Habakkuk chapter 2. Last time I was here we looked at verse 4 and 5 of this very important verse. The righteous will live by their faith. It's the middle point of this book. That's the thing I had to understand, which he initially struggled to understand, which he now had to learn to understand. Thank you. And to go even further, he opens up his heart, his proud heart, to the contradictions of the justices, with 5 W-expressions. Now, these W-expressions are probably, what I had to say to the people, without looking in the mirror now, if we stop at verses 6-8, But of course, it is the Lord's Word that comes to the people. And with that, he expresses how proud he is. And because he expresses his pride, he says, how is the righteous one not? With every word of truth, he says again, the righteous one will live in his faith. And if the Lord wants, we will see it every time. Let's read Abbacook 2. From verse 4 to verse 11. I also want to read verse 9-11, because it sounds like they are talking about the same sin. But there is a small difference. Part 6 to 8 is specifically about the crime of theft and self-abuse. That's what we're going to focus on today. The second part is again about that crime, but then what do you do with that false profit, the money that you steal? And ultimately, what do you do with your money? What do you build? This is what we can talk about next time. What do you want? Come and read. Habakkuk 2, verse 4. Look, his soul was blown up in him and not right. But the righteous will live by his faith. And above all, the most divine threat, a proud man, is indispensable. He who opens his throat wide like the dead, and when he is dead, he is so indispensable. He gathers all the nations for himself, and makes all the peoples together for him. Will they not all have a speech about him, a song about him, and say, Who is the man that He enriches them with that which does not belong to Him. For how long? And He will burden them with reprimand. Will the one who bites you not stand up in shame, and will not awaken your fear in your heart, so that you may become a prey for them? Because you have bitten off many nations, all the nations that remain will bite you off. May the blood of the people, and the violence in the land, the city, and all its inhabitants, Wee on, wat feil gewin maak for sy huis, om sy nes in die wuchten te bouw, om omself te ret uit die greep van onheil. Het skande beraadslag voor jou huis, die uitroeiing van baie volke, en het jou leven verbeer, en die steen uit die mie roep, en die balk uit die timmerasie gee om antwoord. Ons lees tot daar in ons vooken stand ooi, eerste weeë, vers 6 tot 8. And the core of the Gospel is answered with verse 4, it is answered to what I asked him. It is a great weighty statement, the righteous shall live by the faith. And it is a promise for those who hear it. Everyone who hears it, receives the promise that you can be so righteous before Him, Just because you are declared just and it is not out of yourself. And that stands against the pride. And that is why faith is not something to be praised. It is an instrument through which I am declared just and it is also given to us. The just and the pride are opposed, they are far apart. The judge can't possibly, by definition, make the judge stand on his own for redemption. In the pride. And to further underline this contrast, here are 5 W's against pride. It depends on who the pride is, but also on the future of the pride. And it's important to see what you sow, you shall reap. Don't mess with him. And the purpose of these sermons is to warn His people, but also the world. There is something that the Church of God has to say. Warn your pride. We should be able to say it out loud, but we should not take it away. God does not speak to His people. He warns us to warn. Be the pride. And what is the consequence of their pride or their anger? And if we are going to stand still for the next five times, we have to understand this goal very well. This shows us the signs of God's will, or the dangers, and eventually the consequences of God's will. So that we can be driven back again and again, back to the righteous will of this faith. It is in the ways, we have to see the Gospel call every time. Just like Jesus. Look what happens when you make something different. Just like Jesus. Not us. Just like Jesus. We don't have any ground to be proud of. Those who are proud, can only be proud in the Lord. And every time, the Lord is truer than His people. Those who are just in their faith. I sit as king. Our Lord Jesus has ascended. And he reigns as king. And he does not let his people be plundered. His people are going to be killed and exiled. But the Lord does not let his people be plundered. He reigns. And he will come to judgment. He promised it. And His judgment will come soon. As we will see in verse 7. But we will also see here the love of the Lord for sinners. We will see it now, He spits with pride, yes. But the tone of the vows is also something that we get in Ezekiel 33 verse 