God, the Judge

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

I want you to turn with me this morning in your Bibles to a little book that you probably don't even know where it is.

It's the minor prophet of Nahum.

Nahum.

Now, Nahu, if you do not have an outline, raise your hand or worship guide because on the back is the outline.

Is there a consequence to my choice?

There is.

There is.

You know, we are living in a society today that does not take responsibility for their choices.

And by the way, if you want to find out where Nahum is, go to Jonah and go to the right a couple of books.

Go to Jonah.

That's where we were a couple of weeks ago, and go to the right.

Nahum is a book about God as the judge.

And because God's not dead, he is our judge.

A righteous judge, but he is our judge.

A lot of people love God for being the God of love, but very few people like God for being the God of judgment.

Now, this little book is unbelievable.

It really is.

Because he really enlightens us, and it's really just, you know, it's only a few chapters, only three small chapters, but it's loaded in chapter one, and that's where we're going to be this morning.

And God the judge, but the title of the message, is there a consequence to my choice?

Do you believe that?

Amen.

In other words, the choices we make determine the results that we get.

Amen.

Come on now, as a lot of people don't realize that.

Let me repeat that.

The choices we make determines the results we get.

And young people, this is so important at your age because I think the sooner you understand God's choice for your life and God's will for your life, the more successful, the more happy, the more peaceful, the more exciting life is going to be.

I really believe that.

And I was fortunate to find God's will in my mid-20s for my life.

Prior to that, I was running and I'd gone through some major tough times till I surrendered to God and made God and made Jesus Christ the Lord of my life.

I really was.

I was running, I was wandering in the wilderness.

So in this chapter, it's exciting to see there's two, as we looked at Jonah, there were what, three mega themes.

In this little book, there's two major themes, and we are mega themes, and we're going to be looking at that.

But out of William Jones's book on making right choices, listen to what he said.

This is powerful.

I put it in your notes.

Every man has a choice to make.

Every person has a choice to make.

And I love what Joshua 24, 15 says.

Choose this day whom you're going to serve.

For me and my house, we're going to serve God.

You have a choice to make this morning.

Are you radically going to sell out to Jesus and go his way, or are you going to stick to your way?

But you have that choice.

Notice the second thing he said about choices.

Every man has the ability to make that choice.

In fact, in the battle that took place in 1 Kings 18, and especially in verse 21, when Elijah's taking on all the prophets of Baal, and the people are just standing there, and they haven't made a choice yet.

They're waiting to see.

You know, they're waiting to see now where's this, you know, hey, where's the power going to fall?

Is it going to be on, hey, the prophets of Baal, or is it going to be on Jehovah God?

So they're not making a choice.

They're just sitting there, all right, we're going to wait and see how this falls out.

And finally, Elijah says to the people in verse 21, how long are you going to halt between the two?

In other words, you've got to make a choice.

You've got to make a choice.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, how long will we wait to make the right choice to give our life to Jesus Christ and to make him Lord of our life?

So, there is a choice that has to be made.

Notice the third thing he said.

There is a consequence to that choice.

In other words, the choice you make is what you're going to reap.

Hello.

Galatians 6, 7, be not deceived, God is not mocked.

For whatsoever man soweth, that shall he reap.

And then notice what else he said.

While you and I are making our choice, we, or he says, while he is choosing, he is in one of the choices.

In other words, if you're not choosing to go God's way, you've already made the choice to go your way.

Amen.

So, in fact, I love what Jesus said.

He said in Matthew 12, 30, you can't have it both ways.

Now we try.

We are good at that.

Trying to have one foot in the world and one foot in serving the Lord.

Aren't we good at that?

I'm pretty good at that.

I was excellent at it.

Amen.

I was excellent at it, to be honest with you.

But what did Jesus say?

Either you're for me or you're against me.

Matthew 12, 30.

You can't have it both ways.

You either go God's way or you go your way.

And you have to make that choice.

And the choice that you make will be the results that you get.

You with me?

So, with that said, look what else William Jones said in his book, great book.

God creates us in his image and wants the best for us.

However, he will not violate his righteousness by blessing us if we willfully, I like that, continually make wrong choices.

What did we say about Jonah?

You can run, but you can't hide.

God is eventually going to get your attention.

Okay, you with me?

This is this one message could change your lives forever.

If you understand the truth that you're going to see this morning.

It could change your, you know why it could change your life forever?

Because it would change your thinking process so that you'll make the right choices.

Amen?

That's the key.

That's the key.

So let's begin and let's look at the two mega themes of Nahom.

And by the way, let me just go on record saying, before we look at the mega themes, Adam, and this, by the way, this principle that we're looking at this morning, making, hey, hey, the consequences of my choice.

