I please God to bless us together
this morning as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
book of Nahum and we'll read from chapter 1 reading verses
6 and 7. The book of Nahum in chapter
1 and reading verses 6 and 7. Who can stand before his indignation
and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger. His fury is poured
out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. The Lord
is good, a stronghold in a day of trouble, and he knoweth them
that trust in him. We read together the third chapter
of Jonah, and in that third chapter of Jonah, we noted that Jonah
was instructed and made willing to go and to preach to Nineveh
the words that God was to give him. We know that the first time
he refused, didn't want to, And the Lord dealt with him very
solemnly, but very graciously. And the second time he went and
he told them that unless they repented in 40 days, Nineveh
would perish. And we know that they did listen
to the words of Jonah. And they did repent from the
king downwards. And therefore the result was that God's mercy
was granted to them. But now we move on about a hundred
years when Nahum was on the earth and God charges Nahum to speak
to these Ninevites And we're told that he was to not go and
speak to them, but to write the vision in a book. And then to
give the book to the Ninevites to see whether they would listen
to the judgments and the word of God. Well, in fact, God's
judgment didn't come upon them immediately, but it was again
another hundred years. when God's judgment did come
upon Nineveh. So we must think that Nineveh
is a very solemn example and a very solemn evidence of God's
righteous judgment upon those who do not hear and turn to him. There was that initial turning,
but you see the effect of it wore off. and the Ninevites returned
to their evil and wrong lifestyle. And it's a very important consideration
because in our lives there may be those times when we've been
faced with situations which we're not sure what to do and we may
have been reminded or spoken to by God in one way or another
that we are walking not in accordance with God's way, but we are walking
against God, and then God may have given us a willing spirit
to turn away from wrong and evil things and to seek after right
things. It may be as though we may have
perhaps turned over, what people say, a new leaf and changed our
direction. That doesn't mean the same. necessarily
that we're a converted person. It just means that we've changed
our position, realizing the way we were going was a wrong way.
Well, the Ninevites, they did that. They changed their direction
and they desired that God would have mercy upon them, which he
did, but it didn't last. It didn't last. They were then
again found walking contrary to God. And we must always look
into our little lives and to observe whether there are similar
situations which exist there. We can easily just go on away. I suppose we can analyze it like
this. We may feel we come into times
of blessing and then times of darkness. And we may bring those
times of darkness and difficulty upon ourselves. And God is a
very faithful and a very just God. You know, when Israel came
out of Egypt, there was that pillar of fire and that pillar
of cloud, and I'm sure we're familiar with that statement.
And of course, the pillar of fire was light to the Israelites,
but it was darkness to the Egyptians. It's a great blessing if God's
Word is a pillar of fire, a pillar of light to us and not a pillar
of darkness. And so here we have the Word
through Nahum to Nineveh instructing them of the situation of which
existed and telling them how great God was. And we need to
constantly have before us a picture and a realisation of how great
God is, and to not bring God down. In fact, what it means
is that we're trying perhaps to tear God from his throne.
It really means that we're not willing to submit to the will
and purpose of Almighty God. The Ninevites wanted to have
their own way and to pursue their own sinful desires. And so we
find that Nahum is commanded to write this book of this vision
and give it to the Ninevites and in it we are told, they are
told that God is jealous. God is jealous for his honour
and for his glory. and the Lord avengeth, the Lord
revengeth, and is furious. You see how we have these clear
words, the Lord avengeth, the Lord avengeth. We should not
think that God, I'm putting it very reverently, is a soft touch. He's not. He's a great God. We
must always realize He is a great God. and is furious. We perhaps tend to not realise
this side of God until the Holy Spirit convinces and convicts
us. People today like to think of
God as a very genial, kind and loving God who only has one side. Well you see, God is a righteous
God. God is a God of judgement as well as a God of mercy. And
so we read, 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 and will not at all acquit the wicked. You see, the only way that people
can be acquitted of their wickedness is not through their own ability,
It's because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done on their
behalf. And therefore God in his righteousness
will not acquit the wicked. They will only be acquitted through
the merits and through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. So unless we are found like the
Israelites were under the blood, we shall be like the Egyptians,
and we shall be lost, and we shall be ruined. And therefore
we are told, the Lord hath his way, God has his way. Never think that we can resist
the way of God. The Lord hath his way in the
whirlwind, in the storm, in the clouds, the dust of his feet.
