Identifying the Enemy

Oh, right in front of you?

Okay.

There's the culprit.

Very good.

Let's stand in reverence for God's word this morning to the book of Habakkuk and chapter number two.

We sure got off to a great start last week talking about this great, great prophet.

Habakkuk lived in a time of impending doom.

C.S.

Lewis said, we have left where we've always been and we don't know where we're going.

That's kind of where our country is today.

Impending doom.

We don't watch the news much anymore.

I rarely watch the news.

We're watching a little bit of news the other night, and they were talking about bringing the Iran war to an end, and my wife said, I didn't know we were at war with Iran.

We just don't watch the news.

Bad news.

It's a lot of bad news.

I like the good news.

And the good news is that we have a sovereign king who is coming again.

He's in charge.

And in the midst of all of our questions, there is a king on a throne.

Habakkuk is having a conversation with God, inspired in the pages of Scripture for us to appreciate.

He asks God a series of questions here in chapter number one as God begins to give the answer.

And here in our text this morning, God says, Get something to write with and write it down.

And he does.

Verse one I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and will watch to see what he will say to me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall tarry and not lie, though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith.

Yea, also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all the people.

Shall not all these take up a parable against him and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his, how long?

And to him that ladeth himself with thick clay, shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be booty or spoil unto them.

Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein, woe to him that covereth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil.

Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul, for the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.

Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, that establisheth a city by iniquity, behold, it is not of the Lord of hosts, that the people shall labor in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for vanity.

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Woe unto them that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, that makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness.

Thou art filled with shame for glory.

Drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered.

The cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewings shall be on thy glory, for the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beast which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for violence of the land and of the city and of all that dwell therein.

What profiteth the graven image?

That the maker thereof hath graven it, the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein to make dumb idols.

Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake to the dumb stone, arise.

It shall teach.

Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.

But the Lord is in his holy temple.

Let all the earth keep silence before him.

I want to speak on this subject from this second chapter, identifying the real enemy.

The real enemy.

May we pray.

Father, we give ourselves to you, this day to you, this time to you.

May our heart be stilled, may our soul be rested before your presence.

That we may receive your word today.

And we praise you for it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you for standing.

Please be seated.

In 2004, former NFL defensive back Pat Tillman was serving as an army ranger in Afghanistan.

During a firefight, his union, his unit mistakenly identified friendly forces as the enemy.

Tillman and an Afghan Allied soldier were killed by fellow American soldiers.

It was initially reported, if you remember, that Tillman had died by enemy fire, hailed as a hero.

But later investigations determined that Tillman died by what is called fratricide, friendly fire, not that of the enemy.

What makes the story especially haunting is that Tillman was reportedly trying to communicate that they were friendly forces while the shooting was taking place.

They knew there was an enemy.

There were real bullets, there was real danger, but they had misidentified the enemy.

And sometimes the greatest tragedy in the battle of life isn't knowing that you don't know what you're fighting.

It's that you don't know who you're fighting.

Judah was not the enemy.

Judah was a fallen brother.

How many of you have an older brother?

Will you raise your hand, please?

An older brother.

Keep it raised if your brother got in trouble for sins or errors, and you took note and thought, I probably don't want to sit do said behavior.

Amen.

Well, Judah had an older brother, his name was Israel.

Israel had been in captivity over 75 years, and Judah could have learned his lesson, but he chose to disobey God.

And because he disobeyed God, God was going to chastise him.

But the book of Habakkuk is not based on the fact that Judah, his brother, was the enemy.

In other words, Habakkuk in this small little prophecy doesn't correct his brother.

He doesn't chastise his brother.

He doesn't say, if you would have done right, we wouldn't be in this situation.

He doesn't waste his bullets on his brother.

His brother's not the enemy.

One preacher noted, in the army of God, friendly fire is not the ultimate tragedy.

It's an enemy's victory.

It was Hudson Taylor, the great missionary of the China Inland Mission, who said years ago, I will not send a person to the mission field unless he has learned to wrestle with the devil.