11. Where the Lord says, I have no regret in the death of the ungodly. but in the fact that the Godless are going to turn away from His way and life. Turn them away, turn them away from their wrong ways. Why do you still want to die over the house of Israel? He warns and He calls every pride to turn away. This is the God that can save your own pride. And He does this by warning, among others. Is our God who is so holy and just. But still so gracious to call us to see the gospel again. So that is why we are standing in silence today. And specifically the first verses. Steal, and you will be stolen. Or, the proud thief will lose everything. We will focus on these two parts. First the description of the pride and his sins. Then the consequences of his actions, the judgment. His sins, judgment, and then the Gospel again. Christ is humiliated. to sit in the right hand of God. And He hears. And He doesn't let anyone talk to Him. But before we get to the first verse, I'll give you an introduction to these verses. It says... Excuse me. It says, "...shall they not all speak of him, or have a word of wisdom, or have a song of praise, or have stories, or sayings, or idiosyncrasies about him?" This is the first part of verse 6. So, this man, or he, clearly has to do with the pride of verse 5. And from what we're going to see now, it's about the Galdeans, yes. The pride that is described in verse 4 and 5 and the rest of verse 2, with all the V-expressions, clearly plays with the description of the Galdeans in verse 1. There will be speeches, or wisdom poems, or speeches, songs, riddles, poems, etc. said about which singing is made. They will become part of people's speech. It's a general warning. You shouldn't be like the debtors. Do you understand? Oh, they are like the debtors. Do you understand the debtors? Who are the debtors? But it's not just about the debtors, is it? The description of the Proudhearts is exactly the same as the description of the Proudhearts within the people of the Lord. Within the people of the Lord there is also violence, and also treason, and also godlessness, while it seems as if the law of the Lord has lost its power. That's why I wanted to hear a few more verses. And each one of these preachings, all five of them, also work with something that was going on in the people. So it's both about the Galdeans and the Jews' pride. As we saw last time, it's something much bigger than just one or two nations. These speeches, or hymns, or chants, it's going to be a word of eternal truth for all the pride. These stories are going to be applied to all the pride in one way or another. That is why I am speaking to you in the same way I speak to preachers. Wisdom speeches that are eternal truths. Yes, it is tied to a context here, but it is eternal truths. All will appear before his judge, and all your deeds have consequences. What you sow, you shall reap. In the stories of wisdom that God explains in his world, there is always one or two. What you sow, you shall reap. The king that is here, if he is here, do not let him spoil you. He will humiliate, He will humiliate the nation and the public with pride. He will bring shame on them. He will destroy their name. Now, why? The question can be, is it not small of God to humiliate the proud in front of others? Why do you humiliate the nation and the public in front of others? No, it is not small. Because He says in Isaiah 42 verse 8, It is my name, and I will not give my honor to anyone else. And He will show it to the whole world. I will not give my honor to anyone else. No one, but no one can steal His honor. Not Pharaoh in Egypt, not the King of the Chaldeans, not a single proud man in history, also not in 2024. The God of history is constantly To glorify His name, to fill the earth with His glory, as the waters cover the earth's bottom, as the sea covers the earth's bottom, as verse 14 says. For He has exalted the righteous, and has humiliated the unrighteous. Our Lord Jesus, after He ascended into heaven, sat in the right hand of God, and He did not just sit. He is busy to rule. He is busy to glorify His name through the righteous praise and the courageous humiliation. And He will do that in full. He is glorified through the arrogant pride and the righteous praise that only trusts in Him. And he does that right through history, in written history, and the history after that. Although Sikkel means to see a dragon, that's what the whole world's history is about. Everything will eventually come to this point. Decay. Exaltation. Not a single proud, proud soul can escape. Your soul will be destroyed in terrible shame. They will sing your name in the audience, your name will be part of the idiom. And if that does not happen, you will be pulled out of the room on the day of judgment and you will be ashamed. For the whole creation. And every proud deed, and every proud word, and every proud thought will be taken from you open-blooded. The Chaldean is just an example, an illustration of what happens with pride. You will end up