WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:00.180 Amen. 00:01.500 --> 00:03.260 Man, the title of my sermon this morning 00:03.260 --> 00:07.140 is The Lord Reserveth Wrath For His Enemies. 00:07.240 --> 00:09.980 The Lord Reserveth Wrath For His Enemies. 00:10.380 --> 00:11.780 The book of Nahum starts out here, 00:11.920 --> 00:14.080 the burden of Nineveh, 00:14.080 --> 00:16.620 the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 00:17.000 --> 00:19.640 God is jealous and the Lord revengeth. 00:19.760 --> 00:21.740 The Lord revengeth and is furious. 00:22.400 --> 00:25.180 The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries. 00:25.320 --> 00:26.360 And here's where I take the title 00:26.360 --> 00:29.560 and he reserveth Wrath For His Enemies. 00:29.560 --> 00:30.940 Now, what does it mean to reserve? 00:31.140 --> 00:33.400 Well, if you just look up the word reserve in the dictionary, 00:33.900 --> 00:38.340 it says to keep back or to save for future use, 00:38.960 --> 00:41.300 disposal, treatment, et cetera, right? 00:41.500 --> 00:44.640 So you're putting it aside for the future. 00:44.940 --> 00:46.000 And that's what it means here 00:46.000 --> 00:49.680 when it talks about God reserving Wrath For His Enemies. 00:50.020 --> 00:51.340 And the idea here is that sometimes 00:51.340 --> 00:53.720 there will be a delay on God's Wrath 00:53.720 --> 00:55.820 if a nation gets right with God 00:55.820 --> 00:58.780 or if a significant part of that nation 00:58.780 --> 01:01.400 will get right with God or a group of people 01:01.400 --> 01:05.060 within that nation that are enough salt and light 01:05.060 --> 01:06.800 in that nation where it's worth it 01:06.800 --> 01:09.360 for God to reserve judgment 01:09.360 --> 01:12.400 and allow those great works for God to go on. 01:12.840 --> 01:15.340 And I'm gonna show you this over and over again 01:15.340 --> 01:15.680 in the Bible. 01:15.780 --> 01:18.120 This is actually a very common theme 01:18.120 --> 01:19.180 that comes up again and again. 01:19.480 --> 01:20.780 The first example we're gonna look at 01:20.780 --> 01:22.460 is with Nineveh itself, right? 01:22.840 --> 01:25.900 Now, flip back a few pages to the book of Jonah, right? 01:26.000 --> 01:27.900 Just a few pages earlier in your Bible 01:28.400 --> 01:29.560 is the book of Jonah. 01:30.020 --> 01:31.400 And one thing that you need to understand 01:31.880 --> 01:34.480 is that the minor prophets in general 01:34.980 --> 01:38.320 are in somewhat of a chronological order, okay? 01:38.780 --> 01:42.140 And really the entire Bible is laid out in this way. 01:42.440 --> 01:45.980 So you have sections based on the theme, 01:46.080 --> 01:47.840 like for example, you have the law books 01:47.840 --> 01:50.060 and then you have your historical books, 01:50.380 --> 01:51.840 then you have your poetic books, 01:52.080 --> 01:53.800 then you have the major prophets 01:54.080 --> 01:56.240 and then you have the minor prophets. 01:56.630 --> 01:58.720 And within each of these sections, 01:59.180 --> 02:03.060 it's roughly pretty much in chronological order. 02:03.520 --> 02:06.000 So basically, you have the book of Jonah 02:06.610 --> 02:08.720 and then you have Nahum coming a few books later 02:08.720 --> 02:11.160 because it's chronologically later. 02:11.540 --> 02:13.460 And both of these books have to do 02:13.460 --> 02:15.520 with the same subject, which is Nineveh, right? 02:15.940 --> 02:18.420 Because look if you would at Jonah chapter one, verse two, 02:18.880 --> 02:21.460 it says, arise, go to Nineveh, 02:21.620 --> 02:24.140 that great city and cry against it 02:24.140 --> 02:27.520 for their wickedness is come up before me. 02:27.820 --> 02:31.320 So back at this time, this is like about 100 years earlier, 02:31.980 --> 02:34.420 Nineveh is super wicked in the sight of God 02:34.420 --> 02:36.740 and he's sending Jonah to go preach against them. 02:36.840 --> 02:39.220 Now jump forward to chapter three, verse four. 02:39.700 --> 02:42.440 It says, and Jonah began to enter into the city 02:42.440 --> 02:44.860 a day's journey and he cried and said, 02:45.260 --> 02:48.300 yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 02:48.600 --> 02:51.260 So the people of Nineveh believed God 02:51.260 --> 02:54.180 and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth 02:54.180 --> 02:57.080 from the greatest of them, even to the least of them. 02:57.180 --> 02:58.160 And then it goes on and on, 02:58.540 --> 03:01.600 describing in great detail Nineveh's repentance. 03:02.100 --> 03:03.900 So Jonah is just sent there 03:03.900 --> 03:06.320 to preach against their extreme wickedness. 03:06.480 --> 03:09.440 And when he preaches that they're gonna be destroyed, 03:09.560 --> 03:10.380 that they're gonna be overthrown, 03:10.920 --> 03:11.980 it's kind of surprising, 03:12.160 --> 03:14.380 but they end up just receiving the message 03:14.380 --> 03:17.180 and just repenting and getting right with God 03:17.180 --> 03:20.040 and they're fasting, putting on sackcloth 03:20.040 --> 03:22.260 all the way from the king down. 03:22.680 --> 03:25.000 And so they have this huge repentance. 03:25.440 --> 03:29.360 And if you would jump down to verse number 10, 03:29.560 --> 03:33.360 it says, and God saw their works that they repented, 03:34.220 --> 03:35.540 or sorry, God saw their works 03:35.540 --> 03:37.180 that they turned from their evil way 03:37.180 --> 03:39.600 and God repented of the evil 03:39.600 --> 03:41.580 that he had said that he would do unto them 03:41.580 --> 03:43.400 and he did it not, right? 03:43.520 --> 03:46.280 So because of the fact that they got their act together 03:46.280 --> 03:47.520 and fixed their works, 03:47.520 --> 03:50.400 then God ends up repenting of the evil 03:50.400 --> 03:52.420 that he had said that he would do to them and not doing it. 03:52.460 --> 03:55.440 So 40 days later, Nineveh is not overthrown 03:55.440 --> 03:57.720 because they got right with God. 03:58.020 --> 04:00.080 And I wanna point out, first of all, 04:00.180 --> 04:03.980 that this is different from personal spiritual salvation. 04:04.480 --> 04:07.560 When it comes to our personal spiritual salvation, 04:07.860 --> 04:10.120 that is based on one thing and one thing alone, 04:10.440 --> 04:13.000 which is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, right? 04:13.100 --> 04:16.460 The Bible says that we are saved by grace through faith 04:16.460 --> 04:19.440 and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God, 04:19.820 --> 04:22.180 not of works, listen to me mention both. 04:22.460 --> 04:26.320 So when it comes to personal salvation, heaven and hell, 04:26.640 --> 04:28.420 that is just based on faith in Christ. 04:28.760 --> 04:31.160 Once we believe in Christ, we have eternal life, 04:31.520 --> 04:33.560 nothing can separate us from the love of God, 04:33.660 --> 04:34.780 which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 04:35.280 --> 04:37.560 But then there's a whole different issue 04:37.560 --> 04:39.780 of earthly consequences. 04:40.160 --> 04:42.660 God's judgment here now on this earth. 04:43.140 --> 04:45.380 You know, in George Washington famously said, 04:45.380 --> 04:47.960 hey, nations can't be judged in the next world, 04:47.980 --> 04:49.420 they have to be judged in this world, right? 04:49.500 --> 04:51.700 Because when we're talking about like a national judgment, 04:51.960 --> 04:55.380 we're talking about nations that exist in the here and now. 04:55.960 --> 04:59.700 Okay, now in our personal lives, we also experience both. 05:00.000 --> 05:01.960 There's a personal spiritual salvation 05:01.960 --> 05:03.140 of getting to heaven when we die, 05:03.500 --> 05:05.320 but then there's also, do we wanna be blessed 05:05.320 --> 05:07.720 on this earth or do we wanna face judgment 05:07.720 --> 05:11.360 and wrath on this earth, even just physically, right? 05:11.680 --> 05:13.260 So you could be a saved Christian, 05:13.260 --> 05:15.520 you could believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 05:15.960 --> 05:18.100 you could have eternal life, you're going to heaven, 05:18.380 --> 05:21.540 but if you go out and commit a bunch of egregious sins, 05:21.840 --> 05:26.000 you are gonna face severe consequences in this lifetime. 05:26.460 --> 05:27.060 The Bible says, 05:27.260 --> 05:29.460 whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, 05:29.700 --> 05:32.720 and scourges every son whom he receiveth. 05:33.060 --> 05:35.460 And so just because you're spiritually saved, 05:35.700 --> 05:37.060 it doesn't mean that you're not gonna face 05:37.060 --> 05:39.880 some consequences in the right here and now, right? 05:39.880 --> 05:43.060 It's just like if we have children living in our home, 05:43.140 --> 05:47.480 they did not have to work or earn being born into, 05:47.620 --> 05:49.760 they're just born into it, they just live there, 05:49.980 --> 05:52.320 and they don't have to live up to a certain standard 05:52.840 --> 05:55.880 in order to be children, right, in the home, 05:55.980 --> 06:00.560 but if they do wrong, they're gonna get disciplined, right? 06:00.680 --> 06:02.640 And it's a similar analogy with God, 06:03.040 --> 06:06.160 you're his child, you're saved, you're going to heaven, 06:06.460 --> 06:08.340 but if you blow off his commandments, 06:08.340 --> 06:09.420 you're gonna get your butt whipped, 06:09.820 --> 06:12.180 that's what the Bible clearly teaches, okay? 06:12.640 --> 06:14.720 Now, when it comes to unsaved people, 06:15.980 --> 06:19.000 sometimes unsaved people will seemingly get away with things 06:19.000 --> 06:22.080 in the short term or even in a longer term, 06:22.280 --> 06:23.660 but at the end of the day, they're going to hell 06:23.660 --> 06:25.200 when they die, so they're not really getting away 06:25.200 --> 06:26.980 with anything in that regard. 