1. "What do you do when you're supposed to trust someone but you don't like what they're doing?"

2. "Suffering demands attention, doesn't it? You're walking along at night and you stub your toe. Where does your attention go? It's all focused on that toe. The same is true when we're struggling to make sense of what's going on around us."

3. "Friends, we don't have a problem when the bad guy gets it, do we? You watch that movie, you see it in the news, the bad guy gets it. We're like, yeah, good, right? But when the bad guy comes out on top and the good guys suffer, it's disorienting. It's troubling for us."

4. "Friends, when we're troubled by God's strange providence, where do we begin? Do you turn on the news? Do you look to Twitter and look for the latest update? Do you roll the questions over and over and over in your head looking for answers? Or do you just shut down because the whole thing's overwhelming?"

5. "The opposite of Christianity is not atheism. It's idolatry. Whether you're here as a Christian or you're not a Christian, you are built to worship. It's inherent in us as human beings. And all of us worship. The question is not do you worship? The question is, what are you worshiping right now?"

6. "Pride looks at the good gifts of God - food, sex, money, whatever that good gift might be - and says, 'I'd rather have that gift than God who gives that gift.'"

7. "Sometimes those trials that God allows in our lives, the questions about what God is doing that perplex us, the answers that we don't have, these are the very things that God uses to strip us of our pride and to help us to rely on him and to trust Him."

8. "Let's just be honest. In the moment when those things are stripped from us, no one likes that. No one likes feeling spanked by God. And we're being stripped of those things that we once trusted in. It hurts, doesn't it?"

9. "If the trial that God allows in your life and the perplexing question that God allows in your life is a thing that he uses to strip you of your pride and to leave you at the end to finally trust him, at the end of the day, that bitter trial becomes the sweetest tool that God has used in your life."

10. "We may not know how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together, but we know who God is and we know the end. And that's enough."

Observation Questions

1. In Habakkuk 1:12, what three characteristics of God does Habakkuk affirm about God's nature before presenting his complaint?

2. Looking at Habakkuk 1:13-17, what specific complaints does Habakkuk raise about God's use of the Babylonians?

3. In Habakkuk 2:2-3, what does God instruct Habakkuk to do with the vision, and what promise does He make about its fulfillment?

4. According to Habakkuk 2:4, what fundamental contrast does God draw between two types of people?

5. Examining Habakkuk 2:5, what specific characteristics describe the proud person?

6. Looking at Habakkuk 2:14 and 2:20, what two promises conclude God's response to Habakkuk?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why is it significant that Habakkuk affirms God's character before voicing his complaints about God's methods?

2. How does God's instruction to "write the vision" and its promised fulfillment relate to the challenge of trusting God in difficult times?

3. What does it mean practically that "the righteous shall live by faith" in the context of Habakkuk's situation?

4. How do the five woes against the proud (Habakkuk 2:6-19) reveal the ultimate emptiness of pursuing life apart from God?

5. What is the significance of God's response ending with His presence in the temple (2:20) after promising to fill the earth with His glory (2:14)?

Application Questions

1. When was the last time God's plan for your life seemed incomprehensible or even wrong to you? How did you respond?

2. Think about your workplace or school. Where have you seen the "bad guy winning" lately? How does this passage help you process that situation?

3. In what area of your life are you most tempted to trust your own understanding rather than God's wisdom? What makes it hard to trust Him in this area?

4. Which of the five woes against pride (greed, self-glory, violence, exploitation, or idolatry) do you find most convicting in your own life right now?

5. When you face confusing circumstances, do you typically start with God's character or with your questions? What practical step could you take this week to anchor yourself in God's character first?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Psalm 73 - A psalm wrestling with the prosperity of the wicked and finding peace in God's presence, paralleling Habakkuk's journey from confusion to trust.

2. Romans 8:28-39 - Paul's exposition on God's sovereignty and goodness in all circumstances, providing assurance of His love even in suffering.

3. James 4:13-17 - A warning against prideful self-reliance and planning without regard for God's will, echoing the themes of pride in Habakkuk.

4. 1 Peter 1:3-9 - An encouragement about the proven genuineness of faith through trials, connecting to Habakkuk's call to live by faith.

Sermon Main Topics

The Challenge of Trusting God When His Plan Doesn’t Make Sense

Anchoring Ourselves in the Truth About God (Habakkuk 1:12)

Looking to the End: The Fate of the Proud and the Hope of the Righteous (Habakkuk 2:1-20)

Trusting God’s Sovereignty and Responding in Faith

---

Detailed Sermon Outline

---

- He transcends time and controls history.

- His actions are always righteous and perfect.

- Even evil agents (e.g., Babylonians) are under His authority.

---

- Their end: never satisfied, judged for sin.

- Plunderers will become plundered.

- Human achievements are temporary; God’s glory endures.

- God’s glory will fill the earth despite human evil.

- Shame replaces temporary pleasure.

- Idols are lifeless; God alone is worthy of worship.

