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Welcome to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons.

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Today we're continuing our Sermon series The Struggle is Real, where we explore the

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Book of HabitCook.

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And this week, we welcome our guest preacher Justin Stratus, as he takes us on a deep dive

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into a rather intense passage of HabitCook, which outlines the woes for those who oppress

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others.

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Though it can be challenging to find hope in the midst of dark days and injustice, Justin

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shows us the important truth of this passage, and God's answer to the question, how long

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will they get away with this?

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So let's tune in now and find out.

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Today's reading is from HabitCook chapter 2, verses 5 through 20.

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Indeed, wine betrays him, he is arrogant and never at rest, because he is as greedy as

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the grave, and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and

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takes captive all the peoples.

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Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, woe to him who piles up

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stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion?

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How long must this go on?

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Will not your creditors suddenly arise?

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Will they not wake up and make you tremble?

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Then you will become their prey.

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Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you.

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For you have shed human blood, you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

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Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, setting his nest on high to escape the clutches

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of ruin.

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You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.

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The stones of the wall will cry out and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.

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Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice.

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Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the peoples' labor is only fuel for the fire?

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That the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?

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For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover

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the sea.

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Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wine skin till they are

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drunk so that he can gaze on their naked bodies.

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You will be filled with shame instead of glory.

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Now it is your turn.

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Drink and let your nakedness be exposed.

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The cup from the Lord's right hand is coming around to you and disgrace will cover your

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glory.

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The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you and your destruction of animals

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will terrify you.

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For you have shed human blood, you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

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Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman or an image that teaches lies?

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For the one who makes it trust in his own creation, he makes idols that cannot speak.

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Woe to him who says to wood, come to life or to a lifeless stone, wake up.

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Can it give guidance?

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It is covered with gold and silver.

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There is no breath in it.

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The Lord is in his holy temple.

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Let all the earth be silent before him.

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The word of the Lord.

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Morning everybody.

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My name is Justin and I'm going to be your preacher today.

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I usually don't begin my sermons with trigger warnings, but I am going to be talking about

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some difficult stuff today.

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So just a heads up.

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It's an intense passage and I thought it required some intense examination.

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Before we get started, let's pray together.

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God we believe, help thou our unbelief.

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Amen.

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So Trinity Church, I've got a question for you.

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How long can they keep getting away with this?

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How long can evil go unchallenged in this world, in our communities, in our homes and

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even in our churches?

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On February 24th, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine.

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And since then 35,000 people have been killed, 15,000 people are missing, 3400 people have

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been captured, and nearly 100,000 people have been wounded.

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How long can they keep getting away with this?

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On May 22nd, 2022, the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the

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United States, released a report that revealed how SBC leaders retained a secret internal

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database of 700 abusers, many of whom were pastors and youth workers who were known to

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denominational leaders but whose identities were kept hidden from 2000 to 2019.

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How long can they keep getting away with this?

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Well as we've been hearing over the past few weeks, this was exactly the question that

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the prophet Habakkuk posed angrily to God nearly 2,500 years ago.

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If you recall back in chapter 1, the prophet expresses his frustration that God seemed

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to be absolutely unconcerned about the growing levels of wickedness in Judah.

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And so he asks God in verses 3 through 4 of that chapter, why do you make me look at injustice?

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Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

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Destruction and violence are before me.

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There's strife and conflict abounds.

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Therefore the law, the Torah, is paralyzed and justice never prevails.

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The wicked hem in the righteous so that justice is perverted.

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Now what Habakkuk wants God to do is he wants God to root out the evildoers in his midst.

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He's thinking of his fellow Judeans who were following the evil King Jehoiakum in ignoring

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the Torah for the sake of their own personal gain.

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But when God answers him in verses 5 through 11, what he promises is not the cleansing

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of Judah but rather Judah's invasion by the dreaded Babylonians.

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He says, I am raising up the Babylonians that ruthless and impetuous people who sweep across

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the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own.

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Now of course this invasion was not just going to affect the wicked in Judah.

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It would take down the righteous as well as if you like collateral damage including Habakkuk

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himself.

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How on earth is this justice?

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The prophet asks.

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It's as if God were punishing the wicked in Judah by rewarding a people who were even

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more wicked, the Babylonians.

