to proceed not according to opinion or appearance, But as a just law is a heart without affection, an eye without lust, a mind without passion, so should he be. Else wrong and rested judgment will soon proceed to the prejudice of the righteous." Now listen, wrong judgment, perverted judgment, where an innocence is condemned and the guilty are acquitted.

[John Weaver] So the judges are swords in the bowels. when they should be shields over the bodies of the righteous. What is he saying? When you have a corrupt judiciary, they end up slaying the righteous populace. If you would turn over from Habakkuk, just a couple of pages to the book of Zephaniah, chapter three. I want you to look at the first five verses. And Zephaniah chapter three. Look, if you would, this is exactly what Jeremiah was complaining about. Exactly what Habakkuk is complaining about. And now we have it in Zephaniah. Zephaniah chapter three, beginning there with verse one.

[John Weaver] He says, woe to her that is filthy and polluted to the oppressing city. So he's talking about Jerusalem. She obeyed not the voice. She received not correction. She wouldn't listen. She wouldn't be disciplined. She trusted not in the Lord. She drew not near to her God. So what's the result? Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They know not the bones till tomorrow.

[John Weaver] Her prophets are light and treacherous persons. Her priests have polluted the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law. The just Lord is in the midst thereof. He will not do iniquity. Every morning does he bring his judgment to light. He faileth not, but the unjust knoweth no shame. You look at the corrupt politicians. They're not shamed. I read something in the last week or so I thought was interesting. And it was a, it was a comparison of, of Trump with the other politicians. But I thought ever who brought it or thought it up had a good thought. It said, it's amazing that people will complain about a billionaire who became a public servant, talking about Trump, but they do not complain about public servants who become millionaires. How do you become a millionaire making 80,000 or 100,000 a year?

[John Weaver] You understand what I'm saying? So in order to become multi-millionaires, there has to be some corruption somewhere and somehow. This is exactly what he's talking about in Zephaniah chapter 3. John Gill, who is the great Baptist expositor, he summarizes the phrase, therefore wrong judgment proceedeth with these words. And judgment doth never go forth, at least not right, to the justifying of the righteous acquitting the innocent and giving the cause on the right side, condemning the wicked and punishing offenders as their crime deserves. It never appears as it should do.

[John Weaver] It is either not done at all or done badly or perversely. The cause is given on the wrong side against a good man and for a wicked man. All these things the prophet saw with grief and complained of to the Lord. That's why Habakkuk is saying, Lord, I don't understand why you are not answering me. Now, here's the question that has to be asked in light of the situation in Habakkuk's day and in light of our situation as well. What shall we do? Or as Ezekiel asked the question, how then should we live? Well, let me try to give you three answers. I'm sure there could be plenty more, but I'm going to give you three.

[John Weaver] The first answer is this. We must trust in the Lord with all of our heart. We know that ultimately. Everything that he allows is going to be for our good and for his glory. We know the truth of Romans 8, verse 28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. Not everything may be good to us, but everything is good for us. And we also know this, that inevitably, when judgment does not come forth from the seat of government in the earth, inevitably, it's going to come forth from the seat of government in heaven. So the first answer is we still must trust in the Lord with all of our heart.

[John Weaver] That's what I tell you what, go back to Habakkuk, if you would, please. And look in chapter three and verse 17. Go back to Habakkuk chapter three and verse 17. Here's what he said. Look at this Habakkuk three, verse 17, although the fig tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines. The labor of the olive shall fail and the field shall yield no meat.

[John Weaver] The flock shall be cut off from the foals and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet. I will rejoice in the Lord. I will join the God of my salvation. He said it doesn't matter what happens. He said, I am still going to trust in the Lord with all of my heart. If everything else fails, I'm still going to trust in him. And that's all there is to it. So the first answer is we must continue to trust in the Lord. The second answer is this. We must continue to hold on to our ways, which are supposed to be the ways of righteousness. We're not going to change. We're not going to follow a multitude to do evil. It doesn't matter what everybody else is doing. Doesn't matter where everybody else is going. We're going to maintain the ways of the Lord.

[John Weaver] The Bible says in the book of Job chapter 17 in verse nine, the righteous shall hold on to his ways and he that has clean hands shall get stronger and stronger. The Bible also says in Proverbs 24 and verse 16, for a just man fall down seven times and get it up again. But the wicked fall within the mischief. A just man may fall, but he gets up and he keeps on going and he keeps on doing that, which is right.

[John Weaver] So the first answer is we must trust in the Lord. The second answer is. We must continue to do that, which is right. And the third answer is like David, we must learn to love the law of God. David said in Psalm 119, verse 113, I hate vain thoughts. For thy law do I love. You know what a vain thought is? I can give you two illustrations.

[John Weaver] Have you ever been praying? And all of a sudden, some stupid, ridiculous, fleshly thought just comes in your mind. Where did that come from? You weren't even thinking anything like that. You were praying. That's a vain thought. It just happens in your mind. Here's another vain thought. When someone thinks that they can sin and escape God's judgment. It's ridiculous. It's not going to happen. He who sins will suffer. It's a vain thought that somehow to think you can live your life in rebellion to God and trample his word under your feet and despise the Lord Jesus Christ and somehow think. That you're going to escape his judgment. That's a vain thought. David said, I hate vain thoughts, but by law, do I love then in Psalm 119 verse 163, he said, I, uh, I hate, I abhor lying, but by law, do I love? So loving God's law means that we read it. We meditate upon it. We study it. We apply it in our lives, in the lives of our family, our friends, and even our society.

[John Weaver] And we're in the mess that we're in now because the love of God and his law has grown cold in our hearts. It's become chilled and frozen.

[John Weaver] Now I want you to turn to one last passage. I want you to turn to second Chronicles chapter 15, second Chronicles chapter 15. I want you to see this passage in light of everything that I have just said. Second Chronicles chapter 15, and let's begin reading there with verse three. Second Chronicles 15 verse three.

[John Weaver] Now for a long season, Israel has been without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law. Isn't that interesting? How was Israel without the true God? Because they did not have God's law, and they did not have anyone to teach God's law. Verse four, but when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord, God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. Now watch verse five, but in those times, which times, that refers back to verse three, When they were without the true God, without a teaching priest, without law, verse five. But in those times, there was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in.

[John Weaver] But great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries and nation was destroyed of nation and city of city for God did vex them with all adversity. Why? Because of their rebellion against him and his law. Isn't that amazing? Do you realize when the law of God is chilled, slacked, or frozen, society disintegrates? Listen very carefully what I'm about to say. It is impossible to live without law. You cannot, you cannot exist personally without law. You cannot exist as a family without law. You certainly cannot exist as a society without law or a nation without law. So it's not a question as to whether or not you will have a law. You will have a law. The question is whose law will you have? Would you have God's law or would you have man's law?

[John Weaver] Robert Winthrop was a former speaker of the US House of Representatives. And here's what he said. Of course, he was in the 19th century. Here's what he said, men in a word. must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or a power without them, either by the word of God or by the strong arm of man, either by the Bible or the bayonet. What did he say? If you will not govern yourself according to the law of God, The strong arm of man and the bayonet is going to come by and make you. So the question is, whose law will you have? Will it be man's law or will it be God's law? Will you govern yourself?

[John Weaver] Or will you be forcefully governed by another? We're in the mess that we're in in this country. Because the law of God has been frozen in the hearts of the people, we have become numb to wickedness, to sin, to unrighteousness, to ungodliness. And most people have no idea any longer of what is right and what is wrong. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee this day.

[John Weaver] We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. And we ask, Lord, that you would indeed teach us, build us up in the most holy faith, give us a warm and loving and glowing heart for thy law and for thee, Lord. And may we walk pleasing in thy sight. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen. you you you

Chilled Or Frozen

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	JI3Lhw51fkk
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Justification, Faith, and Imputed Righteousness: Sola Fide And Justification
Genre	Sermon
Date	2020-03-07
Dictation Name
Book	Book 131: Romans: Justification, Faith, and Imputed Righteousness — Chapter 18
Source Timed Segments	78

Formatted Transcript

Opening

Habakkuk chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. Started the book of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. And you can go back to Habakkuk chapter 1. The title of the message today is "Chilled or Frozen." I think you will understand why a little bit later in the message. Look, if you would, at Habakkuk chapter 1, beginning there with verse 1: "The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see."

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 1:1-4

"O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! Even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth."

Introduction: Chilled vs. Frozen

Weaver contrasts being chilled (movable, warmable) with being frozen (immovable, requiring thawing) and relates this to spiritual and societal numbness.

Each one knows the difference between that which is chilled and that which is frozen. If something is chilled, then it is movable. If something is frozen, then it is immovable. If it is chilled, it may be warmed up. If it is frozen, it must be thawed. I've heard people say, "Well, I was nearly frozen to death." But that is usually not true. They were chilled or they were cold, but they were certainly not frozen to death.

The Burden of Habakkuk

Habakkuk's burden is the heavy weight of seeing violence, corruption, and injustice, and feeling that God is not answering his cries.

Now, our times, I believe, are parallel to the times of Habakkuk. Habakkuk in verse 1 speaks of a burden. Look at it: "The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see." Now, a burden is that which is heavy. It is something that is weighty. It is something that presses down upon one. It's difficult to carry, and it oftentimes creates frustration, consternation, and discouragement. And usually when someone has such a burden, they want it to be lifted or taken away. So now you're going to have to ask, since Habakkuk is talking about a burden, what was the burden that was pressing him down? Well, if you look in verses 2 and 3, he tells you.

