In the absence of our pastor,
we're glad to have Brother John Chapman to preach to us here.
Please remember our pastor and our sister Roberta, and we'll
make an end of prayer. Turn back to the name, the book of name. It is truly my pleasure to be
here this morning. It's so good to worship with
people who enjoy and love the gospel. I don't know if you can
worship anywhere else. You've got to worship where God's
people are at. The ones who love Christ and love the message of
Christ. I want us to look here at this
first chapter of Nahum. Nahum, the name Nahum means consolation,
comfort. When you read those first six
verses, or read most of this chapter, you read most of this
chapter, you think, why would one whose name is comfort, one
whose name is consolation, bring such a doom, gloom and doom message. Well, what's gloom and doom to
one is good news to another. The gloom and doom is to the
Assyrians, but it's good news to Israel who's in captivity.
And that's what I really want us to see. I want us to see here
that the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble. But I
want to go down through these verses here. I want to give you
a little background. Nineveh, and you all know who
Nineveh was. That's one Jonah preached to.
It was the capital city of the Assyrians. This is the same Nineveh
that Jonah preached to, and they repented and God spared them.
You remember that story well. God spared them. But as time
went by, they became worse than before. They became even more
wicked. All you have to do is sometimes go over and read chapter
3, and it gives something of their wickedness. It gives some
insight of it. But now, God sends them a prophecy. He sends them a prophecy of their
destruction. You see, the first time, He sent
them a prophet, and He spared them. But now, God tells them,
He's going to destroy them for their wickedness. He's going
to destroy them. Now, this prophecy was written
about 100 years after the preaching of Jonah. And about 115 years
after this prophecy, they were destroyed, and you can't even
find that place. You cannot find that place now. And it was a
great, great empire at one time. But here's a lesson. There's
a lesson here in this to be learned. God will do just as he said he
would. God will do just as he said he
would, and he has given us many proofs of it throughout the Scriptures
and throughout history. Look at the flood. Look at Sodom
and Gomorrah. Well, you can just go right through
history, and God has given proof that he does and he will do just
as he said he would. He's a God of his word. Now,
it says here in verse 2 that God is jealous. I looked that
word up. jealous. It means this, resentful
of rivalry in love. Resentful of rivalry in love. When you love someone, you're
jealous. Now, you're jealous if you love
someone, you're jealous. God loves his Israel. God loves his church. He loves
his Israel. And God is fiercely jealous of
their love, their love to him and his love for them. And he's
not going to allow anything or anyone to come between them and
their worship of him. Our Lord said, he said, if anyone
loves father, mother, sister, brother, son, daughter more than
me, he's not worthy of me. Now that's pretty strong, isn't
it? You know, here's my father, my
mother, and he says, you love anyone more than me. God's jealous. He's jealous, resentful of rivalry
and love. It also means this, protective
of rights. Protective of rights. God is
fiercely protective of His right to all honor and all glory that
belongs to Him. He's fiercely protective of it. He's going to get all the honor
and all the glory that belongs to him. He's going to get it. And it says here, And the Lord
will avenge you. Judgment may be slow in coming,
but it's coming. This world may think, well, this
is just something you all said for, you know, a thousand years.
It's coming. God will deal with every, I won't
say this, he's going to deal, he's going to bring into judgment
every idle word and thought. People think because they haven't
done some great sin that they're going to somehow get through
this thing. He said every idle word, every idle thought you
had, he said they're going to be brought into judgment for
it. And it says in verse 2, he's furious. I tell you what, I hated
it when my dad was furious at me when I was a kid. I knew I
was in for some real trouble when he was furious. And I looked that up, and some
of the old writers said that means this, master of wrath,
lord of anger. Anger belongs to him. He's lord
over it. He's not out of control here.
He's Lord, and he's Lord of his anger, and he's master of wrath.
Very strong language here. He's more than just angry, he's
furious, and this world is about to meet, as these Assyrians found
out, they are about to meet a furious God who's almighty and has the
power to execute that fury. And he will take vengeance on
his adversaries. I looked that up. Vengeance.
That means payment for wrong done to one or for one's cause. That's what he's saying here.
He's going to take vengeance on all those who have done despite
for his son, his grace, his mercy. It rains on the just and the
unjust every day. And they don't thank God. They
have no attitude this world has toward God. He said, here, he's
going to take vengeance. In case they didn't hear it the
first time, it's going to be repeated in this verse. He'll
take vengeance on his enemies. And his enemies are all those
who do not believe the gospel. That's who his enemies are. And
he reserveth wrath for his enemies. Reserveth. I remember when I
was a kid, Dad said, boy, when we get home, you're going to
get a bus. You're going to get a whipping. He reserved the time
for when we got home that I was going to get it. There was no
time out. There was no time out. You might get an eight count,
but you're not going to get it. You're going to get it. That's
why he said, he reserved a thread kept in store. As we read Colossians, there's
a hope laid up for us. There's wrath laid up for them.
