Believest Thou This?

Let's open our Bibles to the book of Nahum, Nahum chapter one. Sometimes there are things the Lord reveals that we wonder how that could be and what exactly does that mean? I want to think back with you for a moment to last Sunday when we were looking at Psalm 27, where the Lord said, seek ye my face. And the psalmist said, thy face, Lord, I will seek. The question is, what does it mean to seek the Lord's face? And exactly how do we do that?

And I've titled this message, Believest Thou This? And you'll remember that those are the words that our Lord spoke to Martha after telling her that he was the resurrection and the life. He said, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, shall never die. He that believeth in me, though he die, yet shall he live. And then the Lord said to Martha, believest thou this? Do you believe, Martha, that I am the resurrection and the life?

And she said, yea, Lord. I believe that thou art the Christ that should come into the world. She believed what God had revealed in his word about the Christ, and that the Lord Jesus was the fulfillment and the embodiment of that Messiah and that promise. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, he said, when he's talking about preaching the gospel, he said, we brought to you how that Christ died according to the scriptures.

So the answer to that question is how do we seek the Lord? We seek him, we seek his face in his word. And we see his face when we believe what he has revealed about himself. It's just not any more complicated than that. The Lord enables us to say with Martha, yea Lord, I believe. I believe what you have said about yourself. Nahum chapter one, Sounds very much like what we just read in Psalm 46. Beginning in verse five. Or beginning in verse four, actually.

He rebuketh the sea, he maketh it dry, dryeth up the rivers, basin languisheth and caramel, and the flowers of Lebanon languish. 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 ignatiation and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire. The rocks are thrown down by him."

So Nahum is revealing the glory of our God in his power and in his justice and in his righteousness, which the believer knows that they are worthy of. And then in verse seven, he says this, and this is what it is to seek his face. And this is what it is to believe who has revealed himself to be. Lord, in light of the fact that this is who you are in verses 4, 5, and 6, and this is what I deserve, yet the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him. The Lord reveals three things about himself. He's good. He is a stronghold in a day of trouble, and he knows those who trust him. Believest thou this Recently, I had to order some parts for my car. I ordered them online and there was several different options that I could choose from. And they rated the quality of these parts as good, better, and best.

And I thought about that when I was reading verse seven, the Lord is good. Good in our in our language is a relative term. And in the example that I just gave, it's relative to things that are much better than good. Good will just get you by. There's better and there is best. We often use that word to define men when we say there are good people and there are bad people. But again, we are using that term relative to comparing one center to another.

When God says he's good, it's not meant in any of those ways. The Lord uses the word good throughout his word to distinguish the difference between that which is holy and that which is profane, that which is righteous and that which is sinful. And usually the word good is found in the same verse with the word evil, good and evil. And we find that first expressed in the tree in the garden that Adam was not supposed to eat from, called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And so when God says, I am good, he is contrasting himself to evil. In Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 15, the Lord said, I have set before you this day life, which is good, death which is evil." And so here again the Lord has used the word good in comparison to evil to contrast that which is alive and that which is worthy of judgment and death.

So when we read verses 4, 5, and 6 in We are reminded of what we are worthy of if God judges us based on the evil in our hearts. When the Lord looked down from heaven, he saw that every thought of the imagination of the heart is only evil and that continually. So, Lord, if you don't If you don't reveal your goodness to me, I'll suffer the wrath of your justice because of my evil. And so this phrase that the Lord gives us of himself, when he says the Lord is good, he's not speaking of good like we would use it.

He's speaking of good in contrast to to judgment and evil and death. Peter speaks of the meat of the gospel, exercising the senses to discern the difference between good and evil. So when the Lord reveals himself as he does in Christ, why are you calling me good? He said to the rich young ruler.

There's none good but one. There's none good but one and that God. Paul, in light of the goodness of God, takes sides with God against himself when he says, in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. There's nothing good about me, not in the presence of God.

Now, we want to Compare ourselves to other men, that's fine in this life. We hope we are thought of as good people. But in the end, we stand all alone in the presence of a holy God. Who shall stand before, that's what we just read. Look at verse six. Who shall stand before his indignation? Who's gonna stand in the presence of God? They that have a clean heart, those that have a pure heart and clean hands have never lifted up their heart to vanity. They've never spoken deceitfully. They've never done anything that's not in God's sight perfect and righteous and good.