---

- The cup of God’s wrath emptied for believers (Habakkuk 2:16; Romans 8:1).

Trust is something that does not come easy. So what do you do when you're supposed to trust someone but you don't like what they're doing?

When their plan not only doesn't seem to make sense, but as you look at it and consider what's going on, it almost seems like their plan is wrong. I can think of a variety of responses to something like that. Different situations. You know, a driver who's driving in traffic might choose to honk the horn. You know, the guy who's leading the pack, he's driving 25 and a 45, and he doesn't know what he's doing, so we're going to let him know.

Or employees might quit their jobs. The boss might make you do things that you hate to do. It makes your life miserable. They're taking the business in a bad direction. You see the demise in the head.

So you, you choose to leave. Kids will disobey their parents because of this thinking. They're convinced the only reason that parents have kids is for cheap labor or because they're out to make your life miserable, and so they choose to disobey. We could keep going. All these different responses to when somebody is in a position of authority or leadership, we don't like what they're doing.

What do we do? Well, I imagine in many instances we could just put up with the difficulties. We could just choose to bear up with it because the benefit of staying in there is, for some reason higher for us. But even if we stay in the structure of that relationship, whatever that relationship might be, it's likely that if we don't like the direction that they're going, we'll show up. But our heart won't show up.

Our heart will be far removed and we won't be trusting the person that we're. We're showing up to work with. And in each of the situations, we can think about the assumption underlining that is that the person who's calling the shots, well, they're just wrong. And quite frankly, we know better, don't we?

Trust doesn't come easy.

When my dad was nine years old, he and his family had just got done with church. They decided that afternoon to go out for a Sunday afternoon drive. It was a small town, Nebraska. It was a nice day in November. And so he and his sister Wanda, his mother Nora, and his dad, Willard, got in the car and they went for a Sunday afternoon drive.

They didn't have any idea what was about to happen, though, because as they went out in the country and enjoying the Scenery. They got blindsided by a driver who was driving recklessly 70 miles an hour, came out of nowhere and crashed into the car. My grandma Nora died on impact. My dad was launched out of the car and was left unconscious about 100ft from the scene of the accident. And when he woke up about seven hours later, he woke up to see his sister sitting in the bed next to him, only to watch her die.

His life was changed as he knew it. My grandpa's life was changed as he knew it. And in some instances, I think we could look at something as horrible as that and think, oh, it was an accident, but it was something that could have been avoided. You see, the driver who hit them was being reckless. That morning he had gotten in a huge fight with his dad.

And his dad said, you can't go out. And he said, forget it, I'm going. He disobeyed his dad. He got in his car and out of anger flew down the road with this, being blinded by his rage, only to know that he would soon hit that vehicle and end the life of two people. Well, I suppose it'd be one thing, okay, it was an unfortunate accident.

He made a stupid decision. It even be another thing if my dad didn't believe that there was a God. You could just kind of say, well, it was a fluke accident. But the problem is my dad did believe in God. And his understanding of God was that God is sovereign over all things.

And as God who is sovereign over all things, he could have stopped that accident from happening. You think of all the places that car could have been. God could have stopped that car, but he didn't.

So what do we do when God's plan doesn't make sense? How can we trust God when we don't like what he's doing?

If you have a Bible, I invite you to open me to the Book of Habakkuk. We've begun our study in this book. Last week I looked at the beginning of chapter one. We'll pick it up where we left off last week. Habakkuk is found on pages 929 of the Red Bible in front of you.

If you want to follow along with us. And I'll be referring to chapters and verses in the Bible. The chapter is the large number, the verses are the smaller number. If you're new to the Bible, we'll be referring to those chapter and verses along the way so you can follow along with us. Like I said, we began our study in the Book of Habakkuk last week.

But if you weren't here with us last week. Let me try to bring you up to speed really quick. Habakkuk was a prophet who spoke to God's people on God's behalf. That was one of the main things a prophet did. And as we look at the history of the people that he was speaking to, under the first three kings of the nation of Israel, the nation was largely united.

But after King Solomon and his reign, the nation was split into two. One nation to the north was called Israel, and the nation in the south was called Judah. Eventually, the kingdom of north Israel fell into sin and rebellion and idolatry. And God allowed the Assyrians to come in to capture the Israel and to carry them off into exile. And they were done.

And Judah in the south was left. But much like Israel fell into sin and rebellion, Judah was soon to follow. And Habakkuk would have been ministering to this group of God's people in the south in the area of Judah, probably around the 7th century BC and when he was in ministry, the nation was in this steep moral decline. That's what we saw last week at the beginning of chapter one. This prophet looks out at this nation of Judah, God's people, and he is absolutely appalled by the violence and the injustice that he sees among God's people.

And he says, God, aren't you gonna do something about this? Look at what's happening. These people are called to represent you, and you're letting it happen. God's answer, I am doing something. I'm raising up the Babylonians.

