Latest / Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons / Nuggets in Habakkuk Part 3 - The Earth Full of the Knowledge of God

Transcript

Nuggets in Habakkuk Part 3 - The Earth Full of the Knowledge of God · Stornoway Free Church of Scotland - Sermons

• 0:00
  Well, we begin our worship by singing to God's praise. We're going to sing in Psalm 139a.
• 0:07
  It's page 180 of the psalm book, Psalm 139a. We're going to sing from verse 1 to verse 10.
• 0:15
  O Lord, you have examined me. You know me through and through, my sitting, rising.
• 0:21
  All my thoughts afar are known to you. We'll sing from verse 1 to 10 to God's praise.
• 0:30
  O Lord, you have examined me. You know me through and through, my sitting, rising.
• 0:53
  All my thoughts afar are known to you.
• 1:04
  My going out and lying down are plain before your youth.
• 1:21
  Before I speak a word, O Lord, it is well known to you.
• 1:37
  You have me in the highly fold. You lay on me in your hand.
• 1:54
  Such knowledge is too wonderful, too high, too understand.
• 2:09
  Where can I from your safety?
• 2:19
  If I should be free, or from your presence go?
• 2:27
  If to the heavens you are there, or in the depths below,
• 2:43
  If I should take the wings of dawn, and fell beyond the sea,
• 3:00
  Then also you would be my guide, Your right and holding me.
• 3:17
  Let's bow our heads together in a word of prayer. Let us pray.
• 3:27
  Our Father in heaven, as we come to worship you today,
• 3:34
  we thank you to be able to lift up our voices in singing to you and giving praise to you.
• 3:40
  We are reminded of your goodness to us in these words that we have sung,
• 3:46
  that you know us in every way, you know our every need,
• 3:50
  that you are there for us, Lord, no matter where we go in this world,
• 3:54
  that we have the promise of your presence.
• 3:57
  And we thank you that there's so much comfort in that,
• 4:01
  and that we would know, Lord, that whether we are here worshiping,
• 4:04
  whether we are in our homes, in schools or workplaces,
• 4:08
  wherever we go through the week, even when we travel to different places,
• 4:12
  that you have promised, Lord, that you will be there for us,
• 4:16
  that your right hand will hold us.
• 4:18
  And we do thank you, Lord, for every way that you bless us day by day.
• 4:23
  We thank you for all the things that we enjoy in life,
• 4:27
  the friendships we have, the families, our Sunday school and creche,
• 4:32
  and tweenies and explorers and toddler groups and all of these things that are there for our young people
• 4:39
  and the YF and the youth club that starts this week again.
• 4:44
  Lord, we pray for all our young people involved in these things,
• 4:47
  that there will be a sense of togetherness in it, sharing with one another,
• 4:52
  and above all knowing your goodness to us in it as well.
• 4:57
  And we thank you, Lord, that your word speaks to us in all of these things.
• 5:02
  And remind us of Jesus today, remind us of how much we need him
• 5:06
  and how much we are to love him, for he has loved us.
• 5:09
  And may your word be blessed to us in all that we do.
• 5:12
  So we ask it all with forgiveness of sin in Jesus' name. Amen.
• 5:19
  Now, before the young ones go out, I just want to say a wee word to you today.
• 5:23
  I'm sure many of you already know where I live.
• 5:26
  I stay up in Plasterfield, and it's a lovely part of the town to stay in.
• 5:32
  And we've got lovely neighbours up there.
• 5:35
  And very often we engage with our neighbours.
• 5:38
  Sometimes over the wall we'll speak to our neighbours,
• 5:43
  just say something to them in the passing.
• 5:45
  And on the whole, things are good.
• 5:49
  But the last couple of weeks our neighbours have,
• 5:52
  I don't know if it's the weather, or there's a hot sun or what it is,
• 5:56
  but they've been going a little bit crazy.
• 5:59
  They've been jumping our wall.
• 6:01
  And there's one little one, short legs.
• 6:05
  He's getting a little bit tubby as he gets a wee bit older,
• 6:08
  and he got stuck in the fence this week.
• 6:10
  And we had to go and help him.
• 6:13
  Now, I think you're thinking I'm talking about somebody.
• 6:16
  It's not.
• 6:17
  It's something.
• 6:18
  It's an animal.
• 6:19
  It's the lambs and the sheep next door that I'm talking about.
• 6:22
  Don't be mistaken that it's somebody else.
• 6:25
  But these neighbours, we enjoy seeing them out the back window and over the wall.
• 6:31
  But it's just they've been so lively the last wee while.
• 6:35
  And they've been coming into our, jumping our wall.
• 6:38
  It's amazing to think they're just little lambs,
• 6:40
  and yet they're jumping the wall and coming into our garden.
• 6:43
  Our sheepdog is hopeless.
• 6:45
  He just looks at them as if what we're supposed to do.
• 6:48
  But then we have to go and catch them and put them back over the fence,
• 6:53
  so they go back to their mothers.
• 6:55
  But they've also got a good shepherd who comes and checks on them as well.
• 7:00
  And it's a full-time job because the older they get, the more lively they get,
• 7:04
  and they get more adventurous.
• 7:06
  And I'm sure many of you had this experience in the last few weeks
• 7:09
  with lambing and keeping looking after lambs.
• 7:13
  You find lambs just going to strange places.
• 7:17
  They'll go and try and get into any situation.
• 7:20
  They'll go and try and climb through anything
• 7:22
  and find their way always into trouble so often.
• 7:26
  And they have to be helped back.
• 7:28
  They have to be rescued.
• 7:30
  And there's a lovely verse in Scripture that speaks about this.
• 7:34
  Last week we thought of how the good shepherd looks after his sheep.
• 7:39
  And even if there's one missing, he goes to find them.
• 7:43
  But here's another verse that reminds us of the care that the shepherd has,
• 7:48
  especially for his lambs.
• 7:50
  It says in Isaiah 40, verse 11, a chapter that speaks about God's comfort,
• 7:57
  God's goodness to his people.
• 7:59
  And he says this,
• 8:00
  He tends his flock like a shepherd.
• 8:02
  He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.
• 8:07
  He gently leads those that have young.
• 8:11
  It's a beautiful verse that reminds us of the care that God gives to his people.
• 8:18
  We are like sheep.
• 8:19
  We're like lambs.
• 8:20
  We're always doing the wrong thing, going into the wrong places,
• 8:23
  and even getting stuck in stupid places.
• 8:27
  But we thank God that we have a shepherd,
• 8:29
  one who looks after us, who holds us in his arms, who carries us closely.
• 8:35
  And it's a wonderful thing to see a shepherd doing that for his lambs,
• 8:39
  picking them up, gathering them, helping them, taking them back to safety.
• 8:44
  And that's what we have in Jesus.
• 8:46
  One who looks after us all, and who cares for us in that wonderful way,
• 8:52
  and who loves us in such a wonderful way.
• 8:56
  So may we all know that tender care of the Lord as our shepherd.
• 9:03
  And we're going to say the Lord's Prayer together now.
• 9:07
  Amen.
• 9:08
  Our Father, which art in heaven.
• 9:11
  Hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come.
• 9:15
  Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
• 9:18
  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
• 9:26
  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
• 9:31
  For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
• 9:38
  We'll again sing now to God's praise.
• 9:40
  We're going to sing in Psalm 115, in the Sing Psalms version, page 152.
