Five Woes

A crowded theater hosted a variety show, with various acts in it. Each act was more fantastic than the one prior, so it created louder and louder applause from the audience. Suddenly, a clown rushed on to the stage and said, “I apologize for this interruption, but I regret to inform you that our theater is on fire! You need to leave right away, and in an orderly fashion.”

But the audience thought he was part of the act, so they laughed and applauded. They thought he was very committed to the role. But the clown again implored them that they needed to leave right away or they would get seriously injured, maybe even die. And again, they greeted him with loud and thunderous applause. At last, he could do no more, and so he left the building, and the people were destroyed.

Kierkegaard concludes in this sobering way: “Our age will go down in fiery destruction not to the sound of mourning but to applause and cheering.”

Warnings upon warnings upon warnings in scripture upon scripture upon scripture. It is all throughout the inspired Word of God. Interesting though… warnings are an enigma today. Dictionary.com defines warnings as - a statement or event that indicates a possible or impending danger, problem, or other unpleasant situation. But does it not seem that warnings are sometimes treated as if it were some kind of dare. Truth or dare in now called opinion or warning. Maybe warnings are opportunities to test the reality of the statement or the event indicating a bad situation. Maybe warnings are just seen as lies today, just a way to control or to protect. Maybe warnings are just someone trying to interfere with our fun. But either way, like Kierkegaard’s proverb, the troubling thing is the applause and celebration given to those who do not heed warnings.

We celebrate rebellion, we celebrate ignorance, we celebrate those who live on the edge not heeding the warning signs posted all around. This is nothing new. Fundamentally, this all stems from the first and foremost warning given from the very beginning. Do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil… nah nah man. You misunderstand. That’s not true. He just trying to hold you back, he just trying to keep you down. Throw off the restraints… you can be free from any kind of oppression from authorities that you never agreed to have. A celebration of rebellion?

Romans 1:32 NLT

They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

But no matter what we might think today… the one constant we have is the Word of God. Filled with warnings that are not lies and come from the one and only true living God. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Let’s take a look at a few of them today.

Habakkuk 2:6–14 NLT

“But soon their captives will taunt them. They will mock them, saying, ‘What sorrow awaits you thieves! Now you will get what you deserve! You’ve become rich by extortion, but how much longer can this go on?’ Suddenly, your debtors will take action. They will turn on you and take all you have, while you stand trembling and helpless. Because you have plundered many nations; now all the survivors will plunder you. You committed murder throughout the countryside and filled the towns with violence. “What sorrow awaits you who build big houses with money gained dishonestly! You believe your wealth will buy security, putting your family’s nest beyond the reach of danger. But by the murders you committed, you have shamed your name and forfeited your lives. The very stones in the walls cry out against you, and the beams in the ceilings echo the complaint. “What sorrow awaits you who build cities with money gained through murder and corruption! Has not the Lord of Heaven’s Armies promised that the wealth of nations will turn to ashes? They work so hard, but all in vain! For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.

The grass withers the flower fades but the Word of ur God stands forever.

The Looter

The Builder

The Driver

The Gospel

The first thing we will look at today is the first of the 5 woes those who take what is not theirs… I call them the looters. The second woe concerns those who build empires unjustly. The third woe tell of those who unjustly use people to get what they want. Finally, we will hear of the Gospel that will save us from any of the coming doom we are warned of in the scriptures.

Thesis: Sin and the pattern of this world may cause us to take part in unjust gain and self-centeredness ignoring the continued warning in scripture, it is the truth of the scripture and the power of the Holy Spirit that will cause us to how the warnings of the Lord are a kindness that will led us to repentance.

I. The Looter

- The one making many what is not his.

A. Any time in scripture, when we see the word “Woe” we need to pay special attention. R. J. Clifford found fifty-three occurrences of hoy in the Old Testament. Of these he listed three possible uses: (1) to describe funeral laments (eight times), usually translated “alas”; (2) a cry to get attention (four times), usually translated “ho” or “ah”; (3) an announcement of doom (forty-one times and used only by the prophets), usually translated “woe to.”

B. First up are those like the Babylonians who amass wealth by robbery or fraud. Those who take things that do not belong to them and they take alot of things that they are described as heaping it up. The more literal reading is one who is making many what is not his.

