God's Counsel to the Prophet's Complaint

Lord, we come before you this morning. We approach your throne of grace. We come with questions and with concerns. We come, Lord, having faced the challenges of the week, even the month or even the year, and we come to you, Lord, with, challenges that are on the horizon facing us, Lord, and.

we, we just come before you, Lord, and, and we want to unload our burdens onto you, and we come to you, Lord, beyond all of these things, Lord, with our own struggles, with our own indwelling sins, Lord, and, so we come to you, Lord, and we are mindful this morning of the fact that you give command to us to approach your throne of grace with boldness, and I pray, Lord, that you would help me, help all of us collectively, Lord, to come before you and help us, Lord, even as we have sung to behold you, help us, Lord, to see Jesus, Lord, may it be that, the prayer of our heart is that at the end of the day, Lord, all that we want is Christ.

We want Christ and Christ alone. Lord, reveal yourself to us through your word. Help me, Lord, to minister your word to your people and help your people, Lord, to receive, help them, Lord, to look beyond me and to behold you and to hear you through your word speak.

To them, God, give grace. We thank you for Christ whose blood was bled on the cross in our place so that Lord, through faith in Him and through his finished work alone, Lord, we have salvation and we have been dressed up in your righteousness, Lord, and there is no condemnation for those of us that are in Christ Jesus and so, so yes, Lord, we, we come before. You, Lord, with boldness and in the name of Jesus, we pray, Lord, that you might bless our time. I pray, Lord, that if there's anyone here who has yet to put their trust in you, Lord, that you would have mercy on them, Lord, that You would cause light to shine in the darkness, and that Lord, you would cause them, Lord, to, to be able to see you, Lord, and that Lord, they would come to faith in you and that you would give new life, Lord.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. when the report is not what you wanted to hear, how should you respond? When the tsunami of suffering lays siege to your soul, how can you survive?

when faced with a fiery ordeal, how do you keep from being burned by the flame? Perhaps you are here this morning and you feel the onslaught of waves crashing against you and, and you fear you are no longer able to hold your ground. Your strength is failing and you are beginning to sink and you feel like you are about to drown, and perhaps you are facing a fiery ordeal, a trial of some sort, and, and you feel the heat of the flames brushing up against your skin. You think you are unable to handle the heat and, and you fear that your faith will falter.

What are you to do when the tsunamis of suffering and the flames of the fiery ordeal come knocking at your door and threaten to do you harm? Throughout the book of Habakkuk we discover answers to these questions. They may not be the answers we hope for, but they are the answers that come to us from a good and gracious God who knows what is best for us. The book of Habakkuk is designed to instruct, encourage, and strengthen us as we live life by faith in a fallen world that is marked by sin and suffering.

Today we come to the 2nd of 3 messages from the book of Habakkuk. On January 1st of this year, we journeyed through chapter 1. The message was entitled The Complaints of a Faithful Prophet. In chapter 1, the prophet approaches Yahweh with his complaint.

Beginning in verse 2, Habakkuk cries out, verse 2 of chapter 1, How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and thou wilt not hear? I cry to thee, Violence, yet thou dost not save. Why dost thou make me see iniquity and cause me to look upon wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me.

Strife exists and contentions arise. Therefore, the law is ignored and justice is never upheld, for the wicked surround the righteous. Therefore, justice comes out perverted. The northern kingdom consisting of 10 tribes has already been conquered by the Assyrians.

For the time being, the two tribes of the southern kingdom remain, but the kingdom is in disarray. There is sin in the camp. God's word is being ignored, and to back it comes to the Lord with his complaint. The Lord hears Habakkuk's complaint, and he provides a response.

Yahweh plans to raise up the fierce Chaldeans to lay siege to the southern kingdom. The Chaldeans, also known as the Babylonians, will bring swift destruction to the southern kingdom. The situation will go from bad to worse, and this is not the answer that Tabakkuk is looking for. And so what does one do when the Lord chooses to execute a plan that is not in his own playbook?

And how does the man of God respond when the Lord brings trying times his way? Habakkuk takes a step back and he puts his burden in proper perspective. In verses 12 through 13A of chapter 1, he beholds his God and he rehearses truths about God. He reminds himself of, of who God is.

