God's response telling Habakkuk He is raising up the Chaldeans/Babylonians
5 “Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you.
6 For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
7 They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.
8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.
9 All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand.
10 Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it.
11 Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god.”
Habakkuk declares he will stand at his watch post and wait to hear what God will say
1 I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
God tells Habakkuk to write the vision down plainly and wait for its appointed time
2 Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.
3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay.
the five woes against pride, unjust gain, violent builders, those who force neighbors to drink, and idolaters
5 Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.
6 Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’
7 Won’t your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim?
8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.
9 Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
10 You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.
11 For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.
12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!
13 Behold, isn’t it of Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, as the waters cover the sea.
15 “Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies!
16 You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.
17 For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.
18 “What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?
19 Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Awake!’ or to the mute stone, ‘Arise!’ Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it.
20 But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”
Habakkuk's closing prayer and song expressing trust in God no matter what the circumstances
1 A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.
2 Yahweh, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Yahweh. Renew your work in the middle of the years. In the middle of the years make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy.
3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.
4 His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.
5 Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet.
6 He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled.
8 Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation?
9 You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.
12 You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger.
13 You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. Selah.
14 You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.
15 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters.
16 I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us.
17 For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls:
18 yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
19 Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.
used as the benediction, blessing the one who trusts in the Lord, like a tree planted by water
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh.
8 For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green; and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Jeff walked through the book of Habakkuk, tracing the prophet's honest, back-and-forth wrestling with God over the violence and injustice he saw around him in Judah. The sermon's central point was that trusting God is not the same as understanding God, and that Habakkuk's prayer in chapter three shows what it looks like to arrive at genuine faith after genuine struggle.
What was said
Habakkuk opens with a raw complaint. He is watching violence and injustice pile up around him in Judah, and he cannot square what he sees with a sovereign, holy God. Pastor Jeff pointed out that this kind of honest lament before God is not faithlessness. It sounds like the psalms of lament, and it is what prayer is supposed to be: not formal language in the right order, but complete honesty with the One who is big enough to handle it.
God's first answer surprises Habakkuk, and not in a comfortable way. He tells the prophet that He is already acting, and that the action is raising up the Babylonians. Pastor Jeff read through the description of the Chaldeans: swift, fierce, proud, loyal to no one but their own military strength. This is God's instrument of judgment on His own people.
Habakkuk's second complaint follows from there. He does not simply accept the answer. He acknowledges God's sovereignty and holiness, then presses the very point that sovereignty raises: if God is too pure to look on evil, why is He letting people far more wicked than Judah swallow Judah up? Pastor Jeff said this is still prayer, not rebellion. Habakkuk plants himself on his watch post and waits to hear what God will say.
God's second word to Habakkuk is to write the vision down plainly, because it will come to pass in God's time whether or not it looks like it will. The heart of that vision is Habakkuk 2:4, that the proud soul is not upright but the righteous shall live by faith. Pastor Jeff said every one of the minor prophets comes back to the same fault line: pride versus humility. The Babylonians trusted their military. The key to Judah's survival was not matching that strength but trusting God's word.
The five-part vision of woe that follows names the specific sins God sees: accumulating what is not yours through predatory credit, building prosperity on unjust gain at the expense of the poor, founding cities on bloodshed, using strong drink to lower others' defenses and exploit them, and worshiping idols that cannot breathe or speak. Pastor Jeff drew a line from those ancient patterns to present ones, including the observation that whole economies are still built on structures God names as wrong. He also noted that what goes around comes around in God's economy, and the violence people do returns on their own heads.
Chapter three is Habakkuk's prayer after he has heard all of this, and it moves from trembling to praise. He recalls what God has done at the Red Sea and the Jordan, how the mountains shook and the nations were scattered, all of it for the salvation of His people. Pastor Jeff read it as pointing forward to Jesus, to a plan of salvation that makes no obvious human sense but that God accomplishes anyway. By the end of the prayer, Habakkuk is in a place where he can say that even if the fig tree does not blossom, even if there is nothing in the fields or the stalls, he will rejoice in the God of his salvation.
Pastor Jeff closed by naming the two things Habakkuk arrives at: God is sovereign and we do not always understand His ways, and those two things together are not a problem to solve but a ground to stand on. Habakkuk voiced every honest complaint, heard God's answers, and landed not on explanation but on trust. That, Pastor Jeff said, is what the book is finally about.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Habakkuk opens by laying out what he sees around him honestly and directly to God, complaining that violence is everywhere and justice seems paralyzed. What holds us back from praying that honestly, and what might change if we did?
God tells Habakkuk he is raising up the Babylonians, a nation more wicked than Israel, as the instrument of judgment. Has there been a time when God's answer to your prayer made things seem worse before they got better? How did you respond?
