Nahum 1:8-9: A Complete and Overwhelming Flood

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March 27, 2022

The prophecy of Nahum is a short book that is packed with details about the nature of God. Join us as we dive into the eighth and ninth verse- there's always more there than meets the eye!

00:09: So this week we're going to be going over chapter 1 verses 8 through 9 and We're going to read
00:17: There we go We're going to read the first Let's see, what is it the first seven verses?
00:27: starting at verse 3 in Whirlwind and storm is his way and clouds are the dust beneath his feet.
00:33: He rebukes the sea and makes it dry He dries up all the rivers Bastion and Carmel wither the blossoms of Lebanon wither
00:41: Mountains quake because of him and hills dissolve Indeed the earth is upheaved by his presence the world and all the inhabitants in it who can stand before his indignation
00:51: Who can endure the burning of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire and the rocks are broken up The Lord is good a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knows those who take refuge in him
01:03: But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of its sight and will pursue his enemies into darkness
01:10: Whatever you devise against the Lord. He will make a complete end of it Distress will not rise up twice like tangled thorns and like those who are drunken with their drink
01:19: They are consumed as stubble completely withered from you has gone forth one who plotted evil against the
01:25: Lord a wicked counselor So once again Nahum doesn't pull any punches and we see that God is a
01:35: Righteous and just God who's going to pursue his enemies Okay, and he's going to also protect those who take refuge in him, which is a great comfort to us
01:44: So last week just a quick recap who can stand before his indignation who can endure the burning of his anger
01:50: That's it. That's a rhetorical question Obviously to which the answer is no one
01:56: No one is going to be able to stand before God's indignation or endure the burning of his anger
02:03: God's wrath is likened to fire that will burn melt consume.
02:09: It's kind of like when we hear The scriptures in the New Testament talk about hell, right?
02:14: It's a place of flames hot, right? And we're gonna either be burning not maybe not physically because at that point well right now they don't have physical bodies, but You ever hear that term, oh he burned with envy like this internal angst right having that forever
02:33: Even the rocks which are the hardest of things will be broken into pieces It's a picture once again of nothing being able to stand in God's presence
02:42: Then we have the Lord is good a stronghold in the day of trouble And this is great comfort for God's people when we look at our out at our at our
02:51: Society today and we see what's going on we see how there's a Continual raging against God's standard a raging against his kingdom and his righteousness
03:01: This should give us comfort He knows those who take refuge in him
03:08: Even the destruction and wrath Even during this destruction and the wrath God is still good
03:14: He is sovereign in the midst of it He's still working all things together for good for those who love him
03:22: We're going through that book all things together for good by Thomas Watson on Wednesday nights I encourage you to come out and listen
03:29: God will keep his covenant and keep his people This is something that we learned in Job right when
03:34: God sets his covenant love upon you He keeps you and will keep you to the end even through the midst of whatever wrath or judgment is happening
03:43: We are perfected by that that that judgment right God disciplines those he loves
03:50: God's people will take refuge and comfort in him Right. So when things go wrong the question becomes what do you turn to first?
03:59: Right. What is it that you think of? Right as God's people. We need to take our comfort in him.
04:05: He's our strength. We go back to the word We read the Psalms We call we fellowship with our brothers and sisters and remind ourselves
04:13: That God is still on the throne and that he will have victory over this God knows those who are his and they know him ultimately we have salvation in Jesus Christ Okay, so let's start this week
04:26: But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of its sight and will pursue his enemies into darkness
04:33: The goodness of God assumes that he will care for his children and then punish those who seek to harm us
04:40: God's goodness does not mean that he will not bring his foes and his people's foes to justice
04:46: Often we hear people say God is too good to punish anyone Actually, the opposite is true.
04:52: God is too good not to punish sin God is so holy and so just that he cannot allow unrepentant sin to go unpunished if he did
05:04: He would be unjust If God allowed Adolf Hitler to go unpunished for the millions of lives slaughtered
05:10: God would not be just But he is just and sin will be punished like an overwhelming flood.
