How to Lose It All !

Habakkuk 2:6-20

INTRODUCTION: Our message series is called “The Journey from Doubt to Faith,” and we are tracing the prophet Habakkuk’s journey from doubt to faith as recorded for us in this book that bears his name. Habakkuk was struggling with the big questions that many of us struggle with when we go through seasons of doubt. “Does God care? Is God fair? Is God there?”

Habakkuk’s first question was prompted by all of the violence and injustice among the people of Judah. Habakkuk saw all this and wondered why God did not do something about it. He began to wonder did God even notice or care. God answered Habakkuk by saying, yes he did notice, he did care, and he was going to do something about it. He was going to send the Babylonians to judge the people of Judah for their sin.

That answered Habakkuk’s first question, but it immediately raised a second question. The Babylonians were worse than the people of Judah, so how could God use those who were more wicked to judge those who were less wicked? Was God fair? God answered Habakkuk a second time explaining that Babylon would also be judged for their sin, but all in God’s timing. Meanwhile the righteous will live by faith, trusting God to act justly in his own time.

Last week we saw that God made a general promise that he would judge Babylon. This week’s passage gets more specific as it highlights Babylon’s specific sins and God’s corresponding judgments. But even more importantly, this passage highlights the various ways in life that people seek to advance themselves to their own ruin. If you ever wanted to know how to lose it all, this is the passage to read.

Habakkuk 2:6-20

6 “Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying,

“`Woe to him who piles up stolen goods

and makes himself wealthy by extortion!

How long must this go on?’

7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise?

Will they not wake up and make you tremble?

Then you will become their victim.

8 Because you have plundered many nations,

the peoples who are left will plunder you.

For you have shed man’s blood;

you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

9 “Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain

to set his nest on high,

to escape the clutches of ruin!

10 You have plotted the ruin of many peoples,

shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.

11 The stones of the wall will cry out,

and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.

12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed

and establishes a town by crime!

13 Has not the LORD Almighty determined

that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire,

that the nations exhaust 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 gives drink to his neighbors,

pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk,

so that he can gaze on their naked bodies.

16 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.

17 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.

18 “Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it?

Or an image that teaches lies?

For he who makes it trusts in his own creation;

he makes idols that cannot speak.

19 Woe to him who says to wood, `Come to life!’

Or to lifeless stone, `Wake up!’

Can it give guidance?

It is covered with gold and silver;

there is no breath in it.

20 But the LORD is in his holy temple;

let all the earth be silent before him.” (NIV)

If you saw a book at the bookstore entitled, “How to Lose it All,” would you buy it? Well, you might. I mean, you probably wouldn’t buy it because you really wanted to lose it all. You know: “I’ve always wanted to lose everything, and here’s the book that’s finally going to show me how to do it!” But you might pick up the book in order to learn what not to do – “How can I avoid losing it all in life?” That’s what we want to do with this passage from Habakkuk this morning. We want to learn how to lose it all, in order that we may learn what not to do, so that we will not lose it all.

What is going on in this passage? God raised up the Babylonians to bring judgment to the surrounding nations for their sins. However, Babylon was not motivated by concerns for justice or service to God. Babylon was motivated purely by greed. We read last week in chapter 2 verse 5: “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 the peoples.” (Habakkuk 2:5)

The Babylonians were driven by their greed. They weren’t thinking about God at all. They conquered the surrounding nations in order to build an empire for themselves. The Babylonians thought that they had it all. But in reality they were about to lose it all. God would judge the nation of Babylon for its all-consuming greed.

That coming judgment is described in great detail in our passage this morning. The passage starts off in verse 6 with these words: “Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying . . .” (Habakkuk 2:6a), and then follows with what is called a “taunt song,” that is, a song or a poem designed to mock or scorn another. In this particular song, Babylon is mocked by the very nations it conquered. And although the song is obviously directed against Babylon, Babylon is never even mentioned by name. The words are generalized in such a way that the song could apply to anyone who acts in the way Babylon acted.

