Believe In Yourself, And Other Lies: Habakkuk 2:2-5

Sermon Manuscript – November 4, 2007

INTRODUCTION

It’s been a while since we looked at Habakkuk. We’ve actually already made it halfway through! Today, our passage is Habakkuk 2:2-5. Before we get into it, we should spend just a bit of time recapping where we’ve been so far.

Habakkuk is a dialogue, a conversation between God and a man about the problem of evil in God’s world. We started way back in September with Habakkuk’s first complaint to God. He lived in Judah, the land of God’s own people, and yet everywhere he looked he saw injustice – cheating, theft, lying, murder, all being done by a people called by God’s name. It was like being in a church whose people acted pious on Sunday and then went out and robbed and swindled and assaulted one another during the week. Habakkuk was disgusted and cried out to God – “Where are you? Why do you do nothing?”

God’s answer was, in a way, an even bigger problem. Yes, God would deal with the sin of his people. The congregation would be punished for profaning His name and reputation. It was how God would do this that confused Habakkuk. A powerful pagan nation would conquer and destroy the nation of God. Worshippers of idols would be the instruments of the true God. The sins of Judah would be dealt with by means of the even greater sins of Babylon.

And here is the problem. We mentioned it last time we looked at this book. The problem is this: How can God use wicked Babylonians to punish His own people? If the Jews are to pay for their crimes, what about the Babylonians, who destroy whole nations, who kill thousands of people, who steal lands and homes not their own? Will justice be done in God’s world? Will God set things right?

And what about God’s promises? What about his promise to Abraham, the father of the Hebrew people, that his descendants would outnumber the stars? How can God destroy his own people? Is there any hope?

This raises a practical question. How is a person supposed to live, in light of this problem? What are we to do, since we just don’t know all the answers?

OUR KIND OF PROBLEM

Our passage today speaks of a “vision.” This is a vision God gave to Habakkuk. We’re going to see the details next week – it’s a vision of judgment. God will punish the Babylonians. God will make things right. The whole book of Habakkuk is, really, the “vision” that verse 2 talks about. God will punish Israel for its sins using the Babylonians, and when they are done, God will punish them for their sins. You can sum up the vision like this: God sees evil, and He will deal with it.

Fast forward to today. We are Christian believers – we now know what Habakkuk could only hope for. We understand how God deals with the problem of evil – He does it through His Son, Jesus Christ, who paid for human sin with His own life and is now, through the Holy Spirit, drawing all His people together into the Church. And at the end of this age, Jesus will come back and separate those who believe in Him from those who are still in their sins, and He will punish all the sins of those who are opposed to Him by sending them to hell. God sets things right. God sees evil, and He deals with it. Just like in Habakkuk’s vision.

Okay – but we’ve still got the same problem that Habakkuk did. It’s not hard to relate to our prophet in his confusion. You look around our world and what do you see? On the news Thursday, I saw a story: two kids speeding in a Quebec neighborhood collided at a stop sign. The cars were carried by the momentum into the front yard of a house, where a three-year-old girl was playing with her babysitter. One of those cars ran right over that little girl, and she died.

Why, when we turn on the news, morning after morning, do we have to watch stories like that? Why aren’t things getting any better? Where’s the justice in this world?

And for Christians, it can seem even harder. We know God is real. We know He’s fully in control of the world. And He’s promised to set things right. Why, then, are three-year-olds getting run over? Why are wars raging in Iraq and Afghanistan, why did a hurricane just kill hundreds in Haiti and the Dominican?

Yes, justice will be done. That’s a promise. But it can be awful hard sometimes to hear that in the midst of a crisis or tragedy. What if that were your three-year-old daughter? Even for a Christian, the promise of God finally setting it all right sometime in the undefined future can seem a bit hollow when you’re in the midst of a fight with cancer, or when that terrible telephone call comes, or when you get a pink slip at work just when the rent goes up.

This vision – of justice, of right finally overcoming wrong – where is it? The Bible was written thousands of years ago. When’s it going to come? What’s taking so long? Why does God delay? And – what are we to do until then?

A MAN OF THE WORLD

Let’s get into our passage. Looking at these three verses as a whole, you see a contrast being made here. There is a puffed-up, arrogant man, and there is a righteous man. Two men. Two kinds of men. Two types of people. Righteous and unrighteous. Good and bad.

