And you can be seated, we'll let the little ones go to class with Mrs. Shore. And praise God, we can trust Jesus. And I pray that that's our experience, trusting him more and more. The longer we know him, the more we ought to understand his care for us, his love for us, and walk with him. I wanna share something as I get started this morning about family devotions. I talk about it sometimes. It's sometimes called family altar. I've spoken about my dad's family. I grew up having family altar. My mom's family probably did as well, but I guess I know a little bit more about my dad's family in that regard, and just remember going to Grandma and Grandpa's shores and sitting down and having family devotions. There used to be a little book called, oh, it's gonna escape me. Daily manna, I think is what it was called, or something like that, and just opening up that book and reading that night and praying together. Our family has family altar or family devotions twice a day. We're blessed that we school at home, and so at half seven every morning we start out by coming down and reading the scripture. We take turns reading around, and we're reading right now through King David and then the life of Solomon, and have been following that story. and we're close to where they're building the temple. But we'll read, and then we'll do some scripture memory. My wife has put a box together with a scripture memory program, and we go through that, and so we're learning scripture together, and then we have different days that a different kid prays, and my wife and I, one of us prays on that day as well, and that's our morning devotions. At night, and there's little exception to this, we don't have morning devotions on the weekends. We don't have evening devotions on nights that we have ministry. So if we had a preaching time, whether youth activity or Wednesday night or Sunday night, we don't have evening devotions on those nights. But otherwise, we're, We read a biography, or we've at times listened to some of the stories I've told you about on Audible, Audible books that you can get, there's a really good source for that we can tell you about, and just listen to Christian biographies, but lately, I've been reading the biographies. So I read through Ed Nelson's biography, Out Loud, Adam M. Judson, Hudson Taylor, we've done those three. And currently we're reading through, not a biography, but an allegory, a great allegory that was written by John Bunyan when he was in prison called Pilgrim's Progress. It's a really neat story. It gives vivid pictures to the Christian life and experience. It's worth reading. It's been interesting. I'm an avid reader, but for some reason I have never read through it. I'm really enjoying reading through it out loud with our family. But the main character in that story, some of you will know, is Christian. And Christian is not a Christian at the beginning, but he becomes a Christian. But he's fleeing from the city of destruction. He hears that God's wrath is coming against that city. That's causing him to flee. His family doesn't want to go with him. He's got to go on his own. He's got to get through the Slough of Despond to get to the gate that enters into the city that goes up to the cross. And he's carrying a burden on his back. And the burden represents his sin, the wrath of God against his sin. That's a heavy load for him. He's trying to find help for that burden. There's an evangelist that is a character, and his name is Evangelist, and speaks to him about where he needs to go to get there, to find the place where his burden would fall away. You know, Nahum, Chapter one is our text and it begins with a burden. I don't know if you saw it there as we read about it. It's a burden of a city, a wicked city, and it's a very similar burden to that which Christian was bearing. That was the sin burden and the judgment against their sin. And so it says in verse one, the burden of Nineveh. the book of the vision of Nahum, the Elkishite. Now Nahum's the prophet that is there, obviously the author of this. Some people think he grew up in the Sea of Galilee region, Capernaum. It means home of Nahum, you know, and they think that perhaps that is the Nahum associated with Capernaum there on the Sea of Galilee, a city, a village that the Lord did a lot of amazing work in. But God raised up this prophet to speak to the city Nineveh about the wrath of God, This is after Jonah, and Jonah's back well before this, but now God's wrath is actually gonna come against this city. R.K. Harrison says about this, he says, in this small prophecy of doom, the author demonstrated in vigorous and memorable language that the God of the nations whom the Assyrians had despised was in fact the artificer and controller of all human destiny. To his justice, even the greatest world power must submit in humility and shame. And so that's a good summary of this book. It's a book of just calling out and saying, Almighty God is upset and there's judgment against you. Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. God had let Assyria become powerful as a tool. You remember that Assyria comes against Judah at times as God's wake-up call to the wicked nation to get right with God. But just because she was a tool that was allowed of God to become powerful, for God's purposes so that he could use that nation to chasten his people, yet she was responsible for the wickedness that was in her. Again, as R.K. Harrison said, this book is a small prophecy of doom. Doom is not a word that we use very often. I'm gonna use it twice today. It's actually in my notes tonight as well. But it's not a word that we use very often, because to be honest, it's kind of a fearful word. It's kind of a heavy word that we don't like to use. It means death, destruction, or some other terrible fate. And that word, though we don't like to use it, is a word that's very appropriate to our consideration this morning about what this text is all about. And so, and especially as we consider that burden. the burden of, why is it so heavy? Because it's doom. Not just Nineveh, but every wicked nation, every wicked person ought to consider this text with regard to how God deals with the ungodly. And that is very burdensome, and again, an appropriate word for it is to speak of it as doom. And so my challenge to us this morning is that you must get rid of the burden of your doom while you can. You must get rid of the burden of your doom while you can. And I wanna ask us as we come into that, and again, that's a