Billboard of Salvation

Text: Habakkuk 2:1–4
Series: Sermons 2001 Rewritten
Date:
Speaker: Ed Rangel
Location: Waupaca Church of Christ
Bible Version: NASB 1995
Sermon Type: Expository

Learning Objectives

1. Explain Habakkuk’s struggle with God’s use of Babylon to judge Judah.
2. Show why God commanded the vision to be written plainly.
3. Identify the sins condemned in Habakkuk 2 and apply them to human pride, violence, greed, shame, and idolatry.
4. Connect Habakkuk’s message of certain judgment with the New Testament call to repentance and salvation in Christ.
5. Press the church to preach the gospel plainly so sinners can read, understand, and respond.

Thesis

God commanded Habakkuk to write the coming judgment plainly, and the church must proclaim God’s message of judgment and salvation plainly because God’s word will not fail and souls must respond before the day of the Lord comes.

Introduction.

1. Billboards are meant to be read quickly. a. They use large lettering. b. They speak in short, clear words. c. They are placed where passing people can see the message.
2. A bad billboard fails its purpose. a. The lettering is too small. b. The wording is confusing. c. The message cannot be read in time.
3. Habakkuk 2 uses that kind of image. a. The prophet is told to record the vision. b. He is told to make it plain upon tablets. c. The message must be clear enough for the reader to run.
4. Habakkuk had wrestled with God’s judgment. a. Judah was wicked. b. Babylon was worse. c. Habakkuk could not understand why God would use a violent nation to judge His people.
5. God’s answer was not vague. a. Babylon would not escape. b. Judgment would come at the appointed time. c. The righteous must live by faith while waiting on God.
6. The church needs the same plainness today. a. Judgment is coming. b. Salvation is in Christ. c. The message must not be hidden under cleverness, fog, or fear.

I. God’s Message Must Be Written Plainly.

A. Habakkuk stood waiting for God’s answer.

1. Habakkuk 2:1 says the prophet would stand on his guard post. a. He had raised hard questions. b. He waited for God’s reply. c. He expected correction from the Lord.
2. Habakkuk was troubled by God’s use of Babylon. a. Judah deserved judgment. b. Babylon was violent and arrogant. c. The prophet could not reconcile God’s purity with Babylon’s cruelty.
3. Habakkuk 1:13 gives the heart of the struggle. a. God’s eyes are too pure to approve evil. b. God cannot look on wickedness with favor. c. Why would He use the treacherous to swallow those more righteous than they?

B. God commanded the vision to be made plain.

1. Habakkuk 2:2 says, “Record the vision.” a. God’s answer was not to remain private emotion. b. It had to be written. c. It had to stand as public testimony.
2. God said to “inscribe it on tablets.” a. The message needed permanence. b. It needed visibility. c. It needed clarity.
3. God said the one who reads it may run. a. The point is plain communication. b. The message had to be readable. c. God’s warning was not to be buried in confusion.

C. The church must learn from that plainness.

1. God’s word is not helped by fog. a. Cleverness can hide truth. b. Soft language can blur warning. c. Human polish can weaken divine urgency.
2. Paul preached with plainness. a. First Corinthians 2:1 says he did not come with superiority of speech or wisdom. b. First Corinthians 2:4–5 says faith must not rest on the wisdom of men. c. The power is in God’s message, not the preacher’s performance.
3. Gospel preaching must be clear enough to obey. a. Sinners must hear what Christ did. b. Sinners must hear what Christ commands. c. Sinners must hear before the appointed day arrives.

II. God’s Judgment May Wait, but It Will Not Fail.

A. The vision was for the appointed time.

1. Habakkuk 2:3 says the vision is “yet for the appointed time.” a. God’s timing is not man’s timing. b. Delay is not denial. c. The Lord does not forget His own word.
2. The vision hastens toward the goal. a. God’s judgment moves even when men cannot see it. b. Babylon would not escape. c. Human power cannot outrun divine appointment.
3. God says, “Though it tarries, wait for it.” a. Faith must wait. b. Faith must trust. c. Faith must not rewrite God because God does not move on man’s schedule.

B. The proud man is not right within himself.

1. Habakkuk 2:4 says, “Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him.” a. Babylon’s strength did not make Babylon righteous. b. Military success did not equal divine approval. c. Pride made their souls crooked before God.
2. Babylon trusted conquest. a. They devoured nations. b. They worshiped power. c. They assumed victory meant security.
3. God saw the soul beneath the empire. a. He saw greed. b. He saw violence. c. He saw idolatry and arrogance.

C. The righteous live by faith.

1. Habakkuk 2:4 says, “But the righteous will live by his faith.” a. The righteous do not live by panic. b. The righteous do not live by appearances. c. The righteous live by trusting God’s word.
2. Paul uses this truth in Romans 1:17. a. The gospel reveals the righteousness of God. b. The righteous man shall live by faith. c. Salvation is grounded in God’s revealed message, not man’s strength.
3. Hebrews 10:37–39 uses Habakkuk to urge endurance. a. The coming One will come. b. God’s people must not shrink back. c. Faith endures until God fulfills His word.

III. God’s Billboard Condemns the Sins of the Proud.

A. God condemned greed, conquest, and plunder.

1. Habakkuk 2:6–8 pronounces woe on the one who increases what is not his. a. Babylon gathered what did not belong to them. b. They made themselves rich through violence and debt. c. Their victims would rise as witnesses against them.
2. God sees economic injustice. a. Looting is not strength. b. Exploitation is not wisdom. c. Gain obtained by sin becomes evidence for judgment.
3. This still speaks. a. A man may build wealth by crushing others. b. A nation may gain power through bloodshed. c. God records what men excuse.