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And once again the righteous people would be swept up as grist for the mill of a frustratingly

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unjust world.

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Is that really what God wants?

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How long will these people keep getting away with this?

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And so Habakkuk sets up camp outside of God's closed office door and he waits and he won't

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leave until he gets an answer.

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And Habakkuk's wager is that this door can't stay closed.

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God can't simply sit in silence and stonewall his people forever.

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God has to answer.

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Right?

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Well God finally does answer.

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I will do something God says, but not just yet.

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There is still more waiting to do, which means for now Habakkuk, the ball is in your court.

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What I want you to do if you are as righteous as you say you are is to live by faith.

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I'm giving you a promise, God says, the wicked will die and the righteous will live, but

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the only proof you're going to have for this is the proof of my own character.

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And so essentially God answers Habakkuk's question as Jesus often did with another question.

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Habakkuk, do you believe or are you ready to throw in the towel?

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Is the will of God really worth the wait or will you allow the prosperity of the wicked

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to stifle your resolve?

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It's your choice, God says.

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It all begins with verse six, chapter two verse six, which starts off with this rhetorical

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question.

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Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn?

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Okay, so who is him in this question?

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Well that's the empire, the Babylonian empire.

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In fact, in Hebrew it's personified as a him, as a single entity throughout all the verses.

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But the question is who is them in this passage?

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Who is God promising will taunt the wicked in the end?

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And the answer is it's the oppressed.

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The oppressed people will taunt their oppressors.

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And isn't that really fascinating?

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What we have in this passage is a series of divine judgments being pronounced over the

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wicked.

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And that's not news, we see that all throughout the Bible, particularly the Old Testament.

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But in this passage we have a series of divine judgments being pronounced over the wicked,

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but delivered in the voices of the oppressed all the people who would be swept up by the

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Babylonian empire, who would be dominated by the emperor Nebuchadnezzar, and used and

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abused to build up his power and glory.

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But what's so interesting is that God doesn't just curse the wicked, he lets the oppressed

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do the cursing for him.

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In other words, it's God's will to give the oppressed a voice.

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It's God's will to give the oppressed a voice.

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Question.

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As the church, do we give the oppressed a voice?

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Not always.

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As that covered up Southern Baptist list of abusers shows.

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We don't always give the oppressed a voice, but God always does.

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Beware of churches which elevate the voices of the powerful over the voices of the weak.

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May we be a church that believes in the justice of God enough to hand the mic over to the

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poor and oppressed, and to listen to what they have to say.

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So let's listen to what the oppressed in Habakkuk's day had to say as they taunted

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the Babylonian empire in the context of their own faith in God.

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Here again the words of the first woe, and I'm just going to walk through the passage

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again and see what these folks have to say.

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The first woe in verses 6-8.

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Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion.

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How long must this go on?

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Will not your creditors suddenly arise?

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Will not they wake up and make you tremble?

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Then you will become their prey because you've plundered many nations.

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The people who are left will plunder you.

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For you have shed human blood.

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You've destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

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As in Habakkuk's time, so in ours, oppressors see the world as basically raw material for

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the taking.

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And when they take the world by force, lands and cities and every human being in them,

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they believe that they have the power to remake the world just the way they like it.

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The world they think revolves around them and once it starts to revolve around them,

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there's no going back.

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Think of the British Museum, which to this day refuses to return the plunder of centuries

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of imperial conquest.

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Why?

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Well, because we live in a different world now and besides the conquered wouldn't really

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know how to care for these priceless treasures.

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Plus, that was hundreds of years ago.

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That debt is long forgotten.

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We're in a new scenario now.

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But the plundered remember.

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And God's promise is that he will honor their memory.

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While the empire assumes it's owed these treasures as the spoils of conquest, Habakkuk knows differently.

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The empire, the empire has racked up a debt.

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A debt that needs to be paid to the conquered.

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And one day the ledger is going to have to be balanced.

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The implicit question posed by God to Habakkuk here is this.

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Do you have the faith to wait for it?

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Will you live by faith?

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Is this world really nothing more than the plaything of empire?

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Or does it belong to the God of Jacob?

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On to the second woe, verses 9 through 11.

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Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, setting his nest on high to escape the clutches

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of ruin.

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You've plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.

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The stones of the wall will cry out and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.