It's kept in store. Little does this world know that
it's waiting on it. You see, men think that they've
gotten away with sin because God has not speedily brought
judgment on them. But they don't realize it's waiting
on them outside the door. When they go through the door
of the grave, it's waiting on them. And that's what he's saying
here. The Lord, in verse 3, the Lord is slow to anger. God's
anger is not like our anger. He says He's slow to anger. It's
not like ours. We get angry and we do foolish
things. We say foolish things. We get out of control. But God's
anger is just. It's just. And it's under his
divine control. Listen here. It is not a get-even
type of anger. That's my anger. I don't want
to get even. That's the anger of the flesh.
God's anger is a just recompense. It's a just payment for wrong
done to him, done to his Lord. But here is flow to anger. God's
flow to anger because of us. Because the scripture says he's
long-suffering to upward. Let me give you an illustration
of this. Noah preached for 120 years. He didn't build that ark
in a couple of weeks or a couple of months. This is 120 years. 120 years while the ark was building.
Noah preached, but God repelled his anger until he brought Noah
into the ark. Then he unleashed his anger.
Then he unleashed the flood of his wrath. He brought Noah into
the ark and all those animals that he saved. He did not destroy
Sodom. He did not destroy Sodom until
he first delivered Lot and his family out of it, then the fire
of God's wrath fell. God's anger, he's slow to anger
because he hasn't elect people. His anger, it says, is long-suffering.
He's long-suffering to us. Not willing that any of his elect
should perish, but that they all should come to repentance.
It's because God still has an elect people on this earth that
He's slow to anger, slow to bring destructive judgment. But when
He takes us out, what's this world's in for? The fire of His wrath is going
to fall on His enemies. And it says in verse 3, to back
this up, He's great in power. You see, I can get angry. I can
get angry. I can get angry at some people
I can't do anything about. But God can do something about
this one. He says He's great in power. He has the power to
execute His judgments on His enemies. And He will not at all
acquit the wicked. And I know there's many people
who believe that God's mercy, God's love, God's kindness is
going to override override his justice. But you see, God does
not execute judgment with emotion, with his emotions, like I do.
You see, my emotions get in the way, and I can't make good judgments.
So when God goes to execute the world, there's going to be a
purging for righteousness. The righteous Lord loves righteousness. And he will not at all quit the
worship. Our repentance in Christ is so
complete, it is so complete that God sees no sin in us. That's our complete idea. Because
I thought about this when I read this. It says he will not at
all quit the worship. I thought, I'm with you. I know what I am by nature.
I'm with you. But my redemption, my salvation,
is so complete in my substitution that God does not see me as wicked.
God sees me as righteous. But those outside of Christ,
he said, he will not at all quit the wicked. He'll punish them. The Lord, he said in verse 3,
the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm. Here's his sovereignty. Both
are His, not Mother Nature, but God of Nature. Both are His,
and He will accomplish His purpose and will in whatever it means
He uses it for. I want you to look over at Psalm
148. We look at the weather out there.
I tell you, he determines the temperature of every day. He
says, to the snow, be thou on the earth. Now you look in verse
8 in chapter 148. Well, look in verse 7. Praise
the Lord from the earth, you dragons and all beasts, fire
and hail, snow and vapor, stormy winds, what? Fulfilling his word. not just happening, they're fulfilling
his word. They're doing just what he sent
them to do—fulfilling his word. His will is always done. God
has his way, whether it's against a nation or against a man. Ask
Nebuchadnezzar whose way was being had. When Christ stood
in the judgment hall Paul said, don't you know that I have the
power to release you, I have the power to condemn you? And
he said, you don't have any power against me at all, except it
be given to you from above. Whose way was being had? Whose
way was being had? Whose way was being had when
he hung on the cross? They said, if you're the son
of God, come down and save yourself. Whose way was being had? Man's
way or God's way? God's way was being had. In our
trials and in our afflictions and in our heartaches, whose
way is being had? God's way is being had. His way is being had. And I want you to know His power
in the next few verses. He rebuketh the sea and it dries
up. He rebuketh the sea and it dries
up. Power is when one speaks and it happens. When he speaks, it happens. He has the power to execute his
judgments, and he has the strength to do just as he said. He's no
weak, defeated God. He has the power. And if he can
do that, if he can dry up the sea, if he can speak to the sea
and get dried up, what do you think he can do to a man? It says here, the mountains quake
at his presence. When he descended on Mount Sinai,
that whole mountain shook under his presence. And the hills melt. The earth is burned. The earth
is burned to his presence. Has anything ever caught on fire
or burned up when you walked in the room? When God comes on
the scene, it does. He says, when I come into this
thing, when I come on the scene, The earth is going to melt away.