If he has not learned to wrestle with the evil one, he will wrestle with his fellow missionaries.

And can I go on record today here at Calvary Baptist Church and say, our brothers are not our enemy?

No, it's not Judah.

Too many of God's people in the name of God have shot their brothers, and I speak this to our shame.

Judah's not the enemy.

May I say, number two, that God is not the enemy.

May I say that we may not lay this enmity at God's charge.

God has not wronged the people.

The people have wronged God.

It is because of their sin that a loving father seeks to chastise them, that he might remove from their lives that thing that comes as a means of separating his love from their heart and as a means of separating them from his best for their lives.

But he's not our enemy now.

And ye who were enemies have been reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus Christ.

God is not our enemy.

Can we all say amen?

Praise God.

God's not the enemy.

Then he said, Therefore, it must owe to either a spiritual or a theological flaw that we would begin to interpret God's fatherly discipline as the judge's punishment in prison or flogging.

There's a huge difference between a father who disciplines a child for his good and a judge who sends a person to the electric chair because of their evil.

God is not the enemy.

You might be going through a trial today.

Can I say to you, God is your friend, not your enemy?

Who is the enemy?

Habakkuk was struggling with that very confusion.

And here in Habakkuk chapter 2, he identifies that Babylon was the enemy.

Habakkuk 2 · chapter mention

They looked unstoppable.

They had conquered nations and destroyed kingdoms and appeared to possess a power that would determine the entire future of the world.

But here in this passage we read a moment ago, God pulls back the curtain and he shows Habakkuk what real Babylon really is, a temporary power facing a certain judgment.

The Babylonians thought that they would fill the world with their glory, but twice in this chapter, the Bible says that the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the world.

I know it looks bad, but I want to tell you, this is my father's world.

We're fighting enemies that are real, but they are defeated.

Satan is defeated.

The world is defeated.

And one day even our flesh will be defeated.

We must not for one second fight one another or even God Himself, but we must recognize who our real enemy is.

What's the nature of this enemy that they were facing?

Well, I have three things taken from the text.

First of all, notice that the enemy was a drunken brute.

God says that of him in our text.

Look at verse number five.

Yea, also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell and is as death.

And then he comes back to the figure in verse 15: Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, and that putteth thy bottle to him and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness.

Thou art filled with shame for glory.

Drink, he says, and let your nakedness be uncovered.

A drunken brute.

He speaks of this brute's character.

He said he was haughty, he was prideful, he was restless.

The Bible says here he didn't stay close to his home.

Verse 5.

He is proud, neither keepeth at home.

He goes throughout all the world seeking whom he may devour.

It says here in this text that this enemy, his appetite was insatiable, never satisfied.

Promotion cometh not from the east or from the west, it cometh from God.

And Nebuchadnezzar said in his heart, I will exalt my kingdom, I will eat up all that which cannot defend itself.

His character was insatiable.

His conduct, notice carefully, the Bible says he was drunken.

There's a progression here, beloved.

He was drunken.

And drunkenness, verses 15 and 16, leads to nakedness.

And nakedness leads to perversity and shame.

May I go on the record today and say the old spirits of the devil have not changed.

Wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

The first time you see wine appear in the Bible is when Noah disembarked from the ark and he planted a vineyard, and vineyards grow grapes, and grapes produce juice, and juice ferments to wine, and wine produced nakedness, and nakedness shame, and that has not changed even to this day.

Some of you have stronger feelings about this because you grew up in families where the devastations of alcohol became a real life experience for you.

The sermon's not about alcohol, but I just want you to know the heart of God about this.

There might be many defenses made, but no defense.

This drunken brute is a picture of the insatiable desire of a man who cannot be satisfied with God Himself.

He looks to other things.

Notice this chilling rebuke.

Notice what your Bible says here.

The Bible says in verse 16, Thou art filled with shame for glory.

Drink thou also and let thy foreskin be uncovered.

Now notice where he turns here.

The cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.

Now, this is amazing.

That cup, that goblet, that was a picture of his glory, his insatiable desire, his violence, his anger, his frustration, he says, that cup that he had perched to the lips of other nations, filled with violence and hate, would someday be turned on him, and he would drink of the cup of which he had made others to drink.