He says, "O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save. Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention." So Habakkuk then was praying, crying, and beseeching and begging God for relief from the violence and the corruption and the injustice and the wickedness. Seemingly his prayers were unanswered. God almost shut heaven up, it seems, and Habakkuk is complaining, "Lord, I don't understand this."

Now, the interesting thing when you look in verse 2, he asked, "How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto thee of violence." Now the word for violence in the Hebrew is the word "chamas." And it literally is translated in our Bibles as violence, cruelty, wrong, injustice, unrighteous. And it refers to that which is false and wicked and ungodly.

Violence and Government Corruption

The Hebrew word 'chamas' (violence) includes injustice by those in power. Weaver cites Matthew Henry on the powerful taking what they want without right.

Now the prophet then is complaining also in this passage of what you and I would call violence done by the abuse of the sword of justice. Let me paraphrase that again where you will understand it. He's referring also to violence done to the people by their own government. He's referring to that violence and that corruption done by people in power. Let me give you just a quick quote from Matthew Henry. I'm going to give you just one sentence. I'm going to pause and explain, and then I'm going to give you the rest of the quote. Matthew Henry in commenting on this passage says this: "That no man could call what he had his own, but in defiance of the most sacred laws of property and equity, he that had power on his side and had a mind to would take what he wanted, though he had no right on his side." Now, let me just stop. So here he's talking about people who are in power, who have the power to take, but not the right to take.

I just read this week of one company, a trucking company, that sent one of their employees by plane to another state in order to purchase trucks for their company. The man was carrying about $200,000 cash. The Department of Homeland Security and the TSA confiscated the money. They stole it. And they left him $10,000. They said it was, no one could have that much money unless they were involved in drug deals. And interestingly enough, the company that sent him had the evidence where they withdrew that money from their own account and had a purchase order for the trucks. However, the government still refuses to give them the money back. So therefore, a lengthy court case and a very costly court case will probably develop, which means the company will probably lose that money because it would end up costing more to sue for it and to get it back. And so they'll probably end up just simply losing it. And it may destroy the company as well. Who knows? But I'm just saying, this is what Matthew Henry is saying is happening here.

Those who have the power to take, do so even though they do not have the right to take. He goes on to say this: "The land was full of violence as the old world was. The prophet cries out of violence, iniquity and grievance, spoil and violence in families, and among relations and neighborhoods and among friends and commerce and in courts of the law, everything was carried out with a high hand." "And no man made any scruple of conscience of doing wrong to his neighbor." In other words, it didn't bother him to steal. It didn't bother him to defraud. It didn't bother him to extort. He says, "so that he could make a good hand of it for himself." In other words, that's all he was concerned about. "It does not appear that the prophet himself had any great wrong done to him." Then he adds, "in losing times, it fares best for those who have nothing to lose, but it grieved him to see other people wrong. And he could not but mingle his tears with those that were oppressed." Then he says this: "Note, doing wrong to harmless people, as it is iniquity in itself, so it was a great grievance to all those that are concerned for God's Jerusalem or God's people who saw and who sigh and cry for the abominations of this kind."

The Complaint of the Righteous

Like Job, Habakkuk questions why God allows the wicked to devour the righteous, knowing God cannot approve of evil.

It's much like Job in Job 19:7. Job said,

Scripture Reading — Job 19:7

"Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment."

Job was saying, "God, why don't you do something? I don't understand why I'm suffering this because I've done no wrong." Well, this is exactly what Habakkuk is saying. I don't understand this because this is wicked, this is wrong, and you know it's wrong, and I know it's wrong. So what is exceedingly egregious in such a situation is that the wicked man has the power, and the righteous knows that everything that is happening is contrary to the law of God. Moreover, he knows that God cannot and does not approve of it in any way. Now, if you look in verse 13, here's what Habakkuk says of God. Watch carefully. He says, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." Now watch the question: "Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?"

Now, let me explain verse 13. For he says of God, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." Now, we do know that God does behold evil and God does look upon iniquity, but he beholds it and looks upon it to condemn it and to judge it. So what does Habakkuk mean? Here's what he means: "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil approvingly, and canst not look upon iniquity condoningly." In other words, God only is holy. And so God cannot condone it. God cannot approve it. And therefore he asked this question, "How in the world can you sit quietly when the wicked is devouring a man more righteous than himself?" Now, it's much like the truth that is found in Psalm 7:9. I quote this passage almost daily, and I pray this in my prayers. Because in Psalm 7:9, the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 7:9

"Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins."

So it's a lawful biblical request to ask that the wickedness of the wicked come to an end. I don't know about you, but I would like to see the wickedness of the wicked come to an end in Washington, D.C.

Modern Parallels and Public Wickedness

Weaver draws parallels between ancient Judah and modern America, citing open corruption, intimidation, and defiance of law.

Now, just as in Judah, Jerusalem, and Israel of old, there were divisions and strifes and factions, just like it is today in America, just like there were separations in the old Jerusalem, in the old Judah, in the old Israel, so today there are also these same destructions that we're witnessing in our nations. Now we see in here the wickedness, we see in here the violence, and all of this is done in defiance of law and justice. Now usually when someone stands up and exposes all of the corruption and the wickedness and the violence, he usually is rewarded by being arrested and imprisoned himself while the wicked go free and the corrupt ones remain unjudged. And the truth of the matter is those who are in power and those who are corrupt despise those who would expose them and rebuke them and reprove them.

Let me show you a verse. I want you to hold the book of Habakkuk, but I want you to turn back to Isaiah, Isaiah, the major prophet, Isaiah, Jeremiah. Look, if you would, in Isaiah chapter 29 and verse 21, Isaiah 29:21. Here's a very interesting verse, Isaiah 29:21.

It says, talking about the corruption now, "That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought." Now let's go back to verse 21: "That make a man an offender for a word." Do you realize there are laws in this country that will make you an offender if you call someone by the wrong gender? It's just like the man in England that I told you about several months back who was fired from his position. He was a doctor. He was fired from his position because he refused to call a six-foot bearded man "ma'am." Well, that's what he's talking about: "That make a man an offender for a word." Well, what's the next part of this verse? "And lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate." What's it mean by reproving in the gate?

Where did the king sit? Where did those in power sit? In the gate. In other words, it was an open government, so to speak. And so when someone came along then to rebuke or reprove those who were sitting in the gate, those who were in power, they laid a snare for him. They didn't like it. They despised that. And then he says in the latter part of verse 21, "and turn aside the just for a thing of nought." In other words, they would take a bribe to turn aside the innocent and the righteous and the just.

So obviously, clearly, you have the problems today that we had then. The major problem is that wickedness today is not only plain, it is also public. And there's absolutely nothing being done about it. And it does not matter if it is the Black Panthers intimidating voters at a voting station, even being armed there, or Antifa riding and blocking streets and attacking those who oppose them, or the corruption that is in Congress of all of those who've taken an oath to uphold the Constitution, who violate it on every hand. So the corruption is not only plain, it's public. And although sometimes it is exposed, it seems that absolutely nothing is ever done about it.

Now, let me show you. I want you to turn from Isaiah to Jeremiah just over to the next book and look in Jeremiah chapter 9, because Jeremiah is complaining about the same exact thing that Habakkuk is complaining about. And of course, Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. So look at Jeremiah chapter 9, beginning there with verse 1, and let's read through verse 6. Watch carefully. Jeremiah 9:1. Jeremiah says, "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!"

The Cause: The Law is Slacked

The root problem is that God's law (Torah) has become 'slacked'—numbed, frozen, or paralyzed—losing its restraining power.

Well, the answer is in verse 4. Look what he says: "Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth." Now, first of all, let me explain in verse 4. He says, "Therefore the law is slacked." The Hebrew word for law is the word "Torah." The word Torah usually refers to the first five books of the Bible, which are the books of the law. But the word Torah actually means authoritative direction or authoritative instruction. In other words, the Torah, the law of God, is God giving us authoritative instruction and authoritative direction as to how we live and walk and to please him. Many times you hear people talk about, "Well, that's the law of Moses." No, it's the law of God as given through Moses. Moses was merely the mediator, but it is indeed the law of God. Now, here's a verse that many of you probably can quote, but think about this. Micah 6:8, the Bible says, "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good."

"And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" So here's my question: Where do you learn to do justly? Where do you learn to walk humbly with your God? How has he showed you that which is good? And the answer is from his law. May I remind you that in Romans 7:12, the apostle Paul said, "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." And the gospel of grace, the gospel of justification by faith alone, has not nullified the law. That's why in Romans 3:31, the apostle Paul asks, "Do we then make void the law through faith?" Then he says, "God forbid: yea, we establish the law." You see, the law of God not only instructs us as to how we are to live and walk and please him, it tells us that which is right and wrong, that which is holy and unholy. The law also restrains. So there is the restraining aspect of the law.

How does the law restrain? By the penalties that God demands for violating the law. Let me give you a good, clear illustration. The Bible says the murderer shall be put to death. You remember in Genesis chapter 9, God said, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." And when you get to the book of Numbers chapter 35 and verse 31, God says, "Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death." So God says, no, when a man murders, he is to be executed.

Consequences of a Frozen Law

Three consequences follow: judgment never goes forth, the wicked encompass the righteous, and wrong judgment proceeds.