It's going to quake at his presence. And if this earth cannot stand
before his presence, how much less a sinful man that hates
God? How much less a worm, a maggot, stand before God? That's what
it says in the next verse, verse 6. Who can stand before his indignation? I couldn't even stand before
my My earthly father's indignation. How in the world am I going to
stand before God Almighty's indignation? Who can abide the fierceness
of his anger? I tell you this, how long can
a snowball last in a blast furnace? That's how long a son of Adam
lasted in his presence. No son of Adam can abide his
indignation or the fierceness of his anger. Only those in Christ
have no need to fear, for Christ has taken that anger away. This
is the anger that Christ took on Calvary. This is the anger. And he says, even the rocks were
thrown down by him. Even the strongest cannot stand
before him. And then right here in the midst
of all this gloom and doom, he says the Lord is good. Right
in the midst of all this gloom and doom and indignation and
fury and wrath, he says the Lord is good. My, my, my, here is a shining
light, the Lord's good. This is for God's elect. This
statement right here is for the sinner who realizes this and
needs mercy. He needs Christ. He needs salvation. Here's the truth. This is a truth. Jehovah is good. He's all that
is good. He is all that is good. There
is none good, our Lord said, but one, and that's God. God
is good in nature. Any goodness that we have comes
from Him. It comes from Him. God is originally
good. He depends on no one for it.
I depend on Him for it. I depend on Him for righteousness.
He depends on no one for it. He has never done—listen to this.
God has never done or willed anything that was not good. I,
like I said, I don't understand a lot of all this goes on, but
I know this. God has never done or willed anything that was not
good. When God, in Genesis chapter 1, when God created the heavens
and the earth, he saw that they were what? Very good. God put goodness in everything
he made. He gave every green herb for
me. We get medicine from the plants
that God made. We get that from those. Animals
are good for clothing. They're good for food, good for
service. Everything serves the good of
God's elect. When He created the heavens and
the earth, He created everything. He put goodness in it, and He
put it in it for His elect, for us. When Eve looked at the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, she saw that it was first
good for faith. There was not some poison in
that tree. The poison was in the heart. There's nothing wrong with that
tree. That tree was good. It was good. Everything God made,
he said, was good, like its Creator. Only that which is good can come
from God. Nothing evil or sinful can come
from him who is good. Sweet water and salt water cannot
come from the same fountain. Our Lord told us that. And then
God is infinitely good. He's infinitely good. His goodness
cannot be measured. That's what infinitely means. I looked that up. I've gotten
a habit of looking up words to see what they mean. And it means,
cannot be measured. The goodness of God, the goodness
of God cannot be measured. Look how long it has rained on
the just and the unjust. Look how long God has allowed
wicked men to pretend, because they're going to enjoy this sunshine
today like we are. They're going to go home and
eat just like we are. Look at the sinfulness of man,
yet God feeds him every day. He's good. And God's goodness is immutable.
It never changes. It never changes. If the goodness
of God were to change, His nature would have to change. His nature
would have to change. His attributes would all have
to change, for the goodness of God comprehends all the attributes
of God. His nature would have to change
for His goodness to change. I tell you this, if he were not
good, if he were not good, he could not be God. He'd be another devil in whom
there is no good. He's good. He's holy. That's
why he sets him apart. He's God. Listen, his will and
pleasure is good. He has done all things according
to the good pleasure. I do a lot of things according
to my pleasure, but it ain't good. He does all things according
to the good pleasure of his will. We can be sure of this. His pleasure
and his will is good, even though we may not comprehend it or understand
it. God can only will that which is good, and God only has pleasure
in that which is good. Unlike men who glibly end their
shame and take pleasure in unrighteousness, God only takes pleasure and wills
that which is good. The Lord is good. That's why
I said the Lord is good. And He does not do it because
it's good. Now listen. He doesn't do it
because it's good. It's good because He does it.
God gives it His goodness. It's good because He does it.
He gives it its goodness. But now here, here's where I
want to get to. God's greatest display of His
goodness is found in Jesus Christ. It's not found in the plants
and the herbs that you and I eat every day. God's greatest goodness
is found in the person of His Son. We find in him the grace
of God, we find in him redemption, we find in him all the glorious
attributes of God. They're all displayed in him.
