Yahweh, Good and Great in Power - November 16th, 2025

And we're gonna read verses three through seven. I'll read for you. This is the reading of God's word. It reads, Yahweh is slow to anger and great and power. And Yahweh will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. And whirlwind and storm is his way, and clouds are the dust beneath his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry. He dries up all the rivers.

The blossoms of Lebanon language. Mountains quake because of him, and the hills melt. Indeed, the earth is upheaved by his presence, the world and all its inhabitants in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the burning of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are torn down by him. Yahweh is good. A strong defense in the day of distress, and he knows those who take refuge in him. Let's pray together. Father, we ask for your help to understand your word, to understand your heart. Transform our thoughts, align them to be more like yours, and in areas where we are lacking in understanding and lighten us. In the areas where we are in error, I pray that you would unify and correct us with truth.

Ultimately, this morning, I pray that as your people hear your word, that there would be a reverence and an awe and a gratitude that goes up for you. We know that thanksgiving is the aroma and sacrifice that you're desire enough. And so we thank you, Lord, for this morning. We pray that you would minister mightily and powerfully through the truths in your word to our hearts.

Go ahead and take your seats.

And it's a mysteriously liberating statement, but it can also be a very deeply insulting and offensive one. And it's a statement that may offend you to the very core of your being if you actually think through all the ramifications.

And Howard said it, and you might not even realize he said it. Here it is.

Hopefully, this is a statement that delights you to the core of your being. Many around us will find this statement extremely belittling and offensive. Right? Every unchurched person will find this horribly offensive. Now, those who grew up in the church may agree with the statement but feel nothing. They may simply not care enough to theologically disagree. Now, if you're sitting here, you may find this statement even agreeable to hear and to read. And part of that, for those of you who've grown up in the church, it's because we've heard statements like this so often that it's just regurgitatable truth, but it's numb. So God has created us. God is good, his will is perfect. Amen. Now, in his goodness and in his perfection, God has created us for himself to love him and to serve him.

And in his goodness and in the perfection of his will, he has not made a single mistake in your life. He has done whatever he has wanted in your life. Every tragedy and scar, he has in his goodness allowed in your life. Every person he has put in your life, he has ordained. He has not made one single mistake. So praise God. He has done whatever he has wanted in your life and with your life. Because you have been created by him and for him to love him and to serve and to please him. He is the potter. You and I are but the clay. So a piece of clay has no form, no function or purpose without the potter. So you and I have no form, useful function or purpose apart from God our creator. So if God shows you mercy and kindness, praise God for he is good.

If he withholds from you mercy and kindness, praise God for he is good. Now I've unpacked that sturmist statement, a statement purpose for us to move a little bit from numbness to feeling. Okay? And there may be some things now that have abraided against you that are causing you not to fully feel like this is right. And there may be some pushback that is growing in your mind, and that's normal. The impulse to push back against these theological truths has been our condition from the fallen man. The feeling of offense has been the response of all mankind ever since the fall. And the apostle Paul first acknowledged this response, and then he proceeded basically to shut it down with a big giant sit down, be quiet.

Okay, and I'm gonna read this for you, Romans 9, 18 to 21. So then he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardened whom he desires. So the natural pushback, you will say to me then, then why does he still find fault? Who resists his will? Hey, sit down. On the contrary, who are you, O man who answers back to God? Will the thing molded? Say to the molder, why did you make me like this? Does not the potter have authority over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and one another for dishonorable use. So here's a truth. We are but creation. And I'm not gonna ask you to say amen to that because a little bit of that is gonna be offensive. You and I are but creation, and you and I have been created by God and for God to love God and to serve God.

And I'm gonna elaborate on this just a bit more before we jump into Nathan. Because this statement will be very important for the proclamation of the word this morning. Okay? I'm gonna reword it some. From before all eternity, you and I have been created in Christ and through Christ as an inheritance for Christ. You and I have been saved and purposed in Christ to magnify and display the glory of Christ through good works. That is the purpose of your life. We don't exist for ourselves, we exist as a big present, and that's an inheritance prepared for the delight of Christ. And that purpose is written all over the pages of scripture, but especially in passages like John 1, Ephesians 1 to 2, Colossians 1, and then the opening chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, and then the references are there for you on the slide.

So apart from Jesus, you and I have no worth. Look to your neighbor and say, You are worthless apart from Christ. You can put them in the eye and say, You are worthless of our Lord Jesus.