C. This is what the Babylonians did when they conquered, but it is also what we see and hear about today. Gains from stealing. looting, pillaging, taking things from others. But the passage adds to it. It also warn of those who amass wealth from extortion. The Hebrew rendering… those who make heavy upon themselves pledges. This is the crime of extortion…the practice of obtaining something, especially money, through force or threats.

D. The Babylonians seized the pledges of its victims and either kept the pledges or made the victims pay what they did not owe. Business and commerce always can be manipulated to gain unfair advantage. Habakkuk’s message concerning modern commerce is clear: do not make your wealth or your living by unjust practices. Practice the business of just weights and just measures. Work to make an honest living without destroying the livelihoods of others. And the Lord declares a warning… you will not escape this.

E. They used to call him "Dapper Don," for his $2,000 suits, and "Teflon Don," because the prosecutors couldn't get a conviction. But no one is teflon, not even John Gotti, former head of the Gambino crime family.

Some of Gotti's sins caught up with him in 1992, when he was convicted for racketeering charges that included murder, loan-sharking, and extortion. He was sentenced to life in prison. On June 10, 2002, he died of cancer at age 61.

When it comes to death, nobody is teflon, and when Gotti stands before the Judge of all the earth, he will find he is not so slippery.

II. The Builder

- Building his world by unjust gain.

A. This second woe deals with building fortunes and power structures on unjust gain. This was something the Babylonians were known for. Judgment was coming for them for their cheating. The Hebrew reads literally, “Woe to the one cutting off an evil cut (material) for his house, to set on high his nest, to save himself from the hand of evil.”

B. The verb “cutting off” may allude to a weaver cutting off a piece of material for sale. An “evil cut” was shorter than promised and so involved cheating the customer. Its kind of like when I say, I used to believe that air was free, until I bought a bag of potato chips.

C. And after all that was unjustly acquired, the babylonians worked hard to build it high out of the reach of danger. Did all that they could to bring lots of security to what they have unjustly gained. You might think that you are safe in your nest so high out of everyones reach. But, in reality God’s warning Babylon as he is warning us today that there is no nest high enough. There is no wall strong enough. There is no safe with the potential enough. Judgement is coming. What sorrow awaits for those who cheat for dishonest gain. It is pointless to protect it, in the end it will be taken from you.

D. One of the problems we face today is just how rampant cheating for gain actually is in our culture. Professor of behavior economics at Duke University Dan Areily writes,

“We tend to think that people are either honest or dishonest …. We like to believe that most people are virtuous, but a few bad apples spoil the bunch. If this were true, society might easily remedy its problems with cheating and dishonesty ….

But that is not how dishonesty works. Over the past decade or so, my colleagues and I have taken a close look at why people cheat, using a variety of experiments and looking at a panoply of unique data sets—from insurance claims to employment histories to the treatment records of doctors and dentists. What we have found, in a nutshell: Everybody has the capacity to be dishonest, and almost everybody cheats—just by a little. Except for a few outliers at the top and bottom, the behavior of almost everyone is driven by two opposing motivations. On the one hand, we want to benefit from cheating and get as much money and glory as possible; on the other hand, we want to view ourselves as honest, honorable people. Sadly, it is this kind of small-scale mass cheating, not the high-profile cases, that is most corrosive to society.

E. Sports analyst and talk show host Jim Rome used to say when it come to sports… if you aren’t cheating, you’re not trying and it is only cheating if you get caught. This statement has found its way into life. Many today just don;t think its possible to get ahead without cheating. Many will say… well I gotta cheat, everyone else is doing it.

F. We can’t fall into that trap. No matter what, before God all that you have gained and built by cheating will be crying out to the Lord the injustice and guilt. And He has declared that there will be judgement. According to the Lord, You have indeed forfeited your lives.

- Dr. John Mckay writes, “When an enterprise has an improper foundation, no matter what success it achieves, it is inevitably flawed and those flaws will not remain hidden.”

III. The Driver

- Building on bloodshed.

A. A major building project in the ancient world required a huge workforce, often obtained by the institution of forced labour. Conditions were harsh, and little concern was shown for the welfare and safety of those involved. The lives of those transported to Babylon to help realize Nebuchadnezzar’s grandiose building plans were treated as of no significance.