heavy thought, but are you free from that? Is that burden gone, or is that a burden that you continue to carry? Sin and its punishment is a very heavy burden. It's something that people don't realize. I'll say this about Scotland. When I came here, I recognized the spiritual warfare here. I recognized that it's a difficult place to pray. that I had to be conscious continually of the fact that you need to really seek God in a godless place such as Scotland, okay? So that was fresh in my mind. 12 years on, I'll say that I don't think about it as often as I did back then, and I probably should think about it more, that there's intense spiritual warfare that's taking place here in this place. Because the truth is, the longer you're conditioned by something, the more you get used to it. They're gonna be somebody that's just used to the burden of their sin. They don't recognize it for what it is. They don't understand that it's there, but if they were to take the time to evaluate it, they'd recognize that that is exactly what they're carrying. It's the burden of their sin and the burden of God's wrath against their sin. And so you must be free from that, the burden of your doom, while you can. So let's pray and ask the Spirit of God to bless as we come to the Word of God. Heavy topic this morning, but I trust God will give us grace to consider it. Father, we thank you that you are a gracious God. But Father, we can't ignore the wrath of God and the anger of God. And so we're gonna look into some heavy truth this morning. And as Nahum wrote this book, he didn't apologize and say, I'm so sorry to have to let you know this, that there's a God in heaven that you've upset. I really hate to tell you that this is his character against you, and this is how you've offended the Almighty. And Father, we don't make apology this morning. Because the truth is, Nineveh deserved the wrath of God, and they deserved it back in the day of Jonah. And Father, that's the truth about life today. It's not that someday the wicked will deserve the wrath of God. The truth is that right now, they deserve it. And Father, frankly, they're under it, whether they recognize it or not. The Bible says that if somebody's not saved, the wrath of God abideth on him. And so I ask that the Spirit of God would use this message to remind believers of what they have been delivered from. And Father, to remind those that have yet not come to faith that there's a God in heaven to whom they'll give an account. And Father, whether online or in this room, if there's somebody that the Spirit of God desires to reach today, I pray, oh God, that you'd reach them. And Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would give liberty to the Word of God. I pray the Word of God would have free courts, both in here and in the children's class. I pray that you'd bless Mrs. Shore as she teaches the crash, that you'd open the eyes of the children and that they'd grow in their understanding of who God is. And Lord, that those that aren't saved would get saved. I pray in this room, Father, for your blessing upon every person that hears the Word of God, that they'd be encouraged by the truth of God. And Father, I can't preach without your enablement. I can't begin to express the truth of the word of God without your help. And I just pray as we take this verse by verse, look at the beginning here of Nahum's prophecy of the coming destruction and the wrath of God against these people. I pray that the spirit of God remind us that of the holiness of God and the power of God, the authority of God. And Father, you'd use my lips to do that. And Father, I pray for your enablement. I pray for your help. Thank you for our time together now. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. And so you must get rid of the burden of your doom while you can. I wanna preach this message this morning as if we're all in that position still. All right, as if that's us right now under the wrath of God, just like Nineveh. This city was not in a position of repentance. This city was in a position of rebellion against God. And so the prophet was freely speaking to them. And just imagine that. I had the privilege of preaching this to the parliament. I had the privilege of preaching this at a football game. I had the privilege of preaching this on the streets in Edinburgh. I could declare this with authority as if everybody that heard this message needed to respond that day, that moment to the truth of God. And so as we come to it this morning, your doom is certain because of the justice of God. Your doom is certain because of the justice of God. Most men live their life thinking that if there is a God, they're okay. Or if they believe in God, they're okay. An atheist thinks that, you know, if I stand before God and I'm wrong about this thing about eternal life, I'm wrong about this thing about who God is, then God's gonna give me a pass. You know, I can say to him, well, I lived my life as best I could, or maybe even I tried a little bit to find something out about you, and I just thought that, you know, I lived my life by the golden rule. I did unto others and all this thing, and they think in their heart of hearts that if there is a God somehow, When they stand at the judgment, it's okay, they'll be okay. There's a lot of people like that. I meet them all the time as I knock on their door. I'll find out when I get there. They're not really concerned about it and they think that it'll be okay on that day. Muslims or works religion type people like Catholics, they think that if they say sorry to God, it's okay. As long as they go to Allah and say, I'm sorry, that Allah can take away their sin. If they go to the priest and they go into the confessional, they confess their sin and they think they get it off their chest that man they think that they just say sorry to God it's okay and yet sorry does nothing to take away the sin from the life of anybody. You know just imagine this morning that some great evil took place against you or someone that you love in your family, and the person that committed that horrible crime is on trial. The judge is there, the jury is there, and that person that's on that trial, rather than hardening their heart and rebelling against the crime that they've committed, they look the judge in the eye, they look the jury in the eye, and they say, I just want you to know that I am so sorry for my sin. And they get on their knees and they say, please, oh please, would you forgive me? The judge looks at the jury, and the jury looks at the judge, and they say, you know what? I see that you're a sincere person. I see that you really feel terrible about the crime that you've committed, and so case dismissed. If you saw that, your heart would break. You'd think, how is this that somebody could get away with something like this? They did this and that to my child or to my spouse or to myself. Injustice was not served. And that's true. That's the way it would be if God today looked at somebody that says to God, God, sorry, and God just said, well, that's okay, that's it, I take it away. If God did that, that would be injustice. Justice has to be served. The only reason today that you and I can be forgiven of our sin is because Jesus Christ shed his blood on the cross for our sin. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. The whole thing about the cross is that Jesus stepped in between us and the wrath of God. He took our punishment so that by faith, those that repented their sin, put their faith in Jesus Christ can be forgiven of their sin judicially. by a holy God. Hebrews 9.22, without the shedding of blood, is no remission. That means no forgiveness. Why? Because there was no payment. If there's no payment, there is no mercy. The mercy of God is only for those that receive what Christ did in their place. And so make no mistake about it, this morning somebody could look at that thing and think, I'm gonna somehow get away with it when I stand at the judgment, but that's not justice. justice will be served on that day. So your doom is certain because of the justice of God. And God's justice is jealous. It's jealous. It says in verse two, it says God is jealous. Jealousy is right in a relationship. As a husband, I'm jealous of my wife. You don't mess with my wife. Don't do anything against my wife. If you do, I'm gonna step in there. I'm jealous as a parent about my kids. They're my kids and you don't mess with my kids. That jealousy's gonna affect me and my justice. I'm gonna get in there, wanna do something to make that right. God has a jealous justice. He looks at his people and he cares about what happens to them. The Israelites were the people of God. They were the apple of God's eye. They were the people that he had chosen and that he adored. Zechariah 2.8 says, for thus saith the Lord of hosts, after the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you, for he that toucheth you, Zion, okay, Zion is Jerusalem, he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. Again, you can't mess with Israel. Now, Israel is not good. Israel is not wonderful as a nation right now. They're not repented, they're not right with God, but they, in the past, were the people of God, the covenant people of God, and God would defend them because they were his. He's jealous of them. God's justice is jealous. God's justice is furious. It says in verse two, and the Lord revengeth. The Lord revengeth. and is furious. Men laugh and mock God, and they think no big deal, and they think they can blaspheme God, and I mean, they're not scared, but the thing is, they're not scared because they have never faced the wrath of a holy God. They've never understood who God is. It'd be good for them to go back and read the Bible a little bit about those that messed against God or went against God, God's people. Think about the prophet Elisha as he's walking through that village and some young people came out, they thought they'd mock the prophet of God. 2 Kings 2.23. And he went up from thence unto Bethel. And as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city. And they mocked him and said unto him, go up thou bald head, go up thou bald head. And he turned back and looked on them. He cursed them in the name of the Lord. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood and tear forty and two children of them. And he went from thence to Mount Carmel and from thence he returned to Samaria. They weren't just mocking the man for his hair, they were mocking the God of the man as they mocked the man of God. And God's servants say, hey, he cursed them in the name of the Lord, God sent two she-bears to deal with those young people. You got other stories like that, God spared Daniel in the lion's den. The trick that was laid for Daniel. Tried to get him to break the law. They couldn't find anything against him in evil, so they made a law that meant that he couldn't do good. He couldn't pray to his God. He got on his knees and prayed. They cast him into the lion's den. Excuse my voice. Nothing happened to him. But the Bible says about the wicked men that tried to trick Daniel into that, that the next day, they and their families were cast into the den of lions. The Bible says that they were consumed before they hit the bottom of the den. Why, because of the wrath of a holy God. Against a wicked family and a wicked people that went against the servants of God. God is jealous and God is furious. Romans 12, 19. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourself, but rather give place unto the wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I'll repay. Let me grab a drink, see if that helps. vengeance in mind, I will repay." So God's justice is jealous. God's justice is furious. God's justice is personal. Verse 2, it says, the Lord will take vengeance on his adversary. See, Nineveh was not just against the people of God. Nineveh, because they were against the people of God, they were against God himself. You know, God has a personal quarrel against those that are against his own. He stands against those that are against his own because they are against them because they are for God. There was a man, Saul of Tarsus, that got saved. He was against Christians before he got saved. He hated Christians, he persecuted Christians, he killed Christians. The Bible says in Acts 9 and verse 4, he fell to the earth and he heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? All right, in the Red Letter Bible, if you've got that, you'll see that those letters are in red. The words of Christ are in red in the scripture. And there in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ confronting Saul on that road to Damascus. He says to him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? But wait a second. Saul was killing Christians. Saul had not done anything against the Lord Jesus Christ himself, yet as he stood against the people of God, he was standing against God. And so you think about the justice of God. The justice of God is personal. Now, Jesus, because