Let’s look at the bad guy first. Verse 4: “Behold, his soul is puffed up.” Look at this man. He’s full of himself. “Puffed up” – he’s got an inflated ego. He’s proud. Haughty. He’s done Hollywood. He’s got all the self-help books. He watches Oprah faithfully. He hears the siren song of the world – “Believe in yourself!” “Have faith in yourself, and you can do anything!” He’s self-sufficient – he doesn’t need anyone else. That’s pride. And that’s not a good thing, because “his soul is not upright within him.”

You go to this city in Italy, and there’s a tower there. A very famous tower, in the city of Pisa. Why is that tower famous? It’s not because it’s very tall, or because it’s spectacular in its design. No – the tower is famous because it’s leaning. Why would the fact that it’s leaning make it famous? Because that’s weird. Towers aren’t supposed to lean. They’re supposed to be straight. Even though this tower’s a tourist attraction, they’ve had to restrict access to it from time to time. The leaning renders the tower unsuitable, even useless at times. They worry that it will fall over – now, there’s a safety hazard. The tower’s not upright. It’s crooked. It’s off. It should be straight, but it leans. It should be even, but it’s off.

So is the soul of this man. He thinks very highly of himself, but he’s bent. He has a lofty and exalted opinion of his character and worth, but he’s crooked. His soul is not upright. Its usefulness is gone. In fact, its imperfection means it’s unsafe. He’s useless, really, except as a spectacle and as an object lesson for others.

Jump to verse five: “Wine is a traitor.” Now, I don’t think Habakkuk is condemning wine in general here. Remember who the bad guys in Habakkuk are. The Babylonians were legendary for their alcoholism. The ancient writer Curtius, for example, describes the Babylonians as not only excessively addicted to wine but also to the consequences of inebriation – they enjoyed the loss of control and lack of inhibition that comes with drunkenness. The Bible itself tells the story of how Babylon would finally itself be conquered – the book of Daniel describes its leaders carousing at a drunken feast as the Persians take the city. Our passage here in Habakkuk may be a hint at the Babylonians’ downfall – their addiction, like a “traitor,” will paralyze them at a critical moment.

This man is “arrogant.” He treats others with disdain. He is the centre of the universe, and everyone else knows it. Disagree with him – you’ll regret it. Even worse – he’s greedy. We already saw that he’s given to addiction – he likes his wine. Well, he likes other things in excess, too. It doesn’t matter, really, what it is – money or cars or books or shoes or employees or friends. All good things in themselves, but when they become the object of greed they lose their value and are corrupted. He craves more and more – looking for the rush or the thrill that these things, once, long ago, gave him, a feeling long since gone – and no matter what he gets, no matter how much or how many or how expensive it’s never enough. Just like death is never satisfied, says the Lord, just like the yawning mouth of Sheol, the realm of the dead, this man is never filled.

Let’s sum this man up. What is this man’s highest value – what is most important to him? Himself. And what is his hope? Stuff. The things of the world. His faith is in himself, his hope is worldly. If he dies with the most toys – he wins.

Our text here is using the Babylonians as a representative, as an example. Really, there are only two types of people in the world – people of the world, and people of faith. And even people of faith all start off as people of the world. This Babylonian here is just a face God uses for anyone with these values.

Listen – this is everyone. Every human being falls, or once fell, into this category. Every person has or had the same disease – the same values. We’ve all been there – looking for that new thing or new relationship or new position or job or a few more bucks that will make all the difference, that will make you happy. We’ve all been there, where the most important thing in the universe is ME! Now, it’s expressed in different ways by different people. Maybe instead of being puffed up, they hate what they are – their appearance, social status, gender, skin colour – and, because they too value themselves above all else, are consumed with a desire to change themselves, to make themselves better. Because then – only then – might the world agree with them that they are the most important thing in the universe. Maybe then will their conscience agree with them that they are the most important thing in the universe – and that annoying little voice will go away.

