NAHUM 1-3 NATIONS CANNOT GET AWAY WITH SIN2011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Nahum 1-3 Nations Cannot Get Away With Sin

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011. Well, this evening we're in the book of Nahum. And we find the introduction to the book of Nahum here in verse 1 of chapter 1. So let's go ahead and start there. It says this. The burden against Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum, the Elkoshite.

And so here we're introduced to this book, to this vision that is going to be shared. We're introduced to the prophet and we're introduced to the target audience.

He is speaking to the city of Nineveh. Now as we've been studying through the prophets, we've seen over and over again the principle of God that you reap what you sow. As Paul says in Galatians chapter 6 verse 7 and 8, he says, Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

And if you sow to the flesh, you will of the flesh reap destruction. But if you sow to the Spirit, you will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And that's the law, that's the principle of God, that you reap what you sow. And what we've been seeing as we've gone through these verses,

prophets that we've been studying is that that is not only true for us individually but it's also true for nations and as we look at this book here of Nahum that's

that's directed to the city of Nineveh, we're talking about the nation of Assyria. Nineveh was the capital of the nation of Assyria. And as the capital, it represents the whole nation. And so God is dealing with the whole nation of Assyria as He's speaking through the prophet Nahum. And we're finding here in the prophet Nahum the same things that we've learned individually. You reap what you sow. And even...

these powerful and mighty nations cannot get away with sin. They cannot escape this law of God that you reap what you sow.

And so we're introduced to it as the burden or the oracle. It's a heavy message that God has given to Nahum against Nineveh. Now as I said, Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria. It was a very large city. Well, they uncovered it in the recent years. And so they found that it's about 10 miles wide and 30 miles long. It's huge.

It's not a minor city, it's a pretty massive city. You might remember as we studied through the book of Jonah, Jonah was called by God to the city of Nineveh to preach to the Ninevites. And it described it there as being a three-day journey from one side to the other. And so that's estimating about 10 miles a day to walk from one side of the city to the other side.

You might also remember in the book of Jonah, God refers to the inhabitants of the city of Nineveh and He says there's 120,000 inhabitants

of those who don't know their right hand from their left hand or a hundred and twenty thousand kids or infants who don't even know the difference between their hands yet and so we get a sense of the population of the city it wasn't just you know ten people it wasn't even a hundred thousand people it was multiples upon that and so this was a massive city a massive population as the capital of

the nation of Assyria. It was a world power of the day. Now Jonah, we saw his message a couple weeks ago as he ministered to the city of Nineveh. And his ministry to Nineveh took place

About 100 years before the book of Nahum. And so this is happening 100 years later. And if you remember with the prophet Jonah, he came to the city, he announced God's judgment upon the city, and then the people responded. They repented. They turned to God.

In repentance, in mourning, in sorrow. And so God declared that He relented from the disaster that He had promised would take place. But now we're looking at a hundred years down the line.

And so although they had repented and turned to the Lord, now a hundred years later they're back to that same position where now God is declaring there is judgment coming upon this nation as a result of their rebellion against God and their disobedience. And so this burden, this heavy message from the Lord is against the city of Nineveh. And again we learn that nations cannot get away with sin.

Nahum is a guy we don't really know anything about. He's really only mentioned here in the Bible. He's not mentioned elsewhere. But it says here that he is, what's the vision of Nahum? The Elkoshite. And so we have maybe some insight about this guy Nahum because there was a city called Elkosh

that was pretty near Nineveh. And if you remember, the nation of Israel was... At one time it was united, it was one nation. But then after Solomon died and he passed the reign on to his son, the kingdom was divided into two nations. There was the northern kingdom, which was Israel, and the southern kingdom, which was Judah. Well, the northern kingdom, they were, from the very beginning, rebelling against God. And so they...

were conquered by the Assyrian Empire. The Lord allowed the Assyrians to come and conquer them as a means of bringing discipline to His children who were rebelling against Him. And so it's possible that Nahum was one of those who was living in Israel. He was...

Taken captive by the Assyrians and their practice was when they conquered a people, they would take all the inhabitants and they would disperse them throughout the nation so that they couldn't join together and try to rebel. And so it's very possible that Nahum was there pretty close to Nineveh and it was from there that God spoke to him and gave him this burden or this message against the city and the nation of Assyria.

And so we pick up this burden. We find out what the message is as we go on into verse 2. It says this, "...God is jealous, and the Lord avenges. The Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserves wrath for His enemies."

