A special welcome to all of our
guests. We're so thankful you're here and we've been looking forward
to this weekend and praying for the Lord to bless these services. And so we enter into this meeting
with much hope, much hope. I ask you if you will take your
Bibles and open them with me to Isaiah chapter 55, Isaiah
chapter 55. And while you do that, I'll make
this announcement. Outside these two doors, there
is some extra facilities if we get filled up in the hallway.
There's an oak tree over here. No, they're right between these
two doors against the building and they're very clean, so please,
if you need to do that. This is a call to worship, Isaiah
55 is. The Lord's speaking to His people.
Pray that He'll speak to us. Oh, everyone that thirsteth,
have you come thirsty? This is for the thirsty. Come
ye to the waters. He that hath no money, are you
poor? Don't have anything? Come ye,
buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without
price. It's already paid for, already
paid for. The Lord Jesus Christ paid for
our redemption with his own precious blood. We've been bought with
a price. Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread and labor for that which satisfies
not? Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is
good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your
ear. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing
comes by the word of God. Incline your ear, God says, and
hear, and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David, This covenant
of grace is an everlasting covenant. Never had a beginning, never
going to have an end. Behold, I have given him, the
Lord Jesus Christ, for a witness to the people, a leader and commander
to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation
that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run
unto thee because of the Lord thy God. We run to Christ because
he makes us run. And for the Holy One of Israel,
for he hath glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Call ye upon him while he is
near. Scripture says that our God inhabits
the praise of his people. that where two or three are gathered
together in his name, there he is in the midst of them. He's
pleased to manifest his grace and his glory in services just
like this. And that's our hope. Let the
wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts
and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him
and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. He delights in showing
mercy. towards sinners. For my thoughts
are not your thoughts. There is a way that seems right
unto man, but in the end that way leads to death. God says
my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord, for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your
thoughts. For as the rain cometh down and
the snow from heaven And returneth not thither, but watereth the
earth, and maketh it to bring forth bud, that it may give seed
to the sower and bread to the eater. So shall my word be that
goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I please. And it shall
prosper in the thing whereinto I sent it. Would you bow with
me for prayer? Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we come before Thy throne of grace thanking You that we have
an advocate, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, who makes
us not only accepted in Thy presence, but actually, Lord, gives us
a family relationship with You, Lord, just as Your children,
we come into Thy presence asking you, Lord, to cause us to have
our hearts fixed on thy dear son. Pray that he would be lifted
up. Lord, you said that if I be lifted
up, I will draw men to myself. And we ask that in these services
that you would be pleased to glorify yourself and cause sinners
to run unto thee. We thank you for the men that
you've sent our way to preach the gospel. We pray your blessings
on them. We ask that you would give them
just clarity, simplicity, freedom, liberty, power. We pray for ears to hear, eyes
to see, hearts to believe. We ask it in Christ's name and
for his sake. Amen. Bert's gonna come lead us in
the hymn in your spiral hymn book number six. Number six. Let's stand together. ? Who is a God like unto thee ?
? That pardoneth iniquity ? ? Jehovah God, the great I am ? ? Forgive
our sin, forgive our sin ? through Christ the Lamb, who is a God
like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity. His anger He retains no more,
His grace and mercy He shall endure. The God of truth must
punish sin, but in His love He formed a plan to satisfy the
lofty man's for sinners new possess the sin. Who is a God like unto thee that
pardoneth his Iniquity, his anger he retains no more His grace
and mercy he shall endure his love and compassion in the
death of Christ his Son. The precious sin atoning blood
reveals the love and truth of God. is a God like unto thee, that
pardoneth iniquity. His anger he retains no more. His grace and mercy he shall
endure. He passes by the transgressions
of all his lot and chosen one. In mercy God delights we see,
He casts our sin into the sea. Who is a God like unto Thee,
that bar ne'er iniquity? His anger he retains no more. His grace and mercy he shall
endure. None can with our great God compare. gives his son sinners to spare. His anger he retains no more. Christ died and God requires
no more. Who is a God like unto Thee? That bar the net iniquity, His
anger ? Retains no more his grace and mercy he shall endure ? Y'all
can be seated. Would you all now turn to number
212 in the blue handbook, number 212, nothing but the blood, number