Look what he says in verse 4: "Therefore the law is slacked." Here's the first one: "and judgment doth never go forth." Here's the second one: "for the wicked doth compass about the righteous." And here's the third one: "therefore wrong judgment proceedeth." Now, the first consequence is that judgment doth never go forth. That is, it's never pronounced. It's never issued, it's never pointed out, it's never performed. So justice then is arrested, distorted, and essentially denied. That which is moral, godly, and righteous falls in the street. Depravity, oppression, and tyranny hold sway. Now, I want you to hold Habakkuk and turn back in your Bibles to Isaiah 59. The first major prophet, Isaiah. Look in Isaiah 59, and I want to read beginning there with verse 13. Look in Isaiah 59:13, we're talking about the first consequence of judgment never going forth. So in Isaiah 59:13, the Bible says this: "In transgressing and lying against the Lord."

And that's what people do when they deny his law. "In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God." Now watch carefully. "Speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment." What did he say? He said, "We've departed from the Lord, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Judgment is turned away backward. Justice standeth afar off. Truth has fallen in the street. Equity, that which is right, cannot enter. Truth faileth, and anybody who departs from the corrupt scene makes himself a prey." Now, he gives you then this first consequence of the law being slackened, that is judgment, true judgment, true justice does not really go forth.

Secondly, the second consequence is that the wicked encompasses the righteous. Of course, the Bible teaches very clearly that when wicked men rise, the righteous hide themselves. Why? Because the wicked are in power and they hate and despise the righteous. As a crown encircles the head, so the wicked then will encircle the righteous. The wicked hem in and seek to overthrow the righteous. They surround and besiege the righteous.

It's just like walking on the street and you walk up into a gang of thugs. What do they do? They surround you. They fix it where you can't escape. There's an interesting verse referring to our Lord in Psalm 22:16, referring to his crucifixion. Listen to this: "For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet." What did he say? "The dogs have compassed me about."

And you have to remember in the New Testament, it was the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Herodians who were always after him, tempting him, seeking to ensnare him. And likewise, it was the Judaizers after the Apostle Paul. And even today, the wicked still plan and scheme to destroy the righteous. When some of these plans and schemes are exposed, and I've read some of them, and I think, "Who in the world could ever dream up such a wicked, vile scheme?" And yet, that's what they do. That's their lives. The Bible says in Psalm 31:18, listen carefully:

Scripture Reading — Psalm 31:18

"Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous."

Lying lips that are speaking against the righteous. Psalm 94:21: "They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood." And then in Proverbs 24:15: "Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous."

"Spoil not his resting place." So they lay in wait. And God says, "You better not do that." So the second consequence of the law being numbed or paralyzed or slackened is the fact that the wicked encompass the righteous. The third one is this, look in verse 4. He said, "Therefore wrong judgment proceedeth." When the law is chilled, when the law is frozen or slackened, not only does justice and judgment never go forth, not only are the righteous encompassed with the wicked, wrong or wicked judgment always proceeds. It is not truth that proceeds, but error. It is not that which is right, but that which is wrong. It is not that which is moral, but that which is legal. Old John Trapp said it correctly. He said this: "A judge is to retain the decency and gravity of the law, to do nothing of partiality or popularity, to proceed not according to opinion or appearance, but as a just law is a heart without affection, an eye without lust, a mind without passion, so should he be. Else wrong and wrested judgment will soon proceed to the prejudice of the righteous." Now listen, wrong judgment, perverted judgment, where innocence is condemned and the guilty are acquitted.

The Believer's Response

Weaver gives three answers: trust in the Lord, hold to righteous ways, and love God's law, citing Habakkuk 3:17-18 and Psalm 119.

The first answer is this: We must trust in the Lord with all of our heart. We know that ultimately, everything that he allows is going to be for our good and for his glory. We know the truth of Romans 8:28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Not everything may be good to us, but everything is good for us. And we also know this, that inevitably, when judgment does not come forth from the seat of government in the earth, inevitably, it's going to come forth from the seat of government in heaven. So the first answer is we still must trust in the Lord with all of our heart.

That's what I tell you what, go back to Habakkuk, if you would, please. And look in chapter 3 and verse 17. Go back to Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 17. Here's what he said. Look at this Habakkuk 3:17: "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat." "The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." He said it doesn't matter what happens. He said, "I am still going to trust in the Lord with all of my heart. If everything else fails, I'm still going to trust in him." And that's all there is to it. So the first answer is we must continue to trust in the Lord. The second answer is this: We must continue to hold on to our ways, which are supposed to be the ways of righteousness. We're not going to change. We're not going to follow a multitude to do evil. It doesn't matter what everybody else is doing. Doesn't matter where everybody else is going. We're going to maintain the ways of the Lord.

The Bible says in the book of Job 17:9, "The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger." The Bible also says in Proverbs 24:16, "For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief." A just man may fall, but he gets up and he keeps on going and he keeps on doing that which is right. So the first answer is we must trust in the Lord. The second answer is we must continue to do that which is right. And the third answer is like David, we must learn to love the law of God. David said in Psalm 119:113, "I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love." You know what a vain thought is? I can give you two illustrations.

Have you ever been praying? And all of a sudden, some stupid, ridiculous, fleshly thought just comes in your mind. Where did that come from? You weren't even thinking anything like that. You were praying. That's a vain thought. It just happens in your mind. Here's another vain thought. When someone thinks that they can sin and escape God's judgment. It's ridiculous. It's not going to happen. He who sins will suffer. It's a vain thought that somehow to think you can live your life in rebellion to God and trample his word under your feet and despise the Lord Jesus Christ and somehow think that you're going to escape his judgment. That's a vain thought. David said, "I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love." Then in Psalm 119:163, he said, "I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love." So loving God's law means that we read it. We meditate upon it. We study it. We apply it in our lives, in the lives of our family, our friends, and even our society.

Conclusion: Whose Law Will Govern?

Using 2 Chronicles 15 and a quote from Robert Winthrop, Weaver warns that without God's law, society will be controlled by the 'strong arm of man' or the 'bayonet.'

"Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law." Isn't that interesting? How was Israel without the true God? Because they did not have God's law, and they did not have anyone to teach God's law. Verse 4: "But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them." Now watch verse 5: "And in those times," which times? That refers back to verse 3, when they were without the true God, without a teaching priest, without law. Verse 5: "And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in." "But great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity." Why? Because of their rebellion against him and his law. Isn't that amazing? Do you realize when the law of God is chilled, slacked, or frozen, society disintegrates? Listen very carefully what I'm about to say. It is impossible to live without law. You cannot, you cannot exist personally without law. You cannot exist as a family without law. You certainly cannot exist as a society without law or a nation without law. So it's not a question as to whether or not you will have a law. You will have a law. The question is whose law will you have? Would you have God's law or would you have man's law?

Robert Winthrop was a former speaker of the US House of Representatives. And here's what he said. Of course, he was in the 19th century. Here's what he said: "Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or a power without them, either by the word of God or by the strong arm of man, either by the Bible or the bayonet." What did he say? If you will not govern yourself according to the law of God, the strong arm of man and the bayonet is going to come by and make you. So the question is, whose law will you have? Will it be man's law or will it be God's law? Will you govern yourself?

Study Guide

Major Themes

Spiritual Numbness and Apathy

Summary: When love for God's law grows cold, individuals and societies become numb to sin and unable to discern right from wrong.

Evidence: Weaver explains that 'the law is slacked' means it is numbed or frozen, and cites Matthew 24:12: 'because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.'

The Failure of Justice

Summary: When God's law is ignored, true justice is replaced by legal technicalities that may be immoral, leading to oppression of the righteous.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Judge Robert Shapiro: 'There is a moral justice and there is a legal justice. The courts always consider the legal justice.'

The Sovereignty of God in Judgment

Summary: Despite apparent divine silence, God will ultimately bring judgment; believers must trust His timing and purposes.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'inevitably, when judgment does not come forth from the seat of government in the earth, inevitably, it's going to come forth from the seat of government in heaven.'

The Necessity of God's Law

Summary: Society cannot exist without law; the only question is whether it will be governed by God's law or man's oppressive rule.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Robert Winthrop: 'Men... must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or a power without them, either by the word of God or by the strong arm of man, either by the Bible or the bayonet.'

Key Arguments

The law of God is the foundation of justice and righteousness.

Summary: Without God's law as the standard, human courts produce 'wrong judgment' that condemns the innocent and acquits the guilty.

Evidence: Weaver explains from Habakkuk 1:4 that when the law is slacked, 'wrong judgment proceedeth,' and cites Psalm 82 where judges 'know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness.'

Societal decay mirrors the physical process of freezing to death.

Summary: Just as a freezing person becomes lethargic, irrational, and numb, a nation that rejects God's law becomes apathetic and morally confused.

Evidence: Weaver describes hypothermia symptoms like paradoxical undressing and hallucinations, then states, 'our text in Habakkuk chapter 1 tells us that societies and nations die exactly the same way.'

The wicked will always seek to destroy the righteous when law is absent.

Summary: The second consequence of a slacked law is that 'the wicked doth compass about the righteous,' hemming them in and seeking their overthrow.

Evidence: Weaver cites Psalm 22:16 ('dogs have compassed me') and Proverbs 24:15 ('Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous').

Believers must respond by trusting God, persevering in righteousness, and loving His law.

Summary: In the face of national decay, the faithful are called to trust God's sovereignty, continue in holy living, and cultivate a love for Scripture.

