Today we're gonna look at six
attributes of God. Turn if you would to Nahum chapter
one. Nahum chapter one. I decided
not to continue in our Acts study today, because I didn't think
there'd be too many of us here today. And so next week we'll
pick up where we left off in Acts. But Nahum chapter one. We'll read verses two to seven
today. And I'd like us to consider six
divine attributes of God. Six divine attributes of God
from these verses. Now the definition from Merriam-Webster's
Dictionary for Attribute is a quality, character, or characteristic
ascribed to someone or something. So these are characteristics,
a quality or characteristic or character ascribed to God. An attribute is a noble characteristic. When we speak of attributes belonging
to God, we're speaking of those things which are essential to
his being. Let us remember that too. Essential to his being. God's love is essential to His
being. His mercy is essential to His
being. His grace is essential to His
being. His wrath is essential to His
being. His judgment is essential to
His being. Because He's holy, right? His
righteousness is essential to His being. And all the attributes
are looked at when it comes to God through the lens of holiness. Our God is holy. Our God is just. Our God is righteous. He's the
sovereign king over all. Look at this in Ahom chapter
1. We'll read verses 1 to 7. God is jealous. Elohim is jealous. And the Lord, whenever you see
Lord there, it's Jehovah, the self-existent one. Revengeous. The Lord is revengeous and is
furious. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth
wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger. We're so thankful for that, aren't
we, as God's people. And great in power. Look at that.
and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath his way
in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of
his feet. He rebuketh the sea and maketh
it dry, and dryeth up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and
Carmel and the flower of Lebanon languishes. The mountains quake
at him. and the hills melt, and the earth
is burned at his presence, yea, the world and all that dwell
therein. Does this sound like someone
that we should shake our fist at? Do you see how longsuffering
God is for the sake of the elect with the wickedness of this world? And we were there, we were dead
in trespasses and sins, We see how long-suffering the Lord's
been with us, haven't we? And I was talking to Charlie
today, I was listening to a couple guys this morning, and they brought
out a great point. We're saint sinners, do you know
that? We're saints of God in Christ, but we're also sinners
still in this body, aren't we? I was talking to a fellow this
week, On Thursday, I actually felt good. I went out for the
first time across the road on Thursday, and went and got myself
a Diet Coke, and was sitting there and talking to this couple,
two fellas, and came up about sin. And I said, well, we're
sinners all the time. And he says, but if you willingly
sin, you can't be forgiven. And I said, well, that's pretty
funny in not a good sense. Because as saint sinners, we
willingly sin all the time, don't we? Don't we? Yeah, we do. But praise be to God. You know,
the difference is I was thinking about this, Charlie. I was thinking
about this this week, too. We willingly sin, but now we
repent. We didn't before, did we? Didn't
even enter our mind, didn't even affect us. Now we're like, oh
my gosh, Lord, I've sinned and I did it willingly. Please forgive
me. I remember an old preacher tell
me, one time somebody called him. It was a preacher we know,
too. He went home to glory, but he was telling me, a young preacher
called him one time. and said, oh brother, I've sinned so bad.
I've just sinned so bad. And he said, well, he said, confess
it to God and keep carrying on. What do we do? God's faithful
and just to forgive us our sins, right? To cleanse us from all
our unrighteousness. We confess to God our sinfulness, even after
we're saved. Praise be to God. He don't count
it against us, does he? Isn't that wonderful? Oh my,
I found such joy in that. I found such joy in that. You
know, people talk like they don't sin willfully. Every sin we do
is our flesh taking us off somewhere else, isn't it? My, oh my. And I told this fella, because
right away he said to me, he said to me, well, if I believe
what you believe, I could do whatever I want. And I said, listen to
this. I said, I had someone once tell me that. And this fella
claimed to be a Christian, and he said, well, I could just go
out and commit adultery if I wanted to then. And I said, you really
want to commit adultery? And he said, well, no. I said,
well, then why would you even say that? Why would you even bring
that up? I said the love of Christ constrains
us from sin now. The whole reason Brother Zane's
sin bothers us now is because we're born again. We're washed
in the precious blood of Christ. And now we don't want to, we
hate sin now. We hate it. So this does not
sound like a God to be trifled with, does it? This is the one
true living God that we're reading about here. Listen to this. I
like that. The mountains quake at him. The
hills melt. This is God. This is the God
of the Bible. This is the one we sinned against.
