Alright, we'll be looking tonight
at the first chapter of the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk chapter
1. The title of the message is God's
answer for his people. God's answer for his people.
And I say that for his people because The way God answers the
questions that we have and the concerns that we have and even
the complaints that we have, His answers aren't really settled
and satisfied with the unbeliever. Because the unbeliever, obviously,
by definition, doesn't believe God. But we who believe God,
His answers to our questions, and we all have questions, Not
just about the scriptures, but about life in general. But his
answers are good enough. And the reason I read that opening
psalm in Psalm 86 and the reason I had Brother Ron read Psalm
65 is because both of those psalms are concerned with that issue.
Several of the psalms deal with that. Listen, let me just give
you a few verses from the Psalms concerning this issue where the
Psalmist, in Psalm 27, verse 7, you don't have to turn to
these, but just listen. He's crying out unto the Lord.
He's perplexed. He's hurting. And he says, Hear,
O Lord, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also upon me, and
answer me. Give me an answer. Crying out
for mercy. Of course, we know the answer
that God gives for any sinner who cries out for mercy is his
mercy in Christ. Christ is the answer. Now, I know that sounds like
bumper sticker religion and it's just easy to say, but we who
know Christ and know the Lord, who know the scriptures, we know
that means something. That really means something,
Christ is the answer. In Psalm 65 and verse 5 that
Brother Ron read, in that psalm, this is what he said here, he
said, by terrible things, that's amazing things, that's what that
means. Amazing things that unless we had an answer from God would
seem terrible in our eyes, seem awful. And this is really appropriate
for the book of Habakkuk too, this one here. Because he says,
by terrible things in righteousness, in justice, wilt thou answer
us, O God of our salvation. And that's what we're looking
for. We're looking for not just answers, but answers from the
God of our salvation. That's the comfort, isn't it?
It's not just getting a response, but it's getting a response that
gives us some comfort in salvation. That's what Habakkuk was looking
for the prophet Habakkuk. He was looking for some answers
that would give him comfort. Give him some assurance. That's
what I want. I honestly believe that in the
true ministry and preaching of the gospel, that God's true people
who really believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who have been given
the gift of faith, and who have no hope but in the blood and
righteousness of Christ that you should walk away from every
message having God's answer of assurance and comfort and peace. So that you can lay your heads
down on the pillow tonight and whether you wake up tomorrow
morning or die and go to be with the Lord, you have an assurance
that's called blessed. We sing that hymn, blessed assurance,
Jesus is mine. I don't believe that the ministry
of reconciliation is intended to make you doubt. Not that you
won't doubt. Not that I won't. We will. But
the aim is God's answer. And He answers His children.
And that's what He's talking about here. In Psalm 65, 5 that
you read wrong, it says, O God of our salvation, who art the
confidence of all the ends of the earth and of them that are
afar off upon the sea. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. Listen to this one that I read
in Psalm 86 and verse 7. He said, the psalmist writes
here, he says, in the day of my trouble I will call upon thee
for thou wilt answer me. Ever been in trouble? Sure you
have. We all have. Whatever circumstance comes our
way and we want answers. Sometimes those answers will
come very pointedly Sometimes those answers will come just
in the form of God saying, child, I know better than you, you just
trust me. I know what I'm doing. Psalm
91, 15, listen to this one. It says, he shall call upon me
and I will answer him. That's a promise from God to
his children in Christ. When we approach him at the throne
of grace in time of need, to find mercy and help in our time
of need. He says, I will be with him in trouble. When we're in
trouble, God doesn't leave us. Sometimes he, as one old preacher
said, and I don't know who it was, I read this from a pamphlet
that Brother Mahan gave us in the preacher school. But he basically
said, one old preacher said, he said, God will not leave us
in trouble. Now he may let the leash out
a little bit. You know what I'm saying? God's
got us on a leash in that sense, and he may let it out a little
bit. And so we may stray a little bit, but he's not gonna let us
go. He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. He said,
I will deliver him and honor him. And then Psalm 102 in verse
two, listen to this one. He says, hide not thy face from
me in the day when I'm in trouble. Incline thine ear unto me in
the day when I call. Answer me speedily. Now that's
us, isn't it? We want answers now. But let
me read you one more before we get into Habakkuk here. Psalm 143 and verse 1. Here's
the prayer of David. He says, Hear my prayer, O Lord,
give ear to my supplications. In thy faithfulness answer me,
and in thy righteousness. And I like that because God is
faithful. to save us and to comfort us
in his way, and he's also just to do so. Well, here we are in
the book of Habakkuk. I've already started this book,
but I want to go back over some things here. What you have here
in the first 11 verses, that's what I want to deal with tonight,
of chapter 1, you have two things. In the first four verses, you
have the prophet's complaint, and it is a complaint. I don't
think that's too harsh of a word to use here. We usually think
of complaining and murmuring as unbelief, and that's what
the Scripture represents, you know, when the children of Israel
murmured in the wilderness. What that is, that's unbelief.