05:17: God's wrath will sweep the wicked away Now a lot of times you'll get pushback and people say well
05:23: How could God allow something like the Holocaust right and Ray Comfort does a great job in explaining something like that He says when
05:30: I look at the Holocaust, I know that hell must exist because whoever did this deserves hell
05:38: Right, so that actually can become an argument for the justice of God and being exiled from God's presence and us getting what we deserve
05:46: Now, yes, the people who who perpetrated the Holocaust Should get hell but so should we we violated
05:53: God's law over and over and over It's only by the the the grace and the mercy of God that we have a relationship with him verses 8 through 11 alternate between metaphors of destruction and historical comments five metaphors described in of his ends and an overwhelming flood into darkness entangled among thorns
06:17: Drunk from their wine and consumed like dry stubble With an overwhelming flood the word a bar is flood
06:25: He will make an end of Nineveh the word a bar occurs four times in Nahum and it's translated differently each time
06:31: It's a significant word root, especially in verse chapter 3 verse 19 where it gives the sharpest warrant for Nineveh's destruction
06:40: Why does Nahum begin with this word a bar? Because the opposite has been
06:46: Judah's experience since they have been flooded by Nineveh's aggression Nineveh the
06:53: Israel was Overwhelmed by Assyria because Assyria was a huge nation.
06:58: I just want you to keep in mind They were the superpower at the time and they were brutal brutal people the way they crucified people
07:07: They take a pointed stick and stick it through the bottom of the person right out through their mouth
07:13: They would flay people They would put hooks in their eyes in their nose in their breasts and pull people around by they were
07:22: Brutal brutal people and the northern tribes and that now the southern tribes are starting to the northern tribes felt it already
07:29: But now the southern tribes are starting to feel a serious pressure Okay, they were flooded by that Okay, God is going to overwhelm them in a flood
07:40: Okay, God will make a complete end of these Syrians with a literal overflowing some
07:46: Translations use the word cataclysmic flood in in the flood of his presence Remember how
07:52: God flooded the entire world and spared only eight people right we learned about that last week pastor talked about Noah He will do that here as well only on a much smaller scale
08:03: Water and floods are symbols of God's judgment upon his enemies and yet also
08:09: They are also deliverance and comfort for his people Okay, we're gonna learn about that in two seconds.
08:16: So Noah's flood with its cataclysmic Universal impact gives dramatic expression to the major themes that will be carried by flood imagery throughout the
08:26: Bible The first and most far -reaching of floods demonstrates God's sheer power, right?
08:31: This is Noah as he has created a world teeming with life. He could easily destroy it God declares
08:37: I'm going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens
08:42: Every creature that has breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish and as we learned in the past This is deconstruction language
08:50: God is taking this away and then he's going to re Regroup his people and reconstruct them the flood also
08:56: Expresses God's hatred of sin as God sees how humans have corrupted the good world
09:02: He has created in his righteousness God determines to wipe out evil So he says to Noah I'm going to put an end to all people for the earth is filled with violence because of them
09:13: Some people say well, why doesn't God get rid of all evil right now? Because if he did we wouldn't be here.
09:19: There is a place that God created Okay where there is no evil the question is how do you get into that place?
09:28: You don't get into it in the condition that you're in right now. You need a Savior You need a payment for your sins.
09:34: You need redemption and cleansing by God's Spirit. That's what he does He offers that to us in Jesus Most commonly flood imagery is used to picture
09:45: God's determination to punish sin Whereas judgment came in the form of a literal flood in Noah's time later references often use flood
09:55: Figuratively to represent any retribution God brings either on his own people. For example, Jerusalem referred to as Abraham Ephraim in Isaiah 28 or on their enemies as we're learning on a
10:07: Syria in Nahum 1 8 So Isaiah 28 2 says behold The Lord has one is has one who is mighty and strong like a storm of hail a destroying tempest like a storm of mighty
10:19: Overflowing waters he cast to the earth with his hand this he's talking about a Syria coming in like a flood on the northern
10:28: Tribes so that flood language. Yes, it can be literal water But it can also be figurative in that he's gonna flood them with another army or or one of their enemies
10:38: Like the worldwide deluge of Genesis flood images often suggest that God works on a large scale
10:45: Bringing nation against nation like he did there to accomplish his purpose Jeremiah pictures
10:51: God's use of Pharaoh's armies in this way. See how the waters are rising and he's talking about Pharaoh's army they overflow the land and everything in it
11:01: The towns and those who live in them the people will cry out at the noise of and of enemy chariots
11:07: The Lord is about to destroy the Philistines Okay, so he describes their army and they're coming after the
11:13: Israelites as a flood. So, oh, I don't want you to see that So quickly hit it back this way.
