[Music] let's open up our bibles to habakkuk chapter two habakkuk chapter two and we're just going to walk through this chapter together now let me set a little bit of background for habakkuk habakkuk was a prophet for the kingdom of judah this was after the northern kingdom of israel fell to the assyrian empire the first king of israel was a man named saul he was succeeded by david who established a lasting dynasty among the people of god saul david and david's son solomon ruled over the 12 tribes of israel after solomon his son named rehoboam the man was wicked and a fool there was a civil war in rehoboam's day and the 12 tribes of israel divided into two kingdoms the ten northern tribes comprise the tribe the kingdom of israel the two southern tribes comprised the tribe of judah and the city of jerusalem and the temple and all of its institutions were in the southern kingdom of judah the kingdom of israel fell to the assyrians if i was a better bible teacher i'd have that date memorized i should have it should roll off my tongue easily you know blah blah bc whatever it was uh but then about 130 some years later the southern kingdom fell to the babylonian empire when the babylonians were threatening the kingdom of judah these were days of the prophets like jeremiah ezekiel and habakkuk the habakkuk was a little bit before this but the shadow of the babylonian empire was threatening the kingdom of judah in the days of habakkuk and habakkuk chapter 1 is fascinating i'm just going to sep summarize it here habakkuk chapter 1 is basically two questions that the prophet had for god you know it's okay to ask god your questions you need to do it reverently you need to do it recognizing he's the lord but it's okay to bring your questions to god and that's what the prophet habakkuk did and his two questions were basically this how long oh lord that was the first question how long are you going to delay your judgment against the babylonians that was the first question how long god and by the way isn't that a question we often throw up to god how long i feel like i can endure almost any trial for about five minutes but it it's the length of it all that wears on you how long oh lord then the second quickest question habakkuk asked in chapter one was simply this he asked the question lord why are you doing it this way why use the babylonians to judge us because that's what god announced he was doing through his prophets such as jeremiah god said to the people of judah you're wicked you've disobeyed me i'm going to bring judgment upon you and i'm going to use the babylonians to bring judgment upon you and havoc says no don't wait just a minute god the babylonians are even worse than we are you say we're wicked you say we're shot through with sin we're shot through with immorality and rebellion and idolatry lord that may be true of us but look at the babylonians they're even worse how come you're judging us through a people that's even worse than us now having asked these questions habakkuk then waited for the lord that brings us to chapter 2 verse 1. i will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart and watch to see what he will say to me and what i will answer when i am corrected habakkuk asked these questions to god in the first chapter and he anticipated an answer matter of fact verse 1 indicates that he was willing to watch and wait for the answer you know so often when we ask a question to god we don't expect that he will answer or if we do expect that he'll answer it's like all right god you've got five minutes to answer this question and listen habakkuk said no i expect that god is going to answer and i'm going to watch and wait lord i'm going to stay reverent i'm going to stay seeking i'm going to stay honoring to you until you bring me the answer that i'm seeking you for and may i say that is a good humble submissive posture for the believer to be in not demanding that god answers friend can i just say you don't have a place now i don't either but i'm going to put this on you because it feels more comfortable for me you don't have a place to demand anything of god you just don't god is god we don't demand things of them but you can bring your request to him bring them reverent bring them holy bring them submissive to him but you can bring your requests and wait before him as habakkuk did and then he says this i love this look at verse 1 as well and watch to see what he will say to me and what i will answer when i am corrected that's a great attitude to have god i recognize your answer may correct me there is a tendency within humanity to feel that it's our place to correct god that tendency exists within humanity but may i say it's not a good tendency that is wicked if there's any correction that needs to happen between god and myself it's me who needs the correcting not god and so he's saying lord i don't get this i don't understand this it's mystifying to me it's bothering me this is really bad you got to help me figure this out i'm going to wait before you and i'm willing to have you correct me that is a wonderful submitted attitude of heart to have well when you have that kind of surrendered submissive attitude to god don't be surprised if he brings his word to you if he brings his word to you and speaks to you look at what he said here to habakkuk starting now verses 2 and 3. then the lord answered me and said write the vision and make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it for the vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it will speak and it will not lie though it tarries wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry habakkuk was having a question and answer time with the lord and he said havoc get ready to write because i'm going to give you the answers or i'm going to respond to you as you've been seeking and i want you to write this for the benefit of others look at how he phrases here write the vision and make it plain so that he may