And also the family of Dean Parks
passed on Monday. And we knew about it Wednesday,
but they didn't want us to tell anybody because the kids were
on camping trips and they didn't want to back in. And so my brother Chris Cunningham
did the funeral yesterday. He's gone on to glory, unless
he's already 42 years old. A soldier and a patriot, a fine
young man, a loving boy, a good preacher. God called him home,
so remember that family in your prayers. The other family is
on their way up. I think Greg Pinter's back home.
Is that right? Kathy said she's going to bring
him home. Okay, she's going to bring him
home. see what happens after that. And Fred's doing good. His swellings are going down. That medicine seems to be working
really well. He's back to his old self again. He's even more short-shirted
than church today. He's summertime free. OK, let's begin our worship service
with hymn number 287, Like a River. Like a river over Yosemite, over
all Victoria, Earth is getting taller, cooler
every day. Earth is getting broken, deeper
all the way. State of Georgia, hearts are
pulling legs. Binding as it progresses, ? And peace shall reign ? ? Here
in the hollow ? ? Of his blessed head ? ? There were folk and
fowl ? ? There were traders too ? ? Not a surge of worry ? ?
Not a shade of care ? Touch the spirit there. Stay upon Jehovah. Hearts are
fully blessed. Binding as he promised. may you trust him That's the scripture in your
prayer receipt. Number 209. Prophet Nahum, Prophet Laod. Laod's prophecy was the time
of the fall of the Ninevites and really the end of Assyrian
reign in Asia. Chapter 1, the Burden of Ninev. the book of the vision of Baha'u'llah,
the Alpha Shaddah. God is jealous. The Lord revenges. The Lord revenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance
on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord
is slow to anger, and great in power. He will not at all acquit
the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the
world, and in the storm, and in the clouds, and in the dust
of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, maketh it
dry, and ditheth up all the rivers, and Bashan languishes, and Carmel,
and the flower of Lebanon languishes, and the mountains quake at him,
and the hills melt, and the earth is burned, and it is present
day in the world, and all that dwell there Who can stand before
his indignation? Who shall abide in the fierceness
of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire,
and rocks are thrown down by him. The Lord is good, a stronghold
in the day of trouble, and he knoweth then that they trust
in him. Our Father in heaven, we are
thankful that you have inspired your prophets to give accurate,
perfect descriptions of who you are throughout the book. We know that you, as the God
of the Bible, is not preached in the world today, as you are
preceding in this one. We are thankful that you have
given your children faith to know who you are, by this great
revelation. We thank you for the knowledge
of Jesus Christ, and what he has done for his people, fully
redeeming them by his blood, and being made to be their righteousness.
We are thankful that all your children are accepted in your
presence, all for the Christ God. We ask today, Father, blessing
upon Clark's family as Dee has left this world and gone to the
next. He is with Christ and what a
thing that is. Our poor sinful imaginations
cannot grasp it. It is our hope we believe in
because you've given us space to do so, but to be there full of joy that their child
is going on to be with Christ. There will be an empty place
in their hearts till the day they pass in this world. We know
that. We ask the Lord to comfort and
strengthen them. As days go by, memories of sadness
fade and sweet memories return. help us, Lord, to remember that
our days are few. They are numbered. Our months
are with Thee. Our bounds are determined that
we cannot pass. Let us regard You and think on
You. For whom have we inherently sinned?
who on earth is that being? Father, we pray for ourselves
this afternoon, that you might be pleased to cause us to worship
you in spirit and truth. As we look at this description
of you yourself, having inspired your prophets to write, help
us to see who you are. And in light of that greatness,
we'll see what we are. We ask you, Christ, Number 209, Grace Greater Than
I've Seen. Marvelous grace on a morning
glow, Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt. God their own Calvary's land
of gold, There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled. Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace
that pardoned and fixed within, Rage! Rage! God is Rage! Rage!
Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage!
Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage!
Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage!
Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage!
Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage!
Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage!
Rage! Rage! Rage! Rage! Praise to his name,
His praise adore, Points to the refuge of mighty God. Praise, praise God's creation,
Grace and morality, with him. Grace, grace, God's grace, grace
that is greater than all our sin. Dark is the state that we
cannot hide, nor can avail to quash grace. three days I know. within. Praise, praise God's
great grace and favour that overshadowed Father, again we approach in
the name of Christ Jesus, King of kings and Lord of lords, the
creator, sustainer, and consolator of all things, and the giver
of all things to his children. He is the unspeakable gift. Freely
give it to your children. With him, they are freely given
all things. We thank you, Father, for your
goodness and your mercy toward us. Let us return what you've
given us to you. Thanksgiving in our heart. So, I find that in this day and age of internet,
Facebook, and such, that almost everybody who talks about the
Bible praises themselves a theologian. Seems to have an answer to everything.
