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Nahum-Msg 35 vs 40 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: While you were finding your way to the Book of
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  Speaker 1: Nahem during the four or five minutes it takes you
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  Speaker 1: to locate that little book in the minor prophets. I'll
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  Speaker 1: tell you a true story that occurred in my life.
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  Speaker 1: When I was in high school a number of years ago,
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  Speaker 1: we had a chemistry teacher named mister Williams in this
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  Speaker 1: high school in East Houston, and I confess to you,
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  Speaker 1: I do not remember anything other than two particular experiences
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  Speaker 1: that I had in that chemistry class. One experience was
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  Speaker 1: to remove a wart from the back of my hand
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  Speaker 1: with thirty three consecutive days of applying sulfuric acid. I
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  Speaker 1: had heard him say one day that if you have
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  Speaker 1: to have a wart on your hand, that one of
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  Speaker 1: those little containers that holds the acid. If you put
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  Speaker 1: a drop on that ward, it'll remove it. But he
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  Speaker 1: also said don't do it. That was all that I needed,
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  Speaker 1: and I began a process that finally resulted in removing
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  Speaker 1: that thing, and it's never come back. I also don't
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  Speaker 1: have the use of my hand any No, I'm teasing.
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  Speaker 1: The second thing that I experienced was an experiment done
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  Speaker 1: by the teacher to describe some particular part of a
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  Speaker 1: project he was illustrating. I've come to realize it was
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  Speaker 1: one of the most profound things I've ever watched, but
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  Speaker 1: at the time I don't remember the particular thing he
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  Speaker 1: was trying to illustrate. I saw a frog die that
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  Speaker 1: was boiled to death, very very slowly. There was an
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  Speaker 1: oversized beaker into which this frog was placed. No top
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  Speaker 1: was put on the beaker, of course, it was filled
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  Speaker 1: with water, and a Bunsen burner was put underneath the beaker,
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  Speaker 1: and it was set very very low, about point zero
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  Speaker 1: one seven per second degree of fahrenheh. It continued to
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  Speaker 1: rise very very slowly, and that frog was in that water.
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  Speaker 1: That water became warm and warmer and warmer. It went unconscious,
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  Speaker 1: and it literally boiled a death. Never once kicked, never
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  Speaker 1: once attempted to get out. It stayed right in.
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  Speaker 2: That beaker.
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  Speaker 1: Until it died. I remember to this day walking out
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  Speaker 1: of that class and thinking, that is an amazing thing
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  Speaker 1: that it would not even realize its life was in danger.
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  Speaker 1: I have come to see that the principle of erosion,
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  Speaker 1: another side of erosion, the principle of indifferent prince, works
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  Speaker 1: the same way anything if it happens slow enough, if
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  Speaker 1: tolerated long enough, and with the mix being just right,
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  Speaker 1: it can be all that is needed to lead to
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  Speaker 1: our ruin. Happened with Solomon, it happened with Saul, it
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  Speaker 1: happened with Judas, and it happens to men and women today.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose the severity of it is not really known
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  Speaker 1: or seen until death has happened, and then it's too late.
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  Speaker 1: What I want to apply it to as it relates
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  Speaker 1: to this ancient book of Nahem, what an obscure book
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  Speaker 1: it is, is that what we are witnessing in this
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  Speaker 1: book is the death of a city. It has not
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  Speaker 1: boiled to death, it has sinned itself to death. But
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  Speaker 1: the tragedy of it all is that it was living
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  Speaker 1: so well.
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  Speaker 2: A hundred years earlier.
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  Speaker 1: We studied that prophet in recent days, Jonah, who led
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  Speaker 1: the greatest revival in the history of time, as the
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  Speaker 1: entire city quite probably well over a million people. The
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  Speaker 1: entire city repented, believed the message of Jonah, which was
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  Speaker 1: the message of God, and turned their hearts to God.