run who reads it in other words the person who reads and understands what you say is happening they'll have the equipping they need to go forward to run and to be uh productive to put to application what they've said you see the revelation that habakkuk received from god wasn't just for himself but it was also to strengthen others you need to make it plain so that other people can read it and run i may say that should be the goal the aspiration of any bible preacher or teacher and that is to make god's word plain isn't it amazing how some people have the gift of confusing the word of god you know it's like wow i thought this was fairly simple but after hearing this fellow speak for a while i'm all confused now now look sometimes there's some legitimate confusion that comes to us when we're correcting some misunderstandings but folks it should always be the goal of the bible teacher and preacher to make the truth of god plain accessible understandable and notice what habakkuk had to do in order for this to happen first he had to see the vision the preacher can't make anybody else see what he has not seen for himself so if i'm going to teach to you from havoc chapter 2 i need to first understand what the text says secondly habakkuk had to make it known that is that the preacher must do what he can to make the word of god known and make it known as effectively as possible but not just as effectively as possible as permanently as possible that's why habakkuk was told to write the vision not just speak it but write it and then he had to make it plain i need to read you a quote from charles spurgeon i have a few quotes from spurgeon in tonight's notes here but they're good so listen to this one spurgeon said this about the idea of making it plain i've sometimes thought that certain ministers fancied that it was their duty to make the message elaborate to get to the very bottom of the subject and stir up all the mud they could find there so you could not possibly see them nor could they see their own way at all they tell the people all the difficulties they've discovered in the bible which difficulties most of their hearers would never have heard of unless their ministers had told them friends i pray that pastors and preachers are committed to doing what obviously pastor tommy is and what i hope to be committed to and that's simply making it plain so make it plain make it practical and in habakkuk's case look at what it says there in verse 3 for the vision is yet for an appointed time in other words havoc was speaking not just to his own day but to a day to a time beyond his own day now i want you to notice verse one was sort of the preparation for the revelation verses two and three were what to do with the revelation now starting at verse four here is the message that god gave to habakkuk to answer the questions that were bothering him starting now at verse 4 behold the proud his soul is not upright in him but the just shall live by his faith indeed because he transgresses by wine he's a proud man and he does not stay at home because he enlarges his desire as hell and he's like death and cannot be satisfied he gathers to himself all nations and heaps up for himself all peoples will not all these take up a proverb against him and a taunting riddle against him and say woe to him who increases what is not his how long and to him who loads himself with many pledges will not your creditors rise up suddenly will they not awaken you who oppress you and will you become their booty because you have plundered many nations all the remnant of the people shall plunder you because of men's blood and the violence of the land and the city and of all who dwell in it i consider verses four through eight to be god's essential answer back to habakkuk habakkuk you're asking me how long and you're asking me why are you using the babylonians lord and here begins god's answer in verses four through eight check it out here beginning at verse four behold the proud that's what god called the babylonians you see habakkuk wondered why babylon a nation that was even more sinful than judah would be used to bring judgment against judah and in answering the prophet god first assured him that he saw the proud and knew what does it say there in verse 4 that his soul is not upright in him havoc you're frustrated at the babylonians let me i see them i see their pride i see that their soul is not upright in them and god brings the core of the sin of babylon back to pride friends pride is an insidious sin pride is something that challenges everybody in some way or another we want to be the center of our own universe and friends it is more true today sort of philosophically culturally than it has been for centuries look you could say that for many centuries in the western world the center of people's thinking the center of culture the center of thinking was god the most magnificent buildings were built unto god and i'm not saying it was all faithful i'm not saying it was all good but at least in some sense there was this general agreement in the culture the most important being is god then something happened people called the enlightenment and with the enlightenment things shifted instead of god being the center of all things now mankind humanity became the center god get off your throne we really don't need you what we need is to unlock human potential because the brilliance the wisdom the ability it's all within mankind we just have to stop hindering it and truly unleash it and we can bring paradise on earth through humanity let humanity do what it can do so first god was a center then humanity was a center let me tell you what the center is today and i don't have a marking point for this i could just tell you this is the way it is today humanity is not the center anymore you know what the center of the universe is me no not me in reference to you but every one of you me that's how it is we are all the center of our own universe the most