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Nahum 2:10-13
Amen.
I had a thought this morning that one day believers will be in heaven, in the new heavens, the new earth, and at some point, I can't say when, but at some point, you'll meet the prophet Nahum. At some point.
And at least you'll be able to tell the prophet Nahum, hey, we read your book, and we listened to what you said, and we saw you warn against the judgment of God, we saw you extol the faithfulness of God, and we saw Christ in your little book.
Nahum chapter 2 is where we're at. We'll finish chapter 2 this morning. We're not very far away from finishing Nahum. And then, unless the Lord changes our minds, Pastor Jacob and I have talked with him about this, but I think the next book is going to be the book of Acts, so you can read and think and pray for me in that.
But we're in Nahum chapter 2. We're preaching through this little book, this little tucked away book, it's even categorized as being in the minor prophets. And we see today, the sermon title is simply, When Strength Fails and Sin Finds You Out.
When Strength Fails and Sin Finds You Out. At this point, though, we get the big picture of Nahum, I hope, right? Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, is going to be overthrown. That's the prophecy. It's going to be overthrown by the Babylonians and the Medes, and it's going to be done precisely as has been predicted here in the text.
We can trust God's Word. And so, in one sense, as we go through this, I don't want you to miss that big picture. On the other hand, I have been encouraged, challenged, grown, as we've seen the other truths brought to light by the Word of God that Nahum has given us here.
Today, as we finish chapter 2, I think that there are some other important truths that we can learn from this text. And so, we find our text, Nahum 2, beginning in verse 10. Would you stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word?
And we'll read through the end of the chapter. Desolate, desolation and ruin, hearts melt and knees tremble. Anguish is in all loins, all faces grow pale. Where is the lion's den? The feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and lioness went, where his cubs were with none to disturb.
The lion tore enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses. He filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh. Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your chariots with 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 no longer be heard. Father, we come before you today, frankly, not as understanding of our desperation for your Word as we truly are.
We need a voice from heaven to declare to us what it is we are to believe and what it is we are to do. And this we have in your inerrant, infallible, sufficient, authoritative, necessary, clear Word. Speak to us today, O God.
Speak to us from your Word. Holy Spirit, take this Word and help me to exposit it plainly and rightly and well. And may you encourage us, strengthen us. Nahum's name means comfort. Comfort your people, O God.
Comfort us. Some here today need to be awakened. Some here today are playing with secret sin, engaged in sin that others don't know about, or maybe others do, and they need to be warned today and realize that one day their sin, maybe today, but maybe 20 years from now, but at some point their sin will find them out.
And so help us to understand this reality. We pray, O God, that you would be with the members of our church who are unable to be here today due to sickness. We pray that you would bless them and keep them, make your face shine upon them, heal them, bring them back to us soon.
Help us, O God, to be a healthy church, to proclaim the excellencies of Christ. Thank you for the prophet Nahum in this little book that we have and that we can see Jesus here. We pray it all in his name.
Amen. You can be seated.
As I mentioned, the title of the message today is When Strength Fails and Sin Finds You Out. When Strength Fails and Sin Finds You Out. Numbers 32 .22 says this, Be sure your sin will find you out. Galatians 6 .7 says, Do not be deceived.
God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. Now, you need to understand, and you probably already know this, but maybe it just hasn't been articulated this way, but the Bible is full of propositional statements, just statements of truth, indicative statements of this is the truth.
For example, your sin will find you out. That's a propositional statement. So we have this all over the Scriptures. But something else that we have in the Scriptures is not just a bunch of propositional statements.
Something else that we have is also stories, narratives, historical narratives. When I say stories, you understand I'm not saying that they're not true. These are the reliable historical documents of the Scriptures.
So these are history. These are true. And so you have statements, propositional statements, but you also have these historical narratives that wind up illustrating the propositional truths. Let me give it to you this way.
You know the story of Ananias and Sapphira, right? Ananias and Sapphira lie to the church. And what happens? God kills them. In other words, the propositional statement is your sin will find you out. The illustration is Ananias and Sapphira sinned, and their sin found them out.
Well, you have an example of that in our text as well. I hope that what I've said just makes sense. But what you have in our text is a historical reality that exemplifies the truth that your sin will find you out.
