Choose Wisely...Faith or Pride.

A preacher, a Boy Scout, and a quantum physics professor were the only passengers on a small plane. The pilot came back to the cabin and said that the plane was going down but there were only three parachutes and four people. The pilot added, “I should have one of the parachutes because I have a wife and three small children.” So he took one and jumped.

The professor said, “I should have one of the parachutes because I am the most intelligent man in the world and everyone needs me and my intellect.” So he took one and jumped.

The preacher turned to the Boy Scout and with a sad smile said, “You are young and I have lived a rich life, so you take the remaining parachute, and I’ll go down with the plane.”

The Boy Scout said, “Relax, preacher, the most intelligent man in the world just picked up my backpack and jumped out!”

Of the people in that illustration…who made the best choice…whose choice was made with pride…whose choice was made by faith?

I’d like to invite you to open your Bible to Habakkuk chapter 2.

We are in week four of this verse by verse study of the book of Habakkuk…Trusting God in the Midst of Chaos...

Here are some key points to bring us all up to speed…

Important Dates

931 BC — The nation of Israel was divided.

God’s chosen nation of Israel was divided in 931 BC…into the northern tribes of Israel…and the southern tribes of Judah…

for most of that period of history, they were living in ways that were greatly displeasing to God…

many of the OT prophets ministered during this period of time to either the northern or the southern kingdom…

then God allowed a significant event to occur in 722 BC...

722 BC — Assyria conquers the Northern Kingdom of Israel

that was devastating to the people of God…

afterwards a series of prophets were called to minister to the remaining southern kingdom of Judah and call them to repentance…

in fact on several cases, the prophets said – look what has already happened to the northern kingdom – unless you repent, your fate will be similar…

that is where Habakkuk fits into this story historically…he ministered around 600 BC…

so the northern kingdom has already fallen…

and for those familiar with Biblical history…you know that it’s just a few years before the southern kingdom will fall as well, this time to the secular nation of Babylon (also known as the Chaldeans) in 586 BC

586 BC — Babylon conquers the Southern Kingdom of Judah

here’s what you need to know for our study today…this book is a dialogue between Habakkuk and God…the book begins with...

Hab 1:1-4 — Habakkuk asks God why His people are getting away with their sin.

Why do the people of Judah seem to suffer no consequences for their iniquity, wickedness, violence, and destruction?

those were all fair questions…

Hab 1:5-11 — God answers that Judah will be judged by Him using the Babylonians.

an event that occurred 14 years later

part of that answer made sense to him – God’s people weren’t going to be allowed to get away with their sin forever.

The other part of that answer shocked him and created more problems for him.

So he went deeper and asked God more questions.

Hab 1:12-2:1 — Habakkuk asks God how He can be God and use wicked people to judge the righteous.

but before he does that, he takes a very important first step…Hab 1:12…he took the time to get a grip on his theology...he reminds himself of what he already knows about God…

He reminds himself of God’s character and remembers that God is faithful...

We will not die – I know God has made promises and prophecies to His people which have not yet been fulfilled.

I don’t see how God will allow the Babylonians to defeat us and still keep those promises…but I don’t have to know as long as I am convinced that God does…

Then Habakkuk says in Hab 2:1 that “I asked, now I’m going to sit back and listen, with the distinct belief that perhaps my thinking is wrong or at least incomplete…that God knows more than I do.

In the remainder of chapter 2, God tells Habakkuk…even though I am going to use the Babylonians to accomplish my plan, the Babylonians will someday will be judged…because of their pride…

In other words, God says…I will make things right in the end…or in southern speak...

They’ll get their come-uppins!

Main Point: Live by Faith Knowing God Always Wins!

Do you believe that? If so then it ought to make a difference how you live today.

We want to answer the question “What does God reveal to Habakkuk about His plan that ought to motivate us to live by faith today?”

3 Truths that ought to motivate us to chose our path wisely…live by faith.

God Makes It Abundantly Clear He Wins in the End (2-3).

Habakkuk 2:2–3 “Then the Lord answered me and said, “Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it may run. “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.”

I don’t think anyone can read this text and deny that God is speaking here and the message is crystal clear!

God makes it a matter of permanent record.