06:27.500 --> 06:29.280 But when it comes to us as saved Christians, 06:29.760 --> 06:32.700 we end up getting punished on this earth 06:32.700 --> 06:34.420 for things that we do wrong, 06:34.620 --> 06:36.100 even though we're going to heaven, 06:36.340 --> 06:37.700 and even though there's nothing we can do 06:37.700 --> 06:39.920 to lose our salvation, there's a lot we can do 06:39.920 --> 06:42.180 to screw up our life here on this earth, okay? 06:42.660 --> 06:47.200 So here we see in Jonah, when it comes to national salvation, 06:47.680 --> 06:50.040 God saw their works, okay, 06:50.140 --> 06:51.460 that they turned from their wicked way. 06:51.760 --> 06:53.320 So here's the thing, you could have a nation 06:53.320 --> 06:56.920 full of saved Christians, but if they're not turning 06:56.920 --> 06:59.140 from their wicked way, he could still bring 06:59.140 --> 07:01.980 a national chastisement, a national judgment, 07:02.200 --> 07:05.160 just like he will chastise the individual saved Christian. 07:05.720 --> 07:07.400 So God sees their works, and by the way, 07:07.400 --> 07:09.120 turning from your evil way is works. 07:09.520 --> 07:11.500 So if somebody tries to tell you, hey, 07:11.580 --> 07:15.440 in order to go to heaven, you have to turn from your sins, 07:15.740 --> 07:18.620 turn from your evil way, turn your life around, 07:18.800 --> 07:20.900 reform yourself, repent of your sins, whatever. 07:21.260 --> 07:21.840 What are they saying? 07:21.940 --> 07:24.280 They're basically saying you have to do faith and works. 07:24.980 --> 07:25.400 Well, guess what? 07:25.560 --> 07:27.060 Salvation is not by faith plus works, 07:27.420 --> 07:29.440 it's just by faith alone, okay? 07:29.820 --> 07:31.600 Not of works, let's say he managed to boast. 07:32.220 --> 07:36.300 And so God saw their works, and he turned from the evil 07:36.300 --> 07:37.700 that he had said that he would do unto them, 07:37.800 --> 07:38.440 and he did it not. 07:38.600 --> 07:40.320 But look at verse one of the next chapter, 07:40.880 --> 07:42.740 but it displeased Jonah exceedingly, 07:42.760 --> 07:43.540 and he was very angry. 07:44.000 --> 07:46.000 Now this might strike you as odd at first, 07:46.220 --> 07:49.500 because you would think that a preacher wants results, 07:49.840 --> 07:51.140 that a preacher would want to preach, 07:51.460 --> 07:52.920 and people get right with God, 07:53.400 --> 07:55.700 they listen to the message, they get right, 07:56.080 --> 07:57.660 everybody lives happily ever after. 07:58.120 --> 08:00.680 But unfortunately Jonah has a bad attitude here, 08:01.080 --> 08:04.220 because he obviously hates the Ninevites. 08:05.100 --> 08:08.240 The Ninevites have done wrong to his nation, 08:08.560 --> 08:10.540 and so this is like a national enemy, 08:10.840 --> 08:12.560 and that's why he didn't even want to go there 08:12.560 --> 08:14.680 in the first place, that's why he ran away 08:14.680 --> 08:16.520 and had to get swallowed by a whale and all that, 08:16.720 --> 08:20.000 because he did not want the Ninevites to be spared. 08:20.120 --> 08:21.640 He wanted to see them get smoked. 08:21.720 --> 08:24.480 He was looking forward to the judgment of Ninevah, 08:24.720 --> 08:26.000 and that's what he says in verse two. 08:26.100 --> 08:27.300 Look, he says, he prayed unto the Lord 08:27.300 --> 08:28.980 and said, I pray thee, O Lord, 08:29.220 --> 08:31.720 was not this my saying when I was yet in my country. 08:31.840 --> 08:33.180 Now we get a little bit of a backstory 08:33.760 --> 08:36.100 that God did not tell us in chapters one and two, 08:36.440 --> 08:40.040 but now we're getting like inside the mind of Jonah, 08:40.200 --> 08:42.800 and also Jonah apparently had told us to God. 08:43.140 --> 08:44.400 He said, was not this my saying? 08:44.880 --> 08:47.560 So the Bible often is just giving us 08:47.560 --> 08:49.240 a really short version of the story, 08:49.420 --> 08:52.520 but behind the scenes Jonah is saying to God, 08:52.800 --> 08:54.660 here's why I don't want to go to Ninevah, 08:55.160 --> 08:56.780 and he says, this was my saying 08:56.780 --> 08:57.960 when I was yet in my country. 08:58.480 --> 09:01.860 Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, 09:01.860 --> 09:04.340 for I knew that thou art a gracious God 09:04.340 --> 09:06.360 and merciful, slow to anger, 09:06.520 --> 09:08.700 and of great kindness, and repent of the evil. 09:08.880 --> 09:10.560 He's like, this is what I was afraid of happening, 09:10.900 --> 09:11.760 is that I would preach, 09:12.040 --> 09:13.300 and then they'd get right with God, 09:13.560 --> 09:14.820 and then you wouldn't destroy them. 09:14.980 --> 09:16.880 So I decided I'm just gonna not go, 09:17.060 --> 09:18.340 and then they're just gonna get smoked. 09:19.840 --> 09:22.000 But of course God had other plans, 09:22.100 --> 09:24.240 and he set the whale to swallow and everything like that. 09:24.520 --> 09:26.040 It's kind of funny here, you know, 09:26.120 --> 09:26.900 when you look at it, 09:27.040 --> 09:28.980 I mean, I don't think it was funny to him at the time, 09:29.240 --> 09:30.740 but it's funny thousands of years later, 09:30.740 --> 09:31.840 now we can laugh about it. 09:32.700 --> 09:34.000 But here's what's interesting, 09:34.120 --> 09:36.000 flip forward now to the book of Nahum. 09:37.120 --> 09:39.820 What's interesting is that Jonah's wish 09:39.820 --> 09:41.880 actually does ultimately come true, 09:41.960 --> 09:45.280 because Jonah really wants to see Ninevah get smoked. 09:45.620 --> 09:47.300 He really wants to see Ninevah get destroyed. 09:47.380 --> 09:47.820 Well, guess what? 09:48.420 --> 09:49.580 Ninevah does get destroyed. 09:50.300 --> 09:51.900 God does overthrow Ninevah. 09:52.100 --> 09:53.340 God does punish Ninevah. 09:53.580 --> 09:54.920 It's just 100 years later. 09:55.560 --> 09:56.980 And why the delay? 09:57.400 --> 10:00.340 Because God reserves wrath for his enemies, 10:00.340 --> 10:02.180 because they got right with God, 10:02.560 --> 10:03.700 he's gonna cut them slack. 10:03.980 --> 10:04.900 He's gonna give them a break. 10:05.040 --> 10:06.220 He's gonna spare that generation. 10:06.420 --> 10:07.920 But then the next generation 10:08.360 --> 10:09.860 that is wicked in the sight of God, 10:10.140 --> 10:12.840 now he's gonna bring down on them the full wrath 10:12.840 --> 10:15.180 that they'd been earning after all these centuries. 10:15.500 --> 10:16.660 And again, we're gonna see this 10:16.660 --> 10:18.820 over and over again in the Bible, okay? 10:19.180 --> 10:20.860 But look at Nahum chapter one, verse two. 10:21.180 --> 10:23.580 It says God is jealous and the Lord revenged, 10:23.940 --> 10:25.920 the Lord revenged and is furious. 10:26.840 --> 10:29.240 The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries 10:29.240 --> 10:31.060 and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. 10:31.260 --> 10:31.720 Watch this. 10:32.160 --> 10:35.900 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power 10:36.480 --> 10:39.420 and will not at all acquit the wicked. 10:39.540 --> 10:42.500 So sometimes God will be slow to anger. 10:42.860 --> 10:44.280 He will delay the punishment. 10:44.420 --> 10:45.360 He will delay his wrath, 10:45.560 --> 10:49.620 but he is not at all going to acquit the wicked, 10:49.620 --> 10:52.320 meaning he doesn't just forget to punish people. 10:52.400 --> 10:55.060 He doesn't just forget about it, ignore it, blow it off. 10:55.360 --> 10:55.740 No, no, no. 10:55.960 --> 10:56.940 He's serious about it. 10:56.960 --> 10:57.880 He's not playing games. 10:57.880 --> 11:01.240 It's just sometimes you'll have a reason to delay that 11:01.240 --> 11:04.140 and it's usually because of repentance 11:04.140 --> 11:07.500 or at least giving people a chance to repent and get right. 11:07.860 --> 11:09.360 Let's look at another example of this. 11:09.460 --> 11:11.800 Go to 2 Kings chapter 21. 11:12.460 --> 11:13.980 2 Kings chapter 21, 11:13.980 --> 11:16.440 because I think this is a biblical concept 11:16.440 --> 11:18.980 that's important because if it weren't important, 11:19.000 --> 11:20.700 it wouldn't come up so many times 11:20.700 --> 11:23.340 and it's something that we see over and over again. 11:23.800 --> 11:26.560 Look at 2 Kings 21 because another example of this 11:26.560 --> 11:31.120 is the nation of Judah itself and King Manasseh. 11:31.120 --> 11:35.800 King Manasseh led Judah into just some of the most wicked, 11:36.180 --> 11:38.560 horrible sins of their whole history 11:39.280 --> 11:42.120 and it says in verse number 11 of 2 Kings 21 11:42.120 --> 11:46.180 because Manasseh, King of Judah had done these abominations 11:46.640 --> 11:49.900 and had done wickedly above all that the Amorites did 11:49.900 --> 11:51.260 and we're gonna talk about the Amorites later, 11:52.080 --> 11:53.240 which were before him 11:53.240 --> 11:56.480 and have made Judah also to sin with his idols. 11:57.000 --> 11:58.560 Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 11:59.000 --> 12:02.400 behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah 12:02.860 --> 12:06.300 that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. 12:06.620 --> 12:08.460 He's saying, look, I am furious. 12:09.060 --> 12:10.220 I'm bringing down wrath. 12:10.560 --> 12:11.440 I'm bringing down revenge. 12:12.260 --> 12:13.460 It's gonna be insane. 12:13.660 --> 12:15.060 People are gonna be shocked 12:15.540 --> 12:18.100 at the punishment that I bring on Judah and Jerusalem. 12:19.240 --> 12:20.460 And then look at verse 16. 12:20.460 --> 12:24.620 It says moreover, Manasseh shed innocent blood very much 12:25.300 --> 12:27.980 till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to the other 12:28.640 --> 12:31.100 beside his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin 12:31.520 --> 12:33.360 in doing that which was evil on the side of the Lord. 12:33.580 --> 12:35.380 So God is super upset. 12:35.780 --> 12:37.700 He's gonna bring down all kinds of wrath, 12:38.140 --> 12:39.240 but here's the thing. 12:40.000 --> 12:43.040 Manasseh ends up getting right with God, late in life. 12:43.820 --> 12:46.880 So what happens is Manasseh has a son named Amon 12:47.280 --> 12:49.840 and then Amon has a son named Josiah. 12:49.840 --> 12:54.560 So Manasseh's grandson Josiah, look at chapter 23 verse 25. 