Evidence: Weaver points to Habakkuk 3:17-18 ('Yet I will rejoice in the Lord'), Job 17:9 ('The righteous also shall hold on his way'), and Psalm 119:113 ('thy law do I love').

Scripture References

Habakkuk 1:1-4

Context: The primary text: Habakkuk's burden over violence and injustice, and the complaint that the law is slacked.

Habakkuk 1:13

Context: Habakkuk's acknowledgment that God is too pure to approve of evil, yet He seems to look on while the wicked devour the righteous.

Job 19:7

Context: Job's similar cry of being unheard despite crying out against wrong.

Psalm 7:9

Context: A prayer for the wickedness of the wicked to end and the just to be established.

Isaiah 29:21

Context: Those who make a man an offender for a word and lay a snare for the one who reproves in the gate.

Jeremiah 9:1-6

Context: Jeremiah's lament over a deceitful and treacherous people, similar to Habakkuk's complaint.

Micah 6:8

Context: God has shown man what is good: to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God—learned from His law.

Romans 7:12

Context: The law is holy, just, and good.

Romans 3:31

Context: Faith does not void the law; it establishes it.

Genesis 9:6

Context: The divine mandate for capital punishment: 'Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.'

Numbers 35:31

Context: No ransom for the life of a murderer; he must be put to death.

Ecclesiastes 8:11

Context: Because sentence against evil is not executed speedily, hearts are set to do evil.

Matthew 24:12

Context: Because iniquity abounds, the love of many will grow cold (Greek 'psucho').

Psalm 82:1-5

Context: God judges among the judges; they are to defend the poor and needy but instead walk in darkness.

Deuteronomy 25:1

Context: Judges are to justify the righteous and condemn the wicked.

2 Chronicles 19:4-7

Context: Jehoshaphat appoints judges and charges them to judge for the Lord, not for man.

Isaiah 59:13-15

Context: Judgment is turned backward, justice stands afar off, truth is fallen in the street.

Psalm 22:16

Context: Dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.

Psalm 31:18

Context: Let lying lips be silenced which speak grievous things proudly against the righteous.

Psalm 94:21

Context: They gather together against the soul of the righteous and condemn innocent blood.

Historical References

Matthew Henry (Puritan commentator)

Context: Weaver quotes Matthew Henry's commentary on Habakkuk 1, describing how the powerful took what they wanted without right, and the land was full of violence.

John Trapp (Puritan commentator)

Context: Weaver quotes Trapp's metaphor of the law as the pulse of the commonwealth, and his description of a judge's proper character.

John Gill (Baptist expositor)

Context: Weaver quotes Gill's summary of 'wrong judgment proceedeth'—judgment is either not done or done perversely.

Robert Winthrop (19th-century Speaker of the US House)

Context: Weaver quotes Winthrop: 'Men... must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or a power without them, either by the word of God or by the strong arm of man, either by the Bible or the bayonet.'

Judge Robert Shapiro (modern TV interview)

Context: Weaver recounts Ravi Zacharias quoting Judge Shapiro: 'There is a moral justice and there is a legal justice. The courts always consider the legal justice.'

Department of Homeland Security/TSA confiscation incident

Context: Weaver tells a contemporary story of a trucking company whose employee had $200,000 cash confiscated by TSA under suspicion of drug involvement, despite proof of legitimate withdrawal.

Last hanging in a county (personal anecdote from a congregant)

Context: An older man told Weaver he witnessed the last hanging in his county, where the man was condemned one week and hanged the next, illustrating swift justice.

Important Quotes

Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

Significance: This is the key verse of the sermon, outlining the three consequences of a numbed law.

The law, that is God's law, is the pulse of the commonwealth. If it stir not at all, the commonwealth is dead. If it have but slow motion, the commonwealth is weak. But if it keep an equal course, the commonwealth is in good constitution.

Significance: John Trapp's vivid metaphor summarizing the vital role of God's law in society.

There is a moral justice and there is a legal justice. The courts always consider the legal justice.

Significance: Judge Shapiro's quote illustrating the modern divorce of law from morality.

Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or a power without them, either by the word of God or by the strong arm of man, either by the Bible or the bayonet.

Significance: Robert Winthrop's warning that rejection of God's law leads to tyranny.

I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.

Significance: David's expression of love for God's law, presented as the antidote to a frozen heart.

Discussion Questions

In what ways have you observed the 'chilling' or 'freezing' of love for God's law in our culture?

Context: Weaver describes the law becoming slacked or numbed, leading to societal decay.

How can Christians maintain a warm love for God's law when surrounded by a society that rejects it?

Context: The sermon concludes with the call to love God's law as David did.

What does it look like practically to 'trust in the Lord with all your heart' when justice seems absent?

Context: Weaver's first response to the crisis is to trust God, citing Habakkuk 3:17-18.

How should the church respond when the wicked 'compass about the righteous' in positions of power?

Context: The second consequence of a slacked law is the oppression of the righteous.

What is the difference between 'moral justice' and 'legal justice' as described in the sermon, and how should this affect our view of the court system?

Context: Weaver quotes Judge Shapiro's distinction and explains that legal justice can be immoral.

Applications

Trust God despite circumstances

Summary: Believers must continue to trust in the Lord with all their heart, knowing that He works all things for good and will ultimately bring justice.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'We must trust in the Lord with all of our heart... inevitably, when judgment does not come forth from the seat of government in the earth, inevitably, it's going to come forth from the seat of government in heaven.'

Persevere in righteousness

Summary: Regardless of societal trends, believers are to hold on to righteous ways and not follow the multitude to do evil.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'We must continue to hold on to our ways, which are supposed to be the ways of righteousness. We're not going to change.'

Cultivate love for God's law

Summary: To combat a frozen heart, believers should read, meditate on, study, and apply God's law in every area of life.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'loving God's law means that we read it. We meditate upon it. We study it. We apply it in our lives, in the lives of our family, our friends, and even our society.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T20:25:48Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T12:54:57Z

