1 Habakkuk 2:20 But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

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Habakkuk 2:20

But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

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GOD RULES THE NATIONSGOD RULES THE NATIONS

Intro.Intro.1. God rules over rise & fall of nations

& leaders2. Habakkuk’s challenge:

understanding God’s rule

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HAB. 1:1-6 Why allow rampant sin?HAB. 1:1-6 Why allow rampant sin?

1 The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. 2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even

cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! 3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold

grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.

4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

5 Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.

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HAB. 1:12-13 Why use wicked Babylon?HAB. 1:12-13 Why use wicked Babylon?

12 Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

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HAB. 2:4 Live by faith in GodHAB. 2:4 Live by faith in God

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

HAB. 2:20 God rules the world, holds the futureHAB. 2:20 God rules the world, holds the future


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GOD RULES THE NATIONSGOD RULES THE NATIONS

Intro.Intro.1. God rules over rise & fall of nations

& leaders2. Habakkuk’s challenge:

understanding God’s rule3. God rules the universe, the nations,

& our lives!

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I. God Rules the Universe I. God Rules the Universe from Beginning to Endfrom Beginning to End

A. Acts 17:22-31 One True God Made & Rules "All Things"

Vs. 27 God’s Purpose: Men Seek & Find Him

Vs. 31 The End: Final Judgment Day

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

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I. God Rules the Universe I. God Rules the Universe from Beginning to Endfrom Beginning to End

B. God Rules by Principles of Righteousness: Allows Men to Choose Right or Wrong

Prov. 14:34 People choose

Prov. 16:12 Leaders choose

Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.

It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness.

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I. God Rules the UniverseI. God Rules the UniverseC. God Overrules All Suffering to Serve His

Own Purposes Eccl. 8:16-17 Our understanding limited

16 When I applied mine heart to know wisdom, and to see the business that is done upon the earth: (for also there is that neither day nor night seeth sleep with his eyes:) 17 Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea further; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.

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I. God Rules the UniverseI. God Rules the UniverseC. God Overrules All Suffering to Serve His

Own PurposesEccl. 9:11 Some suffering seems random

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.

Satan attacks saints (Job, Rev.)

National tragedies may be chastening

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II. God’s Rule: Blessings, II. God’s Rule: Blessings, Chastening, & JudgmentChastening, & Judgment

A. Acts 14:15-17 God’s Blessings: Testimony to His Love for All People

15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: 16 Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

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B. God Chastened & Judged Early Nations Gen. 6-9 Universal flood

Gen. 6 5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Gen. 11:1-9 Men separated by language

Gen. 18-19 Sodom destroyed

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C. Temporary Judgments Reflect God’s Patience

Gen. 15:16 Not fully destroy til sin full

Gen. 18:23-33 Spares for good remnant

But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.

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D. Isa. 13:1, 17-22 God Can Turn Great Nations into Nothing

19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

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E. Jer. 25:26 God’s Providential Rule Includes "All the Kingdoms of the World"

Jer. 25:31 God uses war to punish

A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.

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F. Rome Punished for Materialism, Immorality, False Religion, & Persecuting Christians

Rev. 6:9-11 Rome live: “a little season” 9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

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F. Rome Punished for Materialism, Immorality, False Religion, & Persecuting Christians

Rev. 8-10 Partial judgments: time to repent

“the third part,” “five months” (chapts 9-10)

“the rest of the men…yet repented not” (9:20-21)

“there should be time no longer” (10:6-7)Rev. 18 Rome’s fall announced

“Babylon the great is fallen” (18:2)

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G. God Rules the Nations Today & Chastens Them for Their Many Sins.

Materialism, immorality, false religions, & rejection of GodA culture of violence & death:

as entertainment, abortion, infanticide, school shootings, euthanasia Rampant sexual sins, pornography, perversionEvolutionism & humanism replace God Reject Bible standard of morals & ethics

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III. God Chastens Before III. God Chastens Before

Bringing Final JudgmentsBringing Final Judgments A. God Chastened Israel in Hope She Would

Repent & Be Spared Isa. 9:10 Pride, not repentance

The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.

