this evening to Nahum, chapter
1. Prophecy of Nahum, chapter 1. Don't be embarrassed if you have
to look in the table of contents, it's a little hard to find. The
book of Nahum is a very small book, only three pages, not quite
a full three pages. We don't know much about Nahum.
We don't know his name, but we don't know who he was as far
as his rank and his position in society. We don't know what
kind of man he was. We don't know who his parents
were, how long he lived, where he died, who his descendants
are, or even if he had any descendants. We know only that Nahum was a
prophet of God. a man who faithfully carried
in his heart the burden of the word of the Lord and faithfully
proclaimed the word of the Lord in his generation. Nahum was
one of those many faithful men who served the Lord in obscurity,
without fame or recognition in this world. He did not leave
a great name. He did not leave behind him a
great heritage for men to follow. He did not leave behind him a
great reputation which men would hold up as an example of what
a prophet should be. He was apparently a man who served
the Lord in a small place with obscurity and in the eyes of
men in a small way. But this man, Nahum, was a faithful
man who served a faithful God, and for him that was He wanted
nothing more than the privilege, the blessed delight of serving
the cause of his God faithfully in the generation in which he
lived, and he did. The Bible tells us virtually
nothing about Nahum, but Nahum tells us much about God. I want to read with you, beginning
at verse 2. Nahum chapter 1 and verse 2.
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 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. 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 Lord are yea the world,
and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation,
and who can abide the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured
out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. The Lord
is good and a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth
them that trust in him. Now, in these verses of Scripture,
The prophet Nahum sets before us six attributes of God. You know what an attribute is?
An attribute is the characteristics or the traits of a person. Now,
with God, his characteristics, his traits, his attributes are
essential to his being. With you and I, our attributes
are seldom essential to our being. We have certain attributes, certain
characteristics that vary and change as time goes on. We have
certain attributes and characteristics that change as we mature and
as we grow in experience, as we grow in the grace and knowledge
of Christ. But with God, his attributes,
his characteristics are essential to his being as God. Now, Nahum
is here not, he's not describing for us all of the attributes
of God. No man could do that. but he is simply stating in plain,
simple, clear, unmistakable terms these six attributes, these six
characteristics of the divine being. Who is God? What is he
like? Nahum tells us. First he says,
God is jealous. Now that's the character of God.
With God, jealousy is not a fault but an attribute. It's right
for God to be jealous because God is perfect. And any assault
upon his person, any resistance to his will, any rebellion against
his rule, any objection to his purposes is evil. It's right
for God to be jealous. God is jealous for his own glory
and his own honor. He's jealous that men should
show him the proper honor and glory that's due unto his name.
And he will not tolerate it when men attempt to rob him of his
glory. The Lord God is jealous for his worship and for his ordinances.
He's jealous for his people. He's jealous for his elect. He
will not tolerate anyone bringing harm to his elect. He won't allow
them really to harm them, but those who would attempt to harm
them, he will destroy. Is God jealous for his honor?
Ask Moses. Moses, you will remember, smote
the rock when God said, speak to the rock. And when he smote
the rock for the second time, the Lord brought him a great
penalty. He said, Moses, you shall not
enter into the land because you have not sanctified my name before
the people. God kept Moses from the land
of promise. Moses, the servant of God, because
Moses did not render the proper honor due unto God's name by
his actions. Well, what did he do? He hit
the rock. That rock was Jesus Christ the Lord. That rock was
the representative of all God's bounty and goodness. And Moses,
in a fit of anger, smoked the rock and God said, You've not
sanctified my name. Is God jealous for his worship
and his ordinances? Ask Uzzah. Uzzah, you will remember,
was bringing the Ark of God up to its proper place. He was bringing
the Ark of God back up to Jerusalem. That Ark, the symbol of God's
worship. That Ark, the symbol of God's
covenant. That Ark, the symbol of God's
redemption. That Ark, the symbol of God's
Son. Uzzah was bringing it up to the
place where the Temple should be built, where God had ordained
that the Ark should be. Well, that's a great thing. But
Uzzah attempted to bring back the ark, staying it with his
own hands, and God killed him because Uzzah failed to sanctify
God before the people and David, the leader, failed to sanctify
God before the people. Is God jealous for his people?
Ask Pharaoh. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, he
asked Moses mockingly, who is the Lord that I should obey him?