Clean Transcript

Chilled Or Frozen

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Habakkuk chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. Started the book of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. And you can go back to Habakkuk chapter 1. The title of the message today is "Chilled or Frozen." I think you will understand why a little bit later in the message. Look, if you would, at Habakkuk chapter 1, beginning there with verse 1: "The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see."
#1 | 0:13 to 0:47 | cleaned
"O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! Even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth."
#2 | 0:48 to 1:19 | cleaned
Each one knows the difference between that which is chilled and that which is frozen. If something is chilled, then it is movable. If something is frozen, then it is immovable. If it is chilled, it may be warmed up. If it is frozen, it must be thawed. I've heard people say, "Well, I was nearly frozen to death." But that is usually not true. They were chilled or they were cold, but they were certainly not frozen to death.
#3 | 1:21 to 1:56 | cleaned
Because in reality, once you begin to freeze, you are literally unable to move. Interestingly, when one becomes extremely cold, and prior to freezing, he becomes exceedingly lethargic and unable to move, and the brain slows down immensely. Consequently, people then do irrational things. For instance, people who are in the final stages of hypothermia engage in what is known as paradoxical undressing. Because their brain is not functioning correctly, and they're almost freezing to death, their brain is telling them that somehow they are hot. And so they begin to disrobe and throw their clothes off in order to cool off, when in reality they're freezing to death.
#4 | 1:56 to 2:52 | cleaned
Now, because your heart pumps less blood, your brain gets deprived of oxygen, and therefore you begin to have hallucinations. Improper functioning of the heart also results in a reduced blood flow to the organs, which then places the body in shock and sometimes causes absolute kidney and/or liver failure as well. And naturally your pulse slows down. And when that pulse begins to slow down, it's showing you that you are really near death as well.
#5 | 2:52 to 3:26 | cleaned
Interestingly, our text in Habakkuk chapter 1 tells us that societies and nations die exactly the same way as when one is freezing to death. Societally and nationally, we have become, as a nation, apathetic, lethargic, unmoved, uncaring, and uncompassionate. And the truth of the matter is we're in a state of shock, and we cannot think clearly, nor can we think rationally. In fact, bluntly stated, we've lost our collective mind.
#6 | 3:27 to 4:05 | cleaned
You just have to understand we are hallucinating. Our body begins to shut down when we're freezing. And likewise, our society and our nation begins to shut down. And we begin to think, "Well, everything is still OK. Everything is rosy. Everything's going to work out," when indeed we are dying. And we don't feel anything because our nerves are frozen. And the harder the cold, the more quickly we are numbed and the more quickly we lose our sense of direction, safety, and rationality.
#7 | 4:06 to 4:38 | cleaned
Now, our times, I believe, are parallel to the times of Habakkuk. Habakkuk in verse 1 speaks of a burden. Look at it: "The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see." Now, a burden is that which is heavy. It is something that is weighty. It is something that presses down upon one. It's difficult to carry, and it oftentimes creates frustration, consternation, and discouragement. And usually when someone has such a burden, they want it to be lifted or taken away. So now you're going to have to ask, since Habakkuk is talking about a burden, what was the burden that was pressing him down? Well, if you look in verses 2 and 3, he tells you.
#8 | 4:39 to 5:28 | cleaned
He says, "O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save. Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention." So Habakkuk then was praying, crying, and beseeching and begging God for relief from the violence and the corruption and the injustice and the wickedness.
#9 | 5:29 to 6:03 | cleaned
Seemingly his prayers were unanswered. God almost shut heaven up, it seems, and Habakkuk is complaining, "Lord, I don't understand this."
#10 | 6:04 to 6:15 | cleaned
Now, the interesting thing when you look in verse 2, he asked, "How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear? Even cry out unto thee of violence." Now the word for violence in the Hebrew is the word "chamas." And it literally is translated in our Bibles as violence, cruelty, wrong, injustice, unrighteous. And it refers to that which is false and wicked and ungodly.
#11 | 6:15 to 6:44 | cleaned
Now the prophet then is complaining also in this passage of what you and I would call violence done by the abuse of the sword of justice. Let me paraphrase that again where you will understand it. He's referring also to violence done to the people by their own government. He's referring to that violence and that corruption done by people in power. Let me give you just a quick quote from Matthew Henry. I'm going to give you just one sentence. I'm going to pause and explain, and then I'm going to give you the rest of the quote. Matthew Henry in commenting on this passage says this: "That no man could call what he had his own, but in defiance of the most sacred laws of property and equity, he that had power on his side and had a mind to would take what he wanted, though he had no right on his side." Now, let me just stop. So here he's talking about people who are in power, who have the power to take, but not the right to take.
#12 | 6:45 to 7:55 | cleaned
I just read this week of one company, a trucking company, that sent one of their employees by plane to another state in order to purchase trucks for their company. The man was carrying about $200,000 cash. The Department of Homeland Security and the TSA confiscated the money. They stole it. And they left him $10,000. They said it was, no one could have that much money unless they were involved in drug deals. And interestingly enough, the company that sent him had the evidence where they withdrew that money from their own account and had a purchase order for the trucks. However, the government still refuses to give them the money back. So therefore, a lengthy court case and a very costly court case will probably develop, which means the company will probably lose that money because it would end up costing more to sue for it and to get it back. And so they'll probably end up just simply losing it. And it may destroy the company as well. Who knows? But I'm just saying, this is what Matthew Henry is saying is happening here.
#13 | 7:56 to 9:16 | cleaned
Those who have the power to take, do so even though they do not have the right to take. He goes on to say this: "The land was full of violence as the old world was. The prophet cries out of violence, iniquity and grievance, spoil and violence in families, and among relations and neighborhoods and among friends and commerce and in courts of the law, everything was carried out with a high hand."
#14 | 9:16 to 9:43 | cleaned
"And no man made any scruple of conscience of doing wrong to his neighbor." In other words, it didn't bother him to steal. It didn't bother him to defraud. It didn't bother him to extort. He says, "so that he could make a good hand of it for himself." In other words, that's all he was concerned about. "It does not appear that the prophet himself had any great wrong done to him." Then he adds, "in losing times, it fares best for those who have nothing to lose, but it grieved him to see other people wrong. And he could not but mingle his tears with those that were oppressed." Then he says this: "Note, doing wrong to harmless people, as it is iniquity in itself, so it was a great grievance to all those that are concerned for God's Jerusalem or God's people who saw and who sigh and cry for the abominations of this kind."
#15 | 9:44 to 10:37 | cleaned
He complains that the wicked doth compass the righteous: one honest man, one honest cause shall have enemies besetting him on every side, and many wicked men in confederacy against it, run it down. Nay, one wicked man with so many various arts of mischief sets upon a righteous man that he perfectly besets him or basically destroys him. So Habakkuk then is actually crying to God because of all of the corruption, all the violence, all the wickedness that he sees.
#16 | 10:38 to 11:15 | cleaned
It's much like Job in Job 19:7. Job said, "Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment." Job was saying, "God, why don't you do something? I don't understand why I'm suffering this because I've done no wrong." Well, this is exactly what Habakkuk is saying. I don't understand this because this is wicked, this is wrong, and you know it's wrong, and I know it's wrong. So what is exceedingly egregious in such a situation is that the wicked man has the power, and the righteous knows that everything that is happening is contrary to the law of God. Moreover, he knows that God cannot and does not approve of it in any way. Now, if you look in verse 13, here's what Habakkuk says of God. Watch carefully. He says, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." Now watch the question: "Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?"
#17 | 11:15 to 12:28 | cleaned
Now, let me explain verse 13. For he says of God, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." Now, we do know that God does behold evil and God does look upon iniquity, but he beholds it and looks upon it to condemn it and to judge it. So what does Habakkuk mean? Here's what he means: "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil approvingly, and canst not look upon iniquity condoningly." In other words, God only is holy. And so God cannot condone it. God cannot approve it.
#18 | 12:30 to 13:10 | cleaned
And therefore he asked this question, "How in the world can you sit quietly when the wicked is devouring a man more righteous than himself?" Now, it's much like the truth that is found in Psalm 7:9. I quote this passage almost daily, and I pray this in my prayers. Because in Psalm 7:9, the Bible says, "Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins." So it's a lawful biblical request to ask that the wickedness of the wicked come to an end. I don't know about you, but I would like to see the wickedness of the wicked come to an end in Washington, D.C.
#19 | 13:11 to 13:58 | cleaned
and in our state governments and in our local governments as well. And that's what he said: "Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish thou the just." So it's heart-rending for a child of God to see evil and wickedness prevail and triumph. He knows the suffering that's ultimately going to bring.
#20 | 13:59 to 14:19 | cleaned
Now, just as in Judah, Jerusalem, and Israel of old, there were divisions and strifes and factions, just like it is today in America, just like there were separations in the old Jerusalem, in the old Judah, in the old Israel, so today there are also these same destructions that we're witnessing in our nations. Now we see in here the wickedness, we see in here the violence, and all of this is done in defiance of law and justice. Now usually when someone stands up and exposes all of the corruption and the wickedness and the violence, he usually is rewarded by being arrested and imprisoned himself while the wicked go free and the corrupt ones remain unjudged. And the truth of the matter is those who are in power and those who are corrupt despise those who would expose them and rebuke them and reprove them.
#21 | 14:20 to 15:36 | cleaned
Let me show you a verse. I want you to hold the book of Habakkuk, but I want you to turn back to Isaiah, Isaiah, the major prophet, Isaiah, Jeremiah. Look, if you would, in Isaiah chapter 29 and verse 21, Isaiah 29:21. Here's a very interesting verse, Isaiah 29:21.
#22 | 15:37 to 15:57 | cleaned
It says, talking about the corruption now, "That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought." Now let's go back to verse 21: "That make a man an offender for a word." Do you realize there are laws in this country that will make you an offender if you call someone by the wrong gender? It's just like the man in England that I told you about several months back who was fired from his position. He was a doctor. He was fired from his position because he refused to call a six-foot bearded man "ma'am." Well, that's what he's talking about: "That make a man an offender for a word." Well, what's the next part of this verse? "And lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate." What's it mean by reproving in the gate?
#23 | 16:07 to 17:08 | cleaned
Where did the king sit? Where did those in power sit? In the gate. In other words, it was an open government, so to speak. And so when someone came along then to rebuke or reprove those who were sitting in the gate, those who were in power, they laid a snare for him. They didn't like it. They despised that. And then he says in the latter part of verse 21, "and turn aside the just for a thing of nought." In other words, they would take a bribe to turn aside the innocent and the righteous and the just.
#24 | 17:09 to 17:40 | cleaned
So obviously, clearly, you have the problems today that we had then. The major problem is that wickedness today is not only plain, it is also public. And there's absolutely nothing being done about it. And it does not matter if it is the Black Panthers intimidating voters at a voting station, even being armed there, or Antifa riding and blocking streets and attacking those who oppose them, or the corruption that is in Congress of all of those who've taken an oath to uphold the Constitution, who violate it on every hand. So the corruption is not only plain, it's public. And although sometimes it is exposed, it seems that absolutely nothing is ever done about it.
#25 | 17:41 to 18:39 | cleaned
Now, let me show you. I want you to turn from Isaiah to Jeremiah just over to the next book and look in Jeremiah chapter 9, because Jeremiah is complaining about the same exact thing that Habakkuk is complaining about. And of course, Jeremiah witnessed the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. So look at Jeremiah chapter 9, beginning there with verse 1, and let's read through verse 6. Watch carefully. Jeremiah 9:1. Jeremiah says, "Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!"
#26 | 18:40 to 19:21 | cleaned