Too early. Too we are too early. No, but I'm not gonna start. Good morning, church. I am thankful that we are all here ready to worship God.
Amen? Will you please stand and let's worship God. And we are worshiping on time. Let's sing with all our hearts. Bless the Lord.
Amen? Amen. Praise the Lord.
Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Have a few announcements and a little ceremony too. What are we going do? Seeking truth in your twenties.
This is happening tonight. Out kind of behind the airport, out that direction, North Roberta Drive, that is Brian and Casey McCooey's place. Seeking truth in your twenties is for anybody who is post high school all the way up to 29 years old, this is a great group that is It's it's a great place to be. So feel free. Six to 08:30 tonight out there on North Roberta Drive off of Zenith.
That was last week, but I wanna It's still happening this week because school is happening. You can kinda know when we're gonna do I wanna by when school is scheduled or not scheduled. So we are planning on doing Awana tomorrow night. There's men's lunch study on Thursdays in the fellowship hall. Don't think you're gonna get any lunch at that lunch study but that's when it's happening.
During the lunch hour, it's great. The group is growing and we're actually considering how we might do the same type of thing at a different time. If you feel led and you can't be at that one and you want to know, we're considering how we might do that at a different, know, an earlier time or later time, so more people could be a part of that. Maybe we'll do it as a breakfast and not give you breakfast or a supper and not give you supper. Who knows?
Midnight mass, we're not sure. There's children's choir that's starting. Children's choir is starting today. So Lisa, would you like to say anything about that? Is here today to announce.
Hey. Or from right there. Use your operatic voice. Purple room, youth room, middle room, downstairs. We moved a piano in there.
It's now the music room. Okay? Alright. Thank you very much. They are absolutely qualified to be doing this, and this y'all will really enjoy it.
Kids seven through 18 are the ages. That's great. Operation Christmas Child. Nevaeh is here this morning. I saw her and she is planning on taking folks down to Denver to be in the processing center for Operation Christmas Child.
So if you want to be involved in going on that trip, would you let Nevaeh know that. Is that good? Okay. Perfect. And you all know what Operation Christmas Child is.
We've done this for years. There are boxes here and available. If you wanna fill those boxes to send, you can do that, but the time is like upon us. It is when? Tomorrow.
Tomorrow is a deadline for bringing those in. So hey, you can grab a box and some instructions and do that by tomorrow if you wanna do that. And I think that that covers the announcements part. I'm gonna invite up Josh and Stacy Diekman. Would you all come on up?
And Christina Campos and David Bacy. Oh, there they are. I was gonna say I have not locked eyes with you all yet. And Taylor and Lori, are you here this morning? They said it'd be either this week or next week.
Y'all come on up, please. And so these four have come as new want membership, become members here at First Be. And they've been coming for a while. I usually give everybody a chance if they want to say anything. So I'm gonna pass the mic.
If you'd like to say something about joining, please.
Very rarely am I without words.
It's been a long struggle for me to get here.
Lots of humbling. Had to happen to become humble, and that's not me. And it's been because of you guys. That's all I got and I'm with this cowboy.
Amen. Yeah. Amen.
My name is David Bacy and I've been coming to church here for a little over a year. And I have a lot of family that's here in the church. But since I've been coming, you guys have made me feel like this is family, and you love Jesus. And so this is what I'm calling my home church now.
Amen. Amen.
Like David said, we feel you are our family. We want to serve. We want to grow together. We want to glorify God together. And we pray we will be guided by the Holy Spirit and submitted to the authorities.
And we love you
all. Sweet. Thank you. So the in the informal version of our covenant ceremony is this. Do we have each of y'all professed your faith in Jesus Christ?
Amen. Absolutely. And I know that you have. Do each of you endeavor to follow after him and his teachings? Paying attention to the authority of his word for the rest of your lives?
Yes. And
has God led you by his spirit to become a part of this local small c church in the context of the greater capital c church. Alright. Well, if that's the case, I'm gonna ask you all, would you accept them as members of covenant members that you would covenant with them to do your best to take care of each other. Would you do that for them and would you do that for them? Our covenant as members is really under God's direction and under Christ head ship, we are to be taking care of one another.
Yeah. If that being the case, would everybody in favor say, amen. Amen. Amen. Welcome in.
And would y'all talk to him in between services? I know that y'all know each other and you love each other. But would you celebrate this day? I'm very thankful. Very, very thankful for y'all.
I love you. Alright. Would you stand? Shake their hands on their way back to the seat. We'll bring you back together with the song.
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Amen. Amen. Please, Jeff.