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked. The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.

The mountains quake before Him, the hills melt, and the earth heaves at His presence. Yes, the world and all who dwell in it. Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him.

Verse 7, The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who trust in Him. But with an overflowing flood, He will make an utter end of its place, and darkness will pursue His enemies.

Here as we begin to look at this burden or this vision that Nahum receives from the Lord, we begin here, mostly chapter 1 is talking about the character and the nature of God that declares or that demands that He brings judgment against this nation. First we see in verse 2 that He is a jealous God.

God is jealous. Now, we typically use the word jealousy and think of the word jealousy in a negative sense, but that's not the only sense of the word. Jealousy is not always a bad thing. It's determined by the context whether or not it is bad. Jealousy in the sense that God is a jealous God is a righteous jealousy.

Warren Wiersbe puts it this way. He says, this means he deserves total obedience and will not permit any rivals. It is the jealousy of the husband over his wife or mother over her child. Just as a parent has this protective heart for their child.

And if anybody tries to subvert them or lead them astray, there's this jealousy that burns within the parent as they see someone trying to lead a child astray. In the same way, God is a jealous God. And He knows what's right and He knows what's best for us. And when people are being deceived...

He becomes very jealous. When people are living in disobedience and rebellion, there's a righteous jealousy that burns within him. And he will not tolerate, he will not allow that to continue. And so God is jealous. And connected with that, he says, and the Lord avenges. Now again, we typically think of vengeance as not a very good thing. We...

Know the Scripture, vengeance is mine, says the Lord. And so for us, vengeance, we don't belong in that activity. But vengeance does belong to the Lord because He's righteous, because He knows the truth, He sees the reality. You see, vengeance isn't right for us because our motives aren't pure, we don't understand the whole picture, and we don't have the means to bring justice.

But God is able to see what's right and to bring the exact measurement of justice. And so vengeance belongs to Him. And so He's jealous. And He is a God of vengeance.

righteous justice righteous vengeance it says the Lord avenges and is furious now these are things we don't typically like to picture of God that you know he's avenging and he's furious but these are things that are right and appropriate for God because of

of the devastation of sin and the wickedness of rebellion there has to be justice there needs to be a God who can bring justice to this world to the great wickedness that is going on and so he is a God of vengeance and he brings justice to those who are living in wickedness to those who are rebelling against him he brings justice he makes things right

Nations cannot get away with sin. However, verse 3 adds another aspect to His nature that we need to understand. It says, "...the Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked."

And so God is a jealous God. He is a God of vengeance. It's righteous. It's right for Him to be that way. But we also need to understand that He is slow to anger. Have you ever noticed that when you sin, you don't immediately get struck with lightning? That's because God is slow to anger. He is a jealous God. He does deal with sin. But He doesn't always do it

Immediately. He's slow to anger. He allows us opportunity to repent. And his slowness to anger is not a weakness on his part because it goes on to say he's great in power. It's not that he's unable to act. It's that he holds himself back to give us opportunity to repent. And his slowness to anger is

is His great mercy and grace towards us. That we might turn and that we might get right with Him and not experience the vengeance and the justice that is deserved against us.

And so Nahum here is declaring for us the character, the nature of God. Helping us to understand He will make things right. But we also need to understand He's slow to anger. We saw this take place in the book of Jonah. Jonah explains in Jonah chapter 4 verse 2. Remember, he goes to the city, he preaches the message, the city repents, and Jonah is upset.

Because he wanted the nation to be judged. And he complains to the Lord. He said, this is why I tried to flee. This is why I tried to run away when you first called me. Because I know that you are a God who is slow to anger. Jonah did not want them to be forgiven. He wanted God's anger to be unleashed upon them. But they turned. They repented. And God allowed them.

to turn and get right with him. He allowed them to continue because he is slow to anger. Now it's a hundred years later and he's been slow to anger because they've been rebelling against him. But there comes a point now where he cannot hold back any longer, where he will not delay any longer. And so there can be a little bit of deception in our hearts sometimes because we

find ourselves in sin we find ourselves engaged in things that are not of God and we kind of look around and think well that wasn't so bad I mean there wasn't really such big consequences I didn't get struck with lightning and you know I didn't get fired or you know whatever the case might be we think hey there's there wasn't much repercussions to that

And so sometimes our flesh will deceive us as a result of that and making us think that, well, the Lord's okay with it or it's not that big of a deal. But we need to understand that God is jealous and the Lord avenges, but He's slow to anger. And so that time where we're not experiencing judgment for our sin is not time to just kind of continue on in sin and think that everything's okay. It's time for us...

to turn around and repent. It's opportunity for us to get right with God, to be forgiven, and to pursue a relationship with Him instead of continuing in rebellion against Him. And so we have a God who is slow to anger. Praise the Lord for that. That's some good news. Well, as He goes on in verse 4 and 5, He reminds us who it is that we're dealing with. This is the Creator. He really is mighty in power.