important being in the universe it's me everything should revolve around me everything should be engineered to make me happy and good and comfortable and everything that's how the world and the universe should be do you see what a radical shift from god to humanity to the self to me and we're no better for it now friends there's a lot of pride in that there's a lot of pride in the transition from god to humanity there's even more pride in the transition from humanity to self but think of how dangerous proud is pride is i should say you could put it like this here's the rich man proud of what he has there's the poor man he's proud of his honor in having less here's the talented man proud of what he can do here's the man of few talents proud of his hard work here's the religious man proud of his religion there's the unbeliever proud of his unbelief here's the establishment man proud of his place in society but there is the counter-cultural man proud of his outcast status here's the learned man proud of his intelligence and learning but there is the simple man he's proud of his simplicity look there is no good or bad thing that exists among human beings that people will not take an ungodly pride in again if i could quote spurgeon i told you there'd be a few of them here tonight spurgeon said this if there is a sin that is universal it is this where is it not to be found hunt among the highest and loftiest in the world and you shall find it there and then go and search among the poorest and most miserable and you shall find it there there may be as much pride inside a beggar's rags as in a prince's robe a harlot may be as proud as a model of chastity pride is a strange creature it never objects to its lodgings it will live comfortably enough in a palace and it will live equally at ease in a hovel is there any man in whose heart pride does not lurk i would say no and look let's be straightforward about this habakkuk observed and god was commenting about pride among the pagans the babylonians oh yeah idolaters they're proud but pride can lurk very much among the people of god among the servants of god you ever hear of the old english preacher john bunyan the guy who wrote pilgrim's progress well he was a preacher and one day he uh finished with the sermon somebody came up to him afterward and said oh john bunyan that was a magnificent sermon thank you for it and bunyan said wait you're too late i guess it's too late too late for what so too late to tell me it's a good sermon because the devil told me it was a great sermon and i was walking down from the pulpit you see satan can tell a praying brother to be proud of his ability to pray the growing brother to be proud of his growth and here's the thing satan can even try to tempt the humble brother to be proud of his humility isn't that funny how pride works now you know we all hate pride but we especially hate pride in others in other people myself i can tolerate it in you now that's bad then think about this think of how repulsive is in others you know look don't shout out any names but you can think of a really proud person in your mind right now you think of that proud oh yeah oh man they're pretty it's like it's not a good thing you you're kind of repulsed but let me ask you something if pride repulses you what must god think of pride if someone's pride is an affront to us can you imagine how it's perceived before the god who sits enthroned in the heavens all right that's the proud havoc i see the babylonians i see they're proud their pride i see their arrogance but check this out immediately god paints a contrast here in verse 4 and says but the just shall live by his faith in contrast to the proud there are the just now notice this there's two groups here there's the proud people and the just people the principle of life for the just is faith pride looks to self faith looks out to god that's the difference between the humble brother and the proud brother true faith looks outside of self unto the lord god well pride will always look to self now i i don't mean to insult anybody's intelligence here but just go with me these words of habakkuk are given to us in the hebrew scriptures which we often call the old testament we also know that we have the new testament the greek scriptures written 400 years after the close of the hebrew scriptures there's a 400 year gap in there and when the people who wrote the new testament the greek scriptures they had the hebrew scriptures in front of them and so they like to quote the hebrew scriptures this verse from habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4 is quoted not once not twice but three times in the new testament it is one of the most frequently quoted verses in the entire new testament the greek scriptures and it's a very important and most quoted statements again in the new testament paul used it to show that the just lived by faith and not by law living by law by a list of rules that you keep or obligations that are put on you that is not the way to be found just before god only living by faith listen if you are declared just that is approved before god you've done it by a relationship of faith that's it if you're trying to do it by works you'll never be good enough to receive that declaration from god you're just you're righteous it has to be received by faith now i'm no hebrew scholar i i can't make the letters out myself i've been working on it a little bit but man it's hard but but i can read the people who are hebrew scholars and from what they say they say that the important part of this verse has only three words in hebrew the first word is a word that means the justified man the second word is a word that means by his faith and the third word is the word that means will live and i want you to know every one of those words in habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4 is important and what i find fascinating is i told you that there's three places in the new testament