Is There Hope?
The Book of Habakkuk • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him:
But the just shall live by his faith.
5 Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine,
He is a proud man, neither keepeth at home,
Who enlargeth his desire as hell,
And is as death, and cannot be satisfied,
But gathereth unto him all nations,
And heapeth unto him all people:
The Prophet Habakkuk wrestled with many questions, some of the same questions we do in our lives, some of his questions have been answered and others which have only created new questions.
Habakkuk has learned, as I pray we have also, several wonderful things.
He has learned that God is ultimately in control of the affairs of men. He has learned that God is holy, true and just; thus, sin must be, and will be judged. He has learned that the only way for him to live, in spite of all of his questions, is to live by faith.
That’s where we stopped last week in verse 4, and as we look into this passage today, we have to wonder, “Is There Hope?” - Well, we will see the answer to this question by the end of the message...
We’ve been asking questions concerning the justice of God, how long will God allow these people to prosper in their wickedness?
Well, as Andrew Telford writes concerning the passage before us, “The chickens have come home to roost.” They have had their pleasure in sin for a season, and now, they must pay the price.
Verse 5 describes the moral condition of the Chaldeans:
They are drunkards...
They are full of pride...
They are always away from home conquering something...
Their lust can never be satisfied...
They are not content unless they are capturing people of all nations and all people.
Wee see the contrast that the person who is declared just by faith is satisfied, but the proud man keeps grasping.
As God has promised:
The Lord will judge the wicked in due time...
The Lord will judge the wicked in due time...
Beginning in verse 6, God pronounces 5 “woes” upon the Chaldeans. These are “woes” of judgment that are quite prevalent today...
These woes that are pronounced upon the Chaldeans reveal the reasons for the coming judgment. Each one of these woes will declare the sin and the punishment.
First of all, we find...
The plunderer will be plundered
The plunderer will be plundered
6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him,
And a taunting proverb against him, and say,
Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long?
And to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!
7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee,
And awake that shall vex thee,
And thou shalt be for booties unto them?
The Chaldeans were about to reap what they had sown.
What they had done to other nations was about to be done to them.
The Babylonians would stop at nothing to acquire wealth and expand their kingdom, and they would allow nothing, or no one to stand in their way. They took over people, places and possessions that did not belong to them.
God warns them,
8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations,
All the remnant of the people shall spoil thee;
Because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land,
Of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
God is promising here that the victors would one day become the victims.
This happens in Daniel 5 when the Medes and the Persians invaded Babylon and overthrew Belshazzar. It might have taken a long while according to us, and according to Habakkuk, but what God said was true! Payday was coming!
Next we find...
The protected will become unprotected
The protected will become unprotected
9 Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house,
That he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!
10 Thou hast consulted shame to thy house
By cutting off many people,
And hast sinned against thy soul.
11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall,
And the beam out of the timber shall answer it.
The Babylonians took what did not belong to them in order to set up a kingdom that did not belong to them.
An eagle builds its nest in inaccessible places so that it can be secure. In the same way, the Babylonians thought that they were safe and invincible because they built a city that was out of reach to their enemies.
Herodotus, a Greek historian writes that Babylon had a massive wall with 100 bronze gates. The wall was so wide that a four-horse chariot could run upon it.
But by cutting off many peoples, the Babylonians forfeited their own lives. God will surely hold them responsible.
16 Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart,
O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock,
That holdest the height of the hill:
Though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle,
I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord.
This means that God will always have the last say! God can, and will bring Babylon down!
Next, we see:
Their buildings will be burned
Their buildings will be burned
12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood,
And stablisheth a city by iniquity!
13 Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts
That the people shall labour in the very fire,
And the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?
14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
As the waters cover the sea.
The LORD was not only displeased with the greedy man, He also pronounced a woe against the violent man.
The Babylonians had built their cities on the blood and suffering of others. They had used their captives as slave labor to do the actual work. Babylon had built her cities and palaces, enlarged her borders, and enriched herself with plunder and tribute from other nations. But all her gain would become nothing but fuel for the coming fire of judgment!
58 Thus saith the Lord of hosts;
The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken,
And her high gates shall be burned with fire;
And the people shall labour in vain,
And the folk in the fire, and they shall be weary.
Hey, think about this...
1 Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it:
Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
God will often humble the arrogant by bringing their prideful efforts to nothing!
Verse 14 reminds us that though there is evil, injustice, bloodshed, and pain in this world, one day the whole earth will be filled with God’s glory!
The violent man thinks that his power gives him the right to abuse others for his gain. As a correction and a rebuke, the LORD reminded the violent man of His ultimate triumph.