When He comes, the mountains melt. When He comes, the earth shakes. The earth heaves at His presence, it says there in verse 5. The world and all who dwell in it. And then He asks an important question in verse 6. Who can stand before His indignation? Who can stand before the wrath of God? You know, I've brought this up before, but I think it's worth considering once again. Think about if you were standing in between...

A mama bear and its cub. And the notorious fury that is associated with a mom who's robbed of its cubs. And you're not even able to stand when we're talking about a bear. When we're talking about an animal. A created thing. You're not able to stand. You're no match for a bear robbed of its cubs. And yet, so many times we think that we could stand up to God.

And stand up against God. And stand up and explain to God why we're justified in doing this or living this way even though He's declared that is sinful. And that's worthy of judgment. We can't even stand up against an angry human. We're that fragile. How could we expect? How could we dare to think that we could stand up before an angry God? Before His indignation?

Now this is why the death of Jesus Christ upon the cross is so important. Because the Bible describes it as Jesus being the propitiation for our sins. That word propitiation is not one that you probably use every day. But it means to appease the wrath. Who can stand before the indignation of God? Well, you and I can stand.

Because Jesus stood in our place and received the wrath of God on our behalf. He appeased the wrath of God. God's wrath is satisfied in Christ. Because He's jealous, He's righteous, He must have justice.

And so Jesus volunteered. He said, I'll take their place upon the cross and receive that judgment, that wrath, so that I am their propitiation. I am the appeasement that by faith in Jesus Christ, by faith in what He did for us upon the cross, we now can stand before God because there's no more indignation against us for our sin. Jesus received it all.

Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of His anger? Listen, without Christ, you and I are hopeless. We cannot stand up against God. We cannot stand against His indignation. He is righteous and holy and we are sinful and deserving of the judgment. It's not unjust. It's right and it's fair. And that is why we need a Savior. That is why we need Jesus Christ so desperately.

And so again, we're looking here at the nature of God. He's jealous. He's a God who brings vengeance or justice. He's slow to anger. No one can stand before Him. And here we see in verse 7, the Lord is good. Part of the nature of God that we need to know is that He is good. God is good. He's good. He's always good. Everything He does is good. He doesn't do anything bad.

Nothing he does is bad. Everything is good. That's why Paul is able to declare with confidence in Romans 8:28 that God works all things together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. How on earth can God work all things together for good? Even difficulties and hardships and things that we experience in the life. How can God work that together for good? Well, simply because He is good.

And so as He has a plan and a purpose for our life, as He is working these things together, He is good, His plans are good, everything works out for good to those who love God. To those who receive that propitiation, that appeasement of the wrath of God. Now hell is not good, judgment is not good for those who are receiving it. But He gives us the option that we don't have to receive it.

By faith in Jesus Christ. By faith in His finished work. So the Lord is good. He's a stronghold in the day of trouble. And He knows those who trust in Him. We've been talking about on Sunday mornings that relationship with God. You see, He's good. He's your protection. And He knows you if you trust in Him. And so although God brings justice and He brings vengeance, those who trust in Him have no need to be afraid.

Because He's on your side. He's good. He's taking care of you. And He knows you. He wants that relationship with you. Now you might be pretty familiar with verse 7 here because it's on the wrapper of the In-N-Out Double-Double Burger. And so you might have looked it up once or twice. If you don't believe me, let's go after service and I'll show you.

Because the Lord is good. He's a stronghold in the day of trouble. Those who trust in the Lord have no need to be afraid. However, if you don't trust in the Lord, there's great reason for you to be afraid. Verse 8, he says, With an overflowing flood, He will make an utter end of its place, and darkness will pursue His enemies. Those who are not trusting in God, those who are not walking in right relationship with God, will be swept away.