And praise be to God, this is the one who purchased our salvation
with the shedding of his precious blood when he became a man. This
is amazing. The mountains quake at him, the
hills melt, the earth is burned at his presence. Yea, the world
and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can stand before his wrath?
He's God. He's not the God of somebody's
imagination that thinks, well, I can get away with whatever
I want to get away with. No, we don't see that here, do
we? 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. Oh, have we not tasted that the
Lord is good, beloved? He doesn't give us what we deserve.
He's so good. A stronghold, look at that, in
the day of trouble. Stronghold was a place where
you ran to when the enemy was coming and besieging your city.
You ran to the stronghold, which was the one place they couldn't
get in. In the old days, it was usually
a tower of rock. They couldn't burn it down. And it was a stronghold that
you could enter in and be safe. A stronghold in a day of trouble.
He knoweth them that trust in him. Aren't you thankful he knows
us? And he intimately knows us, beloved.
Look at the first thing we see in verse two. God's jealous.
Look at that. God is jealous, and the Lord
revenges. The Lord revenges and is furious. The Lord will take
vengeance on his adversaries. He reserves the wrath for his
enemy. You know? Jealousy is not a fault when
it comes to God. It's a fault when it comes to
us. But it's not a fault when it comes to God. God's jealous because he's perfect.
Do you know who God's jealous for? His Son. You know who we
need to ask about that? Those who crucified him. God's
jealous for his son. God's jealous over the gospel.
The fact that Christ only gets all the glory and honor and praise. There's only one gospel. Oh my. God's jealous for his
own glory. Ask Moses. He struck the rock
twice and wasn't allowed to go into the promised land. Because
that pictured Christ, that rock, which can only be smitten once.
Can only be smitten once. And old Moses smoked that rock
twice. Aren't you thankful? I praise
God all the time that God will not judge me for my sins or cause
His wrath to fall upon me for my sins, which would be deserving
because Christ died in my room and place and they fell upon
Him and by His blood. We sang about that, by his blood. Oh, we're washed clean from all
our sins. God's jealous for his worship.
In ordinance, ask Uzziah. Oh my. God's jealous for his
people. Ask Pharaoh. Pharaoh said, I won't let him
go unless I let my people go. He said, I won't let him go.
What happened? Those plagues fell upon Israel, right? And
he was broken. And then at the end of it, God
wiped them all out. The strength of Egypt was wiped
out in the Red Sea. They were a very powerful nation
with those armies. All of them wiped out. And the
Red Sea drowned. And think of that. That's their
upcoming generations too. The strength of a nation is their
upcoming generations. Gone just like that. Oh my. Any assault upon this person
or resistance to his will, rebellion or to his will, or objection
to his purpose is evil. And must be and will be punished. And God, I'll tell you what also,
God will avenge his elect. He will take care of his sheep.
My oh my. He will avenge the honor of his
name. He will destroy his enemies. Look at the latter part of that
verse. The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries. And he reserveth
wrath for his enemies. He's no one to be trifled with,
is he? He's the Almighty, the one true
living God. Note the second attribute of
God, which we see in this text, found in verse 3. The Lord is
slow to anger. He's slow to anger. Oh, I'm so
thankful. The great and terrible God, whose
jealousy for His Son and His people makes Him furious with
righteous anger, We see his patience and long-suffering and forbearing."
Turn, if you would, to 2 Peter. 2 Peter. You know, God's not
in a hurry. God's not in a hurry to punish
sinners because, you know, his judgment is as sure today as
it is in the future. He's not in no rush. Things happen
according to his will and purpose, don't they, Charlie? His plan. Oh my. He defers wrath, beloved, giving
sinners space for repentance. So we see then that the one true
living God is merciful, God ready to pardon and willing to be gracious.