• 9:48
  Psalm 115, we'll sing from verse 1 to verse 9.
• 9:59
  Lord, not to us, O not to us, to your name be the praise, because your love and faithfulness endure, O Lord, always.
• 10:09
  We'll sing from verse 1 to verse 9 to God's praise.
• 10:18
  For not to us, O not to us, to your name be the praise, because your love and faithfulness endure, O Lord.
• 10:48
  Why do the nations question us?
• 11:01
  Where is their God they say?
• 11:08
  Her God, O Lord, always.
• 11:10
  Our God, O Lord, always.
• 11:11
  Their God, O Lord, always.
• 11:13
  Their God in heaven high, and over all, O sweet.
• 11:25
  Their gold and silver images are crafted carefully, but they have hearts which shall not speak,
• 11:52
  And God's which shall not see.
• 11:59
  Their noses have no sense of smell, Their ears can hear no sound.
• 12:17
  They have no feeling in their hands, Nor can they hope around.
• 12:34
  Although these idols do have throats, No word can they proclaim.
• 12:50
  Their big curse, their worshipers will all become like them.
• 13:08
  O house of Israel, place your trust, Upon the Lord alone.
• 13:24
  He is the mighty help and shield of all who are his own.
• 13:41
  Their jest small access,nai gives you the mel�is of the world.
• 13:46
  It's if God is with angels.
• 13:48
  Well, these two are the things that time they pray about.
• 13:50
  We will see you in a while.
• 13:52
  We will think that from this episode of the Old book for all.
• 13:54
  chapter 2, taking up our reading at verse 6. Habakkuk chapter 2, and reading from verse 6.
• 14:08
  We're following on from where we finished off last week, where we were thinking of
• 14:12
  the righteous shall live by his faith, as we have in verse 4. Now we read on into verse 6.
• 14:20
  Shall not all these take up their taunt against him with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,
• 14:27
  Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own, for how long, and loads himself with pledges?
• 14:35
  Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be
• 14:43
  spoil for them, because you have plundered many nations. All the remnant of the peoples shall
• 14:50
  plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities, and all who dwell in them.
• 14:58
  Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm.
• 15:07
  You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples. You have forfeited your life,
• 15:16
  for the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond.
• 15:23
  Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and founds a city on iniquity. Behold, it is not from the Lord
• 15:30
  of hosts, that people labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing. For the earth
• 15:38
  will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
• 15:46
  Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink. You pour out your wrath, and make them drunk in order to gaze
• 15:54
  at their nakedness. You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink yourself, and show your
• 16:02
  uncircumcision. The cup in the Lord's right hand will come round to you, and utter shame will come
• 16:10
  upon your glory. The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the
• 16:18
  beasts that terrify them. For the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities, and to all
• 16:24
  who dwell in them. What prophet is an idol, when its maker has shaped it a metal image, a teacher of lies?
• 16:33
  For its maker trusts in his own creation, when he makes speechless idols. Woe to him who says to a
• 16:42
  wooden thing, awake, to a silent stone, arise. Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
• 16:52
  and there is no breath at all in it. But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
• 17:01
  before him. Amen. And may God bless that reading from his word. And again, unite your hearts in a word
• 17:09
  of prayer. Let us pray. Lord, our gracious God, as we continue in our worship at this time,
• 17:18
  we thank you for your word. And even in the challenges of reading it and trying to understand
• 17:25
  what you are saying to us, we recognize our need of the help of your spirit to be with us.
• 17:31
  As we open up your word, Lord, that you will give us understanding of how it applies to our own lives
• 17:37
  today. When we read of these many woes in this passage, we see so many things that are,
• 17:44
  we think maybe just for Habakkuk's day, but help us to see that your word is applicable
• 17:50
  today as it ever was. And we pray, Lord, that you will come in your power, that you will come in your
• 17:58
  glory, that your glory will fill the whole of this earth, that the world will be covered with the
• 18:05
  knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea. And we thank you that your word goes out
• 18:12
  with power. We thank you for every way that you are reminding us again and again how your word is
• 18:18
  active and powerful to save. In the midst of all the chaos of our world, we thank you that as your
• 18:25
  word is preached, it is powerful. It is able to convict and to convert, as the psalmist says.
• 18:32
  And we pray, Lord, for your power of your spirit and your word to bring life, bring life to people and
• 18:40
  nations and this world as a whole, that we would see your restoring power, that we would see your
• 18:46
  power in bringing peace where there is war and peace where there is tragedy, peace into the hearts of
• 18:53
  this world and in the large-scale things. But also, Lord, when we think of our individual lives and
• 19:01
  our individual circumstances, that you are able to bring peace to us. The psalm that we sang in,
• 19:09
  Psalm 139 reminded us of that knowledge of us. It is so intimate and personal that we cannot sit or
• 19:17
  rise without your knowledge of us. And may we take comfort in that, even as we pray for others,
• 19:24
  that you are able to be with them where they are, that you are able to meet their needs more than we
• 19:30
  can, and that you are able to provide the grace that is always sufficient. And we do pray,
• 19:36
  Lord, in this day for those particularly who mourn and grieve at this time in our own congregation,
• 19:43
  Lord, in our own community. And far and wide, Lord, we pray for the comfort of your spirit to be with us.
• 19:51
  You are the great comforter who comes alongside. And Lord, we remember that in the midst of the world
• 19:59
  in which we live, that there are always these trials that will come our way. That there are always
• 20:04
  these days when we can, like Habakkuk, ask, how long, O Lord? But yet, O Lord, help us to live by faith.
• 20:13
  Help us to trust in you. Help us to lean upon you for all understanding and wisdom, for we do not have
• 20:20
  it of ourselves. And help us to be, O Lord, a people who pray your will be done, even when your will is
• 20:28
  hard and difficult for us to go through or to understand. We thank you, Lord, that in all things
• 20:35
  that you have a plan and a purpose. So, Lord, help us this day to commit ourselves into your care and
• 20:43
  into your keeping, and help us as we commit others to your care and keeping as well, that they would know
• 20:49
  your nearness. We think of servants of the church who have been called home even in this past week,
• 20:57
  and the families who mourn their passing. We remember the ministry of Neil Shaw, the various
• 21:04
  congregations he was ministered of, and so many sermons he preached. So many times we even hear his
• 21:12
  voice presenting the Psalms and marvel at the beauty of it. And we thank you, Lord, for your help,
• 21:19
  and strength to him over the years. And we thank you, Lord, for the great comfort and assurance
• 21:24
  that he has now come to rest in the Lord. We pray your blessing on his family at this time,
• 21:32
  that you will comfort and uphold and strengthen them. We remember, too, O Lord, the family of Reverend
• 21:38
  Ian Morrison. It seems just such a short time he was in ministry, and sometimes it is hard to
• 21:45
  understand these things. And yet, O Lord, we thank you for his love of Christ and his love of people.
• 21:54
  And we pray that even in his short ministry that there will still be a blessing from it,
• 21:59
  that people who heard and knew him, Lord, would be blessed by his ministry and continue to be blessed
• 22:06
  going on. We pray for the congregation there in Oban in their loss and that sense of dismay maybe at this
• 22:14
  time. We pray, Lord, that you will surround them and uphold them and be with them, journey with them
• 22:21
  through these days, Lord, and remind them that you are the Lord who is shepherd to his people.
