Wonder of The World

Welcome

Quarterly Memory Verse

“Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 3:13–17, ESV)

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Prayer on Tuesday Night

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Quarterly Memory Verses

Youth Campout — November 15-16 (Fri & Sat)

†CALL TO WORSHIP based on Psalm 108:1-4

Pastor Austin Prince

Minister: Our hearts are ready, O Lord, our hearts are ready!

Congregation: We will sing and make melody! We will awaken the dawn!

Minister: We will give thanks to you, O Lord, we will sing praises to you among the nations.

Congregation: For your steadfast love is great above the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION

We praise and honor you, Lord God Almighty, for all your mercy and loving-kindness shown to us your people. We bless you for the goodness that freely chose us to salvation before the world began. We thank you for creating us after your own image; for redeeming us, when we were lost, with the precious blood of Christ; for sanctifying us by your Spirit in the revelation and knowledge of your Word; for your help and support in our necessities, your fatherly comfort in our tribulations; for saving us in the dangers of body and soul, and giving us so long a time of repentance. We acknowledge, most merciful Father, to have received these benefits from your goodness alone, and we implore you to continue to be gracious to increase our thankfulness to you, kindling our hearts with pure and fervent love. Help us not to receive your Word in vain, but graciously assist us always, in heart, word, and deed, to sanctify and worship your holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

†OPENING HYMN OF PRAISE #214

“Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above”

†CONFESSION OF SIN Craig Hoffer, Elder

TIME OF SILENT CONFESSION

Congregation: Almighty and most merciful Father, we are thankful that your mercy is higher than the heavens, wider than our wanderings, and deeper than our sin. Forgive our careless attitudes toward your purposes, our refusal to relieve the suffering of others, our envy of those who have more than we have, our obsession with creating a life of constant pleasure, our indifference to the treasures of heaven, and our neglect of your wise and holy law.

Help us to change our way of life so that we may desire what is good, love what you love, and do what you command, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

†ASSURANCE OF PARDON

CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE James 2:14-26

THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS Pastor Austin Prince

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

†HYMN OF PREPARATION #444

“Come to the Waters”

SERMON Habakkuk 2:6-20 // The Wonder of The World

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

O Lord, as we open now your word, we pray that the eyes of our heart may be enlightened, so that we may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Text Habakkuk 2:6-20

Habakkuk 2:6–20 ESV

6 Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, “Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own— for how long?— and loads himself with pledges!” 7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. 9 “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! 10 You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. 11 For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond. 12 “Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! 13 Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing? 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 15 “Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink— you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness! 16 You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory! 17 The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. 18 “What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! 19 Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. 20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”

AFTER SCRIPTURE

The Lord bless to us the reading of His holy word, and to His name be glory and praise.

Intro

The Loud Pride of Babylon

In Psalm 137, the Psalmist recalls the humiliation and defeat of being captured and exiled to a foreign land:

“By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy! Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, “Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!” O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!”

Tormented and mocked, the Jews as they were now called, were humiliatingly led into Babylon, chained lip to lip, caught like fish in a dragnet. Yet, the righteous still lived by faith, fighting to remember Zion, their highest joy.

And what they would behold as the captured completed their crossing through what is now the Iraqi desert was a gaudy monument to strength and opulence. A loud shout to pride and pomp and blood-bought empire. Ancient Babylon likely contained three of the wonders of the world. The famous Median wall was said to be almost 100 feet tall, spanning a stupefying fifty miles, and was so thick that a chariot could be ridden on the top of it. As you entered the city, you would be awakened from the monotony of the desert with the flamboyant grandeur of Babylon’s hanging gardens and its lion, dragon, and bull covered Ishtar gate, bejeweled in its famous blue and white tiles (pieces of which can still be seen today in Germany). Finally, as you entered the city you would see the Esagila, the house of their god, Marduk—a silent figurine that kept being captured again and again by Babylon’s warring neighbors. And just beyond that a great ziggurat called the Etemenanki, a stunningly large tower which means “the house that is the foundation of heaven and earth”, but in Hebrew the name was called, Babel.

Fat and sassy, the Babylonians had built an empire in the dirt. But according to God’s word here in Habakkuk 2, it was only an empire of dirt.

When all the dark deeds are done, even if God allows them to be done for His good purposes, shall not the Judge of the earth do right? (Gen 18:25).

Judah needed to repent of their wickedness. And yes, God will sometimes use a method to accomplish His purposes that we don’t like or understand (the refiners fire, the cross, persecution, sickness, Babylonians, etc.). But ultimately, what is God going to do about injustice? Is God going to idly watch all this wickedness and destruction in the world? Even though we’ve seen through this text over the past few weeks that God can use and will use the wickedness of men to accomplish whatever He pleases, does that mean that the wicked are somehow absolved from their due? As Galatians 6:7 reminds us, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”

And that’s what our text from Habakkuk draws us to today.