You guys can be seated. Not everybody here knows me. I'm Jeff Brown, and you all hired me. That's right. Best practices here at First Baptist.
Let's pray. We love you, Lord, and we thank you for this morning. It's so special to have the Dickmans and the Basies up this morning and hear their praise and worship to you and their commitment to you, Lord, to take part in this church, to serve, even to vote in the things that we vote for that are important. Lord, we're so grateful for them and we're grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this church. Lord, I know it was lonely for a long time for my family being apart and we are so so surrounded by love in this church and we are grateful.
Lord, it's all you. I ask that you would receive our worship this morning, receive our worship not only during the singing, but also during the sermon when we see your word and we respond to it in faith. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.
Praise the Lord. I love to fill the church on fire and singing and worship and feel the worship. Amen. Oh, this song. This is my song.
Cornerstone. My hope is built on nothing less. And I can stand here on this stage and worship with you all, and praising him because I believe that Jesus is the one that cover me with his blood and I'm forgiven. And as long as I live in this planet, I'm gonna work in progress. I I stand in that.
I really am standing in that. So let's worship the Lord. Amen.
Amen. Imma invite the ushers to come forward and this is the time for the worship through giving time. So, the operatory time and as they come forward, would you pray with me right where you sit? Lord God almighty, I I I pray for this time where we do give, lord, where we give up ourselves, of our time. Metaphorically, lord, all that goes into these plates, our time, our conversations, the meditations of our heart.
Lord, we're given back what you've given to us, our focus, our energy. Lord, also of our finances and resources. I pray, Lord, that you'd use all of those things to accomplish your will in this place and to the very uttermost parts. So lord, what we come together to do today is to know you and to make you known, to know your will, and follow it. In Jesus name, we ask you for your direction by the spirit and the empowerment of the spirit to accomplish what it is that you would have for us.
For those of us present here in this room and for our peoples, our families. Lord, would you direct us in the way you'd have us to go? I know that you're doing mighty things in this community and to the very outermost parts through the folks of this little c church. God, would you bless and would you direct and would you empower? We wanna be a part of plan A.
Lord, we know that there's no plan B. People who know you ministering to people who don't yet know you. In Jesus name, would you use us? Amen. Amen.
Amen. Praise the Lord. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. It's time for children's church downstairs.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Florian. Alright. So if you've been paying attention the last few weeks, we've been in a study of the minor prophets and I've been trying to kind of study all of them at the same time.
And so this week, we're going to go to Habakkuk. I did preach this service one more time. Guess when it was? 05/22/2022. I actually am just using the slides.
It's probably going be slightly different from that time but the point of Habakkuk is trusting the Lord no matter what and this is different. So, for the past few weeks, what I have been doing is standing up here and saying, Amos is saying this to Israel. He's God's mouthpiece to Israel and basically, God is scolding, rebuking, admonishing through Amos, and he's doing it to Israel. So the word of the Lord to Israel is y'all are failing in this way. And Amos said that for a couple of weeks.
And then, we went to another of the minor prophets, did the same thing. Habakkuk is a minor prophet and then his book is short. So I Obadiah last week. Obadiah gives it straight from the Lord, but to Edom, not to Israel. It's the word of the Lord for Edom and for all the nations before he gets to the end of it.
This week, it's Habakkuk who is a prophet of God, and if he prophesied to the people of Israel or to the people of Judah, he was ministering in there. If he did, that's not what is recorded in his book. Okay? I had some a friend called me yesterday and said, I met a guy today who said he does not know how to pray. Would you help teaching the family?
Yeah. I'd love to. But tomorrow, the sermon's gonna be about somebody who's praying. Habakkuk, the whole book of Habakkuk is basically a wrestling with God. Cycles of he's sharing with God and then God shares with him.
He shares with God and then God shares with him, but at the end, it ends with a prayer, trust in the Lord no matter what. Okay? And that's what we wanna get through. The wrestling that we're going into personally each of our wrestling is going to be different this morning. Some of us are wrestling with pride, some of us are wrestling with hard decisions, some of them are wrestling financially, some of us are just getting to where we see the light.
By the way, those of y'all who are seeing the light over there, if want me to close these, just give me the sign. Alright? You say close them. I'm gonna make half the congregation mad, but that's alright. I'm looking in your eyes and I'm seeing this.
Enjoy it while it lasts people. There we go. Here we go. So an introduction to Habakkuk. The man is not mentioned anywhere else outside of this book except if you've got a bell and the dragon, an apocryphal story.