Desolate. Desolation and ruin. Hearts melt and knees tremble. Anguishes in all loins. All faces grow pale. Where is the lion's den? The feeding place of the young lions? Where the lion and the lioness went?
Where his cubs were with none to disturb? The lion tore enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses. He filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh. No one is going to have any of these verses in their little devotional book.
You're never going to hear one of these verses as Caleb's verse of the day. But this passage is no less important than the other truths of scripture, because one of the things that this passage does for us this morning is that it illustrates for us what happens to those who oppose the Lord.
Or maybe I should put it this way. What happens to those whom the Lord opposes? And more pointedly, I think it offers a graphic picture of what it looks like when all of a sudden your sin finds you out.
So first, let me start with this. Number one, the day of the lion. Number one, the day of the lion. So we're going to start in verse 12. Now, in the verses, this is out of order, but chronologically it comes first and I'll explain.
Verse 12. The lion tore enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses. He filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh. This verse is speaking of the heyday, if you will, of the Assyrian rule.
So understand the metaphor. At the peak of Assyrian power, the lions roared. The lion tore and ravaged and fed upon Israel. Now, you can read that in Isaiah 5, for example, and other nations. And the lion had enough to provide for himself and for his cubs and for his lionesses.
And then even beyond that, the text says in the second half of verse 12, he filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh. In other words, he had not only enough to feed the lionesses and the cubs, but he had a surplus.
He had enough. He had extra. He had so much. You know, in our common vernacular, the lion is the king of the forest.
There's a reason for that.
The lion is a fearsome beast. I see these videos sometimes of guys on safari. I think it's so cool. But they're on safari. They're looking at all the animals and they see the big lion, you know. And what's he doing?
He doesn't see the jeep coming. He doesn't see the guys coming and get up and run away. He doesn't even stand up and threaten them a lot of times. What does he do?
He just lays there.
Why?
What are you guys going to do, right? I'm at the top of the food chain. That's the lion's mind. Nobody can mess with me. He's not afraid of you. This is why sometimes the scriptures teach us, when they want to teach us about the great feats of men, they show what these men have done to a lion.
Let me explain. So in Judges 14, Samson kills a lion.
How?
At 500 yards with a rifle. No, he kills it with his bare hands. In 1 Chronicles 11, there's a story of a man named Banea. And he winds up being one of the mighty men of David. And here's what he does.
He goes into a pit on a snowy day. And he kills what? A goat? That's not really impressive, is it? No, he kills a lion. Do you remember when David stands before Saul? And he's arguing with Saul a bit.
He's telling Saul, hey look, here's the reason I can kill Goliath. I'm paraphrasing, of course. One of the reasons I can kill Goliath is because I defend my flock of sheep from what?
From lions.
No one cares if you can ward off geese, right? He defends them and kills lions. Now again, in our context, I understand. Someone kills a lion, you're like, well, that's cool, I guess. But imagine having to kill a lion without a gun.
You've got to get close. And so the Bible uses lions as pictures of power. Rightly so. And to overthrow a lion is a big deal. And so in our text, you need to understand the metaphor. Assyria's power is metaphorically likened to a lion.
That's what verse 12 is saying. The lion, that is Assyria, tore enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses. He filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh. O Palmer Robertson says this.
The kings of Nineveh often presented themselves and their animals in terms reflecting the behavior of the lion. The Bible calls them acting like lions and then Assyria called themselves lions. So this is the day of the lion.
The lion is fearless. The lion tears away the flesh without concern or remorse. The lion sees himself as the top of the food chain. The lion feels no need to answer or to bow down to anyone that is higher than he.
And we understand this is typical of Nineveh here and the Assyrian empire. At their height, they are the lions. You understand the metaphor? At their height, they're tearing away the flesh. They're invading nations.
They don't care.
They answer to no one. They're not scared of anyone.
They're fearless.
So this is their reality. Of course, I think that the application we can bring home to more than just Assyria, the lion metaphor can be applied even today to nations, even to men who are bold in their sin, they're bold in their rejection of the rule of God.