Look at 2 Peter chapter 2, verses 9, we'll read all the way to
18. The Lord knoweth how to deliver
the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust until
the day of judgment to be punished. But chiefly them that walk after
the flesh and the lust of uncleanness and despise government, presumptuous
are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries. Whereas angels, which are greater
in power and might, bring not rallying accusations against
them before the Lord. But these are natural brute beasts
made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that
they understand not, and they shall utterly perish in their
own corruption. and shall receive the reward of unrighteousness,
as they that count it pleasure to riot in the daytime, spots
they are, blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceivings,
while they feast with you. having eyes full of adultery,
that they cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls, and
heart, they have exercised with covetous practices, cursed children,
which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray, following
the way of Balaam, the son of Boshar, who loved the wages of
unrighteousness, but was rebuked. For his iniquity, the dumb ass
speaking with man's voice, forbid the madness of the prophet. These
are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest,
to whom the midst of darkness is reserved forever. For when
they shall speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure
through the lusts of flesh, through much wantonness, those that were
clean escape from them who live in error. Oh, beloved, how longsuffering
is God with us? We were enemies in our minds
by wicked works before he saved us, or before we were born again. He saved us 2,000 years ago,
but before we were born again, we were enemies in our mind with
him by wicked works. Was he not slow to anger with
us? I look back and I see how slow to anger he was with me.
I'm so thankful. Oh my gosh. It's amazing, beloved. Praise be to God for his mercy
and his grace. Look at Nahum chapter 1, verse 3 again. The
Lord is slow to anger. That's a fact. That's an attribute
of God. He's slow to anger, beloved.
Great in power. That's the next attribute. God's
great in power, beloved, and will not acquit all the wicked.
See, the wicked won't get away. People, we see the wicked prosper
now. But like David said, I go to
the temple and I know their end. That's humbling, isn't it? We
see the wicked prosper in this world. And some people will ask,
well, how can the wicked prosper? Well, that's what they do. But
we know their end, beloved. It's tragic. It leads to their
destruction. if they don't repent. If God
doesn't grant them repentance and God doesn't save them, if
they're not born again of the Holy Spirit of God, they will
continue to do that until the day they die. And I look and
say, Lord, you had mercy on me. You're so long suffering with
me because if you had left me where I was, I would have destroyed
myself just like them. And that's the humbling aspect.
That's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance, beloved.
when we start to think of the mercy that God's had upon us.
He says, when I see the blood, I won't remember your sin no
more. That's just amazing. It's just incredible. And it
makes us cry out, hallelujah, what a Savior, what a Lord, what
a King is Jesus Christ our Lord. So look at this stated fact.
He's great in power. This is a stated fact. Okay? He has all power. We get a little
bit of power in our lives, right? And sometimes it goes to our
heads. You ever seen a boss gets power? I had a boss one time.
He was a normal guy like me. And then he became my boss. And
it went to his head, man. He forgot where he came from. Oh my, let us never forget where
we came from, and let us never forget what we are. We're saints of God who are sinners,
aren't we? Saved sinners. That's all we
are. And we don't ever graduate from
that, do we? No. Let us always remember where
we came from. But here the scripture declares
he's great in power. Again, this is an attribute of
our great God. He's great in power. It's a fact. He's almighty. No one can give him any advice. No one
has more power than him. I was talking to a dear friend
again this week, same conversation as I told you earlier. And we
got talking. And I've noticed something with
religion. Religion gives man more power than God has. Because my buddy kept bringing
up his will, and I've talked to him for years now, nine years
we've been talking about this, and I just keep presenting it
to him. I love him, I keep presenting it to him. And I said to him
this week though, I said, be careful. that you
don't make your free will an idol and put it above God's sovereignty. Think of that. It's by God's sovereign will
that we're born again, right? It's by God's sovereign will
that we're made willing in the day of God's power. And I agreed.
I told him, I said, I exercised my will, I ran to Christ because
I was made willing. Let us always be mindful that
the only reason we're made willing is because God made us willing. And let us warn those who we
love, who make free will an idol, and vault it above the sovereignty
of God. Now he paused and stopped, and
his friend with him even said, what are you saying? And I said,
I'm saying what I'm saying. Don't make your free will an
idol and vault it above God's sovereignty. It's true, isn't it? It's true. Now, I've had to learn
that through the years. Because I used to believe that.
That I made a decision for Jesus. It was all about what I did.
Charlie, we've talked about that, eh? Praise God He was long-suffering
with us, brother. Praise God He was long-suffering
and taught us that we were made willing in the day of His power. It's Him who saved us. And how
did that come about? By His great power. Why are you
and I believers, if we're a believer here today, why are we believers
when so many others around us are not? Because of the power
of God, and the grace of God, and the mercy of God, shown to
us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Isn't that wonderful? So this
is a beautiful attribute, isn't it? Because it speaks of God's
almighty power. Oh. He's not a weak God. Our God
has all power. All power. Remember the former
things of old, for I am God, and there is none else. I am
God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning.