If you have that memorized, Habakkuk is mentioned in there. When is he ministering? It's in Judah's last day. So the Southern Kingdom, we've got the Northern king Of Israel, Kingdom Of Israel, we've got the Southern Kingdom Of Judah, and it is in the very last of the days. It's the same basic time that the other prophets that I've mentioned so far have been ministering, and they've been excoriating Israel and Judah and Edom pretty straightforward, even sarcastic at times.
It's God's words to these people, but Habakkuk is seeing what's happening around him and he sees social oppression around him in the Southern Kingdom Of Judah, and he's struggling to believe that God's plan is the best. Now being a pastor, I have conversations a lot with people who come up to me and and when they find out, I don't usually lead off with I'm a pastor. That's not my first that's not my first go to, but if they say, oh pastor, Well, tell you what, if I get to heaven, I've got some questions when I get there. I was like, ask him now? Habakkuk did.
Ask him now. Habakkuk was struggling to believe that God's plan was best or maybe you're struggling to see that the road forward is best trusting God. Maybe I should just do this. The whole world does things this way. Why why should I be any different just because I'm a believer?
Well, here we go. The first cycle, Habakkuk speaks for four verses, and here it is. I I went with the ESV this morning. I'm not even sure why. I I don't remember why, but it's English Standard Version this morning.
The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. By the way, I redid all of these slides and I made it all the way through the whole book of Habakkuk in the New American Standard Version. And then I thought, I think I've done this before. I have in my head that I never preached from the Old Testament. I do preach from the Old Testament and I did this one.
The oracle that the Habakkuk, the prophet saw. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear? That is an honest prayer, is it not? It sounds like Psalms. It sounds like a Psalm of lament.
There are a bunch of those. We kind of skip over that part. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry out for help and you will not hear or cry out to you, violence, look around us, there's violence everywhere, and you will not save. How long will I keep on saying this? Violence right there by the way, that's the word for violence.
Hamas. Wrong. Senseless and injurious violence. That's just the word. That's the word Hamas chose.
So there it is, if you want more of that. I'll send these to you afterwards. In general, it's a rude wickedness of men. They're noisy, wild, and ruthless. Weapons of violence, witness that promotes violence and wrong, violence, everything gained by wrongdoing or violence.
It's bad. I'dly look at this wrong. Does that seem like the way it is? Destruction and violence, Hamas, again, are before me. Strife and contention arise.
That is very honest. He's seeing what he sees, and he's apparently kind of upset with God about it. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. That's up through verse four, so that's Habakkuk's part of this dialogue. For the wicked surround the righteous and justice goes forth perverted.
Okay. How many of y'all can sympathize, empathize and identify with Habakkuk? Maybe it's an every head bowed and every eye closed situation. I think all of us can, if we're honest. We see stuff going on around us and so that should not be.
Okay. So this is his. So that's Habakkuk speaks. So Lord, why don't you act basically? Injustice abounds, and he laments to a sovereign God, and he recognizes him as all powerful, but he says, why is it that you just sit there idly?
And then God speaks, look among the nations, Habakkuk, and see, wonder, and be astounded for I am doing a work in your very days that you would not believe it if I told you. Okay. How many of you all have heard this verse before? I've heard it at the beginning of a church planning movements book by David Garrison. It says, behold, I'm doing a work in your days that you would not believe it even if I told you, and it sounds so optimistic.
And it is because God knows what he's doing. But the next line says, behold, I'm raising up the Chaldeans also known as the Babylonians, that bitter and hasty nation who marched through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. I'm raising up these evil people. They're dreaded and they're fearsome and their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. They don't make their allegiances in my name.
They don't worship me. They base all of their goodness on what they think is right. That's terrible. But God is raising them up, nevertheless. Their horses are swifter than leopards.
That is terrifying. Horse faster than a leopard. It's hyperbole, but still. More fierce than the evening wolves, their horsemen press proudly on, their horsemen come from afar, they fly like an eagle, and they're swift to devour. They all come for hamas, violence.
All of their faces are forward, they gather captives like sand. It's easy for them. At kings, they scoff and at rulers, they laugh. They laugh at every fortress for they pile up earth and they take it. That's a description of a siege ramp.
Yeah. Which is the way that they took over not long after this. Then they sweep by like the wind and they go on, guilty men. I'll tell you right now, they're guilty. Whose own might is their God.
They have deified their military strength. They're not They don't belong to God, and he's very straightforward about that. But he still says, I'm raising them up. That's the answer to Habakkuk's question. What are you doing?
You don't you aren't doing anything. He says, no, I'm doing something. You wouldn't even believe it if I told you. I'm gonna tell you. And then he tells him.
So God speaks. Be amazed and astounded, Habakkuk. I am acting. I'm raising up the Babylonians, Chaldeans. So that's the first cycle.