Do you want to know how to lose it all? You just have to follow man’s way, which is summed up by Jesus with these words: “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet loses his soul?” (Matthew 16:26) Man’s way is very simple: “Gain whatever you can however you can.” Man’s way is the way of selfishness and greed. Man’s way is to gain the world but lose your soul. Man’s way is how you lose it all. Let’s take a look first at man’s way as described in this passage, and then we will look at God’s way at the end of today’s message.

I. Man’s way: Gain the world but lose your soul. (Matthew 16:26)

The taunt song in this passage is made up of five different woes. Each of the five woes in the song first identifies a specific sin of greed or selfishness, and then pronounces God’s judgment upon that sin. Babylon’s greed manifested itself in theft, injustice, violence, exploitation and idolatry. But to what profit? The irony of the song is that those who practice these things may think that they are gaining wealth, security, power, pleasure, guidance and direction, when in reality they will lose all that they hoped to gain.

A. Theft (verses 6-8)

1) The sin: Stealing from others to gain wealth for yourself

The first woe is found in verses 6-8 and deals with the sin of theft. Look at verse 6: “Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?” (Habakkuk 2:6)

The sin here is identified as stealing from others in order to gain wealth for yourself. Stealing and theft are as old as the human race. The very first sin of humanity involved stealing. Adam and Eve took from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Stealing is such a serious sin that God made it part of the Ten Commandments: “You shall not steal.” (Exodus 20:15) There are many specific laws in the Old Testament that deal with the problem of stealing and theft.

When we think about stealing, we often think of someone breaking into someone’s house or perhaps robbing a bank, but those are only two ways that we can steal. I’m guessing that most of us have never broken into a home or a bank, but we have stolen in many other ways. We can steal from our employers by padding our expense reports, by taking things back from the office that do not belong to us, by loafing on the job, by leaving early or arriving late, or by calling in sick when we are well. We can steal by short-changing our customers, by overpricing goods or services, or by price gouging in a crisis. People steal from insurance companies by making fraudulent or misleading statements, people steal from the government by cheating on their taxes, and students steal in school by cheating on tests or plagiarizing papers. Stealing is a much bigger problem than breaking into houses or robbing banks. We are guilty of stealing anytime we take something that is not rightfully ours.

Why do we do it? Why do we steal? We steal because we think that somehow we will gain an advantage by stealing. We steal from others in order to gain wealth for ourselves. But stealing is wrong because we do harm to our neighbor whenever we take something that does not belong to us.

2) God’s judgment: You will lose all that you have taken

What is God’s judgment when you steal? Appropriately, you will lose all that you have taken. You will lose rather than gain. Look at verses 7-8. God says, “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 peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.” (Habakkuk 2:7-8) Babylon had plundered many nations. Now the nations would plunder Babylon in turn. Babylon would lose everything because they had stolen from the nations.

Jeremiah 17:11 says, “Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay is the man who gains riches by unjust means. When his life is half gone, they will desert him, and in the end he will prove to be a fool.” We may think that we gain some type of advantage when we steal, but we never do. Adam and Eve thought they would become like God by eating from the fruit of the tree. Instead they fell into sin and judgment. We need to realize that we never gain any advantage by stealing. Proverbs 10:2 says, “Ill-gotten treasures are of no value, but righteousness delivers from death.” When you steal from others to gain wealth for yourself, God says you will lose all that you have taken.

B. Injustice (verses 9-11)

1) The sin: Treating others unjustly to gain security for yourself

The second woe is found in verses 9-11 and deals with the sin of injustice. Look at verse 9: “Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin!” (Habakkuk 2:9)

The sin here is identified as treating others unjustly in order to gain security for yourself. The phrase “to set his nest on high” is a picture of an eagle making its nest high and secure in the rocky cliffs, safe from trouble and harm. Babylon committed gross injustices in order “to set their nest on high.” They conquered cities, they exiled the people to foreign lands, they subjected them to forced labor, they plundered their wealth – all in order to build Babylon’s walls high and to make Babylon’s cities secure.