Stand back, Pharaoh, you're going to see. You're going to find
out exactly who the Lord is and he's going to fix it so that
you will not and cannot obey him because you will not obey
him. He's going to arrange it so that
your heart is hardened by all of his deeds and he will get
glory to his name in the deliverance of his people at the drowning
of Pharaoh and his armies. God is jealous. He will avenge
his own elect. He will avenge the honor of his
name. He will avenge himself of his
enemies. He says here, 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. Today,
men talk about God's love as though his love were a fluctuating
passion like ours, as though it were altogether isolated from
his other glorious attributes. Now, I'm not going to speak about
that tonight. But be sure you understand this.
The fact that God is love does not in any way diminish the fact
that God is jealous. As the Bible says God is love,
the Bible says God is jealous. And both facts are revealed as
the truth of God. When we talk about God being
love and we talk about God being jealous, We recognize not things
that are contradictory at all, but things that are totally consistent
for this is the character of God. In fact, it is God's love
for his own honor, his love for his own people, his love for
his own worship that makes him jealous, so jealous that he is
furious, so jealous that he reserveth wrath for his enemy. And you'll
notice that word wrath in verse 2. Notice it's in italics, that
means it was added by the translators. The prophet Nahum does not tell
us what God reserves for his enemies. For Nahum recognized
that wrath could not possibly express the horrible, horrifying
judgment of God that awaits his enemies. The Lord God reserves,
that is, he treasures up wrath for his enemies. God is angry
with sinners. And God treasures up wrath for
those who oppose Him. But pastor, is He not a God of
love? God is love. But that God of
love, that God who is love, treasures up wrath against men who oppose
His name, who oppose His worship, who oppose His gospel, who oppose
His people. He treasures up wrath. He may
let them get by for a long time. He may allow them for a long
time to go on in their rebellion. He may appear to bless them all
the days of their lives, but all the while he is treasuring
up wrath against the day of wrath. Read Psalm 92. David looked out
and he saw the wicked prospering. He said his cattle are all fat,
and his eyes bug out with fatness, and his family gives him no trouble,
and he's rich and prosperous. Everything goes well. The Lord
reveals by David to us that what he is doing in all of these abundant
temporal blessings upon the wicked is that he's fattening them up
as calves for the day of slaughter. God treasures up wrath for his
enemies because God is jealous. But secondly, in verse three,
we read, the Lord is slow to anger. Now, here's another attribute
of God, this great and terrible God who is full of jealousy for
himself, whose jealousy makes him furious. This great jealous
God is patient, forbearing, and long-suffering. God is not in
a hurry to punish sinners. God is not in a hurry to execute
his judgment upon his enemies. Judgment is his strange work,
and he always defers judgment. He always defers judgment, giving
sinners space for repentance. That's called mercy. That's called
the long-suffering of God. God is willing to be gracious. God now affords His enemies opportunity
to repent, and He even commands His enemies to repent and find
mercy in Him. Read through the book of Isaiah.
Read through the prophets. Read through the gospel. All
the way through the scriptures, we find God warning men of judgment.
We find God declaring to men his justice, his anger with sin,
and the certain judgment that will fall upon them. And every
time he warns them, he gives them space for repentance. And
he says, now repent. Turn from your wicked ways, and
I will have mercy upon you. Call upon me, and I will be gracious
unto you. Reason with me, and your sins
will be washed away. The Lord God calls men continually
to repent, because God is long-suffering. Turn over to Acts. Second Peter,
Second Peter chapter three. I want you to see this. Now,
God's long suffering has a particular object in mind, has a particular
object in view. Somebody says, why does God tolerate
things he tolerates? Why does God put up with things
he puts up with? Why does he put up with false
religion and put up with blasphemy and put up with the wickedness
and the evil of men? People say God can't allow things
to go on any longer. Things have got to come to an
end. Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. God has a purpose
in his long-suffering. Here in 2 Peter chapter 3 and
in verse 9, the Apostle Peter says, The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering,
now underscore these words, to usward. Long-suffering toward
us. God is long-suffering and the
object of His long-suffering, the object of His patience, the
object of His forbearance is those men and women whom God
from eternity loved and chose by His free grace. He's long-suffering
to usward, not willing that any, that is, not willing that any
of us any of his elect, any of his redeemed ones, any of his
loved ones, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. The apostle says down in verse
15 that we account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. What's the object of God in his
longsuffering and his patience with wicked men? The salvation
of God's elect. Why has God not brought judgment? And they give you the latest
example. There it is. Merle J. and Lisa, God in his good providence
in preserving this world, for your sake, for your sake, that
he might give you life and faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. That's
the object of God's long suffering. That's the object of his patience.