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  Speaker 1: But a hundred years later, almost exactly, this city has
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  Speaker 1: died spiritually. It is to be doomed. The city of
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  Speaker 1: course is Nineveh. The book only lasts three chapters. It
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  Speaker 1: has only forty seven verses. In our English text. There
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  Speaker 1: is nothing known about the writer Naem. He is seldom
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  Speaker 1: even mentioned in the New Testament, several seldom even quoted.
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  Speaker 1: And yet this book stands like a frog in the beaker.
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  Speaker 1: The city didn't kick, it didn't scream, it didn't attempt
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  Speaker 1: to come back.
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  Speaker 2: It just died a natural death.
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  Speaker 1: You know why, because back when Jonah witnessed to these
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  Speaker 1: people and they repented, that generation failed to pass it on.
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  Speaker 1: And because that general that had discovered the living God
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  Speaker 1: and had been visited by his grace, because they, having
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  Speaker 1: embraced Jehovah, had their lives transformed, they had that responsibility
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  Speaker 1: to share that with children and with the grandchildren that
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  Speaker 1: were to come, who now were living in Nahem's day
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  Speaker 1: as adults and great grandchildren.
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  Speaker 2: But they did not. And the city falls like a.
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  Speaker 1: Stack of straw in a heavy wind. And Nahem has
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  Speaker 1: the awful responsibility of announcing the judgment of God upon them,
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  Speaker 1: about one hundred years after their forefathers had believed. Now,
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  Speaker 1: any kind of judgment that is that severe needs to
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  Speaker 1: be carried out by someone who was qualified to do it.
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  Speaker 1: And so after Nahem introduces himself very briefly, calls himself
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  Speaker 1: by name. His name means compassion or.
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  Speaker 2: Comforter.
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  Speaker 1: After he tells us where he's from, he calls himself Elkoshite.
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  Speaker 2: We know the city today as.
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  Speaker 1: Capernaum, Capper Nahem, the town of Nahem and Galilee. The
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  Speaker 1: man was from that town in Galilee, and that's all
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  Speaker 1: we read of him. And his simple message is nine
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  Speaker 1: of Ah will be destroyed.
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  Speaker 2: That's all he has to say.
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  Speaker 1: Like a good preacher, he takes three chapters to say
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  Speaker 1: it in and he gets it said, and he gets
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  Speaker 1: it said well. One man writes of his poetry. His
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  Speaker 1: quick imagine, coupled with his keen intuition, makes Nahim a
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  Speaker 1: vivid painter with words. As a poet, he has few equals.
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  Speaker 1: His soul on fire with righteous indignation, flashed and blazed
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  Speaker 1: in dramatic poetry. If you are a writer of music,
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  Speaker 1: if you are a poet, and if you enter into
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  Speaker 1: the art of that expression, you will love the minor
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  Speaker 1: prophets more than others of us who are not, because
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  Speaker 1: you understand what the rhythm, the meter, what the vivid
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  Speaker 1: picturesque words can say to a heart, and you often
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  Speaker 1: are a pulse of our times. Someone has said, well,
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  Speaker 1: you want to know your times, listen to your music
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  Speaker 1: and read your poets. You'll know your times. Nahem writing
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  Speaker 1: with good poetry, and as we shall see, very vivid
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  Speaker 1: language blazes a trail through Nineveh that was sure to
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  Speaker 1: haunt them when their doom occurred. Now he introduces God
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  Speaker 1: by describing his character. In verses two through of about
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  Speaker 1: fifteen to the end of this first chapter, we see
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  Speaker 1: the character of God emerge. Follow along, you'll be able
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  Speaker 1: to make your own list for yourself. First we read
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  Speaker 1: that God is jealous, vengeful, and wrathful. A jealous and
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  Speaker 1: avenging God is Jehovah. Jehovah is avenging and wrathful. The
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  Speaker 1: Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries. Notice he takes it personally.
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  Speaker 2: He does.
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  Speaker 1: He takes the sin personally, calls them his adversaries. He
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  Speaker 1: reserves wrath for his enemies. Now, this jealousy is not
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  Speaker 1: like our fickle jealousy today. It is it is what
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  Speaker 1: I would call being zealous, zealous to uphold a righteous standard,
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  Speaker 1: and he gets downright jealous when that standard is Lord,
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  Speaker 1: and another standard is embraced. Nahm says, our God is jealous,
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  Speaker 1: It fills him with wrath when his character is smirched,
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  Speaker 1: and calls them his enemies, his adversaries. Next we read
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  Speaker 1: that God is holy and just, the Lord is slow
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  Speaker 1: to anger. One of my favorite verses in the Minor Prophets,
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  Speaker 1: by the Way, is Naem one three.
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  Speaker 2: You may have heard me quote it before. I love
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  Speaker 2: the verse.
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  Speaker 1: He's slow to anger. He's great in power. The Lord
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  Speaker 1: will by no means lead the guilty unpunished. In Whirlwind
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  Speaker 1: and storm is his way, and clouds are the dust
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  Speaker 1: beneath his feet. That beautiful, as only a poet could
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  Speaker 1: put it. But it isn't just good poetry.
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  Speaker 2: It's truth.
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  Speaker 1: God is seen in the phenomena of the natural world.
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  Speaker 1: We never feel so helpless as in an earthquake. A
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  Speaker 1: volcanic eruption mounts. Saint Helen's erupts, and all we can
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  Speaker 1: do is write about it and run. You can do
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  Speaker 1: nothing to cap her off. You just wait and hope
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't impact your loved ones that live near her.
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  Speaker 1: When there is a whirlwind that comes through a city,
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  Speaker 1: we can take pictures of it. We can stay away
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  Speaker 1: from it by driving, flying, running away, but we can
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  Speaker 1: do nothing to stop it. We had one recently, and
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  Speaker 1: we watched it with a great deal of interest as
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  Speaker 1: it threatened to sweep across South Texas and just level
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  Speaker 1: the those cities from Corpus Christie rotting up to Waco
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  Speaker 1: and on up into the North Panhandle. You just watch
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  Speaker 1: it happen. The clouds are the dust of his feet.
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  Speaker 2: He is just.
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  Speaker 1: He doesn't wink at sin, the guilty, don't get away
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  Speaker 1: with it. Ultimately, verse four, he is omnipotent, all powerful.
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  Speaker 2: He rebukes the sea and makes it.
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  Speaker 1: Dry, dries up all the rivers Verse five. Mountains quake
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  Speaker 1: because of him, the hills dissolve, the earth is upheaved
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  Speaker 1: by his presence the world and all the inhabitants in it.
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  Speaker 1: Who can stand before his indignation, Who can endure the
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  Speaker 1: burning of his anger, his wrath poured out like fire
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  Speaker 1: and rocks are broken up by him. It's a powerful scene.
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  Speaker 1: God is holy injust, God is jealous, vengeful and wrathful.
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  Speaker 1: God is all powerful. I remember having been told a
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  Speaker 1: story that is a true story of doctor Donald Barnhouse
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  Speaker 1: years ago at his church in Philadelphia, following or just
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  Speaker 1: before an evening service, there would be an open forum
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  Speaker 1: where he would stand with a microphone, his Bible and
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  Speaker 1: answer questions from the congregation. The audience that gathered at
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  Speaker 1: that place balcony full bottom floor full questions.
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  Speaker 2: Came and he answered the questions.
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  Speaker 1: One occasion, a young student from the balcony spoke and said,
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  Speaker 1: doctor Barnhouse, how can it be that those children of
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  Speaker 1: Israel could walk through the wilderness forty years and never
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  Speaker 1: wear out their shoes and never wear.
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  Speaker 2: Out their garments?
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  Speaker 1: How could that be? Barnhouse response, profoundly, was one word God.
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  Speaker 1: The student in the balcony said, oh, now I understand.