And so the Lord says, I'm good. I'm good. Do you believe that? Do you believe that all of your goodness must be found in me? And that you have no goodness to present before God for the hope of not suffering this indignation that I've just described? The Lord Jesus is our goodness before God. We believe that.

The first time we find the word good in the Bible is Genesis chapter 1 verse 4. God said, let there be light, and there was light, and God saw the light that it was good. He saw the light that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness and he called the light day and he called the darkness night.

And in that we see the truth of the gospel. We see this good and evil again. We see the life and death again. We see what the Lord Jesus meant when he said, I am the light of the world. Walk in the light. as he is in the light, and we shall have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ shall cleanse us of all of our sin. Oh, when God says, the Lord is good, the Lord is revealing his face to us. Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

We seek his face in his word, and right now in his word, he is telling us over and over and over again that we are evil and he is good. And that the hope of our salvation is to have all of our goodness found in him. Everything about him is good. And everything about us, in light of his goodness, is evil. Paul said in Romans chapter 7, when I would do good, evil is always present with me. I will to do good, I want to do good, but I can't. The good that I would, I do not, and the evil that I would not, that I do.

He's found himself alone in the presence of God. And the only reason that anyone would not bow and believe that they are evil and sinful in the presence of a holy God is because they've never found themselves in the presence of goodness. They've never stood in the presence of goodness.

The Lord is good. That's his nature. That's who he is. And there is none good but God. And if we're gonna stand in the presence of a holy God whose eyes are too pure to look upon sin, then we're gonna have to be found in Him. Not having our own righteousness, which is by the law, but that righteousness which comes by the faith, faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all my goodness before God Almighty. I can't claim any other. No other name, no other place. Not only is he good by virtue of his person, but he's good in his work.

Psalm 119 verse 68 says, thou art good and thou doest good. The Lord is good, David said in Psalm 145 verse 9, the Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. I mentioned Genesis chapter 1 verse 4, the first time good's mentioned. And you think with me for a moment, you'll remember that that word is mentioned seven times in the first chapter of Genesis. God is good in his creation. At the end of every day, God looked upon what he did and he said, it is good.

And when he was finished, he said, it is all very good. Nothing can be added to it, it's perfect. It's exactly like I meant it to be. It's not subject to to the evolutionary thoughts of man, it's just, it's what God made. And we see in that also, when the Lord makes something out of nothing and recreates us, he recreates us, he births us again. In regeneration, he makes something out of nothing. He says, let there be, and there is. And he says, it's good. I did it, therefore it's good. You do it? No. You put your hand to it, you defile it. I do it? It's good. It's good.

Not only is our God good in what he made physically in creation, but he's good toward his people in providence, in providence, for we know that he works all things for good to them who love him and those that are called according to his purpose. however difficult his ordained providence and purpose is in our life. We know that because God is good, that that's good. It's good. There are Hard days and there are easy days, but there are no bad days and good days. It's all good. It's all good. Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 11, the Lord says this, I know the thoughts that I think toward you. Thoughts of good. and peace, not evil, that I might give you your expected end.

Now that word expected means hopeful anticipation, hopeful expectation. All these things, Paul called his sufferings necessities. And James tells us, count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But when patience is complete, it makes us perfect and entire, lacking nothing.

The Lord uses these things, just like he did with David when David said, before I was afflicted, I had gone astray. But now, Lord, I've kept thy word. I've been brought to bow before thee, Lord. I've seen my dependence, my weakness, my need. Lord, it's good. It's good. It's been hard. But I know because you're good, your providence toward your children is also good. That you cannot do evil for them. Let's turn to that Psalm 119 that I was just referring to. Psalm 119. Verse 67. Actually, David didn't write Psalm 119, but before I was afflicted, verse 67, I went astray.

But now have I kept thy word. Doesn't mean I was, could mean, I suppose. Psalmist may have been saying I was involved in some sort of sinful behavior and now I've been rebuked and corrected and repented. But that's not necessarily how we have to understand that verse. Lord, I was filled with fear. I was filled with doubt. I was filled with unbelief. In my afflictions, I was wondering if you had left me.

