This morning we place the message early in the service so that you have the opportunity to rejoice with us in song. So may I encourage you this morning to take your Bibles and go over to the book of Habakkuk, the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk. And as you turn to chapter two, here are the questions that are very much on our minds. Does God ignore the wicked? overlooking sin? Will God let them be happy far away from Him? Those questions are very much on our minds as we look at Habakkuk chapter 2 beginning with verse 13 today. Notice in verse 13, the very first word is behold. And as I will illustrate in the message, this reads almost like a pair of night vision goggles that you could use the word of God to see into the darkness, to understand the story behind the story, what is really happening in events all around us. And it concludes with that glorious understanding in verse 20 that the Lord is in his holy temple. Shall we then read together Habakkuk chapter two, beginning with verse 13. Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity or nothingness. For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Woe unto him that gives his neighbor drink, that puts thy bottle to him, and makes him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness. Thou art filled with shame for glory. Drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered. The cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts which made them afraid because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land and of the city and of all that dwell therein." What prophets the graven image, the maker thereof, has graven it. And the molten image, a teacher of lies, and the maker of his work, trust therein to make dumb idols. Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake to the dumb stone, arise, it shall teach. Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him. Shall we pray together? I praise you, dear Heavenly Father, today as the Lord of Hosts, Lord Sabaoth, the Lord of Armies. I ask, dear Heavenly Father, that you might help us to have a right frame of reference for all these despicable events, abominations of mankind, spewing out upon man's glory, the very shame of it. Father, I pray today that you would help us to be able to look at the Word of God and see the right frame of reference, to rejoice in your presence, to sing praise to your glory, to sing unto the Lord a new song. Dear Heavenly Father, grant, I pray by your Spirit today, that we would truly be enabled for the days ahead I ask, Lord, that you would fill me with your spirit. I pray that you would stir up your people here in this room who know how to pray, that even as the message is preached, you would be glorified by their praying and all of us together as co-laborers in this service rejoicing in you. And Father, I pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. As I say, the questions before us in this passage this morning are very plain. Does God ignore the wicked? Now, Habakkuk's been asking that all along, from Habakkuk chapter 1, as we have worked all the way through this passage. Is that what happens? Does God ignore the wicked, overlooking sin? Is God going to allow them to be happy far away from Him? And over and over again, these questions raised by the prophet Habakkuk are very much on our minds today. Jeremiah the prophet raised exactly the same question. In Jeremiah chapter 12, verses one and two, he said, righteous are you, O Lord, yet let me plead with you of your judgments. Why are the wicked happy? Why are all those who are doing treachery? Why do they seem to be very happy and just so that we're all thinking the same thing here the psalmist Asaph in virtually the entire song wrestled with this particular issue He said wait a minute. I'm I'm trying to serve the Lord, and all these wicked people are very prosperous, they're very happy, and that's exactly what caused him to slip and slide until the Lord awakened him. And so let's be sure that we understand the question this morning. Does God ignore the wicked, overlooking sin? Will He, God, let them be happy far away from Him? Habakkuk was so disturbed by this that it really is central question in the book. We looked in chapter 1 verses 2 through 4 and we see Habakkuk who had prayed earnestly for his people saying, Lord, look at the wickedness of my land. Look at the wickedness that is all around me. And you and I today as we read our newspapers and we read on the internet, we read the news stories, I think we're disturbed in the very same way. And so he was troubled by that, but he was more deeply troubled by the Lord's answer. And the Lord's answer was that he would send in the cruel Chaldeans to chastise and to take his own people captive. It's almost like Habakkuk is saying, wait a minute, Lord. I mean, I know that my people had this problem, but Lord, surely you wouldn't send in the Chaldeans of all people. I mean, that very wicked people. And he is saying to the Lord in his protest, Lord, That's just not like you. Lord, I thought I understood who you are, but you're not acting like the God that I understand. So by the time you get to Habakkuk chapter two, you can see there in verses one through four that Habakkuk is