The Babylonians are going to come in and destroy Judah, and I'll bring about justice through them. But one thing we noticed about the Babylonians last week in the beginning of chapter one was that these were people who were ruthless, who were vicious, who were kind of psychopaths. It seemed like Habakkuk wanted justice, but God's choice of using the Babylonians, it didn't make sense to him. He was troubled by it. How could God use somebody as ruthless, as vicious, as wicked as this nation to discipline God's people?

Well, look with me, if you will, at chapter one, verse 12, where we left off last week.

O Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die, O Lord. You have appointed them to execute judgment. O rock. You have ordained them to punish.

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil. You cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler, the wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks.

He catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet, and so he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet. For by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?

Habakkuk was troubled. He was suffering under the weight of these questions that he was asking. And suffering demands attention, doesn't it? You're walking along at night and you stub your toe. Where does your attention go?

It's all focused on that toe. We've got to get this fixed, right? The same is true when we're struggling to make sense of what's going on around us. The problem is that it's easy for us to become so fixated on the problem, the issues surrounding that problem, that we actually begin to lose our bearings. We become dizzy from this search for answers, the solution, and before long, we're at risk of falling.

Do you ever feel that way when you're looking for answers to what God is doing? Why is God doing this? Why is he allowing this? Do you ever feel that way? Friends, as we seek to trust God in confusing times, the place to begin is where Habakkuk starts.

Anchor yourself in the truth about God. That's our first point that we see in these verses. Anchor yourself in the truth about God. You see, the prophet's about to start wrestling with some serious questions that will be unsettling for him. But before he jumps into that, before he starts fooling around with things that he doesn't know, the things that he has questions about, he backs up and he puts his feet on solid ground with his anchor set with his feet on solid ground, he's not going to be so easily knocked over by these tough and difficult questions.

And he's in a much better place to reach the conclusion on those difficult issues. So what does he see about God? What does he remember and remind himself about God? Where does he anchor his feet in the truth about God? Look down again at verse 12 of chapter one.

First, he says, God is from everlasting. O Lord, are you not from everlasting? As he remembers who God is, he says this God, my God, is a God who is eternal. So God is not a God who is surprised by the events in history. He's not.

Oh, my goodness. I didn't know that was going to happen. No, no, no. God is eternal. God stands above history.

God, he creates history. And knowing that that's his God gives him confidence.

But he keeps going. He says, my God, my holy One. So not only is God eternal, but he remembers this God that he's speaking of and talking to. This is a God who is holy. He is absolutely, perfectly holy.

He never makes a mistake. He never gets it wrong. Everything that God does is good. Everything that God does is right. And so he establishes himself in that truth about this God that he knows.

You can imagine this prophet who's wrestling with these tough questions saying, okay, okay, I know this to be true about God. I'm going to put a stake in the ground. And I'm saying, I know this to be true about God. I'm putting my feet in the here. And his legs, which at some times are going to feel wobbly, they're starting to feel a little more strong and a little more sturdy because he's putting his feet on this solid ground, but he's still not done.

He goes on, in verse 12, he says, O Lord, you have appointed them to execute judgment. O rock, you have ordained them to punish. As he looks to God, he remembers this one more thing. He says, this God who I'm talking to, this God who I serve, this is the God who has limitless might. This is the God who has all authority.

There is not one single thing in this world that falls outside of the sovereign will of this God, this God who is eternal, this God who is righteous and holy. And so he calls this God his rock. This is where he's putting his feet. But how is it that God's sovereignty helps Habakkuk to see that God is his rock? Well, think about the Babylonians.

These Babylonians are vicious. These Babylonians are reckless. There's no knowing what they're going to do. And they're coming in to invade your country. What's going to happen?

But he calms himself with a reminder that God is sovereign even over them. So meeting the Babylonians is less like meeting a thug in a dark alley who's kind of swinging a knife or a broken bottle. Oh, my goodness, no, no, no. Because God is sovereign. Meeting these Babylonians is like coming to a skilled surgeon who has a scalp on his hand, a surgeon who never makes a mistake, a surgeon who sees all things perfectly and his hand never slips.

And so he establishes himself before he gets to the tough question about what's going on, he establishes himself in this truth, these truths about God.

Then comes the question. The question is kind of driving this discussion verse 13. Look down at verse 13. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil. You cannot tolerate wrong.

That's true. That's right about God.

Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? Again, Habakkuk's okay with God judging sin. That's what he's asking for in chapter one. He looks out the sin in Judah.

He says, God, you got to do something about this. You got to judge sin.

But what God is about to do in choosing the Babylonians to do that, that didn't make sense to him. Babylon was wicked, way more wicked than Judah. So how could God, this God who is holy and righteous, how could he use such a filthy instrument as the Babylonians? What was he up to?

Verse 14. You, God, have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler. The wicked foe. Who's this? Babylon pulls all of them up with hooks.