It concludes, and then a second cycle ensues. It reminds me, you know, in Job, we have Job finally questioning God, and then God says, brace yourself, Job, like a man. I'm gonna hit you with a few questions too. So Habakkuk speaks to God again after having received this news. Now, is a prophet.
He sees it. We don't hear his report to the rest of the people, but he's hearing the other reports of the other prophets. Habakkuk speaks out to God and I I really like Habakkuk because I understand how he feels and I think y'all do too. If you're if you're paying attention, you probably understand how he feels more than you do how Amos feels. Maybe not.
Some of y'all are more like Amos. Are you not from everlasting? Oh Lord, my God, my holy one. That is claiming you're my God. I trust you, right?
He's already said, are you not, I'd already know that in the beginning, God, I've got that covered. Lord my God, my holy one, we shall not die. He's that's a couple different ways that can be taken. Either we shall not die like, surely, we're not gonna be overtaken by these Chaldeans or I know that I have a need I have a soul that's going to last forever, Lord, and I know I'm with you. We're we're not going to die.
Oh, Lord, you have ordained them as judgment, And you, O'Roc, you have established them for the reproof of your people. He's he's hinting at trust if he's not trusting him yet. He's he's saying, you're mine. I know you're eternal. I know you're sovereign.
I I trust in you. I'm not gonna lose in this situation. I'm not gonna die. You and I, lord, we're not gonna die. You've ordained them as judgment.
I get that. You have established them for reproof. You though, lord, you're you who are of purer eyes than to see evil and you cannot look at wrong. Why do you look idly at trailers, traders and remain silent? Why is it that you let it happen then?
I don't get it. He's being very honest. This is prayer. This is what prayer is. Being honest with God.
It's not trying to say all the these and the thous in the right place. It's not just memorizing a format that, you know, Jesus' disciples asked him to pray and this is how he did our father who's on him. It's not saying a vain repetition. It's being completely honest with God. Lord, I I get that we need reproof.
I see the violence in our land. That's what I was complaining about. You're raising up the Chaldeans for our punishment. I get that for our reproof, our judgment. I get that.
But you, Lord, you are purer than that. Your eyes are seeing evil. You can't even look at wrong. Why do you look at traitors and remain silent and idle when the wicked is swallowing up the man who's more righteous than he? Oh, wait a second now.
Now, he's gauging on a scale. He's saying, we're wicked. Oh, but they're really wicked. Do you all do that? I'm not as bad as that guy.
You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. You make them and you just let them do whatever. He brings all of them up with a hook, he drags them out with his net, he gathers them in his dragnet, and so he rejoices and he's glad. That's the way that these Babylonians act. They treat people like animals.
Therefore, the Babylonian doesn't sacrifice to you, God. He doesn't give you any glory whatsoever and you say you're raising him up. He should give you the glory for raising him up of what he's done. He sacrifices to his net. His military strength, he gets those fish up in a net and that's the way that he that's what he sacrifices to.
He makes offerings to his own dragnet, to his own military, for by them, he lives in luxury and his food is rich. He is living in the lap of luxury because of you and he does not give you the credit for that, Lord. That's wicked and evil and wrong and they're more wicked than we are. Is he then gonna keep on emptying his net merciful mercilessly killing nations forever? Are you just gonna let this go on forever, lord?
Babylon, I think, it was an a literal thing for the people who heard it the first time around but Babylon happens over and over and over and over again. Just as Egypt did, and Ottoman Empire did, the Roman Empire did, Babylon did. It happens over and over and over again, and military strength is something that he's fussing with him about. And then he says, this is Habakkuk still speaking in verse two one. I'm gonna take my stand on my watch post.
I'm gonna stand myself on the tower. I'm gonna look out to see what God will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint. I'm listening, Lord, for your that's prayer. It's not just one directional. It's also waiting for the response from God.
This is a modern paraphrase from that. Long time listener, first time caller, wondering what you'll have to say about all our problems and my complaints. I'll take your answer off the air. Okay. So Habakkuk speaks again.
What? In taro bang. I love this little piece of punctuation. It's kind of informal, but what? You can see it with the exclamation point and the question mark.
They're worse than we are. He describes them, and then he says, let me see what God says now. So, this is a lament. Again, a lament is okay, alright? If you lament to God, that's okay.
You might say, oh, Paul says, we're supposed to do all things without grumbling or complaining. Addressing God with what you see in your struggle whether it's sobriety or whether it's family dynamics. Hey,
If
you're trying to deal with a situation that's bigger than you, you turn to someone who's bigger than you, and God is bigger than you. And when you're not understanding, by the end of this, I hope you get to the same place that Habakkuk is. God speaks. First of all, he tells him about the judgment, and it's a five parter, a vision of woe, woe be unto you. And here it is, and the Lord answered me, write this vision down, Habakkuk.