saying, wait a minute, there's something wrong here. I'm not thinking correctly. I'm not thinking rightly. So Habakkuk is actually anticipating that the Lord is going to, the word that's used in the text is, reprove him. That is, he's going to change his thinking. Just a reminder about that for all of us. When you and I see the events that are happening around us, and we have those kinds of questions in our minds, we really have to ask ourselves, wait a minute, am I going to try to change God and His Word to kind of recalibrate the way I see events all around me? Am I going to try to change God and His Word, or am I going to allow God and His Word to change me? Habakkuk was a wonderful pattern for all of us to understand, I need to be reproved. That wonderful word of God that we read about in Psalm 19, it converts the soul. It changes us. And Habakkuk there is a wonderful pattern, as I say, for all of us. The real centerpiece in God's answer, as we have learned, is in Habakkuk 2, verses 3 and 4, where in that question, Lord, why aren't you dealing with the wicked? I mean, they are so terrible. Why aren't you dealing with them? And the Lord's answer in Habakkuk 2, verse 3 was, wait for it. Wait for it. He is going to bring it about and we saw a couple of messages ago That is that is quoted in the New Testament and Hebrews chapter 10. It is waiting for him Well, what is it? Specifically that we are waiting for in him and that wonderful answer is that we found in Habakkuk chapter 2 and verse 4, that the just shall live by his faith, by his faith. In other words, it is characteristic of God's righteous people that they would wait for it, that they would wait for him. Habakkuk 2.4 talked about the fact that the one who is lifted up in himself, his soul is lifted up in his pride. The Lord says he is not upright. That is not right in God's eyes. But the just, by contrast, humble person, the just shall live by his faith, by his faith in the Lord. And so then the Lord began to explain what he would do and this is where we really began last Sunday when we looked at Habakkuk chapter 2 going all the way from verse 5 really all the way down through verse 20. Here's what you have. You have a series of woes. If you were to just read down the page there you would see first word in some of the verses five times you find the word woe. It's the Hebrew word, hoy. We might say today, the way we would think about it would be like a ship at sea going, ahoy! It's a way of getting attention, drawing attention to the text, and the Lord is here pronouncing a number of woes. But it's interesting that right in the middle of those woes, we came to verses 13 and 14, and we understood the wonders of the Lord. The wonders of the Lord of hosts that we read about just a few moments ago that it is of the Lord of hosts that those who protest against him, they're laboring for the fire. They're laboring for that, which will just go up in smoke. That's an interesting way to think about the wicked people all around us who are accused accumulating wealth, they're accumulating lands, accumulating possessions, and the Lord says, it's all going to go up in smoke. It's going to go up in the fire. You are laboring for the fire. But, I love this, but the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Last Sunday, we looked at three of those woes. Actually two Sundays ago, we looked at three of those woes. We had a special speaker this last week. It's our choice today and privilege today to look at these next two woes that we see here and that we see here in verses five through 20. Notice if you will, what this really is all about. What is it that the Lord is doing here? He is actually giving them a taunt song, if you will. He is taunting them. Look at verse six. Shall not all these take up a parable against him, a taunting proverb against him? The way you'd put it in today's English and perhaps in the music is, nah, nah, nah, nah. Nah, nah, nah, nah, the Lord is here taunting them. taunting them with the realities of their condition in such a way that any silly hip-hop song about a breakup means nothing when you compare with what the Lord Himself will do. He is here taunting those. He is taunting those who are far away from Him. You say, why would God do that? Why would God taunt such people? Dear friends, it's because He's warning them. Our great God warns people in order to welcome them, in order to turn them from their depravity, to turn them from their sin. And today, especially, as you look at the text, you can understand that the Lord is here demonstrating His overarching power. Look again, if you will, at Habakkuk chapter 2. Look what it says in verse 13. For behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts? That is, the Lord of armies. When Martin Luther wrote, a mighty fortress is our God, Lord Savioff is the way you could translate that. He is saying, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people labor in the very fire and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? I said to you a few moments ago that here the Word of God for us is like It's like night vision goggles, if you will. Now you and I wrestle with what really is there in the darkness. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12 talks about the rulers of the darkness. It's talking about spiritual wickedness in high places. The angels themselves, the demons, what they are doing here upon the earth under the God of this world. And sometimes it's very difficult for you and me to try to peer into the darkness and see what's really going on. This passage is like a pair of night vision goggles. If you would take this passage today and put it on your eyes, dear friend, you could see into the darkness. You could see into the darkness so that you don't stumble in the darkness. And this again is part of the blessing of what the Lord has given us. In the Garden of Eden, Satan tried to convince Eve that she had to participate in evil in order to understand good and evil. But the Word of God tells us, in Hebrews chapter 5, you don't have to participate in evil in order to understand good and evil. You could meditate in the Word of Righteousness. You could exercise your senses in the Word of Righteousness to discern both good and evil. Well, that's the way these night-vision goggles work. you and I can understand what is really happening in our society, and we can understand it with biblical clarity. That is, on the authority of God himself, here is what is really happening in society around us, and this is immensely helpful to us. It tells us in Romans chapter 13 that the night is far spent, the day is at hand. So it's picturing, in this time, in this age, that this is an age of darkness. It is the night. And in the night, what we're supposed to be doing is putting off the works of darkness and putting on the armor of light. So let me encourage you today to think about it this way. If you as a Christian soldier would say today, that's exactly what I want to do. I am, in the words of Philippians, one of the sons of light in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. I want to be a Christian soldier. I want to put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. May I appeal to you this morning that one of the things you would do would be to take the night vision goggles of this passage, put them on, and then you could see with biblical clarity. You can see what's happening in the darkness. You'll understand the story behind the story. You really understand the story of what man calls his glory and all the despicable abominations that are happening there, but you also see something else. When you put on those night vision goggles, you begin to see, ah, look there on the horizon. You begin to see the glory of the Lord. And by the time this service is over, we will sing together. For the earth will be filled, yes, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of His glory. For the earth will be filled, yes, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of His glory. It is the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. For the earth will be filled, yes, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of His glory. And that verse that we find there in chapter 2, verse 14, in a very real sense, it's as if it overflows into the rest of the book of Habakkuk. You see there in verse 20 when it speaks of the fact that the Lord is in his holy temple. Well, dear friend, if the Lord is in his holy temple, how would you respond to him? How would you approach him? Look, if you will, at the first two words of Habakkuk chapter three. How would you approach him? You would approach him with, well, a prayer, a prayer of Habakkuk. And it's exactly that understanding that overflows that when you understand with your night vision goggles, you understand, you know, the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea and I'm going to wait for it. I'm going to wait for him. There is a very real sense in which wait-for-it preaching like I'm doing this morning is really at the heart of the Word of God. If you stop to think about it, the history of Calvary Baptist Church, now more than eight decades, the history of Calvary Baptist Church has been very much based on wait-for-it. Dr. Dunham, Dr. Richard Dunham, was very much part of the prophecy conferences that were being conducted at the time, Winona Lake, Indiana, sometimes even as part of the other kinds of meetings and park meetings that were occurring all over the place, they began to really talk a lot about biblical prophecy. Many people don't know this, but there is a very famous book by Dwight Pentecost called Things to Come. I believe that is actually drawing on another passage of scripture that we'll talk about quoting from Things to Come. Things to Come was first published in a city called Findlay, Ohio. It was published right here by our founding pastor, John Walvoord, who just went to be with the Lord. He was a professor there at Dallas Theological Seminary. Many of his books originally published right here in Findlay. So what I want you to understand today is this concept of wait for it. Wait for Him is really at the heart of all that the Lord is doing. It is a tremendous message of hope. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And what should we do? We should wait for it. How would we wait for it? Well, let's put on our night vision goggles and really begin to understand the darkness around us. Look, if you will, at verse 15. We're here looking at the startling contrast that was begun there in verses 13 through 14 with our night vision goggles, looking at the startling contrast, understanding what is here before us. And now we begin to see it. Look, if you will, at verse 15. Woe, there's that word, hoi, he's drawing attention. Woe unto him that gives his neighbor drink. He is referring here to intoxicants. He is referring here to alcohol. He says, woe unto him that gives his neighbor drink that puts thy bottle to him and makes him drunken also that you may look on their nakedness. He says in verse 16, you are filled with shame for glory. Drink you also it's almost like sowing and reaping the Lord says you make them drink here You drink of the cup of God's wrath drink thou also and let thy foreskin be uncovered Let let you be naked just as they were naked the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee and shameful spewing reference there to vomiting shameful spewing shall be on thy glory." Now folks, do you see the sharp contrast here? In really a startling contrast, verses 13 and 14, it is of the Lord of Hosts that those who rebel against Him are just wearying themselves. They are wearing themselves down, laboring for the fire. It is just going to all go up in smoke. And you begin to see this and understand, especially with the three previous woes that are here, you understand what's happening. And now he says, put on your night vision goggles. Let's take a really close look at this. And the two issues, the two woes that he talks about in this passage are Intoxicants and idolatry. Intoxicants and idolatry. So notice here what he's saying about this. Those who would say, well, I think I'm getting away with my sin. I think I'm getting away with it. I really don't think God is paying attention. Here's our answer to them. Wait for it. Watch to see what the Lord will do. Wait for it. He will most certainly bring to pass what he says. Notice, if you will, in verse 16, that what man thinks of as his glory, the Lord speaks of as his, you tell me. Verse 16, thou art filled with what for glory? Thou art filled with There it is. You are filled with shame for glory. That is so typical of typical, I mean, despicable, wicked men and their abominations. What they do is they glory in their shame. They glory for the fact that they live for their nerve endings instead of what is never ending. And here the Lord is showing us with these night vision goggles. He's really helping us to understand. Again, it's the sowing and reaping principle. What these people were doing was they were giving alcohol to others. Giving them alcohol and then abusing them. By the way, This comes out in passages like Amos chapter 2 and verse 2, I'm sorry, verse 12 of Amos 2, where they forced the Nazarites to drink alcohol. Those who had made a vow that they would not, they forced them to drink alcohol. And do you remember that even King David did this to Uriah when he was trying to deceive everybody about his adultery, his sin with Bathsheba? One of the things he tried to do was he tried to get Uriah drunk. He tried to give him alcohol in order that he would forget and not be aware. but the all-seeing eye of God is constantly upon them. You see there then, first of all, in verses 15 through 17, a reference to the woe that is pronounced on those who give intoxicants to others. As you very well know, America is now dominated by substance abuse. Here in our own prosperous county, we are becoming infamous for the use of heroin. Do we all understand that? Do we all understand what is happening all around us in the use of the intoxicants? This is the joy. The Word of God is like night-vision goggles. It helps us to see what is really happening here. I think this passage has a very special indictment, if you would look at it in verse 15, when he says, Woe unto him that gives his neighbor drink puts thy bottle to him, makes him drunken also, that you may look on their nakedness." I think there's a special indictment here. Many of you here in this room may not be familiar with the term, roofies. I would imagine most of the adults say, I'm not exactly sure what that means. That's a reference to a sedative. Many of the teenagers are aware of it. They've heard about it in their health classes. They've read about it on the internet. What roofies are, are pills that people will slip into other people's drinks and it's a sedative. It's a sedative they will put in their drinks to put them under so that they can abuse them sexually. Dear friend, I would like for you to know today on the authority of God's word, God pronounces woe on people who do that. He pronounces a woe upon such people who would manipulate others. You say, I think I'm getting away with it. I will tell you from the word of God, the answer is you wait for it. You wait to see how the Lord will treat all of those, because here you find it. It tells you in Proverbs chapter six and verse 32, that the adulterer is destroying his own soul. You're reading about this in the news. You've read about Boko Haram. Boko Haram is a group of Muslims in Nigeria, and they are going and capturing girls to make them into sexual slaves. You say, Lord, how in the world are you letting this go