The fact is that theology is simply the study of this book,
nothing else. When the word is used in this
day, theology, it carries a connotation of higher learning, religious,
exalted academia. But the truth is that if you
know God, by his grace, through faith, if you have been given
faith to trust in the merits of Jesus Christ, If you have
been given a heart of love for Jesus Christ, then you are a
theologian. You are. You study the triune
God that dwells in Jesus Christ. This passage is a precise and
concise description of Almighty God. This is biblical theology. You will know something about
God or rehearse in your mind who God is. This is as fine a
passage as you'll find everywhere to teach you who God is. Remember
this is an autobiography. It is God who inspires the prophet
to tell people who God is. Now this happens as Nineveh is
being destroyed by the Babylonians and the Calvians. And Nahum tells them why that
happened. because God is who He is. Isaiah was commanded in
Isaiah chapter 40 to cry aloud, to lift up his voice with strength,
to shout to the people. God told him to stand on the
mountaintop and declare this, behold thy God, behold thy God. And what follows in that great
chapter is a proclamation of the absolute and unquestionable
sovereignty of God over everything in His work, everything in His
universe. In Isaiah 40, beginning with
verse 9, it says, O Zion, that is the church, that bringeth
good tidings, that is the gospel, get thee up to a high mountain,
that's Mount Zion, Old Jerusalem, city of peace, that bringeth
good tidings. Lift it up, lift up thy voice
with strength, lift it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities
of Judah, Behold your God. The first thing it speaks of,
this God is him as a shepherd of his sheep. and carry for his
sheep. We know Christ is the good and
the great shepherd. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd, and shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry
them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with
young. Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
and meted out heaven with a spade? It's quite a statement. The waters
of the earth, more water on the earth than his land. And he measures
it in the hollow of his hand. Now this is a metaphorical statement,
but he's speaking of the greatness of God. The universe, we know
very little about it. Our best telescopes reach two
or three star clusters out there. We don't know how far it goes.
But the Lord said he made it in the span of his hand, between
his thumb and his little finger. Who shall comprehend the dust
of the earth? I comprehended it a little bit
the other day when I was washing off my old truck. There's some
dust on there. That's nothing. God understands, comprehends
it. No. The dust of the earth. Who shall
comprehend it in a measure? Weigh mountains in the scales.
in the hills of the balance. Who hath directed the Spirit
of the Lord, or being his counselor, taught him? No one has. With
whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him
the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed him
the way of understanding? Nobody has. He's taken counsel
of no one. It even says in Job 33, he does
not give account of his matters. He doesn't even tell you what
he's been doing, or what he's doing. Behold the nations, that's
all I want. The nation, the United States
of America, the Cherokee nation, every nation, every nation. Or as a drop in the bucket. That's
not a drop in the bucket. That's what falls off the bucket
back into the well. The people don't give a cow.
They're counted as small as us, Behold, he taketh up the ales.
It's a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient
to burn. Lebanon and a whole lot of Lebanon
pine trees is not sufficient to burn. You have counted to
him less than nothing. Infinity. Emptiness. To whom will you liken, Don?
Or what likeness will you compare to him? The workman helpeth a
graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over the gold with
gold and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that
he hath no oblation, no offering, chooses a tree that will not
rot, he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image
that shall not be moved. Have ye not heard, that it had
not been told you from the beginning, and ye not understood from the
foundations of the earth? He that sitteth upon the circle
of the earth, and the inhabitants thereover as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens
as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dry, that bringeth
the princes to nothing, ye make it the judges of the earth. It's
vanity. Yea, they shall not be planted.
Yea, they shall not be sown. Yea, their stock shall not take
root in the earth. And he shall blow upon them,
and they shall wither. And the providence shall take
them away. It's stubborn. Behold your God. Behold your
God. No aspect of anything is left
in the imagination. All things are begun and controlled
and moved and brought to fruition until they are appointed in by
God Almighty according to His grand purpose and design. Believers
love this truth. They live off of it. They live
in it. They are willing to die in it. They abide therein because
all glory for all things belongs to God alone. They know that's
the way it must be. Nehemiah the prophet speaks several
things about the God of glory. The first point of Nehemiah's
theology is found in these words, God is jealous. Jealousy has to do with entitlement. God is jealous because he is
entitled to be jealous. He deserves all glory. He has
absolute right claims to all glory. God jealousy is not a
fault. God jealousy is an attribute.
