Good News for the Persecuted

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth and we�re going to do a little Facebook Live slash No Compromise Radio show. It was holiday last week and therefore I didn�t get a lot of shows in, so it is later in the evening, 826 here in Worcester, Massachusetts, for a radio show with Facebook Live, so we�ll see how it goes.

You can always write me, Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com. I did mention on another show that hasn�t been played yet, this week I got a letter sent to the church and it just said Bethlehem Bible Church and it felt like it was a card.

And so since it felt like it was a card, like a Christmas card, I opened it because usually cards that I receive, you know, they�ve got a check in them or something like that, attention financial secretary.

But this one seemed like there was no check in it or anything, so I opened it up. It was anonymous, it was no return address, and it basically said, �These are the reasons why I don�t think Jesus is God.

And then it didn�t say many blessings or anything. I think that Jehovah�s Witnesses are hard up these days, they can�t go door to door so they have to do this. I think you should at least say, �My name�s Jim and I�m trying to convince you that I�m a Jehovah�s Witness.

But anyway, it was interesting. They said 20 reasons why Jesus isn�t God and I just looked at the list and thought, �Boy, this is just the worst list ever of list, it would actually, you know, I try to have it somewhat credible.

The Comfort of Nahum in a Time of Persecution

But anyway, welcome to the show. I want to talk to you a little bit about good news and comfort from God. I'm preaching tomorrow on the book of Nahum, and of course, as you know, Nahum means console or comfort, and this whole chapter, really the whole book, is about what do you do when people persecute you, and can you have any comfort at all?

When there's persecution of God's people, what is the response of God's people? And of course, we've got Georgia coming up, and you don't know if the Senate is going to be tilted Democratic. You've got issues with the president, who's going to be the president, what's going to go on in America.

And so, if I were to preach a message 20 years ago, how does an American deal with adversity? They'd all listen, right? Count it all joyful. But if I were to say to you, you know what? These are gonna be difficult days, and you might be persecuted for your faith.

What do you do? And it wasn't just persecuting your faith for your faith because somebody at the, you know, water cooler, I almost said water closet, at the water cooler might not like you, or somebody might give you a dirty look because you say you're a Christian, and you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the risen Savior.

But I mean, what's gonna happen when you actually get persecuted for your faith? What's your response? And therefore, the book of Nahum, I think, is very important. Obviously, it's relevant, right? All of the scripture is relevant.

And if you ever say, well, you know, it's the pastor's job to make the scriptures relevant, then that's a fail. If your pastor tries to tell you, you know what? I just want to make this relevant for you today, and let's play a Braveheart clip or some Gladiator thing.

That's not the way it is either. The Bible is relevant because it is written by the Lord God himself. And we, of course, are sinful people, and we don't really change over the, you know, thousands of years.

And God, of course, does not change. He simply is. We are human becomeings, and God is the only being, right? He stays the same. He's of himself, from himself, self-independent. And he just is, right?

I am, as the Lord would say, I am who I am, or I am that I am. And therefore, these days, it's important for us to think about persecution and what will we do? What will you do? What will you do if it's a crime now to become a Christian?

I mean, forget all this kind of minor stuff where you have an impingement on your First Amendment rights in terms of freedom of worship. They tell you you can't worship. They tell you you can't worship except like in California outside.

They tell you it's 40%. They tell you it's 25%. They tell you it's 10%. They tell you 10 people. They tell you you can't. I mean, as bad as that all is, what about worse? What about real persecution? So the book of Nahum is really good.

So if you want to kind of brace yourself for some of the things that could possibly happen, and I'm not trying to be a doomsday person. I'm just saying this is the context of Nahum. And if they could have such a view of God, we want to make sure we have it, too.

God's Character Before the Judgment of His Enemies

And so Nahum chapter 1, the whole thing, verses 1 to 15, is an introduction. And then it's this song of praise in verses 2 to 8 that makes sure your mind is locked in. Mark says, would there be enough to convict you as a Christian?

I think that question is always something that's on my mind. Well, that's true, Mark, and thanks for watching. This isn't a call-in show. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. You know, early on, I used to have a call-in show for radio, and two things would happen.

I would either come across as mean if I wanted to try to correct somebody, and I don't remember the other thing, but it just didn't work out. I mean, I just let somebody ramble on and on and on for a call-in, because the studios at No Compromise Radio have the capability of doing that, having call-ins.