on? Lord, why would you allow this to even happen? Here's the biblical answer. You wait for it. You wait to see what God will do. You wait to see if they will not fall under the judgment that is here in this passage. Watch to see what the Lord is saying. He is saying this to every pusher, to everyone who sells alcohol, to all those who push their intoxicants upon others that are destroying society. He is saying, wait for it. The Lord will have his revenge. your profits that you are making from that by destroying the lives of families you watch to see if your wealth and glory does not become a despicable shame for all to see because in fact you are laboring for the fire that dear friend is is our testimony to anyone in our society who would try to grow wealthy by this, or those who would try to abuse others. On the authority of God's Word, we are saying, wait for it. Wait for Him. He will bring it to pass. But I want you to see this. There is hope. It is absolutely true that the Bible gives us the authority to denounce men's sin. The Bible does denounce men's sin. But here's the hope. The Bible also delivers men from sin. It may be today there's someone here who is looking over his or her past and thinking, I am under that woe. I have committed the very abominations. I have committed the very wickedness that's in this passage. Now listen carefully, because I want to give you hope. This passage makes it very plain. Look at it if you will. What he says there in verse 16, you are filled with shame for glory, drink thou also, the Lord is forcing them to drink, let thy foreskin be uncovered, you will be turned to nakedness just like you did this to others. And look at that phrase, the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto thee and shameful spewing, shameful vomiting, the kind of stuff that is vomited up by someone who is going through delirium tremens DT's it's referred to, an alcoholic who is just vomiting out the very vile bile of his system. That's the way the Lord is here depicting human glory. And he's saying here, it is the cup of the Lord's wrath that you will drink. You say, pastor, I thought there was hope. Here's the hope. There was someone who drank that cup of wrath for you. The Lord Jesus Christ in the garden, before he was crucified, on his face before God, he cried out and said, If you will let this cup pass from me. What was the cup? The cup was the cup of God's wrath spoken of in this passage. And here's how much God loves you. God loves you so much that he sent his son to drink that cup of wrath that you and I deserved. He sent him to drink that cup of wrath. And it was so terrible, so horrible. It meant that as we sing in his ropes remind, God would be estranged from God. That on that cross, Jesus Christ would cry out, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? That was all part of drinking that cup of wrath that you and I deserved. But dear friend, here's the hope. Somebody drank your cup of wrath for you. Did you get it? Somebody took the wrath of God for you. The only way to flee from this cup of God's wrath that most surely is in this passage, the only way to escape from it is to flee to the one who drank that cup of God's wrath for you. Jesus Christ lived the righteous life that you should have lived, and then in your place, he died the sinner's death that you should have died. He drank that cup of wrath. Don't go to your destiny drinking the cup of God's wrath. Dear friend, it tells us in the Word of God in 1 Corinthians that what God offers you is the cup of blessing. He offers you the cup of blessing rather than the cup of wrath. Why not this very moment cry out to Him from your hearts? Why not this very moment turn to him and say, Lord, I don't want to drink the cup of your wrath. I want to drink the cup of your blessing. And that cup of blessing is only because our precious Lord Jesus Christ drank God's wrath for you. I encourage you. I appeal to you, dear friend, whatever is necessary. Whether you'd like to talk after this morning's service, if we could set up an appointment to talk this week, don't drink the cup of God's wrath when Jesus Christ drank it for you. That's exactly what He did for you, and I would encourage you to think carefully about God's dear substitute for you. I do believe there is a special indictment also in this passage, because look at what it says in verse 17. For the violence of Lebanon, now you remember what Lebanon was known for? Lebanon was known for a particular kind of tree. Anyone tell me what it was? The tree was known as a cedar. You know it's the cedars. beautiful trees. The closest we can probably understand to it now is probably like the redwoods in California. Here's what the Lord is saying that these Chaldeans are going to do. They are going to come in and they are just going to wreak havoc even on the trees themselves. In other words, in their pomposity, in their pride, they're gonna come through like a marauder. They're gonna come through and just destroy. And he says, for the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee and the spoil of beast, which made them afraid because of men's blood and for the violence of the land of the city and of all that dwell therein. Now I remind you that in