Back to Nail. Chapter 1. I sketched out these notes 2
or 3 weeks ago. Just laid them in my desk. Made
a skeleton outline of it. And while I was over here yesterday
working on this morning's message I looked at those notes again.
And I thought, I'll just bring that tonight. God is great. God is good. That's the title of the message. God is great. God is good. When I was a boy growing up in elementary school,
I don't remember if it was fourth, fifth grade, somewhere in there. I had a teacher named Miss Lambert. Every morning we said the Pledge
of Allegiance, and every noon at lunchtime we said this prayer,
God is great, God is good, And we thank Him for our food. By
His hand we all are fed. Give us, Lord, our daily bread.
We said that every day. And I was fourth grade, maybe
fifth grade. Well, I have learned over the
years by the grace of God that God is great. What I once said
Because the teacher led us in it and had us to say it. We all
had to say it out loud. We said it as a class. I have learned. God is great. God is good. And we do thank
Him. We thank Him for all that we
have. We thank Him for our daily bread. But most of all, we thank Him for
His Son. the Lord Jesus Christ, that He
would give His Son for such a people like us. God is great. Great in mercy. Great in grace. Great in love. God is great. And I want us to look at really
verse 7, but I'll touch on some of these other verses before
verse 7. is the prophet. His name means
comforter. Comforter. It didn't sound like
much comfort being read there through those verses to Nineveh.
There was no comfort to Nineveh. None whatsoever. The comfort is to his people. In this torrent of wrath that
Nahum is speaking of, that's coming on the Ninevites. Right
in the midst of this torrent of wrath, this flood of wrath,
there's this island. There's this oasis for sinners. There's this stronghold for sinners,
for God's people. Right in the midst of all this
trouble and all this wrath that's coming, In verse 7 he says, but
the Lord is good. He's good. He's good. Even though he pronounces judgment
on Nineveh, and that's what he's doing here, he's pronouncing
judgment on this city, on the Assyrians, Nineveh being the
capital city of Assyria, the message is good news to God's
people, to God's Israel. If you were in captivity to those
Syrians, it's good news to them. What's bad news to the Assyrians
is good news to God's people. If you'll remember, concerning
these Ninevites, God sent them a prophet earlier, didn't He?
Jonah. God sent them a prophet named
Jonah, and Jonah preached to them. And it says they repented
and sat clothed in ashes, and God turned away his anger. But
repentance that does not lead to godly sorrow will not last long, will it?
It will not last long, and it will actually increase judgment. Now God sends them a prophecy
of doom. The first time He sent them a
prophet. This time they've got a prophecy of their pending doom
that's coming. God used the Assyrian army to
chasten His people. All things are of God. He'll
use whatever He purposes to use to chasten His people. And here
He used the Assyrian army to do it. But now He's going to
burn up the rod of chastening that He used Because they were
so abusive to God's people. So now He's going to turn and
destroy this rod that He's used. And then Maniam says here, in
verse 2, he starts out and he says, God is jealous. He's jealous. He's jealous for
His glory. He said, I will not give my glory
to another. I will not give my redemptive
glory. He will not give the glory of His person to another, to
another God, to anyone else. It belongs to Him. He's jealous
of His glory. He's jealous of His people who
are the apple of His eye. You are the apple of His eye.
God is jealous over you. He's jealous. Another way to
read this is this way. God is inflexibly just. Inflexibly just. Therefore, he says, he revengeth.
He will execute his justice on the wicked. That's going to happen. That's
coming. His name said it's coming to
these nanobytes. And it did. It happened. God
just broke their back. It's coming on this world. It's
coming. He revenges. He'll execute His
justice. Look back in the days of Noah. It takes God giving faith to
a man to believe that this whole earth was flooded. What was it? Twenty feet above the highest
hill? The highest mountain? God flooded this earth. God burned
Sodom and Gomorrah to the ground. He has given many examples of
His justice and the execution of it. He's given it throughout
history. Behold the works of the Lord, as we read. Come behold
the works of the Lord. He will execute His justice.
His wrath is reserved. It's waiting to be executed.
