Severity & Goodness of God

I'm going to send you on a scavenger hunt. Find the book of Nahum. Find the book of Nahum. That's where we're going to turn this morning. The book of Nahum. I'll give you a hint. Jonah, Micah, Nahum. So, Nahum. The page number is 823. I'll give you two pieces of candy if you can find it without the page number. Nahum.

This morning we're going to do things a little bit different than normal, because, see, Nahum is really a sequel to the book of Jonah. They're separated by the book of Micah, but that's just because that's kind of the order that the church has followed for centuries, and so we don't mess with that order. But really, Nahum is the sequel to the book of Jonah. Both of them are addressed and talking about the people of Nineveh. But the tone is drastically different in Nahum.

And so this morning we're going to try to do something. I'm going to need you to buckle up because we're going to try to get through the entire book of Nahum in the next 30 minutes. All right, so we're going to break this apart chunk by chunk. It's only three chapters. And I've given you kind of a timeline in your handouts. I know the reading is really small. You might need a magnifying glass for that, right? But I wanted you to see the sequence of events. So as I'm speaking about what's happened in history past, you understand what's gone on. And so in 760 BC, right around that time, Jonah preaches to Nineveh and they repent.

Zoom forward 40 years later though, and Judah has actually appealed to Assyria for help, and Assyria somewhat comes, but really they just make them a vassal, right? They're just the lords over them now, and extract a whole bunch of money from them. And then, in 722, Assyria is back in power and actually destroys the whole northern kingdom of Israel. Remember, Israel splits up into the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. And Assyria is the one who destroys the northern kingdom. And remember, Nineveh is that great city of Assyria. And then, just about 10 years later, in 701 BC, Assyria actually comes and tries to destroy Judah itself. And in 660, Nahum preaches this sermon, these series of condemnations against Nineveh, saying that Nineveh is going to be destroyed. And indeed in 612, Nineveh is destroyed. But then in 586, Jerusalem is destroyed by the Babylonians.

So you need to have all that background, right? Because I've noticed, if you try to watch a sequel without knowing the background, you can get kind of lost. We took our daughter to a movie this past week, and just Deborah and Olivia and myself, and we went and we watched this movie, and it's this Inside Out 2, right? And we came home and we were trying to explain to mom what was going on with this movie, and you could tell she was kind of getting it, but kind of scratching her head, right? Like, I don't know the backstory behind this. Well, you've worked through the book of Jonah, and now you've been brought up to speed on the ancient history. But as we get into the book of Nahum, and we go through each section, I need you to take home this truth with you, keep this in the back of your mind, that God is not going to be mocked. Do not be deceived. God will not be mocked.

Prayer for Illumination

So, let's go ahead and pray, and we'll go into Nahum, beginning at chapter 1. God, we thank You so much for the book of Nahum. Lord, we pray that You would give us some type of miraculous intervention today that we would be able to get through this book. Lord, we're going to be moving at a fast speed. But Father, I pray, pleading with You that Your Holy Spirit would take the weighty words of this book. Lord, it is one of the most difficult passages to work through. As we think about Your severity, And we pray, Lord, that your spirit might soften our hearts, that we would take your severity seriously, and that you would turn us from that sense of awe of your holiness and justice, and let us know how good you are to us.

Sermon

Please, Lord, help us in Jesus's name. Amen. Well, in Nahum 1, verses 1-8, I want you to look at that with me, and we're going to see God, how He displays His character. Nahum 1, verses 1-8. The burden against Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum, the Elkoshite.

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. Bation and caramel 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. 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." Did you catch how Nahum sees God here? This is not a little tiny God to be trifled with. No, this is the God who moves the mountains, who brings the rain, who the mountains quake before Him. He knows who are His and He will not be mocked. But notice what He says now in verses 9 through 15. As the Lord, out of who He is, talks about His plans. The Lord talks about His plans in 9-15. What do you conspire against the Lord?

He will make an utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time. For while tangled like thorns and while drunken like drunkards, they shall be devoured like stubble fully dried. From you comes forth one who plots evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor. Thus says the Lord, though they are safe and likewise many, yet in this manner they will be cut down. When he passes through, though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.