where this verse is quoted each one of the three emphasizes a different aspect romans chapter 1 verse 17 is the commentary on the justified man the just shall live by faith that's talking about the justified man that's what romans 1 17 is about hebrews chapter 10 verse 38 is the commentary on faith the just shall live by faith that's the emphasis there and then galatians chapter 3 verse 11 is the commentary on the christian life the just shall live by faith and friends this is how we are called to live by faith and by nothing else some christians live by devotions some christians live by good works some christians live by feelings some christians live by circumstances let me tell you something without faith in the living god each one of these is meaningless and maybe dangerous without faith in the living god your devotional life may be just making you a more proud person every day because you think aren't i spiritual because i read my bible and spend time with the lord every day without faith your church attendance maybe heaping up condemnation to you friends the just shall live by faith now it goes without saying we believe in having a devotional life we believe in doing good works we believe in being part of a church family we believe in honoring god yes we do but we do it by faith not in an effort to earn our way before god then verse 5 he's back to talking about babylon now he enlarges his desire as hell and he's like death and cannot be satisfied you see god sees the proud man and how the proud man cannot be satisfied the one who is declared righteous by faith he's satisfied but not the proud man he keeps grasping keeps reaching and then he brings this word of condemnation against babylon because you have plundered many nations all the remnant of the people shall plunder you here god is assuring habakkuk that he knows how to deal with nations like babylon listen is it true that the babylonians plundered many nations yes and judah was next on their list but don't you worry when the time is right i will bring judgment against babylon and by the way god did it even within the lifetime of daniel he saw babylon fall because god had judged them so god explained to havoc havoc hold on my timing is good your answer how long i'll get to it i know what i'm doing secondly i see the pride of babylon and i will judge them into due time but i want you to know here and now that no matter how proud the babylonians are habakkuk please understand it's the just that shall live by faith friends that's the abiding principle that we need to hold on to now as we come next to verse nine i need to take just a little bit of a pause here because i'm thinking about this i'm looking verse 9 i'm looking at the rest of the chapter and i just need to give you a little bit of you know just kind of honest feedback here as a preacher as i look back upon the back wall there the screen that normally tells me the time is completely dark i have no idea what time it is and i've always felt a little bit awkward about you know like looking at my watch doesn't that seem a little rude for the pre i mean look it could be rude if you're looking at your watch that's how something you know when they preach everybody's looking at their watch or seeing if it's still working time seems to stand still a little bit you know is my watch broken so i i'm looking here and okay it's a little bit later than i thought it was so let's just go quickly through the rest they put it up there on the back screen now you could turn around and look there they got it it's on the back now i can see that it's 721 but let me just say how wonderful it was to preach with no clock whatsoever and to not wonder what time it was at all i don't know it's it's a little bit irresponsible look we got the children over there and the children and we can't leave them there forever we know we can't do that so okay let me let me quote it let's make it through the rest of the chapter here verse nine here what i see in the rest of habakkuk chapter two is he's shifting god's dealt with habakkuk's questions now in the rest of chapter two i see four woes to silence sinful man four woes here's the first woe starting at verse 9 woe to the greedy woe to him who covets evil gain for his house that he may set his nest on high that he may be delivered from the power of disaster you give shameful counsel to your house cutting off many peoples and sin against your soul for the stone will cry out from the wall and the beam from the timbers will answer it here god address the greedy man and tells him that he is ripe for judgment the greedy man does the very best that he can to protect himself look at it there in vest nine he set his nest on high okay i'm good i'm safe all my bank accounts all my assets it's all protecting me no what does god say look at verse 10 you sin against your own soul wow isn't that heavy that was the greedy man that jesus described in his parable in luke chapter 12. remember that guy that kept building bigger and bigger barns and what did god finally say to him god said you fool tonight your soul is required of you that man that jesus spoke about in that little parable was a man who sinned against his own soul by greed and that's what habakkuk's warning about matter of fact i like the imagery he uses here in verse 11 for the stone will cry out from the wall habakkuk pictures a beautiful house that's built by a greedy man and the very stones of the house cry out from the wall against the man's greed woe to the greedy now verse 12 woe to the violent woe to him who built a town with bloodshed who establishes a city by iniquity behold is it not of the lord of hosts that the people's labor to feed the fire and the nations weary themselves in vain for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the lord as the waters cover the sea you see the lord was not only displeased with the greedy but he also pronounced a woe against the violent and said you who build