A Destructive Path

1. A Destructive Path Habakkuk 2:15-20

2. Hab. 2:15-20 - "Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink— you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness! You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord's right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory! The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. "What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him."

3. The Five Woes in Habakkuk 2 • Woe #1 – Woe for excessive greed • Woe #2 – For relying on wealth and treasure for protection • Woe #3 – Woe for violence and injustice • Woe #4 – Violence to neighbors • Woe #5 – Worship of idols

4. Woe #4 – Violence to Neighbors In Habakkuk 2:15-17 15 "Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink— you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness! 16 You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord's right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory! 17 The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.

5. Romans 1:32 - Though they [the ungodly] know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. • Psalms 50:18 –“ If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers.” • Romans 1:24,26,28 - Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, … For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions…28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

6. Psalm 75:7-8 - but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. Psalms 57:6 - They set a net for my steps; my soul was bowed down. They dug a pit in my way, but they have fallen into it themselves. Psalms 115:3-7 - Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat.

7. So what exactly is idolatry? • In Scripture we see a three step process: • The man worships an image (actual or in the mind) • He then becomes like the image • The image often destroys him • Psalm 115:8 confirms this: “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them.” • When you worship a part of creation you become like the idol, spiritually lifeless. • If you unbiblically commit or devote yourself to anything but the Lord, then you become like the thing, and it will eventually destroy you.

8. Woe #5 – Idolatry • 18 "What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! 19 Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. 20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him." • Psalms 121:1-4 - I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

9. Puritan Commentator, Matthew Henry: “Our lot, whatever it is, is that which is appointed us by the counsel of God, which cannot be altered, and it is therefore our wisdom to reconcile ourselves to it and cheerfully acquiesce in it. Our God lives! Our God reigns!”

10. Three Assurances: "But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him" (Habakkuk 2:20). • The first assurance focused on God's grace (Habakkuk 2:4), • The second assurance on God's glory (v. 14). • This third assurance focuses on God's government; God is on the throne and has everything under control. (v.20)

11. Psalms 46:8-10 Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. 10 "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"