He beholds. The transcendent, almighty, everlasting, self-existing, personal, holy, one and only faithful sovereign, strong, reliable, secure, protective, correcting, pure and pristine God of the universe, and to back it derives a measure of strength. Though Habakkuk is strengthened, he is left with a question. Beginning in verses 13B through 17, he begs the question, Why dost thou look with favor on those who deal treacherously?

Why art thou silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they? Why hast thou made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things without a ruler over them? The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook, drag them away with their net, and gather them together in their fishing net. Therefore, they rejoice and they are glad.

Therefore, they offer a sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their fishing net because through these things their catch is large and their food plentiful. Will they therefore empty their net and continually slay nations without sparing? Habakkuk's burden, his concern is that Yahweh is raising up an extremely wicked people to bring misery and destruction to a less wicked people, the people of God no less. The Lord is raising up the dreaded Chaldeans to swallow up those more righteous than they.

And this is how the chapter ends. Habakkuk begins by questioning the Lord's failure to hear his prayer for the good of God's people. The Lord responds by saying he is listening and he's raising up the Chaldeans who will bring destruction to the southern kingdom. Then Habakkuk steps back, contemplates truths about the Lord, derives strength, and then engages the Lord with a question that is more troubling to him than the first question.

Why are you silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they? Will they therefore empty their net and continually slay nations without sparing? At this point, we wonder, what is there left for Habakkuk to do. The Lord has made it clear that the Chaldeans will sweep through the kingdom and bring destruction.

There will be times of trial and tribulation. Loved ones will be executed. Habakkuk is troubled by what he hears from the Lord. He bears his burden to the Lord, and we are left waiting to see.

What happens next? Is there a step that Habakkuk takes? Does the Lord respond to the prophet's complaint? What does the prophet do?

How does the Lord respond? We find answers to these questions in chapter two, and such answers should serve to strengthen and sanctify us as we navigate our way through this fallen world. I am entitling my message, God's counsel to the prophet's complaint or God's response to the prophet's complaint. Chapter 2 begins with Habakkuk positioning himself to receive God's response, and we see this in verse 1 where the prophet says, I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart, and I will keep watch to see what he will speak to me and how I may reply when I am reproved.

The prophet is unwavering in his commitment to Yahweh. He knows he needs a word from the Lord, and rather than retreat from Yahweh in view of the devastation to come, he leans into the Lord. He is not running from the Lord. Rather, he puts himself in a place where he will see what the Lord promises to do, and he will hear what the Lord has to say.

Habakkuk demonstrates great faith in the Lord. He believes in a God who speaks. He is prepared to hear what may be difficult for him to hear. He is ready to be reproved.

The word speaks of rebuke, correction, and or chastisement. Habakkuk is not shying away from the Lord, getting in his grill and reproving him. But is that how the Lord responds? Let us find out as we consider God's response or God's counsel to the prophet's complaint.

We will wrap this message around 5 responses from God to the complaints of the prophet. Let us begin with response number 1. God commands the prophet to take note of his plan. God commands the prophet to take note of his plan.

We see this in verse 2. Then the Lord answered me and he said, Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets that the one who reads it may run. The Lord responds to the prophet's complaint at this point should not go unnoticed. We are free to approach our God with those things that concern us.

we can bring our questions and concerns to the throne of God's grace. And in our passage we discover a God who listens and responds. Habakkuk declares that the Lord answered me, and he said, earlier in chapter one, Habakkuk complains, How long, oh Lord, will I call for help, and you will not hear? But here in chapter 2, verse 2, we learned that the Lord answered, and he said.

The Lord listened to Habakkuk, and in due time he spoke. His word came in the form of a command. He says, Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets. The Lord Yahweh wants Habakkuk to take note of his plan.

Habakkuk is not to be ignorant of what the Lord intends to do. And to back it is to record God's plan so that others may know of the plan and run to tell others. God intends for messengers to communicate his message. Our God is not leaving the world in the dark.

The light of God's truth is revealed, and the Lord commands Habakkuk to record his plan so that others would run to make his plan known. While the Lord's plan has already been revealed in part in chapter one, He will elaborate upon His plan with further detail, further explanation, further response to Habakkuk's question throughout chapter two. But before we get there, the Lord wants it to be known that he will follow through with his plan. We see this as we come to response number 2.