• 22:27
  So, Lord, we commit families and friends of these men to you. And we pray, Lord, for your comfort over
• 22:34
  us as a people in these days ahead as well, Lord, to know your goodness to us. As we even think of
• 22:40
  the General Assembly starting tomorrow, we pray for the week ahead for all your people who gather there for
• 22:48
  the meetings in these coming days, Lord, we pray that it will be for your glory and your good, that we will
• 22:55
  not get distracted by different things, but that we will keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, that we will look to him
• 23:02
  who is the author, the perfecter of faith. We pray for Bob Ackroyd as he comes to conclude his time as
• 23:10
  moderator and Reverend Carl McLeod as he takes up that role. We pray for them and pray your blessing on
• 23:17
  them and your strength towards them. And we thank you in all things that we have you as our Lord and as
• 23:23
  our God, the one to call upon, the one who is near to help, the one who is able to bless. And we just
• 23:30
  commit ourselves into your hands now, O Lord, that you will draw near to us as we seek to draw near
• 23:35
  to you, as we ask all things confessing our sins anew. May you pardon us, Lord, for all our iniquities
• 23:43
  and cleanse us as we ask it in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, and for his glory. Amen.
• 23:53
  We'll again sing to God's praise, this time in Psalm 135 in the Scottish Psalter.
• 24:00
  Page 425.
• 24:08
  We'll sing from verse 1 to verse 6.
• 24:16
  Psalm 135, page 425 at verse 1.
• 24:20
  Praise ye the Lord, the Lord's name praise his servants. Praise ye God, who stand in God's house
• 24:26
  and still
• 24:29
  Lord's name praise his servants.
• 24:31
  In the courts of our God, make abode. We'll sing from verse 1 to 6 to God's praise.
• 24:32
  Praise ye the Lord, the Lord's name praise his servants. Praise ye God, who stand in God's house,
• 24:55
  in the courts of our God, make abode. Praise ye the Lord, for he is good, and to him praise his servants sing.
• 25:18
  Sing praises to his King, because it is a pleasant thing.
• 25:33
  For Jacob to himself the Lord, give choose of his good pleasure,
• 25:47
  and he hath chosen Israel for his peculiar pleasure.
• 26:01
  Because I know as you in thee, the Lord is very great,
• 26:17
  and that our Lord above all gods in glory hath his seat.
• 26:31
  What thing so ever pleased the Lord, but in the heaven did he,
• 26:47
  and in the earth, the seas and all the places he had been.
• 27:01
  Amen.
• 27:02
  Amen.
• 27:03
  Amen.
• 27:04
  Amen.
• 27:05
  Amen.
• 27:06
  Amen.
• 27:07
  Amen.
• 27:08
  Well, we can turn back to our reading in Habakkuk chapter 2, and we're going to look at this
• 27:13
  section from verse 6 down to verse 20.
• 27:17
  We come to our third part of our study in this book of Habakkuk, where we've been looking at
• 27:24
  different verses that we find throughout it that we can really call the nuggets of gold
• 27:31
  that you find in the midst of a challenging day for Habakkuk, and even in the midst of our own day,
• 27:37
  we see the relevance of these nuggets today as well.
• 27:41
  And so far, we've looked at two different verses as we found them.
• 27:46
  First of all, in chapter 1, we were looking at how, excuse me, we see God has a plan,
• 27:56
  even as Habakkuk was crying out, how long, O Lord, will you not hear me?
• 28:04
  Yet we see in verse 5 where he says, for I am doing a work in your days that you would
• 28:09
  not believe if told.
• 28:11
  We saw how there was this mysterious way that God was working, ways that we could not understand,
• 28:17
  even if he was to tell us.
• 28:19
  And Habakkuk was seeing this in his own day.
• 28:21
  He was going to see how God was going to work in a way that would seem to go completely
• 28:26
  against the way Habakkuk would want it to work, or the way the people would want it to
• 28:31
  work.
• 28:31
  And yet God is saying, I have a work.
• 28:35
  And this work was to bring a nation upon them, a nation of wicked people, the Chaldeans, or
• 28:42
  the Babylonians, as they're also known, a nation that was against God and against God's people,
• 28:48
  and who would bring much devastation.
• 28:50
  And yet how God was bringing them upon them with a purpose to judge and to restore.
• 28:57
  So then last week we were looking at, well, how are the people to live in those days and
• 29:04
  at that time when things were so difficult?
• 29:08
  Well, in the midst of the attack they were going to come under, they were to be a people
• 29:14
  who were to live by faith, as we saw in verse 4 of chapter 2.
• 29:19
  But the righteous shall live by his faith.
• 29:24
  Live by faith, waiting and watching for God in the midst of everything that was happening,
• 29:32
  and with a warning of a choice of how to live, either like the puffed up, as it says in verse
• 29:37
  4, with no thought of God, or to live by faith.
• 29:43
  Well, today we come into another section here as Habakkuk and God are interacting with one
• 29:51
  another.
• 29:53
  And it's this section where you see this passage full of woes.
• 29:59
  And what makes a difference in our lives when we are to live by faith?
• 30:04
  When we think of the mysterious providence of God in different ways of life, what gives
• 30:11
  us hope in the midst of it all?
• 30:14
  Well, we come to this nugget that we're going to look at today, which is verse 14 of chapter
• 30:21
  2.
• 30:22
  For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover
• 30:29
  the sea.
• 30:31
  This is the nugget that we're looking at today.
• 30:33
  This is the hope that we can have in the midst of all the chaos that's around us.
• 30:39
  It wasn't just a hope for Habakkuk and his day.
• 30:43
  It's a hope for ourselves today as well.
• 30:47
  That the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover
• 30:52
  the sea.
• 30:54
  But in order to see the wonder of this hope, we need to see it in the midst of the darkness
• 31:01
  of the day.
• 31:03
  And what we see is Habakkuk here telling us of these woes.
• 31:10
  Woe to him, it says throughout this section.
• 31:14
  And there's five of these woes.
• 31:20
  Imagine reading your own obituary.
• 31:24
  You say to yourself, that's not possible.
• 31:27
  In order to have an obituary, the person must have passed away.
• 31:32
  So how is it possible to read your own?
• 31:36
  Well, in 1867, it's said that the Swedish chemist, Alfred Noble, he awoke one morning,
• 31:45
  and as he opened up the newspaper, there he saw his own obituary.
• 31:50
  It's obviously shocked to see it.
• 31:53
  And as he read it, it just shook him.
• 31:56
  It said, Alfred Noble, the inventor of dynamite, who died yesterday, devised a way for more people
• 32:03
  to be killed in a war than ever before.
• 32:06
  And he died a rich man.
• 32:10
  There's different versions of maybe what was said.
• 32:13
  But it shook him.
• 32:16
  And what had happened was the newspaper reporter had made a mistake.
• 32:20
  It was Alfred's older brother who had passed away.
• 32:25
  But the reporter had heard it was Alfred, and he knew about Alfred.
• 32:29
  He was famous for the invention of dynamite.
• 32:32
  He'd obviously made a lot of money out of it.
• 32:34
  And this was the obituary that was written for him.
• 32:38
  And it got Alfred to think, is this the way that he would want to be remembered?
• 32:43
  Alfred, as developing a means of killing people and making a lot of money out of it.
• 32:53
  And so he sought to do good in the world.
• 32:56
  And he set up what is known as the Nobel Peace Prize,
• 33:00
  which gave a prize to people who were able to come up with ways of helping people
• 33:05
  instead of causing chaos and destruction.