They're bold in their disdaining or persecution of or profaning of God's church. I might even give you here a comment from Calvin who doesn't just talk about men and nations. He also says, I wish there were no lionesses to devour at this day.
But we see that there are some who surpass their husbands in boldness and cruelty. So think about this. It's not just nations. It's not just men, but it's even women, tyrant queens, tyrant senators, right?
Men and women who would seek to bite and devour with no fear of God before their eyes. That's what I'm saying. The day of the lion, right? This measure, this mentality is in every, at least a measure of it, is in every unconverted.
Person.
That is, I don't need anyone else. Or let me just put it to you this way. Parents, grandparents, this, where do you think temper tantrums come from, right? You ever seen a temper tantrum? Not in the Nelson household, right?
Or at least not in the last 10 minutes. What's a temper tantrum? It's a little boy. Listen, little boys, little girls, you should listen to this. When you throw a little fit, what's happening is you're saying, in essence, I mean, there's an application here.
Maybe teenagers, it applies to you. Maybe, maybe adults, it applies to you. When you throw your little hissy fit, you're saying, I'm on top of the world. The only thing that matters in this world is me and nothing else.
Not the glory of God, not my family, not the church. The only thing that matters is me. And that's what we see here in the metaphor of the lion spending their days roaring away without concern, without fear of God.
And here's something you need to know about the day of the lion. When the lion of sin and rebellion is roaring, not much else is ever heard. Judgment is coming.
I can't hear you.
The lion is roaring too loud. God has done something about my sins in the person and work of Jesus by his life, death, burial, and resurrection.
The lion is too loud. God commands me to repent and believe the gospel. I can't hear you. The lion's on top of his gang. I'm on top of the world. I'm indulging my flesh. I'm rejecting God. And I'm living my life the way I want.
The lion's roaring and things are never going to change. I wonder this morning, as we think about this, if there would be any here who would see their condition like this. The drunkenness is good.
Oh, I'm not.
You may not be coming in here drunk, but you're outside this place and Friday night rolls around and the drunkenness is good. The sexual immorality is good. The gossip is good. The foul language and the filth, it's good.
The greed and the lying and the stealing, it's all good. The day of trouble will never find me because I'm like a lion and I'm in the lion's den and nothing can get me here. I say to you, friend, your sin will find you out.
Let's go to point two. We have the day of the lion. Secondly, the desolation of the Lord. We see that in verse 10, desolate, desolation and ruin, hearts melt and knees tremble. Anguish is in all loins.
All faces grow. Pell, the Hebrew word there for desolation, it's used twice in verse 10, and it has the connotation of emptiness. So what happens is in the day of trouble, the city of Nineveh is laid waste.
And where is the courage now? Where's the roaring now? Where's the haughtiness now? Where's the fearlessness now? Where's the pride now? It's gone. Hearts melt, the text says. The inhabitants are so afraid.
Think of the imagery here. Their knees are shaking, hearts melt and knees tremble. Now, have you ever gotten a rush of adrenaline and it made your stomach hurt? I think that's what's being said here. Anguish is in all loins.
And then the blood drains. All faces grow pale. The blood is draining from their faces. So hear very clearly what Nineveh had planted for all these years, what the Assyrians had planted all these years.
Rebellion and tyranny and sin and destruction and unrighteousness. They had planted this for years and years and years and years. And now the harvest comes. The harvest comes. What they had sown, now they will reap.
Their sin has come back to them. It has found them out and they cannot escape judgment. One day, they're on top of the world and the lion is roaring and there are no cares and there are no worries and there are no sorrows.
The money's good.
The times are good. The house payment is made. The whole house maybe is paid off.
Everything's good. Everything's wonderful.
And the next day, the bottom falls out. Hearts are melting. Faces are growing pale. Knees are trembling. Christ will have his day. Now, listen. Absolutely, the Lord is compassionate and he's full of mercy.
And his grace, he's glorious. But I think you don't hear this enough in pulpits today and we need to be warned. There comes a day, there comes a day when the compassion of the Lord towards the wicked stops and his judgment comes.
You hear so much about God's love and I think you hear it in an erroneous way that you think that God is soft or complacent or doesn't care about your sin. Yes, he is slow to anger, but he's also ready and willing to bring total justice when the.