11:21: All right. So is there is there any New Testament? Examples of a flood and he anybody remember what
11:29: Peter has to say I showed it to you two seconds ago Let me just go first Peter 3 right
11:38: Because they formerly did not obey when God God's patient waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few that is eight persons were brought safely through water
11:49: Baptism which corresponds to this now saves you not as the removal of dirt from the body
11:56: But as an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ Right as good
12:02: Baptist people we get to talk about baptism right now. I'd looked for an opportunity Overflowing waters, right?
12:08: So how could this possibly an over on an overwhelming flood?
12:14: Be good for God's people Okay, how does this correspond to baptism? Let's take a look in water baptism.
12:23: We are brought under the water symbolizing the flood or the judgment
12:29: But we don't stay there we are raised up out of it because of Jesus He is our
12:35: Ark when we are in Christ. We are in God's Ark The judgment we deserved fell upon Christ and him at his death
12:45: Such that his death is our death When he was raised to life after making payment for our sin
12:52: We were raised with him such that his life is our life
12:58: He is our Ark sparing us from the judgment of the flood So the judgment comes the water comes and washes away the wickedness and while we are in Christ we are preserved
13:11: Okay, this is what baptism is This baptism. This is what baptism corresponds to not just the immersion of water, right?
13:21: It's Water what about just an appeal to but it's an appeal to God for a good conscience not the cleansing of dirt from the body the
13:28: Holy Spirit circumcises us and renews our mind such that we have faith in Jesus for our salvation and Trust that that is enough to save us
13:38: And yesterday morning I had Mormons come to to my house It was a pre -planned visit and I was just Questioning them and one of the verses in the
13:47: Book of Mormon that they point me to is that they say that we're saved by grace after all we can do
13:56: That's not grace That's not grace Trusting in Jesus alone for your salvation means that he paid the price for your sins.
14:04: He absorbed all of it There's nothing that you do that's going to earn you favor in God's sight
14:12: So you're saved by grace after all you can do. Have you done all you can do Who on earth would think that's good news?
14:20: It's not Only the gospel is good news that when we're buried with Jesus when he died on that cross, that's where we died
14:28: When he raised to life we raised to life. That's where we live It's a death burial and resurrection of Christ.
14:34: We are in Christ We've been judged already Right. We're dead to sin and alive to Christ because of the
14:43: Spirit Jesus is resurrection becomes our resurrection and we are saved from God's judgment the waters pictured in baptism
14:53: We once were under God's judgment We died to that at the cross and we were raised from death to life
15:00: Out of the water and out of judgment and into God's Spirit now rivers of living water flow from inside of us
15:09: Okay, so we've been judged already if we are in Christ The second metaphor darkness
15:17: Describes the kind of end that Nineveh will experience he will pursue his foes into darkness
15:23: Now an ending can be good or bad, but Nineveh's will be be in complete obscurity and oblivion
15:30: Right and look at that word. He pursues his enemies. Do you think you're gonna outrun
15:38: God? Where can you go that? He's not there. That's right
15:45: You're not gonna win that fight and it's also Pursue here.
15:52: It is the verb meaning to pursue to chase to persecute It means to chase after to pursue someone in a hostile manner as when
16:00: Abraham pursued lots captors Remember that he went after them if they they took a lot or the way
16:06: Pharaoh pursued Israel It refers to the Lord's pursuit of persons or nations to punish and judge them
16:13: It refers to hunting chasing after animals it takes on the sense of persecuting persons and harassing them
16:20: God is going to get his enemies Figuratively it describes the chasing
16:27: Chasing rewards or strong drink to pursue one's enemies to darkness means to utterly wipe them out
16:34: That's what verse 8 is talking about in a passive sense It means to be chased in its passive stem it refers to what has vanished or passed away
16:43: So God is going to chase his enemies. He's going to judge them and they will be no more
16:51: Darkness, what is darkness? The absence of light I hit the button too quick again.
16:57: I gave you the answer Maybe I need coffee so We hear a lot lots lots of word lots of mentions of darkness, right?