The words basically said, "I've cried until I can't cry anymore. And my prayer is that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears so that I could keep on weeping because my people are being killed. They're being slaughtered." And then he says this: "Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men; that I might leave my people, and go from them!" So now he says, "If I could just get away from all of this violence, all of this corruption, all of this filth, I would do it." Why did he want to get away?
#27 | 19:21 to 19:54 | cleaned
Here's why he said: "For they be all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord. Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders. And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity."
#28 | 19:55 to 20:35 | cleaned
"Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord." Wow. We've reached the stage in this country where lawlessness and wickedness and rebellion is not only insolent and impudent, it is now brazen and in your face. It is utter, complete contempt and defiance and daring you to do anything about it.
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Now, I want you to go back to Habakkuk chapter 1. Look again at verses 2 and 3. Watch this because here is what Habakkuk is complaining about. He says in verse 2, "O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! Even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!" Verse 3: "Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention." So Habakkuk is really complaining that God is not answering him, that there has been no redress of grievances, and that nothing has changed. So he asked this question: "Lord, why are you showing me such iniquity?"
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"Why have you cast my lot in such a time and in such a place? Why do I have to sojourn among these people? Why do I have to live among all of this trash? Lord, I'm crying out to you. I'm begging you. I'm beseeching you. But Lord, you're not answering. You're not saving me. You're not saving the people. Lord, I don't understand this. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity. So I don't understand it." So he's crying and asking the Lord for redress of grievance.
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Now, the question you have to ask is this: How did Judah and Jerusalem get in such a state? What brought them to the position that violence and corruption and wickedness were rampant and evident and had the high hand and the high position? Let me make it a little more personal. What has brought America to the place where we are today?
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Now, let me tell you something. There's at least two people in this room older than I am, but I know this: things have changed in this country since I was a boy. And they have not changed for the better. They have changed for the worse. So here's my question: What brought Judah and Jerusalem to this place where they were eventually destroyed? And what is bringing America to the place where we are being destroyed?
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Well, the answer is in verse 4. Look what he says: "Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth." Now, first of all, let me explain in verse 4. He says, "Therefore the law is slacked." The Hebrew word for law is the word "Torah." The word Torah usually refers to the first five books of the Bible, which are the books of the law. But the word Torah actually means authoritative direction or authoritative instruction. In other words, the Torah, the law of God, is God giving us authoritative instruction and authoritative direction as to how we live and walk and to please him. Many times you hear people talk about, "Well, that's the law of Moses." No, it's the law of God as given through Moses. Moses was merely the mediator, but it is indeed the law of God. Now, here's a verse that many of you probably can quote, but think about this. Micah 6:8, the Bible says, "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good."
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"And what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" So here's my question: Where do you learn to do justly? Where do you learn to walk humbly with your God? How has he showed you that which is good? And the answer is from his law. May I remind you that in Romans 7:12, the apostle Paul said, "Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." And the gospel of grace, the gospel of justification by faith alone, has not nullified the law. That's why in Romans 3:31, the apostle Paul asks, "Do we then make void the law through faith?" Then he says, "God forbid: yea, we establish the law." You see, the law of God not only instructs us as to how we are to live and walk and please him, it tells us that which is right and wrong, that which is holy and unholy. The law also restrains. So there is the restraining aspect of the law.
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How does the law restrain? By the penalties that God demands for violating the law. Let me give you a good, clear illustration. The Bible says the murderer shall be put to death. You remember in Genesis chapter 9, God said, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." And when you get to the book of Numbers chapter 35 and verse 31, God says, "Moreover ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, which is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death." So God says, no, when a man murders, he is to be executed.
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Now, if a man is contemplating murdering another man, and if he knew absolutely for certain that once he was caught, he himself would be executed, it would tend to make him think twice before he murdered someone. But you see, the problem is today, a murderer knows that he's not going to be executed. Usually he'll get a life sentence, which means he can probably be out in seven years. You know what the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 8:11? "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." Someone today that murders,
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if he is found guilty and if he is sentenced to death, he will spend years on death row and still may never be executed because there'll be an appeal after appeal after appeal. I remember years ago, I don't remember how long, probably 40 at least, maybe even longer. I was preaching in a little country church and I referred to this verse Ecclesiastes 8:11. And I said, "You know, in the old days when a man murdered or a man was guilty and was found guilty, usually within a week, two weeks or a month, he would be taken out and hanged." And after I got through preaching, one older man came up to me and he said, "Preacher, young man," he said, "I attended as a boy the last hanging in this county." And he said, "The man was condemned one week and he was hanged the next week."
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He said, "It made a mighty impression upon me." Sure, that's exactly what the scripture says. So the word Torah here refers to God's law. So he says in verse 4, "Therefore the law is slacked." We're talking about the divine law, God's law. Now look at the word "slacked." He says, "Therefore the law is slacked." The Hebrew word is the word "pug," which literally means to be slacked, to be made feeble, to be made faint, listen, to numb and to become benumbed. Since the word means to numb or to become benumbed, we could also say that the law is frozen or paralyzed. It has become numb. When we think of the word slack, we mean that no one is paying any attention to it.
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I used to ride horses all the time. And I would just drop the reins down over the saddle horn, wouldn't even hold them in my hand. And the reins were slack. That meant that horse had to go wherever she wanted to go, unless I picked the reins up and pulled her in. When we understand the word slack, we're saying that the law is now where no one pays any attention to it. It's lost its vigor. It's lost its restraining and correcting power because it is not being executed.
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Now, when you think of the word slacked here as being translated as numb or to become numbed or frozen or paralyzed, then you would have to think about Matthew 24:12, where our Lord said, "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." It shall wax cold. And the Greek word is the word "psucho," which literally means to grow cold or become cold. And it speaks then of a waning love. So it should be obvious today that our modern day politicians, our governments, our philosophers, our professors, our educators, and even many ecclesiastics have no love for the law of God. They don't even think about it.
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They have no desire for it. And the divine law is the source of all right. And when it becomes chilled, when it becomes frozen in the people's heart, then the people then become numb to that which is right and true. There cannot be any real justice. There cannot be any real judgment apart from God's law. And the sentence of human courts should be in conformity to the sentence of the divine court. The sense of justice and the sense of right and wrong are powerless when the love of God's law is frozen or paralyzed in our lives.
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Just this past week, I was listening to our Christian radio station and Ravi Zacharias was on. I was listening to what he said. And he gave a quote. And it stuck with me. He was watching a TV program where Judge Robert Shapiro was being interviewed. And the interviewer asked the judge about justice. And Judge Shapiro gave this answer: "There is a moral justice and there is a legal justice. The courts always consider the legal justice."
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Now, let me explain that. What he meant was very clear. Judicially speaking, legal justice is not necessarily moral. It has been cut loose from the law of God and there is absolutely nothing moral about it. It now revolves more around political correctness, politics, and legalese. It can be legal and yet at the same time be immoral because it has no reference now to God. Morality, ethics, and righteousness have now fallen before the idols of political correctness and legal declarations.
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Let me show it to you. Hold the book of Habakkuk and go in your Bibles to Psalm 82. Go back to Psalm 82 and let's begin reading there with verse 1 and read through verse 5. Psalm 82 is a psalm to the magistrates. It's a psalm to the judges. And he says this: "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods." Now, the word "gods" there does not refer to idols. It refers to the judges. In fact, in the book of John, our Lord interprets this because he said that he referred to the judges as gods.
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And this is what he's doing. All you have to do is look at the context. So he says, "God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the judges" because he's the judge of all the earth. Now look, if you would, how we know it's referring to the judges. Verse 2: "How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked?" Here's what judges are supposed to do.
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"Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked." But will judges do that? No. Look what he says. Verse 5: "They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course." So when you have no moral justice and all you have is legal justice, it basically turns the world upside down and throws everything out of course. That's exactly what he's talking about in the book of Habakkuk.
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Now judges are to rule for God and uphold his law. When you get to the book of Deuteronomy 25:1, the Bible says this: "If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked." Well, that's interesting. The judges shall justify the righteous and condemn the wicked. May I ask you a question? How does a judge know what is righteous? How does a judge know what is wicked?
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Who determines what is just and who determines what is unjust? Who determines what is righteous and who determines what is wicked? Obviously, according to the Bible, it is God that determines and declares and details that which is right and that which is wrong. So, let me show you. Hold Habakkuk, but go back in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles. Look in 2 Chronicles chapter 19. 2 Chronicles chapter 19.
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And let's begin reading there with verse 4. Because King Jehoshaphat has done that which he should do. He's brought the people back to God. So 2 Chronicles 19:4, the Bible says, "And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from Beer-sheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back unto the Lord God of their fathers." What else did he do? Verse 5: "And he set judges in the land throughout all the fenced cities of Judah, city by city," watch, "and said to the judges, Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts." What did he tell the judges? "You're not judging for man, but you're judging for the Lord." The law has slacked. The law has become chilled and frozen.
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Why? The answer is because our love for God and his law has been chilled and frozen. And we have in our country today a very faint pulse. Old John Trapp, the Puritan, said this on verse 4. Listen carefully. "Therefore the law is slacked. An elegant metaphor from the pulse, which in a dying man beats faintly. The law, that is God's law, is the pulse of the commonwealth. If it stir not at all, the commonwealth is dead. If it have but slow motion, the commonwealth is weak. But if it keep an equal course, the commonwealth is in good constitution. Lex lux, the law is a light, said Solomon. But the deluge of sin had well nigh put out this light in Israel, who was now grown in a manner lawless through long impunity." And that's exactly what has happened in our country. Our country has grown lawless through long impunity because the law of God is neglected. Now, if you will note in verse 4 again, if you go back to the book of Habakkuk chapter 1, if you'll note in verse 4, there are three consequences for a chilled, frozen, slackened, paralyzed law.
