The Righteous Shall Live By Faith

Habakkuk 2:2-20
March 27, 2022
Peter Yoo

Sermon Script

Prolegomena

Good morning everyone. We’ll be continuing our short series through the book of Habakkuk, so please turn in your Bibles to Habakkuk 2. But it’s been about a month since I spoke on Habakkuk 1, so I’ll try to give a brief reminder of what happened in Habakkuk 1. Habakkuk cries out to God because God’s people are sinning, and they don’t seem to care much about God or their sin against him. And even worse, it seems like God isn’t doing anything about it. But God tells Habakkuk to stop looking at his people’s sins and start looking at the enemy nations. God is making them strong, so the enemies will overtake God’s people and do horrible things to them and bring them into exile. And Habakkuk is even more confused why God would do something like this and arrogantly demands that God answer him. And the main point of the sermon was to have a faith that looks beyond what we currently see and experience here and now. As Christians, we’re to look at God’s plan and trust in it, and how do you know God’s plan? God gave it to us in the Bible.

So, at this point, Habakkuk is waiting for God to respond to him. Which brings us to Habakkuk 2, and in our passage this morning, God responds. And we’ll see God’s response to Habakkuk, but before I read Habakkuk 2, please pray with me as I ask for the Lord’s blessing at this time.

Introduction

Some of you who know me pretty well know that I geek out on Biblical languages and other things related to Biblical studies. I like reading books on the grammar and syntax of the original languages. I’ve tutored people in the original languages back when I was at Moody. Just last week I was talking to Youth Group about how we got our Bible. I’ve written nightmarishly long papers on certain passages in the Bible. And as much as I love the Biblical languages and Biblical studies, I know that most of you don’t share the same level of enthusiasm as me. That’s okay, I’m not calling you out or anything like that. However, I say all of this because honestly, in my preparation for this sermon, in my own personal study of this passage, I can honestly say that I haven’t felt this terrified in a long time. After reading and studying God’s Word in the original Hebrew, I could sense the seriousness of Habakkuk’s message.

I want to make it clear that I don’t want you to distrust your English translations. I praise God for English translations of the Bible. God’s Word needs to be proclaimed in every tongue, and it’s almost translated into every language known to man, praise God! But consider for a moment verse 2. God answers Habakkuk and says, “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.” This is an accurate translation, so no worries there. But personally, I would translate it as, “Write the vision, make it plain on tablets, so that he who reads it, runs.” My study of verse 2 is what began to give me chills. The oracle that Habakkuk saw is to be easy to understand and to lead people to run. Run out of fear, run for your lives, run until we can’t run anymore. I remind you this morning, that the Word of God at times may be terrifying and we need to properly fear the Lord. We as Christians submit to God and his Word. I want to remind you this morning that we’re to take God’s Word seriously. Heed the warnings of God’s Word.

This vision that God gave Habakkuk hadn’t happened yet. God warned Habakkuk of a future judgment. The future judgment was that God was raising up their enemies to exile them. A form of discipline for his children, so to speak. So in verse 3, God says that the vision still awaits its appointed time. It’s going to happen. When the judgment happens, it’ll be a truthful witness against them. No one can yell back at God’s judgment and say, “God, you’re being unfair!” No. God knows all things and all things perfectly, he knows you and your sin better than you know yourself and your sin. God is perfect and righteous in his judgments. And if he reads your record of sins back you, you will be frozen in-place with no excuse. And if you might even be tempted to think that, “No, God’s judgment isn’t going to come. And if it is, it’s not coming tomorrow.” Repent, and read James 4. James 4:14 says, “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” Never think that God’s judgment “delays.” If it seems so, wait for it. No doubt it’s coming, it doesn’t delay. God has fixed a day of judgment. We don’t know when that is. And we would be wise to remember who our God is, and who we are.

So I tell you this morning, be wise. Be warned. Do not puff up your soul this morning. In verse 4, God declares the soul of a sinful man as unwise, foolish, vain, crooked, not straight. In verse 5, this sinful man is proud, he eats and eats more of this world, but he’s never satisfied. He only wants more and more of God’s good gifts, but rejects God himself. He’s never full, and he’s never at rest. The word “rest” coming from our current word for “Noah.” So the theme of this morning’s sermon comes from the end of verse 4. “The righteous shall live by his faith.” “The righteous shall live by faith.” First, we’ll look at the five “woes” in our passage this morning, and then some application.

Five Woes

First, we’ll look at five “woes” that our passage gives us. And this isn’t just five broad “distresses” or five general “sorrows,” but this is God pronouncing and declaring five deep anguishes for those who these woes might apply. These woes are directed towards the Babylonians at first. In the first half of verse 6, it’s basically saying, “Shall not all of God’s people speak against Babylon in a way that they can’t understand?” Babylon was conquering, but God is saying that the conquering will be the conquered. Babylon, in five different ways, will bring destruction on themselves. And there are five “woes” to demonstrate these five ways.