See? It’s the same sinful heart – it values itself above all else. We’ve all been there – or, even worse, maybe you’re still there. And every time we disobey God, every time we hurt another person out of indifference or spite, every time we turn a blind eye to pain and suffering, every time we choose to chase something of the world like money or fame or power or sex or intelligence instead of seeking the glory of God, that heart of selfishness comes out. This is the mark of people of the world: the self is the most valuable thing, and their hope is the stuff of the world. When you believe in yourself, you become your own god. And God is a jealous God. This is the kind of person that God can’t tolerate, the kind of person who will not live.

THE RIGHTEOUS MAN

We see this in contrast to the other guy. God is painting a picture in our passage. There is the selfish, arrogant man of the world. But – the righteous will live by his faith.

Just one short phrase. Look at all that is said about the wicked man – he’s proud, he’s arrogant, he’s addicted, he’s like death, he’s not upright, he’s not at rest. Compare that to the other man. Only one thing is mentioned. And that’s his faith.

First, everything said about the wicked man is about himself. About his character, his lifestyle, his works, his behaviour – it’s all centred on him. But look at what is not said about the man of faith. God doesn’t describe him in that kind of detail. He doesn’t say that he is upright, or that he is self-controlled, or that he is humble, or that he is meek. The man of faith doesn’t trust in himself. He can’t – because he’s just like the other guy. He is greedy, too. He gets puffed up. He hurts other people. He is a sinner, and he has brought the threat of God’s judgment on himself, just like the wicked man. But there’s something different.

The only thing said about him – that he is faithful – really says as much, or more, about whatever it is that is outside himself that he has faith in as is might say about the man himself. The one attribute mentioned about the man of faith points away from himself. This person of faith has their values in order. The most important thing to this man is not himself. He can’t rely on himself. No, he has faith – trust, belief- in something else, something outside of himself. And there is the key difference.

HE LIVES BY FAITH

There’s two lessons we can draw from this. First of all, while the wicked man believes in himself and hopes for the things of the world, the man of faith believes and hopes in – what? Look back to verse 2. God begins our passage by telling Habakkuk to write. Write what? The vision. Habakkuk is to write what God has shown him. God has promised judgment. God has promised that everything would be made right. This is the God who answers – look at verse 2 again! – the God who hears His people cry and answers them. The man of faith looks to this God and he believes. His faith is not in himself – it’s in the Lord! The man of faith looks to what God has revealed, to what God has spoken – to what is written! – and his hope is in the promises and the character of God. His hope is not the world! His hope is what God has said, what God has promised, what God has done!

And this is a steadfast hope. Look at the contrast again. The wicked man “does not rest.” He flits from one object of hope to another. The new house doesn’t make him happy anymore, so he buys another one. It takes more and more wine to get that buzz now, so let’s try scotch instead. And when that doesn’t do it? Drugs, maybe? Or something else – maybe a fourth or fifth husband? Or dispense with marriage altogether – live with whoever you like until that excitement wears off, then find a new person who can give it to you.

That’s the man of the world. Not the man of faith. The Hebrew word translated “faith” here also means “faithfulness.” It comes from a root with a connotation of steadfastness and firmness. The man of faith trusts in God and His promise, and there he remains. He is not moved. Now, that hope may be strong, or it may be weak; it may shine brightly, or be clouded in darkness. We’ve all been there, in our own walks of faith. That hope can feel close, or it can feel distant. BUT IT DOES NOT MOVE. It does not change. That hope, however dim or confusing, no matter how bright and clear, stays the same. And that hope is what God has promised. That hope is in who GOD is.

See, God knows what we’re going through. Life gets rough. Cancer, or betrayal, or unemployment, or disaster make it hard to hold on. But God has a plan. Everything that happens – even sin and disaster, as we saw a few weeks ago – is completely under God’s control and is a part of His plan. And God’s timetable is carved in stone. Where is the justice God has promised? When will He appear and set things right? When will every tear be wiped from our eyes? God tells the prophet, “It will surely come.” God has an appointed time for everything. But He will make things right. The vision is coming. Our text says “it hastens to the end.” The Hebrew is literally “it pants for the end” – it is straining at the leash, it is champing at the bit. It is not slowing down. When the time arrives, it will hit like a ton of bricks. There is no slowing down or stopping God’s plan – He is never frustrated, He is never defeated. God said it. That is enough! The man of faith believes that, no matter how long or hard the wait may be, and he is faithful.