your empire through bloodshed god sees it and god will judge matter of fact he says this your violence is in vain because god will ultimately triumph and don't you love the way god describes his ultimate triumph there in verse 14 where he says for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the lord as the waters cover the sea friends think about it just for a moment how completely does water cover the sea think about that for a moment yeah wherever there's the sea there's water there okay pretty completely one day that's how completely the glory of the lord is going to cover the earth amen come quickly lord jesus that can't happen fast enough for me but what a beautiful powerful picture as the waters cover the sea so the glory of the lord will cover the earth so hey mr violent man you are violent in the face of the lord who will glorify himself in this majestic way you need to repent now verse 15 woe to the drunk woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor pressing him to your bottle even to make him drunk that you may look on his nakedness you're filled with shame instead of glory you also drink and be exposed as uncircumcised the cup of the lord's right hand will be turned against you and utter shame will be on your glory for the violence done to lebanon will cover you and the plunder of beasts which made them afraid because of men's blood and the violence of the land and the city and all who dwell in it now here the prophet habakkuk rebukes both the drunk and those who promote drunkenness they thought that alcohol would make them feel good but look at what it says here in verse 16 it says instead you are filled with shame instead of glory you know when you think about it this drunkenness intoxication whether it be from drugs or alcohol or whatever it's so true what the holy spirit said through the apostle paul in ephesians 5 18 where he called drunkenness dissipation dissipation is a great word we don't use it anymore i don't know when you've used that word dissipation and but for for something to dissipate is for it to be wasted for it to be spread about dissipation is wastefulness and that's one of the things that god says of drunkenness it's a waste it's a waste of resources it's a waste of time it's a waste of productivity it's a waste of so much it's a waste of brain cells what a waste and if you've known people who have been in the grips of addiction you can see it can't you what a waste there's old puritan commentator john trapp he spoke of drinking of the three outs i go what the three outs i like how he explained it he said you drink the ale out of the pot you drink the money out of the purse and you drink the wit out of the head that's pretty brutal isn't it so friends this is something that we need to reckon with listen i need to stand before you as a man as to the best of my ability faithful to exposing the scriptures and i cannot tell you from the scriptures that the bible has a prohibition from the consumption of alcohol but it will say this the bible definitely prohibits drunkenness and i would say this that if you as a believer if you believe honestly before the lord that you have the the freedom you have the liberty before god i won't question that but i will say this you should be conspicuous by your moderation anybody who sees you consume alcohol it should be plain to everybody that you are moderate in your use of alcohol and nowhere near intoxication conspicuous in your moderation should you feel that you have the liberty now verse 16 speaks of the cup of the lord's right hand being turned against you god says hey those who get others drunk and those who uh get drunk both the dealers and the users so to speak i've got a cup for you and it's cup of judgment now let's take a look at the last woe starting here at verse 18 woe to the idolater where we read what prophet is the image that its maker should carve it the molded image a teacher of lies that the maker of its mold shall trust in it to make mute idols woe to him who says to wood awake to silent stone arise it shall teach behold it is overlaid with gold and silver yet in it there is no breath at all but the lord is in his holy temple let all the earth keep silence before him having dealt with the greedy the violent and the drunkard now god speaks to the idolater who lives their life for material things and makes idols out of things that are lesser than the lord god who reigns in heaven and the contrast to them the rebuke is plain what you're doing is nonsensical and what you need to understand is in verse 20 but the lord is in his holy temple let all the earth keep silence before him friends i love it i love how beautifully and powerfully the lord god answered the questions of habakkuk and we need to understand when you've got questions god will bring you answers but you need to be in a place where you'll be ready to be corrected as habakkuk was because listen isn't it interesting that the answer to the questions immediately following it came the four woes are you prepared to let god tell you where you're wrong i hope so i hope when you pick up this book and read a prayer of your heart is lord where i'm wrong please show me show me through the truth of your word through the voice of your spirit right here in your word i want to know where i need to be set right that's the heart of habakkuk it's the heart of god for his people today we should thank him for it father in heaven we praise you that you are the god that answers questions from your people you're the god who justifies those who come to you by faith and you're the god who speaks honestly to us when we seek you lord i thank you that you love us enough to tell us where we're wrong and where we need to repent and where we need to make things right with you keep us in that surrendered place of heart before you bringing you honor and glory all along the way we pray this lord in the wonderful matchless name of jesus christ our savior amen [Music]