Complaining, you see, because things aren't going exactly as
we think they should go. and so we have the prophets complaint
but let's not be too hard on her back it because what we see
here is is just an example of every one of us and get any given
time where centers say by the grace of god in christ and we
wrestle and war against unbelief and doubt and fear And we complain. So we have the prophet's complaint.
Then in verses five through 11, now that's his first complaint.
He has another one. You think, well, that'd be enough,
you know, just one. No, he has another one. Well,
we have others too, don't we? But he has another complaint,
and that starts right around verse 12 and on in verse two,
or chapter two, so we'll get to that next time. But that's
his first complaint. And from verses 5 through 11,
the second thing you have here is God's answer. Now here's God's
answer, and God's first answer to the prophet's complaint. And
as I said, it's God's answer for his people. Look at verse
1, he says, the burden, the heavy message, the deep burden of the
word, which Habakkuk, the prophet, did see, which God revealed to
him. This is a burden that God showed
him. and what he's doing here he's complaining he says in verse
two oh lord how long shall i cry and thou wilt not hear why aren't
you hearing me lord well that that that's uh... that's uh...
a moment of unbelief god hears his people and we read that in
all those songs didn't we when you're in trouble god's not going
to leave he's not going to turn a deaf ear to his people in their
complaints in their questions in their perplexities and confusion. He says, even cry out unto thee
of violence. I'm telling you, I'm crying out
because of violence, violence in the land. Now what he's doing
here, what Habakkuk is doing here is he's complaining about
the great sin and violence and idolatry and unbelief that exist
in his home country of Judah, the southern kingdom of Judah.
He says, cry out unto thee of violence and thou will not save. You won't deliver us from this
violence, from this sin of the land, from this degradation that's
going on. Now Habakkuk, we don't know a
whole lot about him personally. We know what his name means. His name means one who embraces
or one who clings. We'll talk about that in just
a moment. But we don't know a whole lot
about him personally. We know he lived in Judah, somewhere
in Judah, in the southern kingdom. We know he was probably a contemporary
with Jeremiah, Jeremiah the prophet. And by this time that Habakkuk
is complaining here and prophesying, the northern kingdom's already
gone. It's already been conquered and taken away by the Assyrian
empire. And the southern kingdom is right
on the verge of destruction. They're right on the verge of
it. You know, in the northern kingdom, I've told you this,
you know, every king, you know, after the kingdom split after
Solomon, when the kingdom split after Solomon, the northern kingdom
which mainly consisted of ten tribes, the ten tribes, And the
southern kingdom consisted of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
All the rest of them were basically concentrated in the northern
kingdom. Their capital was Samaria. And all throughout their history,
up until the time they were destroyed by the Assyrians, they did not
have one godly king. in the northern kingdom, not
one godly king. Every king they had was an evil
king. And you'll read about that in 1st and 2nd Kings and 1st
and 2nd Chronicles. You'll read about that, how it
always say of the king, you know, when he came into power, it said,
he either... It'll sometimes say, he did that which was right
in the sight of the Lord, or he did evil in the sight of the
Lord. Well, every northern king, it said, he did evil in the sight
of the Lord. In the southern kingdom, there
were a few kings who led the people in a godly way. There was a few, but the majority
of them were evil. And after Josiah, you remember
King Josiah, he came after Hezekiah. After him, every king in the
southern kingdom was an evil king. They didn't have one left,
even up until the time of their destruction. And so the land
degenerated. That's what's happening here.