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Look what he says in verse 4: "Therefore the law is slacked." Here's the first one: "and judgment doth never go forth." Here's the second one: "for the wicked doth compass about the righteous." And here's the third one: "therefore wrong judgment proceedeth." Now, the first consequence is that judgment doth never go forth. That is, it's never pronounced. It's never issued, it's never pointed out, it's never performed. So justice then is arrested, distorted, and essentially denied. That which is moral, godly, and righteous falls in the street.
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Depravity, oppression, and tyranny hold sway. Now, I want you to hold Habakkuk and turn back in your Bibles to Isaiah 59. The first major prophet, Isaiah. Look in Isaiah 59, and I want to read beginning there with verse 13. Look in Isaiah 59:13, we're talking about the first consequence of judgment never going forth. So in Isaiah 59:13, the Bible says this: "In transgressing and lying against the Lord."
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And that's what people do when they deny his law. "In transgressing and lying against the Lord, and departing away from our God." Now watch carefully. "Speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment." What did he say? He said, "We've departed from the Lord, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. Judgment is turned away backward. Justice standeth afar off. Truth has fallen in the street. Equity, that which is right, cannot enter. Truth faileth, and anybody who departs from the corrupt scene makes himself a prey." Now, he gives you then this first consequence of the law being slackened, that is judgment, true judgment, true justice does not really go forth.
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Secondly, the second consequence is that the wicked encompasses the righteous. Of course, the Bible teaches very clearly that when wicked men rise, the righteous hide themselves. Why? Because the wicked are in power and they hate and despise the righteous. As a crown encircles the head, so the wicked then will encircle the righteous. The wicked hem in and seek to overthrow the righteous. They surround and besiege the righteous.
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It's just like walking on the street and you walk up into a gang of thugs. What do they do? They surround you. They fix it where you can't escape. There's an interesting verse referring to our Lord in Psalm 22:16, referring to his crucifixion. Listen to this: "For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet." What did he say? "The dogs have compassed me about."
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And you have to remember in the New Testament, it was the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Herodians who were always after him, tempting him, seeking to ensnare him. And likewise, it was the Judaizers after the Apostle Paul. And even today, the wicked still plan and scheme to destroy the righteous. When some of these plans and schemes are exposed, and I've read some of them, and I think, "Who in the world could ever dream up such a wicked, vile scheme?"
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And yet, that's what they do. That's their lives. The Bible says in Psalm 31:18, listen carefully: "Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous." Lying lips that are speaking against the righteous. Psalm 94:21: "They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood." And then in Proverbs 24:15: "Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous."
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"Spoil not his resting place." So they lay in wait. And God says, "You better not do that." So the second consequence of the law being numbed or paralyzed or slackened is the fact that the wicked encompass the righteous. The third one is this, look in verse 4. He said, "Therefore wrong judgment proceedeth." When the law is chilled, when the law is frozen or slackened, not only does justice and judgment never go forth, not only are the righteous encompassed with the wicked, wrong or wicked judgment always proceeds. It is not truth that proceeds, but error. It is not that which is right, but that which is wrong.
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It is not that which is moral, but that which is legal. Old John Trapp said it correctly. He said this: "A judge is to retain the decency and gravity of the law, to do nothing of partiality or popularity, to proceed not according to opinion or appearance, but as a just law is a heart without affection, an eye without lust, a mind without passion, so should he be. Else wrong and wrested judgment will soon proceed to the prejudice of the righteous." Now listen, wrong judgment, perverted judgment, where innocence is condemned and the guilty are acquitted.
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So the judges are swords in the bowels when they should be shields over the bodies of the righteous. What is he saying? When you have a corrupt judiciary, they end up slaying the righteous populace. If you would turn over from Habakkuk, just a couple of pages to the book of Zephaniah, chapter 3. I want you to look at the first five verses. And Zephaniah chapter 3. Look, if you would, this is exactly what Jeremiah was complaining about. Exactly what Habakkuk is complaining about. And now we have it in Zephaniah. Zephaniah chapter 3, beginning there with verse 1.
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He says, "Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!" So he's talking about Jerusalem. "She obeyed not the voice; she received not correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God." So what's the result? "Her princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow."
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"Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law. The just Lord is in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame." You look at the corrupt politicians. They're not shamed. I read something in the last week or so I thought was interesting. And it was a comparison of Trump with the other politicians. But I thought ever who brought it or thought it up had a good thought. It said, "It's amazing that people will complain about a billionaire who became a public servant," talking about Trump, "but they do not complain about public servants who become millionaires." How do you become a millionaire making $80,000 or $100,000 a year?
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You understand what I'm saying? So in order to become multi-millionaires, there has to be some corruption somewhere and somehow. This is exactly what he's talking about in Zephaniah chapter 3. John Gill, who is the great Baptist expositor, he summarizes the phrase "therefore wrong judgment proceedeth" with these words: "And judgment doth never go forth, at least not right, to the justifying of the righteous, acquitting the innocent and giving the cause on the right side, condemning the wicked and punishing offenders as their crime deserves. It never appears as it should do."
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"It is either not done at all or done badly or perversely. The cause is given on the wrong side against a good man and for a wicked man. All these things the prophet saw with grief and complained of to the Lord." That's why Habakkuk is saying, "Lord, I don't understand why you are not answering me." Now, here's the question that has to be asked in light of the situation in Habakkuk's day and in light of our situation as well. What shall we do? Or as Ezekiel asked the question, "How then should we live?" Well, let me try to give you three answers. I'm sure there could be plenty more, but I'm going to give you three.
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The first answer is this: We must trust in the Lord with all of our heart. We know that ultimately, everything that he allows is going to be for our good and for his glory. We know the truth of Romans 8:28. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Not everything may be good to us, but everything is good for us. And we also know this, that inevitably, when judgment does not come forth from the seat of government in the earth, inevitably, it's going to come forth from the seat of government in heaven. So the first answer is we still must trust in the Lord with all of our heart.
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That's what I tell you what, go back to Habakkuk, if you would, please. And look in chapter 3 and verse 17. Go back to Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 17. Here's what he said. Look at this Habakkuk 3:17: "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat."
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"The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." He said it doesn't matter what happens. He said, "I am still going to trust in the Lord with all of my heart. If everything else fails, I'm still going to trust in him." And that's all there is to it. So the first answer is we must continue to trust in the Lord. The second answer is this: We must continue to hold on to our ways, which are supposed to be the ways of righteousness. We're not going to change. We're not going to follow a multitude to do evil. It doesn't matter what everybody else is doing. Doesn't matter where everybody else is going. We're going to maintain the ways of the Lord.
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The Bible says in the book of Job 17:9, "The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger." The Bible also says in Proverbs 24:16, "For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief." A just man may fall, but he gets up and he keeps on going and he keeps on doing that which is right.
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So the first answer is we must trust in the Lord. The second answer is we must continue to do that which is right. And the third answer is like David, we must learn to love the law of God. David said in Psalm 119:113, "I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love." You know what a vain thought is? I can give you two illustrations.
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Have you ever been praying? And all of a sudden, some stupid, ridiculous, fleshly thought just comes in your mind. Where did that come from? You weren't even thinking anything like that. You were praying. That's a vain thought. It just happens in your mind. Here's another vain thought. When someone thinks that they can sin and escape God's judgment. It's ridiculous. It's not going to happen. He who sins will suffer. It's a vain thought that somehow to think you can live your life in rebellion to God and trample his word under your feet and despise the Lord Jesus Christ and somehow think that you're going to escape his judgment. That's a vain thought. David said, "I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love." Then in Psalm 119:163, he said, "I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love." So loving God's law means that we read it. We meditate upon it. We study it. We apply it in our lives, in the lives of our family, our friends, and even our society.
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And we're in the mess that we're in now because the love of God and his law has grown cold in our hearts. It's become chilled and frozen.
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Now I want you to turn to one last passage. I want you to turn to 2 Chronicles chapter 15, 2 Chronicles chapter 15. I want you to see this passage in light of everything that I have just said. 2 Chronicles chapter 15, and let's begin reading there with verse 3. 2 Chronicles 15:3.
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"Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law." Isn't that interesting? How was Israel without the true God? Because they did not have God's law, and they did not have anyone to teach God's law. Verse 4: "But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them." Now watch verse 5: "And in those times," which times? That refers back to verse 3, when they were without the true God, without a teaching priest, without law. Verse 5: "And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in."
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"But great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity." Why? Because of their rebellion against him and his law. Isn't that amazing? Do you realize when the law of God is chilled, slacked, or frozen, society disintegrates? Listen very carefully what I'm about to say. It is impossible to live without law. You cannot, you cannot exist personally without law. You cannot exist as a family without law. You certainly cannot exist as a society without law or a nation without law. So it's not a question as to whether or not you will have a law. You will have a law. The question is whose law will you have? Would you have God's law or would you have man's law?
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Robert Winthrop was a former speaker of the US House of Representatives. And here's what he said. Of course, he was in the 19th century. Here's what he said: "Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or a power without them, either by the word of God or by the strong arm of man, either by the Bible or the bayonet." What did he say? If you will not govern yourself according to the law of God, the strong arm of man and the bayonet is going to come by and make you. So the question is, whose law will you have? Will it be man's law or will it be God's law? Will you govern yourself?
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Or will you be forcefully governed by another? We're in the mess that we're in in this country because the law of God has been frozen in the hearts of the people. We have become numb to wickedness, to sin, to unrighteousness, to ungodliness. And most people have no idea any longer of what is right and what is wrong. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee this day.
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We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. And we ask, Lord, that you would indeed teach us, build us up in the most holy faith, give us a warm and loving and glowing heart for thy law and for thee, Lord. And may we walk pleasing in thy sight. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T20:25:48Z

