Now let's turn to the book of Nahum. Nahum chapter 1. Every time I come to this book of Nahum I think of the little Scotch fella. His teacher said it was one of those show and tell days and they had to bring something that would remind people of a book they had read. And so he brought in this big dead bee. And she said, what would that speak of? I said, it's a book of the Bible. And he says, I don't see any book of the Bible that's any way remotely connected with a dead bee. He says, did you never read the book of Nahum? For Mr. Sure Nahum about that. So that was the little Scots fellow. And he enjoyed the book of Nahum. So now you can remember this and always associated in your mind with a dead bee. Actually, it's not a great association because this is a book that not only has a home, it has a sting, as is true of all the minor prophets. You certainly find this thing in this book. But we're going to read this opening chapter together. The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkishite. 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 world and all that dwell therein, 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. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him. But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies. What do you imagine against the Lord? He will make an utter end. Affliction shall not rise up the second time, for while they be folded together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. There is one come out of thee that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked counsellor. 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 I will break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown. Out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven images and the molten image, and I will make thy grave, for thou art vile. But upon the mountains, the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth peace. O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform thy vows, for the wicked shall no more pass through thee. He is utterly cut off. Amen. The Lord will add his blessing to the reading of this chapter of his word for his namesake. As you can gather from the very beginning of the book, this is a message directed specifically and particularly at the nation of Assyria. You will remember that the Lord through Jonah had delivered Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, and therefore the whole kingdom from sudden and utter destruction. They had repented and the Lord in grace, forgave. And the Lord held back His judgment. Jonah was angry at the Lord. While that may appear to us to be somewhat strange and uncalled for, if for a moment you think of who Jonah was and what Jonah was, you may better understand it, and you may indeed sympathize somewhat with him. It didn't make any sense. to Jonah for God to spare Nineveh. Nineveh was a mighty power. The armies of the Assyrians were gathering strength continually. They posed a threat to all their neighbors. And Jonah the prophet could well see the day when those armies would devastate his land so that by the mere fact of God's allowing them to continue, forgiving their sin, Not wiping them out. It seemed to Jonah he was placing his own people in imminent peril. Now Jonah was right and Jonah was wrong. He was wrong because in his thinking there was the notion that the nation of Israel and the tribes of Judah somehow or other deserved better of God. The reality is they were as wicked as the Ninevites and just as deserving of judgment and it was in the wisdom of God that he prepared heathen nations such as the Assyrians to be his sword against the apostasy of his covenant people. But Jonah was right in that Nineveh would not only survive but in the days of Hezekiah Sennacherib would invade Judah, first of all, and then the Assyrians would take the entire northern kingdom captive. Then they would invade the land of Judah, threatening Hezekiah's throne as well. I think that the prophet here is looking at Assyria at or before that incursion in the days of Sennacherib. I think that the evil counsellor, the wicked counsellor of verse 11 sounds very like a description of Rabshakeh who stood to blaspheme God outside the walls of Jerusalem and commanded the people not to allow Hezekiah to induce them to trust in the name of the Lord. For, said he, where are the gods of all the other nations? Those people trusted their gods. Were they able to stand before this great king? Not at all. So don't let Hezekiah fool you by telling you to trust in Jehovah. That was the wicked counselor. That's the background. Nahum's words here are certainly very significant. The Lord is jealous. Jealous for His own glory. Jealous for His own name. Jealous for the ordinances of His church. Jealous for the purity of His gospel. Jealous for the progress of His purpose. God is jealous. And closely allied to that, God is therefore zealous in all those causes. And that jealousy of the Lord for his own name will lead him to deal not only with the apostasy of Israel, which he did, but will lead him to deal with the wickedness of the Assyrians. In his providence, having allowed the northern kingdom to fall, he decided in grace he would preserve the kingdom of Judah. It appeared impossible, but the Lord did it. It may be, I think, that it's very difficult when you're reading prophets at times. A lot of prophecy is not intended to be fully understood until it's fulfilled. But you'll find that there's this thing called telescoping in the prophets, where they're looking at something near at hand, apparently. And indeed maybe, but they're also bringing into focus something that they describe in the same language, but it actually is a way down the road. In other words, they're bringing the immediate and the ultimate together. And I think when you get toward the end of this chapter where he speaks about, Behold in the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings and publisheth peace, that may actually still have an ultimate fulfillment, speaking of the day when no enemy will ever again go through the land of Judah. But I think its immediate fulfillment was that there was coming a day when across Judah there would be the unimaginable news, so good that I'm sure the people in Hezekiah's day felt like those people did in the prayer meeting when they heard that Peter had been let out of prison. They couldn't believe it for joy. And there out came the news that Hezekiah, that Sennacherib's army, already squatting near to Jerusalem, ready for its final thrust. Nothing could stop it. It was now scattered. 