It is the right for God to be jealous because he is perfect
and he's done all things well. That means he's jealous for his
glory. He says over and over again in
scripture, he will not give his glory to another. It says in
Psalm 29 that all the people in his congregation speak of
his glory. Speak of his glory. I've often
thought if I was going to put a sign or motto on my wall or
over the door here while I preach so I can actually see it. Who's
getting the glory? Who's getting the glory? He will
not give his glory to another. No one but God is allowed to
glory because there is no basis for glory in anyone but God. Man, in scripture, is said to
be a liar. He said to be altogether vanity.
That's emptiness. Indeed, He said to be lighter
than vanity, and I can't imagine that. What's lighter than nothing? What's less than zero? That's
man. And God has said to be altogether
glorious. Man's going to glory, God says.
Let him not glory in his wealth or his knowledge or his shame.
If he's going to glory, let him glory in the Lord. and have no
confidence in the flesh. Man has no reason to be jealous
at all because he's not entitled to anything. He exists on borrowed
time. And everything he possesses will
either fade away or be left to somebody else. Everything you've
got, enjoy while you can. You go if it has any lasting
effect on somebody else, enjoy while you don't. And I know this,
if you came back and asked for one day, second part of the prophets
name systematic theology is found in these words in verse 2. God
is a God of vengeance. Vengeance is mine, thus saith
the Lord, I will repay. Vengeance, what is it? We rarely
think of God in such terms. Vengeance is seething, roiling,
pent up anger. It says here that he's furious,
He's furious. That's hardly a representation
of God that's being preached to men today. God loves you,
has a wonderful family life. God wants the best for you. God
is full of vengeance. Someone said to Barnard, I'd
make God a monster. And he said, get ready to meet
a monster. That's who you're going to meet. Our Lord, however,
is here depicted as delaying punishment for a later time,
since he reserveth wrath for his enemies. There is a payday
one day for all who oppose God. Isaiah spoke of one coming from
Bozah whose linens were dipped in blood who had been to a battle
and said, who is this that cometh from Bozah? this is the Lord
of Glory, he said the day of vengeance is in my heart, the
day of my redemption has come, the day of vengeance is coming,
and the Lord will have his vengeance, 2 Peter says he has reserved
his enemies in change to the day of judgment, the third point
of this message is the Lord is slow to anger, which goes along
with the fact that vengeance is in his heart, he's slow to
anger. Think of this, this great and
terrible God, this sovereign God, this almighty God, whose
jealousy makes him furious, impatient, long-suffering, and barbaric.
God is not in a hurry to punish sinners. In fact, he is more
willing to save them than men are willing to be saved. More willing to give them repentance
than they are to repent. The wings of mercy are swifter
than the feet of repentance. Judgment, it says in scriptures,
is strange work. He defers wrath, gives sinners
time and space. This is mercy. It's slow to anger. God is willing to be gracious
because he is gracious. We know we must be willing to
be sober. He said, I will be gracious unto whom I will be
gracious. This is particularly in reference
to his elect for whom his long-suffering is his salvation. Now he suffers
long with his adversaries, he said that in Romans chapter 9.
What if God, willing to show his wrath and make his power
known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels he had made to destroy? So he's long-suffering with them,
but he's long-suffering them because he's long-suffering with
those he's prepared for glory. In Psalm 103, David makes that
clear. This is the psalm of a seasoned
saint, one who knows himself and knows that God suffers long. He says, blessed, blessed be
the Lord. Thank Him for all His benefits.
Thank Him for all His benefits. The fourth point of the prophet,
may it be systematic theology, the Lord is great in power. Great
in power. What does that mean? Here's what
it says. He is absolutely sovereign, omnipotent, almighty God. He's
always done, and always will do, whatever He wants to do. Whatever it is. David said that,
but the false teacher showed him their false God. He said,
that God's in the heavens. You can't see Him. Our God is
in the heavens. He's done whatsoever He pleases. And then again in Psalm 135,
He says, in heaven and earth and all the deep places. All
the earth belongs to God. It's His possession. He's the
sole proprietor of it and all the habits that are in, it says
in Psalm 24. And we know the words of Nebuchadnezzar.
God has his will and does according to his will in the armies of
heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay
his hand. None can even say a thing. What good is that? What good
is that? If it makes no sense to you that
God reformates some and puts them in hell after he's the one
who reformates them and puts them in hell for their sin, you
say, well, that don't make sense. It does to God because that's
what he does. Don't try to figure him out.
His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. His ways are higher
than our ways. As high as the heaven is above
the earth, so are his thoughts and ways above our ways. What
that simply means is that we don't think like God thinks.