B. God condemned false security built on evil gain.

1. Habakkuk 2:9–11 pronounces woe on the one who gets evil gain for his house. a. Babylon wanted to set its nest on high. b. They thought height could protect them. c. They imagined walls could keep judgment away.
2. God says the stones would cry out. a. Their buildings testified against them. b. Their rafters answered from the framework. c. What they built became witness to their guilt.
3. Men still build nests on high. a. Money can become a nest. b. Reputation can become a nest. c. Religious pride can become a nest. d. None of it can hide a sinner from God.

C. God condemned bloodshed and violence.

1. Habakkuk 2:12 pronounces woe on the one who builds a city with bloodshed. a. Babylon built by violence. b. Their power rested on human suffering. c. God did not admire their achievements.
2. Habakkuk 2:14 says the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD. a. Babylon’s glory would fall. b. God’s glory would cover the earth. c. Human empires do not get the final word.
3. The same truth judges modern pride. a. God is not impressed by success built on sin. b. God is not fooled by polished violence. c. God does not forget the blood men spill.

D. God condemned shame, drunken humiliation, and idolatry.

1. Habakkuk 2:15–17 pronounces woe on the one who makes his neighbor drink. a. Babylon used power to shame others. b. They exposed and humiliated the weak. c. God promised disgrace would return on them.
2. Habakkuk 2:18–19 condemns idols. a. An idol is a teacher of falsehood. b. A carved image has no breath. c. The one who trusts it is trusting his own handiwork.
3. Habakkuk 2:20 gives the final contrast. a. “But the LORD is in His holy temple.” b. “Let all the earth be silent before Him.” c. When God speaks, human pride must stop talking.

IV. God’s Plain Warning Must Become Our Plain Gospel Preaching.

A. Judgment is still certain.

1. Second Peter 3:8–10 says the Lord is not slow about His promise. a. God’s patience is not weakness. b. God is patient, not wishing for any to perish. c. The day of the Lord will come like a thief.
2. The present world will not last. a. The heavens will pass away. b. The elements will be destroyed with intense heat. c. The earth and its works will be burned up.
3. Peter asks what sort of people we ought to be. a. Holy conduct. b. Godliness. c. Looking for and hastening the coming day of God.

B. Salvation is proclaimed in Christ.

1. Acts 13:32–33 says the good news was fulfilled in Jesus. a. God kept His promise. b. Jesus was raised up. c. The gospel is not speculation but fulfilled promise.
2. Acts 13:38 says forgiveness of sins is proclaimed through Him. a. Forgiveness is not found in Babylon. b. Forgiveness is not found in idols. c. Forgiveness is found in the risen Christ.
3. Acts 13:39 says everyone who believes is freed through Him. a. The Law of Moses could not provide that final release. b. Christ does what the law could not do. c. The gospel must be preached as the message of freedom from sin.

C. The warning must not be softened.

1. Acts 13:40–41 quotes Habakkuk 1:5. a. Paul uses Habakkuk as a warning. b. Scoffers could marvel and perish. c. God’s work can be rejected even when plainly declared.
2. Gospel preaching must include repentance. a. Second Peter 3:9 says God wants all to come to repentance. b. Acts 17:30 says God commands all people everywhere to repent. c. A message without repentance is not the apostolic message.
3. Gospel preaching must be clear enough to obey. a. Hear the word. b. Believe Christ. c. Repent of sin. d. Confess Christ. e. Be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. f. Live faithfully.

Application.

1. For the sinner. a. God’s patience is not permission. b. Judgment has an appointed time. c. Read the message while mercy is still offered.
2. For the Christian. a. Live by faith when God’s timing tests you. b. Do not envy the proud. c. Do not mistake delay for escape.
3. For the church. a. Make the gospel plain. b. Do not hide judgment. c. Do not soften repentance. d. Do not obscure baptism.
4. For parents and teachers. a. Write the message clearly for the next generation. b. Teach them God judges pride, violence, idolatry, and sin. c. Teach them forgiveness is in Christ before the world teaches them to laugh at judgment.

Conclusion.

1. Habakkuk was told to write the vision plainly. a. Babylon would not escape. b. God’s judgment would arrive. c. The righteous had to live by faith.
2. The five woes exposed Babylon’s guilt. a. Greed. b. False security. c. Bloodshed. d. Shameful abuse. e. Idolatry.
3. God still speaks plainly. a. Judgment is coming. b. The world will not last. c. Forgiveness is proclaimed through Christ.
4. The church must hold up the billboard of salvation. a. Large enough to be read. b. Clear enough to be understood. c. Faithful enough to save those who obey.

Invitation.

1. Hear the word. a. Romans 10:17 says faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
2. Believe Christ. a. John 8:24 warns that unless you believe that Jesus is He, you will die in your sins.
3. Repent. a. Acts 17:30 says God commands all people everywhere to repent.
4. Confess Christ. a. Romans 10:9–10 teaches confession with the mouth and belief in the heart.
5. Be baptized for the remission of sins. a. Acts 2:38 commands repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins.
6. Live faithfully. a. Revelation 2:10 calls the Christian to be faithful until death.
7. Look at the billboard of salvation. a. God has spoken. b. Christ has died and risen. c. Judgment is coming. d. Obey the gospel while there is time.

Word Study.

Scripture Interlock Table.