Whatever the Lord desires, whatever the Lord ordains will come to
pass. Let us not think that God is
frustrated in any of His ways. He rebuketh a sea and maketh
it dry. We know that occurred, don't
we? In the Red Sea. Yes, the Lord commanded Moses
to command the sea to go back, and so it did. And there was
the dry land. That's the God, the great God
that we deal with today. And don't underestimate the power
of God, and don't underestimate His knowledge of your thoughts
and my thoughts. God is the same yesterday and
forever. I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. Yes, he rebuketh the sea, maketh
it dry, and dryeth up the rivers. Bashan languisheth, and Carmel,
and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and
the hills melt, and the earth is burned in his presence. Yea,
the world and all that dwell therein." Well, we know today
We've seen in our lifetimes great earthquakes in the earth. We've seen great fires burning. We've seen great fires burning
in Portugal recently and consuming all before them. And of course
we've seen that fire in Kensington, that block of flats which so
easily consumed all the cladding and the firemen were not able
to really stem that fire. You see, God is a great God. And so the earth is burned at
his presence, yea, the world and all that dwell therein. And then we come down to this
sixth verse, which in one way summarizes that which has gone
before. Who can stand before his indignation? Poor, puny man. And yet we see man putting himself
up as so strong and so powerful and dictating what he wants. We see the rulers of the earth,
those who think they're in charge and can change the course of
things, how they forget there is a great God. Who can stand
before his indignation? Who can abide? Who can live? with the fierceness of his anger. His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by him." Well, it's a little
description of one side of the greatness of God. And as we see
these things occurring in the earth, and as we read of them
in the history of our nation, the history of the world, in
the Word of God, and of course in other books and wonderful
accounts of the majesty and the glory of God in destroying multitudes,
well, we come today before that same God. And we may see it in
the things of nature, the things of the world, but also we need
to take these things to ourselves. in a very personal way, to examine
ourselves before a holy God and to see whether we deserve such
great judgements of God to come upon us. We can be very self-confident
and very self-sufficient and very desirous just to walk in
our little way plan our life and set the things before us
and with an earnest content and an earnest desire to follow our
plans. Well, are those plans bringing
honour and glory to God? That's really the test we need
to apply to the things in our life. Are the things that we're
doing things that we're saying, are they bringing honour and
glory to God? It's a very important consideration. It's a very necessary consideration,
because God made us, God created us, and God has made a human
race to praise his name, to honour him, In all that they do and
say, and what do we see? The vast majority of mankind
walking in a contrary way. And we by nature are no better. And it would be a blessing when
God shines into our heart and shows us exactly what we're like. so that we don't kind of stand
on a pedestal and think, well, we're a wonderful example and
we walk in this and we do that. You see, when God comes and reveals
himself only in measure as to what he is in holiness and what
we are in unholiness, we see then a vast difference, a tremendous
breach as it were, between those two diverse situations. And then what would it make us
do? Would it either produce in us
a spirit of anger and a spirit of enmity against God as we see
rising up in so many people's hearts today, or it will bring
us in holy submission to bow down before God and to acknowledge
He has a perfect right to do with us as it seemeth Him good
and not as we perhaps fancy or perhaps we desire. God's ways
are indeed higher than our ways and how necessary for us to be
conscious of that Jeremiah wrote in similar times and there were
difficult days which he was able to write and to speak of and
He tells us in the eighth chapter of Jeremiah's prophecy he says
Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding
They hold fast deceit. They refuse to return. And let us not just think, well
that was of course the people of Judah. The Word of God is
written for our benefit. To examine ourselves in the light
of God's Word and to see whether we have slidden back. The path has been slippery and
we've slipped back and we've held fast to deceit. We've often deceived ourselves. How ignorant and how foolish
we are in deceiving ourselves and thinking that we are far
better than in actual fact we are. What a mercy when God convicts
us of our sin, convicts us of the evil of our heart, and shows
to us how really bad we are. Not how good we are, but how
really bad we are. And so the Prophet is instructed
to speak in this way, and he says, I hearken and heard but
they spake not a rite. No man repented him of his wickedness,
saying, What have I done? Everyone turneth to his course,
as the horse rusheth into the battle." When things occur in
our lives, it's good if we say, well, what have I done? What have I done wrong? What's
the cause? of this which has come upon me.
What's the reason? What have I done? Don't look
to our neighbours, don't look to the person next to you on
the seat, look into our hearts and ask the question before Almighty
God. The Lord will tell us, the Lord
will direct us into that which we have done and What have I done? Everyone turneth
to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. Yea, the stork
in the heaven knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle and the
crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming. But
my people know not the judgment of the Lord." That means that
we don't take notice of the judgments of God. We pass them off. And
by that I mean this, we don't apply them to ourselves. We think
it has reference to others, but we don't apply them to ourselves. You know the word of God tells
us, judgment must begin at the house of God. And that's a very
solemn thought, isn't it? We shouldn't duck out of it and
think, well it doesn't apply to me. And so here we have, but
my people, No, not the judgment of the Lord. How do you say we
are wise? And the law of the Lord is with
us, though certainly in vain, matey it, the pen of the scribes
is in vain. The wise men are ashamed. They
are dismayed and taken low. They rejected the word of the
Lord and what wisdom is in them. Well, you see, we need to be
very aware of the truth of God's word. Therefore will I give their
wives unto others in their fields to them that shall inherit them.