Up until the time of Jeremiah and Habakkuk, up until the time
of their destruction when God sent a great army, the Babylonian
army, in to exact judgment upon his own people. And what happened
here after that, the land just degenerated in idolatry, degradation,
They didn't keep the law. They didn't consider the law.
And here's what Habakkuk is saying. He's saying, God, why are you
permitting this to go on? Why do you put up with this?
Look at verse 3. He says, Why dost thou show me
iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? This is what I'm looking
at. Why? It's like our country today,
isn't it? You read the newspaper and you
read of all these tragedies and these travesties and the depravity
of men. We know what we are now, but
we read about these things and sometimes even we'll ask, just
like Habakkuk, why, Lord, do you allow this to go on? Why
do you put this before our face? Look at verse three. For spoiling
and violence, that's greed and violence, are before me. And there are that raise up strife
and contention, there's division in the land. There's no unity
under the law, under God. It's division. He says in verse
4, therefore the law is slack, the law won't help, the law is
ignored. That's what he means. And they
water it down. It's just like people today.
You know, legislatures today, you know, when the law's broken,
eventually there becomes no law at all and they water it down.
He says, and judgment doth never go forth. Judgment's not done,
justice is gone. He says, for the wicked doth
come pass about the righteous. Now you know who the righteous
are, that's believers, that's the children of God, that's sinners
saved by the grace of God in Christ. Those are those who walk
by faith. Later on in Habakkuk 2 and verse
4, he says, "...the just shall live by his faith." What is that? To live looking unto Christ,
the author and finisher of our faith. To seek God and to seek
salvation and acceptance with God by his grace through Christ. And they saw him as the promised
Messiah. And they were few in this day,
very few. Jeremiah says that. There's not many of them there,
but there are some there, but they're surrounded by the wicked. In other words, what he's saying
here is this, there's the righteous, the true believer who follows
the ways of God's grace and looks to Christ and follows the law
in that sense, there's so few that they're encompassed about
by the wicked, it looks like there's none at all. That's how
bad it was. So he says, therefore, wrong
judgment proceedeth. So justice is perverted. Now
there's Habakkuk's complaint. And so what he's saying is, why
do you put up with this? Why don't you do something, God? That's his complaint. Why don't
you bring judgment? Why don't you put a stop to it?
Now, of course, any time we think that way, and I want you to listen
to me very carefully here. Because this is important. Anytime
we think that way, God reminds us to be aware that we are all
sinners. Isn't that right? And we all,
by nature, and based on our best works, deserve condemnation. I mean, in essence, think about
it now. When we say, well, why don't you just bring, why don't
you put a stop to it, God? Why don't you bring judgment?
Aren't we saying that those people who are instrumental in such
wickedness, that they deserve judgment? And they do. They do,
don't get me wrong. Should they be let off the hook?
Absolutely not. But, what about me? That's the
reminder that God gives his people. That's what he's gonna give to
Habakkuk. What about me? Am I a sinner? Well, yes, I am. If God marked iniquity, would
I stand in His presence? Would He look upon me? If God
marked or imputed, that's what that is, if God charged sin where
sin is, how would I fare in His court of justice? well i'd be
condemned and rightly so deservedly so and so whenever we see things
like this and let me tell you something it is not wrong for
us to be appalled and sickened by sin at all in fact when you
read things in the paper these travesties i'll tell you what
it just makes me sick to my stomach when i see some adult treating
or mistreating a little child. Wrong. That makes me sick to
my stomach, and it should make you sick to your stomach, too.
It ought to make your heart cry out for vengeance and justice.