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The second woe imagines the world after the Babylonian conquest.

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When the conquerors have taken the spoils back to their homeland and can finally get to the

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business of enjoying the fruit of their labors.

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War is long forgotten and their allegedly peaceful reign begins.

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Whatever atrocities they had to commit in the past to get what they have now, that's

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all just a fading memory.

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And now it's all big screen TVs, quiet suburban neighborhoods, luxury cars, growing stock portfolios.

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But again, the oppressed remember just as the stolen goods themselves cry out even if

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their voices are not heard.

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There is not a gated community safe enough to escape the justice that's coming.

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The challenge again to the oppressed, to Habakkuk is this.

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Do you have the faith to wait for it?

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Third woe, verses 12 through 14.

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Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice.

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Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire,

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but the nations exhaust themselves for nothing, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge

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of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

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Now if it weren't enough that the oppressed have had their land and their goods stolen

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from them, they also have had their dignity taken from them as they're forced to work

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for the oppressors themselves, which is what the Babylonians did with every nation they

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conquered.

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They took their belongings, they took the belongings of the conquered and they made the conquered

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work for them.

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And again, we've seen this phenomenon time and again in history where the conquered are

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made to serve the interests of the conquered, conquerors.

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And here, obviously I'm reminded of the millions of enslaved African people whose forced labor

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built up the West, enabling conquering nations to spread their power and influence over many

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centuries.

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Empires, they don't just grow naturally like a plant.

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Empires colonize until the sun never sets on their holdings.

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So it is, so it's always been, but will it be this way forever?

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Habakkuk says no.

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There is no empire that can hold power over the world forever.

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Because he says the world's destiny is just this, the earth will be filled with the knowledge

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of the glory of the Lord as waters cover the sea.

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Or as Revelation 11 verse 15 puts it, a day is coming when the kingdoms of this world

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are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and

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ever.

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Don't be fooled by the sprawling powers of the wicked and their ability to exploit the

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labor of the conquered.

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Which labor, Habakkuk says, is just fuel for the fire.

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It won't last.

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It won't last.

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Fourth woe.

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Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wine skin until they are

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drunk so that they can gaze on their naked bodies.

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You will be filled with shame instead of glory.

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Now it's your turn.

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Drink and let your nakedness be exposed.

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The cup from the Lord's right hand is coming around you and disgrace will cover your glory.

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The violence you've done to Lebanon will overwhelm you and your destruction of animals will terrify

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you for you've shed human blood and you've destroyed lands and cities and everyone in

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them.

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Here's another tactic of the powerful.

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It's all right here in Habakkuk.

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It's amazing.

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Here's another tactic.

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Give the oppressed a little taste of pleasure to keep them compliant.

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Have a drink, they say.

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Watch some films.

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Play some video games.

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Enjoy some reality television.

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And all the while like a con man targeting his mark, the oppressors laugh at how easy

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it is to keep you in line.

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Look at the text.

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Surely it will stay like this forever.

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People always have the upper hand.

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But somewhere deep down in the minds of the people, that memory is still there.

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The memory of conquest.

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And so God promises that the shamers will one day become the shamed.

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Look at verse 16.

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Now it's your turn, the oppressed say to the oppressors.

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Drink and let your nakedness be exposed.

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Now here, according to the Hebrew, a more literal translation would be drink and let

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your foreskin be exposed.

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That's what it says, not nakedness, but foreskin.

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Now as you know, circumcision was the sign of God's covenant with Abraham.

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It's the sign that God had chosen them to be his people.

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But as they were exiled to Babylon and forced to watch as the promised land slowly disappeared

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in the rear view mirror, I imagine they started to question if they really were chosen.

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I imagine they didn't feel chosen.

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I imagine they felt like God had reneged on his promise.

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But here's what God says.

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Even despite Babylon's manifold successes and conquests, one day God says, I'm going

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to reveal to the world that no matter how successful they seem, the Babylonians are

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not my chosen people.

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And so my covenant with Israel still stands.

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You are the circumcised, he is the uncircumcised.

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You are my covenant people, not them.

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Whatever happens, I've not forgotten you.

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And again the question is, do you have faith to believe that you are still God's?

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Do you have faith to believe that you are God's?

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And so the final woe, verses 18 through 20, of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman

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or an image that teaches lies for the one who makes it trust in his own creation.