Moses asked God one day, he said, Lord, show me your glory. What did God say to him? Moses,
I'll make all my goodness pass before you. And here it is. God has made
all his goodness to his elect pass before them in the person
of his Son." God has made all the goodness
toward his elect pass before them in the person of his Son.
Now let's look at this just for a minute. We have in Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, we have in Christ God Almighty who is good. He is God manifest in the flesh. The Almighty God, as we saw in
Colossians, Creator of heaven and earth, Creator of all things,
by Him all things consist, all things were made. We have in
Christ God who is good. We have in Jesus Christ a genuinely
good man. That's why he's called the Good
Shepherd. Does none good know not one among
the sons of Adam? But Jesus Christ was genuinely
a good man. It's said in the scriptures,
he knew no sin. He knew no sin. He wrought out
for us a good righteousness. My righteousness is no good.
His righteousness is a good righteousness. We have a good righteousness
by his substitutionary works. He shed his good blood. His blood wasn't tainted with
sin like mine. He shed his good blood. He is
our good sacrifice, offered up by our good high priest. He is
our good temp and redeemer. He is our good friend, and through
him we have a good hope through grace. God has made all His goodness
pass before us in the person of His Son. And then the work
of the Holy Spirit here is good. We are created new in Him. We are a new creation in Jesus
Christ. And as in the first creation,
God looks at us in Christ and He says, It's very good. When
God sees me in Christ, He says, He's very good. Paul said this in Philippians,
he which hath begun a good work, the work of the Holy Spirit in
you is good work, is good. He said, he which hath begun
a good work in you, so we have here the will of the Father is
good, the work of the Son is good, and the operation of the
Spirit is good. Now, seeing that God is good
and everything he wills and does is good, then everything that
happened to believers before is good. That's what he says
in Romans. All things work out together
for the good. For our good. Goodness, it says, Psalm 23. Goodness and mercy. Goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, as hot on
my trail. God's goodness is continually
after me, wherever I go. His goodness is on me. God's
goodness and mercy is on me. He says in Psalm 73, 1, truly
God is good to Israel. He's good to Israel. Now that's
good news. And punishment for sin is good. God's going to punish those Assyrians,
and during that, in destroying those Assyrians, He's showing
goodness to Israel. You know, we can't say it now,
but when God casts the wicked into hell, which will include
close people that we know, we're going to say, hallelujah, it's
good. He's going to get rid of this
wickedness and this wretchedness. And it'll rise its head no more,
and I'll show you this here in just a minute. There's a stronghold
in the day of trouble. Man that is born of a woman,
it says in the scripture, is a few days full of trouble. Every
day has its trouble. Sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. But we who believe God have a
strong refuge. We have a stronghold. Our lives,
the scripture says, are here with Christ in God. No one can
touch our real life. No one can touch it. Everyone
is under his sovereign control. The heart of the king is in the
hand of the Lord like the rivers of water. He turns it with us
wherever he will. It's in his hands. He watches
over our steps. The scripture says the steps
of a good man is ordered by the Lord. Every step. And he knows
them that trust in him. He knows those that trust in
him. Anything wrong with the issue of blood? He had his back
to her. He touched him. He told her,
I said, who touched him? He knew who touched him. He's going to
draw it out of her. There's no private believers. He's going to draw it out. He
knows. He knows. He knoweth them that trust him.
We may not be able to see faith, but he does. He does. He knows them because he chose
them. He knoweth them that are his. He knows them because he
made them. He hath made us, and not we ourselves. You know why you believe the
gospel? Because you can't help it. I believe, I'm telling you, I
believe the gospel because I can't help it. I'd have to lie if I
said I didn't believe it. If I showed you, hold this Bible
over. You believe I'm showing you the
Bible because you see it. You can't help it, you're looking
at it. And I'm telling you, you believe the gospel because you
can't help it. God has revealed it to you, He's made it known
to you, and you believe it. He knows them that trust Him.
He knows them because He hears their cry. Because Christ took it all away.
He took it all away. Through Christ, we have peace
with God. Then verses 8 through 10, he gives another declaration
of his wrath against his enemies. Let me just lightly touch on
these. He says, but with an overrunning flood, he'll make an utter end
of the place thereof. One day, God's going to make
an utter end of this earth. It's going to be gone. He's going
to totally destroy it. They're going to be cast, it
says, into outer darkness. It's going to pursue His enemies.
That's all they're ever going to have is darkness and torment.