The first woe is for the plunderer in verses 6-8. This is someone who makes himself wealthy through evil ways. They might give out loans to people with too much interest, and make unjust profit. Someone who makes himself wealthy by extorting others, blackmailing people or profiting by unjust means. The idea is that he’s making himself heavy and fat with unjust profit and evil gain. This is why verse 7 says, you made people in debt to you, now those you owe a debt to will come to you and make you in debt. “Babylon, you stole from people, you destroyed families by making them poor, you charged them for your own evil gain! Now guess what, it’s coming to bite you. Don’t forget that you owe debts too, and your debtors are going to come to you and destroy you.” Verse 8, “Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you.” If this is you this morning, if you have wronged someone for your own personal gain; if you wronged someone intentionally or unintentionally; if you seek your own profit at the expense of someone else’s harm; woe to you, and repent. Do you like wronging people because it makes you feel better? Do you like to talk bad about people so you feel better about yourself? Do you gain joy and excitement when people you don’t like get hurt? Woe to you, and repent.

The second woe is for the empire builder. Someone who builds up his own house, his own name, his own family. And he does whatever it takes to protect it. The interpretive meaning of “house” in verse 9 refers to a dynasty, an ever-expanding family, aggressive expansionism. And this person tries to protect his dynasty, his house, his family name, keep it from harm. But instead of bringing glory and honor to the family name, he brings shame and dishonor for his family name. He has hurt many people and destroyed many relationships. Verse 10, “You have devised, planned shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life.” More literally, “you have sinned against your own soul.” Basically, the empire that Babylon was trying to build slowly chipped away at their own soul. But there are consequences for sin. And Babylon did what Genesis 11 tells us that Babel did. They tried to make a name for themselves, build themselves up. In fact, Babel and Babylon is the same word in Hebrew. So, if you try and protect your family name by preserving yourselves while hurting others, then I tell you this morning, woe to you, and repent. Verse 11, even the stone and the wood of your empire will testify against you.

The third woe is for the oppressor. Someone who builds a town with blood, meaning using people to work and work and work to build the town until they die. This oppressor builds with no care for anyone else, builds with sin and selfish gain. But verse 13 tells us that God allows the oppressor to work in sin in his foolishness! If the oppressor rejects God, then he’s left to build up things that don’t last, laboring only for something as fleeting as fire, nations that laboriously work for nothing. Do you do this? Do you have other people serve your ungodly purposes? And if people don’t do what you want them to do, you continue to selfishly seek your dream or vision? Do you not know that you’re chasing after the wind? Do you seek to build towards your dream, no matter who it hurts? Then I say to you this morning, woe to you, and repent. Because verse 14, “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” Human glory doesn’t last. Only God’s glory, and working towards our dreams, our visions, our passions, our joys, will only lead to devastation, because you’re chasing after fire, working towards nothing.

The fourth woe is for the debaucher, the hedonist, the one who’s so morally-corrupted, someone who has their consciences so seared by sin, that they wouldn’t know what’s good if it was staring them in the face. If you remember a sermon I gave on Romans 1, we know that God has given unbelievers up to their sin, to the point where they sin more and they sin worse. What the Babylonians do here is that from verse 15, they make make drunk their captives. This doesn’t mean they give out free drinks, but that they would make them vulnerable against their will and, what verse 15 says, “gaze at their nakedness.” It comes to a point where they sin so much and their sin is so great and so wicked, that they just keep doing it with a desensitized conscience. And exposing one’s nakedness, as we know from Noah and his sons, is humiliating, shameful, ought not to be done. They enjoy humiliating others for their self-gain. This morning, if you do something similar, if you love to expose the weakness of others; if you take pleasure when things are so contrary to God’s Word; if your hearts, minds, and wills are so corrupted and so seared that you delight in sin and love when others sin, then i tell you this morning, woe to you, and repent. God is the judge and he returns to the wicked their wickedness. Before God, they are left vulnerable and exposed. God’s cup of wrath is coming to them, and they are to drink the cup that’s coming to them. Verse 16, “You will have your fill of shame instead of glory.” Their nakedness will be exposed in the coming judgment. The destruction they have done to others will be done to them.

And lastly, the fifth woe is for the idolater. The idolater fundamentally rejects God as their Creator and Redeemer. The idolater says that God is not God, something else or someone else is God. Many people back then would create out of metal and wood gods and deities that they would worship, and if things went wrong, they would go to them for help. Before we think they’re just primitive or barbaric in their thinking, try putting yourself in their shoes. Go to the Art Institute in Chicago and see some of the deities that they crafted. These are beautifully crafted, well-made, intricate, and ornate. But at the end of the day, they’re just metal; they’re just wood; there’s no breath in them; they can’t speak; they can’t hear; they can’t do anything. And before we still think they’re primitive or barbaric in their thinking, I ask you this morning, what do we do differently? We worship and serve things other than God too. We seek upward mobility in our careers, we chase after a certain lifestyle that we saw on instagram, we seem to neglect God in our daily life, and when things go wrong, we don’t turn to God. We turn to things like Netflix, YouTube, social media, games, etc. to dull our pain, to numb us.