in WEH. And that's the first word of the first sentence. WEH. WEH or translated with HA. It's a word that is often used to refer to prejudice. It's not manhood without an end. It's a shame, isn't it? These vows and the scripture is to be under God's terrible judgment. It's the opposite of well-being. As we have just seen. It's to be under the judgment of chapter 1, verse 5, which says, you will not believe if it is not told. And it's also an exclamation of spite. Who? Ha! The proud ones. They get what they deserve. It's a laugh. Like the Queen's laugh in Psalm 2, where she laughs at the little girls who try to rebel against her. What do you think? So, how do you describe the proud ones? Then you write the description in, let's say, six sentences. And all six sentences are put together. The sentences spread out a little further on who the proudheart is. It starts with, who is the man who enriches himself with what does not belong to him? How long? And then address with contempt. So the proudheart is the man who enriches himself with what is not his own, something stolen. He is guilty because he steals to enrich himself. He does not take. And yes, Galdeans who do not take in a war that is not their thing, it is theirs. But there is also a cult of the Jews who are in power positions, where the poor steal their money by taxing too much, paying too little, embezzling. Is the man with the camera under the bridge, 200 people want to have their breakfast. This is a government that takes ground without compensation. The second application that fits this, because it is written in this poem form with a repetition, is to complain about confiscated goods. This is someone who confiscates what is not actually his property. The good that he takes. He actually enriches himself just by borrowing. And it is because he takes what is not his, he does not make himself guilty. Not for his own right, but for the ultimate right. He blames, because the good that has been stolen has actually just been borrowed. It is cursed good. Let's move on. Will the one who does not stand up out of shame and does not awaken your fear in your heart so that you become a prey for them? We will come back to verse 7, but here a third clause is implicated. The pride of biting or stabbing, and that will be done to him now. And here is also a double meaning. He bites, he makes pain, but he bites or stabs, can also be translated as someone who bites out, with extraordinary rent on loan. Bites out. The fourth indictment has something to do with it. The oppressor has kept the oppressed with fear and terror. It will be done to him now. The proud heart is they who get monopolies with money and power and oppress all other activities. They use their power to keep everything dependent. Not to serve, but to enrich themselves. The 5th and the 6th comes in verse 8, exploitation and plundering, and then theft with violence, with power, with blood, theft with violence. And the whole picture that is sketched here, in these three verses, is the sign of describing pride, is self-enrichment at the expense of others. Or the proud one uses his power to steal from others. He cheats and he enriches himself while he plunders others. He extorts. Especially more rent than is needed. And yes, he will of course ignore the wealthy. He will double his money. Because he and he alone is the boss of his possessions. This is the description of the Jews and the Jews, that's why I knew one. They decide for themselves what is right. Also what they do with their possessions. Or not even their possessions. How they get their possessions. He does not recognize the giver and steal from him. Just because he thinks he can do what he wants with his possessions. It is theft. If I think I can do what I want with my possessions. Because I don't recognize the giver of all things. So this is the capitalist. The one who enriches himself at the expense of others. And the one who hates the Lord. This is the one who Never to give back a sacrifice. And therefore I acknowledge that the Lord possesses all that I have. The Lord says in Malachi 3. It is to call unto Him. If you can't give back a part of your property, it's to rob it, to steal it, ultimately for self-enrichment. That's always the goal. For self-enrichment. Pride doesn't want to give, because I want to become self-enriched with my good. The proud man thinks he will stand with his own right in front of the entire court. And I will be right with my right. Because from myself I will get my right. In the middle of verse 6, the description of the proud man is so fragile. How long? And it's the gentlemen that I asked a question, I asked them, how long? And then the gentlemen answered that question, in the middle of the description of this expulsion, how long will this expulsion last in this world in which we live? What do you think the answer is? It will be the one that doesn't stand up for you no matter what, and doesn't wake up your fear in your heart, so that you don't become a prey for them. How long? Because