There's nothing wrong with that. But let's always do it in this
way, being reminded that, Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, who would stand? You know, God is long-suffering
towards us all. for his purposes. And so it's
also a reminder of this, that it's only by the grace of God
in Christ that we're not consumed. I love that passage in Lamentations
chapter 3 and verse 22 where Jeremiah the prophet says, it
is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed because his
compassions fail not. Do you know that's the only reason
I'm not consumed? Do you know that's the only reason
that you're not consumed? The Lord's mercies in Christ. Also, it's a reminder of this,
that we are to know that God does and will punish all sin
and unrighteousness. Now, God will do it. I want you
to turn to Psalm 73 with me. Don't ever, don't ever think
that because God doesn't bring just judgment immediately against
all sin, that God will fail to punish sin. Don't ever think
that. And that's a reminder of that,
too, for us. Look at Psalm 73. You know, he
starts out in this Psalm, and he says, he says, truly, in verse
one, look at this, he says, truly God is good to Israel, even to
such as are of a clean heart. Now, who has a clean heart among
men? If we're all sinners, born dead
in trespasses and sin, fallen in Adam, how in the world can
we say we have a clean heart? Job asked this question, how
can a clean thing be born out of an unclean thing? How can he be clean that is born
of woman? That's what he asked. It's impossible. We're born dead in trespasses
and sin. So who is those of a clean heart? Well, the clean heart
here is the heart of faith that's been washed in the blood of Christ. That's what he's talking about.
It's a heart that's broken and contrite over sin and rest in
Christ, looks to him for salvation, for forgiveness, for righteousness
in life. That's the cleansed heart. All
right? So that's a sinner. But he says
in verse 2, but as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps
had well nigh slipped. And why? Think about what he's
saying here now. Now listen to this. He says,
God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
That's the heart of faith. That's a sinner saved by grace.
But he said, as for me personally, my feet were almost gone, my
steps had well nigh slipped. He said, I've almost given up.
That's what he's saying. Now, what was his problem? Well,
look at verse 3. Here's his problem. I couldn't
take it. who have no thoughts towards
Christ, and I saw their prosperity, and it almost caused me to quit."
That's what Habakkuk is actually saying. Lord, I've cried out. I see violence and sin and idolatry
in your land. Why don't you do something? I
can't take this. Look at verse 12. We won't read
this whole psalm. Read the whole psalm when you
get an opportunity. He says, Behold, these are the
ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. Verily,
I've cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency.
You see how this is a believer talking. That's unbelief. You never look to Christ in vain. And he says, he says in verse
14, for all the day long have I been plagued and chastened
every morning. If I say I will speak thus, behold,
I should offend against the generation of thy children. And when I thought
to know this, when I thought to figure this thing out now.
See Habakkuk's trying to figure it out. That's what he's trying
to do. We do that too, don't we? And
listen to what he says now, verse 16. He says, when I thought to
know this, to figure this out, it was too painful for me. Wow. This is something I can't
figure out. This is just too hard for me.
These things, these questions, you know, why does God allow
evil in the world? Why does God allow this to go
on, that to go on? Now look at God's answer, because
now essentially this is the answer that God's gonna give to Habakkuk,
but I want you to see this in the psalm. Look at verse 17.
And here's where the answer is. He says, until I went into the
sanctuary of God, then I understood their end. Yeah, the wicked may
be prospering today, But when I go into the sanctuary of God,
where the word of God is preached, where God is worshipped, where
God is served, where God saves sinners by grace, then here's
the answer. Think about how they're going
to end up. That's what he's saying. He says in verse 18, Surely thou
didst set them in slippery places, thou cast them down into destruction. You read the whole psalm. You
see, this is the answer that he gives to Habakkuk and he gives
to us about these things. It's not how things are going
today. Whether you're on the mountain or in the valley, sing
that song, James. Same God, He's in control. He's
still working all things after the counsel of His own will.