God promises to execute his plan in His time. God promises to execute His plan in His time. Look at verse 3. For the vision is yet for the appointed time.

It hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail, though it tarries. Wait for it, for it will certainly come. It will not delay. The Lord makes it clear His plan will unfold according to His appointed time.

This speaks of God's absolute sovereignty over the affairs of man, along with His faithfulness to execute His plan. God will do what He chooses to do according to His own timetable. And if he says he will do something, he will do it. Regarding God's plan, he declares it hastens toward the goal.

It will not fail, though it tarries wait for it, for it will certainly come. It will not delay in a way, the Lord is saying, believe me. Brothers and sisters, let us be reminded of the fact our Lord is faithful to His word. He is faithful to His word.

We can trust in Him, and we do well to take Him at His word, to, to trust in His precious promises that He in His word has given to us and to walk by faith and not by sight. Unfortunately, not everyone believes in, not everyone trusts in the word of the Lord, and this brings us to God's third response to the prophet's complaint. Response number 3, God presents two types of people to Habakkuk. God presents two types of people.

In chapter 2, verse 4, we read, behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him. But the righteous will live by his faith. Here God first presents the proud person. He is the independent, self-sufficient, boastful, and arrogant one.

He lives as if the world revolves around him. He thinks highly of himself, and he justifies all of his actions. The proud one represents the wicked Chaldeans who sweep through and exercise dominion over all that they conquer. The manifestations of pride are numerous, and we will read about such manifestations as we advance through the chapter.

In contrast to the proud one, God presents what I am calling the humble one, and this is implied by the contrasting conjunction. But in contrast to the proud one, there is the humble one, and the text says, but the righteous will live by faith. The humble one is described three ways. He is righteous.

He lives. He puts his trust, he puts his faith in Yahweh. It is important we understand that those God considers righteous are those who live by faith in the Lord in Yahweh. The right standing before the Lord comes through faith in the Lord.

When one believes in the Lord, he is then declared to be righteous in His holy sight. His righteousness is imputed. It comes from outside of himself. It is not intrinsic to him.

But it comes from one outside of himself. Through his faith in Yahweh, the humble man has life and he is declared to be righteous through his faith in the Lord. This passage is mentioned three times in the New Testament. In Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and again in Hebrews 10:37 through 39.

And we will consider those passages later in this sermon. For now it is enough for us to understand God presents two types of people the proud man who is condemned in his sin and the righteous one who lives by faith. And incidentally, there are in fact only two types of people in this fallen world. There are the proud ones, and there are the humble ones.

There are those who are in their transgression and sin, and those who have been set free from their sin. there are those who walk in darkness, those who walk in light, those who are outside of Christ, and those who are in Christ, two types of people, you are either in his kingdom. Or in his kingdom. What by that is, is you are either in the kingdom of the evil one or the kingdom of the Lord.

There, there's just, those are the only two options. There were only 2. So what the Lord does at this point is he swings back in his address of the proud one, and, and we see this as we unpack the Lord's fourth response to Habakkuk's complaint. Response 4, God passes judgment on the wicked, and most of the text, most of the chapter is committed to God's judgment upon the wicked.

So there's a lot of judgment that is happening at this point. God is a holy God, and He takes sin seriously. He does not wink at sin. He does not sweep it under the rug.

He assures Habakkuk the Chaldeans will not escape the consequences for their sin, and what a relief for Habakkuk to hear that from the Lord. Sin is serious, and God's judgment comes in the form of five woes that will be cast upon the Chaldeans. Well, let us consider each of God's. Woes as he passes judgment on the wicked Chaldeans.

First, God pronounces woe to the greedy, and there are different ways that you can unpack this. I understand that, but just roll with me, please. He pronounces woe to the greedy, and we see this beginning in verse 5. Let me read.

Furthermore, wine betrays the haughty man, the proud man, so that he does not. Stay at home. He enlarges his appetite like Shiol, and he is like death. He is never satisfied.