the specific time is not given, but it's going to happen. Although it doesn't seem like it's going to happen now. The judgment of the Lord is coming, and it's coming soon, and it's going to fall like a thief in the night. So the Lord doesn't ignore it, I don't have his question. He answers directly. Iso, Habakkuk, they're going to come to a fall. And I don't have to say exactly how many years. It doesn't matter. But what I do have to say is that they will come to a fall. Maybe I will too. And that's where we come to the consequences of this eye. The first thing that the Lord shows you is, consequences come, maybe I will. And it says, every second that you continue with pride, He's not the kind of guy who looks one-sided. He gives grace. With every step you take in self-enrichment, he steps on a cracked glass bridge over an endless abyss. It's terribly exciting. You walk on thin ice. And just like Kant, in the second verse, where we'll come out next time, it says, The stone calls out from the wall. The beam and the timber answer. It says, The crack of your roof that you build with your stolen goods, crack. And every time the wind blows against you, you are terribly afraid. Because you know what you will sow. You know you are standing on thin ice. If every one of us, and every business owner, and every politician, but not the one who suppresses the truth, Every other proud deed, steps into grace. The Lord still warns, and He still waits, and He still shouts, Go and repent, and realize that you have nothing of your own to stand on. This comes quickly. And what is it that comes so quickly? What you sow shall not grow, but they shall reap what they have sown. And they shall have of it what they have sown. Drink of it, and you will be full of money. They shall be poor. Your comfort is from a stable to kneel, he said. It is from a stable to kneel. If you make this your life, it is from a stable to kneel. To fall on your knees. Because this is what comes from every proud heart. You will see in verse 6, the Babylonians spoke as a group. And in verse 7 he speaks with you. It's a personal accusation against him. Against him, and then also per implication, against your pride. Hear the words of the Lord, you stand under God's judgment. And with this change in the appeal to him, he also shows that it is possible for pride, yes, where it is fair, I have told you now, profit for the people, these words of chapter 2. And then he speaks, against him, the Galdeans, but against you. the people of the Lord, who live in pride. And it is so necessary. We hear too much from them. And then maybe from us. The Lord speaks to you directly. He speaks in the second person. Like our Lord Jesus, when He speaks, He says, You, if we hear all the time about Him and maybe now and then about us, then we feel so comfortable. Sin is not addressed. We talk about sin far beyond us. But our Lord Jesus talks to you. Verse 8 goes even further. Because you exiled the Nazis, all the people who remained will exile you. Against the blood of the people, the violence in the country, the city and all its inhabitants. You are going to be plundered, you are going to be destroyed to the ground. You have taken with blood and violence as you please and it is going to be done to you. You think you have something, but it is going to be taken away from you, whatever you have. We see it in the last two years. Just take a look at any newspaper. That's it. Betrayal is self-destructive. Violence for self-enrichment without morality is always self-destructive. We, as people, are not so stupid to do it every time. But it is always self-destructive. This government, in all its grandeur and activity, destroys itself when it enriches itself with the good that is not its own. And yes, it is Marcus Jooste and Jacob Zuma and Freemason lords who are working on the ground. It is a real war around us. Even the so-called most ethically correct societies rely on the money of others. And yes, tax is ridiculous too. Rent on rent, inflation on prices, everything is built on a system that just spits in a pot of blood violence for self-enrichment instead of love. Our economic system is not built on love, is it? Pharmaceutical societies sway the scepter with money and loans to keep the people on the ground. Yes. And yes for them too. That you sow, they will reap. It is in the great. And it is in a way that we are busy with that. Hear the word that the Lord says to you. But it is also in the small, within my family, what I do with my money. The Lord speaks to you. which unbearably enriches me. And every generation, this man keeps on testing me, and then comes again with a shock, with a shock to the realization that treason is a trap with violence, just about to be destroyed. Why is that so? Because you live in God's world. You steal, you steal while He looks at you. You can think, you can make and break as you want and nothing happens, but you are proud in front of God's face. He sees you. And He does not let us spit with Him. He will spit with