So those who don't have that appeasement, that propitiation by faith in Jesus Christ, there's great reason to fear. And that's the condition of the city of Nineveh, the nation of Assyria. Although they had repented, they've gone back to their old ways. And they've stored up for themselves wrath. And now it's at the point where God is announcing one more time, judgment is coming.

Now we've seen throughout the prophets as well that when God announces judgment, it's an opportunity to repent. But not like the case as when Jonah preached in that city, the city of Nineveh does not repent after Nahum's message is delivered. And so the city of Nineveh does experience the judgment that is described here in the rest of the book. Well, he begins to describe that a little bit in verse 9. It says...

Verse 1.

Verse 1.

Verse 15, Verse 16,

Here as we look at verses 9 through 15, God is continuing to deal with the nation of Assyria and the city of Nineveh, but He's also throwing some side comments to the nation of Judah.

Now, the northern kingdom had already been conquered. And the nation of Assyria had been attacking the southern kingdom for some time. They'd been trying to conquer the southern kingdom as well. And they'd taken many of the surrounding towns and areas, but Jerusalem held out. Jerusalem was not conquered by Assyria. And so, he speaks here in verse 12 and 13,

to the nation of Judah and he says, look, I'm taking care of this nation that's coming against you. In verse 15 he says, there's going to be good tidings pretty soon. You're going to hear some good news. This nation that has come against you so severely is now broken, now torn apart. And so he tells Judah there in verse 15 to keep their appointed feasts, to perform their vows.

Because Judah, much like you and I do, you know, in the midst of attacks going on around us, they're making vows to the Lord. They're saying, okay, God, if you get us out of this, we're going to serve you, we're going to honor you. Now, the nation of Judah was in trouble because they weren't walking with God rightly. But when Assyria came against them, they called out to the Lord. Under Hezekiah's reign, under other kings as well, they called out, they turned to the Lord. And so God here says, alright, the good news is coming.

I'm taking care of Assyria. Now you do what you said and you be faithful to me. Rejoice in the good news, but then don't take that as an indication, well, you can just go on and live however you want to live. You need to turn and get right with me, he's saying to the nation of Judah. He says, for the wicked one shall no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off.

The nation of Assyria is going to be utterly cut off. That is the reality of what took place. That's what happened. They were cut off. You will not meet an Assyrian today. That nation was completely wiped out. And yet, verse 9 indicates they're conspiring against the Lord.

They're trying to devise a scheme, they're trying to devise a plot where they do not experience the judgment that is due to them. And they think they've got it all figured out. If they have a strong enough army, if their strongholds are fortified enough, if they've got enough money in the bank, if they've got enough soldiers on the field, if they've got their things set up, their strategy in place, they won't experience judgment.

But of course anyone who thinks that they can go against God and succeed, well they're delusional. As delusional as a drunkard. He talks about that in verse 10. And while drunken like drunkards they shall be devoured, notice like stubble fully dried. Like stubble. Like just dried out little branches and shrubs. Fully dried out. How is it consumed by the fire? Like that.

That's how the nation of Assyria is going to be consumed. It's going to be quick. It's going to completely consume them. There's not going to be anything left. And so they're devising, they're thinking, we've outsmarted God, we've got the strength, we've got the resources, we've got the power, we've got the wisdom, but they're as delusional as drunkards. And so God says in verse 14, "...your name shall be perpetuated no longer."

You will not be a people anymore. Why? He says, because you're vile. You're vile. You're wicked. You're in rebellion against Me. And now I'm going to deal with you. And so the nation of Assyria is going to experience the judgment of God. They were at one time used by God to bring correction to God's people. To Israel. To Judah. They were given opportunity to repent through the prophet Jonah. But they've turned back.

This is important for us to understand. Because just because a nation, like our nation, has been used by God to accomplish His purposes, just because a person like you and me have been used by God and been participating in His work and been part of what He's doing, that does not exclude us from experiencing the judgment of God if we turn away from Him.

The nation of Assyria was God's instrument against Israel and Judah. The nation of Assyria also repented and turned back to God. But repentance and turning back to God does not exclude you from judgment if you don't continue to walk with God.