He also gathers to himself all nations, and he collects to himself all peoples. Will not all of these take up a taunt song against him, even mockery and insinuations against him, and say, woe to him who increases what is. Not his for how long and makes himself rich with loans will not your creditors rise up suddenly and those who collect from you awaken indeed you will become plunder for them because you have looted many nations. All the remainder of the peoples will loot you because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, to the town, and all of its inhabitants.

While we cannot conclude from this passage that drinking wine is sinful, we see clearly that wine comes with a warning. In this passage, wine betrays the haughty or the proud man. He drinks and then struggles with contentment. He is not happy to stay at home.

Instead, he leaves home in search of what he does not have sometimes. The launching pad for future sin centers around alcohol and discontentment in the home. Such a man in our passage is given over to greed. His appetite for the forbidden grows.

Even if he gets what he seeks. He is not satisfied. He wants more. He is on a quest to get more.

He gathers to himself what does not belong to him. Greed grabs hold of his heart. But the Lord makes it clear that this proud haughty man will be met with a taunt song that is sung by those he has oppressed and has taken advantage of. The haughty man will end up being mocked and having woe pronounced against him.

This proud and greedy man has sought to make himself rich with loans, but his greed will come back to bite him. He will reap what he has sown. His creditors will in time come after him to collect what he has. Borrowed, he will become plunder for his creditors.

In the end, the greedy man will pay the price for his idolatry. His love of money and ill-gotten gain that accompanies it will eventually be his ruin. And the woe declared through human lips reflects the Lord's attitude toward the greedy Chaldeans. Let us now move to the second woe.

God pronounces woe to the unjust. God pronounces woe to the unjust. We read this beginning in verse 9. Woe to Him who gets evil gain for his house, to put his nest on high, to be delivered from the hand of calamity.

You have devised a shameful thing for your house by cutting off many people, so you are sinning against yourself. Surely the stone. Will cry out from the wall and the rafter will answer it from the framework. Here we have a reference to the unjust who through evil gain advance in life by taking advantage of others.

In his greed for gain, the wicked employ injustice, and this is what the Chaldeans were guilty of. They pillaged those they conquered, including the poor, for their own personal gain. They took advantage of others to improve their own livelihood. They sought gain for their own household, which includes their home and their family.

Such men wanted to put his nest on high to be delivered from the hand of calamity. They are motivated by security and safety. They fear any calamity or harm coming their own way. But they have no problem with the struggles of others.

In fact, they are the source of struggle for others. They who avoid calamity bring calamity upon those that they hurt and conquer. Out of the overflow of this selfish greed, the wicked and oppressive Chaldeans take advantage of others. They are unjust and the Lord pronounces woe upon them.

God's judgment upon the unjust Chaldeans is further revealed as He declares, You are sinning against yourself. Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, and the rafter will answer it from the framework. In their unjust treatment of others, the Chaldeans are sinning against themselves, and the materials that they have robbed others of to build their own homes will cry out against them. God's judgment upon the unjust Chaldeans is clear.

And so we now turn to the third woe. God pronounces woe to the arrogant. God pronounces woe to the arrogant or to the proud. And again, all of these woes are directly applied to the Chaldeans for the purpose of Habakkuk being encouraged.

And God does not wink at sin. Verse 12 reads, Woe to Him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with violence. Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts that people toil for fire and nations grow weary for nothing, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. In verse 12, God's woe is directed toward the one who stops at nothing to build his city and founds his towns.

His greedy and unjust ways of treating others overlap into his determination, not just. To build his own home, but to erect his own city and town, his desire for conquest is marked by blood and violence. Such a one stops at nothing to erect his own little dominion, his own little kingdom. But despite all of his efforts, he will fail.

The text tells us that it is from the Lord of hosts that people toil for fire and nations grow weary for nothing. In other words, the Lord will not allow man in his arrogance to experience ease in his efforts. He will toil, and what he toils for may come back to burn him. He will grow weary, and in the end he will wear himself out for nothing.

Such toil and weariness are from the Lord and designed to put man in his proper place. Man can put forth his best efforts at establishing his own rule and his own reign. He can seek self glory, but all of his efforts will ultimately fail, for the text goes on to declare that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as waters cover the sea. Implied in this verse is the fact that the earth is not presently filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, but that day will come.