he understood the justice of God against those that stand against the people of God, on the cross he cried out, and he said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Why? Because he pitied those that were against God. As a believer today, we'd actually do well to look at people that persecute us and think you have no idea what you're gonna face someday when you stand before a holy God that's gonna take you to account for what you did against him and standing against his people. God's justice is personal. And then God's justice is perfect. It says in verse two, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. God's wrath is not withheld, it's postponed. God's wrath is coming. It is certainly coming. It's still there and it must be paid. He reserveth wrath. It's just getting stored up and stored up and stored up and stored up and someday it's going to come. There's a story about a lady that was in Dundee and this was recently. She was recently ordered to pay, and I'm gonna read this, 24,500 pounds in unpaid fines for ignoring hundreds of parking tickets. And she was declared bankrupt recently with debts around 37,000 pounds. But in a landmark ruling at Dundee Sheriff Court earlier this year, Carly Mackey was told she had to pay the unpaid charges to a private parking company. The 29-year-old had taken to parking her car in the city's waterfront without a permit. She claimed she had a right to park in the area as she was living there at the time. Okay, she's staying with her dad. Her dad had a parking permit. She thought, well, I'm staying with my dad, so I ought to be able to park here too. That's what she thought. And so Ms. Mackey from the city also believed the charge notices could not be enforced under Scottish law. There were eight signs in the vicinity advising motorists that they could only park in designated areas and would require a permit to do so lawfully. Those found parking without a permit were liable to be fined £100 a day. You know, she looked at it, she thought, I've got it right. I can break the law. Get away with it. It's not going to happen. It's not going to come due. Well, the fact is, she was wrong. A lot of people today living their life as if they're not going to pay a fine. acting as if it's fine, I'm getting away with it, there is no God, there is no parking charges, there is no legitimate authority that God has against me, the courts of heaven have nothing against me, but guess what? They are flatly wrong that there is a day coming, and it's payday. And they're going to be bankrupt at the court of heaven, they're going to be cast into a lake of fire to pay their debt, and it's going to be for all eternity. And so God's justice is perfect. There's no crime. And by the way, if there is no God, there is no justice. If there is no God, there is no judgment against those that commit heinous crimes against mankind, against anybody. But because there is a God, there is perfect justice. Praise God. And so we see that God's justice will not allow sin to go unpunished. His wrath is being scored up and it must be paid in full. So your doom is certain because of the judgment of God. And then your doom is postponed, as we just mentioned, because of the mercy of God. Your doom is postponed because of the mercy of God. Many people living today in their wickedness feel secure in their unbelief against God. Why? Because God's wrath hasn't fallen. I mean, they walk outside, they curse God, mock God, and they'll say something like lightning didn't strike. Their life's going good. That's why it's a good thing sometimes for somebody in a life like that to have something rough happen in their life, and they might say, why did God allow that? If there is a God, why did God allow that into my life? Because very likely God's trying to send them a wake-up call before they die and spend eternity in the lake of fire. but the wrath of God hasn't come because of the mercy of God. And yet in that security that they feel in that, they harden their heart against God. Ecclesiastes 8.11, because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. We live in a day of profanity, immorality, wickedness, and pornography, and ungodliness, and cursing, and swearing, and drink, and drugs, and just wicked, licentious living against God. And they think that's fine. They think that they can get away with that because they have not yet seen the wrath of God. And yet that day is coming, but it's being withheld because of the mercy of God. But there's people that mock in our day, and they say, see, there is no God. See, the judgment is not coming. See, it hasn't happened, so it's not true, 2 Peter 3.3. Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, mockers, walking after their own lusts, doing whatever they desire to do. And saying, where's the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this, they willingly are ignorant of that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water. And in the water, Jesus Christ, the creator God, without him was not anything made that was made. In the beginning, he said, let there be and there was. Why is it there? Because he said it. It's his word. The God particle, it's God. God holds it together. That's the answer. It's by his word. All he has to do is say, let there not be. It's held by his word. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water perished, no, it's flood. But the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. There's a day of fire coming. There's a day of fire coming on this earth. Global warming is nothing compared to the end times. That's when it's all gonna come down. Believers remember this, but beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. It's been 2,000 years since Christ came, and in God's timetable, it's just two days. It's nothing. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. He's coming again. As some men count slackness, but he's long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. The fact is, God has not sent his son, Jesus Christ, yet, because if he did, this world would perish. It's a mercy of God But that doesn't mean that the wrath of God is not there The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise And the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up So what's the truth this morning? He doesn't want you to perish His judgment is certain. His judgment is coming. His judgment is only postponed because of the mercy of God. And so God's mercy restrains his anger. Verse three, it says, the Lord is slow to anger. Psalm 145 verse eight, the Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and of great mercy. And if you remember the story of Jonah going to Nineveh, he's getting ready to, he gets his orders from God and God says, go to Nineveh, that wicked city, and tell them that your destruction is coming. And knowing the wickedness of this ungodly nation, which by the way, dismembered people that they fought in battle and took their body parts and put them in different piles about the city, they would fillet those that they took in battle and put their skin out in places to show their barbarity. It was a wicked nation. And Jonah goes, I don't want to go there and preach to them the wrath of God because of this. God is a merciful God. And he thought, if they repent, then God's gonna repent of his anger against them. Jonah four, verse two, he prayed unto the Lord. He said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country, in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Jonah wanted God to judge that nation. Right now, Russia is invading Ukraine. Some of the things that we've heard about coming out of Ukraine are wicked, as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah, where they knock on the doors of Lot's house and they say, send out the men that came unto you because they wanted to rape them. That is taking place in Russia right now. They're taking people out. They're filling their shoes and their boots with water. They're leaving them out in the cold. And you read about the atrocities that are taking place as they not just kill and fight against soldiers, but they fight against civilians. And in our hearts, we think God judged that. That's the way Jonah felt. Jonah looked at it and said, they deserve the wrath of God, but God's mercy restrains his anger. If God should mark iniquity, who should stand? If you want God to judge sin, just think about how quickly we wouldn't last this week out. It's God's mercy that restrains His anger. And then God's mercy restrains His power. It says the Lord is slow to anger and great in power. Again, many people today think God can't intervene in the affairs of men. They think that he doesn't have the ability to get involved. And even on the cross, you think about the Lord Jesus Christ being crucified, and what they said, they looked at Jesus on the cross, and they thought there was nothing that God could do to get that man down off the cross. They looked at the man there on the cross, who was the very son of God, thought there was nothing that he could do to get himself off the cross. Matthew 27, 41, likewise also the chief priest, mocking him with the scribes and elders said, he saved others, himself he cannot save, if he be the king of Israel. Let him now come down from the cross. We'll believe in him, it's a great sign. He trusted in God, let him deliver him now, if he will have him. For he said, I am the son of God. The thieves also which were crucified with him cast the same in his teeth. They mocked him, said you can't do it, you can't do it, whatever. He could have called 10,000 angels to destroy the world. Do you know what was there on the cross keeping Jesus on the cross? It was his love for sinners. That held him there. We saw a documentary on the Hoover Dam and they dammed up the Colorado River. It's an amazing miracle of engineering to be able to build a structure. Incredible, I think. We built our wall. We feel proud about the fact that we put the last block in place yesterday. It's about 300 blocks. You look at that, it's nothing compared to the Hoover Dam. The Hoover Dam is something like, I looked yesterday, two and a half million cubic yards of concrete. That's, I can't even fathom that. And have you ever seen the power of water? Have you seen an area where flood has gone through South Africa recently, just cutting through hillsides? The power that's behind that, but that dam holds it back. Listen, the dam holding back the wrath of God is his love. That's it. See, God's wrath is coming. Your doom is certain, but it's postponed because of the mercy of God. God's mercy restrains his power. God's mercy restrains his judgment. Notice what it says, and will not at all acquit the wicked. God will not say it's okay. Justification is what we talked about where Jesus paid the price of our sin. Judicially, God pardons us because the price has been paid. He imputes to us the righteousness of Christ because our wrath fell on him. We are righteous because he paid for it. That's not acquittal. Acquittal is what I spoke about with that illustration where the judge says, it's okay, I forgive you. God says it's not gonna happen. Nobody ought to think today that someday I'll stand before God and if I just have a convincing argument that God's gonna say it's okay, it's not okay, God will not at all acquit the wicked. And so why hasn't he judged them? because of his mercy. And so that's it. The wrath of God is certain against mankind, but it's postponed because of the mercy of God. Let's continue on. Your doom is ordered by the plan of God. It's ordered by the plan of God. You know, men today think that they're in control. Look at the pandemic. When the pandemic happened, did they get on their knees, go to God, say, dear God, we've got a horrible problem here, and call to prayer. Hey, the last thing that I expected the MSPs to say, and which they never said, is to call on anybody to pray about anything because the God that they do not believe in is the God that they do not think is in control. And so they reject God altogether and they tried to control it. And they tried to say, let's put on masks and let's make everybody stay in their house and let's get everything we could throw against it. Let's get our medicine and our things that we could do. And it's this idea that man is in control. Got global warming, they say. And so what are they trying to do? They're trying to control it. They're trying to make people live in fear. And you know what? Frankly, we ought to be afraid if men are in control. I'd be terrified. If I was an unbeliever, I'd understand God thinking about, we got the pandemic, we got global warming, we got these things. I mean, I'm just gonna live my life in fear because, I mean, how can I trust the government? How can I trust doctors? How could man possibly be the answer? But men think they are. They think they've got it. As a believer, we understand that men aren't in control, but God is. Verse three. Why? Because God is over that. God's not bothered by a tornado. I've seen the destruction of tornadoes in the United States and what they can do. Our family went through a hurricane and saw the destructive power of that. That's all under God's control. It's not outside of God's control. Jesus demonstrated that on the Sea of Galilee. He's out there with his disciples and the sea is heaving and the wind is blowing and he just stands up and he says, peace be still. The Bible says that walking on the clouds is just like the dust of his feet, nothing to God. Man can't do anything about it. Have you noticed that man can't control the storms? They try. There's science that they're trying to figure it out. What can we do to try? And they're messing with God things. But the thing is, God controls that. God's over that. Your doom is ordered by the plan of God. He's providentially over everything. There's nothing that's outside of his control. Even the pandemic, I believe, was a wake-up call from God to the world. When was the last time that the whole world was put into lockdown and all these things taking place and men ought to stop and step back and say, this has never happened before. What is going on? But he's providentially over it all. Bible says in Hebrews 9.27, as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. It's coming. It's a plan of God. It's not going to be avoided. It's not going to be somebody someday say, well, I just like to die and skip the judgment. I'd like to maybe even not die. The thing is someday every person's going to die and they're going to stand before a holy God. It's called the great white throne judgment of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ is there. And the Bible says from whom his face, heaven and earth fled away. And he's standing on that judgment. Every man's going to be judged according to their works. And the Bible says in Revelation 20, verse 14, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever is not found, written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. Very sadly today, the doom of mankind is ordered by the plan of God. Now, can I say this? There's a simple plan of salvation, isn't there? God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So as I speak about the fact of this judgment, do not think that God is vain. Do not think that God is unkind. God took his son, Jesus Christ, and put him on the cross so that anybody has an exit ramp or a way out of the judgment is Christ. But anybody that wants to just go past that is going past it to certain doom because it's planned by God. It's coming. We know it from the word of God. And so your doom is ordered by the plan of God. But then your doom is inescapable because of the sovereignty of God. Inescapable. It says in verse five, 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? Who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. I was witnessing this past week as I had opportunity and a man speaking to me, I said to him, are you ready to stand before a holy God and give an account like that? He said, well, how about this? He says, how about you and I both stand before a God? Imagine this, he says to me, that God says to you, you get out of here and go to hell. And I looked at him and I said, well, I understand what you're saying, but the truth is this, I'm saved. And I know for sure, if I stood before God, that God will have me into heaven. And I said, you know what? I've tasted of the goodness of God. I have tasted the salvation that I've spoken about this morning in prayer. It's a deeper understanding. It is an understanding that passes knowledge because it's an experience of the truth of God. A believer understands what I'm talking about. And when you got saved, The Spirit of God moves into your heart and you begin to experience God. I don't have to wait for heaven to experience God. I don't have to wait for heaven to have my inheritance from God because I have the earnest of my inheritance today and the person of the Holy Spirit that indwells me, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'm saved. I've got the witness of the Spirit of God in my heart that I am saved. The Bible says taste and you'll see that the Lord is good. See, it's one thing to look at the apple and to argue about, does the apple exist? Does it not exist? Does it exist? Does it not exist? Does it disappear because I don't believe in it? But all somebody has to do is walk over, take the apple, and take a bite out of it, and they say, well, I don't care what you think about the apple. I'm tasting it, it's good. If you're saved, you know what I'm talking about. You've experienced God. A wise person fears God. This man said to me, I'm not afraid. I said, well, that's not a good thing. I wouldn't have an electrician work at my house that's not afraid of electricity. I wouldn't have a gas technician work at my house who's not afraid of gas. Why? Those are incredibly powerful things. You don't flirt with those things. You gotta understand what you're doing and use great caution around those things, and God is an almighty God. There's not a wise person that doesn't fear God. Proud wicked men think they can boast, they're not bothered, but they don't walk around in a fire. It says here, his fury is poured out like fire. I can mock at it, laugh at it, but the fact is, if this room was on fire, you wouldn't be in it. Nobody that's unsaved is even gonna hold their hand over a lighter that's turned on, that you turn on and say, okay, you're not afraid of fire? Go ahead, put your hand over this flame. Nobody's gonna do that. They're lying when they say they're not afraid of fire. They can say, I don't care about the whole rocks getting thrown down thing, but they're not standing in an avalanche. They're not standing and letting the wrath of God fall upon them and the rocks and the Bible speaks about it as fire and brimstone, right? The truth is today, if men would be honest, they ought to fear God. They ought to look at it and think, you know what? It's inescapable because God is a sovereign God. He's over everything. He controls everything and his judgment is coming. And so your doom is certain because of the justice of God. It's postponed because of the mercy of God. It's ordered by the plan of God. It's inescapable because of the sovereignty of God. And then it's regrettable because of the goodness of God. You know, it's regrettable today because of the goodness of God. Ezekiel 33, 11, saying to them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil way, for why will you die, O house of Israel? God is saying, I don't understand the people that are insanely against me. I offer them mercy. And yet they want judgment. And God says, hey, taste and you'll see that the Lord is good. You don't have to die. Why will you die? I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Again, as a believer, we understand this. The Bible says, for his anger endureth but a moment. In his favor is life. Weeping may endure for night, but joy cometh in the morning. Those of us that are saved, at some point we reacted to that understanding that the wrath of God is against us. We say, oh, I don't want the wrath of God. I want the mercy of God. I want the forgiveness of God. And we went to God and we got saved. And guess what? Joy, peace. I praise God I don't have to preach a message like this every Sunday. A lot of times I can speak about themes that are much more refreshing, much more awesome because of what we see of the good nature of God in contrast with the wrath of God. The wrath of God is just. I'm not saying that it's unfair. I'm not saying that it's unloving. I'm saying it is absolutely just, but on the other side we can get to know God as a father. And it's very sad today and regrettable that people are still dying and going to hell despite the goodness of God. And so you look at this, righteous men know the goodness of God. Verse seven is a refreshing verse, is it not, in the context? It says the Lord is good. The Lord is good. We sing in the chorus, God is so good, God is so good. He is so good to me. What a blessing to think this past week, I thought about it. You know, God gave us with the wall, and forgive this illustration, but it's been a lot of work. You know, he gave us the weather we needed. He gave us the wisdom we needed. He gave the finances that we needed. He gave the strength that we needed. He gave the health that we needed. Everything about it, the material that we needed, God gave it to us. God's good. And as a believer, you experience that again and again. You're just constantly saying, you know what? God is so good. Oh, taste and you'll see that the Lord is good. God is good. Righteous men know the goodness of God. Righteous men know the security of God. He's a stronghold in the day of trouble. and he knoweth them that trust in him. The truth is this, men don't just need God in eternity, men need God in life. I said today, I know people that are secluding themselves and they're overwhelmed by life and they're burdened by life. An unsaved man that contacted me this past week, he's just isolated himself and what he needs is God. But as a believer, I've got God. I could face a trial in the will of God and say, it's all right, I got a stronghold. The keep is the center of the castle. It's that place that is impenetrable, that if everything else fails, you get in there and it's okay. God is our keep. God is our keep. The day of trouble is gonna come. It could be vocational, it could be relational, it could be emotional, mental, health, financial. I mean, there's so many things that come at us in life, it's gonna come. Just this past week, as I was working on this message on Thursday, my wife came in right this moment, as I'm writing this part of the message, and she said, Dr. Gaddy's had a major heart attack. He's a friend of ours in the States, very close friends with Katie's sister's family. He's not too old of a man, I think late 60s, maybe 70. He's had a major heart attack, he's a medical doctor. And so I stopped and I prayed, you know, I prayed for the family and prayed for God's grace for them. And we found out on Friday that he passed away. You know, that's life and it's gonna happen and there's gonna be trials that come, but I praise God, Saragatti and the family could trust God. And I'll say this as a church, let's remember them, let's pray for them, let's ask for God's grace for them. But a believer has something an unbeliever does not have. And let me just ask you, in time of difficulty, where do you go? The righteous runneth into it and is safe. There's security in God. God is so good. Righteous men knows goodness. They know his security. And so I say again, it's regrettable. Your doom is regrettable because of the goodness of God. And then finally this morning, your doom is hellish because of the severity of God. It's hellish because of the severity of God. Verse eight, it says, What do you imagine against the Lord? "'he will make an utter end. "'Affliction shall not rise up the second time.'" And that statement means this, they're not gonna rise again against God's people. They've hit the pinnacle, God's allowed them to be used as his instrument of judgment against Judah, but their wickedness will no longer stand, it's gonna be judged. And so verse 10, "'For while they be folded together as thorns, "'while they be drunken as drunkards, "'they shall be devoured as stubble, fully dry.'" It's not an idle statement today to say that those that are against Christ will suffer an utter end, a complete annihilation, but not to their cessation of existence, but to their continual destruction for eternity. the burn alive for eternity, Mark 9, 44, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. Gehenna was a place outside the city of Jerusalem where they would burn rubbish, and Jesus used that as an illustration of hell. Except the worm dieth not. See, Jehovah's Witnesses have a convenient religion, and the idea is this, when you die, that's it, that's God's judgment. That's not justice. And if you look at Revelation 21, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. So they're brought up from death. If that's judgment, just leave them there. But they're brought up to be judged of God, and they're cast into the lake of fire, Revelation chapter 21. Darkness, weeping, gnashing of teeth, that's what you find there. Matthew 8, 12, but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out. into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Eternal damnation away from God. 2 Thessalonians 1.9, who shall be punished with everlasting eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. One of the worst things about hell is God is not there. In life, God is here. God's blessing is here. But in hell, there is no blessing. There's not a single good thing somebody could say about hell. And so sadly, many foolish people are just one breath away from hell, they don't care, they're not bothered by that. But the Bible says in Proverbs 27 verse 12, a prudent man foreseeth evil, and he hideth himself. A wise person