So we are good for absolutely nothing apart from being thrown into the eternal garbage can of the fires of hell. We are like chaff and wood collected to be burned. If I were to say, what's the purpose of firewood?

To be burned. The biblical theology of man's purpose has been and will continue to be received as a great insult. And a great offense to a natural man. And again, that's normal. We live in an entirely fallen world that's in rebellion against our creator. But here's the thing with insult and offense. Insult and offense always turns into terror and dread in the presence of power. Man's feelings of insult and offense have always turned into great fear and trembling when confronted by the power of God. Because in that humbling moment, man is properly put into place. Into his place, right? He is given some perspective on reality. So great true awesome power is an amazing organizer.

It puts everything into its proper perspective. Even the meanest and the loudest of bullies in the schoolyard, when you have a bigger bully, come and punch him in the face. What happens to that bully?

Even the most complaining, whiny griper becomes silent and starts begging for mercy in the presence of power. So ego, pride, all feelings of insult and offense immediately are taken away when confronted by terrifying power. Logically, do you agree with that statement? Okay. The opening of the prophecy of Nahum describes God's justice. And Nahum's prophecy will teach us that there are many deep and profound facets of the justice of God. Last week we were introduced to the jealousy of God. Today we're going to be looking at the power of our just God. So our powerful God is just, but praise God, fortunately for us, he is good. That's the opening section. Nahum 13. Yahweh is slow to anger and great in power.

Interesting justiposition. Yahweh will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. So what is he saying? Our jealous God, he is good, he is slow to anger. But ultimately, he will demonstrate the greatness of his power to ultimately display his goodness. So God demonstrates the greatness of his power to put his goodness on full display. Yahweh is slow to anger, but great in power. And in the portion of Naham's prophecy, we're going to be looking into the great power of God. So here's the outline. We're going to be looking at the greatness of our God's power over the elements. And then over the nations. And then we're going to be looking at God's power over sin. The greatness of God's power over the elements, over the nations, and over sin.

So first, the greatness of God over the elements. I'm going to start back at Nahum, the back part of one three. In whirlwind and storm is his way. The clouds of the dust beneath his feet. He rebukes the sea, makes it dry. He dries up all the rivers.

The blossoms of Lebanon language, mountains quake because of him, and the hills melt. Indeed, the earth is appealed by his presence, the world and all its inhabitants in it. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the burning of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are torn down by him. And think canyons, not just like a little rock. Okay. You may not notice this, but the created order is being referenced here. So in Genesis 1 and 2, we read that God created everything in how many days? Six days. And at the end of each day, behold, the Lord saw that it was what? Good. Good. Alright. So on days one to three, God created the realms of creation. Days four through six, God created the governors or the rulers of those realms.

Okay? So days one and three, realms. Days four through six, their rulers. On the first day, God said, let there be light. And there was light. Genesis 1 3. On the fourth day, corresponding to the first day, he created the lights that would govern, literally rule the days and the nights and even the seasons. Genesis 1 14, 16. On the second day, God created and separated the expanse of the skies from the seas. On the fifth day, God created living things to inhabit and to rule those skies and the seas. I'm assuming you're familiar with this because everyone's read Genesis chapter 1 and 2, right? Everyone's begun a Bible reading plan at some point, and you start there. Okay? Everyone understand.

On the third day, God made the vegetation spring forth from the land. He shaped the land. I assume mountains and hills were fashioned and pressed down and lifted up and carved out on this day by God's word. And then on the corresponding sixth day, he populated all the parts of the land, the ground, with the creatures of the land. And to rule over all creation to display his power and his authority in reigning and ruling over creation, God created man in his own image. Genesis chapter 1, 26. So here's an important thing to remember. God created man to rule. Okay? And that's why you read about all the animals coming to the man to be named. Please name me. Rabbit? I like it. Right? And walk away.

Okay? So Adam was to serve God as a ruler over all creation. Because God is not a God of chaos. He's a God of order. So light, water, land, days one to three, things to govern the light, water, land, days four through six. You guys track in with me, right? And we all know that when sin entered the world, the whole of the earth was cursed, the whole of the world, the wharf, the earth has been now groaning and suffering ever since. All of creation has been subjected to futility and been in bondage to decay and corruption ever since the fall. Romans 8, 20 to 21. So what's happened? The light, the water, the land, all curse. And in Naam's prophecy, we read that the elements in the expanse of the skies, in the waters, the land, and all the vegetation are thrown into chaos.