• 33:09
  Well, what does an obituary have to do with what we're looking at today?
• 33:16
  Well, what you see as you go through this section, verse 6 down to verse 20,
• 33:22
  is this word, woe.
• 33:24
  And these five woes that are spoken of here,
• 33:28
  the word woe can also be translated alas.
• 33:33
  And what the word is used for so often is speaking of someone who is dead.
• 33:43
  For example, in 1 Kings chapter 13 and verse 30,
• 33:49
  there there is an account of a man of God who died.
• 33:55
  And a friend came to bury him.
• 33:58
  And it says in verse 30,
• 34:00
  he laid the body in his own grave.
• 34:03
  And they mourned over him saying,
• 34:05
  alas, my brother.
• 34:08
  So that is the same word as we have here.
• 34:11
  Alas and woe are the same word.
• 34:13
  And the same word that we have here.
• 34:15
  Alas, my brother, his brother who had died.
• 34:19
  And so woe would normally be used in that sense of someone who had died.
• 34:24
  But the prophets like Habakkuk and others,
• 34:28
  they used these words, woe or alas,
• 34:32
  speaking to people who were alive.
• 34:35
  But because of their sin,
• 34:38
  because of the way that they were living their lives,
• 34:41
  as one writer says,
• 34:43
  they are already as good as dead
• 34:45
  because God has given his verdict against them.
• 34:49
  And so as we read these woes in this passage,
• 34:55
  yes, it is speaking to people who are alive,
• 34:58
  but it's almost like an obituary.
• 35:02
  Woe to you in the midst of all that you have done.
• 35:06
  You have died in your sin.
• 35:10
  And it reminds us of the way Paul writes to the church
• 35:14
  at Ephesus in Ephesians chapter 2.
• 35:19
  Look at the way he speaks to the people there.
• 35:22
  It's like an obituary.
• 35:23
  You were dead in the trespasses and sins.
• 35:28
  You are dead in your trespasses and sins.
• 35:32
  You are dead without Christ.
• 35:35
  And so there is an obituary for us.
• 35:37
  But as Paul goes on to say,
• 35:42
  but God, being rich and mercy,
• 35:44
  because of the great love with which he loved us,
• 35:46
  even when we were dead in our trespasses,
• 35:49
  made us alive together with Christ.
• 35:51
  By grace you have been saved.
• 35:55
  And so in this passage,
• 35:56
  what we're going to see is these woes,
• 35:59
  the woes of condemnation.
• 36:03
  But in the midst of that,
• 36:04
  we're going to see a confirmation.
• 36:08
  Confirmation that God is one who still gives hope.
• 36:13
  And then thirdly,
• 36:14
  and just very briefly at the end,
• 36:15
  we'll see the comfort that that gives.
• 36:20
  And so the first thing we want to see is,
• 36:23
  as we think of the wonder of that verse 14,
• 36:25
  the earth being filled with the knowledge
• 36:27
  of the glory of the Lord
• 36:29
  as the waters covers the sea,
• 36:31
  we think first of the condemnation
• 36:33
  and these woes.
• 36:35
  Because in order to see the beauty of the gospel,
• 36:38
  we have to see the darkness of sin.
• 36:43
  And as we've noted already in Habakkuk's day,
• 36:46
  it was a dark time.
• 36:49
  That is where Habakkuk's cry came from in verse two.
• 36:54
  O Lord, how long shall I cry for help
• 36:57
  and you will not hear?
• 36:59
  Or cry to you violence
• 37:00
  and you will not save?
• 37:02
  There was devastation around him.
• 37:05
  Devastation nationally and internationally
• 37:09
  as we've seen.
• 37:10
  That is where the cry for help came from.
• 37:14
  And what makes ourselves feel a sense of injustice today?
• 37:23
  What makes you feel a sense of anger
• 37:27
  and long for God to change things?
• 37:31
  What makes you come to God with that cry of Habakkuk?
• 37:35
  How long will I cry for help?
• 37:38
  And you will not hear.
• 37:39
  It's likely that the things that make us angry
• 37:44
  and feel a sense of injustice
• 37:45
  are the very things that Habakkuk is telling us of here
• 37:50
  in these five woes.
• 37:54
  And what we are reading here is these woes,
• 37:58
  this word of condemnation,
• 38:00
  that we are dead in our sin,
• 38:02
  but that God is going to deal with these sins
• 38:06
  and the sinners behind them.
• 38:09
  The five ways,
• 38:11
  the five ways of condemnation that will come.
• 38:15
  It's about seeing the judgment of God
• 38:18
  on those who feel confident in their ways,
• 38:22
  confident in their sin,
• 38:23
  like the Babylonians would be,
• 38:26
  like other nations in the Old Testament
• 38:29
  who you read of,
• 38:30
  the Assyrians who came
• 38:31
  and tried to destroy God's people.
• 38:34
  But God is saying,
• 38:36
  I am at work,
• 38:37
  as we have seen earlier in chapter one,
• 38:40
  in ways that you would not believe
• 38:42
  if I was to tell you
• 38:44
  that God is still at work.
• 38:48
  And the condemnations that we see here
• 38:51
  are just like the ones
• 38:53
  that we can think of today
• 38:54
  in our own world.
• 38:56
  We think of the things that make us angry,
• 38:58
  the sin that we see around us,
• 39:01
  and we just want God to take action
• 39:03
  while he is saying,
• 39:04
  I will.
• 39:08
  Unless these people change their ways,
• 39:11
  then they are dead
• 39:11
  in their trespasses and sins.
• 39:14
  And what do you see?
• 39:15
  We see these five woes,
• 39:17
  and I just want to touch on them
• 39:18
  just briefly so we see what they are.
• 39:21
  In Habakkuk 2, verse 6 to 8,
• 39:24
  Woe to him who heaps up
• 39:26
  what is not his own.
• 39:29
  There's this woe against aggression.
• 39:34
  Habakkuk saw it in his day
• 39:36
  with all these nations invading
• 39:39
  and taking what was not their own.
• 39:43
  And they did it in a devastating way.
• 39:46
  And we think of the world
• 39:48
  in which we live today.
• 39:49
  And you think of the way people
• 39:52
  live their lives with no thought of God
• 39:55
  and who just take what is not their own
• 39:59
  and by any means.
• 40:02
  You see it in so many different ways,
• 40:05
  whether it's through times of war
• 40:07
  and invasion,
• 40:09
  or see it in just corporate greed.
• 40:12
  You see it in people,
• 40:14
  what we call modern-day slavery.
• 40:17
  We think slavery is something in the past.
• 40:19
  It's not.
• 40:20
  It is still there today.
• 40:22
  People who are modern-day slaves,
• 40:24
  they've paid pennies or nothing at all,
• 40:28
  led captive,
• 40:29
  away from families,
• 40:31
  away from friends,
• 40:32
  and put to use.
• 40:33
  Why?
• 40:34
  Because of people's way of aggression.
• 40:38
  People who want to heap up
• 40:39
  what is not their own.
• 40:42
  But God is saying,
• 40:43
  Woe to them.
• 40:45
  I will deal with them.
• 40:47
  Then in verse 9 to verse 11,
• 40:52
  Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house
• 40:56
  to set his nest on high.
• 40:59
  There is this woe against covetousness.
• 41:02
  People who just want to get richer.
• 41:05
  And again, just forget about anybody else.