Make it plain. Write this down. Take a little note to remind you, in case you didn't know. Write it down. Make it plain on the tablets so that the one running by can read it.
Use big letters. Okay? For still the vision awaits its appointed time. If it hastens to the end, it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it, it will surely come.
It will not delay. It will be in my time and I promise. Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright within him, but the righteous. Behold the proud, that should say.
His soul is puffed up. It is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. Write that down. Behold the proud, the king New King James. Behold the proud, his soul is not upright within him, but the just or the righteous shall live by his faith.
I say every one of the minor prophets really comes down to pride versus humility, and so if they're trusting in their own military strength, that is proud, and his soul is not upright within him, but the just shall live by his faith in me. The one who is justified is gonna live by his faith in me. Behold, his soul is puffed up, it's not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. This is a great memory verse. Habakkuk two four.
Moreover, he says, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as sheol. If some of you have struggled with alcohol before, this one just goes right out of that last verse. You can be proud and insist that you can handle it or you can be humble and say, you know what? Wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who's never at rest.
His greed is as wide as hell. It's like death, he never has enough. He gathers for himself all the nations he collects as his own all peoples. So God speaks, write down the vision, it will occur just as I've said, but the righteous one will live by faith, and then a lifestyle trust in tough times is what he's looking for, but we're in the woe. Shall not all these take up their turn against him with scoffing and riddles and say, woe to him who heaps up what is not his own, for how long?
And loads himself up with pledges. This is about credit. Oh my goodness. Our whole economy is built on credit. Usury is the old term for it.
The whole of our economic system is built on this that God is saying is wrong. Babylon was using it. He who heats up what is not his own and for how long? Exorbitant interest. He loads himself up with pledges.
Will not your debtors suddenly arise and those who awake awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoiled for them. He says, it's going to come back around Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the people shall plunder you for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to the cities, and all who dwell in them. Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm. You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples.
You have forfeited your life, for the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork will respond. Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on sin and equity. Behold, it is not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire and nations weary themselves for nothing. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. That's optimistic.
Hey, there's a silver lining in there. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord just as the waters cover the sea. That sounds like Amos when he's talking about righteousness flowing, right? Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink. You pour out your wrath and you make them drunk in order to gaze at their nakedness.
That's
that's why I changed ESV. You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. You think that you're doing this undercover, but you're not. You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink yourself and show your own our uncircumcision.
The cup in the Lord's right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory. There are lots of nefarious things that people do, and God is saying that those things for the proud will be exposed. The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you. This is speaking about Israel had done violence to Lebanon. Okay?
This is not what the Babylonians had done. Israel had been awful to Lebanon and so Israel was about to receive from Babylon what they had done to Lebanon. The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you as will the destruction of the beast that terrified them. For the blood of man and the violence are to cities and all who dwell in them. What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it?
This sounds a lot like Isaiah. A metal image, a teacher of lies for its maker trust in his own creation when he makes speechless idols. These little trinkets that people make, and we think of idols and go, that's so stupid. We have a lot of idols still. Do we not?
Yeah. Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, awake to a silent stone, arise. Can this teach? Behold, it's overlaid with gold and silver, but there's no breath in it at all. Idolatry, woe to idolaters, so God speaks.
Here we go. And then it closes out chapter two like this, but the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him. Now, you might think, oh, that's talking about prayer. I don't want to bother Jesus with this.
I don't want to bother anybody with this. He's saying, speak. Don't don't speak and no, he's not saying don't speak. He said, the Lord is in his holy temple. He's still on the throne.
He's in charge. He really is sovereign and he really is good. You might not understand what he's doing. But let all the earth keep silence before him is saying, what he says goes. Listen to him, Let all the earth keep silence.
I remember this, there's a hymn called, let all the earth keep silence. When I first got here, we had the remnants of a choir left behind. And there's a little more of a militia than a standing army, but we had this. And in the second service, we would gather those in the call to worship. The call to worship is usually something peppy, sort of like that bouncing number that we did during the offering.
And so the first service, we had a pretty raucous time. And then we came in for the second service, and I was sitting in my base section of the choir and Let all the earth keep silence. I was trembling as the pastor. He's not saying don't pray to me. He says that my word is what goes and so listen to me.
Does that make sense to you? Is that good? Let all the earth keep south. He's saying all the earth too. Now, Judah, his chosen people, they had some good kings.