It's just waiting. It's reserved. Waiting. Now this, here in this verse,
it says, God is jealous. The Lord revengeth. The Lord
revengeth. And He's furious. That doesn't
mean He's out of control. God is never out of control.
Never. You'll notice it says in verse
3, He's slow to anger. That's self-control, isn't it?
He's slow to anger. God is long-suffering. That's
an attribute of God. He's long-suffering. And He's
great in power. He has the power to execute His
justice. He has the power to bring to
pass what He says and what He's purposed. He has the power to
bring it to pass. All power belongs to Him. And it says here, to
prove His power, or to demonstrate it, He hath
His way in the whirlwind and in the storm. I've watched the hurricanes,
and you have too, on television. Massive hurricanes. Category
5 hurricanes. Well, that's His storm. He is
in the storm. And He executes His judgment
in the storm. Whatever happens in that storm,
whatever destruction it brings, and I know that religion and
the world don't want to hear this, but whatever destruction
it brings, whatever life it takes, He did it. He did it. And that's what men
need to be told. They need to be told that God
is the God of the storm as well as the calm. He hath His way in the whirlwind
and the storm and the clouds. The clouds that you see overhead,
He said, are nothing but the dust of His feet. All belong to Him. All do His
bidding. Everything does His bidding. Everything is at His disposal
to use as He purposes. He rebukes the sea. He speaks
here more of His power. And this also shows His majesty. The glory of His person, His
majesty. He rebukes the sea. And He makes
it to dry up. You know that one incident that
the Lord did concerning Israel parting the Red Sea and then
walking over on dry ground, that was never forgotten. That is
mentioned throughout the Old Testament time after time after
time. He drieth up, He rebuketh the
sea, and He maketh it dry. They went over on dry ground.
And He dries up the rivers like He did Jordan. He withholds the
rain. Worry about global warming? It
might be a judgment against sin. If you look in the Word of God,
when He brought judgment against sin a lot of times, He withheld
the rain. Yeah, He changed the climate alright. It was changed
by Him. It was a judgment against sin. But no, we want to charge things
like that to global warming. We don't want to face God. We
wouldn't want to do that, would we? And the flower of Lebanon languisheth. He dries up the fruit of it.
God does all these things. Men need to quit looking to secondary
things or causes and look to Him. He's the one who controls
it all. He's the one who gives the rain.
He's the one who withholds it. He's the one who blesses and
gives the fruit. He's the one who withholds it. God does this. He does this. Who can stand before
His indignation? When God rises up in judgment
against sin, who can stand before His indignation? Who can
abide in the fierceness of His anger? This is a violent scene, isn't
it? You can read the rest of that chapter. This is a violent
scene. And I'm telling you this, judgment
is violent to the ones being executed on. Listen to this. When he cast
the wicked into hell, there will be weeping, wailing, and he says,
gnashing of teeth, unleashed hatred. Unleashed violence. That's what's going to happen. However, I'm glad it doesn't end like
that, aren't you? I'm sure glad that we have verse 7 right here,
right in the midst of all this wrath that's coming. All this
indignation. All this vengeance. All this
fury. That's coming, listen, not from
just a man or an upset king. This is coming from the God of
creation, executing His justice. As the prophet pronounces this
judgment against Nineveh, he's made to remember God's goodness. And he points out God's goodness
to Israel, to God's people. You see, they are captives of
Assyria. And all this indignation is coming
on Assyria. And it's like, well, what's going
to happen to us? We live in the midst of these
people. What's going to happen to us? So the prophet cries out. And I believe he cries out here.
The Lord is good. Now listen, when God sends the
wicked, and that's everyone that does not believe the gospel,
anyone that does not believe Christ, when God sends the wicked
to hell, He's good. When He is executing His justice,
He is good. Good is the nature of God. He's
good. The Lord is good, a stronghold
in the day of trouble, and He knoweth them that trust in Him.
He's all that is good. This describes His character. We speak of God as holy, and
He is. But He's also, in the same breath,
good. If He were not holy, He wouldn't
be good. If He were not good, He wouldn't be holy. It describes
His character. God is great. Great in power. Great in mercy. And God is good. He's good. I want to read you some things
I printed off today because I didn't want to turn to all of these.