In Numbers 14:21, the Lord declares to Moses, But indeed as I live, all of the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. Again implied is the idea that the earth is not presently filled with the glory of the Lord. But that day will come. In Isaiah chapter 6, in the year that King Uzziah, the great king, died, the prophet Isaiah saw a vision of the Lord seated on his throne, and he heard the fiery one, Seraphim, crying out, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory. This eschatological vision involves a future day when the whole earth would be completely and entirely filled with the glory of God. Brothers and sisters, that day will come. We are reminded afresh there is one king.

There is one Lord. Earthly kings will rise and fall, but there remains one who sits on his throne and who will reign throughout eternity as the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. Babylonian kings may seek to establish their rule, but they will in due time come to realize that their reign is but for a short time at best, and we see this illustrated later in Babylonian history before the empire completely falls. The proud, arrogant, prosperous King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 4 verse 29, he's walking atop the roof of his royal palace of Babylon, Babylon, and as he gloried in all of his accomplishments, listen to what he says, to what he declares to himself.

Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of My Majesty? Do you detect the pride? Do you hear the arrogance? Well, the text tells us it goes on to say that while the word was in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven saying, King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared sovereignty has been removed from you, and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will be with the beast of the field.

You will be given grasp. Eat like cattle, and 7 periods of time will pass over you until you recognize, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever he wishes. Do you hear the grace of God speaking to Nebuchadnezzar in his efforts to bring Nebuchadnezzar to the place he needed to be. Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled, and he was driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles's feathers and his nails like birds' claws.

Sometimes God needs to bring difficulties into our life in order to wake us up. And then we read in verse 34, but at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, and here he is giving to us as it were his own personal testimony. He wants it to be said in his own words for us to hear, says, I raised my eyes towards heaven. And my reason returned to me.

And I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever. For his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but he does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no one can ward off his hand or say to him, What hast thou done? At that time, Nebuchadnezzar says, my reason returned to me, and my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom, and my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out, so I was reestablished in my sovereignty and surpassing greatness was added to me.

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and honor the King of Heaven, for all His works are true and His ways are just, and He is able to humble those who walk in pride.

What an encouragement to know. That God is more than able to bring humble, humbling into our lives that we might be right with Him. He is able to humble those who walk in pride even as he did with King Nebuchadnezzar. Fortunately for King Nebuchadnezzar, he came to his senses, and herein we see the grace of God utilizing the wickedness of the Babylonians to save such men as King Nebuchadnezzar.

But woe. Woe to any man who in his arrogance dares to establish his own reign and fails to acknowledge the one and only true and mighty king of the universe. The Protestant reformers proclaimed solely deo gloria to God alone be glory, and in that they're merely quoting from the word of God and forbid it that we should ever in our arrogance declare anything other than to God alone be glory. So we now turn to the 4th woe revealed to us in verse 15.

God pronounces woe to the sexually seductive. God pronounces woe to the sexually seductive. Read with me beginning in verse 15. Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, who mix in your venom even to make them drunk, so as to look on their nakedness, you will be filled with disgrace rather than honor.

Now you yourselves drink and you expose your own nakedness. The cup in the Lord's right hand will come around to you and. Other disgrace will come upon your glory, for the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you and the devastation of its beasts by which you terrified them because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, to the town, and to all of its inhabitants. Here again, as in the first woe, we see the warning that comes with alcohol.

In this passage, alcohol is described as venom or it is mixed in. With venom for drunkenness and in sensual sin takes place. The wicked man gets his neighbor drunk with the goal of inducing nakedness. The wicked man has a lustful eye, and he wants to view nudity.

Herein we have an echo of the sin of him who looked upon his father's drunken nakedness. This passage reveals wicked Chaldean people who stop at nothing to take advantage of others. They feed their own lust through the oppression of others. Such oppression comes in the form of sex and even human bloodshed.

Such behavior is denounced in verse 16A. It is denounced as disgraceful. It is utterly disgraceful. In verse 16B, the wicked man himself drinks and exposes his own nakedness.