12:55.320 --> 12:57.800 Not only did Manasseh personally get right with God, 12:58.220 --> 13:02.220 but then Manasseh's grandson Josiah ends up just leading 13:02.220 --> 13:04.840 the nation to just national repentance, 13:05.460 --> 13:08.740 just a huge revival of worshiping the Lord 13:08.740 --> 13:10.580 and getting right with God so that it says 13:10.580 --> 13:14.900 in 2 Kings 23, 25, and like unto him, that's Josiah, 13:15.780 --> 13:18.740 there was no king before him who turned to the Lord 13:18.740 --> 13:21.280 with all his heart and with all his soul 13:21.280 --> 13:24.280 and with all his might according to all the law of Moses, 13:24.500 --> 13:27.740 neither after him arose there any like him. 13:27.760 --> 13:29.960 I mean, this is just the best possible guy 13:29.960 --> 13:32.300 that you could have leading the nation of Judah, 13:32.640 --> 13:35.240 just totally getting everybody right with God, 13:35.440 --> 13:36.440 doing all these great things. 13:36.620 --> 13:38.800 But look at verse 26, even in spite of that, 13:40.240 --> 13:43.000 notwithstanding the Lord turned not 13:43.000 --> 13:45.160 from the fierceness of his great wrath 13:45.800 --> 13:48.200 wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah 13:48.740 --> 13:51.760 because of all the provocations that Manasseh 13:51.760 --> 13:53.060 had provoked him with all. 13:53.260 --> 13:56.320 And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight 13:56.320 --> 14:00.180 as I've removed Israel and will cast off this city Jerusalem 14:00.180 --> 14:02.600 which I have chosen and the house of which I said 14:02.600 --> 14:03.480 my name shall be there. 14:03.600 --> 14:08.060 Notice that even just this ultimate best ever revival 14:08.060 --> 14:11.100 under Josiah is not enough for God to just say, 14:11.160 --> 14:12.700 hey, I'm just gonna completely forget about 14:12.700 --> 14:18.860 all of my revenge and wrath and anger upon Manasseh. 14:19.040 --> 14:22.840 So Manasseh's repentance and Josiah's revival, 14:23.020 --> 14:24.320 you know what they ended up doing is, 14:24.580 --> 14:28.340 they ended up delaying the judgment upon Judah. 14:28.520 --> 14:30.780 They ended up causing God to reserve the wrath, 14:31.180 --> 14:33.000 but the wrath doesn't just go away, 14:33.580 --> 14:36.140 the infractions don't just go away, okay? 14:36.980 --> 14:39.240 Look at chapter 24, verse three. 14:39.860 --> 14:41.360 Surely at the commandment of the Lord 14:41.360 --> 14:45.000 came this upon Judah to remove them out of his sight 14:45.000 --> 14:47.100 for the sins of Manasseh, right? 14:47.180 --> 14:49.240 This is a guy that has already been dead for a long time. 14:50.920 --> 14:52.140 According to all that he did 14:52.140 --> 14:54.320 and also for the innocent blood that he shed 14:54.320 --> 14:56.460 for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood. 14:56.740 --> 14:58.420 Watch this, which the Lord would not pardon. 14:58.520 --> 14:59.680 See God's not up in heaven 15:00.180 --> 15:02.020 and a bunch of innocent people get murdered, 15:02.140 --> 15:03.260 a bunch of innocent blood shed 15:03.260 --> 15:04.520 and God's not just going back, 15:04.620 --> 15:05.960 oh, we'll just forget about it, 15:06.020 --> 15:07.460 doesn't matter, who cares? 15:07.840 --> 15:10.000 No, there's a payday that's coming. 15:10.560 --> 15:12.340 There is a revenge that's coming. 15:12.560 --> 15:14.900 There is a balancing of the scale that's coming. 15:15.220 --> 15:17.380 And if I think about the United States of America, 15:17.680 --> 15:20.680 the United States of America has committed some wicked sins 15:20.680 --> 15:23.100 and there's been a lot of innocent blood 15:23.100 --> 15:26.060 that has been shed, whether we talk about abortion 15:26.500 --> 15:28.840 or whether we talk about just other things 15:28.840 --> 15:31.260 and atrocities that the United States government 15:31.260 --> 15:33.320 or military has carried out at different times. 15:33.780 --> 15:36.360 Look, there's innocent blood that has been shed. 15:36.360 --> 15:39.680 Now our nation is just promoting sodomy, 15:39.780 --> 15:43.760 promoting feminism, promoting wickedness worldwide. 15:44.460 --> 15:46.780 And here's the thing, God is up in heaven 15:46.780 --> 15:50.240 and God's wrath is revealed from heaven 15:50.240 --> 15:51.960 against this kind of unrighteousness, 15:52.000 --> 15:53.300 according to Romans chapter one. 15:53.640 --> 15:56.060 And God is furious about these things. 15:56.300 --> 15:59.340 God is angry with the wicked every day 15:59.340 --> 16:02.660 and the Bible says the wicked shall be turned into hell 16:02.660 --> 16:04.880 and all the nations that forget God. 16:05.480 --> 16:08.960 And so the idea here is that there is a reckoning coming, 16:09.180 --> 16:12.580 there is a judgment coming, there is punishment coming, 16:12.820 --> 16:16.400 but here's the thing, God will delay that, 16:16.760 --> 16:19.380 God will restrain that, God will reserve that, 16:19.660 --> 16:23.200 that it would not happen in our day or in our generation 16:23.580 --> 16:26.800 if we are actually doing right in the sight of God. 16:27.400 --> 16:29.420 Not to say that the entire nation 16:29.420 --> 16:31.460 is ever gonna do what's right in the sight of God, 16:31.460 --> 16:34.260 but if there are enough people out there 16:34.260 --> 16:37.240 preaching the word of God, winning souls to Christ, 16:37.660 --> 16:39.100 doing great works, then God's gonna say, 16:39.160 --> 16:41.620 okay, well let me just withhold my judgment. 16:41.940 --> 16:46.060 Hey, let's let these zealous soul winning Christians, 16:46.360 --> 16:50.420 let's let them cook, let's let them do the work 16:50.420 --> 16:55.080 that I have for them and I'll wait to punish the wicked, 16:55.240 --> 16:58.200 I'll wait to pour out my wrath for all the innocent blood, 16:58.360 --> 16:59.800 but it's never gonna go away. 16:59.800 --> 17:02.800 Like the idea that it's just gonna be ignored, 17:03.100 --> 17:05.640 that the abortion holocaust is just gonna be ignored, 17:05.960 --> 17:08.400 or that just other, just sick, phagatory, 17:08.620 --> 17:09.820 or it's just gonna be ignored. 17:10.640 --> 17:12.500 Folks, it's not on the table, I'm sorry. 17:12.900 --> 17:16.420 The Bible is clear whether we're looking at Nineveh, 17:16.440 --> 17:18.820 which is a heathen nation, or whether we're looking 17:18.820 --> 17:21.740 at Judah, which at that time, that was God's chosen 17:21.740 --> 17:23.800 people in the Old Testament at that time, 17:24.060 --> 17:26.440 whether it's the nation of Judah, his people, 17:26.440 --> 17:29.700 whether it's a foreigner, Nineveh, doesn't matter. 17:30.440 --> 17:33.860 The same principle applies here, okay? 17:33.960 --> 17:35.780 And then Jeremiah preaches the same thing, 17:36.100 --> 17:37.760 you don't have to turn there, but in Jeremiah 15, 17:38.000 --> 17:40.240 he says, I will cause them to be removed 17:40.240 --> 17:43.260 into all kingdoms of the earth because of Manassee, 17:43.920 --> 17:45.640 the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, 17:46.220 --> 17:47.360 for that which he did in Jerusalem. 17:47.820 --> 17:49.860 Now, if you would go to First Kings, chapter 21, 17:50.360 --> 17:51.480 we're gonna look at a third example. 17:51.580 --> 17:53.380 So number one, we saw Nineveh. 17:53.500 --> 17:54.740 Number two, we saw Judah. 17:54.740 --> 17:57.540 Now, number three, we're gonna look at King Ahab. 17:58.020 --> 18:01.020 Now, King Ahab is someone that we think of as super wicked, 18:01.140 --> 18:02.520 and right now on Wednesday nights, 18:02.840 --> 18:05.220 we've been going through and seeing God pouring out 18:05.220 --> 18:08.420 his judgment upon Ahab's descendants, his household. 18:08.640 --> 18:11.600 I mean, everybody connected to Ahab is getting smoked 18:11.600 --> 18:13.540 in the last couple of Wednesday night sermons 18:13.930 --> 18:15.320 in Second Kings nine and 10. 18:15.720 --> 18:19.160 But here, we go back further to the man Ahab himself. 18:19.340 --> 18:20.980 And Ahab is a complex character 18:20.980 --> 18:25.020 because he's not just all super evil, reprobate guy. 18:25.660 --> 18:28.000 Okay, he did a lot of bad things, 18:28.260 --> 18:30.500 but a big part of that is the wicked influence 18:30.500 --> 18:31.520 of his wife, Jezebel. 18:32.200 --> 18:34.020 So look what the Bible says about him 18:34.020 --> 18:37.020 in verse 21 of chapter 21, First Kings. 18:37.320 --> 18:39.220 Behold, I will bring evil upon thee 18:39.880 --> 18:41.860 and will take away thy posterity 18:41.860 --> 18:43.820 and will cut off from Ahab, 18:44.060 --> 18:45.620 him that pisseth against the wall 18:45.620 --> 18:47.600 and him that is shut up and left in Israel 18:47.600 --> 18:50.380 and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam, 18:50.380 --> 18:52.660 the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha, 18:53.160 --> 18:55.320 the son of Ahijah for the provocation 18:55.320 --> 18:57.860 wherewith thou hast provoked me to anger 18:57.860 --> 18:59.780 and made Israel to sin. 19:00.260 --> 19:03.060 And of Jezebel also spake the Lord saying, 19:03.520 --> 19:06.180 the dog shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezebel. 19:06.220 --> 19:07.860 And of course we just saw the fulfillment of that 19:07.860 --> 19:09.540 in the Wednesday night Bible study. 19:10.480 --> 19:12.000 Him that died at the Bayhab in the city, 19:12.500 --> 19:14.880 the dog shall eat, and him that died in the field 19:14.880 --> 19:16.400 shall the fowls of the air eat. 19:16.920 --> 19:19.060 Okay, look at verse 25. 19:19.060 --> 19:21.480 But there was none like unto Ahab 19:21.480 --> 19:25.860 which did sell himself to work wickedness 19:25.860 --> 19:26.900 in the sight of the Lord, 19:27.240 --> 19:29.020 whom Jezebel, his wife, stirred up. 19:29.120 --> 19:31.400 And so what you can see here in this verse 19:31.400 --> 19:35.040 is that Ahab is not a man of pure evil. 19:35.580 --> 19:36.980 He's not just this pure evil, 19:37.020 --> 19:39.220 and there are some people out there that are pure evil. 19:39.660 --> 19:41.860 There are some evil reprobates 19:41.860 --> 19:42.920 and just horrible wicked, 19:43.160 --> 19:45.320 like Jezebel was one of those kind of people. 