From ancient times, the things that are not yet done, my counsel
shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. calling a ravenous
bird from the east, and a man that executes my counsel from
a far country. Yea, I have spoken it, and I will bring it to pass. How has all that come to pass?
By God's power. I have purposed it. I will do
it. I will also do it. Hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted
that are far from righteousness. I will bring my righteousness.
It shall not be far off, for my salvation shall not tarry,
and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory. That's
Isaiah 46, verses 9 to 13. See, he has to bring Christ to
us. We never seek him. We don't desire him. He brings
them to us, beloved. He brings salvation to us. Isn't
that wonderful? And all the time before we're
saved, before we're born again, all that time, He's long suffering with us. And His power is working in our
lives, and we don't even know it, protecting us, keeping us,
and we have no idea. And then when we're born again,
when we're given faith to believe, we start to get just a little
wee understanding of how God protects us. Sister Diane and
I were talking about that today. It was wonderful. Just get a
little bit of an understanding of what He's due, what He does
for us. You know, even this sickness
and my fall and all that. It's all according to God's good
providence. All of it. All of it. The cancer that sister,
that you and Dan went through. All for God's good, all according
to God's good providence and glory. Isn't that amazing? We
don't see it at the time. We were going, oh my. But it's
all for his glory. All for his majesty. And it just
brings us to Him. It just causes us to desire to
worship Him even more. You said it today, brother. In
our weakness, He's strong. At our weakest point, we come
to realize He's strong. He has me. And He'll never let
me go. Isn't that wonderful? And he'll carry us home, beloved.
Oh, our Lord Jesus is amazing. And think of this, he has the
power to keep his word. In Isaiah, I read there, did
you notice he said, I will, and I'm going to do this, I'm going
to do that. He has the power to make those things come to
pass. We can say, I'm going to do this. But we may have the
power, but not the will to do it. Or we may have the will to
do it, but not the power or the means. He has the power, the
will, and the means to do as he says. They said, the angel
said, call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. And the Son of God, the second
person of the Trinity, who is God with all power and all might,
comes down to this world and saves us from our sins. Because
He's got the power, the will, right? The might to do that. And He did it willingly. The
sinless One dying for sinners. Shedding His precious blood to
redeem our eternal souls. And He is our righteousness.
God has brought His righteousness nearer, hasn't He? And that's
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, it's wonderful, beloved.
I'll tell you, it just never gets old, does it? Here in this
wondrous gospel. Let's read verse 3 again. It
says, The Lord is slow to anger, great in power, and will not
at all acquit the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the
whirlwind and in the storm, the clouds are the dust of his feet. Note this here. This fourth attribute brings
forth that our God is just. Note what it says. The Lord will
not at all acquit the wicked. Now, if he said to the wicked,
oh, well, you know, you did those things in ignorance and, you
know, I'm not going to punish you for that. He wouldn't be
just, would he? But Charlie, our God's just,
isn't he? So the scripture says he won't
acquit the wicked. There's no acquittal for the
wicked. My oh my. Our God is just. This is another
attribute of God, just as justice and truth are the habitation
of his throne, just as longsuffering His long-suffering is not a lack
of will or ability to punish his enemies. No. God's greater
than power, and therefore he's just. And his justice demands
the soul that sins it must die. God will not clear the guilty. A just God cannot clear the guilty. His law must be satisfied, right? His justice must be satisfied. He can't just wink at our sin
and say, Okay, I'm just going to let you go. His strict judgment
and his strict law and his strict justice must be satisfied. And if God is just, then he must
punish sin. Then someone would say, how can
any sinner ever be saved? Well, some might ask, will God
lay aside his justice that he might be merciful? Nope. He cannot. So justice is essential to his
character as well. How then can he save us? We can't save ourselves. Well, Job 33, 24 says, then he
is gracious unto him and say, deliver him from going down into
the pit. I have found a ransom. Beloved, we found a ransom. It's one who gave himself up
to be our ransom. Isn't that wonderful? It's the
Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity
who became a man sent by God to be our ransom. To satisfy
God's justice to the complete fullness. To totally fulfill
the law, so much so that scripture says he's the end of the law
for righteousness. That's good news, isn't it, beloved? Oh, that's wonderful news. That's
so wonderful, because the scripture says, a soul that sins, it must
die. But Christ dies in the room and
place of his people, saving us from our sins. Turn, if you would, to Romans
chapter 3. Romans chapter 3. We'll read
verses 24 to 26. This is wonderful. Romans chapter 3. I'll tell you
why. Verses 24 to 26. Being justified freely by His
grace, through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. Do you know that we're justified
by the grace of God through Christ? Through the shed blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Whom God, look at this, so who
did we sin against? It was God we sinned against.