Alcohol consumption serves as the stepping stone to drunkenness and sexual sin. But drunkenness and illicit sex results in wrath. The text tells us the cup in the Lord's right hand will come around to you, and other disgrace will come upon your glory. The cup in the Lord's right hand refers to the wrath of God.

God's wrath will fall upon the Chaldeans and all who engage in drunkenness and sexual sin. The Chaldeans will suffer disgrace. Verse 17 tells us that the Chaldeans will reap what they have sown, even as their violence has been poured out upon God's people. So the wrath of God will be poured out upon them.

The Chaldeans will in due time suffer the wrath of Almighty God. Drunkenness and sexual sin serve as invitations for God's wrath to come their way. And yet there is one final woe that the Lord declares will fall upon the Chaldeans. Number 5.

God pronounces woe to the idolatrous. God pronounces woe to the idolatrous. At the core of every sin so far mentioned is idolatry. Materialism and greed, unjust oppression and bloodshed, arrogant pride and self-glorification, sexual promiscuity and sin and drunkenness and bloodshed reveal a self-oriented, self-exalting, proud, and idolatrous heart.

But before we are too quick. To pass judgment on the wicked Chaldeans, let us be reminded. That in seed form. We are guilty Of the same sorts of sin.

Many of us struggle. With materialism. The love of money. Even oppression, looking down on others, showing favoritism, treating some with less kindness than others, we struggle with pride and the desire for others to be impressed with us.

Many of us have struggled with lust in our heart. Who has not looked and lusted over images, real or imagined, that would give a holy God every right to pronounce woe upon us. John Calvin once declared that man is an idol making factory forever making idols. The apostle John in First John 5:21, the very last verse, the last words he wanted to speak to his beloved readers, he says, Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

And in our passage we see the Lord pronouncing woe to the idolatrous. The passage is specific to literal man-made idols rather than heart idols, as I have been referring to. Nevertheless, even the man-made wood carved idol, when worshiped, is a matter of putting something in the place of the one and only true and triune God of the universe. Consider verse 18.

What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, or an image a teacher of falsehood, for its maker trusts in his own handiwork when he fashions speechless idols, and that is your teacher. Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all inside it. But the Lord Is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent.

Before him In the Lord's taunt of the Chaldeans, he begins with a rhetorical question, what prophet? Is the idol The implied answer. None The man-made idol profits its maker, not one iota, not one bit. The Lord describes the idol as a teacher of falsehood.

It is a liar. There is no truth to be found in the idol. Such idolatry is man trusting in the work of his own hand. Such an idol is unable, he says, even to speak.

And then the Lord pronounces his judgment. Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, awake to a dumb stone, arise. It is the epitome of foolishness for man to trust in his idol. Idols cannot speak.

They cannot teach. They have no life, nor can they impart life, and this applies to both the literal idols as well as the idols of the heart. God is here directing all who listen. To renounce their idolatry.

The Chaldeans would do well to acknowledge their idolatry and place their hope and trust in the one and only true God. And as verse 20 tells us, he speaking of Yahweh, speaking of God, speaking of the great I am, he is in his holy temple. In other words, he is alive, he is living, and he is well. He is in his holy temple.

He sits on his throne, and he rules over the affairs of mankind. He is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. He reigns. And he has spoken his judgment upon the Chaldeans and all who in their pride choose to walk in their wicked ways.

The passage ends with a command. Let all the earth be silent before him. Man's proper response to the Lord who reigns from His throne. is to put his hand over his mouth and to be silent.

This is the very thing Habakkuk does at the beginning of the chapter. Remember, he stands. He watches He waits And he listens. And the Lord speaks.

Take note. Trust me. There are two types of people. The just shall live by faith.

My wrath will fall upon the wicked Chaldeans and all who walk in their wicked ways. Woe to the greedy. Woe to the unjust. Woe to the arrogant.

Woe to the sexually seductive. Woe to the idolatrous. Such woes pronounced upon the wicked Chaldeans were meant for Habakkuk's encouragement as well as the encouragement of all who would suffer under the wicked hand of the Chaldeans. God is a just God, and He will not allow evil to go unpunished.

All sin must be punished. The Chaldeans will not get away with their wickedness, but this is not the only encouragement to be derived from our text today. And with this we turn to the Lord's fifth response to Habakkuk's concern. Response number 5.