19:45.700 --> 19:47.240 Whereas Ahab on the other hand, 19:47.240 --> 19:49.780 he's not a rotten to the core guy. 19:50.120 --> 19:54.120 What he did is he sold himself to do wickedness, 19:54.180 --> 19:56.000 which again, you know, is showing 19:56.000 --> 19:58.660 that he's being manipulated by other people. 19:59.080 --> 20:00.300 And it's still his fault 20:01.140 --> 20:02.940 because he's the one who's the king. 20:03.640 --> 20:05.920 He didn't, nobody's making himself sell himself, 20:06.040 --> 20:07.260 but that's what he's doing. 20:07.660 --> 20:09.780 He's selling himself to do wickedness. 20:10.020 --> 20:11.240 You know, and he's basically, 20:11.400 --> 20:12.640 you know, you hear the phrase a lot 20:12.640 --> 20:14.160 selling your soul to Satan. 20:14.320 --> 20:16.160 Obviously that's not what this is referring to. 20:16.160 --> 20:17.100 But you know what? 20:17.220 --> 20:19.160 He's selling out to other people on this earth. 20:19.460 --> 20:20.900 You know, he's selling out, 20:21.700 --> 20:24.860 even though he's not himself a reprobate. 20:25.620 --> 20:29.680 And then it says, whom Jezebel, his wife, stirred up. 20:30.080 --> 20:32.620 So she's the one who's actually manipulating him. 20:32.880 --> 20:34.480 And you know, can you imagine this? 20:34.780 --> 20:36.740 I think that you could probably think of some examples 20:36.740 --> 20:38.260 in your life of people that you've known 20:38.260 --> 20:40.980 where the wife is the one wearing the pants of the family. 20:41.880 --> 20:43.620 Like, does this just not exist? 20:44.360 --> 20:47.800 No, there are situations where sometimes the man 20:47.800 --> 20:49.140 will want to do right. 20:49.440 --> 20:50.480 He'll want to serve God. 20:50.720 --> 20:51.500 He'll want to live for God. 20:51.540 --> 20:53.600 But unfortunately his wife's wearing the pants of the family. 20:54.120 --> 20:56.040 And so she ends up calling the shots 20:56.040 --> 20:59.040 and she takes the family in a wrong direction, okay? 20:59.360 --> 21:01.400 And obviously that is against God's order 21:01.400 --> 21:04.520 of having the husband be the head of the wife, 21:04.680 --> 21:08.640 as it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, verse three. 21:08.860 --> 21:11.860 And it's a turning upside down of God's natural order 21:11.860 --> 21:13.640 when the woman is in charge. 21:14.040 --> 21:18.500 And here we see Jezebel leading Ahab to do wickedly 21:18.500 --> 21:19.340 and stirring him up. 21:19.380 --> 21:22.420 And he sells out and he ends up doing all this stuff. 21:22.880 --> 21:25.800 And it says in verse 26, he did very abominably 21:26.400 --> 21:29.240 in following idols according to all things 21:29.700 --> 21:32.320 as did the Amorites, we're gonna come back to them, 21:32.700 --> 21:34.880 whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. 21:35.080 --> 21:37.360 And it came to pass when Ahab heard those words 21:37.360 --> 21:40.660 that he rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his flesh 21:40.660 --> 21:43.060 and fasted and lay in sackcloth, watch this, 21:43.400 --> 21:44.920 and went softly, you know? 21:45.040 --> 21:47.460 So this really takes him down a notch. 21:47.900 --> 21:49.700 All of a sudden he's not such a big mouth. 21:50.040 --> 21:51.800 He's not so prideful and arrogant. 21:52.320 --> 21:54.720 And so he humbles himself and he goes softly. 21:55.340 --> 21:57.080 Verse 28, the word of the Lord came to Elijah 21:57.080 --> 21:58.060 the Tishbite saying, 21:58.640 --> 22:02.220 see as thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me 22:02.900 --> 22:04.980 because he humbleth himself before me 22:04.980 --> 22:07.780 I will not bring the evil in his days. 22:07.780 --> 22:11.540 So notice he says, look, Ahab is repentant. 22:11.860 --> 22:14.800 Ahab is sorry, Ahab is humbling himself. 22:15.260 --> 22:18.900 Therefore I'm not gonna bring the wickedness in his days. 22:19.060 --> 22:19.980 I'm gonna give him a break. 22:20.120 --> 22:22.780 But does he say, hey, I'm just gonna completely 22:22.780 --> 22:23.620 forget about it? 22:24.280 --> 22:25.120 Is that what he says? 22:25.940 --> 22:26.120 No. 22:28.480 --> 22:31.360 He says, in his son's days, 22:31.580 --> 22:34.780 I will bring the evil upon his house. 22:34.960 --> 22:36.700 So the punishment is still coming. 22:36.700 --> 22:37.580 The wickedness is still coming. 22:37.880 --> 22:38.540 It's reserved. 22:39.080 --> 22:39.620 It's delayed. 22:39.960 --> 22:40.960 Same thing we've been seeing. 22:42.120 --> 22:43.220 Same type of thing. 22:43.380 --> 22:45.940 If you would flip over to Genesis chapter 15. 22:46.460 --> 22:48.260 But while you're turning to Genesis chapter 15, 22:48.320 --> 22:49.440 I'm gonna bring up a fourth example. 22:50.120 --> 22:51.660 The fourth example is King Solomon. 22:52.560 --> 22:56.060 King Solomon is told that because of his sins 22:56.060 --> 22:56.960 God's gonna punish. 22:57.680 --> 22:59.680 But he says in 1 Kings 11, 12, 23:00.140 --> 23:03.100 not withstanding in thy days will I not do it 23:03.780 --> 23:05.680 for David thy father's sake, 23:06.240 --> 23:08.660 but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. 23:09.220 --> 23:11.260 So he says, I'm gonna delay the judgment 23:11.260 --> 23:12.820 out of respect for David. 23:13.140 --> 23:14.760 It's not gonna happen in your lifetime. 23:15.080 --> 23:16.720 It's gonna happen in the lifetime of your son. 23:16.980 --> 23:20.040 And so again, we see that the punishments don't go away. 23:20.380 --> 23:23.320 They end up just getting postponed, delayed, 23:23.760 --> 23:25.140 reserved for the future. 23:26.000 --> 23:29.040 Okay, Genesis 15, 16, we've mentioned the amorites. 23:29.180 --> 23:31.500 God has brought up the amorites repeatedly 23:31.500 --> 23:34.080 in the context of this type of a delayed judgment. 23:34.760 --> 23:37.920 Well, it's because the amorites experience 23:37.920 --> 23:39.820 the same kind of delay in God's judgment. 23:39.940 --> 23:43.040 Because look at verse 16 of chapter 15, Genesis. 23:43.640 --> 23:45.220 But in the fourth generation, 23:45.740 --> 23:47.500 they shall come hither again, watch this, 23:47.820 --> 23:51.980 for the iniquity of the amorites is not yet full. 23:52.680 --> 23:55.560 And so the context here is that he's talking 23:55.560 --> 23:56.760 about the children of Israel 23:56.760 --> 23:58.960 are gonna be in Egypt for 400 years 23:59.520 --> 24:01.860 and then they're gonna come out of Egypt 24:01.860 --> 24:03.880 and they're gonna conquer the Promised Land. 24:04.260 --> 24:06.780 Well, why didn't God just give them the Promised Land 24:06.780 --> 24:10.640 without even doing that stint in Egypt in the first place? 24:10.700 --> 24:13.220 Part of the reason why is because the Canaanites 24:13.220 --> 24:17.120 were not as super wicked yet to deserve the judgment 24:17.120 --> 24:19.460 that they're gonna get in the book of Joshua. 24:19.640 --> 24:22.480 I mean, in the book of Joshua, God is telling them, 24:22.480 --> 24:24.580 hey, you need to completely wipe them out. 24:25.220 --> 24:26.700 They need to be completely smoked. 24:26.900 --> 24:29.720 And God's obviously already telling that to Moses 24:30.080 --> 24:31.620 in the book of Numbers and so forth. 24:31.980 --> 24:34.860 And they're being told, look, these amorites 24:34.860 --> 24:38.780 and other Canaanite nations need to get completely wiped out. 24:39.120 --> 24:39.900 Well, here's what he's saying. 24:40.020 --> 24:41.580 He's saying they're not really to that point yet. 24:42.400 --> 24:44.320 The iniquity of the amorites is not yet full 24:44.320 --> 24:45.940 to where they would really deserve 24:45.940 --> 24:47.880 to just get completely annihilated. 24:48.140 --> 24:50.480 But by the time the children of Israel 24:50.480 --> 24:52.900 have done their stint in Egypt and come out of Egypt 24:52.900 --> 24:54.540 and enter the Promised Land with Joshua, 24:54.880 --> 24:59.220 then their iniquity is so gross, it's so horrific, 24:59.220 --> 25:02.220 they're doing all those sins of Leviticus chapter 18 25:02.220 --> 25:03.600 and Leviticus 20. 25:03.860 --> 25:07.420 He says all the nations of Canaan have done these things. 25:07.600 --> 25:09.600 That's why the earth itself is just ready 25:09.600 --> 25:11.660 to vomit them out and so forth. 25:11.980 --> 25:14.500 Well, then he says, okay, now it's time 25:14.500 --> 25:16.300 for my full wrath to be executed. 25:16.420 --> 25:18.320 But you can see the amorites, yeah, 25:18.640 --> 25:19.580 they're sinful people. 25:19.960 --> 25:20.900 They're ungodly people. 25:21.140 --> 25:23.860 But you notice God is reserving his wrath. 25:24.140 --> 25:25.320 He's giving them time. 25:25.580 --> 25:26.620 He's giving them space. 25:26.620 --> 25:30.540 He's not gonna judge this nation as radically 25:31.160 --> 25:33.000 as he's going to judge the future generations 25:33.000 --> 25:33.740 who get worse. 25:34.060 --> 25:35.640 So it's kind of a similar concept. 25:36.760 --> 25:39.000 Not only that, go back to chapter six 25:39.000 --> 25:40.760 and we'll see a sixth example, 25:41.100 --> 25:43.900 which is the old world before the flood. 25:44.700 --> 25:48.060 Okay, there's a similar delay in the judgment. 25:48.220 --> 25:50.900 Because what does it say in Genesis chapter six, verse three, 25:51.420 --> 25:54.580 the Lord said, my spirit shall not always strive 25:54.580 --> 25:55.000 with man. 25:55.300 --> 25:57.760 He said, look, I'm not gonna put up with this forever. 25:58.640 --> 26:01.800 I'm not gonna sit here and just allow myself 26:01.800 --> 26:03.620 to be mocked forever. 26:03.880 --> 26:06.420 He says, my spirit shall not always strive with man, 26:06.580 --> 26:07.920 for that he also is flesh. 26:08.180 --> 26:11.080 Yet, his days shall be 120 years. 26:11.160 --> 26:12.780 He's putting a clock on it and he's saying, look, 26:13.400 --> 26:17.160 these people have 120 years and they're getting smoked. 