180,000 men dead at the hand of God. Not an enemy soldier in sight. Slaughtered by the hand of God. And Sennacherib running with his tail between his legs back to his homeland. only there to be murdered by His own sons. It seemed too good to be true. But it wasn't. For the Lord was jealous for His cause and for His people. At the heart of this, there is a statement that the people who were in the cauldron of affliction, of trial, when Jerusalem was shut up and they had nothing but the promise of God to go on. It was something that was true for them. It was a blessing to them. And it's just as true for us today. So at the heart of this, there's this promise, this word. And I'll leave it with you as we go to prayer tonight in verse 7. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knoweth them that trust in Him. There are three wonderful and timeless truths that there the Lord sets before us and we should lay hold of. It speaks of the day of trouble. That's the challenge that faced the people of God. Do you remember Hezekiah said that it's a day of trouble, of blasphemy, and of rebuke? It seemed that all their hopes were aborted. I use that word advisedly. For he deliberately used this figure of speech. He said, It's just as if the children are come to the birth, but there's not power to bring forth. Now, when you stop to think of that. Remember, this is in a day long before modern obstetrics. There could be no greater disappointment. There could be no greater tragedy that a family could think of. You think of the investment of time and effort and money preparing for a new arrival in a family, and then multiply this across all the families. This is the picture that Hezekiah is painting. The children are brought to the birth, but there is no power to bring forth, and they die in the womb. That's a picture of the state of the work of God. This is a day of trouble. Blasphemers are everywhere. We stand in reproach and rebuke. We talk about a living God, but it's as if God were dead. We talk about power, but we have no power. We talk about what God did in a past day, but we're not seeing God do anything in this day. This is the challenge that was facing the people of God. It was a day of trouble. And I think we can identify well with that. A day of trouble. Rav Shaka is like a Sunday school teacher in comparison to the wicked counselors we have around today. Rav Shaka is tirade against the Lord. is mild in comparison to the vile attacks upon God and His Christ that are everywhere and every day being launched in this nation against God. It's a day of the blasphemer. It's a day of trouble for the Church of Christ. But the biggest trouble is in that awful figure of speech, that awful picture. Children brought to the birth, but there's not strength, power to bring forth. And however, I don't want to push the analogy too far, but however you look at it, there's disappointment there. There's frustration there, there's bitterness there, there's anguish there. More than that. And I think this is the real trouble today. And it is the, I would say, it's the fundamental trouble. I'm not saying fundamental in the sense that it's the cause. But it is the fundamental trouble that every church is facing. And that is the almost total absence of new life. Oh sure, there are ones getting saved here and there. And sure, there are people who are claiming to see more people saved in a day than the apostles did in the day of Pentecost. They're only self-deluded nuts, but they're not seeing it. And every survey, not by the enemies of religion, but by the friends of religion, every survey in the United States in the last 25 years will tell you, that in real terms, church growth is either static or going down. And that these churches that say they are progressing so much are really benefiting from one phenomenon, and that is the shuffling of people from this church to that church to that church to the other church. But the real trouble is that there is an almost universal absence of new life Certainly there's nothing, nothing in our day remotely to be compared with the great movements of the Holy Ghost that have swept countless thousands into the kingdom. That's the challenge. It's a day of trouble. The enemy has come in like a flood. He's, as it were, encamped at Lachish. He's near to the gates of Jerusalem. Threatening. Threatening. The overthrow of the very work of God. Now, he can't do that. But to all intents and purposes, that's what he's setting out to do. a day of challenge. Now, we have got to face that. And until we face the challenge, we're going to go no further. When Hezekiah used that description, and it's reflected here in the seventh verse of Nahum 1, when he used that description, he did so with a broken heart. It wasn't simply a matter of saying something, shrugging it off. It was not simply a matter of criticism. It was a matter of a broken heart. If