• 41:08
  Just look after number one.
• 41:10
  No care or concern for others.
• 41:13
  It's just,
• 41:14
  How much can I amass in this world?
• 41:18
  Whether it's houses or cars or money,
• 41:21
  whatever it is.
• 41:23
  Well, God is saying,
• 41:25
  Woe.
• 41:26
  Woe to him who gets evil gain
• 41:28
  for his house to set his nest on high.
• 41:32
  Again, there's no thought for God.
• 41:35
  Verse 12 to verse 14.
• 41:40
  Woe to him who builds a town with blood
• 41:43
  and founds a city on iniquity.
• 41:47
  Again, you see here just this wicked way,
• 41:53
  this way of violence,
• 41:54
  this way of bloodshed,
• 41:56
  this way of gain
• 41:57
  by this acts of war and terror.
• 42:00
  The things that Habakkuk saw on his day
• 42:03
  that we see in our own day as well.
• 42:06
  And we can cry like Habakkuk,
• 42:08
  How long, O Lord?
• 42:09
  How long are you going to allow this to go on?
• 42:13
  But again, it's by living by faith
• 42:16
  in the God who works in mysterious ways
• 42:19
  that we see they will be judged.
• 42:22
  Woe to him who builds a town with blood.
• 42:27
  The wickedness of man's heart will be judged.
• 42:30
  They are as good as dead
• 42:32
  unless they repent and turn.
• 42:36
  And you see in verse 15 to verse 17,
• 42:40
  Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink.
• 42:46
  You pour out your wrath and make them drunk
• 42:49
  in order to gaze at their nakedness.
• 42:52
  Again, there's woe against humanity.
• 42:56
  The way people deal with other people.
• 43:00
  It's prevalent in Habakkuk's day
• 43:02
  and you think of it in our own day as well.
• 43:05
  You think of human trafficking.
• 43:08
  You think of people being put into lives
• 43:10
  of prostitution.
• 43:12
  You think of all these wicked things
• 43:14
  in our world where life is not precious.
• 43:19
  Where people are just a commodity to be used.
• 43:22
  But God is saying,
• 43:25
  Woe.
• 43:26
  Woe to them.
• 43:28
  I will not allow this to go undealt with.
• 43:31
  The Lord will deal with it.
• 43:36
  And then the fifth one.
• 43:38
  And you see in verse 19,
• 43:41
  Woe to him who says to a wooden thing,
• 43:44
  Awake!
• 43:45
  To a silent stone,
• 43:47
  Arise!
• 43:48
  Woe to idolatry!
• 43:49
  Woe to those who worship anything
• 43:52
  apart from God!
• 43:55
  Now you think of the first four
• 43:57
  and you say,
• 43:58
  Well, I don't fall into that category.
• 44:00
  That's not something
• 44:02
  that my heart is inclined to.
• 44:06
  But you can almost guarantee
• 44:07
  that we all fall into the trap
• 44:10
  of idolatry in different ways.
• 44:14
  Idols were common in Habakkuk's day.
• 44:16
  Every nation had their gods
• 44:19
  made of silver and gold
• 44:22
  and wood and stone and all sorts.
• 44:25
  And they were worshipped
• 44:26
  in the place of God.
• 44:29
  You think of when Moses
• 44:31
  was receiving the Ten Commandments
• 44:34
  on Mount Sinai.
• 44:36
  And the people were saying,
• 44:37
  Where is Moses?
• 44:38
  He's left us.
• 44:39
  He's gone.
• 44:40
  Let us make an idol to worship.
• 44:42
  And they made a golden calf.
• 44:43
  How quickly they changed.
• 44:47
  And how easy it is for us
• 44:48
  to put something
• 44:49
  in the place of God.
• 44:53
  Idolatry is worshipping
• 44:55
  or being more devoted
• 44:56
  to anything other than God,
• 44:58
  as someone put it.
• 45:01
  And we can have to guard
• 45:03
  our hearts against this.
• 45:04
  John Calvin once said,
• 45:08
  The human heart
• 45:09
  is a perpetual idol factory.
• 45:13
  We are making idols all the time.
• 45:16
  Things that we put
• 45:16
  in the place of God
• 45:18
  and worship more than God.
• 45:21
  But the Lord says,
• 45:23
  Woe.
• 45:26
  Now, Habakkuk, in his day,
• 45:29
  as the people were hearing this,
• 45:31
  they should have stopped
• 45:32
  in their tracks
• 45:33
  and started to think,
• 45:36
  What does this mean for me?
• 45:39
  And the same is true
• 45:41
  for ourselves as well.
• 45:44
  It should make us stop
• 45:45
  in our tracks
• 45:46
  and look at the world
• 45:47
  in which we live,
• 45:49
  but also look in our own hearts
• 45:51
  and ask,
• 45:52
  Are we part of the problem here?
• 45:55
  Is my heart away from God?
• 45:58
  Am I not trusting in God?
• 46:01
  As we saw the last time
• 46:03
  in chapter 2 there
• 46:05
  when we were thinking
• 46:06
  of the righteous
• 46:07
  shall live by faith.
• 46:08
  The other way was
• 46:09
  to go away from God
• 46:10
  and just to live
• 46:11
  puffed up in self.
• 46:15
  Is that the way
• 46:16
  that we are living?
• 46:18
  We have to guard ourselves
• 46:20
  because there is condemnation.
• 46:23
  There is death
• 46:25
  if we continue in sin.
• 46:28
  But what of hope then?
• 46:33
  Where does hope come
• 46:34
  in the midst of these woes?
• 46:37
  Well, that's the nugget
• 46:39
  that we see in verse 14.
• 46:42
  And that's the wonder
• 46:43
  of God to us,
• 46:45
  as his people.
• 46:46
  For the earth will be filled
• 46:47
  with the knowledge
• 46:48
  of the glory of the Lord
• 46:49
  as the waters cover the sea.
• 46:52
  In all that is wrong
• 46:55
  in the world,
• 46:57
  we are reminded here
• 46:58
  that God's great purpose
• 46:59
  is to make his glory known
• 47:02
  throughout the whole of creation.
• 47:06
  And we have to see this verse
• 47:08
  not just as one stand-alone verse here,
• 47:11
  but a confirmation
• 47:12
  of God's redemptive work
• 47:15
  throughout the Scriptures.
• 47:17
  because it's not the only place
• 47:19
  we read these words
• 47:21
  or words very similar to it.
• 47:26
  Numbers 14, verse 21.
• 47:29
  But truly, as I live,
• 47:31
  and as all the earth
• 47:32
  shall be filled
• 47:33
  with the glory of the Lord.
• 47:36
  God speaking there
• 47:38
  to his people.
• 47:40
  Again, there's the people
• 47:41
  in Moses' day
• 47:43
  who were in the wilderness
• 47:43
  and they were grumbling
• 47:45
  against God.
• 47:47
  They were moaning at him
• 47:48
  for taking them
• 47:48
  out of Egypt
• 47:50
  and into this wilderness
• 47:51
  where they saw it
• 47:52
  in their own eyes
• 47:52
  as suffering,
• 47:54
  almost like Habakkuk's cry,
• 47:56
  How long are we going
• 47:57
  to be here, Lord?
• 47:59
  But God is reminding them,
• 48:01
  I've got a purpose.
• 48:02
  I am taking you
• 48:03
  to a better place.
• 48:04
  I am leading you
• 48:05
  along the way.