One of the greatest examples is Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

I meant at the very beginning in Genesis chapter 1, they had a choice to make.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

They had a choice to not eat of the what?

The tree.

The fruit.

I meant God says, if you eat of this, you will surely die.

And what he meant, they're not just physically death, yes, and I think that was part of it.

Who knows?

You know, if if Adam and Eve had never sinned, they might have lived forever in the garden of paradise.

We don't know.

But he says now that he said, don't you, you got a choice to make.

You can have everything, do everything except this one tree.

Isn't that exactly like we are?

I meant if we're not told to do something, God help us if we're not going to do our best to do it.

Hello?

Hello, I'm not going to go any further on that because I'm guilty.

Don't tell me not to do something.

So, because of the bad choice Adam made by following Eve and eating of the tree, guess what?

We have been abandoned forever.

In fact, we've been doomed forever.

Because that means because of Adam's sin in the garden, we have all, when we were born physically, were born with a sin nature.

Romans 5 12, wherefore as by one man, Adam, sin entered into the world, and death by sin, so death has passed upon all men.

David said what?

He said, Behold, I was formed, listen, in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Psalms 55.

So we see because of a bad choice by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, you and I are born with a sin nature.

Do you understand that?

One bad choice led to a major destruction.

One bad choice affects other people.

Your bad choices can affect other people.

Jonah's bad choice almost got the whole ship sunk and all the sailors and all the people, hey, drown.

One bad choice.

Okay?

You with me?

So with that, let's now jump into it.

Let's get into the text.

Two neck, hey, megathemes of Nahum.

Theme number one, God judges.

God judges.

Look at John 5, 30.

Jesus, I hear, he says, Jesus says, I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just.

Man, that's good.

I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just.

In other words, we get rightfully what we deserve.

Amen.

Come on now.

Amen.

Hey, hey, but see, here's the problem.

Here's our problem.

And the second mega theme, and then I'm, oh, by the way, Romans 2, 2.

I wrote that in there.

We are sure that the judgment of God, now watch this.

We are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth.

In other words, God's gonna judge you and me righteously and justly.

Amen.

You know why?

Because God knows our hearts.

Can I get an amen?

God knows our hearts.

So the first mega theme is that, hey, God judges and his judgment is just.

The second mega theme is God rules.

God rules.

Psalm 66, verse 7.

Psalms 66:7

God ruleth by his power forever.

God ruleth by his power forever.

Psalms 22, 28, he rules the nations.

Daniel 4, 17 and 25.

The Most High ruleth the kingdom of men.

In other words, let me just put it this way, church.

God's in charge.

God's in charge.

You may think that, hey, our president or our government is in charge, but not ultimately.

God's in charge.

In fact, the government sits upon his shoulders.

Isaiah 9, 6.

Amen?

I'm glad to know that.

Because that means when things are looking bleak and when things are looking bad, that hey, we've got the answer.

The answer is our trust is in God.

Our trust is not in man.

Can I get an amen?

That's it.

That's the key.

That's the key.

So we see that God judges and God rules.

Now that's very important.

Now, guess what?

People don't want to submit to authority, or they don't want authority over them.

We're living in a society today, but guess what?

Same was true then, because Nineveh was a great example.

But we don't want to submit to authority.

We don't want people to tell us what to do.

Do you like people telling you what to do?

That's, you know why you don't?

That's sin nature.

Adam and Eve didn't like what God told them.

They said, hey, you can have everything.

Can you imagine?

You can have everything in paradise except one tree.

But they said, well, who does he?

And then Satan did come in and tempt him.

Well, who does God think he is trying to tell you?

You know that's not true.

He says, hey, because see, when you eat of the tree that he's telling you not to, you're going to be like God.

You'll be like him.

And guess what?

They submitted to what?

The temptation that Satan had given them.

But here was the ultimate reason.

Why did they do that?

Because God told them not to, and they didn't want to listen to God.

They didn't want to submit to God's authority.

That's the foundation.

And every time you and I get in trouble, when I was growing up from the time I was a little boy, every time I got in trouble, it was because I was not willing to submit to authority.

Hello.

Owe me.

Or ouch.

Yeah.

Okay?

And then here's the other thing about us today.

You know, when we do get caught and we know we're wrong, guess what?

It's not my fault.

Amen.

We don't want to accept the accountability.

We don't want to accept the responsibility.

In fact, Adam said, Oh, when he got caught, he said, wait a minute, Lord, wait a minute, wait a minute, God.

I didn't call.

No, it's not my fault.

It's that woman that you gave me.

Hello?

That's what he said.

Don't look at me.

Read it.

Amen.