17:08: Our minds were once dark and they were enlightened after the Spirit comes inside of us, right?
17:15: Based on physical properties darkness becomes a rich source of metaphor for spiritual realities if light symbolizes understanding darkness represents ignorance
17:26: Folly a science a silencing of prophetic revelations the state of the human mind unilluminated by God's revelation, it's a sign of falsehood when you're in darkness and The loss of walking in God's truth because the darkness has brought on blindness
17:45: Right. We need light We need God's light to illumine us such that now we can see even when we read the the the
17:52: Word of God Right that things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned the man in the flesh cannot understand them
17:58: We need God's light so that way when we read the scriptures we can understand what we're reading
18:04: Okay, and apply it to our lives. I'll have the Spirit apply to our lives
18:09: Sometimes when you read the scriptures, don't just read the scriptures let the scriptures read you All right, let them illuminate to you the things that you have to change
18:18: It's so easy when you hear a message or you read a scripture and be like oh so -and -so really needs to hear this
18:26: They really need to hear this and then all of a sudden it's like I Really need to hear this
18:34: Shut your mouth Okay, shut your mouth Think about how this affects you
18:41: Now you can share it with other people, of course Okay, but you want to see how the Spirit affects you, okay?
18:49: Look at what Jude says These are hidden wreaths at your love feast as they feast you without fear
18:55: Shepherds feeding themselves waterless clouds swept along by winds fruitless trees in late autumn twice dead uprooted
19:02: Wild waves of the sea casting up the foam of their own shame wandering stars
19:07: For whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever Have you ever tried to picture utter darkness and yourself being completely in the dark forever?
19:21: You start thinking about that. It's debilitating You know you're like gosh Whatever I need to do
19:27: I'll do you know we have one life to live. Let's let's live our lives for Christ Let's leave everything out on the field that God's given us, okay?
19:39: Mean idea in this verse 1 9 whatever you devise against the Lord. He will make a complete end of it
19:44: Distress will not rise up twice The idea is resistance is futile futile because God is invincible
19:51: There's no battle that God fought that he lost There's no trial that that Jesus advocated that he lost right if We always ask all
20:01: God we always say to be all God's on my side You need to be on God's side
20:07: Right don't think that you're gonna draft God into your you know your activities during this Oh, I got
20:13: God on my side. You need to repent and be on God's side You need to be doing what God told you to do and recognize when you look out at the world
20:19: We see what's going on Ukraine and Russia both sides are wrong. They're both sinful. There's issues on throughout this whole thing
20:27: You can't stand on one side. Oh God's on this person's side You need to recognize that we need to be on God's side both sides need to repent the
20:35: United States needs We all need to repent for crying out loud Don't get me going All right,
20:41: Nineveh would not go quietly however yet their resistance against Israel's Omnipotent God was futile whatever they plotted against the
20:49: Lord would fail. We are reminded of the Psalmist words Psalm 2 Why do the nation's rebel and the people's plot in vain the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers conspire against the
21:03: Lord and his anointed one Jesus They say let us tear off their chains and free ourselves from their restraints
21:11: The one enthroned in heaven laughs the Lord ridicules them then he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath
21:20: Listen when someone says what is a woman you need to laugh Are you kidding me?
21:28: You're so deluded. You don't know what a woman is This is what we're afraid of No No, you know what?
21:41: I gotta read this and I was gonna read it from the pulpit this morning's Deuteronomy if you want to follow along It's Deuteronomy 20
21:50: Verses one through four. I went over this with my brother last week. Listen to what?
22:03: the Word of God says when you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and People more numerous than you
22:13: Do not be afraid of them For the Lord your God who brought you up from the land of Egypt is with you
22:21: When you are approaching the battle the priest shall come come near and speak to the people
22:28: He shall say to them here or Israel. You are approaching the battle against your enemies today
22:34: Do not be faint -hearted Do not be afraid or panic or tremble before them
22:42: For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you
22:50: You may say well, that's the Old Testament that was when they were fighting, you know The Canaanites and all these lands guess what happens in John chapter 14 first line.
22:58: What does Jesus say? Let not your heart faint. Let not your heart faint.