The cup.

Babylon had made the innocent to drink of his own violence and shame, but he will himself someday drink of that same wicked cup.

Are there any bells and whistles lighting up your spiritual senses right now?

The cup.

Hold your place here.

Go with me to the New Testament book of Matthew, chapter 26.

Matthew 26 · chapter mention

I love this.

Matthew 26.

When we see the cup in the Word of God, we are part of a bigger picture that points us to Jesus.

Jesus had left the upper room.

The gospel records tell us nothing about that wine that was on the table, though we know it would have been present, maybe a fifth cup in honor of Elijah.

But the upper room says nothing about the cup.

The Garden of Gethsemane does.

Gethsemane.

Get Shemone, it means the house of pressing.

The olive press of Gethsemane.

Where oil was pressed out of the olives.

That extra virgin olive oil, that initial pressing, and then olive oil, that second pressing, and then the crushing, the pulverization of the olive, the pulverizing it into a powdery pulp, that last vestige of emptying the olives of all of their contents.

This is where Jesus goes to pray.

And in the olive press of Gethsemane, Jesus is pressed without measure by the wrath of God that's going to be poured out on your sin and my sin on the shoulders of God's dear son Jesus.

And the extra virgin beauty and olive oil of Jesus is pressed out and then into great drops of blood as he's pulverized into a powder, thinking about the judgment of God that he's going to face for you and for me on an old rugged cross.

And can I just say, thank Jesus for the price?

He paid for our sin.

Thank you, Jesus.

I should have been crucified, I should have suffered and died.

I should have been ground to a fine powder, but Jesus, God's Son, He took my place.

Hallelujah to God.

But in that place, he prayed.

And when the reality of the cross became clear in Jesus' mind, he said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.

Nebuchadnezzar took a cup of wrath and he made others drink it.

But six centuries later, in a garden and on a tree, the Lord Jesus willfully, voluntarily, humbly and fully perched the cup of wrath to his precious lips, and he drank condemnation dry.

He suffered for you and for me.

What a savior.

A drunken brute.

You know what?

I want to tell you, drunken brutes can still be saved by the wonderful grace of God.

There is no sinner Jesus cannot save.

There is no fetter he cannot break.

There is no chain he cannot free us from.

We have a wonderful, wonderful Savior.

Number two, we notice quickly a doomed nation.

If you're to read from verses 6 through 12, you'll discover that what Babylon had done to others, God was going to allow to happen to them.

Be not deceived, God is not mocked.

What sort of a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Do you notice the woe in our passage?

Woe, W-O-E, that means not good.

It's in the Hebrew, not good.

It's a term of judgment.

Notice verse 6.

Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his.

Verse 12, woe to him that buildeth a town with blood.

And God says this mighty nation would become a parable, a proverb.

Look at verse number six.

Shall not all these take up a parable against him and a taunting proverb against him?

Now that that word parable means a popular saying.

We would say this becomes a cultural expression.

In TikTok or Instagram terms, we would call that brain rot.

I mean, so infested and so ingrained in society, everyone would take up a proverb about the downfall of Babylon.

And then he said that this proverb would be against him, this mocking song, this satirical, ridiculing story, a taunt song, a satire of riddles, of one that was so great, whose destiny was changed, because be not deceived, God is not mocked.

Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap.

This great reversal was coming.

Hear me now.

This great reversal was coming.

They were the spoiler in verse 8, but they will be spoiled someday.

He said, They were the destroyers in chapter 1, verse 9, but they will be destroyed.

They were the constructors of kingdoms built with men's blood, but they would be slaughtered because God would turn on their head that which they had turned on others.

Now, watch your beloved kingdom, kings and kingdoms will all pass away.

On the screen, you should have these four Gentile.

Powers beginning with Nebuchadnezzar, leading to the Roman Empire of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Babylonians, great in power, Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold, overthrown by the Medo-Persian Empire, these two empires that had come together.

All the way down to the Roman Empire of the life of our Lord.