212. you. ? What can wash away my sin ? ?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus ? ? What can make me whole again
? ? Nothing but the blood of Jesus ? ? Oh precious is the
flow ? ? That makes me white as snow ? No other fount I know,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my pardon, this I see, Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this my plea,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Nothing can force in a toe, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Not of good that I have done,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. All precious is the flow that
makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing
but the blood of Jesus. Adam Sharon will now bring special
music. Oh soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you
seek. There's life for a look at the
Savior, and life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon
Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face,
and the things of earth Will grow strange and dim In the light
of His glory and grace Through death into life everlasting He
passed and we follow Him there For us sin no more hath dominion
For more than conquerors we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will
grow strange and dim in the light of His glory and grace. His word shall not fail you,
he promised. Believe him and all will be well. Then go to a world that is dying. His perfect salvation to tell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face,
and the things of earth will grow strange and dim in the light
of His glory and grace. Thank you, brother. So thankful
that Adam's here. John Chapman pastors Bethel Baptist
Church in Spring Lake, North Carolina. These folks are dear
to my heart and that they asked me to come up, preach for them
on several occasions over the past few years and I was my delight
to do so. Several of them are here with
us and now John is their pastor and they are so excited. to have
him as their pastor, and I'm just so thankful. Thankful for
you, John. It's good to have you. And Vicki,
where's Vicki? Oh, there she is. Okay. Vicki,
we're glad you were able to come also. John's going to bring the
first message tonight. So, John, you come. Turn to the book of Nahum. Nahum chapter one. I have wanted to come down this
way for a long time. Never been able to until now.
It is my pleasure to be here. I really look forward to it.
We flew down here this evening in a Chevy. I mean, we about flew down here,
too. We're glad to be here. I could have put several titles
to this. The Lord is good, we find in
verse 7. Who can stand before his indignation? Verse six, we title it, God will punish
sin and God will show mercy. He will show mercy. I do know
this. I know that God will punish sin. Sin must be punished. God cannot wink at it. He cannot
let it go. He must punish sin. God has not changed. Calvary
did not make God a kinder, gentler God. God is still God. God is still God. God, listen,
God is still angry with the wicked every day. He's still that way. That's still written. That's
still so. It's still written, and it's
so, he hateth the workers of iniquity. That's so. This side
of God is passed over in most pulpits today. Most of today's
preaching presents God as one who has really softened up, just
really softened up. Almighty God is still a consuming
fire. He's still a consuming fire.
Now let's look at this. Nineveh was the capital city
of Assyria. This is the same Nineveh that
Jonah went and preached to. and they repented. In chapter
three of Jonah, it says they believed God. They repented and
God did not destroy them. But some time went by and they
became more wicked than before. The pig returned to its wallowing
in the mire. The dog has returned to its vomit. The first time God sent them
a prophet, but this time it's a prophecy. of their destruction. And this prophecy, some say,
was about 100 plus years after the preaching of Jonah. And about
115 years went by and then Nineveh was so destroyed that it wasn't
until about 1842, I believe it was, that they discovered that
city. That's how destroyed it was. Now it says in verse 2,
God is jealous. He is resentful of rivalry in
love. God loves his son. God loves
his justice. God loves his elect. And he will
not allow anything or anyone to do harm to them. Nothing. One of the names of God is jealous. It says in Exodus 34, 14, For
thou shalt worship no other God. For the Lord, whose name is jealous,
is a jealous God. It is written in Deuteronomy
4.24. For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous
God. God is fiercely protective of
his glory. and will not share it with another.
God is God, and He's not gonna share that with an idol. He's
fiercely protective of His glory. And the prophet says, and the
Lord's revenge of judgment, judgment may be slow in coming, but it's
coming. The wheels of justice may turn
slowly, but they do turn. They do turn. And it says, He's
furious He's furious, that word means master of wrath. He's master
of wrath, he's Lord of wrath. This unbelieving world is soon
gonna meet God who is furious, God who is master of wrath. And he says he will take vengeance
on his adversaries. That means payment for wrong
done to one, or for one's cause, he will take vengeance. Vengeance
is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay. And he reserveth wrath,
it says, for his enemies, kept in store, kept in store, waiting
for them, waiting for them. Men may think they've gotten
away with some things, But little do they realize that they are
about to meet the wrath of God. Outside of Christ, they're going
to meet an angry, furious God. That's who they're going to meet.