He's still working all things together for good to them that
love Him, who are the called according to His purpose. They
may be prospering today, but how's it all gonna end up? Well,
God's gonna judge this world in righteousness by that man
whom He hath ordained. in that he hath given assurance
unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. And
then what happens after that? Eternity. There you go. That's it. No one will escape
God's judgment. Look back at Habakkuk 1. And
let me tell you this, not even the saved, not even the sinner
saved by grace escapes God's judgment. But we've already been
judged for all our sins on the cross of Calvary when
Christ, our Savior, was made sin for us. We didn't escape
judgment. Christ took our judgment for
us. We escaped it personally, but it was exacted out and worked
out on the person of the Son of God incarnate on the cross.
We're forgiven of all our sins. Why? Because Christ died for
our sins. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no forgiveness of sins. The righteousness by which we
stand accepted. Now think about this, you know,
when we see all these travesties and we are rightly appalled,
but understand this, the righteousness by which we stand accepted before
a holy God is not our own. but that which was given us and
imputed to us by Christ. Ain't that right? The name Habakkuk,
as I told you, it means one who embraces, one who clings. The lesson for Habakkuk, the
lesson for us, the lesson for Judah and those who are righteous
in Judah by the grace of God is this, that we must live our
lives daily, hourly, each minute, in the midst of wickedness, even
our own wickedness. Now listen to me, not just in
the wickedness, not just in the midst of the wickedness that
we read in the headlines. That's bad enough. But we've
got to live our lives even in the midst of our own wickedness,
and you have to say that because we have a battle every day with
ourselves. Don't you? We have to live our
lives daily in the midst of our own wickedness, how? Clinging
to Christ. Clinging to his word. Clinging to his grace. Clinging
to the forgiveness that comes to us justly and mercifully by
his blood. Clinging to his righteousness
alone. And that's what it means when
God tells Habakkuk in this answer that the justified shall live
by his faith. You don't live by the... The
headlines, you read them, you deal with them, but you don't
live by them, you live by your faith, the faith that God gave
you in Christ. Paul used that verse three times
in the New Testament. In Romans 1, 17. when he's talking
about the gospel message, the word preached. And he said, for
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed. For as it is
written, the just shall live by faith. That's the message
of grace. That's the message. That's how
God answers us. When we sit under the preaching
of the gospel, it's the righteousness that we receive by faith in Christ.
In Galatians chapter 3 and verse 11, his emphasis is on the grace
of God. That we don't obtain righteousness
by our own works, but by Christ alone. And that's it. And then in Hebrews 10 and verse
38, his emphasis is on perseverance. That we live by that same faith
in Christ, our daily lives. Well, listen to the Lord's answer
now. Let me just read through these verses. And here's what
God tells him. Now he says, God, why don't you
do something? Why don't you bring your justice down upon all this
sin in Judah? And God says, well, I'm going
to. He says, I'm bringing judgment. And here's how I'm going to do
it. I'm going to use the wicked Babylonians as instruments of
my judgment against Judah, my own people. What? That's the way you're going to
do it? You're going to use a nation that's even more wicked than
Judah to bring judgment upon Judah? You know, that's so contrary
to our natural thinking. Why would God do it that way? Well, look at it. Look at verse
5. He says, Behold ye among the
heathen. and regard and wonder marvels
i want to tell you something that's going to just us down
g that's what god sign about that you think you you you you
want answers i'm going to tell you something that's going to
not totally just just confound your mind he says for our work
or work in your days which you will not believe though it be
told you What's he talking about? He's talking about it's going
to be incredible. Incredulous beliefs, what he's talking about.
Even people of the world sometimes ask this question, why doesn't
God do something about sin? Well, God says, I'm going to
do something about it. Do you know this verse is quoted
in the New Testament? You might have it in your concordance.