David did say in Psalm 72, when I considered the prosperity of the wicked, my feet had almost slipped. But then I went into the house of the Lord and I knew their end. So this going astray is what we do every day in our hearts when we're working on our salvation with fear and trembling in this life.

And then the psalmist says in verse 68, thou art good and doest good. Teach me thy statutes. Now, in Psalm 119 especially, there are several words used to describe God's word. The word commandment, the word statute, the word law, the word precept. Those are just a few that are used. The word word are right here in these few verses. And it's not a reference to the moral law, it's a reference to all of God's word.

Lord, I had gone astray in fear and unbelief, looking for relief for my afflictions from my own wisdom, my own participation, maybe from the world, maybe from some other resource. I was trying, I was grabbing for straws, looking for some way to be delivered from these troubles. But then, then Lord, I went to thy word and thy law and thy precepts and my statutes and my commandments revealed to me who you are and revealed to me that you are good and that you do good for your children. And I found in you, my place of rest. And at least for a little while, I quit looking for somewhere else to go, and I was able to rest.

Verse 69, the proud have forged a lie against me, but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. Again, we... Let's don't read that and think, well, I'm going to be faithful in thought, and heart, and mind, and deed, and everything that God has commanded. That's not possible. But Lord, I'm going to hide thy word in my heart.

And I'm going to believe everything that you've said. To keep God's precepts with the whole heart is to believe all that God has revealed about himself. And if all the Bible is not God's word, And who gets to decide which part of it is and which part of it isn't? Who's going to put himself on the throne of God and make that call? Well, I think this is true, but I'm not sure about that. Who are you? See, when God gives you faith to believe his word, you say with the psalmist, I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.

Lord, I believe everything you've said. This model, you alone have the words of eternal life. We've got no place else to go. Their heart, speaking of the proud, the self-righteous, their heart is fat as grease, but I delight in thy law. Lord, I'm so thankful that I have a revelation of you made to me in scripture so that I can go to a place where I'm sure. I am sure. I see thy face. You said, seek thy face. Lord, thy face I am seeking. And you've shined the face of your grace and glory.

Through thy word, look at verse 71, it is good for me that I've been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. Yes, the afflictions of the flesh, the afflictions of sin, the afflictions of sickness, but the afflictions that all believers go through, the afflictions of doubt and fear and wandering and trying to find a place where we can stand firm and not be shaken by our circumstances. It's good, Lord, that I've been afflicted, that I've been tried by all of these things because they have all proven themselves to be unable to keep me. And I've got no place else to go but to go to thy law, thy precepts, thy statutes. Look at verse 72. The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. Lord, I'm experiencing some financial problems and I don't know. And sometimes I think, well, if I just had this much money, all my problems would go away. But Lord, I know it's not true. I know that the deceitfulness of riches is just that. They promise what they cannot deliver, but what you promise, you are faithful to keep.

And so your promises and your law and your precepts are more precious to me than all the silver and gold of this world. And in salvation, Our God is good. The greatest glory of his goodness is revealed in Christ and culminates at the cross. His goodness is seen in election.

I've heard people blaspheme God by saying that the doctrine of election is evil. Well, there again, we see what God said about good and evil. Men will call good evil, and they will call evil good. They will call God's sovereign purpose in election an evil doctrine, and they will call man's free will a good thing.

Oh, if God never, if God did not sovereignly, according to his own will and purpose, choose a particular people before the foundation of the world, no one would be saved. Election is not a closed door to heaven. It's the only door that there is to heaven. No one would believe. We would never come to God. We would never see his face. We would never have an interest in the things of God if God did not choose us, if he did not elect the people. Revelation, we've been talking about the fact that God has revealed himself.

Look at verse 75 in Psalm 19. You're still there, I hope. Verse 75, I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hath afflicted me. Lord, what you say is right and what you do is good. I know that. I know that's right. Lord, why do I fear? Why do I doubt? Why do I look somewhere else? You've revealed that to me in your word, and you've proven it to be true over and over and over again. Lord, you've been so good. You've been so good in revealing the gospel to me. Why would you do that?

