Habakkuk 2:5-20

Habakkuk -

Habakkuk 2:5-

Habakkuk 2:5–20 NASB95

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. 6 “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?’ 7 “Will not your creditors rise up suddenly, And those who collect from you awaken? Indeed, you will become plunder for them. 8 “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. 9 “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house To put his nest on high, To be delivered from the hand of calamity! 10 “You have devised a shameful thing for your house By cutting off many peoples; So you are sinning against yourself. 11 “Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, And the rafter will answer it from the framework. 12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed And founds a town with violence! 13 “Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts That peoples toil for fire, And nations grow weary for nothing? 14 “For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, As the waters cover the sea. 15 “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! 16 “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. 17 “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. 18 “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. 19 “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. 20 “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.”

Lets quickly look at

Acts 17:16 NLT

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was deeply troubled by all the idols he saw everywhere in the city.

In the Amplified Version

16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was greatly angered when he saw that the city was full of idols.

Here is this Biblical account we see the Apostle Paul in the city of Athens. He is angry that the city has many temples, and false gods, even a spot, and altar to the unknown God.

Paul beyond disgusted, furious, with his spirit also grieving that a city could be so poisoned with false gods, with such sin.

Paul is angry for several reason:

at the power the false religions had on the people

the reckless devotion people had to these idols

that the people in the city were one heartbeat away from eternal damnation

Do you have that anger inside of you that our neighborhoods, our city, state, country is so far from God.

Gospel preaching today is almost lost. We hear more feel good preaching from our mega church pastors. Where the church may be a mile wide in membership but the knowledge, faith is only an quarter inch deep.

One scholar put it like this: ‘The Gospel that is preached today, it neither wounds nor heals’

We must preach the blood of Christ.

We must preach the anger of God.

We must preach that you must die to live!

We must preach that God is holy, and in order to come to Him we must be holy as He is. But we cannot be holy because we are sinners and the only holiness that we can have is the imputed holiness of the righteousness, sinless, spotless Lamb of God. That is the Gospel!

This is the way the prophets preached, and you will see this when you read the minor prophets, Book of Hosea, Joel, Obadiah.

We can see where these prophets confronted the people with their sin.

These prophets preached Holiness of God.

But of course in our day, in our time it is not PC -Politically Correct to preach the Holiness of God.

Hamish McKenzie said that this type of preaching, hell fears it, earth requires it, heaven ordains it .

So WOE unto me if I do not preach the Gospel!!

God answers Habakkuk. What was his question?

What about these wicked people, what are you going to do with them?

God gives a series of Woes for Habakkuk to deliver:

Not only were these delivered to Babylon, to Judah, but can be delivered to use here as well.

First verse 6-8 their greed,

Second 9-11 In-humanity,

Thirds 12-14 Violence,

Fourth - 15-17 Intoxication,

Fifth - 18:20 Idolatry

The first in verse 6 -8 basically talks about ill-gotten gain. God pictures Babylon as deceptive moneylenders, acquiring much wealth from all the nations they have raped and pillaged. That one day this will come back on them. Imagine someone picking another person up by their feet and shaking them until all their money fell out of their pockets.

The first in verse 6 -8 basically talks about ill-gotten gain. God pictures Babylon as deceptive moneylenders, acquiring much wealth from all the nations they have raped and pillaged. That one day this will come back on them. Imagine someone picking another person up by their feet and shaking them until all their money fell out of their pockets.

Second - In-humanity

Look at verse 10 - There is a cry of the millions of un-born babies, abuse, victims of terrorism. The sooner that people who are sinners realize that they are sining against God, and that the wages of sin is death and the punishment is not just death but eternal hell the sooner they hear the Gospel the sooner their world will be changed for the better.

Third - Woe to Violence

All the things Babylon did to all the nations it conquered, all the things that Babylon built is going to come to an end.

Historians tell us was 15 square miles, with 350 foot high walls, 87 feet thick, six chariots could go along it at one time - they were 35 feet below the ground, the walls, so that no one could tunnel under into the city! There were 250 watchtowers, 53 temples, 180 altars to Ishtar (goddess of fertility, love, sex, and war.) Isaiah, in chapter 14, describes this great city of Babylon as the golden city.

All their efforts, works, will come to an end verse 14 reminds us that one day Jesus is coming and He is going to judge the nations, and that every knee will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord.

All their efforts, works, will come to an end verse 14 reminds us that one day Jesus is coming and He is going to judge the nations, and that every knee will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord.

Fourth - In-toxication. Here he is saying that alcohol was used to entice others to sin, this goes back to verse 5

Habakkuk 2:5 NASB95

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.

You can look in and read the down fall of the Babylonian Empire where the Belshazzar was drinking and partying with his wives, concubines, and others and due to his mockery of God his empire came to an end.

A few things i want to point out in this passage:

Alcohol gives way to sexual sin - remember Noah after the flood, getting drunk and what happened. Remember Lot, he got drunk by his daughters and sin of incest was committed.

Shame. verse 16 ‘you are filled with shame because you have uncovered their nakedness

Listen to these statistics:

1 out of every 20 teenagers is an alcoholic. 3.3 million teenagers have drinking problems! More than 42 million children live in dependent houses, and 50% of them will become alcoholics themselves. Four out of ten hospital admissions, 50% of car accidents, 55% of arrests, 64% of murders, 60% of child abuse cases, are all alcohol-related - and every 50 minutes someone dies because of a drunk driver.

Proverbs 20

Proverbs 20:1 NLT

1 Wine produces mockers; alcohol leads to brawls. Those led astray by drink cannot be wise.

Fifth - Idolatry

I think this is something that we as Christians struggle with. Look at all the things that are vying for our time. Look how east it is to watch movies, tv shows, waste time more so than ever before without ever getting out of the bed.

Lets break this down really quick:

How much time do you spend talking to the Lord each day? How much time do you spend reading the Bible? How much time do you spend talking with someone about Jesus?

How much time do we spend watching tv? Reading the news? Think of your normal daily routine, i know that for those who are not retired we have to work but even while at work are you in your thoughts even about God? Do the people at your work know that you are a Christian because you make it known?

Habakkuk 2:20 NLT

20 But the Lord is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.”

Habakkuk 2:20

God is on His throne. Are we seeking Him?

#737 Like a River Glorious

Benediction

2 Peter 3:18 NLT

18 Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.

2 Peter