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  Speaker 1: Barnhouse responded, no, you don't, Son, nobody understands. We need
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  Speaker 1: that answer. Don't think you can understand him. Don't think
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  Speaker 1: you can package him. No, he is God, and when
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  Speaker 1: he speaks, everybody stays quiet. When he acts, everybody gets
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  Speaker 1: out of his way.
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  Speaker 2: He is also good.
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  Speaker 1: Praise his name. Verse seven is also there. God is good.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, he is a refuge to those that are
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  Speaker 1: in trouble, and he knows everyone that will take refuge
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  Speaker 1: in him. You see, this is not to be seen
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  Speaker 1: as sort of a soft sentimentality about God. No, God
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  Speaker 1: is good. God has arms that open to those running
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  Speaker 1: for refuge. He stands ready to take those that are
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  Speaker 1: afraid of life and don't know quite how to unravel it.
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  Speaker 2: He is good.
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  Speaker 1: Moving ahead, Look at verse fourteen, speaking to Nineveh, the
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  Speaker 1: Lord has issued a command concerning you. Your name will
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  Speaker 1: no longer be perpetuated. I will cut off idle and
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  Speaker 1: image from the house of your gods. I will prepare
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  Speaker 1: your grave, for you are contemptible. Now that is what
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  Speaker 1: you call a direct confrontation. I find in those words
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  Speaker 1: that God is truth and immutable. He tells the truth
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  Speaker 1: even though we don't want to hear it. Ninevah, you
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  Speaker 1: are contemptible, You are wrong. Your God's fill your house.
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  Speaker 1: You now fought all of the images that were made
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  Speaker 1: by men, and I take action against you. Your doom
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  Speaker 1: is sure. You can't get away from it. As we're
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  Speaker 1: going to see later, it is inescapable. God is truth
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  Speaker 1: and God will not change. Verse fifteen. Behold on the
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  Speaker 1: mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who
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  Speaker 1: announces peace. Celebrate your feasts, oh Judah. Pay your vows,
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  Speaker 1: for never again will the wicked one pass through you.
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  Speaker 1: He has cut off completely. I've never heard this quality
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  Speaker 1: given to God by any theologians I've ever read, and
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  Speaker 1: so I stick my neck way out in suggesting it.
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  Speaker 1: But I think there is in God's character finality.
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  Speaker 2: For lack of a better word, there.
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  Speaker 1: Is a finality about God.
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  Speaker 2: He is thorough.
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  Speaker 1: When he does it, it is done, and every corner
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  Speaker 1: is swept clean. You know one word that wraps up
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  Speaker 1: everything that's in chapter one about God, and I want
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  Speaker 1: to take issue with the word being used today in
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  Speaker 1: stupid ways. It is the word awesome. Now, what do
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  Speaker 1: you think of when you hear the word awesome? You
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  Speaker 1: think of a dotsin, don't you it's awesome? It is
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  Speaker 1: not awesome. It is a little car for little people
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  Speaker 1: that gets little gas milage and lasts a little.
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  Speaker 2: While, And it is not awesome.
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  Speaker 1: One is awesome.
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  Speaker 2: I looked up the word.
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  Speaker 1: The word awesome means inspiring, awe. Awe means dread, profound, fear, reverent, wonder,
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  Speaker 1: tinged with fear, mysteriously sacred. That's not a dotson that God.
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  Speaker 1: He is awesome. It's a word used all the time.
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  Speaker 1: It's the n word of the kids. Now, a game
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  Speaker 1: is awesome, A singer is awesome.
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  Speaker 2: Dad, you gotta get this record. It is awesome.
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  Speaker 1: My fifth grader said the other the day man, I
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  Speaker 1: took a test today.
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  Speaker 2: Was it hard? Oh, Daddy? Was awesome.