The Geneva Bible is translated in 1599, has this footnote on chapter 2, verse 14.

For the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

And here's what the Geneva Bible says.

What is he saying?

He's saying the Babylonians wanted to fill the world with their glory.

God through Nebuchadnezzar had told through Daniel in Daniel chapter 2 that Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold.

Daniel 2 · chapter mention

And can I just say by Daniel chapter 3, all of that went to his head?

Daniel 3 · chapter mention

And he built a shrine on the plains of Sinar.

Believing himself to have a sense of self-destiny.

Rather than receiving from God what God would give to him, he he sought to build the greatness of his kingdom himself.

And he would spread his glory throughout the whole world.

That he would become imperial in taking over kingdoms and spreading his culture and preaching of his greatness.

But is that what happened?

No.

What did happen?

Look, if you will, in verse 14.

For the earth shall be filled with the glory of the knowledge of God.

Notice in chapter 3, verse 3, his glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.

Isn't it good to know that the Babylonians or the forces of this world think that they will fill this world with their glory, but it is not their glory that will fill this world.

It is the glory of our great God.

God is telling us here that Babylon is a defeated foe.

I was thinking about defeated foes in the Bible.

The Bible says that Satan is a defeated foe.

Hebrews chapter 2, verse 14.

Hebrews 2:14

For as much then as children are partakers of flesh and blood, Jesus likewise took part of the same that through his death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil.

Satan is a defeated foe.

And can I just be a little trite for a moment and remind you that when Satan reminds you of your past, just go ahead and tell him of his future.

He is a defeated foe.

The world's a defeated foe.

John 16, 33, these things have I spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace.

In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer.

I have overcome the world.

Death is a defeated foe.

First Corinthians 15, O death, where is thy sting?

O grave, where is thy victory?

This flesh will inevitably be a defeated foe.

Philippians 3 21, who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working of his power, wherein he is able to subdue all things unto himself.

He speaks of this doomed nation.

Number three, I want you to think about this enemy and its worship of dumb idols.

Dumb idols.

Verse 18.

What a prophet is found in a graven image.

This molten, this cast image, this teacher of lies.

It promises to be something when it is nothing.

He says in verse 18.

Silent idols.

What's the problem with idols?

If you have your Bible, I want you to go with me quickly to Psalm 115.

Psalm 115.

Someone said our idols look a lot like us.

We fashion things to worship that look like us.

But we're not to worship things that look like us, we're to worship a God whom we look like.

We are created in God's image.

But when we begin to craft gods, we begin to craft them after our interest and our likeness.

I bec I pick on Islam often because Islam is a fraud and a lie.

Muhammad was a polygamist.

A deviant polygamist.

Marrying child brides.

His sister-in-law thought he was having epileptic seizures, and then he would prophesy.

Most likely he was demon-possessed, and then he would prophesy.

And because he had a penchant for women, he created a religion that personified what it means to legalize the abuse of women.

We talk so much about women's liberation in our world today, and that's a bunch of phoniness if they don't recognize the difference Jesus made for women in our world.

We live in a world that can't even identify what a woman is.

May God help us.

He began to create a religion that looked like him.

I don't want a God that looks like me.

I need a God that I need to aspire to be like.

And David writes of this God in Psalm 115.

And notice what he says.

Of idols.

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

They have mouths, but they they speak not.

They have eyes, but they cannot see.

They have ears, but they cannot hear.

They have noses, but they can't smell.

They have hands, but they can't handle.

They have feet, but they cannot walk.

They cannot speak through their throat.

The problem with idols is they are crafted by men to give the appearance of life.

Eyes and ears, or shall I say, head and shoulders, knees and toes, and eyes and ears and mouth and nose.

The problem is that they are carried by those hoping to be carried by them.

Jeremiah 10, verse 5.

Jeremiah 10:5

They are upright as the palm tree, but they don't speak.

They must be born because they cannot go.

The problem with idols is that we craft a God with a mouth but cannot speak when we need a word from him.

We give him hands, but he cannot hold us when we need to be held.