It's that woman you gave me.

I wouldn't say that if Susan was here.

But she's sick, so I'm saying that.

Don't y'all go tell her either.

Oh, that's right.

No, hey, honey.

Turn that camera off, wouldn't I?

But really, we hey, it's one thing to be wrong, but then we don't want to take responsibility for our wrong.

Oh, it's the way I was raised.

It was, it was, you know, my mom and dad's fault.

It's this.

It's everybody's fault, but your fault.

I've got news for you.

If you have that kind of mental mentality, you'll never make the right choices.

Never.

Never.

So with that said, let's look at some things here.

God's not dead, and because God's not dead, God is our judge.

Now look at some things this passage of scripture talks about as judge, God is.

And by the way, let me just go on and say what we're talking about here is moral choices.

There is a right from wrong.

There is a good and there is a bad.

Amen?

There is.

There is a black and there is a white.

And we see when you and I do right, there is good consequence, but when we do wrong, there's bad consequences.

When we make the right decision, there's good.

When we make the wrong decision, there's bad.

Hello.

How do I know that?

Very simple.

One verse, two of my very most powerful verse, Isaiah 1, 19 and 20 says, if you're willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.

But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.

Folks, that's as black and white as it gets.

And Deuteronomy 11 says the same thing.

He talks about how in Deuteronomy 11, 26 through 28, but we'll get there.

We'll get there, Jeremy.

Don't go there yet.

I'm getting ahead of myself.

But as judge, God is, now let's look at it.

Number one, jealous.

Look at verse 2 in Nahum.

The burden against Nineveh.

What had taken place here, if you remember, over a hundred years prior to this, Jonah had gone to Nineveh and preached a revival, and they had repented, and the nation came back to God, but they didn't stay there long.

They didn't stay there long.

Very similar to the, hey, nation of Israel, of Judah.

You know?

They didn't stay there long.

But hey, revival came, and for about 20 years, they were a righteous place.

The Assyrians, uh, Nineveh was the capital city.

They were flourishing.

They were the mighty army and all that, but they didn't stay there long.

They turned back to their own ways.

And because of that, God predicted and said, okay, I've been long-suffering.

I've been patient.

I've loved you.

I've given you years and years and years of opportunities to repent.

They repented for a little while, but once they repented and they started and lived for a little while for God, but then went back, he said, That's it.

I've given you over a hundred years.

Hey, you've not, you have willfully made in your heart the choice that you are going to be anti-God, you were going to be against me, so now it's time for judgment.

Wow.

Wow.

So we see with that, the prophet Nahum is now predicting and preaching the judgment that's about to take place because God showed it to him.

He said, Go tell him, here it comes.

And he said, first of all, God's a jealous God.

Look at what he said.

God is jealous and the Lord avenges.

The Lord avenges and then is furious.

Verse 2.

The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserves wrath for his enemies.

Verse 3, the Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked.

In other words, the wicked will not get away with their wrongdoing.

The Lord has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of feet.

Dacium and caramel wither and the flowers of Lebanon wilt, the mountains quake before him, the hills melt, the earth, the heavens.

Hey, at his presence, yes, the world and all who dwell in it.

Wow.

Wow.

So not only do we see he's a jealous God, you'll have no other gods before me, Exodus 25.

Secondly, he's an avengeful God.

He will avenge, hey, hey, his character and who he is.

I like what he says in Romans 12, 19, avenge not yourself, for it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.

He will repay.

You can't get away with sin.

Say this with me, church.

I can't get away from sin.

I can't get away from sin.

I can't get away from sin.

If you live in sin, hey, and you stay in sin, you will pay.

It's a bad choice.

For the wages of sin is when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin.

And when sin is finished, it brings forth.

James 1.15.

So, but notice what else in verse 2?

He's wrathful.

The wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.

Ephesians 5.6.

Look what else.

Verse 3.

But he's great in power.

He's great in power.

He not only pronounces the verdict, but he has the power to carry it out.

Now, all that you, I just read to you.

Hey, hey, tornadoes, all kinds of earthquakes, volcanoes, hey, tsunamis, I could go on and on and on and on.

God has that power to allow those things to happen.

Why?

But and you know, here that I'm gonna help you.

This is gonna be pretty deep.

So open your ears and your minds so that you can really understand this.

Why does God allow this to happen?

A lot of times he allows things to happen for two reasons.

Two reasons.

I've searched this out for years, and God's giving me peace about this answer.

Reason number one, because verse 3 says he's long suffering.

You know why he allows those things to continue sometimes?

Because he's given, just like he did the Ninevites, opportunities to get saved and to repent, so he won't have to bring his judgment.

Now, you and I ought to get.