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  Speaker 1: A fifth grade test is not awesome. A record is
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  Speaker 1: not awesome. A car is not awesome. God is awesome,
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  Speaker 1: he inspires, all I bow before him, I get quiet
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  Speaker 1: before him. I am afraid of him, and that I
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  Speaker 1: am reverent in his presence. These prophets teach us about
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  Speaker 1: the awesome character of God. You don't read and walk away,
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  Speaker 1: sort of tapping your toe and snapping your fingers to
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  Speaker 1: a little diddy. You walk away from the prophets silent.
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  Speaker 1: You take God seriously. Doesn't mean that all of life
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  Speaker 1: is that overpoweringly serious. But when it comes to God,
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  Speaker 1: you don't dink around.
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  Speaker 2: You See, that's what Denevan started to do. He's one
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  Speaker 2: of the gods. Yeah, make him Jehovah.
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  Speaker 1: Let's leave this one up there, Let's put this one there,
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  Speaker 1: and how about this one, this one match It would
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  Speaker 1: kind of fit the decor. And he just one of them.
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  Speaker 1: Nahim says, you forgot Jehovah, and so he levels them
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  Speaker 1: with both barrels second chapter, he talks about the judgment
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  Speaker 1: of God. The new International version begins chapter two. An
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  Speaker 1: attacker advances against you, Nineveh, guard the fortress, Watch the road.
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  Speaker 1: Brace yourselves, marshal, all your strength. It's a cynical command.
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  Speaker 1: You know who's in pursuit. God, Get your backt together, Nineveh,
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  Speaker 1: watch the road. Get ready, He's coming. Forget it. That's
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  Speaker 1: God in pursuit. The Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob.
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  Speaker 1: Let me just read the words, like the splendor of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: even though devastators have devastated them and destroyed them their
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  Speaker 1: vine branches. Now he describes nine of us fortresses, or
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  Speaker 1: the military strength. The shields of his mighty men are
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  Speaker 1: colored red.
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  Speaker 2: That's true.
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  Speaker 1: Archaeology has shown that the warriors are dressed in scarlet,
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  Speaker 1: the favorite color of Nebopolassar. And many of the kings
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  Speaker 1: of the chariots are enveloped in flashing steel.
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  Speaker 2: You know what that means.
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  Speaker 1: They put blades on their wheels, the chariots, so that
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  Speaker 1: when they would go through a village, they could mow
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  Speaker 1: them down, just slice them up on the way. They
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  Speaker 1: were enveloped in flashing steel. When it is prepared to
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  Speaker 1: march and the cypress spears are brandished. The chariots not
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  Speaker 1: look at the scene of battle. They race madly in
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  Speaker 1: the streets. They rush wildly in the squares, their appearances
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  Speaker 1: like torches. They dash to and fro like lightning flashes.
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  Speaker 1: He remembers his nobles. They stumble in their march. They
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  Speaker 1: hurry to her wall.
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  Speaker 2: The mantle. It is set up. That was an ancient defense.
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  Speaker 1: Device where they could gather for the purpose of regrouping,
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  Speaker 1: sort of a hasty defense before they went back into
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  Speaker 1: battle again. It's all set up. Verse seven. It's fixed.
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  Speaker 1: She stripped, she's carried away. Her handmaids are moaning, like
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  Speaker 1: the sound of doves beating on their breasts, though none
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  Speaker 1: of it was like a pool of water throughout her days.
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  Speaker 2: Now they are.
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  Speaker 1: Fleeing, stop, stop, and no one turns back. Plunder the silver,
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  Speaker 1: plunder the gold. It's the poetic picture of the fall
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  Speaker 1: of a city, and if we have never seen it
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  Speaker 1: with our own eyes, we can't even envision it with
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  Speaker 1: the help of a poet's pen. Fully, if you have,
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  Speaker 1: you'll never forget it. It is an incredible scene, especially
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  Speaker 1: when you realize this impressive city of Nineveh let me
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  Speaker 1: describe it for you. Nineveh fortified herself so that nothing
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  Speaker 1: could harm her. I picture the scene with walls one
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  Speaker 1: hundred feet high and wide enough for four chariots to
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  Speaker 1: go abreast, a circumference of eighty miles. That's from here
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  Speaker 1: to San Diego. Who went around the city and adorned
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  Speaker 1: by twelve hundred defense towers. Within her midst she set
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  Speaker 1: complacently a moat one hundred and forty feet wide and
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  Speaker 1: sixty feet deep, surrounded the vast walls. Think of that,
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  Speaker 1: But Ninevah reckoned without Jehovah, the mighty empire which Shalmaneser,
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  Speaker 1: Sargon and Snakarib had built up. The lord threw down
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  Speaker 1: with a stroke, and that beyond all recovery. Look at
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  Speaker 1: verse ten. Suddenly it's all over. I skipped a verse
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  Speaker 1: on purpose. Verse six. The gates of the rivers are opened.