If you're looking at this, you're like, huh? How come there's no mention of the stars? Right? Well, if you're any, if you're familiar with science, the lights aren't mentioned in Naam 1 because if the stars and the moons were thrown into chaos, what happens? The gravitational changes would make it so that life would no longer exist. Okay. So Nahum declares all things created in chapter or day two and day three five and four and five. Or five and six. God brought it all into judgment. And soon he's going to make this chaos become exponentially more chaotic. He is a good God who is slow to anger, but now this good and jealous God is bringing the hammer of his justice down upon Assyria, and he's going to use nature.

So the first display of God's power is described in the mention of the whirlwind and storm. Do you see that with your eyes? Whirlwind in Hebrew is basically the violence of the air, blowing everything away in its path. A whirlwind. Job chapter 21, verse 18, describes the power of the whirlwind by saying that everything in its path is like straw and hay in front of God's whirlwind. So a whirlwind is a destructive force that is more lateral, moving horizontally from side to side from right to left. The storm is a destructive force that is vertical, blowing from top to bottom. Okay? The storm is like a fierce downpour of the tempest, as described in Job chapter 9, verse 17. So together. God's power is displayed in the expanse in the air in a holistic, comprehensive way.

Up and down, shh, left and right. It's blowing everything in every direction. And you can almost hear the chaos. So God will throw the expanse into chaos, because the expanse too has been created by him and for him to serve him. When Nahem writes that the clouds are like the dust of his feet, he's describing the greatness, the largeness, or the bigness of God. So oftentimes in the Old Testament, God is described as the Lord of armies, right? That's called the Lord of hosts. You've heard that before? Thus saith the Lord of hosts. And that is what is being described here. The Assyrian army was powerful and ruthless, and they created chaos everywhere they went. That's how the prophet Isaiah described the Assyrians.

When they conquered a people, the people will become like dust. Not just regular dust, but fine dust. Okay? That's how dominant the Assyrians were. They left devastation, and the devastation they left wasn't just like the big crumbled rubble, it was dust, obliterated into dust. Isaiah 29, verse 5. It will be that the multitude of Assyria, your enemies, will become like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like the chaff which wind which blows away. And it will happen instantly, suddenly. So that was the description of the Assyrian army. Later, the prophet Ezekiel would refer to an even more ruthless and more terrifying Babylonian army. A B C D, right? Remember that? The Babylonians are coming.

And Ezekiel will take it a step further and write that the people of Tyre in front of the Babylonians, they're gonna be not just like the fine dust, but it's gonna blow and cover the air when the horses just and all the air is blowing up. So a lot of dust is kicked up by these powerful and terrifying armies. All conquered peoples in front of these armies are described like dust of the earth. So the conquered and subjugated people are the dust to Assyria and Babylon. But for God, how powerful is he? What is the dust that is under the stomp of God's feet? It's the entire sky. It's the clouds. And this is mentioned many places in the Old Testament that the clouds are the dust beneath the feet of God.

Whenever you see the clouds clouds under the dust of his feet, you're looking at God as a conqueror. Okay? So God is sovereign over the expanse. He's sovereign not just over the expanse, he is sovereign over the waters. And what kind of waters are there? Two kinds, right? Salt and fresh. He is sovereign over everything in them. And the biblical readers weren't unfamiliar with this. God wants to turn all the water into blood. He changed the chemistry of the water, right? In the Nile, and what happened in the Nile? Everything died and started stinking all of Egypt. Out of that same body of water in the Nile, what did God call out? Frogs. And remember in Jonah, what did God appoint? A great fish to swallow up his prophet.

So God rebukes and controls all the water that is on the earth. Pop quiz. What percent of the planet earth is water? 71%. I thought it was 75, but I guess kind of changes the real thing. It disappeared. So we lost 1%. But the surface of the waters is 71%. God controls all of it. He rebukes in and through it. And if he wants, he can dry it all up. What he's gonna do to Nineveh is he's gonna raise up the water, sploosh, and wipe out Nineveh with the flood. Literally. That's what Nahem will prophesy in chapter 1, verse 8. They're gonna be wiped out with an overflowing flood. So God is powerful over the sky, he has power over the waters.

Who is this?

And the sea obey him. Who said this? Jesus' terrified disciples were saying this to one another. And these were men who made their living on the seas. These were men who were experienced with many winds and squalls, and these were the men that were terrified. Arrogance and security. When they encounter power, immediately turn into terror and dread. One of the greatest problems plaguing the modern-day church is not that we are promoting fear and dread too much. The problems that are that we are not preaching the God of the Bible accurately enough, and the result of this is we end up preaching a God who is to neither be feared nor dreaded. And we have a generation of churchgoers who do not fear God.