Now, right now, if you're walking with the Lord, you say, Well, man, you don't understand that.

But remember the times you weren't walking with the Lord, and if God had given you what you deserved at that time, you would have been in a mess.

Amen.

So aren't you glad for God's mercies that are new every morning?

Great is our faithfulness.

Amen.

And he waited and he waited and he waited and he loved you.

But hey, during that time, he would send things your way, storms your way, trials your way, saying, You better wake up.

You better wake up.

You with me?

So that's one of the reasons things happen, bad things happen, is because God is being long-suffering and he's being patient, trying to give everybody a chance to be saved.

I know everybody's not going to be saved, but he would like to see everybody saved, even though he knows they're not.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some men count slackness.

Listen, but he's long-suffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

2 Peter 2 9.

Amen.

Isn't that good?

But there's a second reason all these things happen.

And the second reason is because, hey, God is a just, righteous God.

And he's a just, hey, judge.

God brings his judgment when the wicked sin so much that they reach a point that they're what?

Blaspheming God, saying, I don't want anything to do with God.

I reject you totally.

And they are not gonna, hey, repent, they're not gonna be saved.

So he says, that's it.

I'm not gonna let this continue.

The judgment comes.

You with me?

Now that is, I can take you from Genesis to Revelations and show you that time and time and time again.

So that's why sometimes you say, why is God allowing this to happen?

One, because he's a just God.

And secondly, he loves you so much that he's trying to get as many people to repent and understand who he is so that they can have an intimate relationship with him and not face his hey, just judgment.

That's good, preacher.

So, but he does have the power to take it, take it through.

And then look, verse 3, the guilty will not go unpunished.

But you say, yeah, but look, but look, yeah, but listen, there will be a payday someday.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter.

Fear God, keep his commandments.

For this is the duty of man, for God shall bring every work into judgment.

Listen, with every little secret thing, whether it be good or bad.

You remember that?

That was the last two verses in the book of Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 12, 13, and 14.

And then, number six, God is, hey, a God of indignation.

Number seven, righteous, he's a God of righteous anger.

God is angry because we, hey, have violated his principles and gone against what he has for us.

And remember that what he has for us is the best.

And then number eight, in verse eight, we see he always follows through with his judgment.

Look at verse eight.

But with an overflowing flood, he will make an utter end of its place, and darkness will pursue his enemies.

Every one of us one day is gonna stand before a just God.

Every one of us.

Every knee's gonna bow.

Every tongue's gonna confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Every one of us.

You're not standing before me.

On the news, they were saying the one of the priests was talking about how the I meant one of the uh one of the priests was saying how the Pope's gonna try to change the church.

Well, I got news for you.

You don't change God's church.

Hello.

There's only one person to change his church, and his name's God.

Amen.

But I got news for you because it's his church.

It's not the Pope's church, it's not Peter's church, it's not your church.

When I hear people say, This is my church, now I understand that, but boy, that is so wrong theologically speaking.

It is not your church.

You happen to be blessed to be a part of his church.

Upon this rock, I'll build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

Matthew 16, 18.

Amen.

Thank you, Lord, for giving us the privilege to be a part of your church.

It's his church.

Amen.

Wow, that's good.

But he always follows through.

But guess what?

That's a good statement.

He always follows through with the blessings as well as the curses.

Can I get an amen?

Yeah, and we're going to see that as we go on.

So, all right.

Now, as judge, he's jealous, he's avengeful, he's wrathful, he's great in power.

The guilty will not go unpunished.

He's he's indignant, his indignation is a righteous anger and indignation because, and by the way, even in scripture, in Ephesians, he tells us the scriptures be angry, but sin not.

We are to have that righteous indignation against sin.

We ought to be, we ought to stand up against sin in a righteous way and say, enough's enough.

That's what's wrong now.

The church is not standing in the gap for the land that it will not be destroyed.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from the wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land.

Wow.

2 Chronicles 7.14.

But now we see, because God's not dead, we see him as Father.

God is.

One, God is slow to anger.

Look at verse 3 again.

The Lord is slow to anger.

Can I get an amen?

Aren't you glad he's slow to anger?

Number two, God is a good God.

God is not God, but God is a good God.

In Psalms 84, verse 11.

Psalms 84:11

Oh, that's one of my favorite verses.

For the Lord God is a shield, the son and shield.

The Lord will give grace and glory.

Now watch.

No good thing will he withhold for them that walk uprightly.

Say this with me.

No good thing will he hold back from us.

No good thing will he hold back from us.

If we walk rightly.

What does that mean?

If we make the right choices.

That makes sense?

You're with me, church?

If we make the right choices, no good thing will he withhold from those.