It would be too long. But let me read you some of these.
Now listen. In Psalm 34, verse 8. Oh, taste and see that the
Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in Him. Psalm 105, verse 5. For the Lord is good, His mercy
is everlasting, and His truth endureth to all generations. He's good. Psalm 135, verse 3. Praise the Lord, for the Lord
is good. Sing praises unto His name, for
it is pleasant. Psalm 145, verse 9. The Lord
is good to all. And His tender mercies are over
all His works. Jeremiah 33, verse 11 says, The
voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom
and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say,
Praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy
endureth forever. And Lamentations 3, verse 25,
The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that
seeketh Him, And here in our chapter, in verse 7, the Lord
is good. He's good. And He's all that
is good. He's good in Himself. When He
created the heavens and the earth, He looked at everything He made
and said, It's very good. Where did it get its goodness
from? God. If there's any goodness in me,
if there's any goodness in you, He put it there. It's a work
of God, if there's any in us at all. Every day declares His
goodness. Here we sit comfortably, listening
to His Word that He has sent to us. Boy, the Lord is good. We have the Gospel preached to
us every week. The Lord is good. We are allowed to read His Word.
We are allowed to have His Word in our homes. We are allowed
to sit in quietness and study His Word. The Lord is good. He's good. He's a stronghold in the day
of trouble. That means strength. He's your
strength. Look over in Psalm 27. The Lord is good. He's good to
His people. Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength, the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be
afraid? He's our stronghold in the day
of trouble. God in Christ is our stronghold. Nineveh, you don't have a stronghold. Those who are outside of Christ,
do not believe the gospel of Christ, you do not have a stronghold. You don't have one. You don't
have one. Whatever trouble we find ourselves
in, Christ is our stronghold. Christ is our strength. Whatever
trouble we find, Christ is our strength. Is it sin? I find myself in trouble with
sin. Christ is my stronghold. His blood, His righteousness,
His person, the God-man, is my stronghold. It's my strength. It says over Zechariah 9, verse
12, Turn ye to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. Turn to the Lord. Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ,
ye prisoners of hope. He is our stronghold. He's the one who keeps us safe. He's the one in whom we are justified. He's the one in whom we are accepted. He is our stronghold. And He
knoweth them that trust in Him. The Lord is good. He says the
Lord, that is Jehovah. Jehovah. He's good to His nature. He's good to His people. He shows
that goodness. He's our stronghold. He's our
strength in the day of what? Listen to it. In the day of trouble. In the day of trouble. I'm glad He doesn't say in the
weeks of trouble, years of troubles, He says, here in the day of trouble,
trouble comes and trouble goes. Man is born of a woman and is
a few days full of troubles. We have our troubles. We have
our day of trouble. And He's a stronghold in every one of
them. Every day we have trouble, He's
a stronghold. He's the one we flee to. And He knoweth them
that trust in Him. Isn't that sweet? He knoweth. He's a God of knowledge. He's perfect, it says in the
Scriptures. He's perfect in knowledge, infinite knowledge. He knoweth
all things, but He knoweth them in a special way. He doesn't
just know about you. He knows you. He knows you inside
and out. David said, You know my down-sitting
and my uprising. You know my thoughts before I
think. He knoweth them. He's intimately
acquainted with them who trust in Him, who have fled to Him
for refuge. He knoweth them. He's a God of
knowledge. He's joined to them. As we heard this morning, they
too shall be one flesh. He's joined to them. Joined to
them. He said, I know my sheep and
them known of mine. I know them. This means more than just I have
the knowledge of someone. I know them. Intimately acquainted
with them. Far more than you and I will
ever comprehend in this life. how much He knows us. There will
be a multitude of people who will stand in that day, and they're
going to brag on themselves, we did this, we did that, and
they're going to say, depart from me, I never knew you. But He'll never say that to those
who have fled to Him for refuge, who have fled to Him as the stronghold.