Can you see where it is? Acts chapter 13. Turn over to
Acts chapter 13. I want you to see this. This is another good lesson from
the minor prophets on how to interpret Scripture. We saw that
in the little book of Nahum, didn't we? Look at Acts chapter
13. Here's Paul at Antioch preaching
the gospel, preaching Christ and Him crucified. And look over
at verse 36 of Acts chapter 13. And listen to what he does, he's
quoting from David. He quoted from one of the Psalms
where it says that God would not allow his holy one to see
corruption. And he says, David, David is
in the grave corrupting. David wasn't speaking of himself,
he was speaking of David representatively, talking about the son of David,
the greater son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says
in verse 36, listen to this, he says, for David, after he
had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep
and was laid unto his father's and saw corruption. His body
decayed. So that Psalm couldn't be talking
about David personally, or you just have to say, well, God failed
on a promise, on a prophecy. He didn't do that. He said, verse
37, but he whom God raised again saw no corruption. That's who
David was talking about when he was speaking prophetically
of one greater than David, one greater than Solomon, one to
come, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says in verse 38, listen
to this, he says, be it known unto you, therefore, men and
brethren, that through this man, the Lord Jesus Christ, is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sin. No forgiveness without Christ.
And he says, and by him all that believe are justified from all
things, declared not guilty, righteous in the sight of God,
from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore,
lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets,
behold ye despisers, and wonder and perish something marvelous.
He said, for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall
in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. That's quoted from Habakkuk,
one in verse five. What's he talking about? What
he's saying here is that everything that God revealed to his prophets
about his great works in providence, in judgment, in the deliverance
of his people providentially is all aimed toward that one
great work, the greatest work of all, the work of God in sending
his son to die for the sins of his sheep. He's saying, pulled
by the Holy Spirit, is saying everything that happened back
there, even in the judgment of Judah by the wicked Babylonians,
as amazing and as astounding as it is and as much as we can't
figure that one out, here's the answer. It all leads and all
redounds to the greatest work of all. the work of Christ on
the cross to save his people from their sins. You think this
is a great work? God taking the wicked Babylonians
and bringing judgment down upon Judah. Oh yeah, it's a great
work. It's an astounding thing. Behold it. Wonder at it. And I'm telling you about it,
but you won't believe it. It's incredible. There's something
greater coming, and this is the whole purpose that God is revealing
this to Habakkuk and to the people of Judah. We ask this question, God, what
are you going to do about sin? That's what Habakkuk is essentially
saying. What are you going to do about sin, God? And God, through
the Apostle Paul in Acts 13, basically says, I've already
done something about sin. I laid it on my son. And I put
it away on the cross for a people who will believe. That's what
I've done. I brought forth an everlasting
righteousness of infinite value, and based upon that righteousness
brought about by my only begotten Son, I'm just to justify the
ungodly. Stand amazed, people of God. Don't ever let that brush over
your ears. without just falling on your
face and heart, in heart, and saying, amazing grace. This great work in and by his
son. What about my sin? Well, my sin,
oh, my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross,
and I bear it no more. It is well. It is well with my
soul." And in this context of Habakkuk and in the context of
what Paul is preaching, he simply says, people won't believe this
and they'll perish. They'll perish. Do you suppose
or do I suppose that we're any more righteous than those against
whom we complained as far as our standing before God? Yes,
we should be appalled at the blatant wickedness that exists
in our world. Why? Because God has given us
a real hatred for sin. He's given us a real compassion
for people. And because we know that sin
is the death of mankind. So when we complain about the
evil of our age, let's not do it in a self-righteous way, but
in a way of compassion and seeking the salvation of sinners. Look
at verse 6 of Habakkuk 1. He says, For lo, I raise up the
Chaldeans. That's another name for the Babylonians.
Remember, that's where Abraham was born. Abram and Ur of the
Chaldeans. That's why they're called the
Chaldeans in Babylon. That bitter and hasty nation
which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess
the dwelling places that are not theirs. They're conquerors.
They're greedy. He says in verse 7, They are
terrible and dreadful. Their judgment and their dignity
shall proceed of themselves. In other words, they use their
own judgment, not God's. And their dignity, their value
of themselves and their nobility is only self-proclaimed. Self-righteousness. In other
words, they're self-righteous, they're self-serving, they're
self-relying. They know nothing about their
sin and their need of mercy. Know nothing of God, verse 8,
their horses also are swifter than the leopards and are more
fierce than the evening wolves, like a wolf that's been hunting
all day and he didn't find any food and he's ready to eat anything
that's before him. That's how hungry they are for
power, for material gain. Their horsemen shall spread themselves
and their horsemen shall come from far and they shall fly as
the eagle that hasteth to eat. You know, really, it's a good
picture of fallen man there, isn't it? In his sin. Verse 9, "...they shall come
all for violence, their faces shall sup up as the east wind..."
