Habakkuk - Part 6

Moore's Corner Church

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Habakkuk - Part 7

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Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

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Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

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D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's Word through the ministries of the local church.

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If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

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Open in your Bibles to the book of Habakkuk, Habakkuk chapter 2. Most of you should be able to find that by now.

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As you're turning there, let me give a brief review of what we've seen so far.

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The nation of Judah, we talked about this in the first message, that the nation of Judah had experienced a time of reformation and turning back to God under the reign of King Josiah.

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But after King Josiah died, the nation started to slide back to her old ways of idolatry.

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And the nation of Judah forsook the Lord. So the prophet Habakkuk sees all of this and it causes him to wonder, why

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God aren't you doing anything about this? Because he sees within his nation violence, plunder, strife, lawlessness, and perverse judgments.

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And all of this causes him to ask that first question. You remember what he said? He said,

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Oh Lord, how long? How long shall I cry out to you and you will not answer?

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Well, the Lord did answer and he responded by telling the prophet that he would do a work in his day and he would rise up a nation against Judah, the

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Chaldeans, the Babylonians. So God's people would be judged, essentially, by a nation more wicked than they.

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And that caused even more confusion from the prophet where he asked his second question, which was essentially, well,

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God, how can you do that? How is that just? And let's pick up where we ended last week.

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This is after Habakkuk's second question. Look at chapter 2, starting in verse 1. He says,

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I will stand my watch, Habakkuk speaking. He says, I will set myself on the rampart or the watchtower and I will watch to see what he will say to me and what

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I will answer when I am corrected. And the Lord spoke to him in verse 2.

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The Lord answered and said to me, write the vision and make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it.

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And we said that this prophecy would be accessible to the people that whoever passed by these tablets, which were likely hung in public, they could read through the message, absorb it, and then spread it to others.

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And he continues, for the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it will speak and it will not lie, though it tarries.

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Wait for it, because it will surely come. It will not tarry.

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And then we read that great verse, verse 4, the verse the Apostle Paul quoted in the

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New Testament, we believe, three times to teach his doctrine of salvation by faith apart from works.

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Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 4. He says, behold the proud. His soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith.

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So that catches us up to begin this week's study in the remainder of chapter 2.

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Now look at verse 5. In verse 5, the Lord compares the Chaldeans, the

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Babylonians, he compares them because they were proud, their souls were not upright in them.

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The Lord compares them to what? Death and hell, and that they are never satisfied.

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The Chaldeans, the Babylonians, were never satisfied. Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 5.

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Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, he is a proud man and he does not stay home because he enlarges his desire as hell.

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And he is like death and cannot be satisfied. He gathers to himself all nations and heaps up for himself all peoples.

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The Lord then pronounces five woes upon the

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Babylonians in anticipation of their eventual destruction.

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One commentator, before we get into that, one commentator says this, that verses 6 through 20, we see something like a song.

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Five stanzas of three verses each, five woes being directed at five different classes of evildoers.

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The Lord, in responding, he calls it a taunting riddle, a taunting riddle, where the

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Lord is taunting his enemies. Verses 6 through 8 speak of extortion.

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Verses 9 through 11, covetousness. Verses 12 through 14 is directed at those who are ruthless in their dealings.

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Verses 15 through 17 addresses the sin of debauchery. And then verses 18 through 20, idolatry.

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But before we go through those verses, let's spend a moment on verse 5. I think this is a very important passage.

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The Chaldeans, the proud men, the proud man enlarges his desire as hell.

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What does that mean? And he is like death and cannot be satisfied. He gathers to himself all nations and heaps up for himself all peoples.

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This is reminiscent of a verse from the book of Proverbs. Proverbs, you can make a note of this.

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Proverbs 27 verse 20 says, hell and destruction are never full.

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So the eyes of man are never satisfied.

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What's he saying here? Well, people who are given over to their sinful desires, they're insatiable.

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They can't be satisfied. It's never enough. No matter how much they have, it's never enough.

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The comparison is made with death and hell because no matter how many people die, it's never enough.

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The grave is never satisfied. Hell is never full. If permitted, people would continue to die.

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The grave would eat up everybody. In Proverbs 30 verse 16, it talks about how the fire never says enough.

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Now we're country folk, right? We live out here in the country and we know what a bonfire is.

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Our friends in the city, maybe they've never experienced that. Most of us probably have. Can you put enough wood on a bonfire?