He says write it down (record what I’m telling you)…

writing it down would preserve this revelation for all generations…including us in 2024…

“Write it down because an even greater chaos is going to come and when it does you will need to remember what I said.”

inscribe ...Hebrew word here means “make it plain”...

make sure the message is clear in both form and content.

on tablets...this would be especially important when the children of Israel are deported to Babylon because there’s no telling how many documents they are going to be able to retain…it cannot be changed!

God’s people can confidently live by and proclaim this message.

v. 2- “The one who reads it may run”

In the Hebrew, the exact meaning of this phrase is unclear...

In one sense it could be talking about those who proclaim this truth.

they can run and tell others that God is a God of love but He is also the God of Justice…

that means He has provided a means for which your sins can be forgiven and you won’t have to face His wrath, but if you won’t accept His gift then know His judgment will come and it will come hard!

The Scripture is very clear about God’s judgment of sin…you can proclaim the truth and stake your life on it!

In another sense, it is the idea that this has to do with the way you live.

Jeremiah stated the captivity would last for 70 years and this would be a message of hope to live how God desires during that time because Babylon is going to get their’s in the end!

The person who reads this can run strongly in the days ahead, even though that time will be hard you can still minister to others, so stay strong and know that God will deal the Babylonians.

We can’t be dogmatic about either one, but we know from other places in Scripture that both principles are true.

You can live with confidence and proclaim the truth with confidence, because of your knowledge that God will make things right in the end.

Even though Babylon was an instrument of discipline from God, God was still going to hold them accountable for their sin also.

The remnant who were about to be carried off to Babylon had to decide if they were going to believe that…God will settle up some day with the Babylonians too…

v3 — Habakkuk is told to wait for it, but know it is coming.

Though it may take a while, the following prophecy of Babylon’s doom would certainly be fulfilled at the appointed time…

that appointed time for Babylon would be when Cyrus, the King of Persia defeats them and becomes the new world power…read Daniel 5

This was to be a message of hope to all of God’s people in every generation…God will deal with sin!

The word end seems to not only refer to the termination of Babylon’s savage rule, but to the broader eschatological end when God fulfills the Messianic judgment in the fall of Babylon the Great at the close of the Tribulation (Rev 17-18).

So mark it up…God always wins…

Even though the fulfillment is delayed…it will come

God proves it over and over and over again…what He says will happen, will happen…The Scripture is very clear…God Wins!

The writer of Hebrews appealed to this verse as a way to encourage the persecuted believers that the day is coming when the King of Kings will reign on the earth in perfect justice!

The second truth is…

God Expects His People to Live by Faith Today (4)

Habakkuk 2:4 ““Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.”

God clearly classifies people into two categories...

The proud one whose soul is not right within him.

The righteous who lives by his faith

let me simplify it even more…those who trust God and those who don’t!

“The saint’s and the ain'ts”

Take your pick…how do you want God to classify you?

proud one — verb meaning swelled, puffed up, full of himself.

carries the idea of arrogance and presumption

His soul is not right…not straight, it is crooked...

includes his desires, emotions, appetites…

The context would indicate God is referring to the Babylonians who have become puffed up and arrogant, whose desires are for power regardless of how they treat other humans to get it.

But Scripture makes it very clear what happens to those who continually think their way is the only way, the best way.

Proverbs 14:12 NASB95

There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.

So it is very clear here that God sets up a contrast between those who live by faith and those who live being puffed up…

The righteous live by faith

This is one of the more important verses in all of Scripture…it is certainly the key verse in this book…

The Hebrew text for this portion of the verse just contains three words…in this order...the justified man, by his faith, shall live!

This verse is so important to all of Christianity that it is quoted three different times in the NT.

3 NT usages of Hab 2:4.

Rom 1:17 — God’s commentary of justification

Heb 10:38 — God’s commentary on faith

Gal 3:11 — God’s commentary on the Christian life.

so what does that mean…the justified man…by his faith…shall live?

let’s use those instances to understand our passage…

Righteousness is possible — Rom 1:17

If you remember back to our series through Galatians we understand the word justified means declared righteous…it is completely an act of God towards those who trust in Christ alone...

God’s holiness demands that fellowship with Him is predicated on you and me being righteous…the problem is none of us can be righteous enough on our own.

Our world today is filled with many who believe they can earn righteousness before God on their own by being good and doing good.

Those who live by faith know that is impossible because we all sin and sin miserably.