26:17.440 --> 26:21.120 Notice the delay, the pause, the reservation 26:21.580 --> 26:23.080 of God's wrath, okay? 26:23.080 --> 26:24.540 Now let's go to the New Testament 26:24.540 --> 26:28.080 and see a reflection back on this in 1 Peter 3. 26:28.200 --> 26:31.200 In 1 Peter 3, there's a reflection back on this, 26:31.260 --> 26:33.100 this whole thing of, well, I'm not always gonna 26:34.040 --> 26:35.000 mess with man. 26:35.200 --> 26:36.460 I'm not always gonna strive with man. 26:36.540 --> 26:37.700 My spirit's not always gonna do that. 26:37.920 --> 26:40.000 But his days will be 120 years. 26:40.680 --> 26:44.180 Now let's fast forward to 1 Peter chapter three, verse 20. 26:44.600 --> 26:46.780 It says, which sometimes we're disobedient 26:46.780 --> 26:48.160 when once the what? 26:48.880 --> 26:51.020 The long suffering of God, 26:51.620 --> 26:54.060 waited in the days of Noah, 26:54.440 --> 26:56.220 while the ark was a preparing, 26:56.660 --> 26:59.060 where in few that is eight souls were saved by water. 26:59.360 --> 27:02.240 Notice is the long suffering of God, 27:02.700 --> 27:04.600 while the ark is being prepared, 27:04.860 --> 27:07.200 not only is he giving Noah a chance 27:07.200 --> 27:10.280 to basically have the instrument of his salvation, 27:10.520 --> 27:12.580 the boat that's gonna keep him safe 27:12.580 --> 27:15.320 during the flood that's gonna last for a year, 27:16.000 --> 27:18.960 but not only that, it's also God's long suffering 27:19.420 --> 27:22.860 toward all these other bozos, all the idiots 27:22.860 --> 27:25.020 that are ruining and destroying the earth, 27:25.380 --> 27:27.540 and Noah's over here a preacher of righteousness, 27:27.860 --> 27:29.700 and they're not getting the message, 27:30.000 --> 27:33.240 but God is still saying, hey, I'm gonna give him a chance. 27:34.260 --> 27:37.140 The long suffering of God, waited in the days of Noah, 27:37.480 --> 27:40.780 he says, this is a delay in my wrath, 27:41.160 --> 27:43.720 but it's gonna end, doesn't last forever. 27:44.000 --> 27:45.220 Now go to Romans chapter two, 27:45.640 --> 27:48.320 and let's make this like kind of a personal application. 27:48.740 --> 27:50.640 Because what we've kind of focused on so far 27:50.640 --> 27:51.760 is more nations, right? 27:53.180 --> 27:55.380 You know, Nineveh is more of a national thing. 27:55.720 --> 27:57.420 Judah is a national thing, 27:57.480 --> 28:00.100 and then we think about kings like King Solomon 28:00.100 --> 28:03.220 and King Ahab, those judgments 28:03.780 --> 28:06.080 are in a lot of ways national judgments 28:06.080 --> 28:08.240 that are being either delayed 28:08.240 --> 28:10.560 or restrained or reserved for later. 28:11.040 --> 28:12.240 And then the Amorites, again, 28:12.380 --> 28:14.300 we're talking about like a national judgment, right? 28:14.720 --> 28:16.100 And then the old world, again, 28:16.100 --> 28:17.860 you know, we're talking about a group of people, 28:18.380 --> 28:20.700 the pre-flood civilization there. 28:21.020 --> 28:22.840 But look at Romans chapter two, verse three, 28:22.880 --> 28:25.960 because what I wanna apply this to us personally as well, 28:26.240 --> 28:28.940 is that we never want to misinterpret 28:29.700 --> 28:33.460 God's long suffering as him somehow like forgetting 28:34.440 --> 28:36.820 to punish or just not caring, right? 28:36.920 --> 28:38.080 Because we might think like, 28:38.440 --> 28:40.960 oh, well, I've seemingly getting away with it. 28:41.260 --> 28:43.100 I've committed X, Y, and Z to sin, 28:43.420 --> 28:45.120 and I'm seemingly getting away with it. 28:45.120 --> 28:47.260 So hey, God must just not care. 28:47.640 --> 28:50.440 And I'm telling you a lot of backslidden Christians, 28:50.680 --> 28:52.360 I've been pastoring for 21 years, 28:52.600 --> 28:55.000 and you know what a lot of backslidden Christians will say? 28:55.540 --> 28:56.920 This is the kind of stuff that they say. 28:57.320 --> 28:58.040 They'll say like, you know, 28:58.120 --> 28:59.180 I don't think God really cares 28:59.180 --> 29:00.560 what's going on down on this earth. 29:01.660 --> 29:03.880 Like all here backslidden Christians talk that way, 29:03.920 --> 29:05.760 like they start getting this view 29:06.180 --> 29:08.940 that God's up in heaven and that he's very distant 29:09.740 --> 29:12.520 and that he doesn't really care about our everyday lives. 29:12.600 --> 29:14.060 He doesn't care about the little people 29:14.060 --> 29:17.800 and that he's kind of just vaguely overseeing the universe 29:18.290 --> 29:21.000 but that he's just not really that involved in our lives. 29:21.160 --> 29:22.940 And when something good will happen in their life, 29:23.040 --> 29:24.120 they won't give God the glory 29:24.120 --> 29:25.060 for the good thing that happened. 29:25.500 --> 29:26.620 They won't be thankful. 29:26.960 --> 29:29.220 Like for me, if something good happens in my life, 29:29.480 --> 29:32.620 my first thing is like, thank you, God, praise God. 29:33.000 --> 29:33.400 Praise the Lord. 29:33.500 --> 29:35.560 Even just little things going my way. 29:35.940 --> 29:37.640 Anytime a little thing goes my way, 29:37.800 --> 29:38.740 I'm praising the Lord. 29:39.020 --> 29:40.560 And you think a big thing goes my way. 29:40.680 --> 29:43.320 I'm like, thank you, God, praise the Lord, right? 29:43.320 --> 29:44.820 That's how we should live. 29:45.500 --> 29:49.680 We should be giving God credit for all of the good things 29:49.680 --> 29:52.440 because every good gift and every perfect gift 29:52.440 --> 29:55.080 is from above and coming down from the Father of lights 29:55.080 --> 29:58.320 with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 29:58.900 --> 30:01.740 And so we should be super thankful for the good things 30:01.740 --> 30:03.580 and acknowledging that they come from God. 30:03.640 --> 30:04.780 But I've noticed backslidden Christians, 30:05.020 --> 30:05.640 you know what they think? 30:05.940 --> 30:07.280 They think I did this for myself. 30:08.140 --> 30:09.540 This is just me being smart. 30:09.980 --> 30:11.280 This is just me working hard. 30:11.280 --> 30:13.180 It's all due to my own efforts. 30:13.320 --> 30:14.900 And they're not giving God the glory. 30:15.000 --> 30:16.880 But then I've noticed this, that when bad things happen, 30:17.380 --> 30:19.420 they don't give God credit for that evil either. 30:19.860 --> 30:20.820 And what does the Bible say? 30:20.960 --> 30:22.940 And Amos says, hey, is there an evil in the city 30:22.940 --> 30:24.020 and the Lord has not done it? 30:24.440 --> 30:24.980 Guess what? 30:25.400 --> 30:28.140 Even when bad things happen, I'm thinking to myself, 30:28.420 --> 30:30.560 well, at a minimum, God allowed this to happen. 30:31.780 --> 30:35.160 Obviously, God's not behind sinful, evil, 30:35.260 --> 30:37.520 or wicked things, but when something bad happens 30:37.520 --> 30:40.680 at a minimum, God allowed it to happen. 30:40.680 --> 30:44.300 Or certain catastrophes are even planned by God. 30:44.780 --> 30:47.740 And he's even more directly responsible 30:47.740 --> 30:50.860 for certain setbacks or negative things 30:50.860 --> 30:51.520 that come into our lives. 30:51.600 --> 30:53.160 They're not talking about sinful or wicked things, 30:53.220 --> 30:54.980 but just negative things that happen. 30:55.180 --> 30:56.760 But at a minimum, he's allowing these things. 30:57.000 --> 30:58.360 And so I'm constantly thinking like, 30:58.540 --> 31:00.480 okay, God allowed this to happen. 31:01.300 --> 31:02.940 God has done this too. 31:03.340 --> 31:05.300 But I've noticed that backslidden Christians, 31:05.620 --> 31:07.740 they start having this mentality 31:08.140 --> 31:11.440 that God is just not behind anything in their lives 31:11.440 --> 31:12.980 and that everything's a coincidence, 31:13.520 --> 31:16.120 everything's random chance, and all the good things. 31:16.240 --> 31:18.220 Well, that's just all the good stuff I did for myself 31:18.220 --> 31:19.500 and all the bad things. 31:19.660 --> 31:21.880 Well, that's just stuff happens and whatever. 31:22.320 --> 31:23.520 Folks, it's wrong. 31:24.660 --> 31:26.960 God is involved in our lives. 31:27.240 --> 31:29.660 The very hairs of our head are numbered. 31:29.920 --> 31:31.780 If we were to count the thoughts 31:31.780 --> 31:34.100 that God has toward each of us individually, 31:34.420 --> 31:36.020 the Bible says they would be more 31:36.020 --> 31:38.600 than the grains of the sand on the seashore. 31:39.140 --> 31:41.640 How can you say like, oh, God doesn't really know what's going? 31:41.840 --> 31:45.620 God knows a sparrow dies and falls on the ground 31:45.620 --> 31:46.980 and God knows all about it. 31:47.360 --> 31:48.880 Tell me God is distant. 31:49.280 --> 31:49.960 Does it care? 31:50.480 --> 31:51.040 Is it involved? 31:51.680 --> 31:53.220 Yes, he is. 31:53.960 --> 31:57.080 And that's a backslidden Christian talking 31:57.080 --> 31:58.380 when they start to, oh yeah, 31:58.940 --> 32:00.460 everything's just kind of running its course. 32:00.980 --> 32:02.920 Like God just kind of wound up the earth 32:03.320 --> 32:04.920 and just kind of clockwork universe 32:04.920 --> 32:06.620 and then he just kind of walks away from it 32:06.620 --> 32:07.500 and just lets it run 32:07.500 --> 32:09.400 and then he's just up in heaven just watching 32:10.900 --> 32:13.380 but not involved, not intervening. 32:13.720 --> 32:16.180 Folks, I don't believe that for one second. 32:18.920 --> 32:21.140 And we don't want to misinterpret 32:21.640 --> 32:24.740 God's long-suffering nature as him forgetting 32:25.520 --> 32:28.280 or not caring or letting it go 32:28.780 --> 32:30.700 because he doesn't at all acquit the wicked. 32:30.880 --> 32:31.640 He just doesn't. 32:32.220 --> 32:34.660 Look at Romans chapter two, verse three. 32:34.660 --> 32:35.060 It says, 32:35.300 --> 32:36.480 And thinkest thou this, O man, 32:37.180 --> 32:39.140 that judges them which doeth such things 32:39.580 --> 32:40.760 and doeth the same, 32:41.140 --> 32:43.600 that thou shalt escape the judgment of God 32:44.200 --> 32:47.180 or despises thou the riches of his goodness 32:47.760 --> 32:50.820 and forbearance and long-suffering. 