He says, He knoweth them that trust in Him, who rely on Him. You know, if somebody really
trusts you, even as wicked as we are, I mean, by nature, as
sinful as we are by nature, if somebody really trusts you, it's
hard to break that trust, isn't it? If somebody really trusts
you, you don't want to break that trust. If a parent trusts a child, goes
out on a Saturday night to behave. Not to get into trouble. If that
child really perceives that that parent trusts him, it makes it
a whole lot more difficult to break it. Well, put that on an
infinite level. He knoweth them that trust him.
He knows them. And He's not going to let them
down. He's not going to let them down. At all. He knows His sheep, and He says,
He calleth them by name. He doesn't just say, here sheep. He calleth them by name. Lazarus,
come forth. I tell you what, when He called
you by His grace, He called you by name. I'm thinking of Samuel. Samuel came to Eli and said,
the Lord spoke, called Samuel. He went into Eli and he said,
here am I. And Eli goes, I didn't call you. And he said, go lay
back down. And he goes to lay down and the Lord calls him again.
He goes back into Eli and he said, here am I. And he said,
I didn't call you, go lay back down. Well, after that happened
about three times, he said, now the next time that happens, say,
Lord, here am I. Call you by name. That's intimately acquainted.
I see, you see these televangelists. Some of these guys have huge
crowds. How many of those names do you
think they actually know? Those huge crowds, I mean thousands,
thousands sitting there listening. They couldn't rattle off probably
25 names. But there will be 10,000 times
10,000 times 10,000. And he's intimately acquainted
with every name. And I still say this. I wish
I could remember names like Henry. I cannot. Maybe it's because
I'm lazy or something. It's probably lazy. You know,
you have to work at remembering names. But I was always amazed
at the names. And Tom Hardy in the same way.
The names. Those men can just... I hate
it when Tom says, I mean, he's done this to me more than once.
I said, Tom, don't do that. Don't do that. I can't do that. I feel like I must have been
on recess or something. Ten thousand times ten thousand
times ten thousand. He knows every one of them by
name. The Scripture says he telleth the stars. All of them, all by
name. You look up into the heavens.
You look at that multitude of stars that are sprinkled throughout
the galaxy. And I mean, when you see, not
just what we see here, I mean, whenever I see these science
programs and stuff, these nature programs, they show these galaxies
and all these stars. He knows every last one of them
by name. He knoweth them. that trust in
Him. You may not feel like you trust
Him, and you don't. You don't feel like, and you
know you do not trust Him as you ought to. But He knows you
trust Him. He knows it. He knoweth them
in a special way. I am His and He is mine. And really, He knows each one
of His own in such a special way And I don't know if I'm saying
this right, but it's as if there was no one existed but he and
them. Him, him, and that one. That's how intimately he knows them. And he said, I am the vine,
and you are the branches. That's how connected we are to
him. We are his sheep. We are his treasure. Says over
there when I count up my jewels. You are his jewels. We are His little ones, His redeemed
ones. He knoweth them. Now listen,
and He shall acknowledge them. He's not ashamed to be called
their brother. Can you imagine that? He's not
ashamed. The God of glory is not ashamed
to be called your brother. A bunch of prodigals spent all
of our Father's living, all the blessings He bestowed upon us,
most of it just spent on junk. And yet, He's not ashamed to
call us brethren. He shall acknowledge them. He knoweth them. Listen now,
that trust in Him. He sees faith when you can't. He sees it when you cannot see
it, when you can't even perceive that you have an ounce of faith.
He sees it. He sees the strength of it. He
sees the sincerity of it. He sees the ups and downs of
it. He knoweth then that... I'm sure
glad He didn't say that He's done mighty works that have gone that second mile. He just says He knoweth them
that trust Him. It may be weak faith, big faith, or great faith,
but He knoweth them that trust Him. Even the littlest faith,
if it's just a glimmer, He sees it. He sees it. Here's the message. Our Lord is good. Our Lord is good. For He's God. Our Lord is good in nature. That never changes. It's immutable.
And He has extended His goodness to us in Christ. He's a stronghold
for sinners to flee to in the day of trouble, when the law
is chasing after them, when Satan is assailing them. He's a stronghold. He's a stronghold. He's the only stronghold we need.
We don't need any others. And He knows. He's the God of
knowledge. He knows all them. who trust
Him to save them. He knows every one of them. Every
one of them. Our God is great and our God
is good.