God provides encouraging reasons to walk in faith. God provides encouraging reasons to walk in faith or to walk by faith. I want us to understand that the overall message throughout chapter 2 that the Lord delivers is the fact that the wicked Chaldeans will be judged in righteousness. They will not get away with their wicked deeds, but embedded in God's response to Habakkuk are instructive and encouraging truths.

For every believer, ourselves included, we have ample reason for encouragement, even as tragedy comes knocking at our door. The first reason for us to be encouraged is that we are justified. Before a holy God. By faith We see this back in verse 4 where the Lord declares the just shall live by faith.

Even in the Old Testament, this doctrine of justification by faith is articulated, even if only in seed form. We are declared to be just, declared to be righteous in God's holy sight, not by any works we do, but through faith in Him alone. But those who are just. Do not live by any old faith, as we have seen.

The idols of man's hands cannot save. The faith that saves is faith in Yahweh. It is faith in the Lord. It is faith in the one and only true God as He reveals Himself in His holy Word.

This includes faith in God's promise to provide for His people a seed who would serve to crush the skull of Satan. This includes faith that God would some day provide a lamb who would be sacrificed as a sin offering for the salvation of His own beloved people. Those who are just are those who look ahead with confidence in a God who would provide the way of salvation for His precious people. They believe God.

They trust in God. They live with confidence in a God who is faithful and true to His word in Habakkuk. Day it is clear that the just shall live by faith. They look forward to the very one that we look backwards to the Lord Jesus Christ who on the cross bled his blood so that all of our sins would be atoned for.

We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. We are considered to be righteous in His, in His sight. There is no condemnation for any of us who are in Christ Jesus. The just shall live by faith in Him.

Not in any works of righteousness that we can do, and this verse in Habakkuk is reiterated 3 times in the New Testament, 3 times in the New Testament, twice by Paul and once by the writer of Hebrews. We see it in Romans 1:17 where we read, for in it, in the Gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, and then he quotes Habakkuk as it is written, but the righteous man shall live by faith. Our justified status before a holy God comes through faith in Him alone.

We again see this verse in Galatians 3:11 where Paul declares, now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident.

You see, we cannot pick ourselves up by our own spiritual bootstraps and make ourselves right before a holy God. There is no amount of good work that we can do whereby through those works we can be made right before God. The apostle Paul tells us with clarity. No one What about me?

No one. is justified by the law before God. He says this is evident and then he quotes Habakkuk for how do we know this? Because Habakkuk told us.

The righteous man shall live by faith. Our righteousness comes as a result of our faith in him. And finally we see this verse quoted in Hebrews 10:37-39 where the writer proclaims, For yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come, and he will not delay verse 38, but my righteous one shall live by faith. He's quoting Habakkuk once again.

Those who are righteous live by faith. Through our faith in Him we are declared to be righteous, clothed in the righteousness of Christ, viewed by God as if we have never sinned in thought, in desire, in motive, in word, in deed. We have been dressed up in the very righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are perfected in Him.

That is our position in. Him and he who through faith shall live is righteous and so we need to understand this as difficult days come our way, we need to know that our righteousness has nothing to do with our deeds, our behavior, our acts, but it has everything to do with our trust in him and out of the overflow of our belief in him, guess what? We will be able to live by faith in a way. That honors the Lord.

Child of God. When the tsunami of suffering comes your way, when the fiery ordeal with its flames threatened to burn you, remember the just shall live by faith. The second reason for us to be encouraged is that our future is bright. Our future is bright.

And we see this in verse 14 where the Lord declares, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. The people of God stare into the horizon and know that the dreaded Chaldeans are on the move. They know the day draws near when the Chaldean army will march into their country and take from them all they have worked hard to have. They know that dark days lie ahead, but they also know that beyond the rise and fall of the Chaldeans, there will come a day when the entire earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.

Brothers and sisters. Allow this truth to strengthen your soul when calamity comes your way. do not allow the wickedness in this world to ruin your confidence that there is a day coming when the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. On that day there will be no suffering, sorrow or sin, decay, dying and death will cease.

we must have faith. We must in faith allow these truths to sanctify and strengthen our souls so that we might stand firm. In difficult days we must look beyond the confusion and chaos and see the day when the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. That is not all for us to do.

