Good morning. If you will turn
with me for our message today to the little book of Nahum. It's in the Old Testament, one
of the last few books. Don, thank you so much for that.
That's such a blessing. Nahum chapter 1. Verse seven. The Lord is good, a stronghold
in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him. As we enter into this new year,
I couldn't help but think of anything greater to talk about
today than that right there. The Lord is good. The Lord is good. If you have
a Bible like mine, the heading at the top of your page says
the majesty of God in goodness to his people. Amen. Moment by moment, oh Lord I am
thine. What a blessing. The Lord is good. Now there's
a lot of ways we could go with this. There's actually seven
verses in the scriptures that say the Lord is good. And I love
that seven. Perfection is perfection. His
goodness is perfect, isn't it? Perfect goodness. But the one
I've chosen to look at today is here in Nahum. And I'd like
for us to consider God's goodness in the context here given. And
that's what we ought to do. We ought to look at the scriptures
in the context. People often take a verse here and a verse
there out of context and make it say what they want it to say.
Well, I want to see God's goodness right here, right here in this
little three-chapter book of Nahum. Now look here with me
starting in verse one, Nahum chapter one. It says, the burden
of Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum, the Elkashite. Nahum, we really don't know much
about him. God used him to write this little
book. He's what we would refer to as a minor prophet, all right? But Nahum was nonetheless a prophet
of God. He was God's messenger and God
gave him a vision. God revealed something to him.
He told him of something that he was gonna do. And just like
all of God's messengers, his servants, he sends them with
a message. He burdens them with a message. God had given him a burdensome
message. And I pray he's done the same
for me today and for us. He gave Nahum a burden to Nineveh,
the people of Nineveh. And I believe God has burdened
my heart with a message for you, a message for us. Now as we go
through this, I want us to put ourselves, you can put our city
or our country or even this whole world, but we need to see ourselves
in the place of Nineveh, okay? This is God's word to us. What
is it? What's the message that Nahum
was burdened Look at verse two. It says, God is jealous, and
the Lord revengeth. The Lord revengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance
on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The first thing Nahum was sent
to do was to declare who God is. Well, who is he? He's jealous. He revengeth. He's furious. He's reserved wrath for his enemies.
What he's saying is God is holy. God is holy. You know, people often love to
talk about how God is loved, don't they? not knowing anything
about God's love. If we don't know anything about
His holiness, I promise you, we don't know the first thing
about His love. Now I want to show you a couple
things. Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 4. Deuteronomy 4, look at verse
24 with me. Moses wrote, for the Lord thy
God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. Did you know that about God?
God is love. All love comes from God. But
we must also know God is a God of wrath. God is holy. Habakkuk 1.13 says, God cannot
behold evil. He cannot look on iniquity because
He's holy. He's holy, holy, holy, holy. God is holy. Now let me show
you something back in Nahum chapter 1. Keep a finger here in Deuteronomy
if you will. We'll be right back. But in Nahum
1, look at verse 11. He said, that imagineth evil against the
Lord, a wicked counselor. Thus saith the Lord, though they
be quiet, and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down,
when he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee,
I will afflict thee no more. For now will I break his yoke
from off thee, and will burst thy bonds and sunder. Verse 14.
And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more
of thy name be sung. Talking to Nineveh. Out of the
house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the
molten image. I will make thy grave, for thou
art vile." Do we see what God is saying here? I'm telling you,
this is us. He said, you worship false gods. You worship idols. And what he's saying is, and
I will have nothing to do with that. I'm not going to have anything
to do with someone who worships another God. And I'll tell you
this, there's only one God. Look with me back in Deuteronomy,
this time chapter 32. Deuteronomy 32 verse 16. This was the children of Israel,
and as we read this, remember what Paul said in Romans 9, he
said, they are not all Israel, which are of Israel, all right?