Habakkuk chapter one, Habakkuk was very disturbed about the violence in his own society. The violence of Judea was rewarded with the violence of Chaldea. The Chaldeans came in and wreaked havoc on the Judeans. Here's the question. Who would then do the very same thing to the Chaldeans? That's what's being predicted in this passage. Is God overlooking sin? Is He ignoring sin? Overlooking it? Can they all be happy? No, no, no, no, no. No, you have to understand the principle of sowing and reaping. Violence will be met with violence. By the way, That's one of the more terrifying aspects of what's happening in our society right now. The increasing violence, dear friend, violence begets violence. That's the kind of thing that's happening. But I would point out to you about this passage, and I don't know that I've ever seen another passage quite like it. This passage is actually speaking about the wanton destruction of forest. Now, I have to be really careful here because I don't have a lot of respect for the sort of green people, the green earth people who are constantly talking about mother earth and Gaia. I think it's goddess worship and they're talking about mother earth. And those people sometimes talk about the fact that we should be against deforestation. Well, let's be careful to be sure we understand this correctly. God has given man dominion over the earth and, by the way, over animals, as you see in this passage. But that doesn't mean we should go through and destroy them simply because we can't. If greed is our God, and that's the reason we are doing what we're doing, It's not that we are using trees for furniture or for buildings. It's not that we are using animals for necessary food. It's just like the wanton destruction of both. The Lord is actually pronouncing a woe here in this passage on this. And what's really fascinating is He is saying, This is characteristic of these people. This is characteristic that they would even take God's glorious creation. Remember he said in Genesis 1, it's very good. They would even take God's glorious creation and do their best to destroy it. Even the Lord himself in Jonah chapter 4 verse 11, even the Lord himself was not for the wanton destruction of animals because the very last thing he says in the book of Jonah is there are much cattle in Nineveh. Why would Jonah want to see God's destruction fall on Nineveh when he says There's people there that they don't even know their right hand from their left hand. And also there's much cattle. That's the kind of compassion the Lord has for his creation. You see an indictment against idolatry in verses 15 through 17. Look, if you will, at verses 18 and 19. What's this about? In verses 18 and 19, what profits the graven image? right? I'm sorry. In verses 15 through 17, it was about intoxicants. Here in verses 18 through 19, it's about idolatry. What profits the graven image that the maker thereof has graven it, the molten image, the teacher of lies. Now, as part of this haunt song. The Lord is saying, nah, nah, nah, nah. Do you get it? In other words, it is so foolish, it is so ridiculous what you are doing here. God is mocking the idolaters. Commenters translate this as against the idols, and the way they translate it is, they're saying, It's like a carving of the carver. It's like a design of its designer. It's like a speechless nothing. And the question we ought to raise is, why would anyone think it important to worship impotent idols? Why would anybody think that is important? Now, what is really astounding here is when you look at it with your night vision goggles, that the trees that the Chaldeans would fell from those they would carve the idols that would make them fall. You say, how crazy is this? How kooky is this? What the Lord is showing you here in the passage, and you can see it there, that he is saying, these are teachers of lies. In verse 18, the idols, the gods of the nations are idols. We shall see in just a few moments from the Psalms. It's a teacher of lies. Now, before we move on from this text, before we move on to another verse, let's just for a moment stop to think about this. It may be that you say, well, look, I don't have an idol in my backyard. Okay. I don't, I don't have a totem pole. I don't have any kind of shrine. There's nothing in my home that I go and I, I bow down to. Well, I'd like to remind you. that the Lord tells us in Job and it comes out in Colossians chapter 3 verse 5 that covetousness is idolatry. In other words, your greed can become your God. Your income can become your idol. And you and I need to remember that even in the New Testament book of 1 John, it ends with the statement, little children, keep yourselves from idols. And so, dear friend, I would point out to you that even today, this is very much a reality around us, that what's happening with the people who are around us is they are under the woe of God for their intoxicants and for their idolatry. Where is the hope? Look, if you will, at verse 20. But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him. As I said a few moments ago, the fact that the Lord is in his temple is applied in this passage in a prayer of Habakkuk, Habakkuk chapter 3. The glory of God that we're speaking of here is the glory