He's speaking to Judah here. For I will break off his yoke from you. and burst your bonds apart. God is telling them, I'm going to break the yoke of Assyria. I'm going to stop them from what they're doing to you, Judah. Verse 14, the Lord has given a command concerning you. Your name shall be perpetuated no longer. Out of the house of your gods, I will cut off the carved image and the molded image. I will dig your grave, for you are vile." This is what the Lord says to Assyria. He's going to dig their own grave. He's going to break off their idolatry. And then He says in verse 15, Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace.

O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, perform your vows, For the wicked shall no more pass through you. He is utterly cast off or cut off." Judah is going to have relief from Assyria. Judah is going to no longer be fearful of the constant threat of heavy lordship or even of destruction. But then something changes in chapter 2.

As Nahum describes Nineveh's judgment. And this should fear us. This should make us see what it's like when the Lord decrees disaster. Look with me at verses 1-5. As God says to prepare for the war. He who scatters has come up before your face. Man the fort. Watch the road. Strengthen your flanks. Fortify your power mightily. For the Lord will restore the excellence of Jacob like the excellence of Israel.

For the emptiers have emptied them out and ruined their vine branches. The shields of His mighty men are made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots come with flaming torches. in the day of His preparation. And the spears are brandished. The chariots rage in the streets. They jostle one another in the broad road. They seem like torches. They run like lightning. He remembers His nobles. They stumble in their walk. They make haste to Her walls. And the defense is prepared. And God is telling them, the enemy is coming. This is what they're like.

And we don't know if these shields were painted red or if this is a vision like their shields are drenching in the blood of their enemies. It's meant to strike fear in the hearts of the people of Nineveh. And there's no mercy for these merciless people.

Look with me at verses 6 through 10. The gates of the rivers are opened and the palace is dissolved. It is decreed Shall she be led away captive? She shall be brought up, and her maidservant shall lead her as with the voice of doves beating their breasts. Though Nineveh was of old, 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, a waste. The heart melts and the knees shake. Much pain is on every side. And all their faces are drained of color.

And then as we look at verses 11 and 12 and 13, we see that even though Nineveh was like a lion, she's going to be destroyed. Where is the dwelling of the lions and the feeding place of the young lions? Where the lion walked the lioness and the lion's cub and no one made them afraid. The lion tore in pieces enough for her cubs, killed for her lionesses, filled his caves with prey and his dens with flesh. Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts. I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall be heard no more.

Assyria was like those who saw themselves as strong lions who could go out and cause terror amongst the nations. As Assyria spread across the crescent of the fertile crescent, and they moved, and they conquered people, and conquered people, and conquered people. They took their things, took their spoil, and took it and brought it back to their own people. God says, I'm going to destroy your chariots. I'm going to end your cities. It's not going to happen anymore. And this is why, chapter 3, Nineveh's total destruction is deserved.

Look at me, verse 1 through 4, just how God describes this city of sin. 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, and a great number of bodies, countless corpses, they stumble over the corpses because of the multitude of harlotries of the seductive harlot, the mistresses of sorceries who sell nations through her harlotries. and families through her sorceries. This is a city marked by lies, robbery, brutality, idolatry, witchcraft, sorceries. And the Lord said, that's enough. I won't put up with a city like this forever.

And then He says in verses 5-7 that He's going to expose their wicked ways to everyone. Look with me at verses five through seven of chapter three. Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts. I will lift up your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile and make you a spectacle. It shall come to pass that all who look upon you will flee from you and say, Nineveh is laid waste. Who will bemoan her? Where shall I seek comforters for you? And then in verses 8 through 11, God says, it's not the first time I've done this. I'm not bluffing. Look at the city of Thebes. Verses 8 through 11.

Are you better than no Ammon that was situated by the river, that had the waters around her whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the sea, Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was boundless. Putt and Lubbin were your helpers, yet she was carried away. She went into captivity. 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."

This is when it's talking about Noam, and this is talking about the city of Thebes that God did destroy on the banks of the Nile River. God says, look, I'm able to do it, and I'm going to do it again. He says, they're weak and ready for plunder in verses 12-13. And your strongholds are fig trees with ripened figs. If they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. Surely your people in your midst are women. The gates of your land are wide open for your enemies. Fire shall devour the bars of your gates."

And he says, go ahead. Go ahead and get ready for the war that's coming. But I'm not going to give you any hope. Verses 14 through 17. Draw your waters for the siege. Fortify your strongholds. Go into the clay and tread the mortar. Make strong the brick kiln. There the fire will devour you. The sword will cut you off.