• 48:06
  And he gives them
• 48:07
  this assurance
• 48:07
  as the earth shall be filled
• 48:09
  with the glory of the Lord.
• 48:13
  And then later on
• 48:14
  in Isaiah,
• 48:15
  Isaiah 11,
• 48:16
  verse 1 and 2,
• 48:17
  there it says,
• 48:18
  There shall come forth
• 48:19
  a shoot from the stump
• 48:21
  of Jesse,
• 48:22
  and a branch from whose root
• 48:23
  shall bear fruit,
• 48:24
  and the Spirit of the Lord
• 48:26
  shall rest upon him,
• 48:27
  the Spirit of wisdom
• 48:29
  and understanding.
• 48:32
  And then later in verse 9,
• 48:33
  it says,
• 48:34
  They shall not hurt
• 48:35
  or destroy
• 48:36
  in all my holy mountain,
• 48:38
  for the earth
• 48:38
  shall be full
• 48:39
  of the knowledge
• 48:40
  of the Lord
• 48:40
  as the waters
• 48:41
  cover the sea.
• 48:43
  So again,
• 48:44
  Isaiah is speaking there
• 48:46
  of the wonder of this,
• 48:48
  the wonder of God
• 48:49
  and his glory.
• 48:50
  And who is Isaiah
• 48:51
  speaking about there
• 48:52
  in verse 1 and 2?
• 48:53
  There shall come forth
• 48:55
  a shoot from the stump
• 48:56
  of Jesse.
• 48:57
  He is speaking about
• 48:58
  the Messiah,
• 48:59
  the Lord Jesus,
• 49:00
  who is coming
• 49:01
  into this world.
• 49:03
  The only way
• 49:04
  our condemnation
• 49:05
  could be dealt with
• 49:07
  was for him
• 49:09
  to take it for us.
• 49:11
  As the hymn writer says,
• 49:14
  In man of sorrows,
• 49:15
  bearing shame
• 49:16
  and scoffing rude,
• 49:18
  in my place
• 49:19
  condemned,
• 49:20
  he stood,
• 49:21
  sealed my pardon
• 49:22
  with his blood.
• 49:24
  Hallelujah!
• 49:25
  What a Savior!
• 49:28
  So there is woe,
• 49:29
  there is death,
• 49:30
  there is condemnation,
• 49:31
  but then the glory
• 49:33
  of the Lord
• 49:33
  that will fill the earth
• 49:35
  is Christ himself.
• 49:37
  in my place
• 49:39
  condemned,
• 49:41
  he stood.
• 49:43
  And the earth
• 49:44
  will be filled
• 49:44
  with the knowledge
• 49:45
  of the glory
• 49:46
  of the Lord.
• 49:48
  Isn't it a marvelous
• 49:49
  thought that
• 49:50
  when you think of
• 49:51
  just what that means
• 49:52
  for us,
• 49:53
  Psalm 19 says,
• 49:55
  The heavens declare
• 49:56
  the glory of God.
• 49:58
  But there is so much more.
• 50:01
  The glory of God
• 50:02
  is so linked
• 50:03
  with the presence
• 50:04
  of God.
• 50:07
  And God's sending
• 50:08
  his word out
• 50:09
  across the lands,
• 50:11
  across the world,
• 50:12
  that it might bring
• 50:13
  healing to nations.
• 50:17
  And the wonder
• 50:18
  of how God did it.
• 50:21
  As Jesus himself
• 50:23
  came into this world
• 50:24
  in John 1, 14,
• 50:26
  what does it say there?
• 50:27
  The word became flesh
• 50:29
  and dwelt among us,
• 50:30
  and we have seen
• 50:31
  his glory.
• 50:32
  Glory as the only son
• 50:34
  from the Father,
• 50:35
  full of grace
• 50:36
  and truth.
• 50:37
  We have seen
• 50:38
  his glory.
• 50:41
  The glory of God
• 50:42
  filling
• 50:43
  the world
• 50:45
  with the knowledge
• 50:46
  of God.
• 50:49
  And Habakkuk
• 50:50
  was given a message
• 50:51
  for his people
• 50:52
  in those days,
• 50:53
  and it's the same
• 50:54
  in our ministry
• 50:54
  today as well,
• 50:56
  to make the glory
• 50:57
  of God known
• 50:58
  to the people
• 50:59
  around us.
• 51:00
  To know it ourselves
• 51:01
  first and foremost.
• 51:04
  And his word
• 51:05
  gives us
• 51:06
  this confirmation.
• 51:09
  That the glory
• 51:10
  of the Lord
• 51:11
  will fill
• 51:11
  this world
• 51:13
  as the waters
• 51:13
  cover the sea.
• 51:16
  There's a depth
• 51:16
  and a breadth
• 51:18
  to it.
• 51:20
  The knowledge
• 51:21
  of the glory
• 51:22
  of the Lord.
• 51:25
  We don't know
• 51:26
  but just a taste
• 51:27
  of it just now.
• 51:28
  but God
• 51:30
  is filling
• 51:30
  the world
• 51:31
  with more
• 51:32
  and more
• 51:32
  of it.
• 51:35
  It's amazing
• 51:36
  when you think
• 51:36
  of this image
• 51:38
  of just the whole
• 51:39
  world
• 51:39
  being filled
• 51:40
  with the glory
• 51:41
  of God.
• 51:44
  I was over
• 51:44
  on the west side
• 51:45
  on Thursday evening
• 51:46
  and as I was
• 51:48
  going over the mirror
• 51:49
  you could see
• 51:49
  that there was
• 51:50
  a thick mist,
• 51:52
  a thick fog
• 51:52
  on the west side.
• 51:54
  You could see it
• 51:54
  and then all of a sudden
• 51:55
  you're coming into it.
• 51:56
  And I was over there
• 51:58
  for a time outside
• 51:59
  and there was no
• 52:01
  getting away from it.
• 52:02
  It just surrounds you.
• 52:03
  It's all around you.
• 52:05
  And you can almost see it
• 52:06
  just rising on the ground
• 52:07
  and off the lochs.
• 52:10
  And you think just
• 52:11
  of that image
• 52:12
  in a sense
• 52:13
  of the whole world
• 52:15
  being filled
• 52:16
  with the glory,
• 52:17
  the knowledge
• 52:17
  of the glory of God.
• 52:19
  The Spirit of God
• 52:20
  moving
• 52:21
  throughout this world.
• 52:23
  The Spirit of God
• 52:24
  bringing life
• 52:25
  to people
• 52:26
  who are dead
• 52:26
  in a way
• 52:28
  that we're surrounded
• 52:29
  by this glory.
• 52:30
  There's no getting away
• 52:31
  from this glory.
• 52:32
  Romans,
• 52:33
  as Paul writes
• 52:34
  and he speaks
• 52:34
  of being left
• 52:36
  without excuse
• 52:37
  because the glory
• 52:40
  of God
• 52:40
  is seen
• 52:41
  all around us.
• 52:44
  No hiding place.
• 52:49
  It's awesome
• 52:50
  to behold that.
• 52:52
  That God
• 52:53
  is speaking
• 52:54
  to us.
• 52:56
  As we are dead
• 52:57
  in our trespasses
• 52:58
  and sins
• 52:59
  that we might be alive.
• 53:03
  How blessed
• 53:04
  Habakkuk was
• 53:05
  to have these nuggets
• 53:07
  of gold
• 53:08
  in the midst
• 53:09
  of everything going on.