B. Judgement will come to nations. The immoral mistreatment of people in many differing ways would seal its fate. Many might see the resource of people as fuel for greatness but it will only be fuel for the fires of judgement.

C. Woe to the city, town, or society built on crime and bloodshed! The people of Babylon acted toward the nations as criminals. “Bloodshed” may refer to warfare or mistreatment of captured peoples or to the practice of using slave labor for building projects, a vile practice that often caused extensive loss of life.

D. The Lord is also showing that all the hard work and labor it will all be for nothing. They have used their time, resources and effort in Babylon’s interests. However grand the immediate outcome, it is an empty achievement.

Jeremiah 51:58 NLT

This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: “The thick walls of Babylon will be leveled to the ground, and her massive gates will be burned. The builders from many lands have worked in vain, for their work will be destroyed by fire!”

E. Human empires glorify man, and in the divine purpose it is intolerable that there be any who challenge him. He will not yield his glory to another, but works instead to accomplish his purposes in history.

F. There will be judgement for all nations and or enterprises that are built with the mistreatment or even death of other people. But Shane is this happening today… many may suggest that the current minimum wage is a crime and mistreatment of people to build a business. But there is someting that is happening today that is building business that I think is far worse than even what the Babylonians were doing. It’s called human trafficking.

Globally, trafficking in persons is one of the fastest-growing criminal activities, second behind drug trafficking. Here are some statistics about sexual trafficking:

The United Nations estimates that 2.5 million people around the globe are in forced labor (including sexual exploitation).An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year.161 countries are affected by human trafficking by either being the source, a transit point, or the final destination.In 2006 there were only 3,106 convictions for sexual trafficking, which means that one person is convicted for every 800 persons who have been trafficked. The Salvation Army claims that sex trafficking annually generates an estimated $7 billion worldwide.Online prostitution advertising generates approximately $33.6 million in annual revenue.An estimated 293,000 American youths currently are at risk of becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation. The majority of these victims are runaway or thrown-away youths who live on the streets and become victims of prostitution.Human rights investigations by Shared Hope International, discovered minors were sold an average of 10-15 times a day, 6 days a week, totaling between 9,360 and 14,040 sex acts a year.12-14—the average age of entry into prostitution.Finally, one stat closer to home: Every month 7,200 men pay for sex with adolescent girls—in the state of Georgia alone.

G. How sick have we become when we start to see people more specifically children as a commodity. A way to make money. A way to make alot of money. How far we have fallen when we as a culture set ourselves up for such a rampant and despicable thing. Some say that we just don’t see it coming when it happens… yes of course we don’t because we never saw them in the first place.

IV. The Gospel

- His kindness leads us to repentance.

A. One of the kindest things people can do for us, is warn us when there is trouble. How much more for the God that we serve. One of the things we find in the study of biblical interpretation is how the prophets by the direction of the Spirit will craft the wording of the very words of God. Bringing us back to the significance of when the prophets use hoy or translated woe. Again anytime we see this word we need to pay careful attention.

B. Now it gets even more significant. When the cry of ‘Woe!’ was uttered regarding the covenant people, it alerted them to the danger of their conduct and constituted in effect a call for repentance. A warning is given to bring His people to the place of repentance.

C. Yes the importance of repentance. We today may have struggled in our own way something similar to what the Lord was warning. So many different ways we have stolen from others. So many different ways we received unjust gains. So many different ways we have used or abused people in order to benefit our own best interest.

D. We have received the warnings from the Lord time and time again in the scriptures. But it is an act of kindness that leads us to repentance. Because our fate does not need to end in doom. Yes God’s judgement is coming and we better believe that its real, but we can be saved from it today. He made a way for us.

E. This is why Jesus came. To seek and to save that which was lost. He came to do the work that needed to be done to bring about the new life he came to bring. Jesus came to make all things new. Jesus died for our sins according to the scriptures and he was buried … He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God in ...

F. Today we are called to repentance...

Mark 1:15 NLT

“The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”

G. All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart...

H. In the end when the judgement of the Lord comes, it will be a time of applause and celebration, though those who fall into His hands will be a sight of mourning, the final declaration that Jesus is Lord will be given and every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord. And that day will be a day of celebration and joy. And I will clap my hands and sing… the earth is filled with His glory.