He catches them in his net and gathers them up in his dragnet. He's saying, God, these are the bad guys. Why are you using them? Are you just going to stand there and let them get away with this? These are like fishermen who come by and just kind of like shoot the fish in the barrel.

These fish are helpless. We're helpless. And you're going to let them do this to us? You're going to let them get away with it and then look at their end result. Babylon, when he does this, he says, and so he, Babylon, rejoices and is glad.

Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet. For by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. You see that the wicked, the Babylonians, are those who are rejoicing, are glad. These are the ones who are living in luxury.

But the righteous, they suffer. This doesn't make sense. He's saying, God, isn't this backwards? You can imagine Habakkuk crying out to God, God, don't you care that these guys are destroying nations? And then they flex their muscles and they hold up their net and say, this is what did it.

This is what's God. And they worship their strength. They have a worship service for their net right there and say, this is the God who did it. And they're ignoring God. They're defaming God.

And Habakkuk says, don't you care? Are you going to let them say this about you? These lies about you? Habakkuk doesn't understand what God is up to. As the prophet of God, you Can imagine why this is troubling him.

Friends, we don't have a problem when the bad guy gets it, do we? You watch that movie, you see it in the news, the bad guy gets it. We're like, yeah, good, right? But when the bad guy comes out on top and the good guys suffer, it's disorienting. It's troubling for us.

And we often ask the same question that Habakkuk's asking, don't we? Maybe you're working at your job. You're working hard. You're trying to honor God in the way that you work. You're working with integrity.

You're telling the truth, and there's a promotion that's up at your job. But who gets the promotion? Not you. It's the guy who lies about what he's doing. He's cheating to get ahead.

He's kind of schmoozing the boss, and he's the one who gets noticed, and he's the one who gets the promotion. And you just kind of get forgotten in your business.

Or maybe it's that you once had a lucrative career, but now you decided to stay home with the kids and invest in your kids so they can come to know God and they can follow Jesus. You can help your husband in that work. But then you look around and you see your single friends from college and they're living carefree. They're sleeping in on Sunday morning. They don't have to be here.

They're having brunch right now, having a good time, and they're making lots of money in their job. They don't need a budget like you have a budget that you're worrying about right now. They don't even have a budget. They're just enjoying life. Where's God in this?

Doesn't that seem backwards?

Friends, when we're troubled by God's strange providence, where do we begin?

Do you turn on the news? Do you look to Twitter and look for the latest update? Do you roll the questions over and over and over in your head looking answers? Or do you just shut down because the whole thing's overwhelming? You don't have answers?

Forget it. I'm just done. I'm checking out. I'm putting the sweatpants on.

Friends, the place to begin is with what we already know, what we know to be true about God. We are to start with anchoring ourselves in the truth about God.

Friends, you know, that's one of the purposes that we meet together as a church every Sunday. I don't know what Issues. You came in this morning. I don't know what questions you're asking exactly. Each of us brings in unique challenges every week, but the starting place is the same for each of us, regardless of the questions and the troubles that we're facing.

The place to begin is with what we already know. Not with the latest poll, not with the latest self help technique, not with the latest entertainment diversion. We start with fixing our hearts on what we know to be true about God. So we sing the truth about God as we sing in the songs that are reflecting the truth about God in His word. We read scripture, we preach from God's word, we, we encourage each other, reminded, this is who God is.

Don't be deceived. This is who God is. This is the starting point. And as we put our feet on that sure footing, we're able to do what we often have to do in a fallen world. We wait.

Chapter two, verse one.

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts. I will look to see what he will say to me and what answer I am to give to this complaint. So we see Habakkuk waiting. Then the Lord replied, write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. So this message that we're looking at was not just a message for habakkuk.

That's how 2,600 years later, we can come together and say, this is what God was saying to Habakkuk. We have it because he wrote it down. Just like God told verse 3. For the revelation awaits an appointed time. It speaks of the end and will not prove false, though it linger wait for will certainly come and will not delay.

Now, friends, God was not obligated in any sense to answer Habakkuk's question. I mean, he'd already given Habakkuk plenty of information so that he could trust God. He had revealed to Habakkuk who he was. And for guys like Job who are suffering, that's all he got. I'm God, you're not.

Trust me. But with Habakkuk, we see a little bit more information. God gives him more. He's given a revelation. Of what?

Of the end. See that in verse three, he says, for the revelation awaits an appointed time. It speaks of the end. So Habakkuk is troubled by what God is doing. He can't make sense of what's going on, how God could use Babylon and allow the wicked to prosper, but the righteous to suffer.

And God's gracious Response to him is okay, Habakkuk, come with me. Climb up here on this balcony with me. So I want you to see what I can see. I want you to see the end of things. I want you to see my perspective on this.

Okay? That's what he's doing with Habakkuk. So friends, for us as we seek to trust God, when things don't make sense, the first thing we need to do is anchor our feet in the truth about God, what we know to be true about God. But secondly, we need to look to the end. That's our second point that we see in these verses.

We need to look to the end.