Israel didn't have any good kings but Israel and Judah, God's chosen people were chosen to reach out to other nations and when it comes back to Judah is complaining to God or at least Habakkuk is complaining to God about how his own people are acting. God is not saying, he's saying, I know, but the whole earth, the whole earth is mine. I am going to accomplish my mission, and it might be in a way that you wouldn't even believe if I told you Habakkuk. So the five part vision of woe was this, big spenders, people who extend loans, and creditors collect more than they should, a lot more than they should. Unjust gain.
They're always gaining at the expense of others, particularly the poor. All of the prophets are in agreement about that that rich taking advantage of the poor is wrong. Unjust gain or unrighteous gain. Violent builders, people who found their towns on violence and bloodshed. Eventually, knowledge of the Lord's glory will fill the earth.
It will come back around on top of your head if you take advantage of others. And neighborly imbibers, this is folks who force, it says, their neighbors to accept. In in the case that's listed, strong drink and sexual immorality. Strong drink to loosen the constraints and let down the inhibitions, and then take advantage of nakedness is what it says. They force others to drink of God's wrath, and if you think of God's wrath as anger, unbridled rage, that's not what it is.
Wrath is the just condemnation of actual sin, and it's measured. Okay? It's not it's more slow to wrath is what it says that he is. He's patient, and he doesn't do anything without mentioning it to his prophets ahead of time. So this is one of those prophets.
We can take this. It'll soon be their turn to drink from it because what goes around comes around, and foolish idolaters. Idols are worthless. Idols are anything that take the place of God in your life. If the Google machine is more important to you than God is.
I saw something recently where they said, if we treated our Bibles the way we treat our phones, and you can see a guy wakes up in the morning, he'll start, he reaches over for his Bible. And that to us sounds kinda ridiculous. Well, then has this taken the place of that? Oh, but I do that to check my Bible app. Maybe.
It's possible to do that. Just saying, that's one of them. It's not overlaid with gold or silver, just a case so that I don't break it. It's like Isaiah says, you build something out of stone, you cover it in silver or gold, and then you have to slip a shim under to keep from falling over and then you bow down and worship it. So, next verse, the Lord is in his holy temple.
He's there and he's listening and he's in charge. Being reverent before God and asking and Habakkuk was, lord, violence all around me. Yep. That's true and I'm answering that. I'm doing something about it but lord, you can't even look on evil.
You're right. I can't. Woe be unto all these people that are doing these things no matter where they are, the whole earth, every everybody, I see em and then we get to chapter three and all of this is a prayer. It's a prayer. Maybe a song but a prayer from Habakkuk.
It's a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet according to Shigenath. I don't know who Shigenath is, but he heard this prayer and wrote it down apparently. Oh Lord, I have heard the report of you and your work, oh Lord, Do I fear? I am reverent before you and I'm listening and I do get it. In the midst of the years, revive it.
In the midst of the years, make it known. In wrath, Lord, remember mercy. Ain't that an honest prayer? Lord, I deserve it. I deserve your wrath.
But in your wrath, Lord, would you remember mercy? And he does. He does. Right? God came from Teman.
We mentioned a couple weeks ago that that was out of Edom. God came from Teman and the holy one from Mount Paran. Selah, think on that. God comes in in unexpected places. Think on that for a minute.
His splendor covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise. His brightness was like the light. This is the same guy who was saying, violence, violence all around me. And now he's saying, the vision that I have is that God's splendor has covered the heavens and that earth is full of his praise. There are people who are trusting in him.
His brightness was like the light rays flashed from his hand. This sounds like God on top of Sinai or sounds like Micah. It sounds like Nahum. It sounds like a few of the other prophets where there's power is obvious. Rays are flashing from his hand, but there he veiled his power.
Before him went pestilence and plague followed at his heels. He stood and he measured the earth. He looked and he shook the nations. Then the eternal mountains were scattered. The everlasting hills sank low.
His were the everlasting ways. He is sovereign God. He is all powerful, and if you think that you've got a question or two for him, your vision is obscured. Now, you can question him and he will answer you that he is taking care because the great reversal is coming. That great and mighty day of the Lord, where just like how in the world are the Hebrews gonna get out of Egypt?
There's no way. How in the world are they gonna get across the Red Sea? There's no way. How in the world are they gonna get across that river? There's no way.
God is the way. Trusting in him is the way. His ways are the everlasting ways. I saw the tents of cushion and affliction, the curtains of the land of many and did tremble. Was your wrath against the rivers, oh Lord?
Was your anger against the rivers or your indignation against the sea? When you rode on horses, on your chariot of salvation? No. He was looking out for people. You stripped the sheath from your bow calling for many arrows.