there's one thing worse than the spiritual impotence of the churches today, well, let's bring it closer home. There's one thing worse than the spiritual impotence of our church today. It's the lack of concern that accompanies it. Where are the tears and the lamentations? Where are the sighs and the cries and the groans, the fasting and the praying? Where is there the equivalent of Hezekiah spreading his letter before the Lord, getting before God until he got through to God? The trouble is great. The challenge it presents is greater. This is the challenge that faces us. What it's really saying to us, and we've got to face this honestly, that the enemy in here is a whole lot more entrenched and a whole lot more dangerous than any foe out there. So this is a day of trouble. the challenge. But in that day of trouble there is this word, the Lord is good. A stronghold or a strength in that day of trouble. Now that's the comfort that God brings to the people in the day of challenge. You see, after all I've said, you would naturally turn it upon yourself and say, what a miserable bunch, what a wretched bunch we are, and throw up your hands and say, there's not much hope. That would be natural. But immediately we're faced with the challenge. The Lord directs our eyes heavenward. He directs our attention to Himself. And He says, the Lord. Now let's get there. The name is significant. Right throughout this passage, there is an emphasis on Jehovah. He is this God who is revengeful and furious against His enemies. But who is He? He is the living Jehovah. He is the One who has drawn us into the bonds of a personal covenant sealed with the blood of His own Lamb. That is who He is. He's the One who has wrapped us, as it were, around and around and bound us to His heart with the promises of His grace. He says, so get your eyes on the Lord. The Lord is good. And how often we need to hear that. The Lord is good. And He doeth good. I think that this is not so much speaking of the Lord's personal goodness to denote His holiness, as His benevolence, His kindness, His love, His mercy. He's good. He's spoken of the Lord's fury, the Lord's revenging, the Lord's hatred of His enemies, the one who is literally The master of wrath. As the prophet puts it, he's the master of wrath. That's what God is to his enemies. But God is good to Israel. God is good to his people. We look out in the challenges today, we look in this day of trouble and we say God has forsaken us. No, God may be chastising us for our good. God may be holding back to draw out our souls after Him. God may be, as it were, allowing us to face these things, to drive us to our knees, to cut us off from all our hope in the flesh, and cast us entirely upon Him. But whatever He's doing, the Lord is good. and the Lord is our strength. You know that saying quite simply is we don't need to buckle under the pressure. Now, it's easy to say that. Every one of us has his breaking point. Every one of us is prone to buckle. When you think you can't break, you're never in greater danger than breaking than you are at that moment. There is no strength in man. There's no power in our own will. There's no ability. There's nothing that we have. We will break and we will buckle and we will give way. And if by some method or other we were able not to do so, our withstanding the challenge would simply be out of the stubbornness and therefore the bitter selfishness of our own hearts. There are some people who wouldn't give way simply because they love their own way, but there'd be nothing spiritual about it. But the Lord is our strength. Remember the 46th Psalm, Luther's great Psalm, so near and dear to his heart in the midst of all the burning battles of the Reformation. God is our refuge and our strength. A very present hope in trouble. God is our strength. This is what Nahum said. Here's our comfort. We don't need to buckle. We don't need to be defeated. Individually or as a church. For the Lord is our stronghold. What do you do then? The idea is get to the Lord. enter into him, lay hold of his strength. How do you do that? How do you lay hold of the strength that's in God? Well, isn't this what Isaiah deals with in the 40th chapter? They that wait upon the Lord shall renew, or literally, they that wait upon the Lord shall change their strength. They'll put off their weakness and they'll put on God's strength. Our strength is in waiting upon God. Our strength comes in the place of prayer. Our strength comes in the place of getting close to the Lord. Our strength comes in that place where we are wrapped up in fellowship with Him, and it's as we are personally drawn close to Him. But we will be strong. I don't want to get way, way off on a tangent here, but there is something we need to emphasize. Here you have the conjunction of two vital elements. I think that the Protestant reformers joined these things together. Some of their followers later fell into the trap of segregating them. And we now have the results of that. You have two things. Number one, you have orthodoxy. That's rightness of doctrine. That's a grasp of truth. And secondly, you have piety. You have that warm-hearted, can I even use the word, emotional and relational closeness to God. When you read the Reformers, you'll find they bound those two things together. But you come down a few years, and orthodoxy became fossilized. The only thing that mattered was to be intellectually right, theologically right. And soon the church was as cold as could be. In the Lutheran church, Jacob Spenner arose to raise a protest against this violation of Christianity. He was despised and hated by the Lutheran theologians of his day. And they called him and his followers the pietists. What was their crime? Their