For everyone from the least even unto the greatest is given to
covetousness. And the prophet even unto the
priest, everyone did it falsely. Well, we could go on. You can
read this 8th chapter in Jeremiah at your leisure. It's a very
solemn statement and it really indicates the desolation of Judah
and desolation of the church and perhaps the desolation of
our souls and the punishment of sin. We should never think
that we can get off lightly, we should never think that we
can sin without the knowledge of God. We should never think
that God hasn't noticed. God noticed and God knew the
sin of Nineveh. And it wasn't for many years,
but when his judgment came. And so we may have a tendency
to think, well I've escaped now, I've got away with it, I did
that and I seem to be alright, doesn't seem to be any problem. Well, God's judgment may yet
come upon us. You know, sins perhaps which
we committed years ago. Perhaps we've never truly repented
of them. Perhaps we've just pushed them
aside and think, well, that's okay. Nobody knows and they're
forgotten and God's passed them over. Don't misjudge Almighty
God. Don't think that those things,
evils, have passed over. Pray for that gracious, God-given
repentance over, perhaps, things that have occurred years ago.
Seek for God's gracious forgiveness and mercy. Well, here we have,
then, such accounts to instruct us. Don't forget who can stand
before his indignation. Don't think you and I can. Don't
think we're strong enough. Don't think we're able to. And
who can abide in the fierceness of his anger. Perhaps the anger
is upon us, but it hasn't been displayed. Or tremble at the
thought that it might be. His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by him. You see, all things are
in the control of God. He is able to bring all things
about, and nothing can stem the tide of God's wrath. But as he
looks in mercy, and indeed, as he looks upon His Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's where mercy is found. It's not found in our own ability
to turn to God. It's only found in that realisation
that the Lord Jesus has come and died and stood in our place
to atone for our sins. So that you see when the Lord
looks upon us, He sees his son and sees what he has done. And that's how we receive forgiveness
and mercy. That's why, really, as we come
back to that very simple illustration of that fiery cloud, brightness
to Israel, darkness to the Egyptians, So the Lord is brightness to
his people, but darkness to those who know him not. So we come
down to this 7th verse which tells us a great truth and what
a comfort it is. The Lord is good. He doesn't
deal with us according to our sins. He doesn't cast us off
because His mercy endureth forever. Yes, what a wonderful favour
it is to know that God is a God of mercy, that the Lord is a
God of favour. Remember, of course, I'm sure,
the 107th Psalm, which reminds us of the greatness of our God and
he tells us, the psalmist tells us, he turneth rivers into a
wilderness and water springs into dry ground of fruitful land
and the barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. He
turneth a wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into water
springs. See all these things the Lord does you see and there
is the judgment to the wicked and also his grace and mercy
to the righteous. But the Lord tells us, you see,
in the earlier verses of this 107th chapter of his mercy toward
us, when he says, such as sit in darkness and in the shadow
of death being bound in affliction and iron, and he gives us a reason,
because they rebel against the words of God. Well, have we rebelled against
the words of God? We may like to think we haven't. But it's good when God gives
us grace to examine ourselves whether we have rebelled against
the words of God and contend the counts are the most high.
Turn against it. Well, he brought them down and
he brings us down. with labour. He brought down
their heart with labour. That means our innermost being. They fell down and there was
none to help. But what a mercy we have a God
who hears our prayers. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble. When they remember the sins,
sins of their youth, perhaps the sins of the present day.