What he's saying is just because you're of the lineage of Jacob,
of Israel, does not mean you're one of God's people. Now here's
what the Lord said to some children of Israel, verse 16, they provoked
him to jealousy with strange gods. With abominations provoked
they him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils,
not to God, My margin says that they sacrificed to devils which
were not God, to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came
newly up whom your fathers feared not. He said you're sacrificing
to false gods. You've made these gods of your
own hands. You've made these molten images.
You're worshiping a false god. And I'm gonna show you, God won't
have it. Look at verse 18, of the rock, that's Christ, that
begat thee, thou art unmindful and has forgotten God that formed
thee. And when the Lord saw it, he
abhorred them, means he despised them, because of the provoking
of his sons and of his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face
from them. I will see what their ends shall
be. for they are a very frail regeneration, children in whom
is no faith. They have moved me to jealousy
with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger
with their vanities, and I will move them to jealousy with those
people which are not a people. I will provoke them to anger
with a foolish nation. Verse 22, for a fire is kindled
in mine anger and shall burn unto the lowest hell. and shall
consume the earth with her increase and set on fire the foundations
of the mountains. I will heap mischiefs upon them.
I will spend mine arrows upon them. They shall be burnt with
hunger and devoured with burning heat and with bitter destruction.
I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them with the poison
of serpents of the dust. You think God's gonna have anything
to do with idolatry? You think it's okay for us to
go about our lives worshiping ourselves and everything that
is not God? He won't have it. He will not
have it. And I must say this, idolatry
comes in many forms. You know, it's easy to think
of people preaching a Jesus that wants and tries. But we're all guilty of this.
Every day when I wake up and I am my biggest concern. Me and
my interests. That's idolatry. God won't have
it. God will not have it. Look back
in Nahum chapter 1. At the end of verse 14, we read
it. He said, I will make thy grave, for thou art vile. Do we see what's coming to us?
We need to see what's coming to us. Look at chapter two here,
verse 13. Says, behold, I am against thee,
saith the Lord of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the
smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions, and I will cut
off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers
shall no more be heard. This is God's word to us. I am
against thee. I am against thee. You know, everybody
loves to talk about how God's for them, how God loves them,
and Jesus died for them, and they're living for God, and glorifying
God. But the truth is, God hates sin,
and that's what we are. That's the truth of the matter,
brethren. We must acknowledge our sin. David said, against
thee and thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.
We must acknowledge that. I mean, really, God calls me
to acknowledge that. I've sinned against You. You're
a holy God. You're holy and just to punish
me for my sin against You. Look here in chapter 3, verse
5. Behold, I'm against thee, saith
the Lord of hosts, and I will discover thy skirts upon thy
face, and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms
thy shame, and I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee
vile, and will set thee as a gazing stock. And it shall come to pass
that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and
say, Nineveh is laid waste. Who will bemoan her? Whence shall
I seek comforters for thee? Soon God would laden into the
waste. Soon people who sinned against God are going to perish
under his wrath. Laid waste right there. I looked
up what that means. It means to be violently destroyed. You mean to tell me God would
violently destroy somebody? Absolutely. We just read it. How many times do we have to
see it? How many times does he have to say, I'm against thee? And very soon, exactly what Nahum's
prophesying is gonna happen. Now we're not gonna read all
three chapters, but read all three chapters. Look what happened
to them. Look what happened to that once great city. It was
terrible. Terrible. Now look here at verse
19 at the end of this chapter. It says, there's no healing of
thy bruise. Thy wound is grievous." Now,
like I said, as we look at this, we need to see ourselves. There's no healing of our bruise.
What's our bruise? Our sin. Our sin against God. Not just what we do, but what
we are. He said, thy wound is grievous. Grievous. We know what our sin has done
to us, don't we? It's earned us an eternal death. Everything we're reading about
right here, about how God will punish sin, that's what we've
earned. You want to talk about earning
something? We think we earn things, don't we? That's what we've earned.
That's the only thing we've earned. What's our response to that?
I want to focus on the good part. But what's our response to what
we've just seen? By God's grace, I pray it's this, the Lord is
good. Would God be right to send you
to hell? That's something we should consider pretty often.