That's the object of his forbearance. God pronounced judgment upon
the Sodom. And God sent the angels to destroy
Sodom. But God would not destroy Sodom
until he had delivered Lot out of Sodom. And God has pronounced
judgment upon this world. And God has his angels sent to
destroy this world. Read the book of Revelation.
But he will not bring judgment until he has called his elect
to life and faith in Christ Jesus. This is God's longsuffering and
his patience. Then thirdly, We read that the
Lord, look at verse three again, Nahum 1.3, the Lord is great
in power. He is the omnipotent, almighty
God. He has all power and can do all
that he is pleased to do. Our God is great because he is
great in power. A weak, frustrated, defeated
God is as useless as a bucket without a bottom or a well without
water. That's kind of useless. That's
just useless. What is omnipotence? We talk
about God being almighty. Preachers everywhere talk about
God being almighty. They talk about the almighty
God. We talk about omnipotence. And
with most men, that's just words. Well, what is this omnipotence?
What is the greatness of God's power? What does it mean to be
almighty? to be almighty. So that means
that he can do anything he wants to do. That's so. It means that. But let's bring it down right
where we live, okay? Turn over to Isaiah 46. I'll
show you what it means for God to be almighty. Isaiah 46. Now just hold your hand in May
and we'll be right back there. But in Isaiah chapter 46, what
does it mean for God to be almighty, to be omnipotent? That's what
the word omnipotent means, almighty. What does it mean? Well, it means
that God has the ability and the power to do these things. Look at verse 9. Remember the
former things of old. I am God, there is none else. I am God, there's none like me. Declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done. Now God
has the ability, he has the power, to declare the end of a thing
from the beginning of it. In other words, when God begins
something, he's already arranged the end of it. When God began
and said, let there be light, he had already arranged the end
of this world, and he began to accomplish his purpose. What
is omnipotence? He says, I'm saying that my counsel
shall stand And I will do all my pleasure. That's omnipotent. It's the power of God to do everything
that pleases Him. It's the power of God to do all
His pleasure. All of it. All of it. Are you
saying, Pastor, that everything God is pleased to do, He will
do? That's what I'm saying. Are you
saying that everything that pleases God, He accomplishes? That's
exactly what I'm saying. Are you saying that anything
that does not come to pass is not God's pleasure? That's what
I'm saying. Are you saying that everything
which comes to pass is God's pleasure? Now you hear what I'm
saying. He has the power, the ability to do all His pleasure,
else He's not God. That's the omnipotence of God.
Look again in verse 11. Calling a ravenous bird from
the east. And a man, the man that executes
my counsel from a far country. You know what he's referring
to? Elijah needed to be fed. You know who God sent to feed
him? He called a raven. A raven. Who ever heard tell
of a raven carrying food to a man? God arranged it. That's all.
God's going to deliver his people. Who does he call? He calls a
pagan king by the name of Cyrus from a far country to deliver
his people and execute his will. Yea, I have spoken it. I will
also bring it to pass. In other words, omnipotence is
God's power to bring to pass everything he has spoken in his
word to fulfill every word of prophecy. What is omnipotence? I have purposed it. I will also
do it. It is God's ability, His power
to accomplish all His purpose, all of it. Now people talk about
God having a purpose that's defeated, God having a will that's frustrated,
God having a plan that's brought to futility. I'm telling you
that their God is as useless as a bucket without a bottom.
We're worshiping the God who can do. and the God who shall
do all his pleasure, who will do all his purpose. Look in verse
13. I bring near my righteousness,
it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry. And I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel my glory. What's omnipotence? It's God's
power. to accomplish the salvation of
his people according to his purpose, according to his will, according
to his word, according to his pleasure. That's omnipotence.
Now what do we mean when we say that God's almighty? We mean
that God saves whom he will. We mean that God accomplishes
his pleasure. We mean that God arranges everything
in the universe according to his own wise designs and by his
power he executes his will. A weak God is a frustration to
himself and a frustration to his worshipers. The Almighty
Omnipotent Jehovah is a comfort and a stay for his people. And
look again in Nahum chapter 1. Nahum says the Lord will not
at all acquit the wicked. That is to say God is Justice and truth are the habitation
of his throne. Though he is long-suffering and
patient, he will punish every transgressor. God's forbearance
is not an indication that he lacks either the ability or the
will to punish his enemies. He is great in power and he's
just. Because he's great in power and
just, therefore the soul that sinneth it shall die. God will
not clear the guilty. Now, if that's so, if God's just
and he will not clear the guilty, and that's what he says right
here, isn't it? He will by no means clear the guilty. He will
not acquit the guilty. He will not acquit a wicked man. Well, if God is just and must
punish sin, How can any sinner be saved? How can a man be just
with God? That's the question that Job
asked. Will God lay aside his justice to be merciful? Not at
all. He can't do it. Justice is essential
to the character of God. He must be just. He must punish
sin wherever he finds it. He must execute judgment wherever
there's guilt. He must destroy the enemy to
his throne wherever the enemy is found. How then can a man
be saved? How is it possible for a man
to be just with God? There's only one answer. Only
one means possible, and that's by substitution. Read Romans
chapter 3, that's the whole of Paul's doctrine in Romans 3.