32:51.440 --> 32:52.780 Notice the word long-suffering. 32:53.060 --> 32:55.360 Not knowing that the goodness of God 32:55.360 --> 32:57.080 leadeth thee to repentance. 32:57.260 --> 32:58.900 The whole point of God being good 32:58.900 --> 33:02.340 and gracious and merciful and slow to wrath 33:02.340 --> 33:05.780 and long-suffering is that he's leading you to repentance. 33:06.000 --> 33:07.840 He wants you to have a chance to get it right. 33:09.960 --> 33:13.260 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart, 33:14.320 --> 33:17.100 treasurist, remember we talked about reserving judgment, 33:17.340 --> 33:19.720 reserving wrath, God reserves wrath for his enemies. 33:20.020 --> 33:22.320 Here's a very similar word, treasuring up. 33:23.300 --> 33:24.840 Right, I mean, if I'm reserving money, 33:25.420 --> 33:26.020 what am I doing? 33:26.120 --> 33:27.220 I'm treasuring up money. 33:27.720 --> 33:28.860 I'm storing it up. 33:29.000 --> 33:30.920 I'm putting it aside for future use. 33:31.340 --> 33:34.120 This is a word that's almost synonymous in this context. 33:34.540 --> 33:37.680 And he says, your hardness and impenitent heart, 33:38.520 --> 33:42.220 treasurist up unto thyself, wrath against the day of wrath. 33:42.420 --> 33:43.780 Right, so it's like that day is coming 33:43.780 --> 33:46.660 and you're basically just stockpiling judgments 33:46.660 --> 33:47.940 because you're just like, 33:48.700 --> 33:51.180 I don't understand that God's long-suffering 33:51.180 --> 33:52.200 is supposed to lead me to repentance. 33:52.400 --> 33:55.080 I just think God is just kind of an anything goes 33:55.080 --> 33:55.840 kind of a God. 33:56.080 --> 33:58.180 And then you're just stacking up all this wrath. 34:01.780 --> 34:02.880 You know, and it'd be like, 34:03.460 --> 34:05.380 here's kind of maybe a silly illustration, 34:06.320 --> 34:08.380 but it would be like, for example, 34:08.580 --> 34:10.100 let's say you were at work or something 34:10.620 --> 34:14.080 and your boss is writing up every time you disobey the rules, 34:14.340 --> 34:15.920 but he's not telling you about it. 34:16.340 --> 34:18.280 Because usually, he'd write you up and tell you, 34:18.360 --> 34:20.020 hey, I had to write you up, this is what you did. 34:20.400 --> 34:22.580 But what if he's just over here just writing you up 34:22.580 --> 34:25.080 and he just writes you up like 37 times 34:25.080 --> 34:26.360 without telling you about it? 34:27.940 --> 34:29.120 And then all of a sudden it's like, 34:29.120 --> 34:31.500 you have committed this crime 37 times. 34:31.700 --> 34:33.940 You've been written up 37 times. 34:34.380 --> 34:36.440 And you're like, what, hey, what are you doing? 34:37.300 --> 34:38.960 Or it'd be like, it'd be sort of like, 34:39.340 --> 34:41.900 let's say you get pulled over by a cop 34:41.900 --> 34:44.040 and he gives you a speeding ticket, okay? 34:44.940 --> 34:47.340 And it's like, oh man, now I have this speeding ticket. 34:47.680 --> 34:49.700 I don't wanna get too many points on my license, 34:50.040 --> 34:51.560 so I better watch it. 34:51.680 --> 34:53.720 Now I gotta stay under the speed limit, be careful, right? 34:54.140 --> 34:56.240 But what if there's just like a speed camera 34:56.720 --> 34:59.440 and the thing's just flashing you every day, right? 34:59.820 --> 35:02.500 And then all of a sudden you just get 37 violations 35:02.500 --> 35:03.260 in the mail. 35:05.180 --> 35:07.340 And you're like, whoa, you didn't realize 35:07.340 --> 35:09.600 you're just treasuring up all of this wrath. 35:10.300 --> 35:12.440 You're just treasuring up all these violations. 35:12.780 --> 35:14.860 And you say, well yeah, but that doesn't sound cool. 35:15.120 --> 35:18.140 But here's the thing, God has already told us 35:18.140 --> 35:19.860 in his word that this is what he's doing 35:19.860 --> 35:20.740 and what's going on. 35:21.240 --> 35:22.800 Now here's the thing, if you didn't know 35:22.800 --> 35:24.580 that the camera was there, then you'd be like, 35:24.580 --> 35:25.460 hey, this isn't fair. 35:26.240 --> 35:29.120 Or if the boss had not made the rules super clear to you 35:29.120 --> 35:31.380 and warned you and told you, hey, 35:31.420 --> 35:33.680 I'm not gonna come tell you every time, 35:33.820 --> 35:35.220 but I'm gonna write it up. 35:35.680 --> 35:37.120 If he had warned you about this, 35:37.200 --> 35:38.960 then you couldn't really blame him 35:38.960 --> 35:40.560 and that's what God has done. 35:40.860 --> 35:42.880 God has given us the Bible here 35:42.880 --> 35:44.580 and he's given us preachers. 35:44.820 --> 35:46.880 And here's the thing, you did get the warning. 35:48.840 --> 35:51.620 Because here's the thing, what if your coworker 35:51.620 --> 35:53.140 is the one saying to you, 35:53.140 --> 35:55.660 hey, listen, the boss is writing you up. 35:55.680 --> 35:57.540 I saw him writing you up. 35:58.300 --> 35:59.420 You're saying, I don't believe you. 36:01.420 --> 36:02.740 Because it wouldn't be cool 36:02.740 --> 36:04.680 to get written up 37 times with no warning. 36:05.040 --> 36:07.620 It wouldn't be cool to get 37 speeding tickets 36:07.620 --> 36:08.300 with no warning. 36:08.440 --> 36:10.120 You'd be like, hey, this doesn't feel right. 36:10.220 --> 36:11.060 This doesn't feel fair. 36:11.200 --> 36:12.220 But let me tell you something, 36:12.660 --> 36:15.200 you have been warned, I've been warned 36:15.200 --> 36:17.480 because God is sending his prophets, 36:17.780 --> 36:20.040 rising up early and sending his prophets, 36:20.300 --> 36:22.420 sending his prophets and you got the Bible, 36:22.420 --> 36:23.840 you got it all written right here 36:23.840 --> 36:25.680 and then you have men of God getting up 36:25.680 --> 36:27.360 and preaching to you and preaching to you 36:27.360 --> 36:29.260 and preaching to you and you're hearing the warning. 36:29.760 --> 36:30.940 The boss is writing you up. 36:31.100 --> 36:32.280 The boss is writing you up. 36:32.400 --> 36:33.840 I saw the boss writing you up. 36:33.980 --> 36:35.600 He promised he would write you up. 36:35.760 --> 36:37.020 I know he's writing you up. 36:37.160 --> 36:38.280 I know you're gonna be punished 36:38.280 --> 36:39.640 and you're like, no, no, he doesn't care 36:39.640 --> 36:41.060 because he never said anything to me. 36:42.300 --> 36:44.920 When in reality, he's just writing it down, 36:45.200 --> 36:47.100 writing it down until he has enough evidence 36:47.100 --> 36:49.180 to fire you and then once you're fired, 36:49.300 --> 36:50.160 it's over for you. 36:50.700 --> 36:52.080 Can't come back, it's too late. 36:52.600 --> 36:54.580 You've been fired, the paper trails document it 36:54.580 --> 36:56.980 and look, I'm using an extreme example with 37 36:57.500 --> 36:59.020 because God's just long suffering 36:59.020 --> 37:00.220 and slow to anger and merciful 37:00.220 --> 37:01.980 and because God's super patient 37:01.980 --> 37:03.640 because he lives outside of time. 37:03.800 --> 37:05.040 You know, it's easy to be super patient 37:05.040 --> 37:06.660 when a day is like a thousand years to you 37:06.660 --> 37:07.840 and a thousand years like a day. 37:08.800 --> 37:09.860 It's easy to wait. 37:12.040 --> 37:15.140 But most jobs, what, you get written up three times, 37:15.680 --> 37:16.660 three strikes you're out, 37:16.760 --> 37:18.040 tends to be pretty standard. 37:20.600 --> 37:23.940 And so people misinterpret God's silence. 37:24.580 --> 37:27.100 They misinterpret God's long suffering. 37:27.460 --> 37:29.600 They misinterpret space for repentance 37:29.600 --> 37:32.560 as God's ignoring, God's not involved, 37:32.900 --> 37:35.280 God doesn't care and they are severely wrong. 37:35.700 --> 37:37.040 Now go if you would back to Nahum. 37:38.020 --> 37:41.060 Go back to Nahum and let's kind of tie this in 37:41.060 --> 37:42.740 because I wanna kind of tie in the whole chapter 37:42.740 --> 37:45.500 of Nahum chapter one because Nahum chapter one, 37:46.280 --> 37:48.940 this is really the message behind the chapter. 37:50.160 --> 37:51.140 It's no coincidence. 37:51.860 --> 37:53.080 Obviously the children of Israel, 37:53.460 --> 37:55.020 they know about the story of Jonah, 37:55.500 --> 37:56.800 they know about the prophet Jonah, 37:57.280 --> 37:59.020 the Ninevites know about the prophet Jonah. 37:59.760 --> 38:02.180 Obviously it was a big deal for them at the time. 38:03.000 --> 38:04.960 And now all of a sudden God's telling them, 38:05.100 --> 38:08.820 look guys, just because I've reserved wrath, 38:09.060 --> 38:10.960 it doesn't mean I'm letting this go. 38:12.760 --> 38:15.320 Which is why he said that in verse two and verse three 38:15.320 --> 38:17.260 but let's look at some other things in the chapter. 38:17.420 --> 38:19.400 Look at Nahum chapter one, verse seven. 38:19.400 --> 38:20.800 And it says, the Lord is good, 38:21.400 --> 38:23.260 a stronghold in the day of trouble 38:23.700 --> 38:25.940 and he knoweth them that trust in him. 38:26.620 --> 38:28.920 But with an overrunning flood, 38:29.360 --> 38:32.000 he will make an utter end of the place thereof 38:32.000 --> 38:34.500 and darkness shall pursue his enemies. 38:34.900 --> 38:36.740 What do you imagine against the Lord? 38:37.820 --> 38:40.000 Like what do you think you're gonna accomplish 38:40.000 --> 38:41.120 by going against God? 38:41.440 --> 38:43.900 He says, he will make an utter end. 38:44.040 --> 38:44.960 What does utter mean? 38:44.960 --> 38:49.760 Just complete absolute total utter end. 38:50.060 --> 38:51.900 He will make an utter end. 38:52.460 --> 38:55.060 Affliction shall not rise up the second time. 38:55.200 --> 38:57.060 He said, look, it's sort of like 38:57.060 --> 38:59.380 what David's right-hand man said to him. 38:59.520 --> 39:01.620 He said, hey, I'm gonna go smite, salt on the ground 39:01.620 --> 39:03.060 and I'm not gonna hit him a second time. 39:03.620 --> 39:04.320 What's he saying? 