Habakkuk 1:1-2:1, 2:1-14
Sermon Notes
The Power of God
August 30, 2015
Lynchburg, Virginia
EXHORDIUM
There is a lot to
contend with in this little book of Habakkuk, and the time is short today, so
we will take two weeks to do so. This is an excellent book to study on many
issues. Today, I want to put some questions before you and we will look at some
answers today as we have time and more next week.
The
book opens with a dialogue between Habakkuk and God. Some have described
Habakkuk as a philosopher. He is asking hard questions about present eveil and
seeking answers from God.
This book
is set probably after the Fall of Nineveh in 612. Remember that Nahum had
predicted judgment upon Assyria and Nineveh because they had attacked God’s
people. Now, Habakkuk sees evil growing in Israel and he wonders when God will
act and take care of it. God answers but Habakkuk does not like His answer.
God is
going to use the Chaldeans to bring justice and chastisement to Israel. The Chaldeans defeated Nineveh in 612 BC.
Nebuchaddnezzer’s father, Nabopallasar, was involved in the army that destroyed
Nineveh. This book is probably delivered in the decade following.
Nebuchadnezzer also defeated Pharoah-neco in a great battle at Charcemesh in
605 B.C. Thus, the Chaldeans were now the new power. So, a date shortly after
this rise to ascendency is likely.
1. Does God take notice of the wicked and bring justice to the evil?
Habbukuk’s Complaint
Hab.
1:2-4 2 O LORD, how long
shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of
violence, and thou wilt not save! 3 Why dost thou shew me
iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence
are before me: and there are that raise up strife and
contention. 4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment
doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore
wrong judgment proceedeth.
Violence is happening around Habakkuk and God is not delivering His
people. There is violence, theft, strife and contention in the land. The law is
slack, justice is not carried out. The wicked seem to have the upper hand over
the righteous.
2. Does God judge on a curve? Are the relatively righteous, righteous? Can I
be counted righteous because there are wickeder men than me? Are there sins
that are worse than other sins? Yes but all fall short of the glory of God.
Q. 83. Are all
transgressions of the law equally heinous?A. Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.
Q. 84. What doth every sin deserve?
A. Every sin deserveth God’s wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come.
A. Every sin deserveth God’s wrath and curse, both in this life, and that which is to come.
3. Is it just for God to judge wicked men by using wickeder men?
God’s
Answer
Hab.
1:5 Behold ye among the heathen,
and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your
days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. 6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that
bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to
possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. 7 They are terrible and dreadful: their
judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. 8 Their horses also are swifter than the
leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall
spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as
the eagle that hasteth to eat. 9 They shall come all for
violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall
gather the captivity as the sand. 10 And they shall scoff at
the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every
strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. 11 Then shall his mind change, and he
shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.
god-
little g. Nebuchadnezzer will think his foreign gods gave him victory but God
will humble him, too.
Habukkuk’s Follow Up
Complaint
Hab.
1:12 Art thou not from
everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast
ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for
correction. 13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold
evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that
deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth
the man that is more righteous than he?
14 And
makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have
no ruler over them? 15 They take up all of them
with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag:
therefore they rejoice and are glad. 16 Therefore they sacrifice
unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion
is fat, and their meat plenteous. 17 Shall they therefore
empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
Hab.
2:1 I will stand upon my watch,
and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and
what I shall answer when I am reproved.
Since
God is going to judge wickedness with more wickedness, Habukkuk has some
questions for God. He is nervous about God’s response but waits to see what God
will say.
Yes, both deserve hell. However, God is working out salvation for His
people. It would be unkind of Him to let His people continue in their sin.
4. What is God’s standard for determining who is righteous and who is
wicked? The just shall live by their faith. We, who are justified in Christ,
are not righteous. Righteousness is relative. But those who fall short are all relatively
wicked. What shall we do? Have faith in the crucified Jesus.
God’s
Response
Hab. 2:2-4 2 And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the
vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth
it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed
time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it;
because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is
not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
The Lord weighs this all
in the balance. Man is not saved by his relative righteousness but rather by
putting his trust in the Lord. Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him
as righteousness. We are justified by faith and not works.
5. What is God’s long-term game plan?
Hab.
2:14 For the
earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the
waters cover the sea.
His long-term plan is to save the world. He does
this through His people. Israel was supposed to be the priests and kings of the
Earth. They failed. But Jesus sits on the throne of His father David forever.
Thus, the eternal priesthood, will, in fact, accomplish this goal.
Hab. 3:
17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom,
neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive
shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from
the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in
the God of my salvation. 19 The LORD God is my
strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me
to walk upon mine high places.
EXHORTATION
The power of God is having faith in Him
for the just shall live by faith. It is our faith that overcomes the world.
Through faith the knowledge of the Lord
is as the water that covers the sea.
Rom. 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:
for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the
Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just
shall live by faith.
Gal. 3:6
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness. 7 Know ye therefore that they which are of
faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8 And
the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith,
preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all
nations be blessed. 9 So then they which be of
faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
10 For
as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written,
Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. 11 But that no man is
justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just
shall live by faith. 12 And the law is not of
faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the
law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one
that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the blessing of
Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive
the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Heb. 10:34-39 34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. 35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. 38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
Heb. 10:34-39 34 For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. 35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. 38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. 39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.