But here in verse 3, he also says, but the Lord is slow to
anger. You know what the first thing this says to me? Self-control. Slow to anger. One of the first
things I think of is self-control. God's anger is a just anger. It's under His divine control.
It is not a get-even type of anger. It is a just recompense. That's what it is. It's a just
recompense. It's a holy anger. But also here where it says God
is slow to anger, He's long-suffering to us. Long-suffering to us. God is
slow to anger for his elect's sake. For his elect's sake. That's
what it says over in 2 Peter 3. Turn over to 2 Peter 3. Look at verse 9. The Lord is not slack concerning
His promise, as some men count slackness, but has long suffering
to usward. He's speaking here of the elect.
Usward, not willing that any should perish, but all should
come to repentance, that all His elect should come to repentance.
God suffered long in the days of Noah, It took Noah 120 years
to build the ark. And after he finished that ark,
God called Noah into the ark and all those animals and his
wife and his sons and those eight people, they went into the ark.
And when that door was shut, God unleashed his wrath on this
world. Can you imagine this earth at
one time was completely flooded and underwater? At one time,
it stood above the highest mountains. This earth that we stand on was
flooded and everything on it was destroyed except those in
that ark. They were safe. They were safe. Another example is Sodom and
Gomorrah. When the angels went there, they
said, we cannot do anything. until you are taken out of it,
until you are delivered. We cannot do anything." And they
took Lot, his wife, his two daughters, and when they went out of town,
they got them out of the city, got them out to a safe place.
God burned that place up. He burnt that place up, but not,
not until he delivered Lot, not until then. Not only is God slow
to anger, God is great in power. God has the power to execute
his judgment on his enemies. God has the power to do that.
God is no weak God. Do not mistake. Do not mistake
God's patience for weakness. It's not a weakness. That would
be a mistake. to count the long suffering of
God as a weakness. It's not. God is great in power
and he will not at all acquit the wicked. That makes me pay attention when
I read that. You know your heart. You know
your heart. I look at that and I say, God
will not acquit the wicked. God will give everyone just what
they deserve. And I can tell you honestly,
and there's people in here that you can say, honestly, I don't
want what I deserve. I want what Jesus Christ deserves. Give me what Jesus Christ deserves. Do not give, oh God, do not give
me what I deserve. are all perished like Nineveh
and Sodom and the people that died in that flood. Don't give
me what Christ deserves. How precious does this make the
Lord Jesus Christ to the believer? God sees no wicked thing in me. He sees no wicked thing in any
of them who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how complete every
believer is in Christ. That's how effectual the redemptive
work of Christ is for everyone he died for. That's how effectual
it is. It's that effectual. I don't
want what I deserve. I want what he deserves. One
day I was talking to my father, and he's on 87, and he said to
me, And he introduced me to the gospel.
But he said to me, with tears in his eyes, he said, I hope
before I die, I get it right. I said, Dad, listen to me. Jesus Christ got it right. I'll
never get it right. I said, Dad, you'll never get
it right. I said, Jesus Christ is my rightness before God. Jesus
Christ is my righteousness before God. I'll never get it right. And you won't either. You won't
either. He will by no means acquit the
wicked. Then God demonstrates his judgments
at time in nature. The prophets want to point this
out. The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm. Nothing just happens. Nothing
just happens. If we have a tornado, God sent
it. God sent it and God's finger
is in the middle of it directing it where he would have it to
go and do whatever destruction it does and take the life of
whoever it takes. All are God's servants. All serve
Him. There's nothing out there just
willy-nilly. Nothing. Everything serves God. He hath
His way in the whirlwind and in the storm. Here is God's divine
sovereignty and power. All serve His purpose. whether
it be for correction or for his land. Let me read this to you
out of Job 37. It says, I'll start in verse
11. Also by watering, he wearieth
the thick cloud, he scattereth his bright cloud, and it is turned
round about by his counsels. That's what's going on. When
you see the clouds and the heavens moving in certain directions,
that's the counsel of God going on. Isn't that what you see? You don't see just a bunch of
clouds floating across the sky. They are following the direct
counsel of God Almighty. They are. The earth is the Lord, the fullness
thereof, and they who dwell therein. It all belongs to Him, and He
directs it all, all of it. He says here that they go turn
around about by his counsels that they may do whatsoever.