Chilled Or Frozen

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

Pastor John Weaver uses the metaphor of being chilled versus frozen to describe the spiritual and moral state of a nation. Drawing from Habakkuk 1:1-4, he explains that when God's law is 'slacked' (numbed or frozen), justice fails, the wicked oppress the righteous, and wrong judgments prevail. He parallels Habakkuk's burden over Judah's corruption with modern America's decline, attributing it to a cold love for God's law. The sermon concludes with three responses: trust in the Lord, hold to righteousness, and love God's law.

Opening

Scripture Reading — Habakkuk 1:1-4

"O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! Even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth."

Introduction: Chilled vs. Frozen

Weaver contrasts being chilled (movable, warmable) with being frozen (immovable, requiring thawing) and relates this to spiritual and societal numbness.

The Burden of Habakkuk

Habakkuk's burden is the heavy weight of seeing violence, corruption, and injustice, and feeling that God is not answering his cries.

Violence and Government Corruption

The Hebrew word 'chamas' (violence) includes injustice by those in power. Weaver cites Matthew Henry on the powerful taking what they want without right.

The Complaint of the Righteous

Like Job, Habakkuk questions why God allows the wicked to devour the righteous, knowing God cannot approve of evil.

It's much like Job in Job 19:7. Job said,

Scripture Reading — Job 19:7

"Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment."

Scripture Reading — Psalm 7:9

"Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins."

Modern Parallels and Public Wickedness

Weaver draws parallels between ancient Judah and modern America, citing open corruption, intimidation, and defiance of law.

The Cause: The Law is Slacked

The root problem is that God's law (Torah) has become 'slacked'—numbed, frozen, or paralyzed—losing its restraining power.

Consequences of a Frozen Law

Three consequences follow: judgment never goes forth, the wicked encompass the righteous, and wrong judgment proceeds.

Scripture Reading — Psalm 31:18

"Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous."

The Believer's Response

Weaver gives three answers: trust in the Lord, hold to righteous ways, and love God's law, citing Habakkuk 3:17-18 and Psalm 119.

Conclusion: Whose Law Will Govern?

Using 2 Chronicles 15 and a quote from Robert Winthrop, Weaver warns that without God's law, society will be controlled by the 'strong arm of man' or the 'bayonet.'

Chilled Or Frozen

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	JI3Lhw51fkk
Subject	New Testament Studies
Course	Romans: Justification, Faith, and Imputed Righteousness: Sola Fide And Justification
Genre	Sermon
Date	2020-03-07
Dictation Name
Book	Book 131: Romans: Justification, Faith, and Imputed Righteousness — Chapter 18
Source Timed Segments	78

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: Chilled vs. Frozen: Weaver contrasts being chilled (movable, warmable) with being frozen (immovable, requiring thawing) and relates this to spiritual and societal numbness.
The Burden of Habakkuk: Habakkuk's burden is the heavy weight of seeing violence, corruption, and injustice, and feeling that God is not answering his cries.
Violence and Government Corruption: The Hebrew word 'chamas' (violence) includes injustice by those in power. Weaver cites Matthew Henry on the powerful taking what they want without right.
The Complaint of the Righteous: Like Job, Habakkuk questions why God allows the wicked to devour the righteous, knowing God cannot approve of evil.
Modern Parallels and Public Wickedness: Weaver draws parallels between ancient Judah and modern America, citing open corruption, intimidation, and defiance of law.
The Cause: The Law is Slacked: The root problem is that God's law (Torah) has become 'slacked'—numbed, frozen, or paralyzed—losing its restraining power.
Consequences of a Frozen Law: Three consequences follow: judgment never goes forth, the wicked encompass the righteous, and wrong judgment proceeds.
The Believer's Response: Weaver gives three answers: trust in the Lord, hold to righteous ways, and love God's law, citing Habakkuk 3:17-18 and Psalm 119.
Conclusion: Whose Law Will Govern?: Using 2 Chronicles 15 and a quote from Robert Winthrop, Weaver warns that without God's law, society will be controlled by the 'strong arm of man' or the 'bayonet.'

Major Themes

Key Arguments

The law of God is the foundation of justice and righteousness.

Without God's law as the standard, human courts produce 'wrong judgment' that condemns the innocent and acquits the guilty.

Weaver explains from Habakkuk 1:4 that when the law is slacked, 'wrong judgment proceedeth,' and cites Psalm 82 where judges 'know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness.'

Societal decay mirrors the physical process of freezing to death.

Just as a freezing person becomes lethargic, irrational, and numb, a nation that rejects God's law becomes apathetic and morally confused.

Weaver describes hypothermia symptoms like paradoxical undressing and hallucinations, then states, 'our text in Habakkuk chapter 1 tells us that societies and nations die exactly the same way.'

The wicked will always seek to destroy the righteous when law is absent.

The second consequence of a slacked law is that 'the wicked doth compass about the righteous,' hemming them in and seeking their overthrow.

Weaver cites Psalm 22:16 ('dogs have compassed me') and Proverbs 24:15 ('Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous').

Believers must respond by trusting God, persevering in righteousness, and loving His law.

In the face of national decay, the faithful are called to trust God's sovereignty, continue in holy living, and cultivate a love for Scripture.

Weaver points to Habakkuk 3:17-18 ('Yet I will rejoice in the Lord'), Job 17:9 ('The righteous also shall hold on his way'), and Psalm 119:113 ('thy law do I love').

Scripture References

Habakkuk 1:1-4: The primary text: Habakkuk's burden over violence and injustice, and the complaint that the law is slacked.
Habakkuk 1:13: Habakkuk's acknowledgment that God is too pure to approve of evil, yet He seems to look on while the wicked devour the righteous.
Job 19:7: Job's similar cry of being unheard despite crying out against wrong.
Psalm 7:9: A prayer for the wickedness of the wicked to end and the just to be established.
Isaiah 29:21: Those who make a man an offender for a word and lay a snare for the one who reproves in the gate.
Jeremiah 9:1-6: Jeremiah's lament over a deceitful and treacherous people, similar to Habakkuk's complaint.
Micah 6:8: God has shown man what is good: to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God—learned from His law.
Romans 7:12: The law is holy, just, and good.
Romans 3:31: Faith does not void the law; it establishes it.
Genesis 9:6: The divine mandate for capital punishment: 'Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed.'
Numbers 35:31: No ransom for the life of a murderer; he must be put to death.
Ecclesiastes 8:11: Because sentence against evil is not executed speedily, hearts are set to do evil.
Matthew 24:12: Because iniquity abounds, the love of many will grow cold (Greek 'psucho').
Psalm 82:1-5: God judges among the judges; they are to defend the poor and needy but instead walk in darkness.
Deuteronomy 25:1: Judges are to justify the righteous and condemn the wicked.
2 Chronicles 19:4-7: Jehoshaphat appoints judges and charges them to judge for the Lord, not for man.
Isaiah 59:13-15: Judgment is turned backward, justice stands afar off, truth is fallen in the street.
Psalm 22:16: Dogs have compassed me; the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me.
Psalm 31:18: Let lying lips be silenced which speak grievous things proudly against the righteous.
Psalm 94:21: They gather together against the soul of the righteous and condemn innocent blood.

Historical References

Matthew Henry (Puritan commentator): Weaver quotes Matthew Henry's commentary on Habakkuk 1, describing how the powerful took what they wanted without right, and the land was full of violence.
John Trapp (Puritan commentator): Weaver quotes Trapp's metaphor of the law as the pulse of the commonwealth, and his description of a judge's proper character.
John Gill (Baptist expositor): Weaver quotes Gill's summary of 'wrong judgment proceedeth'—judgment is either not done or done perversely.
Robert Winthrop (19th-century Speaker of the US House): Weaver quotes Winthrop: 'Men... must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or a power without them, either by the word of God or by the strong arm of man, either by the Bible or the bayonet.'
Judge Robert Shapiro (modern TV interview): Weaver recounts Ravi Zacharias quoting Judge Shapiro: 'There is a moral justice and there is a legal justice. The courts always consider the legal justice.'
Department of Homeland Security/TSA confiscation incident: Weaver tells a contemporary story of a trucking company whose employee had $200,000 cash confiscated by TSA under suspicion of drug involvement, despite proof of legitimate withdrawal.
Last hanging in a county (personal anecdote from a congregant): An older man told Weaver he witnessed the last hanging in his county, where the man was condemned one week and hanged the next, illustrating swift justice.

Important Quotes

Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

This is the key verse of the sermon, outlining the three consequences of a numbed law.

The law, that is God's law, is the pulse of the commonwealth. If it stir not at all, the commonwealth is dead. If it have but slow motion, the commonwealth is weak. But if it keep an equal course, the commonwealth is in good constitution.

John Trapp's vivid metaphor summarizing the vital role of God's law in society.

There is a moral justice and there is a legal justice. The courts always consider the legal justice.

Judge Shapiro's quote illustrating the modern divorce of law from morality.

Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or a power without them, either by the word of God or by the strong arm of man, either by the Bible or the bayonet.

Robert Winthrop's warning that rejection of God's law leads to tyranny.

I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.

David's expression of love for God's law, presented as the antidote to a frozen heart.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

In what ways have you observed the 'chilling' or 'freezing' of love for God's law in our culture?

[Context]

Weaver describes the law becoming slacked or numbed, leading to societal decay.

[Question]

How can Christians maintain a warm love for God's law when surrounded by a society that rejects it?

[Context]

The sermon concludes with the call to love God's law as David did.

[Question]

What does it look like practically to 'trust in the Lord with all your heart' when justice seems absent?

[Context]

Weaver's first response to the crisis is to trust God, citing Habakkuk 3:17-18.

[Question]

How should the church respond when the wicked 'compass about the righteous' in positions of power?

[Context]

The second consequence of a slacked law is the oppression of the righteous.

[Question]

What is the difference between 'moral justice' and 'legal justice' as described in the sermon, and how should this affect our view of the court system?

[Context]

Weaver quotes Judge Shapiro's distinction and explains that legal justice can be immoral.

Applications

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