Whose justice must be satisfied? It's God's justice that must
be satisfied. Whose laws have we broken? It's
God's laws. So the lawgiver becomes the law
fulfiller. In our Roman place, look at this. Whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through
the forbearance of God, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness. And he might be just, remember,
he has to uphold his law. So the scripture says, the soul
that sins, it must die. So God's law has to be, he has
to be just, right? He has to be just. And the justifier
of him which believeth in Jesus. So his, him being just, right? His wrath is poured out upon
the wicked for their sins. But being justifier, we don't
get what we deserve as God's people. And notice the clause
in this verse. And I ask you, do you believe
in Christ? Is he your Savior? There's a lot of folks think,
well, I can work my way to heaven. Oh, yeah, I believe in Jesus,
but they've never been born again. They're religious, but lost.
Look at this. To declare, I say, at this time,
his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of
him which, what? Believeth in Jesus. Is he your
all in all? Have you cast your hope upon
him? Scripture says, look unto him
and live. Look unto Christ and live. He is the only Savior of
sinners. The only one. There's no hope outside of Christ,
beloved. So if God Almighty saves a guilty
sinner and forgives his sin, three things must be done. The
sinner must be punished to the full satisfaction of justice.
While Jesus Christ dies in the room and place of his people,
who are sinners, the sinless one pays all that God demands.
His justice is totally satisfied by the sacrifice of Christ. The
next reason for a sinner to be forgiven, if God Almighty saves a guilty
sinner and forgives his sins, this must be done. Our sins and
our guilt must be totally removed. But praise be to God, the Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world And he cleanses the saved sinner
from all our sins. All our guilt is removed. All
our sins are pardoned by his precious, precious blood, beloved.
The next thing is we must become perfectly righteousness. Now,
as I said, we're saints who are sinners, right? We're saints of God, called to
be saints. And it's not by some man in Rome
telling us, no, those are false saints. Every believer is a saint
of God. Every born-again, blood-washed
believer is a saint of God. Isn't that amazing? I'll never
forget the first time I talked to my mom, who was a Roman Catholic,
and I said, I'm Saint Wayne. She fell over and had a heart
attack. Don't say that, Wayne. I said, well, the Bible says
it. I know I ain't deserving of that
title, but the Bible says it, called to be saints. Oh my. But we must become perfectly
righteous. How are we perfectly righteous? Only by being clothed
in the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ. We're made whiter
than snow, beloved. We see that beautiful snow out
here. I love it. It reminds me every time I see
that fresh snowfall, it reminds me of how we're cleansed from
all our sins, beloved. All our sins, it's so beautiful.
Every time I look at that, I see that. It's beautiful. And we can stand in the presence
of God all because of what Christ has done. Now we're still sinners
while we live upon this earth. but our sins and iniquities are
not counted against us. As a matter of fact, God doesn't
remember them anymore. Oh, it's wonderful. And those
three things can only be done for the sinner by the perfect,
complete, sin atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ in him
alone. None of that can be done by ourselves. None of it. Can all be only done by Christ
Jesus our Lord. Now let's look at verses 3 to
6 of Nahum chapter 1. It says, The Lord is slow to
anger and great in power and will not acquit the wicked. The
Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and the storm and the clouds
of the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea and maketh
it dry and dries up the rivers. Bashan languishes and Carmel
and the flower of Lebanon languishes. The mountains quake at him and
the hills melt and the earth is burned at his presence. Yea,
the world and all that dwell therein Who can stand before
His indignation? And who can bide in the fierceness
of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks
are thrown down by Him. Note the words in verse 3. Look
at this. You ever remember that song a
singer sang, I did it my way? Right? I think it was Sinatra,
wasn't it? I don't even know who it was,
but I remember hearing it all the time. I did it my way. Isn't
that man's kind of anthem? You know, I did it for me. Charlie, you said it today, like
looking out for number one. That's how we used to be, look
out for number one. But notice this. And I'm so thankful
this is in the Scripture. And we can rest in this, beloved.
Look at this. The Lord hath his way in the world. Here's another attribute of God.
He does whatever He wants to do when He wants to do it. And no one can stay His hand.