God has sent forth his Son, Jesus Christ, to be a propitiation. The word means a justice satisfying
atonement. To be a propitiation. to be the
one who appeases the wrath and the justice of God. God sent
forth His Son, the Lord Jesus, to be a propitiation through
sin, to declare His righteousness, that God might be just and still
the justifier of him that believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ. By
means of substitution, by Christ Jesus being made to be sin for
us, and suffering the just wrath of God in our stead, and his
righteousness being imputed to us. God is now just and justifier
of all who believe. That's the essence of the gospel.
I wish you could see this. I wish you could see it so as
to believe it and rejoice in it. God made Christ sin, and
he punished Christ for sin. Because Christ was sin, he was
made to be sin. Therefore, God is justice must
punish his son as the sinner. Now then, the Lord God has, by
the same act of imputation, by the same transfer, made us the
righteousness of God in Christ. And now God, in righteousness,
in justice, and in truth, must, he must deliver into everlasting
life all of those for whom Christ has suffered the wrath of God.
He must do it. Justice has been satisfied for
us, righteousness has been maintained for us, and God will reward us
according to the strict standards of justice with eternal life
through Christ Jesus our Lord. Here's another attribute of God.
Nahum tells us fifthly, the Lord hath his way. The Lord hath his
way. He has 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. He's talking about the deliverance
of the children of Israel across the Red Sea. He dryeth up the
rivers. Bachan, rich, fertile land, languisheth
in Carmel. And the flower of Lebanon, that
land known for its mighty, mighty trees, now languisheth because
God has made the land to be covered with droughts. 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 is God? He's one who has
his way in everything. That's who he is. What is Nahum
telling us? He's telling us that the Lord
God That one who is jealous, long-suffering, omnipotent, and
just is also totally sovereign. The Lord hath his way. Now that's the statement. Everything
that follows it explains the statement. The Lord hath his
way. In all things, at all times,
in all places, the Lord hath his way. In creation, the Lord
hath his way. In providence, the Lord hath
his way. In grace, the Lord hath his way. We rejoice in the glorious sovereignty
of our great God, knowing that God always exercises his sovereignty
over all things for the redemption and salvation of his people.
That's what Nahum describes in verses 4 through 6. He tells
us the Lord has his way. Here's the evidence Israel has
been delivered. The Lord has his way. Here's
the evidence. Pharaoh has been drowned. Let
me show it to you in some other scriptures. Turn over to the
book of Isaiah. Isaiah 45. We talk about sovereignty. The reason men rebel against
it, the reason men despise it, is because they don't understand
the means by which God accomplishes salvation. They don't understand
that it is God's sovereign rule over everything. that secures
and accomplishes the eternal life of his elect. Turn over
to Isaiah 45 and verse 7. And look at what it says. The
Lord's describing himself. We won't read the whole chapter.
It'd be worth reading again, but look at verse 7. God says,
I form the light. See, the sun's about to go down
now. I form the light and create darkness. When the darkness comes,
God creates. The Lord sends the light of understanding
and of education and of science and of knowledge, all of those
things. He's the one who sent the light
to this land. And the darkness that still covers so much of
the earth, God's the one who sends the darkness. The Lord
sends the light of His gospel. He's the one that gives us light
into everlasting life. And the Lord covers the land
with darkness. He's the one who covers the land
with darkness. Look at what it says. I make peace. I make peace. We give thanks to God at this
time. None of our sons are shedding
their blood in war in this world. We live in peace, relatively,
and create evil. When war comes, it's his hand. He does it. He does it. We have
peaceful, tranquil days. Tornado comes and strikes down
and wreaks havoc in the land. That's God's doing too. I make
peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things.
Why is that so important? Because God wants us to understand
that he rules the world so as to gather his people to himself.