It will eat you up like a locust. Make yourselves many like locusts. Make yourselves many like the swarming locusts. 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. where they thought they had strength, where they thought they had might, where they thought they had prestige and a chance for victory, God says, no. No. Your strong men are like women. Your walls are going to crumble. Your city is going to be destroyed. The fatal blow is going to come to them for their endless cruelty.

Look with me, finally, in verses 18 and 19. Your shepherds slumber, O king of Syria. 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."

Assyria would be destroyed. Nineveh would fall. Nahum is not preaching to them what Jonah did, right? We remember Jonah going in in chapter 3 and telling them, repent, repent of your brutality, repent of your evil. And the people did. Remember the king of Nineveh, when he took off his robe and he put on sackcloth and ashes and he mourned. Now we're zooming forward only a few years to the next generation. And they've forgotten. They've turned away from the Lord. Assyria is not only brutally thirsty for power and prestige, but they even want to destroy the God of Israel himself. This is exactly what happens in 2 Kings 18. This is one of the amazing things when we get into some of the minor prophets and major prophets. They overlap with the histories that we actually have of what happened.

And so if we go to 2 Kings chapter 18, we find that the king wasn't just trying to get power, the king wasn't just trying to get prestige for himself, but in 2 Kings 18 verses 33-35, 33-34, sorry, it says, He shall not come into the city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor build a siege mound against it.

This is God saying that's not what the Assyrians are going to be allowed to do. But by the way he came, by the same shall he return, and he shall not come into the city, says the Lord. Why? For I have defended this city to save it for my own sake and for my servant David's sake. If you went And you read through what Shennacherib had actually said to the people of Israel, to the people of Jerusalem. It was that he was going to destroy not only their king, but also their God. What are their gods? He actually challenges them. He says, what are their gods if any other nation have been able to save them? None of them. None of them. The Lord's no different.

The Lord's going to fall before our mighty army. Assyria was not only bloodthirsty, but they wanted to mock and destroy the Lord. But the Lord responded. The Lord responded to this mocking. Think about this. This massive army from Nineveh, from Assyria, travels hundreds of miles, goes across the fertile grassland, goes down the Mediterranean Sea, lands around the city of Judah, surrounds the city of Judah, is ready to destroy. They send messengers to King Hezekiah, mocking God, telling the people not to trust in the Lord because they're going to fail. And the Lord tells Hezekiah, don't worry about it.

I'm going to take care of them. And in one night, one angel of the Lord destroys 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. In one night, one angel of the Lord, they just mocked the Lord of heaven and earth, and the Lord responds by sending one angel and destroys almost 200,000 of their strongest soldiers.

This is the terror and the God that Nahum is trying to bring to the people of Nineveh, saying, this is the God you've mocked. This is the God that you were supposed to repent of and follow, and instead, now you've gone your own way with your violence. This is the context for the destruction that Nahum preaches.

Okay, well that's great. Thanks for the history lesson, Brian. It's been a good 23 minutes. So what in the world does this have to do with me? I think it's got everything to do with us. I think it's got absolutely everything to do with us. Jonah preached repentance. And the people listened.

Zoom forward just a couple decades, and they're back to their old ways, back to their old sins, back to their brutality, back to their lust for their covetous greed, back to their evil ways in which the God had warned them, if you do not repent within 40 days, the city is going to be destroyed. God holds off. The Lord holds off. Why? Because they had repented.

But in the church, in the modern day and age, every single time there's a new generation that is born and comes up and blesses the church with being here, we cannot take it for granted that the next generation is going to follow the Lord. We can't take it for granted that the next generation, even the children sitting in these pews, are going to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. The Assyrians had their power, they had their money, they had their riches, but they were never closer to their own demise. It's not just the pagan Assyrians. I fear even in the church today, in the great amount of prosperity that we have, in the great power that we have in this nation, we are just in the same place. where every generation has to repent of our own sins.

Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. You might say, well, Brian, hold on. Aren't we talking about pagan Assyria, right? What about Judah, right? They weren't facing this judgment. Well, that's true. That's true. Why wasn't Judah facing that same type of judgment?

Because at the time when Nahum is preaching, Hezekiah is on the throne. Because there's a revival in the land, turning away from their own idolatry and turning towards God. They have their kings who are going towards them, but that's not going to endure in Judah either. And actually, as they turn more and more towards Judah, God's people turn more and more even towards sin and idolatry, This is what the Lord says in Hosea 11.

When Israel was a child, I loved him. And out of Egypt I called my son. As they called him, they went from them. They sacrificed to Baals and burned incense to carved images. I taught Ephraim to walk, taking him by the arms. But they did not know that I healed them. I drew them with gentle cords, with bands of love. And I was to them those who take the yoke from their neck. I stooped down and fed them." Do you hear the loving care that God has for his people here? How he's saying he loved them like these children. He said, he shall not return to the land of Egypt. But here's the shocking part. Hosea 11, five, but the Assyrian shall be his king because they refuse to repent. Why was Assyria allowed to conquer the northern kingdom?

God's own people. Because even though they were God's people by the flesh, they turned away from the Lord in their idolatry. And the Lord raised up even this wicked nation to come and to be the judgment upon them. God's people aren't outside of God's judgment if we do not actually follow Him. God Himself had allowed the Assyrians to go after their greedy hearts. as they wanted to destroy Israel for their own reasons.

But the Lord was using this to bring judgment upon a spiritually adulterous people. The same rings true in the Old Testament as the New Testament. Do not be deceived. God will not be mocked. For whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. The Lord punished the northern kingdom of Israel for their sins. The Lord punished Assyria for their sins. The Lord punished Judah for her sins, and the Lord will punish us if we are not repenting of our own sins. This is why the Westminster Shorter Catechism says we must turn from sin.

What is repentance unto life? Repentance unto life is a saving grace whereby a sinner out of a true sense of his sin and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ doth with grief and hatred of his sin turn from it unto God with full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience.

Do you have a grief and hatred for your sin? When you find yourself confronted with your shortcomings and your failings and your lack of righteousness before God, does it actually bother you? Do you do anything about it? Do you turn against it? When you found that you have been walking in the darkness, do you turn and walk in the light?

See, Judah wanted justice against their enemy, the Assyrians. And God would give them mercy because of the repentance of Hezekiah. But if the people did not continue following the Lord, He would not spare them. And I promise you, the Lord will not spare the American church or any church anywhere on the globe if it forsakes our Lord Jesus Christ, follows after the ways of this world, and continues to walk in their own sin. So my question is, are we following the Lord? We must be those who repent and seek the Lord. Search your heart.

I know this is a heavy sermon, it's a hard sermon, but I need you to ask yourself, where have you become comfortable with your sin? Where have you made excuses for your covetousness? Where have you indulged in slander? Where have you enjoyed the juicy morsels of gossip? Where have you treated the Lord's Day as a trifle?

Search your life. Are you committed to truth bearing or does your tongue betray you? What do you allow your eyes to see? Would you be ashamed if somebody saw your browsing history? Are you truly listening to the words of Jesus? If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. Are you following that radical repentance?

Or have you justified your lack of integrity and righteousness? Have you justified or just brushed away that it's okay to steal from your employer because everybody else does? Are you a slave to your stomach? Have you justified in your mind how you can just make a couple, they're just accounting errors, stealing from your employees or from the government or from your employer?

We need to be honest about the place in our hearts where we still struggle with pride, greed, hatred, breaking oaths, retaliation, and even judgmentalism. Have you given into the false thinking that since you have been saved by grace, Jesus is so good, I'm saved by grace, right? I've been preaching that really heavy for the last four weeks. Do we check our hearts now and say, are we those people of Romans who have said, oh, I've been saved by grace, now I can sin, and maybe grace abounds?

May it never be, brothers and sisters. Or maybe you're like so many, Have you just been treating the redemption of Jesus Christ like a get-out-of-hell-free card? It's just your fire insurance. Search your hearts, brothers and sisters. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, so he will also reap.

As of this point, I want to speak to children. Kids, we don't have any guarantee of the type of person you are going to become. You have to own for yourself who you will be in this life. God has blessed you with being put into covenant homes with parents who love you and read the Bible with you, bring you to church and pray for you, but you will not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven on your parents' or grandparents' faith. It must be yours. No one can enter into the kingdom of heaven unless he be born again.

Will you repent of your sins? Will you confess? Will you confess your guilt and helplessness as a sinner against God? Will you profess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, your only hope in life and death? Will you dedicate your life to His service?