So it's all trying to logically come to a conclusion. In Romans
chapter 9, there was one who said, well, if God is sovereign,
and I'm a sinner and I ought to go to hell, why does he hold
me accountable for what I am? If he made me what I am, How
can he hold me accountable? That makes logical sense, doesn't
it? God made me a sinner. How can he hold me accountable
for being a sinner? You know what the answer is? Who are you
to reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Shut your
face. You have no right or warrant
to question God. None whatsoever. Absolute solid. He does His will. Everything He does is perfect. Everything is beautiful in His
time. And time is made for us, and time for Him is used and
employed. But He said, What hath been shall
be, and what shall be hath already been. How does that, what does
that mean? Well, it means that he's in control
of time, tide, and all things. Our God is great because he's
great in power. A weak God is a frustration to
himself and to those who trust him. This description of the
Lord in great power is a prelude to what follows in this description.
The fifth thing is this, the Lord will not at all. He will not at all acquit the
weak. You see, God is just. Justice
and truth are the habitation of His strong, sacred scripture.
Though He is long-suffering, His long-suffering is not a lack
of will or ability to punish His enemies. His justice demands. He says, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. That's pretty clear, isn't it?
The soul that sent it, it shall die. This is an unchanging truth
and addresses the glory of our salvation. So effective and so
purely successful was the work of Christ when he died in the
room instead of the people, that all those for whom he died are
presented to God, and there is not one of them that is wicked,
and not one of them that is guilty before God. Because God would not have quit
Him if it weren't for Him. He would have no wiser quit the
guilty. How great was that salvation
brought on Calvary Street. Wonderful grace of our loving
Lord. How wonderful was that salvation.
It was so wonderful that nothing can be added to it or taken from
it. It was an absolute success all for whom Jesus Christ died
that will never because they're already dead in Christ. That's why we have the Lord's
table, observing His death. That's why we baptize believers,
observing His death. That's why we preach the gospel,
which is the story of His death. From Genesis to Revelation, it's
the story of His death and Adam's sin. What happened? How did God
cover their sin? He killed some things. That's
to show a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the first
sacrifice is mentioned in Genesis chapter 4, what is it? It's death
that pleases God. A lamb slain laid on the altar
at the east of Eden to keep the way of the tree of life. Death
was there. God was pleased. God was satisfied. And God was propitiated. But
a man came with his works And they were his best. He came to
not come with the worst of the lot. I guarantee he bought the
best turnips, and bought the best corn, and the best fruits,
and the best grapes. Everything was the finest he
had from his garden. The work of his hands. I want to please God with the
work of my hands. God rejected him and his offering. And he ended up killing his brother
because of it. It's always been that way with
grace and virtue. murderous thing this is a wondrous
truth there is not one for whom Christ died and God counts as
guilty or wicked for he has made Christ to be under the wisdom
righteousness sanctification and redemption at the bar of
holy justice every sinner saved by grace stands before that bar
of holy justice, exacting justice, justice that doesn't have any
grace in it, justice that doesn't have any mercy in it, justice
that must whip it, that must punish the guilty. They stand
before God. The law says, I find nothing
wrong with them. I find no spot in them. They're
not sinners. Not before God. because their
sin has been paid. This is the glory. The glory
of God. The sixth point is this. It's an explanation of the previous
one. Read together, the Lord will
not at all quit the guilty or the weak. The Lord hath his way. The Lord hath God is sovereign. He who has
his way in the world has his way in everything. He is in total
control of all things and all times and all places and all
things. The Lord hath his way and we are rejoiced to know that
he has his way. Christ said, I'm the way. I'm the way. When those who persecuted the
Christians in the early church says they acted several times
persecuted that way. That way. The way of salvation. His way of salvation. And that
glorifies Him. Because in the salvation of rich
and sinners, His justice, His law, His mercy, His grace, His
sovereignty, His love, His compassion are all honored and glorify him. The final point of the prophecy,
the word is this, the Lord is good. The Lord is good. He is. That's his Lord. That's the first
thing he told Moses in Exodus 33. When Moses said, show me
your glory. The first thing out of his mouth
I will make my goodness. God is good. We used to say,
God is great, God is good. That's what I'm speaking for.
God is good. What does that mean? No bad thing. No bad thing will ever happen
to us. Except some of us, we think absolutely we need them. We need trials and tribulations.
We just go all the way. God is good. Scott Richardson said, since
I heard the good news, I ain't heard no bad news. I ain't heard
no bad news. Because he is good, God has solemnly
chosen to save and elect people and found a way to save him that
is consistent with his justice and his total character. May
his own dear son be our sin-expiating substitute this great good God
is our Savior, for in Christ, Christ was the fullness of the
Godhead. What can be said of such a thing
to find that God like this? Verse 7 says the Lord is good
as normal in the day of trouble and knoweth thee to trust