We don't speak of being God's chosen people proudly. We're humble about it. He chooses that which is not, the weak things of the world, the things which have no strength and no power and no hope and no glory, that all the praise and glory would go to Him. In redemption, God is good.

The Lord Jesus said to his heavenly Father, Father, I've loved them to the end. He loved his bride all throughout. And his perfect life of obedience, his perfect righteousness before his Father, he did that. He did that for his bride. He's redeeming her. Yes, the culmination of his redemptive work was at Calvary's Cross, but his whole life was a life of redemption.

We can't redeem ourselves. He has to buy us. He has to purchase us. And the only reason that his blood was precious, a precious ransom price for us, because his life was perfect. His life was without sin. He had to be He had to live a perfect, sinless life in order to be able to make a sacrifice that would be acceptable to God. And he did that out of the goodness of his heart. In regeneration, the goodness of God.

It was the Lord that said to to the servant, are there any left from the household of Saul that I might show them kindness for Jonathan's sake? And what did Ziba say? Ziba said, well, there's Mephibosheth. There's a crippled boy over there. Go fetch him. Go fetch him. And God, in fetching grace, sends his Holy Spirit. and sends the message of his gospel to each one of his Mephibosheths. And he brings them back to the king's palace and sits them at the king's table and feeds them the king's fare all the days of their life. And what does the Mephibosheth say?

Why would the king look upon such a dead dog as I? Why would you have mercy upon me? Lord, why'd you do this for me? I've got nothing to boast in. Lord, this is your doing. He's good in keeping us, in keeping us apart, sanctifying us, causing us in all of our wanderings, in all of our fears, in all of our doubts, In all of our sleepless nights, in all of our struggles with sin and with this world, he's faithful to continue to afflict us and to bring us back. And to cause us to bow again and again and again and again. And he's going to remain good and faithful to do that until the day that he sends his mighty angel and takes us home. Takes us home to be with him in glory and he will be good.

And we often read in the scriptures where the Lord speaks of the land of the living. The land of the living. This is the land of the living. The Lord is good to them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. We seek him in the land of the living. And the more we seek of his face, the gooder he is, the gooder he is. One day, one day we will see the beauty of His goodness as we long to see it now in the eternal land of the living, where there is nothing but righteousness and nothing but life in Christ. We shall see the goodness of God, Psalm 27, in the land of the living. We see his goodness when Christ is lifted up, when the gospel is preached. The gospel is not preached anywhere except in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. You're not going to hear the gospel from the world. You're not going to hear the gospel in false religion. You're not going to hear the gospel on the news.

No, the land of the living is where the Lord Jesus is lifted up. Go back with me to our text. The Lord is good. He's good. Nahum, chapter one. Believest thou this? Do you believe that he's good? As the Bible defines good, in stark contrast to evil, the Lord is good. And he's a stronghold in the day of trouble.

What troubles we have in this world, beginning first and foremost with ourselves. Oh, we walk in a land of death and dryness and sin, but that's not our real problem, is it? Our real problem's not out there. My real problem is right here. This is my real trouble. Lord, this is why I need for you to minister your grace and show your face and give me faith to believe you, Lord, more than anywhere else. Lord, my own sin, my own unbelief, my own doubts, my own struggles. Yes, the accusations of the evil one.

Got an email from a dear brother in another country, other side of the world, at least the other side of the big pond anyway, over in Europe. And I don't think he would mind me sharing this with you. He's in his 80s, and he was at his wife's grave, and he was He was grieving over the loss of his wife at the cemetery. She died just recently, some time back, but he went to visit her grave this past Sunday. And as he was going home from his wife's grave, he was feeling the remorse of all the mistakes that he had made. in his relationship with his wife. I'm not suggesting in any way that this dear brother had a bad marriage.

I'm just saying that that's what the accusations of the devil are. That he will, in our sin, he will point us to all of our failures, all of our shortcomings, And he will put those things in our face. And he said, as I thought about all the things I wish I could do over again, I became more and more grieved and more and more distraught.