Oh, Psalms 34, 8.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.

Woo! Blessed is the man that trust in him.

God is slow to anger.

God is good.

All the time.

Oh, you know this.

God is good.

All the time.

All the time.

Number three, look at what else he says.

Verse 7.

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knows those who trust in him.

Wow.

He God is a stronghold.

When trouble comes, God is the place to go.

Can I, hey, is that not amen?

Hey, when trouble comes, God is the place to go.

Say that with me.

When trouble comes, God is the place to go.

Proverbs 18, 10, the name of the Lord is a strong tower.

And the righteous run into it, and they are safe.

Wow.

What truth.

But look at also in verse 7.

As father, he's slow to anger.

God is good all the time.

God is a strong, unbelievable tower.

In fact, Psalms 144, 2, I had a spell early this morning.

I read it and I was sitting there and I was thinking, yes, yes, yes.

And basically it says, God says, My goodness, here's my goodness.

I'm your fortress, I'm your high tower, I'm your deliverer, I'm your shield.

Wow.

Yes.

Yes.

Amen.

Where's Miss Wanda when I need her?

God knows those who trust in him.

Look at verse 7.

He knows those who trust in him.

God knows our heart.

Amen.

He knows our heart.

He knows what we're thinking.

He knows what's in us.

So, we've seen God as the judge.

And now we've seen God as our Father.

That's a pretty good God, isn't it?

Isn't that good, folks?

And we see this.

And this is coming from the prophet Nahum, who's preaching judgment, but he's also saying, but you don't understand.

We still, you have this opportunity.

God the Father loves you.

He wants you to come to Him.

You don't have to continue to go this way.

You don't have to continue to make bad choices.

You can make good choices.

You want to see?

This is really fixing to get good.

Lessons learned.

Number one, here's the lessons.

These are, if I want you to keep these, I want you to put them somewhere.

And I want you to constantly, when God, when you get in trouble, I want you to go back.

I want you to go through this outline.

I'm telling you, out of all the messages I've preached, and God is so smoking in my heart about this message, this is probably one of the most important messages for us because we are the product of our choices.

Here's the lessons.

Number one, God's blessings today do not mean God's blessings tomorrow.

Just because he's blessing you today doesn't mean he's gonna bless you tomorrow.

Because the blessings don't depend on one choice, they depend on, hey, continual right choices.

Amen?

You with me, church?

It really does.

Verse 3, we see that.

And again, the Lord is slow to anger and great power, which he will not acquit the wicked.

In other words, he says, hey, hey, you can be righteous and make right choices.

I'm gonna bless you, but if you do not make those right choices, I promise you the judgment will come.

You will not get away with it.

Numbers 20, Numbers 32, 23.

Thank you, Lord.

You can be sure your sins will find you out.

Every time.

My girls used to get so mad at me when they were teenagers.

They got caught every time.

I'm not joking.

They got caught every time they made bad choices.

And finally, I told them, I said, girls, sit down here.

Let me tell y'all something.

I love you so much, but you got to start making the right choices because you're not going to get away with it.

You can be, and I quoted Numbers 32, 23, you can be sure your sins will find you out.

I quoted Galatians 6, 7, be not deceived, God is not mocked.

Whatsoever man so with that shall he read.

I said, and not only that, I pray your mom and I, your mom and I pray, and we we have agreed that when you do wrong, God will reveal it and you'll get caught.

Mary said, I'm sorry, Daddy.

Stephanie said, Well, Daddy, quit praying that.

You gotta know my daughters.

Totally opposite.

One's so deceitful, well, was deceitful before they got saved.

The other one just blunt.

I wonder where she got that from, Mama.

No.

Sorry, honey.

Sorry, sorry.

Ladies and gentlemen, the eyes of the Lord in every place.

Listen to me, beholding the evil and the good.

Proverbs 15, 3.

We can't get away with it.

Make the right choices.

Now, this is awesome.

From spiritual blessings to bankruptcy.

Isn't that something we can be on a high next thing you know, you're in the pit?

Hey, you ever been there?

And you know why you went from the hey, hey, from the palace to the pit because you made the wrong choice.

You can also go to the hey, from the pit to the palace because you make the right choices.

It's just that simple.

Now watch what happens here.

I want you to go down the hope in God.

That's the middle ways.

That is the apex.

That is the height of our walk with God where it should be.

It's the pinnacle, okay?

That's where we want.

We want to be living in the hope in God.

Why?

Because he says in Titus 1:2, God is our, watch this, our blessed hope.

Titus 1:2

So, right in the middle is where we're striving to get.

But now go back to the top because there's three steps to get to hope in God.

Number one, there has to be a hunger for God.