It is actually a form of pride to believe we can keep God’s standards by ourselves…or be justified by our own works or goodness…

Romans is the best written work that deals with the whole of the gospel…the Holy Spirit would direct Paul to write verses like...Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

and to write about Jesus Christ…the cross, the shed blood, the empty tomb…with such beautiful verses as Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

The truth of all that caused Paul to quote Habakkuk 2:4 to the Roman believers…

Romans 1:16–17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.””

at the core of the gospel is an understanding that you cannot be righteous on your own, but that it is possible to be legitimately declared righteous by God Himself.

This truth is so profound that it impacted one of the most important people in the history of Christianity…Martin Luther (explain)

So how then do we receive this righteousness?

that is where the book of Hebrews comes in, the second place where Hebrews 2:4 is quoted…

Righteousness is received by faith — Heb. 10:38

Paul could not have said it any clearer than in Romans 5:1 “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,”

this starts…

as a decision at a point in time

Romans 10:9–10 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Romans 10:13 “for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.””

the moment a person believes, two marvelous things happen…your sin is forgiven, and the righteousness of God is placed on your account.

you are declared righteous by God Himself, because you humbled yourself and came to Him requesting something you did not deserve, and could not earn…

the just shall live by faith…

That’s a message the proud don’t want to hear!

as a lifestyle

after coming to Christ, as proof that you genuinely know Him, you begin walking by faith…

The book of Hebrews (which is where we are going after our we conclude Habakkuk) even contains the faith hall of fame in chapter 11…stories of men and women who walked by faith in the promises of God, believing that someday God would reward them for their trust in Him.

Just prior to that great chapter, we read this second use of Habakkuk 2:4…

Hebrews 10:37–38 “For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. But My righteous one shall live by faith; And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”

this then leads us to understand that…

Biblical faith is the foundation of a godly lifestyle — Gal 3:11

that brings us to the third time the verse is repeated in the NT…

in the book of Galatians, Paul is very concerned about this church that had apparently tried to come to Christ by faith but now sought to add ideas to the gospel…

Galatians 3:11 - Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.”

So in the context of Habakkuk we see a contrast between the wicked and the righteous...

The wicked pridefully trust in their own strength and will perish...

The righteous trust in the true God and will live.

The Hebrew word used for “will live” denotes habitual actions, actions in progress, or even completed actions that have unfolding, ongoing results...

Why that is significant is it tells us that living by faith is a choice we make today that has continual results that are unfolding both now and for the future.

now, the rest of the chapter tells us to…

God Pronounces Judgment on those Living by Pride (5-20)

Habakkuk 2:5 ““Furthermore, wine betrays the haughty man, So that he does not stay at home. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, And he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself all nations And collects to himself all peoples.”

From this point on in the text God uses Babylon as a Divine Object lesson of those filled with pride and what happens to them.

Specifically...Wine betrayed the Babylonian leader into thinking he is invincible.

We see this happen in Daniel 5, (the handwriting on the wall) in a drunken feast, the king of Babylon is informed by God of his downfall and that very night was conquered by Persia (explain how)

Figuratively speaking…pride creates an appetite like Sheol/death…it is never satisfied

Sheol = OT term for the grave = death

These people will never stop…never satisfied…much like death claims everyone…

Those who choose pride make life all about them…everyone serves them…bows to them...

What we have next is God pronouncing 5 woes…divine judgments on Babylon.

God makes it perfectly clear that when Babylon has served His purpose, He will bring judgment upon them.

His message is in the form of a taunt spoken by the nations who suffered at the hands of the Babylonians…God speaks for the nations.

Please don’t miss this...Although this is a specific pronouncement against the Babylonians who are swelled with pride, it also serves as a pronouncement to all who follow their lead!

So beware the evidence of pride in your life…to think that God would judge Babylon for these things and let you skate on by, you delude yourself and it is only a matter of time…God’s time.

Greed (6-8)

Habakkuk 2:6–8 ““Will not all of these take up a taunt-song against him, Even mockery and insinuations against him And say, ‘Woe to him who increases what is not his— For how long— And makes himself rich with loans?’ “Will not your creditors rise up suddenly, And those who collect from you awaken? Indeed, you will become plunder for them. “Because you have looted many nations, All the remainder of the peoples will loot you— Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town and all its inhabitants.”

The Babylonians have ruthlessly taken wealth not rightly belonging to them.

As a result, the day will come when the plunderer will be plundered!

All the nations impacted by Babylon will have their say against them.