You see, there's importance that we learn here from the example of Assyria that you can be used by God, you can repent and turn back to God, but if you don't continue to walk with the Lord, you will experience His vengeance, His indignation. There is an absolute necessity for you and I to continue in right relationship with God by faith in Jesus Christ. And we cannot...

play around with sin or continue on in a sinful lifestyle. We cannot allow it to continue in our lives because, well, the reality is, looking at the nature of God, yes, He's slow to anger, but He is jealous. And He will not allow disobedience to continue. He deserves, He belongs in the number one place of your heart. To have the full devotion, the full passion,

For you to be totally, completely committed to Him. That's where He belongs. And if you give Him anything else, you'll begin to learn that He is a jealous God. And you begin to apply your devotion and your passion to these other things ahead of Him, you'll find that God will begin to bring judgment on those things in your life because He is a jealous God. That is His nature. Because those things are destructive to us. They're harmful. The wages of sin is death.

Always, without exception. And He loves us. And so He doesn't want to see us experience the destruction and devastation of sin. He's a jealous God. And so He'll bring judgment. He'll bring discipline so that we don't continue and experience the ultimate judgment. Nations cannot escape the judgment of God. They cannot get away with sin. And neither can you or I.

Because that violates the nature of God. He's slow to anger, but He does not, He will not, He will never acquit the wicked. Those who are wicked, those who continue to practice wickedness, He will bring judgment upon them. Whether it be a person or a nation. That's His nature. And He changes not. It's a warning for us. Yes, God is good.

And He knows those who trust in Him. But we need to trust in Him. And we need to walk in that relationship with Him. Because He will destroy those who do not. He's a righteous God. He will have it no other way. Well, now we go on into chapter 2. In verse 1 it says,

Verse 1.

Verse 5,

They make haste to her walls, and the defense is prepared. The gates of the rivers are opened, and the palace is dissolved. It is decreed, she shall be led away captive. She shall be brought up, and her maidservant shall lead her as with the voice of doves beating their breasts.

Here as we look at chapter 2 now, we begin to see the destruction that God is declaring upon the city of Nineveh and the nation of Assyria. He starts out with a warning. He who scatters, or it could also be translated, he who destroys, has come up before your face. Man the fort. He's telling them, get ready. Be on your guard. Nineveh, Assyria,

The destruction is now upon you. Strengthen your flanks. Fortify your power. Get ready for the battle because you're going to be wiped out. He says in verse 2, the Lord will restore the excellence of Jacob. And so although Assyria was used by God to deal with His people who were in sin, the nation of Israel has the promise of God that He will restore them.

We've seen that throughout the prophets. The promise of that millennial kingdom where He rules and reigns and they will be restored and blessed and there will be abundance. But the nation of Assyria does not have that promise of God. They will be consumed. The excellence of Jacob will be restored. Although Assyria emptied them out, they will be restored. But Assyria will now be emptied out and will not be restored.

And so now he describes this army that's coming against him. The shields of the mighty men that are made red. The valiant men in scarlet. The chariots that are coming. The spears that are brandished. He talks about these chariots raging in the streets and jostling one another. The armies packed against them. They're bumping shoulders with one another. The chariots are bumping against each other as they come against the nation of Assyria and the city of Nineveh.

And God remembers the nobles. He remembers the leaders of that city, of that nation. And they will stumble. They're going to try to get the defenses ready, but it won't be successful. And there in verse 6, He talks about the gates of the rivers being opened and the palace is dissolved. It's an interesting prophecy because secular historians, that is, outside of the Bible, we have records of the destruction of the city of Nineveh.

And it records there in history how there was an amazing amount of rain as this battle was underway, as the siege was underway.

incredible amount of rain caused the Tigris River, which was where Nineveh was located, right on the banks of it. And so it caused the Tigris River to overflow and to really wash out the walls. All the strong protection that it had around the city were wiped out by the floods as a result of the heavy rains. And so here God is declaring how He's going to do it. The gates of the rivers being opened and the palace being dissolved.

How do you fight against that, Assyria? How do you protect yourself against that? You cannot. God is proving that He is God, that this is His work, bringing this destruction upon them for their sin. He says in verse 7, it's decreed. This is it. This is what has been declared. This is what will take place. She will be led away captive.

Assyria is going to be led away captive. They're going to be conquered. They're going to be destroyed. Well, we see that continue in verse 8. It says, "...Though Nineveh of old was like a pool of water, now they flee away. Halt! Halt! they cry, but no one turns back. Take spoil of silver, take spoil of gold. There is no end of treasure or wealth of every desirable prize."

She is empty, desolate and waste. The heart melts and the knees shake. Much pain is in every side and all their faces are drained of color. Where is the dwelling of the lions and the feeding place of the young lions? Where the lion walked and the lioness and lion's cub and no one made them afraid. The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, killed for his lionesses, filled his caves with prey and his dens with flesh.

He says,

And even though the commanders are saying, Halt! Don't run! Hold your place! Hold the line! Nobody's listening. They're fleeing. They're running for their lives. This strong nation, this... Well, it was thought impossible to conquer the city of Nineveh. But now they're running for their lives. Everybody is fearful. And so verse 9, the command is given, Take spoil of silver and gold. There's no end of the treasure.

It was the Babylonian kingdom that conquered the city of Nineveh. And they went through and they took all... There was tremendous wealth in the city because Assyria was the world power of the day. And so all the nations that they conquered, they took all the treasures of those nations and kingdoms back to Nineveh, back to Assyria. And now Babylon is able to plunder Nineveh.

And to take all of that gold, that silver, the endless treasure that they had collected. And now, verse 10, Nineveh is empty, desolate, and waste. This is the reality of sin. This is the reality of what sin does to us. Although, yeah, it might be nice for a little bit to have all the gold and silver and all these things of life that we think, oh, this is it, we got it made.

Sin deceives us because we think, "Oh, this is awesome. I have all this stuff. I've got this wonderful life. Everything's together. I'm strong. I'm rich. I have what I need." But what it ends up leaving you, it ends up leaving you with nothing. So that you're empty, desolate and waste. That's what sin does. That's the result of running from God, of rebelling against God.

you'll find yourself empty, desolate, and waste. And so he says in verse 13, Behold, I am against you. That's a pretty strong and should be a little terrifying statement. God says, I'm against you. Now we hold on to Romans chapter 8 verse 31, right? Where Paul says, If God is for us, who can be against us? Yeah, God's with us. No one can stand against us.

He'll protect us. He'll keep us safe. But that's a promise for those who are walking with God, who are right with God. Now look, if you're not right with God, if you're walking in sin, if you're continuing in rebellion against God, you can't just take that promise for yourself. Well, that's misapplying the Scriptures. In fact, if you're in rebellion against God, you're like the nation of Assyria, and God would declare, I am against you.

Now God is not against people because He doesn't like them or because He doesn't love them. He's against people who have set themselves up against God. To turn, to walk in sin, to live in rebellion, to disregard God, it's not to be neutral, but it's to be against God. Just as Jesus said, you're either for me or against me. You're either gathering with me or you're scattering.

That's the only two options. There's no middle ground. There's no gray area. And so either God is for you or He's against you. But whether God is for you or against you is up to you. It's based upon you and your response to Him. And if you're obedient to Him, if you're responding to Him, if you're walking with Him, then God is for you. But if you're disregarding God and His Word, then God is against you. And if God is against you, who can be for you?

That's the question we need to ask and consider. If God is against you, who can be for you? For the nation of Assyria, they experienced the judgment of God because God was against them. Not because He hated them, He loved them. God would have preferred that they turned and got right with Him and received His mercy and grace. That's why He slowed to anger, giving them opportunity. But they refused. They set themselves up against God.

And so they experienced the judgment, the righteous indignation, the wrath of God. And now we head into chapter 3, verse 1. It says, Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. Its victim never departs.

The noise of a whip and the noise of rattling wheels, of galloping horses, of clattering chariots. Horsemen charged with bright sword and glittering spear. There is a multitude of slain, a great number of bodies, countless corpses. They stumble over the corpses. Verse 4. Because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot. Verse 5.

the mistress of sorceries, who sells nations through her harlotries and families through her sorceries. God here describes the destruction upon Nineveh. He pronounces woe upon Nineveh, the bloody city, because its victim never departs. He talks about the noise of the chariots, the horses as they come against the nation. And he says there in verse 3, there's a multitude of slain.

A multitude of slain. Again, there's historical accounts of what took place there outside of the Bible. And one historian describes it this way, So great was the multitude of the slain that the flowing stream mingled with their blood changed its color for a considerable distance. For a long ways out...

The river had changed its color because of the blood that was flowing into the stream from all those who had been slain. This was a massive destruction that took place. And why? Why would this happen? Why would God allow this? Why would God bring this upon the city? Well, he says in verse 4, "...because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot."

Now, harlotry, of course, is prostitution, but it's not just the physical, the literal act. God often uses harlotry as a picture for spiritual unfaithfulness to God.