• 53:10
  And how blessed
• 53:11
  we are
• 53:12
  that there is
• 53:13
  God's mysterious ways
• 53:15
  that we are to live
• 53:17
  by faith
• 53:17
  and that there is hope
• 53:19
  that the earth
• 53:21
  will be filled
• 53:22
  with the knowledge
• 53:22
  of the glory
• 53:23
  of the Lord.
• 53:26
  Again,
• 53:26
  Paul writing
• 53:27
  to the Corinthians
• 53:28
  says this,
• 53:29
  For God who said,
• 53:31
  Let light shine
• 53:32
  out of darkness
• 53:33
  has shone
• 53:33
  in our hearts
• 53:34
  to give the light
• 53:35
  of the knowledge
• 53:36
  of the glory
• 53:37
  of God
• 53:38
  in the face
• 53:39
  of Jesus Christ.
• 53:42
  He has made
• 53:43
  his glory known
• 53:44
  to us
• 53:44
  in the face
• 53:46
  of Jesus Christ.
• 53:49
  What a precious
• 53:50
  Savior we have.
• 53:53
  John Newton
• 53:54
  in his old age
• 53:56
  he loved his Savior
• 53:58
  and he loved
• 53:59
  to preach
• 54:00
  about his Savior.
• 54:02
  And he was
• 54:03
  old and frail
• 54:05
  and going blind
• 54:06
  but he still
• 54:07
  loved to preach.
• 54:08
  But he had an assistant
• 54:09
  who would come up
• 54:10
  with him
• 54:11
  to support him
• 54:13
  and to help him.
• 54:14
  And as he was
• 54:15
  preaching
• 54:16
  one Lord's Day
• 54:17
  he said
• 54:18
  to the congregation
• 54:20
  Jesus Christ
• 54:21
  is precious.
• 54:24
  And then he
• 54:24
  repeated it again
• 54:25
  Jesus Christ
• 54:27
  is precious.
• 54:29
  And the man
• 54:31
  who was with him
• 54:31
  supporting him
• 54:32
  he said
• 54:33
  you've already
• 54:33
  said that
• 54:34
  thinking he was
• 54:35
  just losing
• 54:36
  his way.
• 54:38
  And he said
• 54:38
  yes
• 54:39
  I've said it twice
• 54:40
  and I'm going
• 54:41
  to say it again
• 54:42
  and he lifted
• 54:43
  up his voice
• 54:43
  and bellowed out
• 54:45
  as loud as he could
• 54:46
  Jesus Christ
• 54:47
  is precious.
• 54:51
  That is the knowledge
• 54:52
  of the glory
• 54:53
  of God
• 54:54
  that Jesus Christ
• 54:56
  is precious.
• 54:59
  And is he precious
• 55:00
  to you?
• 55:03
  You when you realize
• 55:04
  that your obituary
• 55:06
  is here before you.
• 55:08
  You when you think
• 55:09
  you are dead
• 55:10
  in your trespasses
• 55:11
  and sins
• 55:12
  but by the grace
• 55:15
  of God
• 55:15
  you can be made
• 55:17
  alive.
• 55:20
  And isn't there
• 55:21
  comfort
• 55:22
  in that?
• 55:24
  When we think
• 55:25
  of the confirmation
• 55:26
  that Habakkuk
• 55:27
  has in the midst
• 55:28
  of all of the woes
• 55:30
  that there is
• 55:31
  this confirmation
• 55:32
  that the earth
• 55:33
  will be filled
• 55:34
  with the knowledge
• 55:35
  of the glory
• 55:36
  of God.
• 55:37
  Habakkuk
• 55:40
  writes
• 55:41
  with challenges
• 55:42
  to the people
• 55:43
  but these nuggets
• 55:45
  they give comfort.
• 55:48
  When you think
• 55:49
  of sorrow
• 55:50
  and sadness
• 55:51
  when you think
• 55:52
  of these woes
• 55:53
  what better blessing
• 55:55
  than to know
• 55:56
  the great comfort
• 55:58
  and comforter
• 55:59
  that is God
• 56:00
  and his word.
• 56:02
  and when we think
• 56:05
  of what his word
• 56:06
  says
• 56:06
  when we think
• 56:08
  of the condemnation
• 56:09
  that we are under
• 56:11
  ourselves
• 56:11
  because of sin
• 56:13
  what does the glory
• 56:15
  of God
• 56:15
  mean for us?
• 56:18
  I want to finish
• 56:19
  with these words
• 56:20
  of Romans 8.
• 56:22
  What does it say
• 56:23
  in verse 1?
• 56:24
  There is therefore
• 56:26
  now
• 56:27
  no condemnation
• 56:29
  for those
• 56:31
  who are in
• 56:32
  Christ Jesus.
• 56:34
  There is no
• 56:36
  condemnation
• 56:37
  when you are
• 56:38
  in Christ Jesus.
• 56:40
  The woe
• 56:41
  has been dealt
• 56:43
  with
• 56:43
  because in my
• 56:45
  place
• 56:46
  condemned
• 56:47
  he stood.
• 56:50
  And what does
• 56:50
  Romans 8
• 56:51
  go on
• 56:52
  to conclude
• 56:53
  with?
• 56:54
  From verse 35
• 56:55
  it says
• 56:56
  who shall
• 56:57
  separate us
• 56:58
  from the love
• 56:59
  of Christ?
• 57:01
  Shall
• 57:01
  tribulation
• 57:02
  or distress
• 57:03
  or persecution
• 57:05
  or famine
• 57:06
  or nakedness
• 57:08
  or danger
• 57:08
  or sword?
• 57:10
  All of these
• 57:10
  things that we see
• 57:11
  in the woes
• 57:12
  of this passage
• 57:13
  as it is written
• 57:15
  for your sake
• 57:17
  we are being
• 57:17
  killed
• 57:18
  all the day
• 57:19
  long.
• 57:20
  We are regarded
• 57:20
  as sheep
• 57:21
  to be slaughtered.
• 57:23
  No
• 57:23
  in all
• 57:24
  these things
• 57:25
  we are more
• 57:26
  than conquerors
• 57:27
  through him
• 57:27
  who loved us.
• 57:29
  For I am sure
• 57:30
  that neither
• 57:30
  death
• 57:31
  nor life
• 57:32
  nor angels
• 57:33
  nor rulers
• 57:34
  nor things
• 57:34
  present
• 57:35
  nor things
• 57:35
  to come
• 57:36
  nor powers
• 57:37
  nor height
• 57:38
  nor depth
• 57:38
  nor anything
• 57:40
  else in all
• 57:41
  creation
• 57:41
  will be able
• 57:42
  to separate us
• 57:43
  from the love
• 57:44
  of God
• 57:45
  in Christ
• 57:46
  Jesus
• 57:46
  our Lord.
• 57:48
  Nothing
• 57:49
  can separate
• 57:50
  us
• 57:51
  when we know
• 57:53
  that there is
• 57:53
  no condemnation
• 57:55
  when we are
• 57:56
  in Christ
• 57:57
  Jesus.
• 57:59
  Christ
• 58:00
  Jesus
• 58:00
  is a
• 58:01
  fulfillment
• 58:02
  of this
• 58:03
  verse.