What's the end that he's talking about? What's he going to say to Habakkuk? If you will look down at me at verse four, see, he is puffed up. His desires are not upright, but the righteous will live by his faith. Verse 4, God's saying to Habakkuk, okay, let me simplify things for you.

There are two kinds of people in this world and only two kinds. There are people who trust me and there are people who trust themselves. People who trust me are humble. People who trust themselves. Those people are proud.

Notice how he talks about the problem for the proud. He says his desires are not upright. That's the problem with the proud. His desires are not upright. So here's a person made in the image of God.

A person created to love God and to treasure him above all things.

But his heart is now sick. The desires of his heart are twisted, they're crooked, they're all screwed up.

And what's the result of that? How does he describe the proud? Look at verse five. Indeed, wine betrays him. He is arrogant and never at rest because he is as greedy as the grave.

And like death, is never satisfied. He gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all, all the peoples. So did you notice the description that he gives for the proud here in verse five? He's deceived, right? The wine betrays him.

He's not at rest and he's never satisfied. That's a gruesome description of the proud. So you see, the proud, their desires are twisted and he's deceived about what's actually going to satisfy. What he's built for, what he's made for. So instead of looking to God, the proud looks to themselves.

The proud is self reliant, self righteous. Thinking that I know best. That's at the heart of pride. But friends, just like my 3 year old son who is convinced that we need to have cookies and ice cream every night for dinner. Just like he needs instruction on what is best, we need instruction on what is best.

We don't intuitively know what's best for us. We need God to tell us that that's exactly what he's doing here. He had promised a revelation in verses two and three, he had promised. I'm going to give you my word. I'm going to show you.

I'm going to give you a peek into the end to show you how this all kind of plays out. And that's what he does for the prophet. He shows them the end of the proud. So starting in verse six, God begins His first of these woes. There's five woes in the remainder of chapter two.

You see, woe show up in verse six, verse nine, verse 12, verse 19. And a woe when God says to the prophet, woe to this people. A woe is the type of language that's used for a funeral at that time. So as God describes the end of the proud in each of these five sections, he's making it clear, listen, I'm going to judge Babylon. I'm going to give you a peek into their funeral.

Okay? Yes, I'm going to use them, but rest assured, I will put an end to them. And I want you to see this. So let's look at the first woe right there in verses 6 through 8.

Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy on extortion? How long must this go on? Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their victim.

Because you have plundered many nations, the people who are left will plunder you. For you have shed man's blood. You have destroyed lands and cities and everything in them. Okay, so this first woe in verses six through eight has to do with piling up stuff. You're hoarding.

You're getting all these things that you can. And the Babylonians, the proud Babylonians, were under the illusion that having stuff makes them happy. Sound familiar? You ever hear that in D.C. having stuff makes you happy?

Well, just as we saw last week, the thing about the Babylonians is they don't pay for their things, do they? They just take what they want. And so rather than paying for them, they would go out and they would steal the new iPhone or steal the plasma tv. They would go hijack a Mercedes or kick you out of your house and then take over your house.

The only problem is, like death, the proud are never satisfied. That's the description we saw in verse five. They're never content. So once they downloaded the new apps on their iPhone, and once they've taken the car for a spin, and once they've got all their stuff moved into their house they took from you, they look around and think, eh, it's not quite as satisfying as I thought it would be. Maybe I need a new suit, maybe I need a new iPhone, maybe I need a new car.

And before long, they're caught up in this vicious cycle of needing the next new thing, the next big thing. And they're being consumed with their desire for more because their desires are twisted. They're convinced that that that's what I need to be happy. So in some sense we actually see that the beginning of God's judgment on the Babylonians, the proud, in that he's giving them over to their sin. They're not in control of their sin, their sin becomes in control of them.

And they're spiraling downward into destruction. Because the more they would be preoccupied with stealing more stuff and getting more things to themselves, they would miss the fact that their neighbor was actually rising up in power as well. And soon enough, the tables would turn on them. Their debtors would rise up. Those that they had once taken and made victims, they would turn around and become the aggressor and turn the Babylonians, the proud to be the victim.

The plunderer would become the plundered. And we see this over and over in history, don't we? One nation rises up, but before long it falls. And then another nation rises up and before long it falls. And the very tool that made that nation rich is the tool that in the end comes around and gets them friends.

Sin lies to us.

It promises one thing, but it never delivers. In the New Testament we read in James chapter one, each of us is tempted when by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. So in some respects, James is agreeing with Habakkuk. Our desires are part of the problem. Our desires lie to us.

Much like a fishing lure. A fishing lure looks really good, but it's really out to lie to the fish. Fishermen are out to deceive. So some of you fishermen who think that you're nice guys, not so nice, you bait that hook, you make it look really good and smell good, you put a nice juicy worm on it, the lure looks good. And the fish, when it bites that lure with a nice Juicy worm on it.

It might taste good for a second. Mmm.