You're powerful Lord. You split the earth with rivers, the mountains saw you and they writhed. The raging waters swept on, the deep gave forth its voice. It lifted its hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped at the flash of your glittering spear.
You are Almighty God. You can help me today to stay away from booze. You are Almighty God. I can sit and forbear an offense. I can sit and bear with someone that I disagree with without having to shout them down.
I can sit with this decision and trust you. Commit my work to the Lord and my thoughts will be established. You march through the earth in fury, you thrash the nations in anger, you went out, why? For the salvation of your people, For the salvation of your anointed. I think that should be a capital a.
I think that that's for Jesus. You saved him from death. He voluntarily gave his life which to us might not be the way that it seems right, but the way that seems right to man is often the path of destruction. You went out for the salvation of your people, God, for the salvation of your capital a, anointed for Jesus. You saved Jesus from death.
You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. That's a vulnerable position. Think on that. Selah. You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors.
Sowing and reaping comes up a lot in the prophets. If by pride, you take advantage of another, it is coming back on you in Babylon and in every Babylon since. You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors who came like a whirlwind to scatter me rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret. You trampled the sea with your horses and the surging of mighty waters. I hear and my body trembles, lord.
My lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones and my legs tremble beneath me. Yet, I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon the people who invade us. You know why, Lord? Because I trust you no matter what.
In the midst of all kinds of battles we're going through, whether they be physical, emotional, or spiritual, I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon the others, Lord, because I'm putting my trust in you and I will be vindicated by my simple and humble trust in you. Though the fig tree should not blossom, doesn't matter, Nor fruit be on the vines, doesn't matter. The produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, starving to death, doesn't matter. Though the flock be cut off from the fold, though there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
I trust you, Lord, no matter what. Yeah, it seems bad. And I voiced that to you and your answer was, I got this. I trust you, Lord. I think that's the last lie because I keep clicking it, nothing else is happening.
It's not? Does it keep going okay? Good. Here we go. God, the Lord is my strength.
He's the one who makes my feet like the deer's feet. He's the one who makes me tread on high places. And then it says to the choirmaster with stringed instruments. Remember the children's choir practice is starting in a minute downstairs. I fear your report but in wrath, remember mercy.
Judgement against the nations and the salvations of all of God's people and they had a limited view of that. They were looking forward to that great mighty day of the Lord. They were we're still looking forward to that ultimate vindication but what they're looking forward to is Jesus. Jesus on the cross, crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected is the plan of salvation. Lord, that doesn't make any sense to me, but I trust you.
I don't understand how the death of a first century Jew and the resurrection of a first century Jew can make a difference to me in The United States Of America in 2025, but I trust you. That's the answer. Resignation to God's purpose. I must wait for the day of the Lord. I'm a humbly trust, and I'll trust in God despite all the circumstances.
So here are the applications. God is sovereign. Now, there are half of you in the room that say, I can't stay in Calvinism. Don't even mention that. God is sovereign.
It's absolutely claimed and you are responsible. It's absolutely acclaimed. Okay? So if God is sovereign, do we live like it? He tells us the way that we should live our life.
The way of the world makes more sense because we live in the world. Unjust gain, I'm not going to do that because you say don't do that, lord. God is sovereign. He's told us to trust him. If we trust him, we will live like he is going to make it right.
God is sovereign. Do we live like it? We don't always understand God ways. Can I get an amen? Yeah.
We don't always understand God's ways. We must trust the Lord no matter what, and that's what Habakkuk comes down to. It's a very honest prayer, and it's a very honest response with God. It's above your pay grade, Ray. You don't understand and you don't need to.
You just need to trust me. That's it. Would you all stand and we have a closing song, But if your kids wanna get down there to choir, I understand. Oh, they're down. They're down there.
Hey. You don't even have to worry about that. Most of them are down there. If you're up here and you wanna be down there, go. Except for Lisa.
The word of God is so good. Amen? Touches our hearts. And and I'm glad. I'm glad that we have New Testament where we have the grace.
I'm glad we also have the Old Testament where it shows what happened so we can learn from their life. But we trust Jesus. Amen? And we trust God. This again, sir, the song Oh, yeah.
Works perfectly with your sermon. I didn't plan that.
Benediction, Old Testament style from Jeremiah 17 today, but blessed is the one who trust in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree that's planted by water that sends out roots by the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes. Its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and it never fails to bear fruit.
I pray lord that that's the way that you'd make us like trees planted by water. In Jesus name, we pray that you'd fill us with your spirit and that we would be in some way responsible, lord. For others coming to know who you are. In Jesus name, by your spirit, thank you for the will of the father. Amen.