This is a temptation for all of us. We all long to be secure, and we are often tempted to treat others unfairly in order to strengthen our own position. But we must remember that God is just, and he pronounces a woe upon all who would act unjustly.

2) God’s judgment: You will forfeit your life

What is God’s judgment for those who practice injustice? You will forfeit your life. You will lose the security you thought you would gain. Look at verses 10-11. God says, “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.” (Habakkuk 2:10-11)

The picture here is of the person who has built his house by treating others unjustly. Everything he has was gained through unjust means. This brings shame upon his house. The whole house cries out in testimony against him. He had hoped to gain safety and security in life, but instead God tells him his life is forfeit.

Jeremiah 22:13-17 says, “Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his countrymen work for nothing, not paying them for their labor . . . your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.” It is a lie and a deception to think that we can obtain any type of security by means of injustice. When you treat others unjustly to gain security for yourself, God says you forfeit your life. You lose the very security you had hoped to gain.

C. Violence (verses 12-14)

1) The sin: Hurting others to gain power for yourself

The third woe is found in verses 12-14 and deals with the sin of violence. Look at verse 12: “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime!” (Habakkuk 2:12)

The sin here is identified as hurting others in order to gain power for yourself. Once again this is exactly what Babylon did in their conquests. They had a well-deserved reputation for cruelty and violence. They committed unconscionable crimes against the nations they attacked. And what was the purpose of all this violence? The Babylonians were greedy for power. They didn’t care who they hurt as long as they built their empire.

You may think, “Well, I’m not a violent person. Surely these verses do not apply to me?” You may not be a violent person, but we can all be tempted to hurt people in other ways in order to increase our own power. It happens at school all the time. We may not physically hurt the other person, but perhaps we say something to damage their reputation in order to strengthen our position in the peer group. It can happen at work. We climb our way up to that promotion by stepping on the backs of our co-workers. It can happen at home. The husband who physically or verbally abuses his wife does so in order to gain power for himself. Anytime we hurt another person in order to increase our own power in the relationship, we have committed a type of violence against that person.

2) God’s judgment: All your efforts will come to nothing

What is God’s judgment for those who try to gain power through violence? All your efforts will come to nothing. Look at verses 13-14. God says, “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.” (Habakkuk 2:13-14)

God is sovereign. He is the only one with real power in this world. And he has determined that all your efforts at grabbing power for yourself will prove useless in the end. All your labors are only fuel for the fire. Instead of increasing power for yourself, you are increasing your judgment. Your labors will not only provide fuel for the fire of God’s judgment, they will be burned up and destroyed themselves. You will lose it all.

Verse 13 captures perfectly the futility of the nations in this world as they jostle and scramble for power and command. “All of their labor is just fuel for the fire. The nations exhaust themselves for nothing.” All of their efforts are wasted in their mad dash for supremacy and control. The Babylonians thought they were establishing a lasting world empire. It didn’t last even a hundred years. Empires come and empires go, but God remains forever.

Maybe you’re just grabbing for a little empire of your own – whether at school, or at work, or at home – but it doesn’t matter whether you are grabbing for the whole world or just a part of it. The principle remains the same: God owns it all! You exhaust yourself for nothing when you grab power for yourself, because the whole earth “will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” God is sovereign. God owns it all. The whole earth will be filled with his glory. When you hurt others to gain power for yourself, God says all your efforts will come to nothing.