They're going to eat up everything they come into, is what he's
saying. "...and they shall gather the captivity as the sand." Just
like you reach down on the beach and pick up a handful of sand.
And he says in verse 10, "...and they shall scoff at the kings,
and the princes shall be a scorn unto them." They shall deride
every stronghold, for they shall heap dust and take it." They'll
build... Some say that was a reference to their way of conquering a
city. They'd build mounds of dust and
dirt, and they'd climb over the wall. Verse 11, "'Then shall
his mind change, and he shall pass over and offend, imputing
this his power unto his God.'" Now, when it says his mind shall
change, what he's talking about here is the heathen. He's talking
about the Babylonians. And he's not talking about they'll
change their mind from good to evil or evil to good. What it
simply is saying when it says his mind shall change is literally
he's going to grow worse. In other words, each time he
conquers and fills that greed up, he's going to get worse.
And here's how he's going to do it. He'll pass over. He won't
think about what's going on. And he'll offend. Offend who?
He'll offend God. and he will impute or account
or charge this power unto his God." Now, who is his God? What I want to close tonight
with this, turn to Daniel chapter 4. I'm going to show you who
his God is. Daniel chapter 4. Now, you know
who he's talking about. He's talking about the Babylonians. They were the ones who came in
and conquered Judah. There was a king of the Babylonian
Empire. I can't think of his name now, but his son was a man
named Nebuchadnezzar, who eventually became king. I think his name
was Nabopheleser or something. I may not be pronouncing it right,
but it's in the scriptures. You have to go look it up. But
anyway, Nebuchadnezzar was his son. Well, Nebuchadnezzar came
in three times to Jerusalem to conquer it, and he did. And on the third time, that's
when he destroyed the temple and just lowered the city. He
destroyed Solomon's temple and he destroyed the city of Jerusalem
altogether. And each time he came in, he
got worse and worse. That's what that verse 11 is
talking about, when his mind changed. His mind grew worse,
that's what that means. In other words, it descended. And look at verse 28 of Daniel
chapter 4. He says, all this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. This is the same man. Now this
is a different time, but it's the same man and it gives you,
it shows you how his mind changed and his attitude. Okay? It says,
at the end of twelve months as he walked in the palace of the
kingdom of Babylon, the king spake and said, is not this great
Babylon? and that I have built for the
house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor
of my majesty." Who's his God? Himself. And you remember, you
know the story of Nebuchadnezzar. He says, while the word was in
the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven saying, O
King Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken, the kingdom is
departed from thee. and they shall drive thee from
men." Now you know this is the one whom God used to bring judgment
on his own people. And he says, he says, "...and
they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with
the beast of the field. They shall make thee eat grass
as oxen, seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that
the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever
he will." What's he saying here? He's saying the only reason you
had any, the only reason you had a breath in your lungs was
the true God of glory. You didn't even know it. Verse
33, the same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar
and he was driven from men and did eat grass and oxen and his
body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hairs were grown
like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws. This
is the king of Babylon now. in His Majesty. Could you imagine
going out there and seeing Him like this and saying, Your Majesty?
He says in verse 34, And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar,
lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned
unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored
Him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and His kingdom is from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing, and he doeth according to his
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, and none can stay or stop his hand, or say unto him, What
doest thou? And at the same time my reason
returned unto me, and for the glory of my kingdom, mine honor
and brightness returned unto me, and my counselors and my
Lord sought unto me, and I was established in my kingdom, and
excellent majesty was added unto me. Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise
and extol and honor the king of heaven, all whose works are
truth, and his ways judgment, and those that walk in pride,
he is able to abase." Thank the Lord that he abases his people. in their salvation to show us
our sinfulness and drive us to Christ for all of salvation. All right.