We have yet a third reason to be encouraged as we live life in this fallen world. A 3rd reason for us to be encouraged is the Lord reigns as King in His holy temple. In Habakkuk 2:20, the last verse of the chapter we read, but the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.

Habakkuk along with God's people are being reminded that the Lord is alive and well. He reigns from His throne on high. It is he who has raised the Chaldeans to accomplish his purposes. He is in His holy temple, and he continues to accomplish his purposes across the landscape of the world.

He does as he pleases. We need not fully understand all of his ways. We are called to trust. The just shall live by faith.

I love that this chapter ends the way it began. We have Habakkuk watching and waiting with hand over his mouth. He has presented his complaint. And then he chooses to listen.

And here at the end, the Lord tells us he is in his holy temple. And we do well to be silent before him. We have considered the Lord's response to Habakkuk's complaint. Habakkuk is told to take note of the Lord's plan.

To trust the Lord to execute his plan. He is faithful to his plan. To humbly live by faith in a God who brings His righteous judgment upon the wicked. And to consider the compelling reasons to walk by faith.

The just shall live by faith. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, and the Lord is in His holy temple. Habakkuk along with every person hearing this message. Ourselves included.

are then commanded to be silent before him. Shall we take a moment now? To heed the Lord's counsel to us. To be silent Before him I want to ask you to bow your heads.

And to close your eyes. And to let your thoughts continue to be directed. To Yahweh, to the Lord. I'll give you a bit of time in silence.

And then I will close us in prayer. Dear God, we Come before your throne of grace. Having heard from Habakkuk. Regarding the vision that he has recorded for us.

Being reminded of the value of coming before you in prayer. To lay our burden at your feet and then to be still in your presence, to be silent. You are God You are in your holy temple, you sit on your throne, you reign as King of kings and Lord of Lords. A day will come, Lord, in fact, when the whole earth will be filled.

With your glory Nations will rise and nations will fall and troubles will come our way. But we have this hope, Lord, that you are on your throne and that the day will come and the entire globe will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God. The whole earth will be filled with your glory, God. We have much reason for hope.

We have been reminded, Lord, that the just shall live by faith. Father God, please Lord, help us to walk in faith, to believe, to trust. Thank you, Lord, for the reminder that our justified status before You is not through our works but through trust and faith in You alone. You have completed the work required for us, Lord, whereby we might be saved.

And so, Lord, help us to walk in gospel mode. Help us to walk according to faith. Help us, Lord, to be grounded in the gospel and to live lives out of the overflow of the gospel. And Lord, some of your people here come before you with burdens.

Some of which they have given expression to, some of which, Lord, they don't even know how to talk to you about, but Lord. what we face. what we will face. And Lord, let us look to you.

The just shall live by faith. Let us be like Habakkuk who lay there at the end of chapter 3 who basically says though there, there are no figs on the tree and no grapes on the vine and no cattle in the stalls yet. I will trust. In you, Yahweh.

We are so thankful, Lord, that you have provided for us, Lord, the way of salvation. We are so thankful, Lord, that despite our idolatry, despite our sin, despite our Chaldean-like tendencies, Lord, that through your blood sacrifice our sins are atoned for. And we have been considered by you, declared by you to be righteous in your holy sight. Let us be encouraged and let us encourage others and let us run to tell Lord, others of what you have done and what you have in store.

Your wrath is coming. But we might escape your wrath, Lord, through the blood sacrifice of Jesus who received upon himself the wrath that we deserve. I do pray, Lord, as I pray to begin with, Lord, for anyone who is here. Who has yet to be made alive.

Who has yet to be born of the spirit. Lord, that you would cause them to come to faith in Christ. Let them cling to the old rugged cross. Let them know what you have done for them and let them know that you did not just die, but you were raised up bodily from the dead, ascended and seated at the right hand.

The Lord is in His holy temple. Help us, Lord. To be Habakkuk-like. And to walk by faith Lord, as we transition into.

Three baptism testimonies we pray, Lord, that You would encourage us with what we are about to hear. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.