Now look at what it says in verse 20. Assemble yourselves, come,
draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations, they
that have no knowledge, that set up the wood of their graven
images, and pray to a God that cannot save. They call on a helpless
God. Tell ye, bring them near, yea,
let them take counsel together who hath declared this from the
ancient time, or who hath told it from that time. Have not I
the Lord? There is no God else beside me,
a just God and a Savior. There is none beside me. Look
unto me and be you saved. All the ends of the earth. Look
over in Isaiah 50. Isaiah 50 in verse 2. The Lord's still talking about
His power, His sovereign rule, His works in all the earth. Wherefore, when I came, was there
no man? When I called, was there none
to answer? Is my hand shortened at all that
it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?
Is it possible that God cannot save, that God cannot deliver,
that God cannot redeem because no man will answer him? Is it
possible that God cannot save because no man will give him
an ear? Is it possible that God's arm is shortened because man
won't let God have his way? How foolish. Listen to what he
says. Behold at my rebuke I dry up
the sea. and make the rivers a wilderness.
Their fish stinketh because there's no water, and dieth for thirst."
That's the work of God. Pharaoh, let my people go. I
will not. We'll see. We'll see. Pharaoh, God said let my people
go. No, sir. We'll see. You're going
to let them go. You're going to let them because
God's decreed it. God has decreed it. And I'm telling
you that God's arm is not shortened. He exercises total sovereignty
over all things. Yes, over men and demons and
hell because he will deliver all his people. Turn over to
Isaiah 51. Isaiah 51 and let's look at verse
10. Art thou not it which hath dried
the sea, the waters of the great deep, and hath made the depths
of the sea a way," now look at it, a way for the ransom to pass
over. A way for the ransom. Ransom. Those men and those women, those
little children for whom blood had been shed in Egypt. God made
a way for them to pass over. God did the work. That's what
he's done for us. The Lord Jesus Christ, his dear
son, came into this dark Egypt and shed his blood and God will
make a way for his ransomed ones to pass over. Therefore, the
redeemed of the Lord shall return. and shall come with singing unto
Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall
obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee
away. I, even I, am he that comforteth
you." Oh, glorious sovereignty. Glorious sovereignty. This is
our God we will worship at His seat. Even as the prophet describes
the judgment of God, the fierce anger of His wrath, He raises
a question which the answer gives great comfort and hope to his
people. Look here in Nahum chapter 1
in verse 6. The prophet is spoken concerning
God's anger and his wrath and his judgment and power. And it
says, who can stand before his indignation? Who can stand before
this great Lord God? Who can stand before Him when
He calls forth judgment? Who can stand before Him when
He pours out His wrath? Who can stand before Him? No
man, no nation, no angel could stand before Him. But there's
one who could and one who did. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's
Son from heaven, came down here and hung upon the cursed tree
in the room and place of sinners. And he was made to be sin for
us and so the Lord God poured out all the fury and all the
fierceness and all the justice of his holy law and wrath upon
his son. What happened? Does it consume
him? If he should pour it out upon
us, it would consume us faster than a snowflake in a blast furnace.
But he pours it out upon his son and his son consumed the
wrath. His Son consumed the wrath so
that it is no more. It is that wrath, that anger,
that indignation that God poured out against sin upon Calvary
in the person of His Son is now no more. Justice is satisfied. His wrath emptied itself upon
Christ Jesus. His wrath completely was poured
out upon Christ and consumed by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Do you see these attributes of
God? The Lord is jealous. The Lord
is long-suffering. The Lord is omnipotent. The Lord
is just. The Lord is sovereign. And look
at verse 7. Here's a sixth attribute. The
Lord is good. Oh, I like that. Our great God
is good. Goodness is as essential to God's
being as is sovereignty, holiness, justice, and truth. In fact,
the very name God, the very name God is an abbreviation of the
word good. So that when you say good you're
saying God and when you're saying God you're saying good. Goodness
is essential to God. Goodness is an essential characteristic
attribute of the being of God himself. You remember when Moses
called on the Lord and he said Lord let me see your glory. Let me see your glory. The Lord
said, Moses, nobody can see my glory. Nobody can look on my
face and believe it. But I'll tell you what, you're
so highly favored, and I so honor you, and I so love you, and so
bless you, I want to show you what no man's ever seen before.