And as a picture of unfaithfulness to God spiritually, again, this word jealousy comes into play. That when we are unfaithful to God in our hearts, it's harlotry. When we are devoted to other things, when other things occupy the passion, the priority that belongs to God, it's harlotry. And God is a jealous God. And when we give our hearts to something else,

He's slow to anger, but He will not allow it to continue. There will come a point where His vengeance will be enacted in our lives. And we will experience His righteous jealousy, His righteous anger, the destruction that comes from rebelling against God. These are things that we see here for the nation of Assyria, but as I said at the beginning, these are the same principles, the same rules, same laws of God for us individually as nations.

And it's important for us to consider. With the United States, we started off great. But multitude of harlotries, that's an apt description for the United States in regards to the things of God. There's a multitude of unfaithfulness to God. He also talks about, though, there in verse 4, selling nations and families through their harlotries and sorceries. And so it's not just that the nation itself had turned against God, but their families

Causing others to be deceived and to be led astray from the things of God. That again, I think is an apt description of our nation. So it's a warning for us. It's a reason for us to be praying for our nation. Because we are deserving of the same judgment as a whole. It applies to individuals. It applies to nations. Whatever you sow, that you will also reap. Verse 5.

Here we see that again. Says the Lord of hosts. Where shall I seek comforters for you?

Verse 1.

Her young children also were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. You also will be drunk. You will be hidden. You also will seek refuge from the enemy. Again, God says, I'm against you. I'm bringing judgment against you. He says, I'm going to uncover and reveal your shame. I'm going to reveal your wickedness, your vileness.

That word vile means to be weak and foolish and contemptible. He says, I'm going to show you. I'm going to show the world how foolish you are in rebelling against me and ignoring my commands and my calls to repentance. He asked them a question in verse 8. Are you better than Noammon? Noammon was a place, it was a city that was in the region of Egypt.

It's also known as Thebes, which you might have heard of. Now, Thebes was a very wealthy and mighty city. And he talks about the rampart was the sea. They had some natural fortifications and protection. It was a hard city to conquer. And yet, that city was conquered and carried away into captivity.

Now he's not just picking out some random example here. This would be very familiar to the people of Nineveh because it was the people of Nineveh who conquered the city that he's talking about. It was a mighty city. The nation of Assyria, the city of Nineveh, they conquered the city. They led them away captive. God says, are you better than they? Do you think you're stronger than them? Do you think you're more righteous than them?

They were conquered. And He says in verse 11, You also will be drunk. You will be hidden. You will seek refuge from the enemy. In the same way that they were fleeing, that they were trying to hide, that they were trying to escape, God says, You will try to escape. Are you better than no Ammon? Than thieves? There's a deceitfulness that happens in our hearts, especially when we're in rebellion against God. Because we look around and we think,

Yeah, I'm not so bad as that person. I'm not involved in that. Yeah, I know it's sin that I'm doing. I know it's not really right, but I'm not killing anybody. I'm not hurting anybody. We look around and we compare and we think we're better than these other people. If we look at history and see how God dealt with

people who had rebelled against him, we think, well, I'm an exception to that. I'm not like that. My case is different. God understands me. And we excuse our sin and we deceive ourselves and we think, yeah, I'm better than Thebes. I'm better than Loam. We look at this account here in Nahum and we think, yeah, I'm better than Assyria. Because we think we're not going to experience judgment for our rebellion against God. But if a nation will not escape judgment for sin,

Rest assured, you and I as individuals, we will not escape. Don't be deceived. God cannot be mocked.

Verse 12. Verse 13.

Verse 1.

You have multiplied your merchants more than the stars of heaven. The locust plunders and flies away. Your commanders are like swarming locusts and your generals like great grasshoppers which camp in the hedges on a cold day. When the sun rises, they flee away and the place where they are is not known.

Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria. Your nobles rest in the dust. Your people are scattered on the mountains and no one gathers them. Your injury has no healing. Your wound is severe. All who hear news of you will clap their hands over you for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually. Here as we finish off the book, God uses a lot of pictures to illustrate

what is going to happen to Assyria. He says, all your strongholds are like fig trees with ripened figs. Now, I've never tried this with a fig tree, but apparently when ripened figs are on the tree, they're not difficult for them to come loose. And so you can shake the tree and the figs start to fall.