39:04.540 --> 39:06.440 I'm not gonna need to hit him a second time. 39:07.000 --> 39:09.300 He said, there's not gonna be a second punishment 39:09.300 --> 39:11.800 because there won't need to be a second affliction 39:11.800 --> 39:15.220 because I am gonna make an utter end. 39:16.300 --> 39:17.220 It's gonna be a one-time deal. 39:17.300 --> 39:18.020 And what does the Bible say? 39:18.180 --> 39:21.480 He that being often reproved, hardened at his neck, 39:21.800 --> 39:26.300 shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. 39:27.220 --> 39:30.420 Utter end, no second chance, no second affliction. 39:30.780 --> 39:31.680 It's just over. 39:32.340 --> 39:33.140 Now look at verse 10. 39:34.200 --> 39:36.400 For while they be folding together as thorns 39:36.400 --> 39:38.380 and while they are drunken as drunkards, 39:38.380 --> 39:41.700 they shall be devoured as stubble, fully dry, 39:42.400 --> 39:43.860 there is one come out of thee 39:44.300 --> 39:48.160 that imagine of evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor. 39:49.680 --> 39:52.880 So this is obviously some kind of a preacher 39:52.880 --> 39:56.320 or a false prophet or just whoever this guy is 39:56.320 --> 39:58.160 that's giving them bad advice, right? 39:59.980 --> 40:01.800 This wicked counselor. 40:03.960 --> 40:04.920 And here's the thing. 40:05.020 --> 40:07.520 The Bible talks about preachers and counselors 40:08.020 --> 40:11.840 and people who strengthen the hand of the evil doers 40:12.200 --> 40:14.060 by giving them a false sense of security 40:14.060 --> 40:15.600 that no evil will come upon them. 40:17.780 --> 40:19.940 And so what we see in verses 12 and 13 40:19.940 --> 40:22.140 is that God's gonna bring deliverance to Judah 40:22.140 --> 40:25.080 by punishing their enemy Nineveh, 40:25.140 --> 40:26.980 by punishing Assyria, 40:27.180 --> 40:30.120 by punishing and bringing Jonah's dream 40:30.120 --> 40:31.780 to come true, basically, ultimately. 40:32.860 --> 40:35.000 Way late in his mind, 40:35.160 --> 40:36.440 but that's because the people repented. 40:36.440 --> 40:37.620 Of course, he's gonna give them a break 40:37.620 --> 40:39.500 because they repented, but in the long run, 40:39.580 --> 40:42.540 Jonah actually gets his wish, which is kind of funny. 40:43.420 --> 40:44.580 Look at verse 12, it says, 40:44.740 --> 40:46.320 Thus saith the Lord, though they be quiet 40:46.320 --> 40:50.480 and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down 40:50.480 --> 40:53.500 when he shall pass through, though I have afflicted thee, 40:53.720 --> 40:55.620 I will afflict thee no more, talking to Judah, 40:56.180 --> 40:58.840 for now will I break his yoke from Aphthih, right? 40:58.920 --> 41:01.780 Because they're being oppressed by Assyria, Nineveh, 41:02.160 --> 41:04.580 and will burst thy bonds in Sunder. 41:04.580 --> 41:07.100 Now he's gonna switch talking to the Ninevites in verse 14. 41:07.760 --> 41:09.860 And the Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, 41:10.620 --> 41:12.500 that no more of thy name be sown 41:13.080 --> 41:14.840 out of the house of thy gods, 41:15.140 --> 41:18.040 will I cut off the graven image and the molten image, 41:18.500 --> 41:22.540 I will make thy grave for thou art vile. 41:22.660 --> 41:24.620 He's saying, you guys are gross, 41:25.100 --> 41:27.480 you guys are vile, you guys are wicked, 41:27.920 --> 41:31.620 and I am going to bury you, I will make your grave. 41:32.120 --> 41:34.740 But then he switches back to Judah in verse 15, 41:35.180 --> 41:37.500 that was for Nineveh, switches to Judah, he says, 41:37.680 --> 41:39.480 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him 41:39.480 --> 41:40.640 that bringeth good tidings, 41:43.820 --> 41:47.160 that publisheth peace, O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, 41:47.460 --> 41:50.200 perform thy vows, for the wicked shall no more pass 41:50.200 --> 41:52.600 through thee, he is utterly cut off. 41:52.740 --> 41:54.640 It's just irreparably smoked. 41:55.800 --> 41:58.000 Now, this is quoted, of course, in the New Testament. 41:58.640 --> 42:00.520 Now, obviously the New Testament 42:00.520 --> 42:03.300 is probably more directly quoting 42:03.740 --> 42:05.600 the Isaiah quote about this, 42:05.720 --> 42:08.740 which is like Isaiah 52 or somewhere in that neighborhood. 42:09.200 --> 42:11.380 That's probably the more direct quote, 42:11.580 --> 42:14.560 but still, we do have the same wording here as well in Naom. 42:15.620 --> 42:18.800 So let's talk about the immediate context of verse 15, 42:19.160 --> 42:22.040 and then let's tie this in with the New Testament quote 42:22.040 --> 42:23.620 here and then we'll be done, okay? 42:24.020 --> 42:27.580 So it says here, behold upon the mountains 42:27.580 --> 42:29.160 the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, 42:29.460 --> 42:31.920 good tidings in the New Testament, the good news, 42:32.060 --> 42:33.700 the good tidings is called the gospel, 42:34.280 --> 42:36.520 and it will replace the word good tidings with gospel 42:36.520 --> 42:37.800 because the English word gospel 42:37.800 --> 42:40.460 literally means good tidings, good news. 42:42.100 --> 42:46.260 And so he says, him that preaches the gospel 42:46.840 --> 42:48.220 and publisheth peace, you know, 42:48.280 --> 42:49.860 how beautiful are the feet of them 42:49.860 --> 42:52.020 that preach the gospel, and this is tied in 42:52.020 --> 42:54.320 with preaching the gospel of eternal salvation 42:54.320 --> 42:55.660 through believing in Jesus Christ. 42:56.540 --> 42:59.260 Now in the immediate context here in verse 15 though, 42:59.660 --> 43:03.480 the good news is that the oppressor Nineveh 43:03.480 --> 43:05.560 is totally defeated and totally cut off, 43:05.880 --> 43:08.520 and now Judah can serve God in peace. 43:08.680 --> 43:11.720 That's what verse 15 is literally saying in this context. 43:12.280 --> 43:14.100 Now of course, this phrase being used differently 43:14.100 --> 43:16.040 in Isaiah, differently in Romans, 43:16.400 --> 43:18.320 but in this immediate context, that's what's going on. 43:18.440 --> 43:20.660 But let's go ahead and tie that in 43:20.660 --> 43:22.840 with the good news of salvation, okay? 43:23.180 --> 43:24.840 Because if we tie this in with the good news of salvation, 43:24.840 --> 43:28.140 you know, who is our adversary, our oppressor, 43:28.540 --> 43:31.440 the one who is accusing us before God day and night 43:31.440 --> 43:32.060 is the devil? 43:32.800 --> 43:34.780 And the Bible says for this purpose, 43:34.920 --> 43:36.240 the Son of God was manifested 43:36.240 --> 43:38.720 that he might destroy the works of the devil. 43:39.500 --> 43:42.860 And so through the Lord Jesus Christ coming to this earth, 43:43.220 --> 43:46.340 dying on the cross, being buried and rising again, 43:46.540 --> 43:47.780 he has defeated our enemy. 43:48.640 --> 43:50.900 Because remember, all the prophets in the Bible 43:50.900 --> 43:52.620 are ultimately supposed to be pointing us to Jesus. 43:53.140 --> 43:55.260 And so the defeat of Nineveh here 43:55.260 --> 43:59.020 could picture Christ's triumph over Satan, 43:59.660 --> 44:03.040 where Satan, you know, he bruised Satan's head, 44:03.420 --> 44:04.840 but Satan bruised his heel, 44:05.120 --> 44:06.520 and the Lord Jesus Christ 44:06.520 --> 44:08.640 ultimately got the victory over Satan. 44:08.940 --> 44:11.640 Satan is our enemy, our adversary, the devil, 44:11.840 --> 44:14.180 and he accuses us before God day and night. 44:14.240 --> 44:14.560 But guess what? 44:14.660 --> 44:17.100 Those accusations no longer hold. 44:17.240 --> 44:17.440 Why? 44:17.740 --> 44:21.480 Because we've been forgiven as born-again Christians. 44:21.980 --> 44:24.640 We have forgiveness through Jesus' blood, 44:25.120 --> 44:26.520 even the forgiveness of sins. 44:26.680 --> 44:27.780 We have redemption through his blood, 44:27.940 --> 44:28.900 even the forgiveness of sins. 44:29.380 --> 44:31.320 And so by believing in Jesus, our sins are forgiven. 44:32.320 --> 44:33.960 Now stop and think about what we've talked about. 44:35.580 --> 44:37.360 How God will not acquit the wicked. 44:38.220 --> 44:39.260 Think about this now. 44:39.760 --> 44:40.440 Don't miss this. 44:40.980 --> 44:42.400 Because we looked at examples. 44:43.720 --> 44:45.540 Nineveh, God's not gonna acquit the wicked. 44:46.240 --> 44:48.300 Judah, God's not gonna acquit the wicked. 44:48.880 --> 44:50.420 Ahab, not gonna do it. 44:50.420 --> 44:52.300 Solomon, go down the list. 44:52.480 --> 44:53.160 All these examples. 44:53.380 --> 44:54.260 The Amorites, the Old World. 44:54.880 --> 44:55.140 Why? 44:55.460 --> 44:56.180 Because here's the thing. 44:56.620 --> 44:59.780 Turning over a new leaf, repenting of your sins, 45:00.280 --> 45:03.420 getting right with God, doing good on this earth, 45:03.860 --> 45:06.560 those are all good ways to avoid earthly punishments 45:06.560 --> 45:07.500 and earthly judgments. 45:08.840 --> 45:09.720 But here's the thing. 45:09.840 --> 45:12.720 Can they actually cleanse away your sins 45:12.720 --> 45:13.700 or wipe away your sins? 45:13.800 --> 45:14.640 It's just a delay. 45:15.460 --> 45:16.140 Everybody understand? 45:16.840 --> 45:18.800 It's a reservation of the wrath, 45:18.800 --> 45:21.200 but the sins are not wiped out. 45:21.360 --> 45:22.240 They're not blotted out. 45:22.660 --> 45:23.800 They're still there. 45:24.680 --> 45:27.400 Like America could have a great revival 45:27.400 --> 45:29.260 of soul winning and great preaching, 45:29.500 --> 45:31.020 and that could delay the judgment, 45:31.060 --> 45:34.920 but eventually America is gonna have to pay the piper 45:35.400 --> 45:37.520 for the innocent blood that has been shed, 45:37.600 --> 45:38.520 as we said earlier in the sermon. 45:38.820 --> 45:40.540 So think about this now, okay? 45:41.700 --> 45:44.640 Christ's blood washes away our sins, 45:45.500 --> 45:49.500 where we actually are totally forgiven, 45:50.280 --> 45:52.520 acquitted, and we can actually go to heaven. 45:52.800 --> 45:56.140 So this shows you the futility of trying to get to heaven 45:57.360 --> 46:01.040 through reformation, or through repenting of your sins, 46:01.260 --> 46:03.880 or just cleaning up your act, being sorry. 