I'm going to put you in the cleft of the rock, and I'm going to
hide you in the rock under the shadow of my hand, and I'm going
to pass by you, and as I pass by, I'll take away my hand a
little bit so that you can see my back part. You can just see
the trail of my glory. You can just see the result of
where I've been. You can see the result of my
path as I pass by. What is it? I will proclaim before
you the name of the Lord, the Lord God, saying, I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion, so that it is the very glory of God to
be good even as it is the glory of God to be sovereign. He says
this is my glory I will do my pleasure and this is my pleasure
I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. Now let me briefly show you what
the prophet Nahum here says in the seventh verse and I'll wrap
it up. He tells us three things. First,
Nahum declares the Lord is good. Nahum has been talking about
the storm of God's wrath, the terror of his justice, the greatness
of his anger, the whirlwind, shaking mountains, the melting
hills, the burning earth. Everything is in turmoil. Everything
is upside down. Everything is in havoc. Everything
is fearful. Everything is shaking with the
judgment of God. But now he comes to an island
of perfect calm, an island of blessed peace, an island of serenity. And here it is, the Lord is good. The Lord is good. What do you say when you see
the earth burning with drought? When you see the mountains shaking
at their very foundation. What do you say when you see
the hills melting under the volcanic ash of God's wrath? What do you
say when everything becomes desolate and empty and barren? What do
you say? The Lord is good. That's enough. That's enough.
The Lord is good. And sometimes we don't recognize
it until everything's gone except his word of goodness. Somehow
or another, we presume too much upon God's goodness in times
of great prosperity. So he brings us into need so
that we'll recognize his goodness And call upon him to show forth
his goodness. Huh? I dare say. Up until two weeks ago. For most
of the summer. There was hardly a day that went
by that. You didn't ask God send some
rain. Been raining now for two weeks.
Wonder how often we turn to say thanks to God for sending the
rain. We go through some hard trial
and call upon God to deliver. He delivers and we forget his
goodness. We go through some great difficulty
and we call upon God to show mercy. He shows mercy and we
forget his goodness. That's the way we are. But he's
still good. He's still good. The Lord is
good. Now I can't begin to declare
all that there is to declare about the goodness of God. Eternity
won't bring that. But I'll tell you some things
I know. I know that God is essentially good. He's essentially good. That is, goodness is essential
to him. Without it, he would not be God.
Goodness is so essentially the character of God, that as John
Gill observed, there is nothing but goodness in God, and nothing
but goodness comes from God. There's nothing but goodness
in him, and nothing but goodness comes from him. Now, some fellas
take that and they pervert it, and they say, well, God's good. He couldn't have been different.
God's good. He wouldn't send famine. God's
good. He wouldn't send judgment. God's
good. He wouldn't send death. Oh, now,
wait a minute. Wait a minute. There's nothing
but goodness in God, and nothing but goodness comes from God.
Now, let me add this. Everything that comes, comes
from the goodness of God. Everything. He permits evil. Is he out of control? Perish
the thought. Perish the thought. But he permits
evil in this world. He did so in the beginning. He
does so to this day. But he overrules the evil for
good. So that surely the wrath of man
shall praise thee and the remainder of wrath without restraint. God
sends affliction to his children. And he brings many evil things
upon us. But he makes the evil to work
for our good. We know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose. Here's Joseph, his brothers despise
him. And let's not fail to recognize
that Joseph was a man, you know. Somehow or another, Joseph knew
what his brothers thought of him. And when his father made
him that coat of many colors, made him that beautiful coat
that he'd never made for any of his other sons. And Joseph's
the youngest one in the family, and he knows he's his daddy's
favorite. He knows. Well, he went out to take his
brothers their food. I don't care if it's been 150
degrees in the shade, he'd have been wearing that coat. He had
to wear that coat. He just had to. He had to wear
it because he had to be sold into slavery today. I mean, that
caravan is not passing by tomorrow, it's passing by today. And he's
got to be sold into slavery today. And he's going to be sold into
slavery and finally brought down into prison and finally taken
up to sit on Pharaoh's throne because of his brethren and their
hatred for him. And now Joseph sees his brethren
and he says, you meant it, evil. But God meant it for good. God
meant it for good. God's doing good. He's doing
good. What is God doing when he sends
the trial and the affliction and the heartache and the pain?
What is God doing when he takes the son from his father and he
calls him to be sold by his brethren into bondage and they take him
then and put him in prison and he's made to labor and serve
as a common prisoner year after year after year? Has God forgotten
to be good? No, he's being good. He's being
good. He's saving much people alive.
That's what God's doing in our world. He's saving much people
alive. He punishes sin with vengeance.