Would God be right to send me to hell? Well, based on his word,
yes he would. But, no buts. There's nothing
I can do to earn favor with God. You know, this time of year,
we like to talk about Mary. She found favor with God. She
was graciously accepted. God, in His grace, pursued her. That's the only way it's gonna
be. That's the only way we're gonna be saved. Based on me,
my works, what I've done, what I deserve, and really, when it
all comes down to it, what I want, the sinful lust of this flesh,
it's nothing to do with God. We need to be honest with ourselves.
Would God be right to send us to hell? You better believe it.
You better believe it. If he did, I would have no choice
but to say this, Amen, Lord, you're good. You only do that
which is right. But thanks be to God, he has
not been pleased to let all of Adam's race perish in hell. That's not what he's been pleased
to do. The Lord would still be good.
He would. That's the first thing we need
to understand. God is good. Whatever God does is right because
He is God and there's none else, there's no God beside Him. Now, now, I said we don't know
a lot about this man. Well, I looked up what his name
means and his name, you might be pleased to know, his name
means comfort. Now, I don't think we've seen
anything too comfortable yet. But his name means comfort. And
like all of God's prophets, he went and he declared, he proclaimed
God's holiness. And that's the first thing we
must declare. God is holy. God is holy. But also, like all
of God's prophets, like all of God's messengers, he had a message
of comfort. Praise God, he had a message
of comfort. And I pray I do too. The Lord
is good. The Lord is good. In Deuteronomy
32 verse 39, this is what God said. He said, I kill and I make
alive. I wound and I heal. Talking about this matter of
sin, we must know what we are. God must convict us, convince
us of what we are. Sin. He must kill us. Job said, though He slay me.
That's what I'm talking about. We must be slayed, slain. We're not going to be living
spiritually until first God kills us and teaches us what we are.
He must wound us before He ever heals us, all right? And in His
goodness, He will. In His goodness, that's the only
way it's going to happen. He said in Romans 3.23, for all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So that leaves
me with this conclusion. The mere fact that God would
be pleased to save anybody is infinite, eternal goodness, is
it not? We don't deserve it. None of
us do. Now, I pray God will let us see
His goodness, truly see His goodness here in Nahum. All right, look
back at Nahum 1, verse 3. The Lord is slow to anger. Well, I thought God was jealous
and angry and furious. He is, but He's also slow to
anger. He's holy, yes. He must punish
sin, yes, but He's also merciful. He's chosen to be merciful. He's chosen to be that. Isn't that amazing? Oh, that
blesses my heart so much. Psalm 145.8 says the Lord is
gracious, full of compassion, love, and slow to anger and of
great mercy. That's who God is. That's who
God is. The same God who's angry with
the wicked every day. Psalm 7.11. That same God retaineth not his
anger forever. because he delighteth in mercy." Does that encourage you? My soul. Well, how can this be? How can both of these be true
and God still be God? Look with me in 2 Peter chapter
3. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 9. 2 Peter 3.9 says, The Lord is not
slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness,
but is long-suffering, slow to anger, to usward, not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. God made a promise. He's not
slack concerning His promise. What was his promise? His promise
was to be long-suffering, to be slow to anger, to somebody,
to usward. Now I know it goes on to say,
not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Again, that's another verse people love to take out of context. Our brother read in Hebrews chapter
2 that he should taste death for every man. The very next
verse says that he should bring many sons to glory. It's a particular
people, all right? And I'll show you right here
in Peter who he's talking about. Look at 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter 1, verse 1 says, Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according
to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification
of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of
Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied.