Isa. 9:12, 21; 10:4 Chasten again & again

Isa. 9:16 Leaders not repent, offer reassurance

…For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

For the leaders of this people cause them to err

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III. God Chastens Before III. God Chastens Before Bringing Final JudgmentsBringing Final Judgments

B. B. Jonah 3:4, 10Jonah 3:4, 10 After Announcing After Announcing Nineveh’s Doom, God Spared the People Nineveh’s Doom, God Spared the People When They RepentedWhen They Repented

4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

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IV. God Uses Nature, Nations, IV. God Uses Nature, Nations, & Individuals in His Rule& Individuals in His Rule

A. Isa. 44:24-28 God Rules Nature & Raises Up Leaders

24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;

28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

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B. Dan. 4:17 God Uses Men We Least Expect

17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

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C. Joel 1 God Can Use Insects & Weather to Chastise Nations

11 Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.

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V. God Overrules the Wicked to V. God Overrules the Wicked to Fulfill His PurposeFulfill His Purpose

A. God Overrules Men’s Evil Intentions & A. God Overrules Men’s Evil Intentions & Deeds to Accomplish His Own PurposeDeeds to Accomplish His Own Purpose

Isa. 10:5-7 Isa. 10:5-7 God used Assyria to chastise God used Assyria to chastise & destroy sinful nations & destroy sinful nations

5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.

7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.

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A. God Overrules Men’s Evil Intentions & A. God Overrules Men’s Evil Intentions & Deeds to Accomplish His Own PurposeDeeds to Accomplish His Own Purpose

Isa. 10:12Isa. 10:12 After using Assyria, God would After using Assyria, God would punish her for her own sins punish her for her own sins

Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

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B. Habakkuk Learned Not to Question the Ways of God in Ruling Nations

Hab. 1:2-4 Habakkuk greatly puzzled: Why did God delay punishing Judah?

2 O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! 3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. 4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

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V. God Overrules the Wicked V. God Overrules the Wicked

to Fulfill His Purposeto Fulfill His Purpose B. Habakkuk Learned Not to Question the

Ways of God in Ruling NationsHab. 1:6, 13 Babylon to punish Judah: Habakkuk even more puzzled!

6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. 13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

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Hab. 2:3 He learned to "wait" for God to fulfil His own purposes in His own way

Hab. 2:4 He learned to trust & obey God, who knows the hearts of all men

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

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

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Hab. 2:20 Not question God’s ways: trust in His power, justice, & mercy


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V. God Overrules the Wicked V. God Overrules the Wicked

to Fulfill His Purposeto Fulfill His Purpose B. Habakkuk Learned Not to Question the

Ways of God in Ruling NationsHab. 3:17-19 Habakkuk expressed total faith in God in every circumstance of life!

17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.

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VI. Human Power Cannot Overrule or Defeat God

A. Man Cannot Escape God’s Hand by Financial Power

Isa. 13:17 Medes reject Babylon’s bribe

17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.

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B. Cannot Escape God’s Hand by Military Power

Isa. 40:15; Ps. 147:10-11 No army is a match for God’s power

Isa. 40:15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

Ps. 147:10 He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. 11 The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.

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C. Obad. 3-4 Man’s Pride Cannot Overrule God’s Purpose & Power

3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? 4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD.

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VII. What Does God Expect of Us?A. Prov. 3:5-7; Hab. 2:3-4 Trust in God

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

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VII. What Does God Expect of Us?B. Rom. 13:1, 7; 1 Tim. 2:1-6 Respect, Obey,

& Pray for Our Leaders.

Romans 13 1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.

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B. 1 Tim. 2:1-6 Pray for Our Leaders. 1 Timothy 2

1 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; 2 For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; 4 Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. 5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6 Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.

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VII. What Does God Expect of Us?C. Prov. 14:34; 2 Cor. 13:5 Examine

Ourselves

Proverbs 14:34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.

2 Cor. 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

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VII. What Does God Expect of Us?D. Acts 17:26-27; 24:25; 26:25 Help Others

Seek and Find God

Acts 17:26-27 26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

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VII. What Does God Expect of Us?D. Acts 17:26-27; 24:25; 26:25 Help Others

Seek and Find God

Acts 24:25 And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.

Acts 26:25 But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.

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GOD RULES THE NATIONSGOD RULES THE NATIONS Conclusion:Conclusion:

1. Hab. 2:20 God holds the future

2. Acts 8:22 Saints fallen back into sin

3. Mk. 16:16 Sinners obey gospel


Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

1 Habakkuk 2:20 But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

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Transcript of 1 Habakkuk 2:20 But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.