Time comes.
And if you notice something about verse 11, if I may say it this way, God is mocking. If verse 11 were an NFL football game, God would be flagged 15 yards for taunting. That's what he's doing in verse 11.
Look at it with me. Where is the lion's den? The feeding place of the young lions. Where the lion and lioness went, where his cubs were with none to disturb. Okay, think about the imagery. Essentially, Nahum puts himself into the city.
So he puts himself in the city. All this stuff is happening. You remember the stuff that we talked about a couple weeks ago and people are running for their lives and the false goddess Ishtar can't save it.
And Nahum walks in and you think he's going to say something compassionate to these people. He's going to try to calm them. He's going to try to comfort them. Instead, he mocks them. I don't hear any lions roaring today.
Where are they at? Where is the lion's den?
Assyria?
Where is the great power that you had? Where's the arrogance? Where's the rudeness? What are you going to do about this? Do you feel that? Do you understand that's what the text is saying? It's not enough for God to simply overthrow this wicked city, but now he mocks their inability to stop him.
Now, we ought to remember, please remember that our triune God is always holy in everything that he does, even in this. And what God delights in is overthrowing sin in his holy justice. This is why he steps in and says, personally, now we're quoting the Lord personally here in verse 13.
So Nahum has been talking and now in verse 13, Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts. And 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 no longer be heard.
The Lord of hosts, Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of armies, he will have the final say over sin, over his enemies. No army can stand against him. No ruler, no tyrant, no senator, no little boy, no little girl in their sin can prevail against the God of hosts.
And look down now in your Bibles in verse 13, and just think about this, that one of the most terrifying things in all of Scripture is to hear the Lord say these words there in verse 13. Behold, do you see it there?
Behold, I am against you.
Now think about this, he's not saying that I'm just against your sin, though he is. He's not saying I'm just against your bad life choices, though he is. He's not just saying, hey look, I'm against the harm others may have caused you in your life, though he is against those things.
But he says in verse 13, I am against you.
This is terrifying.
Declares, right, the text.
I am against you declares a declaration of the Lord. The greatest enemy that mankind has is not China, it's not the devil, it's not sin, it's not communism. These are terrible things, of course. But I'm just telling you, the greatest enemy that mankind has is God.
Because God is in opposition to rebel man. And when the day of trouble comes, and when all of your sins are discovered, and when you stand naked and exposed before the gaze of a holy God, the Lord will take everything from you and cast you into the lake of fire.
This is the state of the unrepentant. You know, we have these miraculous underdog stories in our mind. You know, we always talk about David versus Goliath. David prevailed over Goliath. Some of you remember in 1980, the American hockey team defeated the powerhouse Soviet Union hockey team.
They made a movie about it. Beat them four to three. Many stories of the underdog surprisingly winning against the bigger dog. But I'm just trying to take away that confidence from you. Don't let that deceive you, because when it comes to the Lord, you will not prevail against the Lord.
Those who strive against the rock of Christ are dashed into pieces. You say, well, I'm just going to take my chances, preacher. You talk about being in hell. At least my buddies will be there. Now, you'll not prevail.
You'll not come out on top of this. Your strength will fail.
You can't hide.
Your sin will find you out. The lion of the tribe of Judah will stop the mouths and break the teeth of all other lions and lionesses. Now, I want to say this. I think this should be said from pulpits today.
I don't want to not trying to be political. I'm just trying to observe our culture. So sometimes I think, no, I know the Lord grants a small taste of this in society. So let me explain what I mean. I don't know how far this is going to run, and I don't know how long this is going to go, but I think it's worth observing that just a couple of years ago, if you would have asked me, hey, Quatro, what about all this transgenderism and LGBTQ stuff in our society?
I would have said all that's going to happen is it's going to increase. It's going to get worse and worse until we're finally snuffed out. And honestly, it seemed that way. And in the future, you need to understand it may quickly even return to that.
But I just want to make a case that I think we ought to give gratitude to the Lord that in one sense, the Lord has granted us a reprieve from some of that in some ways. And we ought to be thankful. So when you see the DEI stuff changing, and when you see the transgenderism stuff changing in our culture, you shouldn't just be like, haha, you should praise God and thank Him that He stopped the mouth of the lion, right?