And I got home and went online. And listen to the message that you preach from Hebrews chapter 4, that we have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all ways tempted as we are, yet without sin. And he said, the fear and the doubts all went away. I knew I had a Savior. And I knew that all those, all those Accusations were being brought to me by the accuser of the brethren. But I have a Savior, I have a righteousness, I have a goodness before God in Christ and He is all my goodness and He sympathizes with me. He feels the feelings of my infirmities.

The Lord is a stronghold in the day of trouble. Mark, your pastor, Scott, I think said one time, God keeps his people in trouble, going into trouble, or coming out of trouble their whole life. And I had a brother say recently to me, he said, you know, I never really had trouble until I started coming to the, church and heard the gospel and believed the gospel, I said, you had trouble before.

You just didn't know it. Your trouble was worse then. We're aware of our trouble now, aren't we? We didn't know we had an old man until we got a new man. We didn't know what our sinful nature was until the Lord revealed Christ to us. We didn't know what evil was until we got a glimpse of goodness.

Isaiah said in Psalm 41, fear thou not for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee. I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. So much trouble. What's the Lord say? I'm good. And I am your strength when you're in trouble. You're not going to find this word strength. We don't know anything of His strength until we are without strength, do we? All right, look at, the Lord is good. He's a stronghold in trouble.

He knoweth them that trust in him. He knoweth them that make him to be their refuge. He knoweth them that flee to Him for their protection. He knoweth them that have Him for their hope. He knoweth them. Now, it's not that the Lord is looking around for somebody that trusts Him and then He says, oh, I know you. No, this word know is It's, well, the first time we see it is when the scripture says Adam knew his wife and she conceived. It's the intimacy that the Lord has for his people. I know you. I know you by name. I know my sheep. I know them personally.

The best contrast we have to this knowledge that God has of his people is seen in what the Lord says to the goats on the day of judgment when they present to him their righteousness. But Lord, we did many wonderful works in thy name. And what does the Lord say to them? Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. Now, the Lord's not saying He wasn't aware of their existence. He made them. He knew everything about them. He's saying, I never knew you savingly. I never knew you intimately. I never knew you personally. I never... What you saw as your goodness before me, I'm saying is iniquity.

And so what is it about those who know Him? They know that in them, there's nothing good. They know that he's all their goodness. They know that in their time of trouble, he's their only place of refuge. He's their help. He's the only one that can provide for them in their real need for forgiveness and for grace and for strength and for the ability to come boldly before the throne of grace. The Lord Jesus is the only one that can do that.

Psalm 9 verse 10 says, them that know thy name will put their trust in thee. He knows us. I know them that trust me. They trust me because I've revealed myself to them. I've taught them what my name means. They know that I am means that I am the sovereign, self-sufficient, self-existent creator and sustainer of all of life. They know that my name is Jesus because I saved my people. They know that I am their help and their ever-present help in time of need. They know that I am their strength. I know them. I know them affectionately.

In Ephesians chapter 5, when the Lord said, husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Over the years, I've met so many men that want to take the part about wives submitting to the husbands and forget that part. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself. And though we men want to love our wives like that, we can't.

But he did. He did. He said, for the wife, And the husband are the two become one flesh. And no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes it and cherishes it, even so Christ did for his church. What is the Lord telling us? That his church is his body. It's his body. No man ever hated his own body.

He cherishes it, he loves it, he provides for it, he protects it. And so Christ did for his church. He loves them savingly. The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. Believest thou this? I'm good. I'm your only help in your trouble. And I know them that trust me. I've made myself known to them that trust me. And all of their hope is resting in me. Believest thou this? The Lord said, seek my face. And my heart said, thy face, Lord, will I seek. Tom? 224. 224. Let's stand together.

I know not why God's wondrous grace to me he hath made known, nor why unworthy Christ in love redeemed me for his own. But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. I know not how His saving grace to me He did impart, Nor how believing in His Word Brought peace within my heart. But I know whom I have believed in And am persuaded that He is able To keep that which I've committed Unto Him against that day. I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing man of sin. We believe Jesus' truth.

I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. I know not what, of good or ill, may be reserved of weary ways or golden days before his face I see. But I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him again. Nor if I'm off to a bale with him Or meet him in the air But I know whom I have believed And am persuaded that he is able To keep that which I've committed Unto him against that

Believest Thou This?

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