Who are the ushers? Who did God make this promise
concerning? The elect. The strangers. That's who he's writing to. Look
in 1 Peter 2, verse 9. Who are these people God chose
to save? 1 Peter 2, 9. He said, but you
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation,
a peculiar people. Means purchased people. that
you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out
of darkness into his marvelous light, which in time past were
not a people." Can we say that about ourselves? I'm nothing
on my own. I'm nothing, nothing but sin. Verse 10, which in time past
were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had
not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. Who'd God make
this promise for? Who did God choose to suffer
long for and be patient with? Sinners in need of mercy. Are you a sinner? I pray we are. And we must realize
this fact. In order for God to save me,
He had to be slow to anger. Because all I know how to do
in this flesh, read Romans 7, Read what Paul said about himself
as a believer. All I know how to do is provoke
the Lord my God to jealousy and anger. And in order for him to
save me and not cast me away yesterday, he had to be slow
to anger. And praise God, he has been and
he continues to be. Look in 2 Peter 3 verse 15. Peter went on to say, and to
count that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation. What do you say to that? I'll
tell you what I say, the Lord is good. Oh, praise God for His
goodness. Look back in our text, Nahum
1, verse 3. It says, the Lord is slow to
anger and great in power. We know the Lord our God is omnipotent. He has all power in heaven and
earth and every place that exists, places we don't know about. All
power belongs unto Him. And that alone ought to comfort
us tremendously daily. When you're worried, just think
about His sovereign control over all things. But the greatness
and power that I want us to consider momentarily is His power to save. The Lord is great in power to
save. even someone like me. Turn with
me to Matthew chapter 27. Here's our Lord on the cross.
Matthew 27. Matthew 27 verse 38. Then were there two thieves crucified
with him, one on the right hand and another on the left. And
they that pass by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying,
thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days,
save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come
down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priest,
mocking him with the scribes and elders, said, he saved others,
himself he cannot save. If He be the King of Israel,
let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him.
He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him. For He said, I am the Son of
God. The thieves also, which were crucified with Him, cast
the same in His teeth. For it said He saved others.
They mocked Him. They didn't think He'd saved
anybody. They just knew He performed some miracles and healed people
and done some miraculous things. They didn't know the first thing
about God saving anybody. Unless God in time saved them.
Which I believe He did save some of them. They had Pentecost.
But when they said He saved others, Himself He cannot save, they
were declaring the glorious truth of the Gospel. How can I be saved? He didn't save Himself. He could
have come down from that cross. He has all powers given unto
me in heaven and earth. But He could not save Himself,
because He was there to save me. Is He great in power to save? You think about how someone can
so easily provoke us to anger. And we just read God is provoked
to anger. You imagine how angry that would make you being mocked
like that, and we're sinners. For us to be offended is nothing.
We're guilty of the same things. And yet He held His peace. He
opened not His mouth because He was determined to save His
people from their sins. That's why He did not come down
from the cross. Isaiah 53.12 says, He was numbered with the
transgressors and He bared the sin of many and made intercession
for the transgressors. There was a thief on either side
of him. I read verse 44 on purpose to say both the thieves were
mocking him. They both cast the same in his
teeth. And yet we read in Luke's account that God had mercy on
one of those thieves. A man who lived his whole life
sinning against God, just like us. We don't read of a single
thing he did. We don't read that he ever touched
a Bible. And people think that is salvation.
God revealed himself to him in his final moments. He was mocking
him. He thought the same thing those
scribes and elders were thinking. Oh, well, if he were who he says
he is, you'd come on down and save yourself. And yet moments
later, God saved him. And he looked at that other thief
and he said, don't you know we're in the same condemnation? We
did this to ourselves. We're getting what we justly
deserve. And then he said, Lord, Would you remember me? Why on
earth would that man want God to remember him? I said he did
nothing but sin against God, just like me. Why would he want
God to remember him? I'll tell you why. For Christ's
sake. Because he saw his Savior dying in his place, and he knew
he had a kingdom. Again, the Lord miraculously
revealed all this to him in his final moments. He said, Lord,
would you remember me when you come into your kingdom? And he
received, I believe, the greatest promise any man's ever received
on this earth today. Can you imagine that? Today,
shalt thou be with me. He was with him on a cross. But
he said, you're about to be with me in paradise. Isn't that something? Oh, he's great in power to save,
is he not? In the Hebrews, we read, He's able to save to the
uttermost those that come to God by Him. I love something
Latter-day Saint Chris said years ago. He said, He's able to save
from guttermost to uttermost. And in God's sight, in this flesh,
we're all guttermost. And if we're going to be saved,
it must be to the uttermost. The Lord is good. So good. Turn back to our text again.