But then the fisherman sets the hook, right? The hook that he couldn't see, the hook that the fish was deceived. It's not there. And once the hook is set, the fish is drug away, not tasting so good anymore. God is essentially saying to Habakkuk and those who are listening in to the end of the proud, he's saying, listen, these proud people who terrorize those around them to get rich, they're no challenge to God.

Look to the end, because in the end, the wicked will die because of their pride.

Verse 14. Sorry, verse 9. Actually, the next woe. Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain, to set his nest on high to escape the clutches of ruin. You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.

The stones of the wall will cry out and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime. Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire? That the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

So this second woe that we see kind of combine, we can basically combine these two woes in verses 9 through 11 and the third woe in verses 12 to 14. So the second woe has to do with man toiling for his own glory. That's what we see going on here. Man is toiling for his own glory. And this Babylonian desire, this desire of the proud, went like this.

Listen, if I can just be successful enough, beautiful enough, rich enough, powerful enough, then I'll be safe, right? Because people will respect me and I'll be in control of my future. And so, as in verse nine, I'll have built a nest on high to escape the clutches of ruin. That's the promise of this desire. But when we toil for our glory, when we get a taste of that success, it's never enough.

We want more. We want more. We go to the next bigger thing and the next bigger thing, and before long, we get caught. The proud get caught in a cycle needing more and more. Because like death, the proud are never satisfied.

And along our search for glory, the proud leave a trail of broken relationships. People who they've taken advantage of along the way to make a name for themselves.

The proud are often taken up with this desire, this desire to toil for their own glory. To make a name for themselves. But like the fish who takes the bait, that may taste good for a moment, but soon that hook is set. They've been deceived and they're drug along the bottom of the ocean. To what end?

Verse 10. To the end of forfeiting their life. And if the proud thought, well, we can get away with this, I mean, surely the judge is not going to see everything, we can kind of slip by at some point. God says, no, no, no, it doesn't work that way. When God takes the seat on the throne as the judge, he can call anything he wants to be his witness.

He can call the bench that you're sitting in to testify against you. He can call the walls of this building to cry out against you. That's exactly what he says in verse 11. Stones of the wall will cry out and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. So friends, even if no one else sees it, God can call whatever is around you to testify against you.

And he will. There's no escaping it. So those who toil for their own glory, they're under the lie they're being deceived that that toil will actually end up protecting them. But it won't. They might seem untouchable for a season.

They might look like they have to give no account to anybody. They can get away with whatever they want. But God is essentially saying, don't be deceived.

The Lord Almighty. Verse 13. The Lord Almighty determined that the people's labor, this toiling for their own glory is only what?

It's only fuel for the fire.

All of their labor, all of their toil for their glory, for their name is in vain. Why? Because of verse 14. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the water covers you. Try to make a name for yourself, to build an empire where it's all about you and your glory.

And the proud are in a one way track where they're in trouble because God will establish his glory. God's saying, don't be deceived. Look to the end. Because in the end the wicked will die because of their pride.

Verse 15. He goes on. Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk so that he can gaze on their naked bodies. You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn.

Drink and be exposed. The cup from the Lord's right hand is coming around to you. And disgrace will cover your glory. The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed man's blood.

You have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. So this next woe in These verses, verses 15 and 16 and 17, have to do with taking advantage of others. That's the woe going on here. And you see that in verse 15, they're said to get around their neighbor, get them drunk, and. And why they can see him naked.

They want to take advantage of them. This could be literal. You know, that he actually. The Babylonians actually did this. Or it could be figurative in the sense that they're just exploiting people in general.

Either way, the Babylonian desire, the desire of the proud, was that if I can experience enough pleasure, then I'll be happy. If I can just get enough pleasure, then I'll be all right. So the proud see somebody they're attracted to, and they will do whatever they can to get that person into bed.

They'll do whatever they can to exploit them. And if that person refuses, they'll either turn to violence or turn to pornography or find some other creative way to exploit those around them.

But if it is just general, even if it's not just the pleasure of sex and lust, whatever the pleasure might be, whether it's food or lust or entertainment, whatever it might be, it's never enough. It never satisfies. Because the proud are blind to the fact that those good gifts from God were never designed or created to ultimately satisfy us as human beings made in. We weren't made for that. We were made for something greater than that.

And so with the desire still there and longing for more, the proud get locked up in this cycle where they're looking for more pleasure and more pleasure and more pleasure because they're never satisfied. And rather than being in control of that desire and that lust, it begins to control them. They've taken the bait, they believe the lie, and then the hook is set and they're dragged drug along to their destruction. You see that in verse 16, that their end will be, that they will be filled with shame instead of glory. And they will have disgrace that covers their glory.

So the proud might look for a time like they can take advantage of the people around them. They can exploit them and get away with it. And for a moment, it might look like these people are the ones who are living large.

But don't be deceived. Look at the end of the proud, because in the end, the wicked die because of their pride.