of God that was seen in the tabernacle and the temple, John chapter 1 verse 14. Think about it this way. We saw early on in Habakkuk chapter 2 that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Now, in Isaiah we understood in that wonderful hymn, I think we're going to sing it here in a few minutes, that All the earth is full of His glory. That's what the Lord, that's what Isaiah saw in Isaiah 6. The whole earth is full of His glory. Here's what makes this passage in Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 13 a little different. It says, it will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Now wait, what is the knowledge of the glory of the Lord? In Hebrew thinking, knowledge was more than just correctly perceived information. No, no, it was very relational. In fact, you remember from Genesis chapter four that Adam knew his wife and what happened and she conceived. It's speaking of a very intimate knowledge. What you're seeing here is that the earth will be filled with knowing God, with an intimate relationship with Him. Some of you heard the book I mentioned here recently called Knowing God by J.I. Packer. I saw that a couple of people picked it up. It's a really excellent volume on understanding what it means to really know God. And what does it mean, the knowledge of the glory of God? What is His glory? Dear friends, His glory, it's His uniqueness. God is one of a kind. That means that there's no other one in His category. He is the creator. Everything else is the creation. There is nothing else that is like Him. No one else is like Him. And so to speak of His glory is to speak of His uniqueness, especially His infinity. His infinite mercy and His infinite love, His eternality, His eternity. He alone is God. Here's what's going to happen one of these days. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. And so this is the way that the Lord is helping Habakkuk to understand. He is saying, Habakkuk, this is going to happen. This old world will be transformed. It will be a new heaven and a new earth. And as we see in verse 20, the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silent before Him. Why keep silent? Because Habakkuk chapter one and Habakkuk chapter two have been full of complaints. Lord, this can't be right. Lord, what are you doing? And as part of the reproof that Habakkuk actually expected, part of the answer is, oh no, Look at the glory of the Lord. Look at the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Understand that the Lord is in his holy temple. That knowledge of the glory of the Lord that was seen in the tabernacle, the old tent of the Israelites, and in the temple of Solomon, was also seen in Jesus Christ. John chapter 1 verse 14, we beheld his glory. The glory is of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus Christ himself even referred in John 2 to the fact that his body was this temple. And today, the temple is the body of the believers, and also the congregation of believers. This is the temple. But there is coming a day, Revelation speaks of this in Revelation chapter 21, verse 22. It speaks of the fact that in the new heaven and the new earth, The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb will be the temple. They will be the temple. So his answer to Habakkuk's complaints, which by the way leads to his prayer in Habakkuk chapter 3 is Habakkuk, wait for it. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. So the question you and I ought to raise as we prepare for the rest of our service today is this, what should be our response? The silence that he's speaking of here is silencing complaints, but turn with me over to Psalm chapter 96. Psalm 96, and notice what you find there. What should be the heart response of Christian people as they understand that the gods of the nations are idols, that a woe has been pronounced on all this, This use of intoxicants and this use of idolatry. Well, he says in verse five of Psalm 96, for all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. So dear friends, what should be our response? Go back to verse one and you see our response. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new song. Sing unto the Lord all the earth. Sing unto the Lord, bless His name, and show forth His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the heathen, His wonders among all people, for the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods, for all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. May I encourage you to do just that. May I encourage you today to sing from your heart and rejoice in all that the Lord has done. Shall we bow our heads together, please? Just before we sing, dear friend, I ask you that question that I raised during the message. Are you really preparing to drink the cup of God's wrath instead of the cup of blessing that Jesus Christ offers to you? Is that really your desire? Is that really your intent? Be delivered from that today. Call out to the Lord, even as we sing here about His majesty. I pray that everyone in this room would turn from the cup of God's wrath to the cup of God's blessing. Lord, be glorified, I pray. Help us as we sing together to glorify you. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen.