Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.barvas.freechurch.org/sermons/1582/the-good-news-the-bad-news/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Well, if we could this evening with the Lord's help and the Lord's enabling, if we could turn back to that portion of scripture that we read. The book of the prophet Nahum, chapter 1.

[0:13] Nahum, chapter 1. And if we just read again the first two verses. Nahum, 1 from the beginning. An oracle concerning Nunavid.

[0:26] The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh. The Lord is a jealous and avenging God. The Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies.

[0:49] I'm sure that we've all heard or we've asked the question, which would you like to hear first? The good news or the bad news? What would you like to hear first? The good news or the bad news?

[1:03] And we often encounter that sort of question because in our life and through our experience there are many things that bring good news. But unfortunately there are also many things which bring bad news.

[1:17] And of course we like to hear the good news. But we're not so keen on hearing the bad news. But when it comes to the Bible and to spiritual things and the things of eternity, there is the good news and there is also the bad news.

[1:37] There is the good news of a heaven to be gained. And there is the bad news of a hell to be shunned. And that's what all of our gospel writers emphasize when they retell the history of Jesus' life and ministry.

[1:53] Because Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, they all present to us the gospel. And the word gospel, it's derived from an old English word. And the word is God spell.

[2:06] God spell, which literally means God's story. And as you know, God's story, which is written down for us in the Bible, it's a story of good news.

[2:17] It's a story of good news. My friend, God's message to us is a message of good news. That we can have our sins forgiven and our lives transformed when we come and commit our life to loving and following Jesus Christ.

[2:33] It's good news. It's all good news. And it's no wonder that Mark opens his account of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. He opens his gospel with that glorious statement.

[2:47] This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But you know, when it comes to God's story of good news, there is also the bad news.

[3:00] And we can't listen to the good news without listening to the bad news. In fact, we will never understand how good the good news is until we first of all understand how bad the bad news is.

[3:15] And Jesus, he was a perfect example of this because he preached good news. And in fact, Jesus was and still is. He is the good news. But he never preached the good news without first highlighting the bad news.

[3:31] Because if we were to read through all the gospels, we would see that Jesus preached more about hell than he did about heaven. He preached more about the bad news than he did about the good news.

[3:44] Because in order to understand how good the good news is, we must first of all understand how bad the bad news is. And that was the same with many of the Old Testament prophets.

[3:56] Because the role of the prophets was to present both the good news and the bad news. But what we see with the prophet Nahum is that he was given this solemn responsibility of preaching the bad news to the city of Nineveh.

[4:13] Now we're very familiar with the city of Nineveh because that was the city which Jonah was sent to. And he was sent there a hundred years before this point. Where Jonah, he was the disobedient prophet who ended up in the belly of a large fish.

[4:29] He went after, well after he disobeyed the Lord, the Lord turned him around and then he went to Nineveh. And he went to Nineveh to preach the good news.

[4:39] That the Lord was compassionate and that the Lord was willing to forgive the sins of the people of Nineveh. But now, one hundred years later, the city of Nineveh, it has turned back to their old ways.

[4:53] And they've turned away from the Lord. They had received the good news through Jonah. But now it was time to receive the bad news through Nahum.

[5:05] And what Nahum preaches to the people of Nineveh is the bad news of God's coming wrath and judgment upon them. And as I said, over the next few weeks we'll consider Nahum's message of bad news.

[5:20] Because, as we said, the only way for us to understand how good the good news is, is to first of all understand how bad the bad news is.

[5:34] And so in this first chapter, in order to drive home the Lord's message, Nahum describes three things. He describes the Lord's fearful character.

[5:46] Then he describes the Lord's fury. His anger when it is completed. But then at the very end of this chapter, in the final verse, Nahum describes the Lord's faithful compassion.

[6:02] And there are the three headings that I'd like us to use this evening. The Lord's fearful character. The Lord's fury completed. And the Lord's faithful compassion.

[6:14] So we'll look first of all at the Lord's fearful character. The Lord's fearful character. Look at verse 1. It says, An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum.

[6:25] Of Elkosh. And this opening verse of the book of the prophet Nahum. It sets the scene for us. Because we're told that Nahum has a message for the people of Nineveh.

[6:37] And as we said, it's not a good news message of blessing and prosperity. But it's a bad news message of judgment and destruction. In fact, the message which Nahum has to deliver, it's not described as a prophecy, but as an oracle.

[6:55] And there's a difference because a prophecy would usually be a message from God full of promise and future blessing. But an oracle, it was a message also from God, but full of judgment and destruction.

[7:11] And I believe that the authorized version, it's right to describe Nahum's message as a burden. Because what Nahum was called to preach, when he was called to preach to the people of Nineveh, it was a solemn message he had.

[7:26] It was a message of impending judgment and imminent destruction. And for that reason, it was a burden. It was a burden for Nahum, the preacher, to preach on such a solemn topic to souls that needed to hear that message.

[7:46] And it was John L. Mackay, he wrote a brilliant commentary on this book. And he says in his commentary, he says, the burden of Nahum's message was the sort of message that would be like a weight tied around the neck of Nineveh that pulls it down to its doom.

[8:09] And you know, when I was reading his commentary, Professor Mackay's words, they reminded me of the solemn message which Jesus delivered to his disciples when they were being sent out to preach the gospel.

[8:22] If you remember, Jesus said, whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it would be better for him that a millstone were tied about his neck and he were cast into the sea.

[8:38] And what Jesus was saying was that if anyone acts in his name and causes those who are humble and willing to learn, willing to submit their life to Jesus, if they cause them to stumble by teaching lies, then it would be better for them if a millstone were tied about their neck and they were thrown to the bottom of the sea.

[9:02] And you know, listening to Jesus' words, we might be tempted to think, well, that's a terrible thing for Jesus to say about any preacher. But Jesus doesn't mince his words because he wants us to know the seriousness of telling everyone the truth.

[9:18] and the seriousness of withholding the truth from anyone. And my friend, preaching the gospel is a serious business. And Jesus warns the preacher that if you tell people lies and give them false hope, if you only tell them what they want to hear and not what they need to hear, then it would be better for you if a millstone were tied about your neck and you were thrown into the sea.

[9:47] And you know, these words, they hit home with me. Because on the day of judgment, I will be judged for every word that I have spoken from this pulpit.

[9:58] Every sermon will be accounted for. And it will be accounted for before God. And there's one thing I don't want to do, and that is tell you that everything will be okay.

[10:13] Yes, it would be easy for me to tell you that everything will be fine and that you'll get to heaven on your own merits. And it would be easy for you if I told you that your position out of Christ is an okay position to be in.

[10:30] Church would be a comfortable place to be if all I did was preach to you good news. That God is gracious and merciful and long-suffering and slow to anger and that He abounds in love.

[10:47] So much love that He overlooks your sin and that He doesn't deal with us as we deserve. It would be easy for me to tell you that you're not as sinful as the Bible makes you out to be and that you're okay just now.

[11:03] You can put off committing your life to Christ at a later date. My friend, it would be easy for me and it would be easy for you if all I did was preach good news because we all love to hear good news.

[11:20] But the burden comes and the weight increases and the concern for lost souls becomes heavier when the preacher has to remind people that there is also bad news.

[11:39] And that was the burden which Nahum and every preacher of the gospel had to bear. Because it's not easy to preach about God's wrath and God's judgment and the torments of hell.

[11:52] It's not easy to tell lost souls that you love so dearly. It's not easy to tell them that their life is hanging by a thread.

[12:04] and that thread is suspended over the mouth of hell. It's not easy to tell them that.

[12:15] But we tell them we tell them the truth because it's the truth they need to hear. And we tell them because we love them.

[12:27] I tell you because I love you and there's one thing sure I don't want you to be lost and I don't want you to go to hell.

[12:42] I don't want you to be lost. But what was so sad about the people of Nineveh was that they had heard the good news before.

[12:53] We mentioned earlier that Jonah was sent to the people of Nineveh a hundred years before Nahum was. But Jonah he didn't want to go because he thought the people of Nineveh didn't deserve to be saved.

[13:07] But the Lord stopped the preacher on the run and he sent Jonah to preach the good news. And to Jonah's disbelief there was a spiritual revival in Nineveh.

[13:20] Because when Jonah eventually arrived in Nineveh after a long detour he preached that judgment is coming. He called the people of Nineveh to repent and turn to the Lord or the Lord will bring immediate judgment and destruction.

[13:36] And we're told if you read the book of Jonah it says that when God saw what they did how they repented how they turned from their evil way it says God relented of the disaster that he said he would do to them and he did not do it.

[13:53] And when Jonah dared to question what the Lord was doing the Lord said to Jonah should I not pity Nineveh that great city in which there are more than 120,000 souls who do not know their right hand from their left.

[14:12] The people of Nineveh they were ignorant to the gospel. They had never heard the gospel before and yet there was a spiritual awakening amongst them. There was a revival in which the people of Nineveh turned away from their idols and they turned to the Lord.

[14:31] But now a hundred years later it's a different picture. Nineveh is the capital city of Assyria. It's the most powerful empire in the ancient world.

[14:42] The Assyrians they have defeated the Israelites and captured the northern kingdom and the Assyrian empire it's growing at a rapid pace through their ruthless warriors their unrestrained violence.

[14:57] But at the same time they're moving further and further away from the Lord. And it's a sad reflection upon the people of Nineveh that only in the space of a couple of generations everything changed.

[15:10] There had been this great awakening with many people turning to the Lord but in the generations following people turned away from the Lord. and you know I can't help but applying this to our own community because less than a hundred years ago there were great awakenings.

[15:35] Many people were converted and many people were seeking the Lord. Where there were people in this community and people in our island and homes were transformed transformed from the darkness of sin into the marvelous light of the gospel.

[15:50] They saw blessing. They saw the Lord move in power and yet two generations on those homes and families which experienced the Lord's blessing and salvation they have children and grandchildren who have no thought of the Lord.

[16:10] And like Nahum who came to the people of Nineveh bearing the burden of bad news the preachers of this generation are burdened with the responsibility of preaching the solemn message that judgment and destruction are looming and we need to turn to the Lord.

[16:31] But what we see in this passage is that before judgment is delivered judgment is described by Nahum when he describes the Lord's character because he says in verse 2 the Lord is a jealous and avenging God the Lord is avenging and wrathful the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies the Lord is slow to anger and great in power and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty his way is in the whirlwind and storm the clouds are the dust of his feet and what you'll notice about those two verses is that Nahum repeats the title the Lord he repeats it five times because he's not only emphasizing that there is no other God besides the Lord the Lord who is the covenant God the maker of heaven and earth but Nahum is also drawing attention to the fact that the Lord will not tolerate anything or anyone else that rivals his position and his glory the Lord will share his glory with no one else and he will not allow the praise which is due to him be given to anyone else he is a jealous God and it's not a jealousy over praise and glory just being given to another God that he wants for himself no it's this righteous jealousy over the fact that all the praise and all the glory in this world which rightfully belongs to him it's been given to dumb idols and the

[18:16] Lord he will not have that he will not allow that because he created this world and everything in it for his own glory and to reflect his own glory the chief end of man the purpose for which man was created was not to glorify himself or gratify himself or enjoy himself no my friend man's chief end was and still is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever but sin says I want glory for myself sin says I want to be like God sin says I will be God over my own life and I will go my own way and I'll do my own things I will worship myself I'll worship man but the Lord will not allow that yes he is slow to anger and he's great in power he's long suffering but he's not all suffering he is patient but his patience he has appointed a day in which his patience will cease and all grace and mercy will be removed and in that moment he says he will by no means clear the guilty he is just in his judgment he is avenging and wrathful he takes vengeance upon his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies and you know my friend

[19:53] I don't think we fully understand the power of God and the holiness of God and the righteousness of God because if we did we would tremble in his presence we would tremble like the creation trembles and that's the image Nahum gives to us to the people of Nineveh in verse 4 he describes the wrath of the Lord and his coming judgment and he says he rebukes the sea and makes it dry he dries up all the rivers Bashan and Carmel wither the bloom of Lebanon wither the mountains quake before him the hills they melt the earth heaves before him the world and all who dwell in it who can stand before his indignation who can endure the heat of his anger his wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken into pieces by him it's an awful image it's an awful image of the Lord pouring out his wrath upon those who refuse to repent and give him the glory and Nahum says who can stand before his indignation who can endure the heat of his anger for his wrath is poured out like fire you can't stop it and was it not the psalmist we're singing in Psalm 130 he asked who shall stand if thou

[21:24] Lord should mark iniquity who could stand no one could stand no one could plead their own merits no one could open their mouth against the righteous judgment of the Lord because as Nahum says in verse 7 the Lord is good he's a stronghold in the day of trouble he knows those who take refuge in him the Lord is good a stronghold in the day of trouble but notice what it says he knows those who take refuge in him which begs the question if you're aware of the fearful character of the Lord are you taking refuge in him are you taking refuge in him are you trusting in him because when we look at Nahum's burden the burden of presenting the bad news of the Lord's fearful character we will also see as we go on it will be fully realized that burden will be fully realized when the

[22:33] Lord's fury is completed that's what I'd like us to consider secondly we looked at the Lord's fearful character but secondly the Lord's fury completed the Lord's fury completed look at verse 8 it says but with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries and will pursue his enemies into darkness what do you plot against the Lord he will make a complete end trouble will not rise up a second time for they're like entangled thorns like drunkards as they drink they're consumed like stubble fully dried and in these verses verses 8-10 the solemn message of the Lord's judgment it continues and as we've seen the Lord's message it's twofold because on the one hand the Lord is good the Lord is good he's a stronghold in the day of trouble he's a refuge to all those who trust in him but on the other hand it is with an overflowing flood that he will make a complete end of all those who don't trust in him and you know the imagery which Nahum is burdened with the burden which he has in telling the people of Nineveh what he's telling them is actually frightening it's frightening the way he describes it and you know I often wonder sometimes when you're sitting watching the telly and an advert comes on

[24:09] I wonder why there are so many horror films I don't know about you but when I see a trailer coming on for a horror film I always think to myself how could someone invent that out of their own mind how could they be sick enough to create such an awful film how could they sit and write down a script that would display the horrors of hell but then I think to myself well if that's what mankind can invent out of their own mind and only imagine what the horrors of hell are like then the reality which God has created must be far worse and make no mistake about it it is God who has created hell the devil didn't create hell God created hell that's what

[25:11] Jesus said in Matthew 25 when he spoke about the day of judgment he said that when the son of man comes in his glory with all the holy angels with him and he sits upon his glorious throne and before him he will gather all the nations and he will separate them one from the other as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats and he will place on his right hand the sheep and the goats on his left and the king will say to those on his right hand come you blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared created from before the foundation of the world but then Jesus also said he said to those on his left depart from me you cursed into the eternal fire prepared created for the devil and his angels which means my friend that God has prepared both heaven and hell he has created both heaven and hell but the burden which Nahum presents to the people of

[26:17] Nineveh is that the Lord will not only make a complete end of his enemies who refuse to trust in him and he will not only say to his enemies depart from me you cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels but he will also pursue them into darkness he will pursue them into darkness and this word pursue it's the same word that was used to describe Pharaoh when he was chasing the children of Israel towards the Red Sea where Pharaoh he's chasing up behind them following in his wrath seeking to destroy them and that's the image which Nahum presents to the people of Nineveh that the Lord will not allow those who refuse to trust in him to escape his wrath he will pursue them into darkness he will pursue them into darkness and Jesus often spoke about the darkness of hell saying that those who are not part of the kingdom of God they'll be cast into outer darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth and the outer darkness it's a place where there's no light and no possibility of light you can't find the door you can't find the way out because there is no way out and it's only in the realisation that there is no way out that's what causes the weeping and the gnashing of teeth because with no possibility of escape there is constant terror and with constant pain and the suffering of hell it causes those who are there to grind their teeth in agony my friend it's an awful image an awful image that there's no escape and that's what Nahum says in verse 9 that there's no escape he says what do you plot against the Lord he will make a complete end trouble will not rise up a second time and what

[28:35] Nahum is saying is that it wouldn't matter what attempts the enemies of the Lord made to try and avoid the judgment and wrath of God they can't escape it trouble will not rise up a second time there will be no second chances no more opportunities no way of escape and the impossibility of escape it's so severe that Nahum he uses three illustrations in verse 10 in order to drive home the point because he says they're like entangled thorns they're like drunkards as they drink and they're like they're consumed like stubble fully dried he says that when judgment comes they will be so entangled in their thorns of sin and their rejection of the truth that they will not escape and like a drunkard who is numb to the reality of what's going on around them and whose mind is unable to focus ahead of them and whose legs are unable to hold them up the enemies of the

[29:47] Lord they will not be able to defend themselves they will not have what he's saying is a leg to stand on against the wrath of God and in a moment he says they will be consumed like stubble that is fully dried stubble that was the dried out stalks that were left on the ground after harvesting and in order to clear the ground they just gather them up and burn them and because they were so dry there was no difficulty in setting it alight but once it was ablaze there was no possibility of putting it out and my friend that's the description which Jesus gives of hell he was the giver of the good news and yet he presented the reality of bad news that in hell he says the smallest worm will not die and the fire is not quenched and it was

[30:55] J.C. Ryle who said about those words in Mark chapter 9 he said that there's one thing that is clear about what Jesus says and that is the worm and the fire they are emblems of real things there is a real hell and that hell is eternal and just when you think that well that's enough surely that's enough we can't take any more just when you think that that would be enough to tell the people of Nineveh of the judgment to come and the destruction that awaits them Nahum he continues to present this heavy burden that he carries because he says in verse 11 from you came one who plotted evil against the Lord a worthless counselor and literally Nahum says from you came one who plotted evil against the Lord that wicked Belial that wicked Belial and of course that's the name for Satan he is the enemy of the Lord he plots evil against the Lord and the way he does it is by causing the Lord's creation that was created to glorify him and enjoy him what Satan does he turns the Lord's creation away from the Lord to worship anything and everything else and the apostle Paul he describes the power which Satan has over us when we are without Christ in our heart and without hope in the world he says that the

[32:30] God of this world he has blinded the minds of unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel and the glory of Christ and the reason for this says Paul is because they are dead in trespasses and sins walking according to the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air which is the devil my friend the reason you put off coming to Christ is not because you think that the world has something far better to offer you it's because Satan has blinded your mind and he has numbed you from the reality of eternity and he fills your life with everything else to distract you because there's one thing for sure he doesn't want to go to hell alone he doesn't want to go to hell alone he wants to take you with him he wants to take you with him but what does Nahum prophesy thus says the

[33:40] Lord though they are at full strength and many this is verse 12 they will be cut down and pass away though I have afflicted you I will afflict you no more and now I will break his yoke from off you and will burst your bonds apart the Lord has given commandment about you no more shall your name be perpetuated from the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the metal image I will make your grave for you are vile I will make your grave for you are vile vile we might view ourselves as those with full strength and full health like the people of

[34:44] Nunavated they had everything that money could buy they had everything at their fingertips they had built an empire that was vast and they had power that was unchallenged the Lord had blessed them greatly but with judgment on the horizon the Lord says to them though you are at full strength you will be cut down and pass away I will prepare your grave for your vile and my friend you might not view yourself as an enemy of the Lord you might think that well you're not against the Lord in any way because you come to church you read your Bible you do things for the church you you're a good member of the community but it's the Lord who says if you're not for me you're against me if you're not for me you're against me and if you don't come out on my side the Lord's side and stand on my side then whose side are you on whose side are you on if you don't give the

[35:51] Lord the glory and praise that is due to his name then you must be giving it to someone or something else and you know people often ask why does a good God send good people to hell but anyone who asks that question doesn't understand the reality of sin they don't understand the extent of sin and what their sin deserves because the question is not why does a good God send good people to hell the question is why does a good God and a just God and a holy God who demands absolute perfection and all the praise and all the glory from his creation why does he allow sinners into heaven my friend we deserve nothing absolutely nothing from the

[36:52] Lord we deserve nothing from him but his wrath and his curse we deserve hell we deserve hell but in his mercy in his mercy the love as Paul said but God who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in trespasses and sins this is what he did this is what he did he displayed to us his faithful compassion he displayed to us his faithful compassion and that's what we see in the last verse we see the Lord's faithful compassion we've considered the Lord's fearful character and the Lord's fury completed but lastly and briefly let's consider the Lord's faithful compassion the

[37:53] Lord's faithful compassion he says behold upon the mountains the feet of him who brings good news who publishes peace keep your feasts O Judah fulfill your vows for never again shall the worthless pass through you he is utterly cut off the opening chapter of Nahum's burden it concludes with a call to consider the Lord's faithful compassion and this is clearly expressed using the word behold because despite presenting the burden of bad news that the Lord is going to come in wrath and judgment Nahum delivers a message of hope and forgiveness he delivers the good news and as we said earlier in order to understand how good the good news is we must first of all understand how bad the bad news is and having presented the burden of the Lord's judgment Nahum says behold upon the mountains the feet of him who brings good peace and

[39:02] Nahum he's actually speaking about himself as a preacher because he's a preacher both of the good news and the bad news he's a preacher burdened with the responsibility of preaching righteousness and judgment and that's the responsibility of every preacher of the gospel that's the burden of every preacher to preach the message of righteousness and judgment and in the letter to the Romans Paul quotes these words he quotes this verse when he's speaking about the importance of preaching the gospel Paul has been talking about the resurrection and he says that well if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that he was raised from the dead then you will be saved because as he says everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved that's the promise that's the good news says

[40:03] Paul that's the best news you could ever hear that God's love has been demonstrated to us through the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and through him through Christ there is the promise of peace with God the promise of forgiveness of sins of reconciliation with a holy God of complete cleansing the promise of everlasting joy unending hope and eternal life that's the good news he says that's the good news and that's the greatest news that could be proclaimed to lost hell deserving sinner that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved but it's at that point that Paul asks all these questions in Romans chapter 10 and he asks these questions in order to stress the importance of preaching the good news and the bad news because he asks how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed and how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard and how are they to hear without a preacher and how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is written in how beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news how beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news and my friend there was no one who had more beautiful feet than

[41:42] Jesus Christ he is the good news but he was also willing to carry the burden of bad news he was willing to carry that burden all the way to Calvary and it was upon that cross that his enemies pierced his caring hands and impaled his beautiful feet but not only that it was upon the cross of Calvary that Jesus bore the whole of wrath divine he bore the whole wrath of God due to us for sin so that we could be set free and so my friend is it not the case that in order to understand how good the good news is we must first of all understand how bad the bad news is in order to understand the extent which Jesus suffered upon the cross on our behalf we must first of all understand the wrath of

[42:49] God that we deserve for our sin in order to accept the Lord's faithful compassion we must first of all understand that we deserve the Lord's fearful character and the Lord's fury completed upon us but the wonder of Calvary is that Jesus said it is finished it is completed it was completed upon him it was Spurgeon who said think lightly of hell and you will think lightly of the cross think lightly of hell and you'll think lightly of the cross and that's Nahum's burden for us tonight that every one of us needs to consider what hell is in order to understand the beauty of Jesus and the wonder of the cross that's what we need to do and when we understand what hell is we need to run to

[43:59] Jesus we need to flee from the wrath to come we need to run to him and commit our life to following him for time and for eternity will you do that my friend will you do that for the sake of your own soul because as the writer to the Hebrews put it how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation may the Lord bless these thoughts to us let us pray oh Lord our gracious God we give thanks to thee that thou art one who is gracious and a God who acts in judgment help us we pray thee or to find Jesus to be sheltering under him to know that he is the one who bore the whole of wrath divine help us to be as the psalmist said in shadow of thy wings joy for thou mine help has been my soul thee follows hard and me thy right hand doth sustain all that we would be found sheltering under the shadow of thy wings bless thy word to us help us to take it home in our heart that we would see these things as precious that we would run to

[45:33] Jesus and keep looking to him because he is the author and he remains the finisher of our faith cleanse us we pray keep us in the week that lies ahead a week that is unknown to us but known to thee go before us for Jesus sake Amen I shall conclude by singing in Psalm 103 Psalm 103 page 369 singing from verse 8 down to the verse marked 12 Psalm 103 from verse 8 the Lord our God is merciful and he is gracious long suffering and slow to wrath in mercy plenteous he will not chide continually nor keep his anger still with us he dealt not as we sinned nor did requite our own for as the heaven in its height the earth surmount far so great to those that do him fear his tender mercies are as far as east is distant from the west so far has he from us removed in his love all our iniquity these verses of psalm 103 to god's praise the lord our god is merciful and he is gracious long suffering and slow to wrath in mercy plenty us he will not shine continually nor keep his anger still with us he hath not as we sinned nor did we quite our hell for us the heaven and dead side the earth surrounded far so great to those not to him fear his tender mercies are as far as he is distant from the west so far

[48:40]  I lead from us remove to love all our iniquity the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forevermore amen we