The last woe is in verses 18 and 19 look down to verse 18 with me, if you will. Of what value is an idol since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trust in his own creation. He makes idols that cannot speak.

Woe to him who says to wood come to life or to a lifeless stone, wake up. Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver. There is no breath in it. So this last woe that we see in verses 18 and 19, this last woe has to do with idolatry.

And idolatry is essentially trusting in something other than God. It's having a God substitute. And so this woe, this last woe, kind of serves as a miscellaneous file for the sin that he's been talking about. It's kind of like the junk drawer of sin, right? Because ultimately, all the sins that he's been talking about, these different woes, they're just different forms or expressions of idolatry.

Idolatry expresses itself. It manifests itself in pride. Now, let's be clear. The opposite of Christianity is not atheism. It's idolatry.

The opposite of Christianity is not atheism. It's idolatry. So whether you're here as a Christian or you're not a Christian, you are built to worship. It's inherent in us as human beings. And all of us worship.

The question is not do you worship? The question is, what are you worshiping right now? Some of you worship a sports team, and you rearrange your schedule to make sure that you can watch the game. And as you watch the game, you ascribe great glory to that team or that event. For others of you, the idol is a relationship or a hobby or a job or an image that you're trying to maintain in front of others still others of you.

The idol is your kids. You build your life around your kids. And others of you, it's your creation, your education, whatever the case, whatever. We give our time and our affection and our energy to these. We do that because we're convinced that this is what's going to help me.

This is the answer. This is the solution. And so we end up trusting these things to save us.

That's idolatry.

But here's the problem. Idols teach us lies. That's what he says. Idols teach us lies. They cannot speak.

They cannot offer guidance. They cannot. They have no breath in them. So the Babylonians, whose strength is their God, like we saw last week in chapter 1 11, well, they're in trouble because their God cannot save them. Their God is lying to them.

And I think that's what makes verse 20 an amazing and beautiful contrast to these idols. Verse 20. These idols cannot save you. They can't speak. But the Lord is in his holy temple.

Let all the earth be silent before him.

Friend, if you're here this morning as someone who's not a follower of Jesus, we are glad that you're here with us. But I wonder, as you listen to this sermon and it's talking about pride and humility, I wonder how you hear that maybe you've lived your life and you've always thought of self reliance as a good thing. You've even thought of pride as some sort of virtue that you're not depending on other people and being a burden to them. So pride and self reliance has been something that you've lived your life striving for. But friends, the problem with pride is that when it comes to our standing before a God who is holy and God who has created us, we have nothing to be proud of.

And I wonder as we read through these different woes and the sins that are involved in these different woes, I wonder if you found yourself identifying with the Babylonians in their lust for possessions or their desire for glory to make a name for themselves, or in this desire, this pursuit of pleasure as an end in itself. I know I do. When I read that list, I find myself identifying with them. Pride looks at the good gifts of God, food, sex, money, whatever that good gift might be. And it says, pride says, I'd rather have that gift than God who gives that gift.

And to make sure that I can do whatever I want with these goods, these goodies, just to make sure that I don't have to have some guy up, you know, some God telling me how to use these good things, well, I'm just going to take him off the throne of my life. I'm going to assume that he doesn't have the authority to tell me what to do and how to live my life. I'm going to put myself on that throne. I want to be able to use these things as I see fit. And that becomes the expression of pride.

But that pride that dethrones God leaves us in a bad position again at verse 14, he says, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.

So the proud are those who are trying to make a name for themselves, to put themselves on that pedestal and say, this is what I want the world to see, my glory. But what is sure and what is certain is that God will fill the Earth with a knowledge of his glory. So we can deny that truth. We can ignore that truth. But friend, it's going to happen.

God has promised it. It's going to happen. And just as we've seen in Habakkuk today, because God is good, he will punish all sin. He won't wink an eye at it. He won't sweep it under the carpet.

He will punish all, all sin. And all who stand in proud defiance of this God will, in the end, drink from the cup of God's right hand. That's what we saw in verse 16. This cup from the hand of God's right hand is the cup of God's wrath. And all those who stand in proud defiance of God, you'll say, here, you drink this, and for all eternity in hell, we will drink of the wrath of God.

But friends, the good news the Bible teaches us is that God, in his love, takes on flesh. 2000 years ago. He became a man named Jesus. And Jesus lived the perfect life, the life that we were called to live, but the life that we have failed to live. And so when Jesus went to the cross and he willingly laid down his life, he wasn't dying for his own sin.

He wasn't drinking the cup of God's wrath for something that he had done wrong. He was without sin. But instead, he drank that cup of God's wrath for anyone who would turn from their sin and trust in him. He died as a substitute in your place and mine, if we are willing to turn from our sin and to trust in him. Jesus died.