There has to be a hunger for God, which means I realize my need for God's blessings.

You know what's wrong with some people that are lost?

They have not gotten to the point where they, hey, hey, they need God's blessings yet because they're doing it themselves.

Hello.

I am here when I'm hungry for God.

I realize I need God's blessings on my life.

Oh my love.

Blessed are they that say it with me, you know it.

Matthew 5, 6, blessed are they that what?

Hunger and thirst.

They shall be filled.

Listen to what it says in Psalm 73, 25.

There is none upon earth that I desire besides thee.

Woo! Hey, if you really believe that, whichever team you were pulling for, I know it lost or whether they won.

It really doesn't matter because your desire is to him.

Amen.

I used to be terrible.

You didn't, if I lost, Jason, you didn't want to be around me.

And I'm telling you, son, I did not like to lose.

And I didn't lose much.

And when I did, you did not want to be around me.

Not until we got back on that field so we could rectify it and win.

Then you wanted to be around.

I was a life of the party.

But if we got beat, ooh.

I was in trouble.

But listen, the exciting thing is my future is not on what I do.

My future is on what he has done for me.

Woo, that's good.

That's liberating.

Some of you didn't get it.

That's okay.

Number two.

Help from God.

Help from God means I begin to receive God's blessings.

Woo! I begin to receive God's blessings.

Again, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after God, for they what?

Shall be filled.

But here's one of my verses I love.

Psalm 68, verse 19.

Psalms 68:19

Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits.

Woo! Hallelujah! Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits.

Say this with me.

My God, say this.

The Lord daily blesses me.

Ready?

The Lord daily blesses me.

What a blessing.

What a blessing.

And then the third thing is happiness in God.

Well, that equals, hey, I begin to rejoice in him.

In other words, my joy is in him.

Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again, I say what?

Rejoice.

Philippians 4, 4.

Delight thyself also in the Lord.

Now watch, and he'll give you the desires of your heart.

Commit thy ways unto him.

Trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.

Psalms 34, 4 and 5.

Amen.

Or is that Psalm 37, 4 and 5?

It's one of them.

It's either 34, 37.

Amen.

So anyway, hey, and then when we're hungry for God, hey, when we have help from God, we have our joy.

Blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it.

Luke 11, 28.

We're in the Word, we're making right choices.

Then he says, our hope is in God.

Which means I begin to, hey, it which means our hey, our I stand in and I am continuously being blessed by God.

See, when you hey, when your hope's in God, God is continuously blessing you because you are continuously making the right choices.

Man, that's good.

Now you're living there.

Hey, God is my blessed hope.

I am continually following him, and he is continually blessing me.

Woo! Woo! Why is he continually blessing me?

Because I am continually making the right choices.

Now, guess what?

There's a downward turn also.

Look at the downward turn if you're not making the right choice.

Happiness then is in myself.

Uh-oh.

Happiness is in myself.

Now look what that means.

That means I rely on myself.

We take God's blessings for granted and we begin to give ourselves the credit.

Now I know you're gonna say, well, that's not me.

Oh you think?

Hey, I'm pretty good.

I'm a pretty good singer.

I'm pretty good.

And Darren's one of the best I've ever seen at machinery.

As long as it doesn't go to his head.

But you know, good coaching.

We can get arrogant.

You know what I you know what pride is?

By the way, everyone is proud in heart's abomination unto God.

That's not a good place to be.

Amen.

But you know what I've come to realize about pride?

And it's an ongoing understanding of what I think pride really is.

As I grow in the Lord as I study the scriptures, pride basically is not giving gratitude to God.

And in everything.

Not in some things.

Did you hear me?

In everything.

It's not giving gratitude to God.

This morning, when you woke up, when your feet touched the ground, you ought to say, Lord, thank you for another day that I'm alive.

Pride is taking all the glory away from God.

That's what it is.

It's being unthankful.

Notice the second thing.

It's self-glory instead of God's glory.

That's what it is.

And you know what God says.

By the way, Romans 8:8, for they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 8:8

Hello.

That's pretty simple.

1 Corinthians 7, uh, what is it, 23?

He says, Do not glory in men.

Notice the other one.

When it starts going backwards.

Happiness in myself, then help from others.

I rely on others instead of God.

I rely on others instead of God.

Let me remind us, God is our refuge and strength of very impressive help in time of trouble.

Psalms 46, verse 1.

Psalms 46:1

If I put my trust in the Lord, hey, I mean, if I put my trust in the Lord, he says, put not your trust in the Lord.

I meant, put not your trust.

I get it right in a minute.

Is it up there, Psalms 118, 8?

Well, there, leave it right there.

Psalms 146, verse 3.

Psalms 146:3

Put not your trust in princes.

That's the government or any other agency, nor in the Son of Man.

That's us or you in whom there is, what does he say?

No help.

Hello.

No help.

And then the last thing is hungry for other things.

I rely on the things of this world to satisfy me instead of God's blessings and God's power.

Robin Williams.

Know him?

There was not a more successful actor, comedian ever to live.

He was Phenomenal.

He killed himself by hanging himself.

Because he did not have the peace.

He was not satisfied with who he was.

And he was the greatest.

See, you can't be satisfied with yourself.

Can't.

There's that yearning for something more.

So you so so you you you try to do it in booze and sex and drugs and things and cars and boats and houses and everything, success, trying to be the very best, the CEO of the best of the best.

You just keep striving because you think that next that next rung on the ladder is going to be where, yes, I've arrived.

I'm happy.

All is vanity of vanities.

Amen.

Psalms 107, verse 9.

Psalms 107:9

He satisfies the longing soul.

He fills the hungry soul with goodness.

Let's just give him a clap offering for that.

Yes.

Yes.

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of this world is enmity with God?

Hostility with God?

James 4, 4.

Wow.

Well, lesson number two: God guarantees his protection to those who rely upon him.

Woo-hoo!

Look at verse 7.

The Lord is good and a stronghold in the day of trouble.

He promises his protection for us.

That's worth saying, Amen.

He promises it.

And let me show you.

You know these verses.

Throw them up there.

Jeremy, Proverbs 35 and 7.

But I'm going to let you let you see what he means by that.

In other words, what is he saying?

We have a covenant covering with God.

Wow.

He's made a covenant with you.

If you love him and you obey him, he's going to take care of you.

And my God can't lie.

Titus 1 2, my God can't lie.

Hebrews 6 18, my God can't lie.

Man, that's good.

He said, man, he just, I can't help that.

The truth, you know the truth, and it'll set you free.

Now watch.

This is good.

Trust begins, watch.

With commitment.

Trust begins with commitment.

Notice what he said.

Trust in the Lord with what?

And then hey, trust builds upon relationships.

Look at verse 6.

In all thy ways, what?

There it is.

Commitment to a relationship.

And a relationship is what?

Give and take, isn't it?

Except with this relationship, he gives and we take.

And he's a giving God.

But he wants to give.

He just asks for one thing.

Make the right choices.

Just do what I ask you to do.

Oh, church, please.

Please, listen.

It's so sweet, so loving in all thy ways.

Third lesson.

By the way, a spiritual marriage is built the same way on commitment and trust.

Can I get an amen?

Relationship.

I mean that.

I mean that.

33 wonderful years of my life has just been a joy.

It's been a joy.

You know why?

There's a commitment.

And you need to be thankful for your mate.

You need to say, I love you.

You need to thank them.

Amen?

Need to bring them coffee in bed.

I will.

He makes me look bad all the time.

You need to be thankful.

You don't need to be like the old guy that said to his wife, turned to him and said, Honey, I wish you would tell me you love me more.

He said, Honey, I told you I loved you when I got married, and you'll be the first to know if I change my mind.

That's not a relationship.

Amen.

That's not a relationship.

Women like to hear that you love them and appreciate them.

And I'm getting better.

I haven't arrived, but I'm getting better.

Amen.

Number three, the lesson I learned.

God's power can bring judgment on any situation.

We saw that.

Verses three through five on any situation.

God hath power to help or to cast down.

2 Chronicles 25, 8.

He can bring this hey, this judgment on any person, any place.

No one's out of his reach if they continually do what's wrong and make bad choices.

Let me tell you, Nineveh.

Let me tell you why.

Most people don't realize how big Nineveh was.

Nineveh had a hundred-foot walls.

Listen to me.

Eighty miles circumference.

Hundred-foot walls.

They were so wide, they were so wide, you could do four chariots racing on top of the walls.

They had a hundred and forty-foot moat of water between the land and the walls, sixty feet deep.

No one could penetrate that.

Nobody.

And it was it was so fortified, they thought it was kind of like the wall of China now, that no one could ever penetrate it.

Well, guess what?

God brought it to its knees just like that.

Rome thought they'd never be defeated, but overnight it fell.

You can't continue to go against God and his laws and make wrong choices and not suffer the consequences.

Can't do it.

America needs to wake up.

Maybe we have.

We'll see.

Number four.

The fourth lesson: God's patience gives us plenty of time to find Him.

Woo-hoo! Isn't this comfort?

Hey, comforting thoughts.

Here we go.

I want you to write this down.

You're gonna love this.

Our first choice need not to be our final choice.

The first wrong choice you made, or the wrong choices you made, do not have to be your final choices.

Can I get an amen?

If you're still living and breathing.

But you say, Pastor Danny, there's no way I can go back.

I know that.

I know that.

But I got good news.

God's not interested in your past, He's interested in your future.

Look at the thief on the cross.

All the bad choices he made, but he made the right one at the right time before he died.

You said, Well, I'm gonna wait till I'm on my deathbed.

You better not do that.

Because you don't know when it is.

And by the way, we don't, hey, chances were that was the first opportunity that thief had ever heard the gospel.

So he made the right choice at the right time when he heard the right thing.

Woo! That's good.

Amen.

Thieves were not in the habit of going to church.

That was the first time I believe in all my heart he had ever seen the love of God.

And you know when he saw it, he made the right choice.

Whoa, that's good.

When you really see the love of God and you make the right choice, your life changes forever.

Forever.

Therefore, if any man be in Christ Jesus, he's a new creation.

Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new.

Amen.

Our first choice need not to be our final chance.

Hey, you may not be able, I wrote this and put a start.

You may not be able to go back and make a brand new start, but you can start right where you are now and break and make a brand new ending.

Amen.

Amen.

A brand new ending.

You can.

You can.

Doesn't matter.

Old things have passed away.

Second comforting thought: God is always ready to forgive a repented heart.

If I confess my sin, say it with me.

He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to what?

And then the last thing, lessons learned.

God's blessings today do not mean God's blessings tomorrow.

How we go from spiritual blessings to bankruptcy.

Lesson two, God's guarantee.

God guarantees his protection to those who rely upon him and make the right choices with commitment and a relationship with the Lord.

That's Romans 12, 1 and 2.

Presenting your body as a living sacrifice.

That's what it is.

Lesson number three, God's power can bring judgment on any situation, anytime.

Sodom and Gomorrah, I had down is another illustration there.

Number four, God's patience gives us plenty of time to find Him.

And our first choice need not be our final.

And God is always ready to forgive a repentant heart.

And then the last lesson.

Today we can receive God's mercy.

If we do not, if we do not today receive God's mercy, someday we will receive God's judgment.

Let me repeat that.

We can receive God's mercy today.

But if we don't, one day we will receive God's judgment.

Because he is a just God.

We've had two people.

Susan's uncles died this week.

David's friend that was in his Sunday school class at Brookhill died this week.

I'm telling you, you don't know when.

You don't know when.

That's why 2 Corinthians 6, 2, behold, now's the time.

Behold, now's the day of salvation.

Amen.

Right now.

You can receive God's mercy.

And it is because of God's mercies and his compassions.

His compassions and mercies are new every morning.

Great is his faithfulness.

Lamentations 3, 22 and 23.

Amen.

Today.

Abraham Lincoln.

If you know, one of my favorite presidents.

I love to read his books about him.

In fact, Susan and I, I did what she loves.

It was our anniversary.

I took her, we were in Chattanooga and we found a big antique store.

Huge.

She loves antiques.

Undoubtedly, there's gonna be a lot of antiques in heaven.

She loves them so much.

And uh but I had never seen a in this antique shop.

There was a book of I mean, in one section was nothing but old books about the Civil War.

I said, honey, I'll be over here.

Shop to your heart's content.

I got points on that.

Gentlemen, I got points on that.

So I went and found me a Civil War book.

And for the next two hours I read about Civil War and Abraham Lincoln, and I found this story in there about Abraham Lincoln earlier in his life about a judge.

He was a judge.

And one day they had brought this guy before him.

He had killed someone, he was a murderer.

And sure enough, after the verdict came back, he was pronounced guilty.

And he came before Abraham Lincoln to receive his verdict or his punishment.

His punishment.

The verdict was guilty, now it's punishment.

Before the judge, who was Abraham Lincoln.

And he Abraham Lincoln said, Because of your heinous crime, I pronounce you to be hung till you die.

Do you have anything else to say?

The criminal looked at him and he said, Mr.

Lincoln, I do.

He said, You may not remember this, but years ago, I was drunk and I was running, I was in my carriage, and it had gotten away, and I was running, the carriage was running loose down the streets in the city.

No doubt, probably about to take me to my death.

And you come running out from the side and grab the horses and stop the horses, and you save my life.

To save my life again.

And Abraham Lincoln and I wrote it down, I don't ever forget it.

He said, Son, I'm sorry.

Yesterday I was your savior.

But today I'm your judge.

Today he's your savior.

But tomorrow he will be your judge.

Do you know him?

Are you making the right choices?

Young people, listen to me.

Are you making those right choices?

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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We hope you have a wonderful day and again, God bless you.