In A.M. 1, verse 3. The Lord is slow to anger and
great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked." Does
that contradict what we just looked at? How could that thief
be saved? How can I be saved if God will
not at all? And that's where we see His holiness.
He's not going to wink at our sin. He's not going to sweep
it under the rug like we do. How will He not at all acquit
the wicked and yet save a sinner like me? By Christ, in Him and through
His blood, by blessed substitution, He took my place. He died in
my place. All our iniquities were laid
on Him. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised
for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was laid on Him. And you know what? With His stripes
we're healed. Do you need to be healed? Oh,
I do. He died the just for the unjust. Why? That he might bring us,
useless sinners, to God. To be with God, one with God.
He satisfied the justice and judgment God's holiness demanded.
Only he could. A body hast thou prepared me. Why? Because you're the only
way we're gonna be saved. I am the way. the truth and the
life. No man can come unto God the Father but by Him. He's our
life. He's our light. He's our salvation. We've been bought. I mentioned
peculiar people means purchased people. We've been bought with
the precious blood of Christ as of a land without blemish,
without spot. I love the song Redeemed. Redeemed how I love
to proclaim it. redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb, redeemed through His infinite mercy, His child and forever. I am. Praise God for His infinite
mercy. It's our only hope. You know,
we don't deserve mercy, do we? You stand before a judge and
you plead mercy, you know you don't deserve it. Imagine standing
before God. I'm gonna hope in His mercy,
what about you? The Lord is good. Go back to Nahum 1 verse 3. The Lord is slow to anger, and
great in power, 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. What a comfort. What a comfort. God has his way. Again, there's
a lot that could be said about this verse, but I thought about
Jonah. You remember him? This wasn't
the first time the Ninevites heard about God having his way
in a storm. Let me show you. I'll try to
be quick. Turn back just a couple pages to Jonah chapter 1. And Jonah 1 verse 1 says, Now
the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for
their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee
unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to
Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare
thereof and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord, verse four. But the Lord sent
out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest
in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Jonah
disobeyed God's command. God said, Jonah, go to Nineveh. Preached to those wicked sinners,
and Jonah was scared to death. Oh man, he said, I gotta find
the quickest ship out of here to somewhere else. He went the
opposite direction. He disobeyed God. And what did God do? Because
of what Jonah did, God sent a storm. God sent a storm, and he sent
it because of Jonah, but I'm about to show you, he sent it
for Jonah. Look at verse 17 right here, chapter one. Now the Lord
had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was
in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. That storm came, and the people
on that boat, they found out it was because of Jonah. And
they weren't too happy with Jonah. And Jonah owned up. He said,
yeah, it's my fault. I sinned against God. And he
said, throw me out. Throw me off the boat. And they
threw him off the boat. And the moment he came off that
boat, giant fish jumped up and swallowed him up. Why did that
happen? He said, the Lord prepared a
great fish for him. I'll tell you what happened.
God had his way with him. Maybe Jonah thought, throw me
off and I'm going to swim to shore as fast as I can. God said, nope.
I guarantee you he didn't think he was going to be in the belly
of a fish three days and three nights. Brethren, God has his way with
us. every time. Look at chapter 2 here, Jonah
2 verse 7. Jonah prayed from the belly of
this fish. He said in verse 7, When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee and
to thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities
forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with
the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. And
the Lord spake unto the fish. and it vomited Jonah upon the
dry land." I just got hung up on that. The Lord spoke to the
fish. I mean, this is one of those
things you read and you just can't wrap your mind around it.
You believe it because God said it and that settles it. I heard
Donny Bell say last week, he said, if it said Jonah swallowed
the fish, I'd believe it. If God said it, Brethren, He has His way. He
has His way everywhere, all the time with everyone and everything.