looks ahead at that and says, man, and I'll tell you, as a five-year-old kid sitting in church, that's how God worked in my heart. I thought, I don't want to go to hell. I went down to my dad's study. I asked Jesus Christ into my heart to save me. A prudent man foreseeeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. Sad. It's hellish. We use hell as a curse word. People laugh at hell, they mock at hell because they've not seen hell. It's a very sad thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. You know, Nineveh had a burden. I don't think she knew. You know what I think Nineveh was like? It was party. It was wickedness and parties. It'd be like Edinburgh on a Friday night, Saturday night. I think it was all going good for them. And the prophet writes this message to them. He starts out with the burden of Nineveh. And he's letting them know they've got a burden that I don't think that they recognized. I don't think that they understood it. I don't think that they saw it for what it was. But what it is is it's similar to Christian's burden. It was the burden of his sin. The burden of the wrath of God against his sin. And that story, it's just a story, but it's a fun story about the experience of somebody when they get saved. Says, just as Christian came up to the cross, his burden loosed from off his shoulders, fell from off his back, began to tumble down the hill, and so it continued to do till it came to the mouth of the sepulcher. There it fell in, and he saw it no more. All right, it's just an allegory. It's just a spiritual picture. It's not scripture, but it's a good picture. Jesus said, if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men unto myself, even as the Son of Man must be lifted up, okay, as the serpent in the wilderness. Those that saw that serpent, they looked in faith upon it, they were healed. And so today, if somebody looks at the cross in faith and sees what Jesus Christ did for them there on that cross, that burden falls away. And when somebody gets saved, it's often their experience and they say it, they go, man, there's a joy there. There's a peace there. There's courage there. Because God took the burden away. I want to ask you this morning, are you carrying the burden? The burden of your doom? Is it upon you? If you're to be honest, you'd have to say, well, it's there. And sadly, even more sadly, maybe, is if you don't recognize it. But you know today whether or not you've received Christ as your Savior. And if not, the burden is there. And I just encourage you, the doom is certain. It's coming. It's only postponed because of the mercy of God. It's God's justice that is gonna bring that to bear. That wrath is being reserved. It is stored up. Do not think today that you're getting away with anything. Everything that you've ever done against God today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, God's got perfect wrath against it. Hell is hotter for some. The Bible does speak about degrees of punishment. But hell itself. The best of hell is the worst of hell. God's final call, John W. Peterson. It's a hymn, we'll sing it after we pray. It says this, someday you'll hear God's final call to you, to take his offer of salvation true. This could be it, my friend, if you but knew. God's final call, God's final call. Does somebody know when they're gonna die? Did Dr. Gaddy wake up last week and think, you know, I think I'm probably gonna die next week. Nobody does. I'll say this, Sarah was comforted. He died on the 27th. Their daughter died in a car accident on the 27th. There was a child in their family born on the 27th. The 27th is a special day to Sarah. It was a comfort to her to say, you know what? God's in control. But we don't know when that's gonna take place. We don't understand when that's gonna happen. That could be this week. It could be today. We don't know. We must not ever walk away from anything like this and think it's okay, I'll just take my time. Spirit of God's speaking my heart about it, but it's okay. I'll just put it off another week. I'll just put it off another month. I'll put it off another year. We don't know. Nobody does. And if you die without Christ, it's too late. Nobody gets to die a second time. How can you live another day in sin? Thinking someday with Christ you will begin. Oh will you hear above the world's loud din, God's final call, God's final call. If you reject God's final call of grace, you'll have no chance or footsteps to retrace. Say today's the last day in the mercy of God, God reaches out and says, I want to save you, I'm trying to save you. Does God have to do that tomorrow? Does God have to work in somebody's heart ever? If God's working, hey, we ought to respond, because here's the line I wanted to get to. All hope will then be gone, and doom you'll face. Oh, here is call, God's final call. May God help us to listen to God. You don't want to face your doom, and so let God take your burden away. Let's pray. Father, I pray that the Spirit of God would speak to our hearts. Oh, how we need to see souls saved. As a believer, we ought to look at that text and go, wow. God is a merciful God. God is a gracious God. I don't deserve to be saved. I ought to be trembling in fear because of the wrath of God. But Jesus stepped in and took our wrath. But Father, not everybody's saved. Not everybody that's gonna hear this message is saved. And so I pray, Lord, for that person, that the Spirit of God speak in their heart about salvation. Lord, I pray that they would make that decision to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior today. Father, we don't know. No man does. And Father, I know stories of people that were under conviction that shook it off and thought, well, I'll just go a little bit further down the road of life and sin and rebellion against God, but they didn't make it because that was it. And Father, we ought to be afraid. We ought to consider eternity. We ought not step another step without the grace of God. Oh, I pray for their salvation today. Father, as believers, we need to recognize we gotta get this message out. We gotta tell others about Christ. We know about it, we know the judgment's coming. Father, it's a shame to us and to our Lord if we don't tell people that they need God. And so, Spirit of God, help us be what we ought to be. Blessed as we sing this hymn, it's a sober hymn, but may the Spirit of God speak to our hearts. It's in Christ's name I pray, amen. Let's stand, please. We sing a hymn of invitation here this morning.