But then I look like a jerk if I just try to cut somebody off, and some people want platforms and just talk and talk and talk and talk. So we're looking at Nahum chapter 1, and as you've heard me teach in the past, Nahum chapter 1, verses 2 to 8, is really a song of praise.

It's nothing about the adversaries. So the first thing I'd like to talk to you about tonight is when you think about Christian persecution and the adversaries of God, the first thing I want you to remember is you need to get a healthy dose of who God is, His character, His nature, His attributes.

Before we even talk about the enemies of God will be eventually vanquished, right? When you think about the Lord Jesus returning in Revelation chapter 19, oh, it'll be a great day of crushing the enemies of God.

The people that are the enemies of God's people are God's enemies, and it will be a total annihilation and obliteration of God's people. And that's good for us to know, right? We're glad God's long-suffering, because we used to be enemies of God as well.

But it is important when you look at those first eight verses of the book of Nahum to have a right view of who God is and His essence and His person, His character. That's the way to start this off. And so if America becomes a place, and it just might be, where there's real persecution, we want to make sure we walk by faith and not by sight.

And we want to make sure we walk circumspectly. We want to make sure that we view things properly. And so he wants to talk to you about how God's good, how God's wrathful, how God takes out His vengeance.

And then in verse 9, he kind of changes it up a little bit, and he says, what do you plot against the Lord? He will make a complete end. Trouble will not rise up a second time. Now God is going to address these Ninevites.

Remember, Nineveh is the capital of Assyria. And so these persecutors of God's people, God is going to address. And he says some things, and I just recorded another show about this, so I won't get into it in great detail, but he says some things about they're like entangled thorns, drunkards, consumed.

And you can just imagine the parties that the Ninevites would have when they would conquer people, and it would be these festive festivals, as some might call them. And it is amazing to think that now God is addressing those who are persecuting God's people.

That is to say, by the way, there's so many people from watching, Brian, Janet, and Josh. You know what? Why show up tomorrow on the Lord's Day to preach a sermon? Just kidding. To answer that question, to ask that question is to answer it, and I'm sure I'll see you three tomorrow.

It talks about, in chapter 1 of Nahum, the destruction of these adversaries. And so I think that's good for us to know. So if we think big picture, American persecution, government persecution, if we think about what's going to happen, you have the right view of who God is, right?

Let's not have to study our adversaries to the nth degree and understand all their issues. It would suffice to know that they're powerful, that they're formidable, that it's real. This is not made up.

This is not Christian science where it's just an imagination. No, the persecution is real, but making sure we understand who God is is most important. Then we realize after that, yes, in fact, God will judge the adversaries of his people.

It's going to happen. And by the way, this is written in the context of Nahum before the Ninevites, the Assyrians, were judged. So it was ahead of time. Think about certain psalms. When you look at psalms, there are battle psalms, warrior psalms, war psalms.

And they're kind of three main war psalms. Before battle, you sing a song and you ask for God's help. During battle, thank you, Lord, for your help. Keep helping. And then the final one is, can you guess?

After the battle, where you praise God for what's happened. And that's really kind of the book of Nahum. The destruction is years away for Nineveh and the Assyrians, but it's just as good as done in the eyes of God.

And therefore he tells his people, he tells those in Judah, think Jerusalem, right? Northern kingdoms are Israel, southern kingdom, the real important one there, Judah, where Jerusalem is. And while Israel is off in exile, there's still hope for Judah.

And here comes the hope. There's going to be destruction of the army. And it says that they are not going to be afflicted anymore. So much so that, here's a sneak peek for tomorrow, verse 14, your name's not going to be perpetuated, Nineveh, Assyria.

And by the way, that was a big deal. Dynasties, frescoes, huge lions that they would carve to do anything to perpetuate the name of such a place. The house of your gods will be cut off, carved image and metal image.

You want your religion? It's going to be gone. It's going to be cut off. Everything that you relied upon in terms of your religious false gods, they're going to be done. And then very interestingly, verse 14 says, I will make your grave for you are vile.

You're worthless, you're light, you're vile, and I'm going to dig your grave. Can you imagine? Just think about this for a second. Imagine if God said of you, I'm going to make your grave. Obviously that's a grave statement.

That's a very weighty statement. And therefore you've got God's people listening in. And probably next show that we'll do next week, we're going to talk a little bit about this very thing in 2 Thessalonians.

The context of Nahum is Nineveh slash Assyrians, the capital of the country. But we realize what's going to happen when God's people are persecuted, when the church is persecuted, when there are adversaries to God's people.

Persecuting God's People Is Persecuting God Himself

The book of Nahum is going to remind us of something. And that is they're really adversaries of God. Remember Saul on the Damascus Road? He was a persecutor of God's people. And the Lord Jesus met Saul on the Damascus Road, as you know.

And he said, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting the church? Is that what the text says? Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting my people? No. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Because when you persecute the people of God, you persecute God himself.

And you can think of groom, bride. You could think of God and his people. You should go back and think of Genesis chapter 12, where we have the covenant-keeping God who enters into a covenant with people.

And now we come to really what I wanted to talk about for the show, for the most of the show, but for the remaining part of it. And that is the good news. Okay, just picture this. This is great. It's not great because I'm explaining it.

That's for certain. But the text is so great, I hope I can do it justice. You're getting persecuted. There's a yoke on you. The obligations you have to pay, the taxes you have to pay, the bondage that comes along with having a sovereign rule over you, and just the tribute that must be met.

And it is just like bricks without straw. And everything you owe, and they take your daughters, and they take this, they take that, and more is on its way. And I wonder if there'll be any good news. If you were in Jerusalem, you would know that there's a lot of hills there.

I wonder if you just look at one of the hills one day and say, if only there'd be someone who would come over those hills, a runner, a messenger, someone with good news. And they would say, Nineveh is destroyed.

If they would say, the Assyrians have been vanquished. I just wish, you know, I know it might never happen, and so I know it's my heart of hearts, and it's my feelings maybe only. But boy, if I could stand there one day in the midst of all this chaos and look up at those hills, and I'd see like a little shadow, a little silhouette getting bigger, getting bigger.

Are they friendly? Are they an adversary? Are they friend or foe? Is that one of our people, or is that somebody else? Is that somebody kind of running to tell us more bad news? It's somebody from Nineveh, and they're gonna tell us we have to pay more, or do more, or some kind of taxation, more tribute, more yoke of bondage.

I wonder if maybe that could be our person. Yeah, I think maybe that is. I think that person who's coming over the hills, coming upon the mountains, I think they might be giving good news. And now we come to Nahum chapter 1, verse 15.

Does this sound like Isaiah 52? It should. Does this sound like Romans 10? It should. Behold the mountains of him, the mountains of him. That's what we need an editor. Behold upon the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace.

Will there ever be a future for us? Could we ever sacrifice again at the temple? Could we ever have our feast days? Could we ever put together the ceremonial things that the Lord has commanded us to do that all point to the Messiah that we will have one day?

Oh, if we could be reminded of temple worship, of ceremonial worship, and the types and shadows, and the figures all pointing to the Lord Jesus. Of course, they wouldn't know him by name, but the Messiah, the anointed one, if we could have that prophet, if we could have that priest, if we could have that king, that would be heaven on earth.

And then the writer of Nahum says in 115, keep your feasts, O Judah, fulfill your vows. It's just great news. It is so wonderful to realize that in the middle of all the chaos, the Lord, not because of the people living in Jerusalem, because they were sinful, and they actually deserve to be chastened.

But God would never break his promise of saying, you're no longer my people, because of the Abrahamic covenant. He will keep his promises. And therefore, what's going to happen is God, while using a secondary cause or means, that is the Assyrians, he will eventually judge the Assyrians because they did it.

They persecuted God's people. But he'll use the Assyrians to chasten the people of God, and then one day free the people of God. And here's this good news, this herald. I mean, I just think this is great language.

You might have thought this was only in Isaiah, the mountains upon the mountains, the feet of him who bring good news. You should say to yourself, that's messianic. That's pointing to the future, because those feasts do those very things, pointing to the future.

One writer said this, it is certain that the messianic import of Nahum 115 was utilized by the early church and has brought comfort to the saints throughout the succeeding ages, who, while keeping their spiritual exercises, look forward with confidence and an expectation to the one who shall reign in righteousness and execute perfect peace.

Hope, Eschatology, and the Return of Christ

That's it. What do we do in the midst of all this persecution? That's either here, if you think this persecution, or that will come. Or what do the people do who are in China, who are experiencing persecution now?

What should they do? It's a healthy view of who God is and his attributes, and it's a realization that God, in fact, will judge the church's adversaries, because they're adversaries of God himself. And then there's going to be what?

A confident expectation, a confident hope in the future. That's really, this is not like three easy steps to overcome persecution, but this is, in fact, the template of Nahum 1 -15. It's exactly what he wants you to do.