Nothing can stay His hand or say, what doest thou? He's God.
He's God. And I don't want to show you.
We don't have time. But in chapter 3, the Lord sent Jonah to Nineveh. And Jonah went to Nineveh. He
went. And he went and he preached.
And you know what he preached to them? We just read it. Verse
nine, salvation is of the Lord. That's the message, that's the
saving message. You look at it if you want, chapter
three, verse five says, so the people of Nineveh believed God. Why did God send the storm? Why
did he prepare a great fish to swallow Jonah? Why did he speak
to a fish? To save his people. Praise God, he has his way in
the whirlwind and in the storm. You know, we wonder why things
happen, why storms of life come our way. Well, we'd be wise not
to question it and just to pray, Lord, save me. Lord, show me,
teach me thy way. Teach me to be still and trust
in the Lord, believe God, because the Lord is good. The Lord is
good. Look back in Nahum chapter one,
verse four. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh
it dry, and dryeth up all the rivers. Bashan languisheth, and
Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake
at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence.
Yea, the world and all that dwell therein." Soon their destruction
was coming. Nineveh would soon perish under
the wrath of God. The rivers he said, are going
to be dried up. That's the life of the city.
The flower, everything there, the beauty, the strength of that
mighty city. God's about to wipe this city
off the face of the earth. Why? Because of sin. But not
just Nineveh. This isn't just about Nineveh.
Brethren, this is for us. This is for us. I don't suppose
Nineveh's still around. Certainly not that great city. This is for us. All the rivers
of this earth are going to be dried up. All the mountains are
going to quake. The hills are going to be melted
at His presence. It's coming. It's coming very
soon. Look at verse 6. Who can stand
before His indignation? And who can abide in the fierceness
of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by him. How's it gonna be for
us when that day comes? When we must stand and give an
account for our sin against holy God. When we must stand before
the fierceness of his anger and his wrath, what will our hope
be? Look at verse seven, here's mine. The Lord is good. The Lord is good. Not, well,
I've been good. We know better. My good has certainly
not outweighed my bad. God said there's none good. None
good but one, and that's God. Not, I've decided to be saved. I've decided to give my life
to God. Salvation is of the Lord. Lord, I'm at your mercy. Please
have mercy upon me. I am a sinner. God, be merciful
to me, the sinner. That's His goodness, brethren.
In Romans 2 verse 4 we read that the goodness of God leads to
repentance. And the goodness of God is a
person. It's Jesus Christ our Lord. He
is the goodness of God. If He's ever pleased to reveal
Himself to us and in us, we will be saved. If we ever see the
goodness of God in the land of the living, if we ever behold
Him, our Savior, hanging on that tree and dying for me. Brethren,
that's when we'll be saved. That's when we'll be saved. If
that's our hope by God's grace, in God's goodness, in Jesus Christ,
that's it. Christ is all. Look at verse
seven again. He said, the Lord is good, a stronghold in the
day of trouble. Are you in trouble? Do you need
a stronghold? God's provided one. I love that
song, we sing a mighty fortress, stronghold is our God, a bulwark
never failing, our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills
prevailing. Don brought a message once, is it really safe to trust
in the Lord? Oh, there's nothing else that
is safe. There could be nothing safer
than to trust in Him. And that's what the end of verse
seven says, the Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble.
And he knoweth them that trust in him. Are we trusting in him? I can't offer God anything. All
I can do by his grace and faith that he's working in me is look
to Christ and be saved. And I pray it so with you. May
it be so with all of us. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. He knows them that trust in him. Oh, taste and see that
the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. And my encouragement to us as
we embark on this new year, whatever comes our way, God is the doer
of it. And it's good, and it's right,
just like everything that happened in 2020 that we all gripe about.
God did it. He's right. He's good. He's holy.
He's just. He's gracious and merciful. The
Lord is good. May God give us faith to trust
Him at all times. Amen.