But even that punishment of sin is good for it is a vindication
of his justice and a manifestation of his character. God is singularly
good. That is, he's the only good one
in the universe. There's none good but one and
that's God, our Lord said. God's goodness is the root of
all goodness. And our goodness, if we have
any, springs out of His goodness. Again, God is eternally and immutably
good. He never changes and His goodness
never changes. The goodness of God never varies,
it never alters. There's no shadow of turning
with His goodness. He's good, always good, good
in each of His glorious persons from all of eternity and in all
that He does. Again, God is good in all his
acts of grace. Well, I don't have about five
more minutes. I can't talk about it. It's a
covenant. It's a good covenant. The everlasting purpose of his
love is a good purpose. The choice of his grace is a
good election. The ransom of his people by the
slaying of his son before the world began, oh, it's a good
ransom. the accomplishment of redemption
in time, the preservation of grace, the call of His Spirit,
the keeping of us in the way of faith, glorification, resurrection. Oh, He's a good God in all He
does and is good in all His acts of providence. Look back as far as your mind's
eye will take you in the past. Look back through history, back
through history. You know how you spell it, don't
you? H-I-S-S-T-O-R-Y. It's his story. All the way back. And it's a story of his goodness. Everything. Everything. Doesn't matter what you read.
Doesn't matter how men saw it. Doesn't matter how men interpret
it. Everything he has ever done is good. Go home tonight, read
your newspaper, listen to the news. And when you do, do it
with your scriptures open in front of you and read, the Lord
is good. Everything he's doing is good.
I don't care whether the stock market's up or down. Doesn't
matter whether the rain's falling or whether the rain's being taken
up. It doesn't matter whether God's sending drought or God's
sending flood. I'm telling you, the Lord God
is good in all that he does. And whatever it is that is unseen,
that we cannot yet perceive, that he will do tomorrow, and
in all the tomorrows that follow, whatever it is, he does good. He's good. God is infinitely, incomprehensibly,
immeasurably good. Who can measure the goodness
of God? To what shall his goodness be
compared? Shall we say he's good like a
father? There's never been a father good like God. Shall we say he's
good like a faithful son? There's never been a son good
like God. Shall we say he's good like a
companion, a husband or a wife? There's never been a companion
good like him. He's good beyond the highest
imagination of what good he is. And God is good, particularly
good, especially good, eternally good, unchangeably good to all
his David, when he wrote down Psalm 23, when he got done, he
said, in the beginning, the Lord is my shepherd. That's where
it started. The Lord is my shepherd. And
when he wraps it up, he's going through the valley of the shadow
of death. His enemies are before him. But when he wraps it up,
he says, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Now look at this second thing that Nahum tells us. The Lord
is good, and the Lord is a stronghold in the day of trouble. In the day of trouble, the Lord
is our refuge. We do have our days of trouble
as long as we live in this world. But notice how Nahum describes
them. Now just look at it. Go along. There is a day of trouble, but
notice the definite article, the, the day of trouble. Whatever your day of trouble
is, child of God, it's the day of God's appointment. This is
the day the Lord has made. This is the day of trouble. This
is the day God ordained for you. This is the day God made for
you. This is the day God has arranged
for you. This is the day of God's appointment. It's not just a day of trouble.
It's not just another time of sorrow. It's the day of God's
appointing for his people. More than that. That trouble is just a temporary trouble.
It's the day of trouble. The day of trouble. In a lifetime,
that's not bad, but the day of trouble. You know how Paul spoke
of his trials and afflictions? Nobody here has ever experienced
anything quite like it yet. Nobody I know of. Rather than
murmuring and complaining like we do when we stump our toes,
he said, our light affliction, which is but for a moment. Well,
Paul, are you insane? No, I believe God. My God's in control. And this
is just a light affliction. And though it's lasted me for
40 years now, it's just for a moment. Just for a moment. Our light
affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." Now look at the next
line. This is the day of trouble. I'm glad he didn't say the day
of soul trouble, or the day of domestic trouble, or the day
of financial trouble, or the day of sickness trouble, or the
day of bereavement trouble. the day of trouble. Got any trouble? The Lord's a stronghold in the
day of trouble. And he says, let us come over
to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace
to help in the time of trouble. In the time of, you got any need?