In 539 BC, this would come to pass with Cyrus...

the proud person has to have more to enhance his reputation, even if it means practicing extortion…using his power to take advantage of others…

and you can see the lack of faith in that…this life is all there is…so get as much as you can using whatever methods you have to use…

but the person who walks by faith says…I find my sustenance in the Lord, not in all the material things I can get…

Matthew 6:30 - But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!

Matthew 6:33 - But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Exploitation of others (9-11)

Habakkuk 2:9–11 ““Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house To put his nest on high, To be delivered from the hand of calamity! “You have devised a shameful thing for your house By cutting off many peoples; So you are sinning against yourself. “Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, And the rafter will answer it from the framework.”

This woe charges Babylon used the wealth they stole from others to build their own security against the threat of disaster.

They feel safe in what they built on the backs of others…nest is a common term in the OT referring to the arrogant who believe their ways are so high and secure they cannot be toppled from them (Obad 4; Jer 49:16)

The proud build their houses for their own glory, but in reality they are building houses of disgrace.

Stones cry out — was quoted by Jesus in this triumphal entry into Jerusalem meaning Jesus will be glorified even if only the rocks and walls do it!

Here in Habakkuk the idea is that the proud will reap what they sow

The destruction they bring on others will be a reality brought to them that even the inanimate objects will proclaim it so.

Violence (12-14)

Habakkuk 2:12–14 ““Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed And founds a town with violence! “Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts That peoples toil for fire, And nations grow weary for nothing? “For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea.”

Here’s that word “hamas” again…and this woe is pronounced to the proud who use violence and destruction to get what they want.

The reality of all their efforts is their eyes are fixated on a prize that is fleeting…it is merely an illusion and only provides emptiness.

They will use whatever means necessary even if it means hurting others in the process.

v. 14 — God’s intent in all of this is that his glory fills the whole earth when all this comes to pass.

Glory = heavy, weighty…God’s glory is of inestimable value!

The glory of man and his pride will be met with the glory of God…I’ll give you three guesses as to which glory wins!

God will overthrow and judge future Babylon and all ungodly powers represented by Babylon.

The Lord’s glory and majesty will be made evident when Jesus rules from Jersualem in the millennium…the whole earth will see his glory!

The knowledge of Jesus will be worldwide like the water covering the sea…all injustice will be covered by the righteousness of Christ.

Manipulation (15-17)

Habakkuk 2:15–17 ““Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, Who mix in your venom even to make them drunk So as to look on their nakedness! “You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor. Now you yourself drink and expose your own nakedness. The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, And utter disgrace will come upon your glory. “For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, And the devastation of its beasts by which you terrified them, Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, To the town and all its inhabitants.”

The picture here is that Babylon is a drunkard who gives his neighbors wine to intoxicate them, manipulates them to do their bidding, and to participate in their wickedness, and then shames them for participating.

Proud people manipulate others to join them or serve them and then ridicule them so as to draw attention away from themselves.

God promises that shame and disgrace to those who choose this path.

All along God is reminding them that they will reap what the sow...

Idolatry (18-20)

Habakkuk 2:18–20 ““What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, Or an image, a teacher of falsehood? For its maker trusts in his own handiwork When he fashions speechless idols. “Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, ‘Awake!’ To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’ And that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, And there is no breath at all inside it. “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.””

How absurd it is to stand before an inanimate object and cry out for it to wake up and come to life.

No matter how pretty and elaborate you make your idol, it is worthless and only brings God’s judgment.

You may not have a wooden idol you bow to, but the truth is you share in the idolatry of the proud person when you live as your own god and you pursue that which brings you glory…pursuits that put God in second place instead of first…when God has been replaced with self you share in the wickedness of Babylon!

and when that idol is self, this text tells us that we have set up something that is worthless and absurd!

But the Lord is in His Holy Temple…this sets up a contrast from the worthless, lifeless idols of man to the living Lord, who is holy and Sovereign ruling from His Holy Temple.

God is not indifferent, inactive, or impervious to what happens in our world, in your life...

silent = stand in silence and awe and worship…

So instead of, as my dad used to say “getting your bowels in an uproar”,

…Stop fretting over what you think ought to happen, let God be God, LIVE BY FAITH.

Take some time to be silent and know the God of Heaven is keenly aware of ALL things and Will Make All Things Right in His Time and in His Way.

PAUSE FOR EFFECT

Lesson for Life — Rest in Knowing God’s Glory Will Be Revealed in His Time!