Part 5: Destructive Sins
Minor Prophets with a Major Message • Sermon • Submitted
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INTRO
INTRO
RECAP
Habakkuk: Why don’t you do something?
God: Here’s what I’m doing!
Habakkuk: How can you do that?
God: I am still true to My standards!
While God used Babylon to bring judgment upon Judah, He would not praise the godless evil of the Babylonians. In due time, they would experience the results of their own sin:
6 Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, “Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own— for how long?— and loads himself with pledges!” 7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. 9 “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! 10 You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. 11 For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond. 12 “Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! 13 Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing? 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 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. 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.”
1) Selfish Ambition
1) Selfish Ambition
6 Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, “Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own— for how long?— and loads himself with pledges!” 7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.
Ambition is amoral. It is neither good nor bad. It’s the context of the ambition that determines if it is healthy or destructive.
Healthy ambition honors God
Sinful and destructive ambition honors self.
Selfish ambition leads to taking advantage of others for the sake of getting ahead, but it really leads to getting behind in what really matters.
A person may grow in wealth and power, but they also grow in conflict, especially with those whom they disregard for their own selfish gain.
The result is that it comes back to their own downfall.
For Babylon, they overextended their power and their selfish ambition got the best of them.
Not long after they conquered Judah, the Medes and Persians overtook and plundered the Babylonian nation. They sent the captive people back to their own lands and many times with the goods of the Babylonians in hand!
Selfish Ambition is a destructive sin that only sets us up for eventual failure because it takes focus off of God and objectifies people.
2) False Security
2) False Security
9 “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! 10 You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. 11 For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond.
Here God is calling out against those who build a false sense of security through the extortion of others.
Instead of security, all they build is shame.
In addition, where they want to find security, they forfeit their own lives.
Their own evil gain that gives a false sense of security is the very thing that stands as a witness to their guilt and destruction.
Only true security is established in God and living in righteousness through His word.
Psalm 119:80 “May my heart be blameless in your statutes, that I may not be put to shame!”
3) Exploiting Crisis
3) Exploiting Crisis
12 “Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! 13 Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing? 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
Babylon would capture towns and cities, then kill or enslave its leaders.
They would then leave the city with inadequate leadership and use the ensued crisis for their own amusement or for strategic gain against their enemies.
Control through manufactured crisis…control through manufactured drama.
When we use crisis or drama for our own glory, then we give ourselves a false sense of purpose and control.
Only God is worthy of glory!
4) Enticing Corruption
4) Enticing Corruption
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.
Babylon grew in power by enticing other nations to join them and become part of their armies. Join or be destroyed.
When Babylon took other nations leaders, they would retrain their thinking to match their own.
Think of Daniel, Hannaniah, Meshael, and Azariah.
The newly shared ideologies were a boast for Babylon at the vulnerability of others to conform.
God would hold them accountable for their corruption and manipulations.
Their source of pride would become their shame in His presence.
Likewise, we must not seek to manipulate others perspectives for our own approval, nor should we allow ourselves to be manipulated for the approval of others.
Our sense of moral correctness must come from the Word of God, not the manipulative ideologies of our society.
5) Worthless Adorations
5) Worthless Adorations
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.”
CLOSING
CLOSING
20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”