We’re guilty of the same sin. The fundamental sin of the Babylonians was pride. They were proud. They saw their accomplishments, and they said, “Let’s keep going.” But I remind you that our God is a just God. And even if he allows evil for a time, he will bring a worse judgment on those who do wicked things. These five “woes” tell us something about God. What’s his response to Habakkuk? “Justice is coming. Judgment is coming. The wicked will get what they deserve. I will judge them, and they will have no excuse. They will be laid naked and bare before my eyes in their filthy sin, and I will judge them.” So I say to you this morning, if you find great comfort and joy in something other than our God, if you love the world and things of it more than God himself, I tell you this morning, woe to you, and repent.

The Righteous Shall Live By Faith

Now, I said that this sermon’s theme is the righteous shall live by faith. And what that means in our passage is that only the obedient, only the righteous in God’s eyes will survive the coming judgment of the Babylonians. If there was a righteous person in God’s eyes in the southern kingdom of Judah, then when the Babylonians came, the righteous person in God’s eyes would be spared and saved.

But this morning, if we think that we’re better than the Babylonians because we don’t do certain things that they did, then I tell you that you thinking that is proud and arrogant, and that’s the exact same sin as the Babylonians. And according to that measure, God will judge you and find you to fall short of even your own faulty standard.

And you might think that this was written a long time ago, and there’s no exile happening now. Perhaps. But again, we don’t know the future. And the people of God were doing fairly well when they received the prophecy from Habakkuk, so anything can happen. But the most important thing to consider is that God hates sin. God hates the proud. God judges those who love sin, things of this world. God will bring judgment on all those who are against him.

You are sinful, you are wicked, you deserve judgment, wrath, and hell. The cup of God’s wrath comes around to you, and it has your name on it. And you could never in your life sustain the judgment that’s coming. It would take an eternity to pay off your debt to God, your sin against God. And you can’t run from God’s judgment. God has fixed a time when the Babylonians would exile God’s people, and God has fixed a time for his judgment.

But this is the brilliant and glorious grace that we have in the gospel. We have good news in Jesus Christ. Because even though we’re sinners, even though we sin against God daily, and as the Heidelberg Catechism says, “we’re inclined by nature to hate God and [our] neighbor,” and “we increase our debt every day,” God spares you, God saves you. God sent Jesus Christ to live a righteous life, and on the cross, he took your sinful life and he clothed your nakedness with his righteous life. The cup of God’s wrath that was coming for you, Jesus takes it, drinks it dry, and leaves you no more of God’s wrath. And how do we know that Jesus’s sacrifice was enough? If it wasn’t enough, he’d still be dead in the ground. He’d be in hell still paying off your sin, paying off your debt. But Jesus is greater than that. Jesus rises from the dead, saying that you have no more sin to pay for, “I have paid it all!” Yes the wicked get what’s coming to them, and you should’ve gotten what’s coming to you, but Jesus takes your place and you take his. Jesus is treated like a proud, arrogant, boastful plunderer, empire builder, oppressor, hedonist, and idolater. And you’re treated like the perfect Son of God. You’re adopted into his family by his grace. I no longer say “woe to you,” but as the New Testament often speaks, “grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Is there any sin too great, too deep, too awful, too messed up, too unforgivable? Jesus rose from the dead, and that means no. List all your sins to God, and know that Jesus has taken that list, and he says to the Father, “Crush me, judge me, as if I did these things.” And this is how God demonstrates his love for us. In that while we were still sinners, while we were still plunderers, empire builders, oppressors, hedonists, and idolaters, Christ died for us. What a beautiful message from our God! And now, you don’t have to run in fear from God. You don’t have to fear God’s judgment, it’s already been dealt with. So now, we can look forward to Jesus’s return. We can look forward to seeing our God. And if you’re going to run, run towards the unbelievers who reject God. They need to know of the coming judgment, but that there’s salvation in Jesus alone. And if they want to live, they must be declared righteous by God. And they can only be declared righteous by God by placing their trust in Christ by faith.

And some of you this morning say, “Well, I believe, but it’s a weak faith.” Well, what other kind of faith is there? We’re imperfect, we’re weak, we doubt God, we don’t always believe in him. But God declares you righteous in his eyes, not because you’re good enough or you had enough faith or you did enough things. God declares you righteous in his eyes because he hides you in his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. You’re hidden in Christ, and God sees his Son and he loves his Son. And we’re treated as his Son. So this morning, have a faith that looks beyond present circumstances. Have a faith that looks to Jesus, and have a faith that looks toward the end. Jesus is coming back soon, and we would do well to live appropriately and wait for his coming. In the words of verse 3, “if it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.” And in the words of Jesus in Revelation 22, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done…Surely I am coming soon.”

“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

Soli Deo Gloria