D. Exploitation (verses 15-17)

1) The sin: Taking advantage of others to gain pleasure for yourself

The fourth woe is found in verses 15-17 and deals with the sin of exploitation. Look at verse 15: “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.” (Habakkuk 2:15)

The sin here is identified as taking advantage of others in order to gain pleasure for yourself. The specific example given is that of encouraging someone to get drunk so that you can take sexual advantage of him or her. Sadly, this still takes place in our day and age, whether through alcohol or other means. There’s been a lot in the news in recent years about date rape drugs such as rohypnol, GHB and ketamine. Other examples of exploiting others for your own pleasure include sexual abuse and pornography.

Exploitation does not have to be sexual. Gambling casinos take advantage of poor people’s hopes in order to line their own pockets. Drug dealers take advantage of people’s addictions in order to benefit themselves.

2) God’s judgment: You will be filled with shame and disgrace

What is God’s judgment for those who exploit others in order to increase their own pleasure? You will be filled with shame and disgrace. Look at verses 16-17. God says, “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.” (Habakkuk 2:16-17)

God says, “You exposed others for your own pleasure? Now it is your turn. You will be exposed. You used your power to take advantage of others? Now it is your turn. Judgment is coming, and all your glory will be covered with disgrace. You treated others violently? Your violence will return on your head and overwhelm you.” When you take advantage of others to gain pleasure for yourself, God says you will be filled with shame and disgrace.

E. Idolatry (verses 18-20)

1) The sin: Trusting something other than God to direct your life

The fifth and final woe is found in verses 18-20 and deals with the sin of idolatry. Look at verse 19. God says, “Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.” (Hab 2:19)

The sin here is identified as trusting something other than God to direct your life. Habakkuk has addressed the issue of idolatry several times in this book. In 1:11 he called the Babylonians “guilty men, whose own strength is their god.” (Habakkuk 1:11) In 1:16 he says that Babylon “sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet.” (Habakkuk 1:16)

The Babylonians were idolaters who trusted in their own strength and their own means rather than trusting God. Idolatry doesn’t have to mean bowing down to a statue. Anytime you trust something other than God to direct your life, you are committing the sin of idolatry.

2) God’s judgment: You will be deceived and disappointed

What is God’s judgment for those who trust something – anything – other than him to guide or direct their lives? You will be deceived and disappointed. Look at verse 18. God says, “Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak.” (Habakkuk 2:18) An idol has no value. It cannot speak. It cannot guide you. It is a false God that only teaches lies. Those who trust in idols are deceived and will ultimately be disappointed.

Verse 20 provides the contrast to the lifeless idols: “But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” (Habakkuk 2:20) God is in his temple. He is holy. He is majestic. Cease all your activity and be silent before him.

It is a beautiful verse that speaks of God’s awesome majesty and holiness as God stands above the clamor of the nations and apart from sinful man. It provides a fitting end to this entire section, as those who rely on theft, injustice, violence, exploitation of others and idolatry are told to hush, to keep silence before the Lord. God is in his temple. He is holy. Cease all your endless striving for greater wealth, security, power, and pleasure. Be silent before him. Turn away from your worthless idols and bow before the Lord in heaven who alone can fill your deepest longings and satisfy your soul.

II. God’s way: Lose your life for Christ and find it. (Matthew 16:25)

Man’s way is to gain the whole world and lose your soul. God’s way is to lose your life for Christ in order that you may find it. Lose it all for him, and God will restore your soul. You lose your life for Christ by serving God instead of serving yourself. How do you serve God instead of self? Let’s look at the contrasts between God’s way and man’s way.

You serve God instead of self by giving rather than stealing: Ephesians 4:28: “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.”

You serve God instead of self by integrity rather than injustice: Proverbs 10:9: “The man of integrity walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.”

You serve God instead of self by compassion rather than violence: Philippians 2:1-3: “If you have any . . . tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love . . . . Do nothing out of selfish ambition . . . but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”

You serve God instead of self by service rather than exploitation: Matthew 20:25-28: Jesus . . . said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them . . . Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant . . . just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

You serve God instead of self by worshiping the living God rather than idols: 1 Thessalonians 1:9: “They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.”