Looking on, we find:
Their glory will be turned into shame
Their glory will be turned into shame
15 Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink,
That puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also,
That thou mayest look on their nakedness!
16 Thou art filled with shame for glory:
Drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered:
The cup of the Lord’s right hand shall be turned unto thee,
And shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.
17 For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee,
And the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid,
Because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land,
Of the city, and of all that dwell therein.
The primary cause for the Babylonian greed was the Babylonian government. In Hitler’s days of power, he made the statement, “What if we lose 100,000 men, if we get what we want, that is all that matters.”
The Babylonians shared the same motto, and God pronounces the “woe” upon their immoral government. It’s interesting to note that the first thing which caught the eye of God was the matter of wine, or alcohol.
Their violence this time is envisioned in terms of getting one’s neighbor drunk in order to see him naked...
The Babylonians were guilty of leading, or forcing, their captive nations into the same kind of drunken wickedness that they themselves practiced.
The end result of it would be shame and disgrace.
I believe this curse of God not only rests on the Babylonians, but on everyone who sells, serves and shares alcohol to others today. God will bring into judgment every bartender, every brewery and every bottler. Just so we are clear, that goes for every person who bought alcohol for someone else, or made it available to them also…God means what He says, and says what He means!
In verse 17, we see that Babylon damaged Lebanon, which was a region north of Israel. It was famous for its cedar trees and many wild animals.
The Chaldeans had chopped down many of the cedars in order to build their palaces and temples, and they had kill many of the animals in the forest.
God would punish them for their violence against nature, but especially for their violence against man!
Lastly, we see in the fifth and final woe...
Their idols are profitless
Their idols are profitless
18 What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it;
The molten image, and a teacher of lies,
That the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?
19 Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach!
Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver,
And there is no breath at all in the midst of it.
Having dealt with the greedy man, the violent man, and the drunk then God spoke to the idolater – who treated inanimate objects as if they had life and intelligence.
The ultimate indictment against the Babylonians was that they were a godless nation. In fact, the reason that they were consumed with intolerable greed and an immoral government is because of their irrational godlessness. God had been completely obliterated from the picture of their society.
The Babylonians not only built walls and buildings, they also created many idols.
He refers to them as a “teacher of lies.” The word literally means, “A sham, or a cheat.”
He calls them “dumb idols.” The word means, “voiceless, mute and without sound.” It’s amazing that they were talking to a god who could not talk back to them.
Finally, God pronounces that “there is no breath at all in the midst of it.”
In other words, these gods of “wood” and “stone” were not only deaf and dumb, but they were dead.
Lamoyne Sharpe writes, “The only thing dumber than a dumb idol is the dumb idolater…Dead wood can’t awake, and dumb stones can’t teach. And yet this is what the idolater says to the image that he himself has made.”
What is idolatry? It’s when man...
Romans 1:25 (KJV 1900)
25 ...worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator...
Kelley Varner writes, “It’s easy to know what our idols are by looking at what receives the most thought, the most talk, and the most time in our lives.”
Idolatry is anytime that we allow something into our lives which competes with God. It doesn’t have to a brazen image, a golden statue, or a god of stone.
It can be a job, a relationship, a position, a monetary goal, a hobby, or a career; but, whenever we allow it to compete, and interfere with our being faithful to church, reading God’s Word, spending time in prayer, or growing in grace, it is the same as a “teacher of lies,” and “a dumb idol” which has “no breath in the midst of it.”
20 But the Lord is in his holy temple:
Let all the earth keep silence before him.
“But” in verse 20 contrasts the false gods and the living God. Unlike the lifeless idols, the God of Israel neither sleeps nor slumbers! His living presence is in his holy temple! The Lord is still in his temple. He will not forsake his people forever! The whole earth is commanded to be silent out of awe and reverence before God.
Think about the context of verse 20...
Everything is falling apart, things are out of control, sin is running rampant, and justice is being ignored; “But the LORD is in his holy temple: Let all the earth keep silence before him.”
Conclusion
Conclusion
Friends, these were the sins for which God judged, punished and destroyed the Babylonians. Is what we see in America today any different?
Is there hope? There is only one, and His name is Jesus Christ. Once man sees the Lord “in his holy temple,” all fears are subsided, all doubts are subdued, and all questions are silenced.
Sin will be judged, but the Savior is the judge who gives us the opportunity to settle out of court. Why? Because He is in the holy temple of His ability to do so. That was the only hope for Habakkuk that was the only hope for Judah, that is the only hope for America, and that is the only hope for you or me.