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Has anyone ever said, yeah, it went out. We just put too much wood on it. It doesn't work like that. The more you put on, it'll keep burning forever.

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The more you feed it, the more it will burn. It's never satisfied. The fire never says enough.

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You remember what Jesus said about hell in Mark 9 43? He said, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.

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For it is better for you to enter into life maimed rather than having two hands to go to hell into the fire that shall, what?

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Never be quenched. So hell is never satisfied. The grave is never satisfied.

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Just as the sinful desires of man, man given over to his sin, he's never satisfied.

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So that's what the prophet is saying there. And you know, this is the deception of sin. This is the deception of sin because sin, let's face it, sin brings what it brings pleasure.

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But the pleasure is only for a season. It doesn't last. It doesn't satisfy, which leaves a person only wanting more.

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So what do they do? They keep pursuing that thing over and over until one day they realize

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I am now enslaved. I have become a slave to this sin.

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So this is the lie of Satan that if you do this, if you acquire that, if you pursue this thing, it'll make you happy.

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It'll make you content. You'll be satisfied. But is that true? It is not true.

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So what were the Chaldeans guilty of? Driven by pride and lust, they wanted more.

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More power, more territory, more money. And in verse 5 says he gathers to himself all nations and heaps up for himself all peoples.

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World domination was their goal, just as that is the goal of some nations today.

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They want to rule the world. And the more land, the more people groups they take over, it's never enough.

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Then they're just on to the next thing. And the Chaldeans, they did form an empire, didn't they? And I just was looking this up.

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I think it's helpful to know. We hear this term repeated a lot, empire. So the dictionary defines the word empire as an extensive group of states or countries under a single supreme authority.

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And I'd like you at this point to turn to the book of Daniel chapter 4. So this prophecy of Habakkuk is dealing with Babylon.

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And I just want to fill in some of the gaps with the story of Babylon. Because the

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Lord is talking about their destruction. So we're gonna skip ahead in time a little bit and talk about Babylon and their destruction.

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So we have a well rounded understanding of what is happening and what will happen.

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Babylon did form an empire. Matter of fact, they had the greatest empire the world had ever seen up until this point.

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And under the king, the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar, when he had it all, when

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Babylon finally reached their peak power, remember what Nebuchadnezzar did?

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What did he do? Did he thank God for all that God had done and gave God the glory?

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No, far from it. He boasted in his own accomplishments. He failed to give God the glory.

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And what did the Lord do? He punished him by causing the king to lose his mind.

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Daniel chapter 4, starting in verse 28. All this came upon the king, came upon King Nebuchadnezzar.

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At the end of the 12 months, he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. And the king spoke, saying, is this not great

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Babylon, which I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?

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You can see what he was focused on. And while the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven.

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King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken. The kingdom has departed from you and they shall drive you from men.

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In your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen, and seven times shall pass over you until you know that the

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Most High rules in the kingdom of men. Let me read that again.

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Until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he chooses.

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In that very hour, the word was fulfilled concerning Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men and ate grass like oxen.

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And his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair had grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.

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Remember what Habakkuk 2 verse 4 says? You could say that of Nebuchadnezzar.

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Behold the proud. That's what it gets you. Behold the proud.

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His soul is not upright in him. And that's verse 4. And then starting in verse 5,

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Habakkuk 2, the Lord begins to pronounce judgments or woes. So go ahead and turn back to Habakkuk chapter 2.

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But we can see in this passage that what? God hates pride. God hates pride.

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Nebuchadnezzar had everything. You know, what is that statement by Jesus? What does it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and yet lose his own soul?

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Well, what would it profit you if you gained everything but lost your mind?

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Behold the proud. That is their fate. And remember the question from Habakkuk.

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It was, Lord, how can you use Babylon to punish your people, the nation of Judah?

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The Jews are in sin. That's true. Habakkuk acknowledged that. The Jews are in sin, but Babylon is so much worse.

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How can you use them? How can you prosper them? And what's the answer?

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Ultimately, it was for Judah's correction. Proverbs 3, 11 and 12.

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Because God loves his people, therefore he corrects his people. A good parent corrects or punishes their children.

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Why? Because they love them. Proverbs 3, 11 and 12. My son do not despise the chastening of the

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Lord nor detest his correction. For whom the Lord loves, he corrects.

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Just as a father, the son, or you could say the daughter, in whom he delights.

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Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornett Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website,

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MorrisCornettChurch .com. And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.