As one commenter says, “While the mills of God may grind slowly, they grind exceedingly fine” (O. Palmer Robertson).

Habakkuk 2:6-20 shows to us are a series of six woes issued to the Babylonians. They serve as warnings, but also as taunts to their pride. They are mockery at arrogance and swagger and recall the reversal that God will place upon their own heads. The fate of Babylon will match Paul’s words from Phil. 3:19: “Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.”

So, how does God deal with pride?

After a series of woes, there are three things that God wants us to see:

What is the real and lasting empire

What is the reality behind idols

What is the true wonder of the world

A series of woe’s or taunts which reverse the pride of Babylon

Follow along with me in the text — we will move quickly

The Plunderer Is Plundered (Hab. 2:6–8)

““Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own— for how long?— and loads himself with pledges!” Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them. Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.” (Habakkuk 2:6–8, ESV)

The Babylonians have made themselves rich off of the wealth of others, plundering and spilling the blood of men to take their things. But the roles will be reversed. The debtors will rise and begin to collect from you now. The plundered will now plunder you.

The Secure Made Insecure (vv. 9–11)

““Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond.” (Habakkuk 2:9–11, ESV)

These men believe that they have fortified themselves and can come to no harm. Like an eagle who has set his nest on high and has built that nest by stealing straw from other nests, they have a false sense of security and untouchability. But they have forfeited their life. Their security will prove insecure.

The Infamous Will Be Forgotten (vv. 12–14)

““Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing?” (Habakkuk 2:12–13, ESV)

All of this effort to kill and build, to enslave and to fortify, is the work of vanity. All they are doing is laying up kindling to be burned by the Lord. They are laboring for fire— building an empire of cotton balls inside of a volcano. It’s all for nothing. You can see that connection and a more full account of Babylon’s judgement in Jeremiah 51.

The Drunkard Will Be Made To Drink (vv. 15–17)

““Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink— you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness! You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory! The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them.” (Habakkuk 2:15–17, ESV)

The heart of rebellion against god isn’t merely afraid, trying to fortify itself and rely on its own strength by plundering others, it’s also debauched. The pride of man is vile. The Babylonians made their neighbors drunk with wrath and bloodshed, looking upon their covenant nakedness, humiliating them. Not only that, but they are senselessly violent, even destroying the innocent beasts and cutting down the precious cedars of Lebanon. They are a kid kicking a dog for fun. But God says, if you want to get drunk, I’ll give you a cup of my wrath.

What is the real and lasting empire ? (As The Water Covers The Sea)

After these woes are issued, we said there are three things that the Lord would have us see. The first comes in v.14, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14, ESV)

The Babylonians were trying to create an empire that spread to all the world. But it is not their empire which will endure. You can go there today and see heaps and heaps of sand. As Jeremiah 51:37 says, “Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant.”

But this statement goes beyond Babylon. In fact, it’s a statement in opposition to all sinful pride — Adam’s pride to Babylon to the end of days. The name of Babylon will become synonomous with hubris, pride, and vanity.

From the tower of Babel, to the namesake of its founder, Nimrod, to the wicked name given to pride in the book of revelation far after the empire is gone, Babylon stands as the epitome of oppression, vain-glory, and foolishness. Pride will try to spread its name as far and as wide as possible, but it will be buried under the dirt and it will be God’s name and God’s glory that will cover the earth as the waters covered the sea.

Pride is the central sin. The sin from which all others spring. But it will not be this plundering, murderous, debauched cancer that will spread its garden of weeds throughout the world that will win. It will be God. Isaiah 11 picks up this line from Habakkuk, that “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” when he is commenting on the coming of the root of Jesse, which we know is Christ. It’s all about Christ.

It will not be the name of Babylon or Nebuchadnezzar that will ring through eternity, it will be the name of Jesus, the name above all names. The comfort and false security of idols, be it strength or wealth or pleasure, will not endure. And in an effort to secure our idols, our own little empires of dirt, we, too, are willing to fight and cheat and lie and steal. But God will not be mocked. You can rage all you want at Him. You can throw your little stick at the sun all you want but it is vanity.

And why is it vanity? God wants us to take a second look at our idols. Look at vv.18-19:

What is the reality behind idols? (The Vanity of Idols)

““What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it.” (Habakkuk 2:18–19, ESV)

Here is yet another woe. To those who worship idols, see them for what they are. You craft these things with your own hand and then you bow down to them. They are deaf and cannot hear you. They are mute and cannot speak. You can decorate them with silver and gold but there is still no breath within them. And we think, how primitive and silly, as if we don’t do this ourselves. We, too, make plenty of goods in our world that we then turn to for life and vitality and significance. We exhaust ourselves chasing after false securities. We bulldoze those who stand in our path, blocking access to our idols. And we reject the fountain of Living water, hewing for ourselves broken cisterns that hold no water. All of that gold should be traded for one word from a God who actually speaks.