He commands them upon the face of the world in the earth. He calls it to come whether for
correction or for his land or for mercy. God has his way, whether it be
against a man or a nation. Ask Nebuchadnezzar. if God has His way. Ask Pharaoh if God has His way. Our lives are in His hands. I
thought coming over here and I had to jot this down. Do we
realize how thin the veil is between here and eternity? It's
just a breath That's all it is. Think about that. Selah. Pause and think about that. It's
just a breath that between me and eternity, between me standing
on this earth and in one breath I can be standing before God
Almighty. Listen. When Jesus Christ stood
in the judgment hall being mocked, scourged. Whose way was being
had? Whose way was being had? When
he was nailed to the cross, whose way was being had? Pilate said, don't you know I
have the power to release you? I have the power to crucify you.
And that's when the Lord spoke up. Until then, he didn't say
anything. He took the charges because they
were true. As our substitute, they're true. But when Pilate
claimed to have power, he said, hold on. Hold on. You could have no power at all
against me except to be given to you from above. You little
peon, You don't have any power. You have none. God is power. Now, the next few verses, we're
going to see His power demonstrated in nature. And we are going to
see that nature, that this earth cannot stand before His majestic
presence. Oh, that we could, that God would
enable me. I stand here to proclaim His
majestic person, who God is, who God Almighty is. Nothing
can stand before the majestic presence of Almighty God. And
what we are about to see here is violence, violence. You know, hell is a violent place.
Weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth. When God executes his
judgments, it can be violent. And he says here, he rebukes
the sea and it dries up. You know, power is when one speaks
and it happens. The interior said, you know what?
I have people under me. I know what authority is. I say
to one, go, and he goes. Come, and he comes. This man
recognized his power. He said, all you need do is speak.
That's all you need do, speak. That's all God needs to do here
tonight, speak. I pray God, speak. Speak tonight,
tomorrow. God, speak. To anyone here that's
lost, God speak to that person. Speak to that heart. If he commands
life, if he says live, you'll live. And he's not going to try
to talk you into living. He don't talk a dead man into
trying to live. That's just nuts. But if he commands life, you're
going to live. You're going to live. Power is
when one speaks and it happened. God commanded the sea to dry
up and it did. It did. Our God is the only one who has
the power to suspend the laws of nature and make the sun stand
still. He has that power. In the mountains,
he says, quake at him. In the hills, melt. The earth
is burned at his presence. If this earth can't stand before
his presence, how much less a man who hates God? Who can stand before his indignation? Who can abide the fierceness
of his anger? No son of Adam, no son of Adam
can stand before him. Only those in the Lord Jesus
Christ can stand before Almighty God. Only those in Christ can stand
before such an awesome God. And the reason is, is that Jesus
Christ is burnt ground. And where the fires burn once,
it won't burn again. It will not burn again. Even
the rocks are thrown down by him. Even the strongest are thrown
down by him. Nothing can stand before God. The prophet has told us that
God is jealous. He's furious. He's going to speak in indignation.
The mountains can't stand before his presence. The scripture says,
behold, what desolations he hath made in the earth. And then right
in the midst of all this fury and judgment, we have good news to sinners. Right in the midst of all of
this fury that's going on, the prophet cries out, and this is
for every sinner in need of mercy. This is for everyone of God's
elect. The Lord is good. He's good. He's all that is good. The very nature of God is good. Whatever goodness there is comes
from God. You know, God has never willed
or done anything that's not good. When he's destroying Nineveh,
he's good. He's good. When he's saving or
he's casting into hell, God's good. He's good. When he created the heavens and
the earth, he saw that everything that he made was very good. He
can't make anything else, anything but good. When Eve looked at
the tree of knowledge of good and evil, the first thing she
saw was that it was good for food. There's no poison in the
fruit of that tree. There was no poison in that fruit.
The poison was in the heart of Adam. Sin's not in a bottle. Sin's not in drugs. Sin's in
me. In fact, sin is me. Sin is me. It took a while for me to learn
that. It's like if I can get rid of
this, then I'm okay. I can't get rid of it because I can't
get rid of me. I'm the problem. You try to move away so you can
get away from the problems, well there you are. You're stuck with
the problem. You're it. We used to play a
game when I was growing up. I was just a kid and we played,
you're it. We'd chase each other around the yard and we'd touch
him and say, you're it. You're it. Well, you're it. You want
to talk about sin? You're it. You're it. Only good can come from God.