But then three days later, he rose from the dead. That was evidence that his sacrifice was sufficient, that he had emptied out God's wrath for those who would trust in him. And so if we were to pick up that cup off the ground after Jesus had drank it, we would find that if we were trusting in Jesus, there's nothing left in that cup. There is no more wrath. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

So, friends, if you're here and you're exploring Christianity, or you're just considering these things, or if you're just here as a friend with a friend, but you're not a follower of Jesus, I would urge you today turn away from your sin that's lying to you, it's lying to you. And put your trust in Jesus, the one who has died, in your place and the only one who's able to save you. If you'll do that, he offers you forgiveness. He offers you a new beginning. He offers you a clean Slate right now.

If you'll just do that right now. If you have questions about that, we'd love to talk with you. Talk to me at the door afterwards. Talk to any of us at the doors. Talk to somebody about what it means to follow Jesus.

We'd love to do that with you even later this afternoon.

I wonder if you've been reading through this book this week. You've been been reading through Habakkuk. Maybe one of the questions you've been asking is, okay, why did God choose the Babylonians? Why would God do that? Why would God who is holy use somebody like this, who is so wicked and filthy?

I've been thinking about this, praying on this, and I have an answer for you. Ready? Get your pen. I don't know. I don't know.

But friends, for those of us who are here as followers of Christ this morning, what we do know and what we learn from this passage is that God is not indifferent towards sin. God will judge sin. He will judge all sin, all evil, all wickedness. And one day, every wrong will be made right, every justice will be avenged, every injustice will be avenged. And that judgment will come on God's own timetable.

He's appointed a time, but he hasn't told us when it's coming.

And so what do we do? We trust him. Chapter 2, verse 4. The righteous will live by his faith.

Some of you are here this morning and you're dealing with circumstances that are extremely troubling. To you, it looks like evil is going to prevail. And so you have been looking to God. You have been crying out to him. You have been asking tough questions.

God, what are you doing? Why are you allowing this? Why are you doing this? God, time is running out. I need your help.

But in the turmoil of your soul and as you're asking these questions, your questions are met with silence.

And the confusion that comes can be overwhelming. It can be disorienting.

I think one thing that we learned from this passage this morning is that sometimes those trials that God allows in our lives, the questions about what God is doing that perplex us, the answers that we don't have, these are the very things that God uses to strip us of our pride and to help us to rely on him and to trust Him.

It's these things that make it clear that our self reliance, our self righteousness is so stupid it's foolish. We're opposing God.

But let's just be honest. In the moment when those things are stripped from us, no one likes that. No one Likes feeling spanked by God.

And we're being stripped of those things that we once trusted in. It hurts, doesn't it? We don't like that.

And we're thinking, God, this is going to kill me if you keep doing this, if you don't do something about this.

But we're told, chapter two, verse four. The righteous shall live by faith. God has appointed a time and it's coming. It is sure it will happen. So friends, when we look to the end, in the midst of these troubling questions, we know that it's worth it.

It's worth it to trust God. It's worth it to follow him. Because in the end, no one who stands before God reconciled and forgiven, no one is going to complain about what they lost in this life. Because what they have with God is so far better than anything we can imagine. And if the trial that God allows in your life and the perplexing question that God allows in your life is a thing that he uses to strip you of your pride and to leave you at the end of your finally trust him at the end of the day, that bitter trial becomes the sweetest tool that God has used in your life.

It will be worth it.

A few days after the car accident that my dad was in when he was nine years old, my grandpa took my dad into the hospital room of the man who had crashed into them. The reckless driver who crashed into them and killed both his mom and his sister.

And the reason my grandpa brought my dad into the room with him was that they needed to tell this man, we forgive you. We don't hold this against you. Over the years, as I thought about this, I've asked myself, how could my dad have forgiven him? I mean, this man is the one who recklessly destroyed my father's life when he was a nine year old kid. How could he have done that?

I think it comes down to the fact that my dad realized that when he stood before God, he had nothing to be proud of.

He had come to know the love of God that says, you're right, you have nothing to be proud of. You have nothing to offer me, but I have everything to offer you. And I'm offering it to you as a gift.

And he was undone by the love of God. And so, 54 years later, after that accident, by God's grace, my dad is still trusting God today. And I've learned this from him over the years. We may not know how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together, but we know who God is and we know the end. And that's enough.

And even amidst all the questions that we have and the pain that we go through, when we come to know this God, we taste of his love in Christ. We're simply left there to stand in awe of this God and to worship him. And that's where Rebecca ends in verse 20. The Lord, his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we do that right now. We stand in awe of you, a God whose ways are not our ways, whose thoughts are far above our thoughts. Lord, we thank you and praise that you have sent your son, the Lord Jesus, that when we look to him, we can know with certainty that you are a God who is for us. If we are trusting in you today, that you are a God who is for us, and if God is for us, who can be against us? You've proven your heart once and for all in sending your Son.

That he who did not spare his own son, how he not also with him, freely gives all things. Lord, your heart is good, you are holy. You never do wrong. You are in absolute control.

Help us to trust you even when we don't know what's going on. Help us to trust you by looking to who you are and looking to the end of all things. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.