That’s the first lesson. The righteous man is the man who lives by faith – that is, he trusts in God’s promise, he rests on God’s word, he believes in God’s character and he clings to it no matter what.

SOLA FIDE

The second lesson is this: The righteous man lives by faith alone! God mentions nothing other than faith here as the reason for this man’s living. With the wicked man, he talks about arrogance, and drunkenness, and crookedness, and greed, and addiction. See, what you do, the kind of character you have, the things you own – they’re enough to damn you, to condemn you, but nothing of that sort can save you.

God mentions only faith here. Not works. Not faith plus works – it’s not like Joseph Smith once said, that grace saves us after all that we can do. Apart from Christ, we can do nothing! Faith and faith alone, in Christ and Christ alone, is what saves.

This verse, verse 4, is quoted three times in the New Testament, and in two of those – in Romans and Galatians – Paul is making the point that the Law of Moses cannot save a person. There were a lot of people back in Paul’s day who thought that they could earn their salvation. Just like our day. They think they can buy it, qualify for it, by something they did or owned. If I’m a good person, they think, then surely God would be a good sport and let me into heaven!

It’s never been that way! Paul’s whole point in using this verse was that the Law can only condemn – it can never save! The Jews of the Old Testament, before Jesus came, were not saved by works or obedience, any more than we are today! What I as a pastor want you as Christians to understand about your Bible, about your Old Testament, is this: The God of the Old Testament is the same God as in the New Testament! We are saved the same way as they were before Christ, and here in our Old Testament passage is the verse that makes it clear: it’s by faith, and faith alone! Not works or obedience or by being a good person, or anything we do! Not even a prayer for salvation can save you – it can only express the thing that actually saves, which is faith in God, faith in Jesus Christ as the saviour of the world!

Don’t trust in what you do or did – not even a prayer for salvation. Don’t put your faith in the kind of guy you are. Don’t think that because you’re not as bad as the other guy, you’ll make the cut – Jesus forgave the thief on the cross, not the religious leaders of his day, because of his faith!

CONCLUSION

How are we to live in a world filled with disaster and evil? And – even more important – how are we to live through the wrath of God for all the bad things we have done in our lives?

In World War Two, Germany conquered all of Continental Europe. The Luftwaffe ruled the skies. The Wehrmacht rumbled through every street. The Gestapo ran every town. Thousands of people were killed as examples and warnings to the public. Radios were taken away. Informers lurked in every community. Saying the wrong thing would make you disappear. Life was terrible. And yet a movement began in the occupied countries – men and women who resisted. They hid Allied airmen. They blew up railway trestles. They sheltered Jews. They were surrounded by one of the most formidable war machines man has ever created, a few thousand scattered civilians against legions of professional soldiers. And yet they fought. They resisted. They kept going. Why? Because they thought they could beat the Nazis? Not a chance. They didn’t think they could do it. But they knew that, one day, a day they did not know, the Allies were going to land on the coast and start pushing the Germans back. They looked toward the day that the Germans would receive their punishment. They trusted in something that seemed far away, something that in the cobblestone alleys of France or the polders of Holland must have seemed like just an abstract idea, a pie-in-the-sky dream compared to the harsh reality of German jackboots crunching through the streets. That belief, that hope kept them going despite the impossible odds.

That’s the Christian life. In the world but not of it. Living for the Kingdom – fighting for the Kingdom – even when the world seems to overwhelm us. Why? Faith – and faith alone. How can we live? By faith. Don’t believe in yourself. You were born, you’ll live, and you’ll die in a few short years, just like everyone else, and the world will be the same. Don’t believe in yourself – you’ll be a pretty pitiful god. No. Believe in the God of the ages, and in Jesus Christ. Believe God’s promise – that He will set things right and wipe every tear from your eyes. Trust God’s timing – wait for it, because it is coming. Believe God’s words, for He had them written so that you might be saved. Trust God’s character, for He never changes and is never defeated or frustrated. Believe God Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, who became a man and lived the perfect life we could never live, and suffered the punishment that we could never endure, so that we might be called “righteous” before God for His sake and for His glory.

The most important thing isn’t me. It’s Him. That’s faith.

- Jeff Jones