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  Speaker 1: The palace is dissolved. That's a flood that came, indeed
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  Speaker 1: it did. It came, and it leveled the walls, It
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  Speaker 1: pushed aside the moat, it shoved over the towers, and
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  Speaker 1: it was covered with debris. She is emptied, yes, she
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  Speaker 1: is desolate, and waste hearts are melting knees, knocking, anguish
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  Speaker 1: is in the whole body, and all their faces are
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  Speaker 1: grown pale, absolute devastation. Why because God said time is up.
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  Speaker 1: So complete and effective was the judgment of God on
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  Speaker 1: Nineveh that the existence of the city disappeared for ages.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, you may not know. Critics doubted that there
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  Speaker 1: ever had been on Nineveh. In the year three thirty
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  Speaker 1: one BC, when Alexander the Great fought the battle at
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  Speaker 1: Arbela nearby, he didn't even know there had ever been
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  Speaker 1: a city there. Another Greek and his army of ten
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  Speaker 1: thousand passed over this area two hundred years later, and
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: he thought the mounds were the ruins of Saparthian city.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: It was not until eighteen forty five when the two
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Englishmen in a dig began to discover what even Napoleon
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: had not known, though he marched over this same region.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: It was believed that Nineveh was a mythical city until
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: this Englishman or these Englishmen found this mound that led
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: to the ruins which were unearthed, and they discovered this
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: massive city of Ninevah. All that remained. I tell you,
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: when God did his work, it was thorough. There was finality,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: The judgment was justified on Ninevah. Verse thirteen, I am
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: against you, declares the Lord of Host. I will burn
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: up her chariots in smoke. A sword will devour your
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: young lions. It's a picturesque term for the soldiers, the
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: mighty warriors of Nineveh. I will cut off your prey
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: from the land. No longer will the voice of your
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: messengers be heard.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: Woe to the bloody city.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Now he describes in very picturesque language, the balance of
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: this book, the destruction of it, completely full of lies
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: and pillage. Here's the reason that judgment came. It was
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: a city full of lies. Her prey never departs. The
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: noise of the whip, the noise of the rattling of
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: the wheel, galloping horses, bounding chariots. It was moving city,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: fast city, involve city engaged in society's pursuits. Horsemen charging,
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: swords flashing. There were military people, spears gleaming, many slain,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: a mass of corpses and countless dead bodies. They stumble
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: over the dead bodies.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Verse six.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: I will throw filth on you and make you vile,
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: and set you up as a spectacle. It will come
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: about that all who see you will shrink from you
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: and say none of us is devastated. I find at
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: the end of the book chapter three, verse nineteen, verse nineteen,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: there is no relief for your breakdown. Your wound is incurable.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: All who hear about you will clap their hands over you,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: for on whom has not.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: Your evil past?
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Continually, I think a book that is short on purpose
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: be preached briefly on purpose. I think to make something
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: that is a sudden thrust of a dagger lengthy is
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: to take away the punch of it. It is a
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: book to stab us awake, like a quick thrust of
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: a knife right in the abdomen, and it's all over.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: I gather from the book two lasting lessons. Here's the first.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: Because of his awesome character, we are to take God seriously,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: and let me say both in both of these cases,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: let me add we are to pass that on nine
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: of it didn't do that, heard of God, feared God,
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: listened to God preached through Jonah, and then said as
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: if it had not even occurred. The next day. Now
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: let's go on.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: To business as usual.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Because God's character is awesome, we are to take God seriously.