And God brings those things to their remembrance, which he does
sometimes to bring us down into our right place so that we're
humbled and are able to think what a great person we are, because
we're not. And so he brought them down with
labour. They fell down, there was none
to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. and
he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness
and the shadow of death, and he break their bands in sunder. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. For if broken the gates of brass
and cut the bars of iron in sunder, fools Because of their transgression,
and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth
all manner of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. And we read this glorious word,
he sent his word. When we are brought down, when
we are low in our own estimation, when we are under the condemnation
of Almighty God, when we cry unto God for His mercy, and then
He comes and sends His Word, a Word of encouragement. And
what does that Word do? Well, that Word will lead us
to the Lord Jesus Christ, because He sent His Word and healed them,
and we are only healed from that illness, that sickness of sin
by the death of the Lord Jesus Christ as another way of healing. And so to be brought to view
the healing power, the cleansing power of the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ and healed them, he sent God sends, He hears,
He sends, He heals, He delivers from their destruction, that
men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful
works to the children of men. Well, they are wonderful works,
aren't they, when we observe the goodness and the mercy of
Almighty God. And therefore, surely we will
then enter into the truth of these words and be able to say,
the Lord is good. And we say that when we realise
how unworthy we are of any favour from God. And we're able to observe
his favour, his mercy, his goodness, indeed his loving-kindness, and
we then can echo these words with the prophet and say the
lord is good and not only good but he is a stronghold or or
a strength in the day of trouble now these days of trouble in
our spiritual soul but they're days of blessings When the Lord
convicts to our hearts the days of trouble, yes, we bow our head
in shame. We bow down before Almighty God. We are then so dependent upon
his mercy and grace. We're not dependent upon all
our thoughts and all our ways and all our plans. We cast them
all aside. Because we stand guilty before
a great and a holy God. And He is, you know, a great
and a holy God. And we should always remember
that it's a mercy if you and I stand before the judgment seat
of God in this life. When we are convicted before
God and we stand before Him and we're not able to evade it, when
you and I stand before God. We can't move aside, because
God's eye is upon us. And it's a wonderful mercy to
realise that there is a God who is merciful, and yet to also
not forget that there is a time coming when the Lord will bring
that final judgment upon all things, and Peter tells us, the
Lord is not slack. Well, the Lord's not slack in
anything, don't think he is. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but his long-suffering
to us ward. That's true, isn't it? Long-suffering. We haven't been cut off. long-suffering,
to us warred, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. Well, what a mercy it is, a long-suffering
God to you and me, that has brought us to that condition where we
bow down in true repentance before Almighty God. And let us not
forget that repentance is a gift of God. You won't repent unless
God gives you it. You might think you do, you might
pretend you do, but you don't until God gives that right and
true spirit of repentance. And it's a mercy and it's a wonderful
blessing when that occurs. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night in which the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with a fervent
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall
be burned up, seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved,
what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation
and godliness." Well, the Word of God is very complete, isn't
it? What wonderful direction it gives
to us. And so to come to our God in
this time of trouble. He's a strength and a stronghold
in the day of trouble, when we're bowed down, perhaps under conviction
of sin. And you see, it's in that situation
then we cry out to the Lord in our trouble. You know, only real
prayer, real cry comes when we're in trouble. Things can be very
superficial otherwise, can't they? Very superficial. But when the Lord convicts by
Spirit, it's then not superficial, because the arrow of conviction
strikes right into our heart, and it has a gracious and glorious
and wonderful effect. We may not like it, but you know
there will be a nevertheless afterward. We'll realise it was
the goodness of God that did that to us. which enabled us
to turn unto him, pleading for mercy, pleading for forgiveness,
and being blessed with a right and true spirit of repentance. The Lord is good, a stronghold
in the day of trouble, and the consolation is this, and he knoweth
them that trust in him. He knows today our true condition,
He knows whether He has given us that grace to trust in Him. To trust in Him. What a wonderful
blessing it is. You see, when we are blessed
with that trust in our God, we trust in our God as our Father. And we come to Him as His children,
and we come with that sorrowful heart, and seeking that he will
forgive us and that he will take away our sins and it will be
in our simplicity and we won't come with a complex argument
as to why God should be merciful to us. We'll come very simply
and plead that the Lord will have his grace toward us and
look upon us in love and mercy just as little children. trusting
in their natural Father. Well, as we may come, because
we are His children, come praying that He will indeed look upon
us and forgive all our iniquities, forgive the hardness of our heart,
the rebellion, the wretchedness, the lustfulness, the vileness
of so many sins which crowd in. What a mercy it is when the devil
throws these things before us. You know the answer is to tell
him Christ has died. He rather is risen again. And there today, our great and
glorious Saviour, our wonderful High Priest, is seated in glory
in the Father's right hand, there to intercede for us. Well, we
have and advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous. And so we should be thankful
that we have the illustration of the work of God set before
us in the historical accounts of God's dealing with the nations
of the earth, dealing with his people quite clearly as he was
directed to write this book condemning the majority of the Ninevites,
yet there were those who trusted in the Lord, those whose hope
was in the Lord, those to whom He gave the wonderful gift of
repentance, those who would one day be with their Saviour forever
and thank and praise Him for His great and glorious counsel
which had come to them, enabling them to fully confess their sins,
and to seek for that mercy, and to find mercy, and to realise
the abounding love of the Lord Jesus Christ for such unworthy
sinners, and indeed to bless God for the love of God the Father,
the love of God the Son, and the love of God the Holy Spirit. God instruct us and bless us
from his word. Amen.