What do you imagine against the Lord? He'll make an utter end. God's going to make an utter
end to this. And listen, affliction shall not rise up a second time.
This won't happen again. God is going to so thoroughly
destroy the wicked in this world, He's not going to have to do
it again. Affliction's not going to rise up a second time. He
said, I'm not going to have to do this twice. I'm going to do
this one time. And when God finally destroys
it all, that'll be the end of it. For while they be folding
together as thorns all entangled, and while they are drunken with
drunkens, or they are drunken as drunkers, drunken with worldliness,
drunken with worldliness, drunken with their own selves, drunken
with their own righteousness, God said, they're going to be
devouring us, and I'm going to burn them up. cast them into
hell. He said, I'm going to burn them
up. There is one come out of thee, that is that King Shomeron.
He's talking about that king that imagines evil against the
Lord. A wicked counselor giving wicked counsel against, you know,
worship my God. Bow down to Baal. Worship, come
over to where I worship. Listen to what I... He said,
that's wicked counsel. He said, there's one that comes
out of the Assyrian, this wicked king, and here man is evil against
the Lord. He's a wicked counselor, thus
saith the Lord. Don't they be quiet? They rest
in their own peace. When there is no peace, they'd
be quiet. And likewise, many, they think because there are
many, the Assyrians thought because they were so huge and so vast
that nobody could ever overthrow them. Because there are so many,
they thought they were strength in numbers. Yet thus shall they
be cut down when he shall pass through. There are going to be
many. Only one is going to destroy
him. It's only going to take one, and that's God. When he
shall pass through. Now listen here. Though I have
afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more. Here's good news. God took those Assyrians, raised
them up, made them strong, afflicted, chastened Israel with them, afflicted
Israel with them. Now he's speaking to Israel.
He said, I have afflicted you with these Assyrians. I have
chastened you with these Assyrians. I'm not going to do that no more.
It's going to be over with. There's coming a day when these
trials, these heartaches, these afflictions, these chastenings,
he said, I'm not going to do it anymore. There's going to
be a day it's over with. We'll never shed another tear.
We'll never be afflicted with another pain or another thought.
He said, after I serve you, because he turns and he speaks to Israel,
though I have afflicted thee, I've chastened you, I'm not going
to do it again. It's going to be over with. These
trials and heartaches, it's going to be over with. For now, when
I break his yoke from all of these burdens that we have, all
these troubles and trials, he's just going to break them off.
When we leave this life, is not going to follow us. It is not
going to follow us. And I will burst thy bombs in
thunder, and the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee,
that is, the king of Assyria, that no more thy name be sullied.
He said, I'm not going to let you have any children to carry
on your name. I'm going to wipe your name from
off the earth. And I'm going to cut it off out of the house
of thy gods while I cut off the grave at Emeagwali. I'm going
to do away with all of these, all of these idols. I'm going
to destroy all the idols. I'll make thy graves without
vows. I'm going to put you in a grave. Behold upon the mountains. Here's what he's saying. Behold
upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings
of the Assyrians' destruction. Of course, that's good news to
Israel. And behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him that
bringeth good news of the Lord Jesus Christ." He has destroyed
all our enemies. He has taken away the curse of
the law. He has destroyed the power of
sin and Satan. He has delivered us. How beautiful. Behold, upon the
mountains, the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publishes
peace. O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, keep your solemn worship
of God till he comes, and perform thy vows." You do what you said
you were going to do when you were in trouble. You said, Lord,
if you get me out of this, I'll praise you, I'll worship you.
He says, you perform that. You praise Him, you worship Him
in spirit and in truth. For the wicked shall never pass
through thee. They're going to be gone. He
is utterly cut off. You won't have to deal, you and
I will not have to deal with sin, Satan, and the ungodly anymore. All we'll be able to do is worship
Him. John, you got a song? That's
good news. I wanted to say there's no service
on Wednesday night, and I wanted to please remember the Parks
family. Mary Parks' father passed away. Please remember them in prayer.
Thank you. Yeah, let's turn a number
over. 127. Number 127. Let's stand. all five verses. Hallelujah, Lord and Savior. Ruins giver to be slain, hallelujah,
for a Savior. Bearing shame and scoffing rue,
in my place the dead He stood, still my quarrel with Him was,
hallelujah, What a Savior! Guilty, vile, and guiltless He
Was the Lamb of God, was He Full of love and mercy Hallelujah! What a Savior! Lifted up was he who died, did
he finish what he tried? Now in the next I'll recite,
Hallelujah! What a Savior! When He comes as the living King,
All His plans are called to bring, Then our music's song will sing,
Hallelujah! What a day it's here!