We give him an ear, but he cannot hear when we need to speak.

Notice, secondly, the powerlessness of idols.

They cannot see, they cannot hear, they cannot smell, they cannot handle, they cannot walk, they cannot speak.

They're dumb idols.

The little boy said, Andy.

She said, No, God's name is not Andy.

Yes, it yes, it is.

He said, We we sing in big church.

Andy walks with me.

Andy talks with me.

Andy tells me I'm his own.

We need a speaking, hearing, feeling, smelling, walking God.

I'm so glad.

Andy walks with me.

He tells me I'm his own.

Many a day I just need to talk to God.

And he hears me.

Many a day I don't know where I am.

I need a God who sees me.

Many a day, and I should say every day, I cannot handle and bear the load.

I need a God that carries me.

The propensity of our idolatry is that we look away from God to things that cannot save us.

1 John 5 21, little children, keep yourselves from idols.

In this verse, the beloved captured a deep spiritual principle that the Christian life must be intentional and deliberately selective.

Daily we must choose to sacrifice our idols to God, or else sacrifice God to our idols.

Don't look away from God to other things.

Look away from other things to God.

Notice the last verse of this passage as we close.

The enemy is all around.

They're coming.

Do you hear their hoof?

All their hoofs beating, their chariot wheels turning, they're raging.

Do you hear it?

Do you hear it?

This impending doom, as we said last week, Habakkuk living between two worlds, between the Exodus and the second advent, the coming of Christ to rule and reign.

And in the middle of all of this, the Babylonians seeking to fill the earth with their glory, he gets a hold of something.

Verse 20, but the Lord is in his holy temple.

Let all the earth keep silence before him.

There's a king on the throne.

And his name is Almighty God.

God is not chugging mallocks and popping tums like candy.

He's not pacing.

He's not consulting.

He's not conniving and manipulating.

It's a famous sermon that preached about God has the last move, like history is a chessboard.

Can I tell you, God is not playing chess with the powers of this world?

He already defeated them.

He already won.

And because he won, we're on the winning side if we're in Christ.

Identifying the real enemy.

Not my brother, not my sister, it's me, O Lord.

My enemy's not sitting in this room this morning.

My enemy is not flesh and blood.

Our enemy is the world, the flesh, and the devil.

And the good news is they've already been defeated.

And we can rest in his victory this morning.

Can all God's people say amen?

Let's stand together, may we?

With our heads bowed and eyes closed.

We'll have a hymn of invitation as we close our service today.

Our God is transcendent and powerful.

He's not dependent upon us, but we are fully dependent on Him.

And may our prayer be today as we leave this place.

Oh God, fill my life with your glory.

Help me, Lord, to believe, to see that you're at work in my life.

Last week we began in that desert of confusion.

And I'm praying God will lead you out of that desert of confusion to trust.

Verse 4, the just shall live by his faith.

We walk by faith, not by sight.

Habakkuk trusted the timing of God.

He trusted the justice of God.

He trusted the goodness of God.

And we can learn to trust those as well in our lives.

As this group comes and sings, as we dismiss today, maybe you just want to find a place of prayer and say, Oh God, help me, Lord, to trust you.

In my life, in my desert of confusion, Lord, help me to trust you.

Help me to lean upon you and to rely upon your goodness.

Father, I pray that your will would be done as we leave church this morning that our heart might be full of your grace and goodness, reminded of your mercy.

Help us, Lord, to identify the right enemies in our lives.

Lord, maybe there's someone here today that's made an enemy of a brother, an enemy of a friend.

Oh, Father, help us, Lord, to realize that there are the powers of darkness that seek to turn us against one another, to distract us from fighting those powers that are already defeated in Jesus.

Give us grace to fight and the strength of God.

And Lord, help no one here today be angry with you for things that you've allowed into their lives.

Help us, Lord, to learn to trust you and your sovereignty in our lives.

And we thank you for it.

Let's end in this little hymn today.

The mystery of the cross cannot.

The agonies of perfect holy one cross.

Mercy and your kindness no essentially your blood has washed away my sin.

Jesus take you.