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you that do you do that when
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: you discover a given principle in his word, and that
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: word breeds integrity, and you see that principle cutting cross
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: grain with something that is occurring, what do you do
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: about that? You pass that off hen you come to
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: terms with that that's taking him seriously. God's words spoke
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: as clearly through Jonah as it would through any of
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: the prophets, and they listened and they believed, and God's
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: judgment was abated.
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: But that was it.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: And the frog was in the beaker and the water
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: was heated, and it continued to heat, and it didn't
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: even kick. The second is clearly seen in the last.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: Two chapters of this book.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Because of his almighty power, we are to fear God reverently.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: We don't hear much about that. God is that big
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: man upstairs. God is that divine pal God is that
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: ultra familiar nice guy, sort of a peeved deity at times,
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: but he'll get over it. You know me well enough
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: to know that I believe we have every reason to
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: feel in the presence of our loving Father's arms comfort
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: and refuge. But at the same time we are in.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: Our Father's arms.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: The most vivid memory if I could return once again
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: in closing to my childhood, The most vivid memory of
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: one most like unto God was my maternal grandfather, Elo Lundy,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: and I recall as a little boy being given the
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: privilege of going into his room. That was a privilege,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: and I remember walking in. He had a bed that
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: was really high. Well it wasn't that high, but it
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: was high, you know.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: What I mean.
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: And you had to really take a run and jump
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: to get up on that thing. You had to get
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: your toe up in the the slat there, and you
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: had to climb up on the on the springs and
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: then get up on the mattress. And I remember one
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: afternoon he said to me, would you like to take
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: a nap? And I said, yes, sir, I thought he
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: meant on the floor. You know, I was so pleased
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: to be in his room and I felt like that
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: would be good enough. He said, didn't climb up on
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: the bed, but be still, man. I got up on
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: that bed and I laid it attention. I did not nap,
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: I just was. I was in my grandfather's bed.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: Until the day he died. I held him in reverence.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: Ah, if I would do that for a granddaddy, think
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: of my God, and to think that there could possibly
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: be four kids born into my family that would not
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: know that He is to be held in that kind
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: of reverence, that if his words says it, we do it,
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: and if he leads, we follow. Why Because I want
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: him to know I take him seriously. I want them
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: to know I fear him reverently. I don't play around
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: in God's presence. We're going to talk about spiritual things.
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: Let's get at it. It's almost like Francis Havergal's words, Lord,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: take my life and let it be consecrated to you,
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: Take my lips and let them move, Take my feet,
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: take my silver and my gold. Not a mite would
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: I withhold. You know why Havergall would write that because
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: God was to be reverenced, God was to be taken seriously.
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: Every day another beaker gets lit up, and every day another.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: Frog crawls in.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: Every day is just another step toward or away from
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: the indifference that leads to ultimate ruin if something isn't
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: done today to stop it. We really do enjoy the
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Lord at this place.
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: I love it.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: It is the most winsome and magnetic presence of any
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: place I know anything about. But let us be very,
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: very careful that in our delight and fun and enjoyment
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: of one another, that when it comes to God we
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: take him seriously, We fear him reverently. Let's about together, Lord,
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: our awesome God, you have every right to take take
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: take take. Nothing is ours, not even our lives. We
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: bow before you in reverent praise and an awesome.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: Trust.
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: We extol your character, We lay ourselves before you, We
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: fear you.
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: Our only hope is your grace and your love. Remind
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: us this night, our God, of how great you are.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: In the name of your son Jesus Christ.
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: Amen.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: The preceding message Nahem The Consequences of Negligence was copyrighted
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty and the sound recording was copyrighted in
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: twenty eleven by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights are
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: reserved worldwide.