He hath His way. How do I know that? Well, I was
a hell-deserving sinner. I was an enemy with God in my
mind. And He hath His way with me. He turned me into a saint. He turned, I'm looking at a bunch
of rebels, he turned into saints. Isn't that amazing? That's the
mercy of God, isn't it? That's the grace of God. It's wonderful. He has his way,
beloved. You know, don't be alarmed by
this happening over here and this happening over here and
all this stuff happening and all this. He will have his way. We can rest in his providence,
beloved. Now, we're to be aware of things
going on. I'm not saying that. Don't put our head in the sand
like an ostrich. But don't let it rock your world. Don't let it sway you so much
so that we're filled with anxiety. God has his way. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, if I could just keep that
in front of my face, in my mind. It's wonderful. And how does
he do that? He has almighty power. By his
almighty power. He has his way. He has his way
in the whirlwind. He has his way in everything,
beloved. He's in total control of all things, at all times,
in all places. The Lord has his way. Form the
light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I the Lord do all these things Isaiah 45 7 Isaiah 45 22 look
unto me and be saved all the ends of the earth for I am God
and there is none else Isaiah 50, verse 2, Wherefore, when
I came, was there no man whom I called? Was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all,
that it cannot redeem? So is God's hand, now think of
that, is God's hand shortened that he can't redeem? Is it people
saying, well, God's done all he can, now the rest is up to
you. Is that not God's hand being shortened, Brother Charlie? His arm's not shortened, is it?
No, He saves His people from their sins. And then He takes
us from darkness into light of the glorious kingdom of His dear
Son, beloved, by His almighty power and grace and mercy, shown
to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Oh, His arm is not shortened
that it can't redeem. No, He redeemed His people from
their sins. And then we find out about it,
don't we? Oh, it's wonderful. It's wonderful. Oh, my. It's absolutely wonderful. Is
my hand shortened that it cannot redeem, or have I no power to
deliver? Does he not have... See, but
basically when folks say God's done all he can to do, they're
saying God's arm is shortened, and he can't... He got no power
to deliver you. It's up to you. So what have
they done? Remember, don't vault your will.
over God's sovereignty. That's what they've done. What we've read here, our God,
praise God we're saved. Praise God He's showing us mercy.
Praise God for His long-suffering. Oh my. Do I have no power to
deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up
the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness.
Their fish stinketh, because there's no water, and dieth for
first. Oh, my. In Isaiah 51, verses 10 to 11, art thou not it which hath dried the sea
and the waters of the great deep, and hath made the depths of the
sea a way for the ransom to pass over. Remember, part of the Red
Sea. Therefore, the redeemed of the
Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting
joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain gladness and
joy and sorrow, and morning shall flee. I, even I, am He that comforted
you, who art thou. Now shouldest be afraid of a
man that shall die, and of the Son of Man shall be made as grass. Isaiah 51 verses 10 to 12. The last attribute I'd like us
to look at in this text is in verse 7. Look at this. The Lord, Jehovah, the self-existent
One, is good. He's good. His providence is good. His mercy
is great and good. The Lord is good. Look at this,
a stronghold in the day of trouble. He's our city of refuge, isn't
He? The Lord Jesus Christ. He's our stronghold, Brother
Charlie, that we run to in a day of trouble. And He knoweth them
that trust Him. Look at that. He knows us. How
long has He known us for? from before the foundation of
the world. I was talking to a fellow this
week, same guy again. Had a lot going on in this one
conversation. And he said he believed that Christ died for
everyone. And I said, well, if that's true,
then everyone would be saved. And I said, can I ask you a few
questions? And he said, sure. And I said,
OK. chose to keep some angels from
falling and other angels fell. And the ones who didn't fall
are called the elect angels, which is chosen angels. And he
said, yeah. And I said, do you have a problem with that? He
said, no, I don't have a problem with that. And I said, OK. I said, now Israel, God chose
Israel out of all the nations of the earth. And for years,
all those other nations were just left in darkness. and perished
in their sins. And Israel had the sacrifices.