Sweet water and salt water cannot come from the same fountain.
Can't do it. God is infinitely good. You know,
one thing I've learned in reading the scriptures is that there's not anything
about God you can measure. He's infinite. There's not one
thing about God that can be measured. Whatever God is and whatever
he has in attributes, they are infinite. unmeasurable, unmeasurable. God's goodness is like himself,
it's unchangeable. Isn't that good? That's good.
My sinfulness has not made God any less good. And everything God wills, he
wills according to his what? Good pleasure, good pleasure. But the greatest display of God's
goodness, the greatest display of it, is seen in Jesus Christ. It's seen in Jesus Christ. All that God is is displayed
in Jesus Christ. As God said to Moses said to
God when he wanted to see his glory, God said, I'll make all
my goodness pass before thee. I will proclaim the name of the
Lord. And every time God saves a sinner, he makes his goodness
pass before that sinner in Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ. We see the goodness
of God in Jesus Christ. We have in Jesus Christ, God
who is good. He is God. That young man said,
good master. He said, why are you calling
me good? Why callst thou me good? There's
none good, but God. So if I'm good, I'm God. We have in Jesus Christ, the
good shepherd who leadeth us and he feeds us and he takes
care of us. all the way home. All the way
home. We have in Jesus Christ the only
man who knew no sin. The only man who walked this
earth who knew no sin. His work of righteousness is
good. He kept the law perfectly. So good that God only accepts
his righteousness. You know, apart from his righteousness,
there is no righteousness. Self-righteousness is not righteousness.
It's another form of sin. It's the worst form of sin. It's
the worst form of sin. If there's anything that'll keep
you away from Christ, it's self-righteousness. That'll keep you away. He offered up himself as the
only good sacrifice for sins. All the others failed, but not
this one. He's a good friend that sticks
closer than a brother. And we have in Christ a good
hope through grace, don't we? We do. And the work of the Holy
Spirit in the new creation is good. And the reason it's good is this,
it's created in righteousness and true holiness. And that's
very good. That's very good. The work of
the Father is good, the work of the Son In redemption is good,
the work of the Spirit is good. And this being so, this being so, then all things
work together for our good. Whatever God sends our way is
working for our good. No matter how difficult it is,
no matter how much it breaks my heart, it's got good written
all over it. It's for my good. David said
in Psalm 73, truly God is good to Israel. A stronghold in the day of trouble. Oh, we know that man that's born
of a woman is a few days and full of trouble. Every day has
its trouble, doesn't it? Sufficient until the day is the
evil thereof. Therefore, we who believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, we have a stronghold. We have a stronghold. And that stronghold is God himself. David said, God is become my
salvation. Our lives, it says, are hid with
Christ in God. No one can touch my life. When Satan wanted to touch Joe,
God said, you can touch everything he's got, but don't touch his
life. Because for him to do that, he'd
have to touch Christ. Because Christ is my life. Jesus Christ
is my life. He said, you can't touch that. And he knoweth them that are
his. He knows them because He chose
them. He knows them because He chose
them. He knows them for He hath made them. And Psalm 100 says,
Thou hast made us and not we ourselves. I didn't make myself
a believer. God did. God did. Faith is a gift of God. It's
an operation of the Holy Spirit. It's of God. And He knows them
for He hears their cry. in the midst of all this gloom
and doom. And brethren, listen, God will
punish sin. God will punish sin. Now he either
punish it on you or punish it on Christ. God will either deal with, David
said, if thou shouldest mark iniquity, who shall stand? Well,
you know what? God does mark it. But for all those who look to
Him, believe on Him, for all His chosen, He marked it on His
Son. And all this indignation I just
read to you out of the Word of God, His fury, His anger, His
indignation, His wrath, you know He took every bit of that out
on Jesus Christ. Every bit of that. All of that fury and anger and
jealousy All of that that I just read to you, the first six verses,
was taken out on Jesus Christ on Calvary's tree on behalf of
a multitude of sinners no man can number. Look to him. He's a stronghold in the day
of trouble, in the day of judgment. He's a stronghold. All right. Thank you, John. I have written
in the margin of my Bible that Nahum's name translated means
comfort. Comfort. I was comforted by that. Romans chapter 3 verse 25 tells
us that the Lord Jesus Christ is our propitiation, no anger,