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He makes idols that cannot speak.

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Woe to him who says to would come to life or to lifeless stone wake up.

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Can it give guidance?

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It's covered with gold and silver, there's no breath in it.

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The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth be silent before him.

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Again in Hebrew, better translation might be, let all the earth shush before God.

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It's onomatopoeia.

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Here we finally get to the crux of the matter.

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Throughout this entire passage, God's been telling Habakkuk that the wicked will one

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day be defeated.

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But up until now, the reasons that he gives for this all have to do with something like

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what goes around comes around.

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Or if you do bad stuff, bad stuff's going to happen to you.

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But that's too abstract to be comforting.

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And that's why Habakkuk is complaining in the first case.

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Why?

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Because it doesn't always work that way.

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Sometimes good things happen to bad people.

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So Habakkuk isn't being asked to put his faith in a principle, right, that what goes

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around comes around.

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What we're given here is a concrete explanation for why God will ultimately step in and make

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things right.

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And it's this, God hates idolatry.

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In place of worshiping the Lord of all the earth, the oppressors have invented replacement

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gods, gods whose sole purpose is to serve their needs, the needs of the ones who make

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them.

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But that is precisely why evil can never, ever win.

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Because the God of Abraham cannot abide the worship of another.

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As Yahweh never tires of reminding the Israelites all through the Old Testament, Yahweh is a

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jealous God.

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And so when worship is refused to him or given to an idol, God steps in.

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Or to put it another way, God's guarantee of his justice is God's passion for God's

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glory.

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That's why when God makes a covenant with Abraham, he doesn't just make a promise.

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He, the text says, swears by himself.

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He puts his own identity on the line, which means that God cannot abandon his people anymore

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than he could abandon his own self.

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Being faithful to people is not just an arbitrary choice on God's part.

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It is who God is.

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And so we return to that initial painful question that Habakkuk and so many others have asked.

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How long can they keep getting away with this?

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And the answer is not forever.

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Now that's a difficult answer, because what we really want to hear is they will stop getting

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away with it tomorrow or next Thursday, or heck, even 50 or 100 years from now.

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I would take that.

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But that's not what God says.

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He swears by himself to sort out the problem of evil, but he doesn't tell us when that

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will be.

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All he asks is for us to trust him, but the righteous will live by faith.

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Can this even be done?

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Thank God, I think the answer is yes.

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And he's given us witnesses throughout history who testified that it can, from the noble

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army of martyrs, as the prayer book says, to the long-suffering believers who've kept

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the faith alive throughout generations.

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I mean, we are here today in this building because they lived by faith through the power

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of the Holy Spirit.

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They didn't give up.

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Let me give you one example, and with this I'm going to close.

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In 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech at the Capitol building in Montgomery, Alabama.

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Now this is a place where 104 years prior, Jefferson Davis was inaugurated as the president

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of the Confederate States of America.

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Right?

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Group of Americans who succeeded so that they could preserve their right to enslave Martin

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Luther King's grandparents.

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The Capitol in Montgomery was the same place where two years earlier, in 1963, Governor

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George Wallace famously proclaimed segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.

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That's where King is talking.

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And there in that place, King asks the same question that Habakkuk and many, many others

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have asked.

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How long?

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And this is what King said.

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Yes, sir.

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I know you're asking today, how long will it take?

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Somebody's asking how long will prejudice blind the visions of men?

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I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, however frustrating the

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hour, it will not be long.

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Because truth, Christ earth, will rise again.

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How long not long?

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Because no lie can live forever.

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How long not long?

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Because you shall reap what you sow.

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How long not long?

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Too far on the scaffold, wrong way ever on the throne.

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Yet that scaffold sways the future behind the demon known, standing guard within the shadow,

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keeping watch above his own.

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How long not long?

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Because the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

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How long not long?

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Because my eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

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He's traveling out the business where the paper raps the storm.

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He's loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible Swiss sword.

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His truth is marching on.

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He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat.

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He is lifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat.

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I'll be swift, my soul, to answer him.

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Be turbulent, my feet, our God is marching on.

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Glory, hallelujah.

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Glory, hallelujah.

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Glory, hallelujah.

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Glory, hallelujah. His truth is marching on.