And it's a picture of the church in the Old Testament. And those
sacrifices that they offered were only for Israel. And he
said, yeah. And I said, so you got a problem with that? And he said, no, I don't have
a problem with that. I said, you have a wife? And he says, yeah. And I said,
did you choose your bride? Or did someone else choose her
for you? He said, well, I chose her. I
said, you don't have a problem with that, do you? He goes, no,
not at all. And I said, well, then why would
you have a problem with God choosing his bride? Called the elect of God. And I said, and furthermore,
If Christ died for everyone, then he's a failure because not
everyone's in heaven. And I said, and the scripture
says, he shall not fail. And he didn't. He saved his people
from their sins. And we find out when we're born
again, we find out we're one of those for whom Christ died
for. We're given faith to believe
on Him and rest in Him, aren't we, child? And we find out, glory
be to God. I'm one of His people. And then
the doctrine of election isn't something that makes us go, oh
my goodness, why? No, we marvel that God chose us. And I'll tell
you why. For Christ's sake, that's the
only reason. We're saved for Christ's sake. We're his bride,
beloved. Isn't that wonderful? It's just
so, it's so wonderful. But you see how God has, he's
a choosing God, isn't he? He is. All through the scriptures. And people don't have a problem
with it until it hits home. Oh my. And when God shows you that he's
a choosing God, we marvel again at the fact that he chose us.
Oh my. And then we find out, don't we? We find out that he's good. He's good. He's good because God in his
sovereignty has chosen to save and elect people and found a
way to save them, which is consistent with his law and mercy and his
justice being satisfied, right? His justice must be satisfied.
Christ dies in our room and place. His law must be fulfilled. Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness. He becomes just and the justifier. just and the wicked get the just
punishment that's coming to them. And you know what? I've said this many times. I'm
going to say it again. If a man goes to hell, it's 100% them.
But if a man goes to heaven or a woman goes to heaven, it's
100% God. Those who go to hell just getting
what they deserve. We don't get what we deserve.
We receive mercy and grace. Someone says, that's not fair.
I don't want fair. Do you? Praise God for His mercy. Praise
God for His grace. And then we can say, the Lord
is good. Can't we? Oh. You know, without God being
good, goodness is essential to God. Without God being good, He would not be God. Goodness
is so essentially the character of God that, as John Gill has
observed, there's nothing but goodness in God and nothing but
goodness comes from Him. James writes this let no man
say when he is tempted. I am tempted of god for god cannot
be tempted with evil Neither tempted he any man, but every
man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lust and enticed.
That's our flesh God is eternally and immeasurably
good. He does not change, right? He's
the same what yesterday today and forever isn't he he doesn't
change beloved And our hope is built on the fact of his immutability,
the fact that he doesn't change his mind about our salvation.
Isn't that wonderful? We're his people by choice, beloved. And then we're his people by
redemption. That's amazing that God himself
gave his life for us. Became a man and shed his blood
and died on Calvary's cross to obtain eternal salvation for
us. Truly God is good, isn't he?
Truly he's good, beloved. He says in Malachi 3, 6, For
I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are
not consumed. We're not consumed by God's wrath
and justice because God is good and it's been satisfied for us
as believers in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is why we say
flee to Christ. He's the only hope for sinners.
There's no other hope. God is infinitely, incomparably,
immeasurably good. Who can measure the goodness
of God? To what shall his goodness be compared to? He is good beyond
our highest esplanation, estimate, estimation, I can't even say
that word, you guys know what I mean, estimate, of what good
is. God is good to his own elect,
eternity itself. cannot tell out the fullness
of God's goodness. And remember, if you're one of
his sheep, then all his goodness is directed to you at all times,
because all his goodness is directed to his people, beloved. We don't
always understand, as Sister Diane and I were talking about
what we go through, but it's for our good and for his glory.
A lot of times, I'd say probably 80 times a percent, we don't
even know why we're going through what we're going, but we have
to rest in his providence, don't we? And I'll tell you, when we
rest in his providence, his good, as I read this week, his good
providence, so I keep hearing me say that, because I read that
this week, and I thought, God's good providence is so true. It's
always good. It's always good. As we rest
in God's good providence, It gives us a peace that passes
all understanding. It keeps our hearts and minds
upon Christ, doesn't it, Charlie? It's amazing. So let's read verse
7 again. The Lord is good, a stronghold
in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him.
Let us ever trust his goodness, beloved. Let us keep looking
to our great God. Even when we cannot see His goodness,
let us keep looking to Him. Let us flee and abide in our
mighty stronghold, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is merciful to all
sinners who come to Him. He knows all things eternally.
He knows all things perfectly. And may God give us grace to
trust Him more and more, more and more. My, oh my. Brother Dan, can you close us
in prayer today?