Go to the throne of grace. Got any trouble? Go to the throne
of grace. The Lord's a stronghold. Well,
what's that? What's a stronghold? We don't
know much about them today, You watch your Westerns and you know
a little something about it. But those forts built out of
trees and tied together with rope can hardly be considered
a stronghold. They'd hold out a little while,
but if the Indians were numerous enough and they attacked long
enough, they'd get you. This is talking about a mighty
fortress. A mighty fortress against the elements of the world. A
mighty fortress against the enemies around. A mighty fortress for
the people to dwell in. Stronghold is a place of safety. A stronghold is a place where
you run and hide in your faith. The name of the Lord is a high
tower and the righteous runneth, righteous runneth unto it and
is safe. Stronghold is a place of permanent
residence. Sure it is. Stronghold is, you
know, there are those, or there were those who would go out from
the city and they would live out in the outskirts somewhere.
And they kindly were adventurous, and they wanted to strike it
out on their own. And there's something to be said
for that. But the fellow who knew the enemy was out there,
and knew the trouble was out there, and knew the difficulty,
he knew he was in need. He knew he was in desperate need
of somebody to protect him, somebody to keep him, somebody to preserve
him. He ran into the stronghold, and he lived there. He lived
there. He just let live there. especially one who was guilty
of blood, who had slain someone by an accident. It was a city
of refuge, and the city of refuge was a walled city, and that manslayer
would flee into the city, and he lived there till the high
priest died. There's a lot of applications
for that. I'll just say this, he lived there forever. That's
the application here. We flee to Christ from the avenging
justice of God, and we live in this stronghold. We live there
forever. We abide in him. This is the
place of our residence. One last thing. I like this last
statement. The Lord is good. The Lord is
a stronghold, a fortress in the day of trouble, and he knoweth
them that trust in him. Do you trust him? Tell me, do you trust him? Do
you trust him? Do you trust his blood, his righteousness,
his intercession, his prophety? Do you trust him? Do you lean
the weight of your soul on Jesus Christ the Lord? Do you? If you
do, this word's for you. This is for you, Bob. This is
for you. Everybody else fit in. I'm talking Bob Hunter now. If
you're one of the ones who trust him, this is for you. Just as
if he had isolated you and said it, the Lord knows you. The Lord
knows you. He knoweth in the trust in you. Well, what does that mean? It
means a whole lot more than you might think. This word trust,
or this word knoweth, it means the Lord has foreordained and
predestinated you. That's what it means. Read Romans
8 29. The Lord has foreordained you. It means the Lord with everlasting
love loves them that trust him. I've loved you with everlasting
love. His love is without cause, without
condition, without beginning, without change, and without end.
It means the Lord has an intimate acquaintance with them that trust
him. Lord knows. He so knows that the very hairs
of your head are all numbered. That's called intimate knowledge.
Intimate care. Intimate care. He knows who you
are, where you are, what you need, and how to take care of
it. He knows. He knows then to trust him. It
means the Lord graciously approves of them that trust him. That's
another hint of meaning in this word know. He knows with approval. What does it matter whether men
approve or don't approve? He approves. He approves. I like
having your approval. That's good. I enjoy your approval.
But I'm striving after his approval. He approves them that trust Him. He says we are accepted in the
beloved. The word accepted means highly
favored, highly favored. Like Mary was highly favored
of God among women, we are highly favored of God among men, accepted
in the beloved. It means the Lord holds loving
communion with those that trust Him. You remember how our Lord
Jesus said, I've called you no more servants, but friends. For
the servant knoweth not what his master doeth, but I've told
you all things. I communicate to you everything
that my father has revealed. I tell you. I tell you what my
father's going to do. I tell you what he is doing,
what he's going to do. This word knoweth means the Lord tenderly
cares for them that trust him. He's with you. He's with you
to protect you, to provide for you, to help you, to keep you. He's with you. He's with you. Come what may, the Lord is good. The Lord is a stronghold in the
day of trouble. The Lord knoweth them that trust
in him. He knows. He knows Job sitting
in the gate. highly respected, well-honored,
and he knows Job on the dunghill. He knows Peter standing and preaching
to a thronging multitude, and he knows Peter in prison. He
knows Lazarus at the rich man's gates, covered with sores, in
rags, begging for his daily bread. And he knows Lazarus exalted
everlasting glory in paradise with Christ. He knows them that
trust in him. And the Lord so knows as to publicly
own and acknowledge them that trust in him. That's what he
said. That's what he said. He knows
them that trust him. He owns us now. He owns us before
the throne of his grace. And he will own us before all
worlds in the last day. This is our God. He is good. He's a strong tower, stronghold,
a strong refuge. And he knows them that are his. world may crumble, world may
fall apart, the Lord knoweth them that are his. The foundation
of God standeth sure.