That's what God says their strongholds are like. What you're trusting in, your walls, your armories, your strongholds, your fortresses, all I got to do is shake them a little bit and they're going to collapse. They're going to fall off the tree. Just like figs that are ripened. Then he describes them in verse 13 as being like women. Now no insult intended, okay, but...

When you're in the midst of a war, you don't want, okay, sure, some ladies on the battlefield, go for it, that's fine. But you don't want all of your army to be like women. Because there's not strength there.

You can jump me afterwards, okay ladies? I'm not saying I'm stronger than all of you. I'm just saying in the midst of a battle, I'm not even saying it. Forget that. God's saying it. Look, verse 13. Narrowly missed that one, huh? He says, you're in danger. You're going to be overwhelmed and destroyed. He tells them, hey, get ready. Draw water for the siege. Fortify your strongholds. Go ahead. Give it your best shot.

Make yourself many. Raise up for yourself commanders. Raise up a mighty army. Go ahead. Do your best. It won't matter. You're going to be destroyed. He says your commanders are like swarming locusts. We've seen locusts before in the book of Joel, right? The locusts, they come massive swarms. I mean, you can't see through them because they just, they come in such a swarm.

And they've got multitudes of people, a big army. They have this, but he talks about when the sun rises, the grasshoppers flee away and nobody can find them. When the battle starts, when the heat is on, all that multitude that you're trusting in, they're going to flee away. They're going to be gone. And you will not find them. He talks about and paints in the picture in verse 18 of the shepherds.

Now if there's one thing a shepherd is not supposed to do, it's sleep while he's on the job. Because how can you watch and protect the sheep while you're sleeping? But he says, Assyria, your shepherds slumber. Nobody's watching out for you. They've fallen asleep. You're in danger. They can't lead you. They can't protect you. And so the people are scattered on the mountain and nobody gathers them. Then he talks about it in verse 19 like an injury. An injury that has no healing. Again, the point is...

You're going to be completely wiped out, completely conquered, dispersed, and it's going to be unrecoverable. It's going to be unrecoverable. And all the nations that you impacted, they're going to clap their hands, they're going to rejoice because you severely afflicted them. They're not going to get away with their rebellion against God. George and Patty are going to come up and lead us in a worship song. As they do, I want to ask you to consider.

Jesus is the propitiation for us and He's the appeasement. The wrath of God that's due to us for sin is right, it's just. We deserve judgment just like Nineveh did. But we receive the forgiveness and the mercy of God as we turn to the Lord in repentance, faith in Jesus Christ, that He took our place, believing Him at His Word.

Peter tells us in one of his letters, he says, it's not tedious for me to write the same things to you. I'm sure for some, I must sound like a broken record because every week, for many weeks now, as we've been studying through the prophets, it's a call to repentance. But this is where God has us. And God has us here because, well, we need to repent. And there are those that he's speaking to right now. There are those that he's calling out to. He's saying, look, you're like Nineveh.

And you think you've got it figured out. You think you've got it handled. You think you've figured out a way that you will not experience my judgment for rebelling against me. But don't be deceived. God cannot be mocked. Whatever you sow, that is what you will reap. And you cannot rebel against God and get away with it. What scheme can you devise against God? Remember His nature. He's Jealous.

He will not put up with a heart that's divided. He will not put up with continuing in sin. He will not put up with it. He is slow to anger. And so that means you're here today. I'm here today. It's an opportunity for us. If God's speaking to your heart, it's an opportunity for you to repent, to turn and get right with Him. Just like Nineveh did when Jonah preached...

And you can escape the judgment of God that He is pronouncing this evening. You can escape the wrath of God. You can receive Jesus as the propitiation for your sin by repenting and turning to Him and walking with Him. You're alive today because God wants you to turn and be right with Him, to walk with Him. It's not an opportunity for you to continue on and just think that it will never catch up to you. It's an opportunity...

for you to get right with God. And so as they lead us in this song, I want to ask you once again this evening to respond to what God is speaking to your heart. Respond. Is He convicting you of sin? Is He highlighting something in your heart? Repent. Don't put up with it. Don't allow it. Don't justify it or excuse it. Turn from it. Get rid of it. Deal with it. Don't continue on in rebellion against God like the city of Nineveh did.

So let's worship the Lord this evening. And as we do, you spend time with the Lord. Make sure your heart's right. You walk with Him and receive His mercy and grace. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.