So that's why we're foolish, right? The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. And we have a generation of people who instead worship a God who has been created in the image of man to love man to serve man. May the Lord fill us with a healthy dose of terror and all. We're not done. Nahum goes on to say, verse 4. God makes Ashan and Parmel and the blossom of Lebanon all language. These are all three of the most lush and fertile places with much vegetation and abundant fruit in the Mediterranean. Got it? They were beautiful places. So what does God's power do to those beautiful places? He dries them out. He withers them away. And he makes those lush areas salty, dry, and arid. And historically, all three places are hit hard when Assyria invades Israel.

And you can read it about the Assyrian army devastating the blossoms, the cedars of Lebanon, 2 Kings 19, 23. So in verses 5 and 6, it also says God makes the mountains quake and the hills melt. He cracks, he tears, he splits the canyons, and he causes them to split into the valleys of like great chasms. So God controls not just the sky, not just the sea, but also the land upon which you stand. Right? And this is not unfamiliar to the reader. During Korah's rebellion in the time of the wilderness, God literally opened up the ground and swallowed up entire households. You guys read about this? That's the power of God. It's probably louder than that. God is powerful over all the elements. God is powerful over all matter.

God is powerful over all the physical world. This is our God.

Amen. He is also supreme and powerful over the spiritual world. He is powerful over all the rulers, authorities, and all spiritual forces. He is power, he has power over the ruler of the prince of the air. Satan, any time he moves, what does he have to do to God? Ask permission. So he is truly the Lord of all, even the angelic hosts. That's our God. He controls everything in the invisible world. So Nahum 1, 5, the focus of Nahum shifts from all the elements to people to governments, to souls, to spiritual forces. Do you see the words earth and world there? That's referring to nations. Not only the geopolitical boundaries of the nations, all of their inhabitants are upheaved simply by the move of God.

And you'll notice that the focus shifts from the what to the who in regard to God's power being manifested. Let me read verses 5 to 6. Indeed, the earth is upheaved by his presence. The world and all its inhabitants in it. Who can stand before this, his indignation? Who can endure the burning of his anger? You cannot escape this God even after you physically die. That's scary. You can't escape him physically and spiritually. So God is sovereign over all the affairs of the earth, over all the affairs of every nation, but the earth and all the nations also have been subjected to futility, to corruption and to chaos. Every system is corrupted and broken. Every system in the world, historically and at present, irreparably flawed.

And the pendulum constantly swings from one extreme to the other. So don't hope in man. Don't hope in any change of leadership. Amen. We are dumb. Oh, there is great hope for America. No, there is not. Oh, there's great hope for India because population is blowing. They oversurpassed China. They just have more sinners then. There is no hope in man. That actually is part of the gospel. Would you guys agree? So God is in full control over the spiritual aspects of the cosmos. Daniel 2.21 reads, it's a little smaller there. He changes the times and the seasons. This isn't talking about winter, summer, spring, fall. He establishes, I'm going to replace the word. He establishes empires. He removes empires.

He gives wisdom to rulers who are wise. He gives knowledge to men of understanding. So the Nahum is teaching us that God is sovereign over the macro. Okay. Entire nations are used by God for his purposes. Isaiah 10 5, we are told that the entire empire of Assyria is raised up simply for one purpose. It's wielded in the hand of God, the entire empire as a disciplinary rod, a memestic over Israel. The whole nation, God is holding them to discipline his kids. God would do the same for the entire Babylonian Empire of Akkuk 1, 5 to 6. He is in full control over all the affairs of every nation. He has full control, even the heart of individual kings.

Proverbs 21 1, the king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of Yahweh. He just turns it wherever he wishes, wherever he pleases. So every king, every dictator, every tribal leader, every district official, God has installed in his place. The result of every election, the Lord has ordained it. Amen. Obama won the presidency in 2008, 2012. The Lord ordained it. Trump won, 2016, 2024. The Lord ordained it. Prop 50 recently passed. The Lord ordained it. Benjamin Netanyahu. Xi Jinping. They all sin in power because the Lord ordained it. Amen. Your boss at work who directs you.

Your team members at work. Some of you are bosses. All subordinates who are under you. Who are all intricately part of your work week? God put them there. Amen? You're like, oh anyway, huh? I don't like them. God, why? The Lord has ordained it so that we see that God is not only sovereign over all the nations, over the macro, but the micro.