What Is The True Wonder of The World? (Let All The Earth Keep Silence)

“But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”” (Habakkuk 2:20, ESV)

And that’s exactly what is contrasted here. God does speak. And what does He say? What does He promise to the prideful and the wicked? He promises a reckoning — a reversal of their schemes that will fall upon their own head. The righteous who wonder if God is watching, if God will act on their behalf, need not wonder—the Lord is watching from His holy temple.

But how does the Lord speak? How does not only His name but His glory fill the earth as the water covers the sea?

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.” (Hebrews 1:1–4, ESV)

At the cross, where the Lord speaks, let all the world keep silence.

What do we hear at the cross? The prideful and the wicked and the oppressor and the plunderer meet judgement, but to those who humble themselves and keep silent, they hear, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Those who have spent their lives pursuing idols, those deaf and dumb and lame trinkets, wrapped in glitter but cannot breath, must stop and realize what they are doing. Thee at the cross, God breathed his last for you. Listen to Him say, come to me and find rest for your souls. Come to me, you who are thirsty, and drink.

To those who doubt God and question His goodness or timing or sovereignty, drop the facade of speculation and putting God to the test and look at Him on the cross. Do you not see perfect love and forgiveness and effort and mercy. Put away all of your foolish questions.

The gospel shall fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. The good news that God will bring down the pride of man as far as the curse is found. That He himself has drunk the cup of wrath reserved for us. The pride of man doesn’t know what to do at the cross. It sets itself up for war against the authority of God but at the cross we stare at love poured out for the prideful. God has made war with us through mercy, and it is His kindness that leads us to repentance. Do not let your heart be hard. Do not join the prideful —their is judgement for those who set themselves up against the Lord, but how can you join the ranks of those who spit on a bleeding Christ? Cut your pride and forsake your empire of dirt. Live by faith in Christ, the ruler of a kingdom that has no end.

It isn’t the Median wall, the Hanging gardens, the pyramids but the cross that is the true wonder of the world. Let all the earth keep silence.

†PSALM OF RESPONSE #117B

“Praise the Lord God, All You Nations”

THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Minister: Lift up your hearts!

Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.

Minister: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!

CONFESSION OF FAITH Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A’s 32, 34

Minister: Christians, confess your faith in Christ!

Congregation: I am called Christian because by faith I am a member of Christ and so share in His anointing. I am anointed to confess His name, to present myself to Him as a living sacrifice of thanks, to strive with a good conscience against sin and the devil in this life, and afterward to reign with Christ over all creation for all eternity.

We call Him ‘our Lord’ because - not with gold or silver, but with His precious blood He has set us free from sin and from the tyranny of the devil, and has bought us, body and soul, to be His very own.

INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE

// ad hoc invitation or use below if needed //

As we were reminded from Scripture this morning. God is faithful. And though it does cause us to remember, this table is no mere memorial to that faithfulness. The bread and wine offered here is tangible evidence of that faithfulness as the grace of God, through union with Christ, is given to those who receive these elements by faith. This meal boldly proclaims and exhibits the faithfulness of God, who so loved his own people, sinners as they were, the he became man for their salvation.

No one should come to this table without recognizing that it is his faithfulness, and not ours, that makes us worthy recipients. Those who may come to receive the Lord’s body and blood are those who rely entirely on God’s faithfulness for their hope and assurance.

// ad hoc invitation or use above if needed – typically always use what’s below //

This meal is for those who are sorry for their sin and those who hate their sin. This table welcomes all who belong to Christ through repentance, faith, baptism, and continuing union with his Church. If you do not repent of your sin, you must not come. If you do not believe you have sinned, you must not come. But if you know your sin, and confess it, he is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness and this table is for you. Come, touch, taste and see the faithfulness of God.

PRAYER

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS

After elements are distributed read the WOI while congregation is partaking.

WORDS OF INSTITUTION AND SHARING OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

M: The Lord Jesus, the same night he was betrayed, took bread;

and when he had given thanks,

he broke it

and gave it to them, saying, “Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you:

do this in remembrance of me.”

After the same manner also, he took the cup when they had supped,

saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood:

this do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

OUR RESPONSE #213

“Glory Be to God the Father”

Glory be to God the Father, glory be to God the Son,

glory be to God the Spirit, God Almighty, Three in One!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!, Glory be to him alone!

†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE

Christians, go in hope and His peace.

“Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24–25, ESV)