you, through you. What you sow, you will reap. Haman, hanged himself for the heinous sin he committed for the righteous murderers. In Isaiah 14, it says of the King of Babel, a symbol of the pride of Satan, Your pride is cast down in the dead realm. The roar of your horns, under you worms are spread like a bed, and magicians are your cover. How did you fall from heaven, O Moristar, Son of the Day of Judgment? How did you lay down in the earth, O merciful pharisees? And you said in your heart, I want to rise up in heaven, lift up my throne above the stars of God, and sit on the mountain of the covenant from the corners of the north. I want to climb to the heights of the clouds, my likeness with the highest. Yes, in the dead realm you will be cast into the deepest places of the cauldron. Those who see you, look at you. They look at you and say, is this the man who made the earth tremble? Let kings get beef, and that is exactly what happened at the high point of history. Satan, the righteous one, tried to curse a cross. He bit, and in the process his head was bruised. The same deliverance And the crucifixion that Satan tried to frame led to the victory of death. And he rose. And he ascended. And he sits like a king. And it does not matter how high the proud man sits. His day will come and it will fall like a thief in the night. And He will shine like He has never shone before. He will shine for the righteous, for the one who is infinitely higher than He in majesty and honor. He will shine for the one whose face shines like the sun, and whose eyes are like a fiery flame, and whose mouth is like a two-edged sword. He will shine for the righteous of the whole world, and He will proudly, in His pride, receive terrible shame. Hear the word of the Lord. He calls to repentance. Hear His gracious call. And He shows us again and again. Only Jesus can save you. No possession or theft can bring me one millimeter closer to holiness. Martin Luther defined sin after repentance as follows. Precisely because he fought so hard with what is justice, how do I stand up for God? And in the end he said, sin is the only thing that I look for in something other than Christ. The proud man looks for holiness in his possessions and self-enrichment at the expense of others. The Lord made it so clear to us. The end result is death. Nothing else. Only Christ. Only through faith. And that is why He calls us to self-investigation. Each one of us was born a sinner. It's the nature of others, but this sin is still stuck in our hearts. And that's what this self-investigation shows. I'm not even in Christ. Do you think you can do with your possessions what you want? Do you think you can eat as you want? Do you think you can enrich yourself at the expense of others? Why did the Lord give you so much possession? And what do you do with it? The prideful one enriches himself, but the righteous one will live by his faith. He is a beggar, a beggar for everything he has. Then there are the false promises. Give us, Lord Jesus, blessed statements. He says in Matthew 5, verse 3, Blessed is the one who is poor of the Spirit, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them. Not to you, but blessed, truly blessed. The pinnacle of joy in God's friendly face and not under his towering eyes. Blessed is the one who is poor of the Spirit. The opposite of pride. He knows that authority is given to him. I need someone to stand in my place and give me his authority. And that is why I stand before him like a beggar. And he gives it all to me. And if he gives that to me, then he also gives all my possessions that I have on this earth. With the same mercy, I work with all my possessions. I know, I don't get possessions for self-enrichment, but for self-purpose. I know, I don't get possessions to serve myself, but to serve my neighbor. That's why Jesus says in Matthew 5, verse 7, Blessed is he who is merciful, for mercy will be shown to them. I got possessions to serve God and my neighbor. It's no longer for myself. In verse 24, verse 28 it says, Let one who steals, no longer steal, but rather let him work with his hands, which is good. Why? So that he can have something to share with those who lack. And that's why I work. My possessions are not mine. And that's why I work, so that I can serve in love. Now, that doesn't mean... Believers can't be rich. The righteous woman, why did I get it? I work hard, like the talent, I work hard to honor my master. And yes, I work to get money. But why do you give that money? Just so I can continue to build. Not like the proud heart that we see with the second W, but so that it can serve in love. A question that comes up with the next W is, what do you build? Jesus ascended. And He speaks from Heaven. He warns, but He also comforts His people, His creatures. What you sow, you will reap. Those who are in pride, His Church suppresses them. What you sow, you will reap. Pride will not last forever. Its end will come soon. Amen. Let's sing. So I'm saving that. That's 1, 2, 4, and 5. 1, 2, 4, and 5.