Study the character and nature of God. I wonder if I ask you, dear No Compromise radio listeners, what is the last book you read that was on the character of God? A Christological book? Do you read books about Jesus?

Do you read attributes of God's book? Did you read None Greater by Matthew Barrett? Have you read Attributes of God by Pink? Have you read Trusting God by Jerry Bridges? You ought to read some books about who God is.

And then, if you'd like to read some books on eschatology, that would be something that would be very important, because Jesus is going to come back. And you say, finally, let's talk about eschatology.

Pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib, pre-mill, pan-mill, pro-mill. I heard one guy say, because, you know, pan-mill everybody talks about. But I kind of like pro-mill as an answer for being funny, because it was so odd.

Yes, I'm for a millennium. Am I? When you think of eschatology, here's an assignment for you. Try to read the eschatology sections of some of the famous Reformed confessions. Read London Baptist 1689 eschatology section of Last Things, the last things.

Read the Westminster Confession of Faith. Read the Belgic Confession. Read Heidelberg Catechism. Read a few of those, and then tell me what you see and what you think the emphasis are, the emphases are.

And I don't think it'll be parsing up the Tribulation. I think it will be twofold. Here's what the eschatology is of most of the Reformers that would be in the Confessions of Faith. There's a personal eschatology.

That personal eschatology is you'll die one day and stand before God, and you are going to need a Savior, an advocate, a mediator who has perfectly, entirely, exactly, perpetually kept the law in your place and paid for your disobedience, so much so that it's proven by Him raising Himself from the dead.

And then there's an eschatology of the Lord Jesus. Not a parsing out of the Millennial Kingdom, the Tribulation, who might the Antichrist be, and how to identify him, what the mark of the beast is. It doesn't focus on that.

It talks about the literal, bodily coming of the Lord Jesus for the second coming, right? So when you think of eschatology, I had somebody say to me two weeks ago, they're kind of a visitor, they're not a member, most of the people at the church kind of understand, I think, the scoop, but this particular person said, will you ever teach on eschatology?

I said, didn't I just read Revelation chapter 19, verses 6 and following? Yeah, yeah, I know all that, but I want to talk about the rapture. Friends, I want you to realize that the way Nahum has set it up, it's a confidence and an expectation in the one who's going to reign in righteousness.

Now, of course, you could think of the first coming, right? And that's fine and dandy to think about this in light of that. But for us now, we're also thinking Jesus is going to come back, right? I don't know when it's going to be, pre, mid, post, all these things.

I mean, if you are really certain that it's pre-mill or mid or post or this, that, and the other, I mean, I have other things to study. I just know one day the adversaries of God are going to be obliterated.

They're going to be vanquished. They will be on their knees before God. And while I hope many of them would become Christians, those that don't, they're going to get what they deserve, and they're going to deserve to be thrown into the outer darkness.

And they will pay for all their sins, including persecuting the church. How would you like to stand before God on Judgment Day, the triune God, and say, do you know what? I persecuted your people. I made it harder for them to worship.

I made it harder for them in terms of being in society. I made it harder for them to stand up and say they were Christians. I made it harder for them to be good fathers to go work and come home and take care of their children.

I made it harder for them to even say in public, Jesus is Lord. And I did everything I could to make sure that I stamped out the name of Jesus so that it would be no longer spoken of. How would you like to be that person?

And I'm just telling you, in the book of Nahum, when persecution comes, it's an interesting book because the persecution doesn't start with, you know, well, God's going to turn it into good. That's true, Romans 8.

But it starts off with, who is God? Then the enemies are going to be judged. And then the Messiah is going to return one day. He's going to return. And if you want to combine those two together, the judgment of the people when the Messiah returns, that's fine with me.

Because when you read 2 Thessalonians, it is a real, to use no compromise language, doozy. It's a real doozy. And so therefore, we look at Nahum chapter 1 verses 1 to 15 as one of these super relevant books of the Bible.

I mean, they're all relevant. I get that. But it just, in times like this, Nahum is a good book for you to just say, hmm, I had to read that. I had to reread that. And the precursor of what's coming around the bend is found in chapter 2 and chapter 3.

Well, my name is Mike Cabendroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry. I'm glad for those people who listen on the podcast, tell your friends. And for those who watch on occasion on the No Compromise show, channel, Facebook, whatever you're called, God bless you too.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Cabendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.