Children, you must decide whom you will serve. If it is the God of this world, if it is the things of this world, go and serve the things and the gods of this world. But if you are going to serve the Lord, serve Him with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Believe in Him, cling to Him, trust in Him, and love Him alone. You must receive Him by faith yourself. You must bow the knee to Him yourself.

Your parents can't push you into the kingdom. They can provide all the blessings for you that God puts in their hands, but it is you. This is why we tell you regularly at communion seasons, if that is you and you are wanting to make that public profession of faith yourself, come and meet with the elders. But we can't take it for granted that the next generation is going to end up Christian. It's a sad reality of a fact. I'm just going to give you seven examples. I don't think I need to provide too many of these because we know them in our own families, but historical and more modern examples. In 1645, William Kidd was born to a good Scottish Presbyterian family.

And he became one of the worst pirates of the 1600s. The most notorious pirate of all time, Blackbeard himself, was raised in a Christian family, was baptized as a child. The gangster and bake robber Jesse James was born to a Baptist minister. America's first serial killer H.H. Holmes was raised in a devout Methodist family. Eric Rudolph, the man who bombed the 1996 Olympics, was raised in a Christian family. Richard Dawkins.

One of the most prolific writers to try to convince people of atheism and that God doesn't exist was born into an Anglican family, baptized as a child into the church. Dan Baker, in our own country, the co-founder of Freedom From Religion, was raised in a Christian home.

We cannot take for granted that the next generation is going to continue in the way of faith. And sadly, this is what we see happen in the book of Nahum. The people of Nineveh had repented when Jonah came to them in Jonah chapter 3. Zoom forward just a matter of years. There's a new generation. Who's the Lord?

We don't want him. We don't like him. Actually, we'd rather just destroy him and his people. Do not be deceived, children. God is not mocked. For whatever you sow, that you must also reap. So is there any hope? Is there any hope? Do we just end this sermon with doom and gloom, fire and brimstone? No. Absolutely not.

There is hope to be found in Jesus Christ, just like there is hope to be found in Jonah chapter 3. I am not convinced that we are at Nahum yet, even for you in the church today. If you are hearing my voice today, I am telling you there is still hope for you. Repent from your sin, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, have your sin washed in His blood, walk in the newness of life, and find hope for eternity. Because someday the judgment day will come, for it is appointed for every man to die, and after this the judgment But while there is still air in your lungs, there is hope for your life.

So turn to Jesus Christ. There is forgiveness in Him. God has poured out His Spirit into our hearts that we might cry out, Abba, Father. And if you are one of His children, you know that that is true for you. So remain steadfast, Christian. Do not forget the hope that you have in Jesus Christ. Do not forget the redemption that you have in His blood. For the only hope we have is that hope in Jesus.

And so as we wrap up this sermon, I just want to encourage you. I want to encourage you to keep clinging to Jesus and walking in that light that He has called you. I'm going to conclude this sermon just by reading 1 John 1, verses 5 through 10. 1 John 5, verses 1-10. This is the message we have heard from Him, that being Jesus, and declare to you.

God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him, and yet walk in the darkness, we lie, and we do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His Word is not in us. Is His Word in you? Do you confess who you are by nature as a helpless sinner?

Closing Prayer

Because it's in that dark place, knowing the wrath that we deserve, that we can turn from our sin and turn unto God. And we can find life. We can find hope. And indeed, we find joy that will last for all eternity. Let's pray. Father, you are good. You save us and you love us by the power of your Spirit and through the blood of your Son. Lord, we pray that we would not deceive ourselves, lie to ourselves, and act as if we don't have sin. No, Lord.

We freely confess to you that we desperately need your son. And Father, we pray that you would please give us perseverance to endure even till the very end. Lord, we do plead with you for our children, that they may rise up and become mighty men and women of your kingdom. That they might know you far better than we ever have. Lord, we pray for the children in the churches today, and in this congregation specifically here, that they may be more courageous in the faith than we could ever imagine ourselves being. That they may be more committed to your truth than we ever could imagine ourselves being. Lord, we pray that you would raise up a new generation who would own your covenant, cling to your promises, and walk in your ways.

Lord, and as we fail, Lord, you know we do. As parents, grandparents, friends and disciples in the church, Lord, we pray that they would see our brokenness and they would not see people who are self-righteous, but people who have admitted their sins, confess them to you. Lord, please make us a people marked by repentance, marked by a love for you. and marked by a desire for holiness, because you are good. Father, please help us. We pray these things in Jesus' name.