• 58:05
  The earth
• 58:06
  will be filled
• 58:06
  with the knowledge
• 58:07
  of the glory
• 58:08
  of the Lord
• 58:09
  as the waters
• 58:10
  covered
• 58:11
  the sea.
• 58:13
  The glory
• 58:13
  that has been
• 58:14
  made known
• 58:15
  in the face
• 58:16
  of Jesus
• 58:17
  Christ.
• 58:19
  We have
• 58:20
  these woes
• 58:22
  these words
• 58:23
  of death
• 58:24
  really
• 58:24
  to make us
• 58:26
  see the wonder
• 58:27
  and the beauty
• 58:29
  of the gospel
• 58:30
  to see the
• 58:31
  darkness
• 58:32
  of sin
• 58:33
  and to see
• 58:34
  the only way
• 58:35
  out
• 58:35
  is to know
• 58:36
  the glory
• 58:37
  of the Lord
• 58:39
  and the glory
• 58:40
  that is
• 58:41
  Jesus Christ
• 58:43
  a precious
• 58:45
  Savior.
• 58:46
  Do you
• 58:47
  know
• 58:47
  this
• 58:48
  comfort?
• 58:50
  Well come
• 58:51
  and put
• 58:52
  your trust
• 58:52
  in him.
• 58:55
  Be in
• 58:55
  Christ
• 58:56
  Jesus
• 58:56
  because then
• 58:58
  there is
• 58:59
  no
• 58:59
  condemnation.
• 59:01
  Let us
• 59:01
  pray.
• 59:03
  Our
• 59:04
  Father in
• 59:05
  heaven
• 59:05
  we do
• 59:06
  praise you
• 59:06
  for your
• 59:07
  wonders
• 59:08
  of your
• 59:09
  grace
• 59:09
  and the
• 59:09
  wonder
• 59:10
  of your
• 59:10
  word
• 59:11
  and your
• 59:12
  glory
• 59:12
  that goes
• 59:12
  throughout
• 59:13
  the world
• 59:14
  and we
• 59:15
  pray
• 59:15
  Lord
• 59:15
  to know
• 59:15
  more
• 59:16
  of it
• 59:16
  that we
• 59:16
  will
• 59:17
  see
• 59:17
  your
• 59:17
  glory
• 59:18
  and
• 59:18
  know
• 59:19
  the
• 59:19
  wonder
• 59:19
  of
• 59:19
  salvation
• 59:20
  through
• 59:21
  our
• 59:21
  Lord
• 59:22
  Jesus
• 59:22
  Christ
• 59:23
  and faith
• 59:24
  in him.
• 59:25
  We ask it
• 59:25
  Lord
• 59:26
  confessing
• 59:26
  our sins
• 59:27
  before you
• 59:35
  that we
• 59:36
  might not
• 59:36
  be condemned
• 59:37
  but know
• 59:38
  the wonder
• 59:39
  of no
• 59:40
  condemnation
• 59:40
  for those
• 59:42
  who are
• 59:42
  in Christ
• 59:43
  Jesus
• 59:43
  as we
• 59:44
  ask it
• 59:44
  in his
• 59:45
  name.
• 59:45
  Amen.
• 59:49
  We'll
• 59:49
  conclude by
• 59:50
  singing
• 59:51
  to God's
• 59:51
  praise in
• 59:52
  Psalm 57
• 59:53
  Psalm 57
• 1:00:01
  from
• 1:00:01
  verse 9
• 1:00:02
  down
• 1:00:02
  to the
• 1:00:03
  end.
• 1:00:04
  Among
• 1:00:04
  the
• 1:00:05
  nations
• 1:00:05
  Lord
• 1:00:05
  to you
• 1:00:06
  I will
• 1:00:06
  give
• 1:00:06
  praise
• 1:00:07
  among
• 1:00:07
  the
• 1:00:08
  peoples
• 1:00:08
  of
• 1:00:09
  the
• 1:00:09
  earth
• 1:00:09
  my
• 1:00:10
  songs
• 1:00:10
  of
• 1:00:11
  you
• 1:00:11
  I'll
• 1:00:12
  raise
• 1:00:12
  great
• 1:00:13
  is
• 1:00:14
  your
• 1:00:14
  steadfast
• 1:00:14
  love
• 1:00:15
  which
• 1:00:15
  reaches
• 1:00:15
  to
• 1:00:16
  the
• 1:00:16
  sky
• 1:00:16
  your
• 1:00:17
  constant
• 1:00:17
  faith
• 1:00:18
  on
• 1:00:18
  S.O.
• 1:00:19
  Lord
• 1:00:19
  extends
• 1:00:19
  to
• 1:00:20
  heaven
• 1:00:20
  high
• 1:00:20
  above
• 1:00:21
  the
• 1:00:21
  highest
• 1:00:22
  heaven
• 1:00:22
  so
• 1:00:23
  God
• 1:00:23
  exalted
• 1:00:24
  be
• 1:00:24
  and
• 1:00:25
  over
• 1:00:25
  all
• 1:00:25
  the
• 1:00:25
  earth
• 1:00:26
  below
• 1:00:26
  display
• 1:00:27
  your
• 1:00:28
  majesty.
• 1:00:28
  We'll
• 1:00:29
  sing
• 1:00:29
  these
• 1:00:29
  three
• 1:00:29
  stanzas
• 1:00:30
  to
• 1:00:30
  God's
• 1:00:31
  praise.
• 1:00:35
  Among
• 1:00:36
  the
• 1:00:37
  nations
• 1:00:39
  Lord
• 1:00:41
  to
• 1:00:42
  you
• 1:00:43
  I
• 1:00:44
  will
• 1:00:45
  give
• 1:00:46
  praise
• 1:00:48
  among
• 1:00:49
  the
• 1:00:51
  peoples
• 1:00:52
  of
• 1:00:53
  the
• 1:00:54
  earth
• 1:00:55
  my
• 1:00:56
  songs
• 1:00:57
  of
• 1:00:58
  you
• 1:00:59
  I
• 1:01:01
  raise
• 1:01:02
  great
• 1:01:03
  is
• 1:01:04
  your
• 1:01:05
  steadfast
• 1:01:07
  love
• 1:01:08
  which
• 1:01:11
  reaches
• 1:01:12
  to
• 1:01:13
  the
• 1:01:14
  sky
• 1:01:15
  your
• 1:01:17
  constant
• 1:01:19
  love
• 1:01:20
  and
• 1:01:21
  faithfulness
• 1:01:22
  and
• 1:01:23
  faithfulness
• 1:01:24
  O
• 1:01:26
  Lord
• 1:01:27
  extends
• 1:01:28
  to
• 1:01:29
  heaven
• 1:01:30
  high
• 1:01:31
  above
• 1:01:32
  the
• 1:01:34
  highest
• 1:01:35
  hands
• 1:01:36
  O
• 1:01:39
  God
• 1:01:40
  exalted
• 1:01:41
  thee
• 1:01:42
  and
• 1:01:44
  over
• 1:01:48
  the
• 1:01:49
  earth
• 1:01:50
  may
• 1:01:52
  know
• 1:01:53
  display
• 1:01:55
  your
• 1:01:56
  majesty
• 1:01:58
  after
• 1:02:01
  the
• 1:02:02
  benediction
• 1:02:03
  i'll go to the main door
• 1:02:04
  we'll close with the benediction
• 1:02:05
  now may grace mercy and peace from God father son and Holy Spirit rest upon and abide with you all now and forevermore
• 1:02:15
  amen