crime, and I know that some later pietists went off the reels, much as modern charismatics have gone off the reels, into utter subjectivism. But what was Spinner's crime? It was the belief that Christian truth is not just a matter of being right and being able to tick the right proposition, but it is a dynamic reality that affects every part of your life. And I would say to you that in that belief, Jacob Spinner was absolutely right. John Wesley brought this and his followers. Woodfield, just as true of him, who was much more orthodox in theology than Wesley, but they brought this into English church life. That was the genius of Methodism. It was truth that set the life on fire. Now, what's the relevance of this today? What's the relevance? Well, I'll tell you the relevance as far as the Reformed churches are concerned. We have a breed of Calvinists abroad in America today who are all head and no heart. And all that matters is orthodoxy. And usually they're not very orthodox at that. But that's all that matters. Just being able to argue intellectually. And when I read modern Calvinistic literature, the worst thing they can say about somebody is, oh, he is a pietist. Some of them dismiss. The writings of men who were so great that these pygmies wouldn't measure up to their ankle bones. They dismissed them and their writings simply as pietism, as if that were still a curse word nearly. That kind of Calvinism thinks the strength of the Reformed faith is in their intellectual prowess, and I want to tell you They are a curse and a blight on the work of God and they are as much an enemy of the cause of Christ as any papist could ever be. Strong language, but not too strong. Then there are others and they overthrow all attention to orthodoxy. It's just how you feel. You've got to be in the spirit. You've got to learn to jive the right way, gyrate the right way. All that matters is the feeling. If you convince yourself we're in revival in America, then we're in revival. No, we're not. This country is nearer damnation than ever it has been before. despite the so-called 30 years of charismatic revival. You know, if we'd had one hundredth part of the revival that the charismatics claim we've been having, the whole country would be converted by now. It's not so. It's not so. There's no strength in that. But I'll tell you where the strength is from the Lord. It's in a conjunction of great truth and real heart fellowship with God. Waiting on the Lord. Waiting on the Lord. I remember my blood ran cold when I read the late Ruses J. Rush Dooney. Mighty theologian in many ways. Did a lot for the early Christian school movement and all the rest of it. But, I couldn't believe what I was reading when scathingly, scathingly he attacked Those who would be so foolish as to send out a prayer request to a multitude of people, please pray for me. And he mocked this as if there were some strength in numbers. When I read that, I realized I am reading a man who, however great his intellect, has a heart like stone, knows very little of experimental religion. What did Paul do? When he wrote to the whole church at Rome, he said, Strive together in your prayers to God for me. Was Paul a fool, thinking that there was some strength in numbers that a great number could prevail with God? Paul was no fool. Paul just believed in truth that captivated the heart and prostrated a man and a church before God to wait upon Him until God answered prayer. Men and women, I want to tell you, the Lord is good. The Lord is strong. We don't have to be defeated, and we don't have to be overthrown, and we don't have to be the victims of any foe, but we only get His strength when what we believe humbles our hearts, drives us to our faces, until we pray through. Then and only then do we enter in to the stronghold in the goodness of God. The final word, the word of confidence. He knoweth them that trust in him. He knoweth them that trust in him. A wee bit like what Paul wrote, he knoweth them that are his. The Lord knows who is saved. The Lord knows every heart that has faith. He knows every trusting one. The idea surely here is, for our comfort, you may be ploughing a very lonely furrow. At times you may be tempted by the devil to think when you're praying you're beating your brains out. God's not hearing you. Have you not prayed this ten times, a hundred times before? God's not hearing you. God's not within a million miles of hearing you. The Lord knows the people who are trusting Him. Of course, the Lord knows everything, does he not? So it's not just speaking such a truism as that. I mean, the Lord knows them that are trusting him, yeah, but he also knows them who are not trusting him in that sense. The Lord knows. But this is the knowledge of his special affection. This is the knowledge of his special protection. This is the knowledge that commits all the resources of divine love to the people who are trusting Him. Now, here's our confidence as we come in prayer tonight. We're weak. We're foolish. We're in the midst of a day of trouble. The enemy is stronger than we can imagine, and we ourselves are incapable of dealing with them in any shape or form. The Lord is good. The strength of God is available to us. And as we come to pray tonight, even as the devil would mock your feeble efforts at prayer, the Lord knows every trusting heart. So therefore, let us come with confidence. Let's draw near in full assurance of faith. Let's lay hold of the promise Let's come to the God who is good, and good for a stronghold, as this could, I think, legitimately be translated, He's good for a stronghold. So, let's lay hold of Him. Let's enter in. Let's wait upon the Lord, and let's look to Him abundantly to answer the prayers of our hearts.