But nonetheless, he is microordaining. So God has control over everything. And we will not understand the why in all of these decisions or appointments. But we are absolutely clear of the what? And this is the what? He has full control over all of the affairs of this world because he is sovereign. Revelation 1 5 says he is a ruler of the kings of the earth. So you know what God is? Ruler of all the rulers. So human human king's pride will lead him to think that he was put in place because of his supremacy, because of his goodness, because of his merit and his worth. Our current president might have some of that, right? I got put here because I am a special guy. Not uncommon. Nebuchadnezzar had that.

Rebel against what he has ordained. Rebel against his purpose. They believe themselves to be God. So what happens when the earth's mightiest kings try to rebel against God? Psalm 24 to 5. He who sits in the heavens laugh. He mocks them. Then he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his fury. The Hebrew literally it says he chuckles with air coming out of his nose. That's the imagery of the Hebrew. So he kind of it's like a snort. His laughter comes out as like a funny snort out of his nostrils because he thinks it is so funny. But he responds to that attempt at entertainment with fury. So we see that God has not only great in power over all the elements, he is great in power over all the nations, and he's gonna also show himself to be great in power over all sin.

Okay. Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the burning of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, rocks are formed down by him. But Yahweh is good, a strong defense in the day of distress. He knows those who seek refuge in him. The purpose statement. You and I have been created by God and for God to love God and to serve God. Now you may have also heard me say that sin is simply the violation of that purpose. It's the missing of the mark of living out that purpose. So sin primarily is just a transgression against God. Is that you guys follow? You're just going against the purpose for which you're created. That's sin. And yes, we do sin against one another, but our sins against one another are only byproducts and it's just extensions of our rebellion toward God.

Okay, because God is love. And we don't spread love naturally, right? And the God who hates sin with a perfect hatred should wipe us out faster than we would crush a malaria carrying mosquito that flies across our face. What would have happened if a malaria carrying mosquito flew into the room across your face? What would you do? Everybody would do that. So God should wipe us out. But why does he not? This is a profound mystery. He has the power to destroy. He has justifiable reason to destroy, and he does not destroy for a while. We need to be in awe that Yahweh is slow to anger. And we'll see the slowness to anger, greatness and power, verse 3, juxtaposition over all the scriptures, especially in the New Testament.

In the New Testament, the image of the invisible God, Colossians 1, comes to earth in the form of visible man. Right? Image of the invisible God comes as a perfect representation of God's being, Hebrews chapter 1. He enters into man, and in Jesus we have slowness to anger, greatness and power personified. You guys with me? And in Jesus is the personification of our advocate of our strong defense. Hebrews 7.25 says that he always lives for the purpose of making intercession for us. He lives continually in the heavens, serving as our protector against the wrath of God. That's Hebrews 7.25. In the Gospel of Mark, we're introduced early to a Jesus who is slow to anger and great in power.

Opening of Mark chapter 2, we see four men first removing the roof of a house. You guys know this story? It's in every children's Bible, and it's kind of funny looking, right? They remove a roof that is commonly assumed to be the house of Simon Peter.

Kapur Nahum. Okay? The city of comfort. So they're there. The place is so crowded that they can't get the paralyzed friend through the door. So they dig through the mud roof. It's not like it's like shingles. It's mud. So they dig through it. They lure their friend right in front of Jesus. And what do they want from their friend for Jesus? What do they want from Jesus for their friend? Healing. Strange. Jesus seeding your faith. Said to the paralytic, child, your sins are forgiven. How confusing is that? Jesus' ultimate purpose in coming to earth was in spiritual restoration, not a physical rehabilitation. Jesus' coming to earth was not for the sake of physical rehabilitation.

He came for spiritual restoration. So Jesus came primarily to save the soul, not to change the circumstance. Man's greatest need has never been circumstantial or physical. Man's greatest need has always been to be reconciled to God. And in order to be reconciled to God, there needs atonement and forgiveness. Because his wrath is poured out like fire, right? And in the Old Testament, it was commonly understood that all sins were directly attacks on God. So he's the only one who could forgive. So Jesus doesn't first do what would have been the amazing and beautiful thing in healing the paralytic.

And again, that's not hard to understand because he didn't come to demonstrate the greatness of his power over the elements or to overthrow the Roman government, right? He didn't come for that. The paralyzed man's greatest perceived problem was physical. But the funny thing is Jesus doesn't heal him. Initially. Rather, Jesus does something shocking and jarring, almost disturbing, even offensive. And this is one of the first stories children learn of Jesus. Jesus came first to forgive and to save.

Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? They called God a blasphemer. And Jesus, reading their minds, and that's mentioned there twice. He says to them, Why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? And you're familiar with the rest of the story. And Jesus said to them, which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up and pick up your mat and walk. But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on the earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, get up, pick up your mat, go to your home. And immediately he got up, picked up his mat, went out before everyone so that they were all amazing and were glorifying God, saying, We have never seen anything like this.

So God, the creator of the universe, jealous and wrathful, came into the world to save sinners from his wrath. He came to demonstrate the slowness of his anger. He came into the world to demonstrate the goodness of his nature and to show his love. He came to provide a defense, a means for salvation of all mankind. Any and everyone who would come to him for refuge and defense and forgiveness, he would be willing to receive and to accept and to perfect. God says, everyone's invited. Amen. I am a strong refuge. Proverbs 18:10. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and they are safe. They're not righteous before they enter. They're righteous because they enter. Okay.

Now, Matthew 8, 2 to 3. Another episode of Jesus healing him. But if a whole, a leper came to him. And just bowed down before him and said, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing. Be cleansed. Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. Verse 4 alludes to the truth that the leper's healing was not just physical, but it is spiritual. You guys see that? He was restored to man, but more importantly, to God. I am willing to be cleansed. Are some of the most profound and powerful words you and I could ever hear? Don't be numb.

Be cleansed. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Our God is willing. So our God who is great in power over all the physical world, over all the spiritual world, who has demonstrated his power over all of these things, over sin and of evil on the cross through his resurrection, he is not just mighty to save, he is willing to save. God is not just powerful to save, he is glad to save.

Those who seek him out for that great defense. Because there's no defense anywhere else. And how great is this defense? If God is for us, what can man do to me? Who can accuse me of anything? If God stands in front of me and says he is innocent. So how do we respond to what we just heard today? Well, first it's good to be reminded that God is in full control. Not only of all the elements, but also all current global affairs. Amen.

So the first response is turn your eyes up to Christ. Lift up your eyes to the God of the universe, who not only has control over all things, but who is good and who loves you. George Mueller, the evangelist and the minister to over a 10,000 orphans, he once said this. My eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life. May that be your testimony. Amen. Trust that every detail of your life is on purpose for your glory and for your good, for his glory and for your good. Second, if God has indeed saved you, you have to remember your purpose statement.

You have been saved by God and for God to love God and to serve God. Amen. And that is so difficult to remember. That's why you need to be reminded in the word every day. You and I have been created by God and for God to love God and to serve God. And how do we serve God? With fear. And trembling. Interesting. 1 John 4 says, perfect love drives off fear. No, no, no, no. Yeah, that's a fear of condemnation. You're not supposed to not fear God. Right. Remember those silly kings who tried to make a collective stand against Yahweh? What did God do? Jesus snorted at them, right? Here is what the end of Psalm 2 commands those silly kings to do.

They're told to repent, and they're both invited and then threatened to serve. There's both an invitation and a threat to serve. That is our God's gospel. Do you guys follow this? There's not only an invitation, but there's a threat for rejection of it. And that's all over the Bible. What do those saved by God? What are we encouraged to do? I'm going to close with this. Psalm 2, 10 to 12. So now, O kings. Means like be smart about this. Come, let us reason together, as it says in Isaiah 1. Come, let us reason together. O judges of the earth, take warning. Serve Yahweh with fear.

Rejoice with trembling. I'm inviting you to kiss the Son. Who warmly invites you in. He is slow to anger, but lest he become angry, uh, lest he become angry, you perish in the way. For his wrath may soon be kindled. So how blessed are the Lord to take refuge in him. You and I have been created by God and for God to love God and to serve God, and may we do so both with great joy and with great trembling. He is good. He is our strong defense in the day of distress. He knows those who take refuge in him. Amen? But he is God. Don't create him in your image, in your likeness. He is completely other holy, holy, holy as no one. Let's pray here. Father, we ask for insight and understanding that we would know you accurately.

And we understand our limitations. Here we know in part, but one day we will see you face to face. One day we will know in full. So help us to look forward to that day, not with dread, but with eager anticipation. Whatever is keeping us from wanting to live out that purpose, I pray that you would disentangle our hearts from those things. Help us to serve you and love you and be loyal to you only and to be loyal to you only together as a church. I pray this in Jesus' name.