Because I'm not saying that it's over or that it's ended. I'm not saying that we're experiencing revival. And I'm not saying that tomorrow things may not be terrible. I'm just simply saying God has granted us reprieve.
And you have companies that are actually backing off of these things. And you have people and CEOs and such that are backing off these sorts of things. And it may even be appropriate for us to say, hey, where's the lion's den, right?
Because for years, we have been shouted at. For years, we have been immersed in the propaganda. Some of you, in fact, some of you, perhaps, you even need to repent of this today. Because the LGBTQ all the other letters, that craze has devoured so many.
It's ruined lives.
It has ruined people and families and even churches have given over to this thing. And yet we have seen a shift in our nation. And all I'm saying is we should be grateful for that. And we should be grateful to God for that.
This is not me saying that we should put hope in political victory.
No, no, no.
This is me saying that we should simply rejoice at the kindness of the Lord. And we should have hope that when God is ready, He can stop the mouths of the most fierce lions. We must remember, as the song says, that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet.
So let this be a warning to you and an encouragement simultaneously. Do not give in to culture even when it roars like a lion. It was not that long ago that you may have felt if our church doesn't give over to accepting these false things that the culture is saying, then we're just going to be irrelevant.
And God has given us just a brief little glimpse here in our history to show us that's not true. Don't give in. Christ is King. Now, you also need to know this. The church has an opposite declaration than what has happened in verse 13 for the Assyrians.
So remember what the declaration is in verse 13. Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of Hosts. What is the declaration the church has? Not that the Lord of Hosts is against us, but what?
He is for us.
And just as it is the most terrible of realities for the God of the universe to be against you, so it is the most wonderful of realities that the God of the universe would be for you. What do you mean for me?
Well, keep your place in Nahum, but quickly turn over to Romans. Let's look at something. Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight. Now begin reading in verse 31. Romans chapter eight, verse 31. What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?
It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died. More than that, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written, for your sake, we are being killed all the day long. We are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is the great comfort of the church. God is not against us. God is not against us. The declaration to the lost is, behold, I am against you. The declaration to the church is, behold, I am for you.
How is he for the church? Because of Christ. Because Christ has come and accomplished everything that God said that he would accomplish. He is the true and better Adam. The first Adam failed us. The last Adam, Jesus perfectly obeyed and fulfilled all righteousness for his people.
Then our sin, in essence, found him out. What I mean is, we broke God's law, but he's the one that paid for our transgressions and sins by bearing God's wrath against sinners on the cross. In one sense, though, we don't want to take this too far.
In one sense, God says to the son on the cross, Nahum 2 .13, behold, I am against you. He says this insofar as Jesus is the sin bearer of his people. And God punishes Christ in our place. Now, we do not divide the Trinity.
We do not put the Trinity in opposition. I'm just saying that the person of Christ really is the bearer of our sins and is truly punished and condemned in our place. God was never against Christ as the eternally beloved son.
He's not ontologically divided from the son. All that we're saying is, it's important to show that God was against him in a judicial sense. Insofar as Christ stood in our place as the sin bearer. The Bible says that the son of God became a curse for us to redeem us from the curse of the law.
So that the wrath of God would justly fall upon the son as a substitute, and he died.
He didn't stay dead.
On the third day, he rose again from the dead in triumph over sin and death and hell and the grave. So that God may be, as we read this morning, what a fitting text. So that God may be the just and the justifier of those who have faith in Christ Jesus.
Friends, what you have just heard is the gospel. That's the gospel. In essence, Christ took Nahum 2 .13, I am against you declares the Lord of hosts, upon himself, so that we may receive Paul's statement of, if God is for us, who can be against us?
That's a wonderful exchange. The curse falls upon Christ and the blessing falls upon us. For the believer, our sin has found us out. And it has been dealt with perfectly, judiciously and mercifully on the cross.
So then Romans 8 .1, Paul can write there is therefore now no condemnation.
For who?
For everyone? No, no, no, no.
For those who are in Christ Jesus. This is amazing. This is overwhelming. This shuts down our very words. God is for his people because of what Christ has done. And all the Nineveh's of the world and all the lions of the world and all the enemies of God, they will fall.
You understand?
So the text in Romans 8 is not saying that we won't ever have to face rulers or things present or things to come or powers or height or depth or anything. It's not saying that we won't ever face these things.
The point of life and the point of not the point of life, but the reality of life is we do face these things. We do face these things. We face our own Assyrians, if you will, our own Nineveh's, if you will, our own lions, if you will.
But in all these things, we are more than conquerors. Our strength, not I'm going to say may fail, but let me just replace that. Our strength at times will fail, but God's never does. And he's for us.
He's for us in Christ. And therefore, we're more than conquerors. And nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. This is true for the church. So be of good cheer. In Christ, no matter what may afflict us in this life, in Christ, one day God will mock his enemies as he overthrows them in final and eternal justice.
Listen carefully here.
This is the hope and the promise of the church. Not everyone. I do not leave here today and say the preacher said that God is for me. No, I gave a qualification. God is for the church. So that means that this is true.
And this is the hope and the promise for the one who has faith in Christ. The one who goes to Christ as a sinner. Right. What did the song say? Let's just think about that for just a moment. We sang that song as kind of a weird kind of cadence.
I like it, you know, but for some of you that maybe grew up in more kind of traditional Southern Baptist singing, it's a little bit different. But come ye sinners.
Right.
What's it saying? Come ye sinners. Don't clean yourself up and come to Jesus.
If you tarry till you're better, you'll never come at all. Come to Christ as a sinner.
As a sinner.
You what?
Yes.
Come to Christ as a sinner. Not cleaned up. Not doing better.
Not bringing your works.
He receives those who go to Christ as a poor, needy, desperate sinner looking for mercy. Let me go stop my drinking. Then I'll come to Jesus. Let me go stop my pornography. Then I'll come to Jesus. Let me go get things right with my family.
And then I'll come to Jesus. No, because you'll never come.
Come now.
Go to Christ now.
Now what?
But I can't repent.
I don't know how.
I can't change. Sin has gripped me. I say what is impossible with man is possible with God.
Call upon the name of the Lord.
Go to the only one who can be your righteousness. Now don't hear me say that you cling to sin in one hand and you try to grasp Christ with the other hand. That's impossible. I'm saying just take both hands and wear your hat.
Run to Jesus. And you'll find that when you do that, God is the one who brings you along the whole time. Regenerating your heart. Granting you faith. Granting you repentance. You must go to Christ. I cannot make this any more plain to you.
Is he talking about me?
There are people in this room. There are children. There are teenagers. There are adults in this room. And if nothing changes one day, God will break you. You can't imagine this text back in verse 10.
Hearts melt. Knees tremble. Anguish in all the loins. All faces grow pale.
You can't imagine. He will break you.
Here is an offer of his mercy.
And his love.
And his compassion. You must go to Christ because it's only in Christ that God being against us because of our sin. Changes to God being for us because of what Jesus has done. You can find that nowhere else.
Not in your works. Certainly not in your rebellion. Not in your popular vote. Not in your parents. Not in Donald Trump, of course. It's only Christ. Forsake all else and run to him. Repent and believe the gospel.
This text is a warning to the unconverted. I say to you again, it's not my desire to be too harsh, but let me just be real with you. The Bible promises that our sins will find us out and that's true. Well, if I say, well, I've been doing this and I've been doing things behind my parents back, behind my grandparents back.
I've been doing things behind my wife's back, behind my husband's back, behind the pastor's back, behind the church back. I haven't faced anything. One time I had to go and talk to a woman who was going to divorce her husband.
And I told her what I'm about to tell you. But I went and talked to her. I had another brother with me, but I went and talked to her. And I said, look, today you think this is the right thing to do. This is what you think is the answer to all your problems.
And today you may not regret this. And five years from now, you may not regret this. And 25 years from now, you may not regret this. But there will be a day that comes where you will regret this. Your sins will find you out.
Today, you enjoy the line drawer. You enjoy the drunkenness or the pornography, the hypocrisy of your secret sins. But it will not be this way for you forever. In fact, I would just say it this way. And you can't even fathom how soon it will be.
But it will be much sooner than you are ready for. And you will have to give an account to God. Let me read to you a few quotes from church history. I love these brothers. Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The sooner sin is found out and put away, the better.
Nobody would rest long if he knew his house to be on fire. But sin is a far worse evil than the devouring flames.
So you're about to go to bed. You smell smoke. You see a flame over there. And you're like, boy, that's... Yeah, maybe that's not good. I'll check on it in the morning. That's what Spurgeon is saying.
No, no.
When sin is exposed. Hey, you feel conviction of sin this morning?
Don't look at it.
Don't smell the smoke.
Run from it.
And go to Christ. Matthew Henry. Sin will surely find out the sinner sooner or later. It concerns us now to find our sins out, that we may repent of them and forsake them, lest they find us out to our ruin.
Sin is at the door.
Sin is there in your heart. You know what I'm talking about? I don't know. You're like, man, he must really know something going on.
I have no idea.
I just know the nature of human depravity. And I know that the Holy Spirit uses the preaching of the word. And the Holy Spirit is working on your heart now. Then what you do is you say, I run.
Or you come to ruin. Run to Christ.
J .C. Ryle, last quote. Let us be sure that sooner or later, in this life or in the life to come, in this world or in the judgment day, sin and the sinner will meet face to face and have a bitter reckoning.
Friends, what these men have said and what I have preached to you today is the truth. You may not be listening to it. You may be thinking about this afternoon. You may not believe it. You may not even care.
I'm just trying to tell you plainly that a day will come in your life like Nineveh. Your strength will fail and your sin will find you out. The lions of your life that you thought were so strong and so brave and that they were roaring and that they were tearing.
Verse 11 will be said, where is the lions then?
Where are they now? They're silent. Your heart will faint.
Your knees will tremble. Your face will go pale. And this will be a terrible day of reckoning.
But please hear what I'm saying.
I'm not leaving you without hope.
Did you just think for a moment? Today is a day of God's mercy. I have no understanding why you're here today.
Hearing this message.
We have members who can't be here today because of the flu. Why don't you have the flu? Why are you here? Why did you wake up today healthy? At least healthy enough to be here. Why was your car prevented from not running off the road so that you could make it to church?
How did you make it into the parking lot? How did your heart keep breathing and your lungs keep filling with oxygen and the synapses in your brain keep firing so that you're here right now and you're listening to this message?
How did all this happen? I'll tell you how it happened.
The sovereign providence of God.
And you're hearing this message. And the message is, there is mercy for sinners. Would you this day turn from your rebellion to such a great and compassionate God and turn to Christ in faith? Call upon His name and trust Him.
Church, sin may appear triumphant for a season, but divine justice is inevitable. As we've made our way through Nahum, doesn't it embolden you to live courageously for our Lord? Well, what message do you have for the believer here?
The message is this.
God wins. God wins.
The people of Judah for years, for centuries, had to deal with the roaring lion of the Assyrian Empire. But guess what? It's over now.
It's gone now.
It won't last.
But God will and His kingdom is forever. And because Christ is triumphant over all His enemies, the church wins too. So, what am I saying to you? Stop being afraid. I speak to you as one who has experienced it and still experiences it.
Afraid to speak truth. Afraid what this person might think. Afraid what your employer might think. Afraid what your co-workers might think. Afraid what your kids, friends, parents might think. You're afraid.
I'm saying to you, based on this text, why would you be afraid? This text ought to embolden you to this mantra. Fear God and nothing else.
Fear God.
When we can live holy lives in this fallen world by God's grace and for His glory,.
Because God wins.
You hear the roaring lions? I'm telling you, one day their mouth will be shut and their teeth will be broken. So live fearlessly for the glory of Christ.
Let us speak truth.
The world is passing away. The world says to you, conform, conform, conform. And you need to say to it, you're going to hell. Why would I want to conform to you? Live for Christ. Live boldly. The world stands directly in the path of God's judgment.
Stop being tempted to live to please its faulty standards. Christ is King. Let's live for Him.
Amen. Stand with me. Let's pray.
God, embolden us by your truth.
Pierce our hearts.
Break them as you see fit.
Help us.
Help us in Jesus' name.