46:05.300 --> 46:08.940 Yeah, that gets you a reprieve from earthly judgment, 46:09.200 --> 46:11.360 but is that really gonna get you total, 46:11.540 --> 46:13.140 utter eternal salvation? 46:13.140 --> 46:14.380 And the answer is no, it's not. 46:16.300 --> 46:19.640 In order to get that eternal, utter salvation, 46:20.260 --> 46:22.240 it is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 46:22.400 --> 46:23.180 and thou shalt be saved. 46:23.300 --> 46:26.280 It's that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, 46:26.560 --> 46:27.580 but have eternal life. 46:27.980 --> 46:29.240 That's what it's gonna take 46:29.240 --> 46:32.000 to get you just ultimate and utter forgiveness. 46:32.240 --> 46:32.300 Why? 46:32.620 --> 46:34.640 Because that's not God acquitting the wicked 46:34.640 --> 46:36.780 because God is still punishing. 46:37.600 --> 46:40.720 It's just that he punished Jesus on your behalf. 46:41.880 --> 46:43.960 Christ took upon him the sins of the world. 46:44.320 --> 46:46.520 So that's not God just forgetting to punish 46:47.000 --> 46:48.620 and just letting the guilty up there. 46:48.640 --> 46:49.740 Because what if there were a judge 46:49.740 --> 46:51.680 that just lets guilty people go free? 46:51.780 --> 46:52.840 Would you say that's a great judge? 46:53.360 --> 46:55.700 And look, we have some judges like that in America, don't we? 46:56.420 --> 46:59.080 We have these horrible, evil, violent criminals, 46:59.400 --> 47:02.320 and then we have judges just letting them go free. 47:02.700 --> 47:05.340 They've been violent 20 times, let them go free. 47:05.420 --> 47:07.120 Then they go murder someone on a subway, 47:07.580 --> 47:09.060 or they just go murder people, right? 47:09.060 --> 47:11.060 Who's seen those kind of stories in the last few years 47:11.060 --> 47:14.460 of judges just letting people go free? 47:14.880 --> 47:15.660 And nobody's thinking like, 47:15.700 --> 47:17.440 oh, this is such a merciful judge. 47:17.960 --> 47:19.400 This is such a kind judge. 47:19.600 --> 47:20.340 It's such a loving job. 47:20.620 --> 47:21.340 Because here's the thing. 47:21.740 --> 47:23.120 From an earthly perspective, 47:23.280 --> 47:24.800 from a criminal justice perspective, 47:25.240 --> 47:27.420 the famous economist Adam Smith said, 47:28.160 --> 47:30.640 mercy to the wicked is cruelty to the innocent. 47:31.740 --> 47:34.000 From that criminal justice perspective, 47:34.360 --> 47:37.000 nobody thinks a judge who just equips the wicked 47:37.420 --> 47:38.180 is a good judge. 47:38.180 --> 47:40.540 They're clearly guilty and he's just like, not guilty. 47:40.720 --> 47:41.340 You'd be like, what? 47:41.780 --> 47:42.540 That's unjust. 47:43.500 --> 47:44.140 It's an injustice. 47:45.280 --> 47:48.360 But the way that salvation through Christ works 47:48.970 --> 47:53.140 is that he actually took the punishment for us 47:53.490 --> 47:55.900 so God's justice is satisfied 47:56.310 --> 47:58.520 by Jesus being punished for our sins. 47:58.880 --> 48:01.980 He who knew no sin became sin for us 48:01.980 --> 48:04.240 that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 48:04.920 --> 48:07.140 And so our sins were imputed unto Christ. 48:07.140 --> 48:08.720 He pays for our sins. 48:08.960 --> 48:10.760 That's not God acquitting the wicked. 48:11.000 --> 48:14.080 That's not God being unjust and just ignoring sin. 48:14.400 --> 48:16.540 No, no, no, the sin is taken care of by Jesus. 48:16.700 --> 48:18.520 And if we believe on Jesus Christ, 48:19.060 --> 48:22.560 then we are in Christ, we're adopted, we're saved, 48:22.920 --> 48:25.740 we're redeemed and we have like a true 48:25.740 --> 48:29.460 and ultimate utter final forgiveness for our sins 48:29.880 --> 48:30.980 because they've already been paid for. 48:31.420 --> 48:32.560 It's already been totally paid, 48:32.840 --> 48:33.580 already totally been covered. 48:33.920 --> 48:36.240 So that's how it works with spiritual salvation. 48:37.380 --> 48:38.920 That's how it works with heaven and hell. 48:39.100 --> 48:40.940 That's the gospel, that's the good news. 48:41.180 --> 48:44.040 And this just completely shuts the mouth of the prosecution 48:44.660 --> 48:46.480 which is Satan, the accuser, 48:46.560 --> 48:48.540 because it's like these charges 48:49.140 --> 48:50.480 can't be brought again, right? 48:50.580 --> 48:52.940 We have this thing in America called double jeopardy 48:52.940 --> 48:54.320 and I'm not talking about Alex Trebek, 48:54.780 --> 48:56.060 but double jeopardy is saying, 48:56.120 --> 48:59.220 hey, you can't be charged with the same crime twice. 48:59.560 --> 49:03.180 Once you're found not guilty, it's done, it's over. 49:03.500 --> 49:05.040 And since we've already been acquitted, 49:05.040 --> 49:07.480 the devil can't bring these charges again. 49:08.020 --> 49:10.920 Okay, but this is all in the spiritual realm 49:10.920 --> 49:12.500 of heaven and hell, spiritual salvation. 49:13.020 --> 49:17.820 When it comes to the here and now of life, okay, 49:18.240 --> 49:18.940 then here's the thing, 49:19.300 --> 49:21.080 repenting, getting right with God 49:21.740 --> 49:24.520 can give you a delay on earthly consequences. 49:25.280 --> 49:27.780 It gives you a reprieve on earthly consequences 49:27.780 --> 49:29.720 and here's the thing, that reprieve, 49:29.800 --> 49:33.600 don't miss this, can literally last your entire life. 49:33.600 --> 49:36.400 You could literally go to the grave in peace 49:38.460 --> 49:39.720 without reaping those things. 49:40.040 --> 49:43.800 If you repent in time, get right in time, get things right, 49:43.960 --> 49:45.160 then God could be merciful 49:45.160 --> 49:47.260 and you get, because look at the people in the Bible, 49:47.460 --> 49:52.320 like Ahab gets a reprieve until after he's dead. 49:52.420 --> 49:54.400 Now he does get shot in battle and everything like that, 49:54.440 --> 49:55.480 but at the end of the day though, 49:55.500 --> 49:58.020 the really bad stuff doesn't happen until after he's dead. 50:01.300 --> 50:03.280 I mean, that should show you right there 50:03.280 --> 50:07.080 if you're smart, get right with God, serve God, 50:07.220 --> 50:07.700 live for God, you say, 50:07.800 --> 50:09.300 oh, I've done some really bad stuff in my past. 50:09.460 --> 50:12.960 Well, throw yourself on the mercies of God 50:12.960 --> 50:15.740 and try to just do as best as you can from here on out 50:16.460 --> 50:19.740 to try to get mercy and that's what America should do 50:19.740 --> 50:21.500 and that's what we should all do personally too. 50:21.820 --> 50:24.080 Just try to just, hey, let's just do good from here on out, 50:24.300 --> 50:25.000 do the best we can 50:25.000 --> 50:27.100 and hope that God's gonna be long suffering, 50:27.340 --> 50:28.860 that he's gonna reserve the judgment, 50:29.160 --> 50:31.980 reserve the wrath and pour it out on somebody else 50:31.980 --> 50:36.960 who is currently openly living in sin, not on us. 50:37.080 --> 50:38.000 Don't take it out on us. 50:39.640 --> 50:42.300 And you say, well, what if he takes it out on my children 50:42.300 --> 50:43.440 or my grandchildren or whatever? 50:43.600 --> 50:44.180 Well, here's the thing. 50:44.960 --> 50:47.900 If the grandchild is living for God, like Josiah, 50:49.700 --> 50:52.700 grandson's gonna be okay, Josiah's gonna be fine. 50:52.960 --> 50:54.880 It's great grandson that's getting smoked. 50:55.600 --> 50:56.100 Why? 50:56.420 --> 50:59.340 Because he is wicked, that's why 50:59.720 --> 51:02.160 and so I know that this could be somewhat 51:02.680 --> 51:04.600 of a little bit of a complicated subject 51:04.600 --> 51:06.060 but I hope I broke it down 51:06.060 --> 51:07.840 and made it as simple as I possibly could 51:07.840 --> 51:11.260 because I feel like this is such a key teaching of the Bible 51:11.260 --> 51:15.180 and there's so many applications for us in our lives 51:15.180 --> 51:17.360 as a nation, yes, but even in our personal lives 51:17.360 --> 51:21.300 of just realizing, hey, when you sin and nothing happens, 51:21.600 --> 51:23.960 hey, that's your chance to repent and get right. 51:24.720 --> 51:27.060 God's long suffering, he's slow to anger. 51:27.480 --> 51:30.860 Take advantage of that, make the best of that time 51:30.860 --> 51:32.340 to get right with God. 51:32.720 --> 51:35.420 Don't get brazen and just thinking 51:35.940 --> 51:37.760 that you're getting away with it or whatever 51:37.760 --> 51:39.800 and then of course, make sure you have spiritual salvation 51:39.800 --> 51:42.600 that it's all by faith, it's through Christ 51:43.220 --> 51:43.940 because guess what? 51:44.300 --> 51:46.860 Reforming yourself, yeah, that doesn't last for eternity. 51:47.960 --> 51:50.400 Turning from your evil way doesn't last for eternity. 51:51.020 --> 51:52.820 Repenting of your sins doesn't last for eternity. 51:53.220 --> 51:55.260 The only thing that can give you that eternal salvation 51:55.840 --> 51:58.900 is believing in Jesus and being cleansed by his blood 51:58.900 --> 52:02.440 through faith, that is what provides that eternal salvation. 52:02.580 --> 52:03.380 Let's bides never order prayer. 52:03.780 --> 52:05.440 Father, we thank you so much for your word, Lord. 52:05.580 --> 52:07.820 Thank you for this great chapter, Nam chapter one 52:08.460 --> 52:10.800 and Lord, help us to just apply these things 52:10.800 --> 52:12.940 to our life and our worldview, Lord 52:13.460 --> 52:17.600 and help us never to mistake your long suffering 52:18.440 --> 52:22.800 for your ambivalence or ignoring or something like that, 52:22.800 --> 52:26.940 Lord, please just help us to do right. 52:27.680 --> 52:29.360 And Lord, if there's anyone here who's not saved, 52:29.460 --> 52:30.480 I pray that they would get saved 52:30.480 --> 52:31.780 before it's eternally too late. 52:32.180 --> 52:34.320 Please allow someone to give them the gospel 52:34.320 --> 52:35.880 and that they would be receptive to it 52:36.320 --> 52:40.260 and Lord, just help us all to get sin out of our lives 52:40.260 --> 52:41.800 and live the best lives that we can 52:41.800 --> 52:42.780 and in Jesus' name we pray, amen.