23:05: Do not be troubled This is our high priest standing in the midst of the disciples saying listen, I'm leaving Okay, but I'm gonna send you the comforter go into battle.
23:14: Don't be afraid Don't be afraid God will deliver you We cannot look out at the the nation the world and start walking in fear
23:25: We have to walk in obedience to God's Word and trust that he has a plan and a purpose in the midst of this
23:32: Okay, if we're a little bold the righteous are as bold as a lion Fear of man is a snare
23:39: Okay, put your bold on let's go About 100 years earlier a serious
23:45: King Sinatra had challenged the Lord Disresulted in his own destruction and that of his army this time none of them would have no second opportunity this time to oppose
23:54: God For he would completely destroy them This is the second time that Nahum uses that word complete and he's going to use it another two times in this section through Verses 9 through 15 for a total of four times and it's designed that way
24:12: So this word Kala is a feminine noun meaning completion complete destruction
24:19: Annihilation in the sense of completion God told Moses that Pharaoh would let the Israel The Israelites go by driving them completely out of Egypt, right?
24:30: So the Israelites were completely out of Egypt Complete destruction or annihilation was most often attributed to God Isaiah prophesied that the
24:38: Lord would make a determined end to Israel Nahum spoke of God's judgment by which he made an utter end of his enemies so God is not a revenging
24:49: God. He's an avenging God and he's going to bring justice upon his enemies. He's going to pursue them
24:56: Okay. Now, why is it a complete end? Why would he use that word complete any ideas?
25:07: He's gonna bring a complete end to these Syrians Yes All right, the story's ending.
25:23: All right, he's gonna bring it. It's gonna be complete total, right? How would the Assyrians pursue their enemies?
25:31: Right, how would they destroy them completely? They wanted utter domination Completely wipe them out
25:38: Okay Matthew 7 1 for the judgment you pronounce with the judgment that you pronounce
25:45: You will be judged and with the measure you use it. It will be measured to you.
25:50: Yes, Jerry Yes, right. So yeah, that's that's
25:56: God meeting out justice. You're gonna the the penalty is gonna fit the crime Now when we judge other people the measure by which we judge them is the measure that we're gonna receive in return
26:09: So when these Syrians come in and completely wipe out Israel, okay God's gonna use that measure upon them.
26:17: We have to be careful how we judge people we judging people in love Are we wearing a lab coat trying to point them to the
26:25: Savior Savior, or are we wearing a black robe trying to condemn them? All right, very important Proverbs 131 therefore therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way and have their fill of their own devices
26:39: All right We pray Sometimes on Wednesdays and sometimes from the pulpit that they that people would fall into the pit that they dug for others
26:46: In other words, we want them to experience the same thing that they were going to try on someone else
26:53: Perfect example is Nahum on Naaman, right? He he puts up the gallows.
27:00: He's getting ready to hang. I forget who was right and He's hung on that gallows himself
27:06: All right, so he receives the punishment which he was going to use on someone else Isaiah 311 woe to the wicked it shall be ill with him for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him
27:20: Be careful how you judge Job 4 as I have seen those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same
27:29: You're gonna reap the consequences of the sin, right? You can choose the sin. You don't get to choose the consequence
27:35: God does Assyrian pride desired vengeance
27:42: Reminiscent of Lamech's taunt Lamech said I have killed a man for wounding me a young man for striking me
27:50: If Cain's revenge is seven hold seven fold then Lamech's is 77 fold
27:57: Because of this hubris a Syria made a complete end of the ten northern tribes. So here you see
28:04: You got you have people it's the nature of the human heart if we get pricked we're looking to do worse damage to our enemy
28:11: That's not what we're called to do biblically like Jerry said it's an eye for an eye tooth for a tooth
28:16: Okay, when you go beyond what the punishment deserves, that's the measure that you're gonna receive in return right
28:25: Though Nahum through Nahum. I'm sorry God held a Syria to its own standard as a
28:31: Syria claimed the right to execute total vengeance upon a vassal who plotted against it God would execute total vengeance against a
28:38: Syria for breaking its treaty obligations to him remember a Syria was
28:44: In covenant with God's people they were taking money, right? There was a there was a covenant between them
28:49: So when you break that covenant like Lawrence brought up a couple weeks ago God's gonna hold them to the standard of that covenant.
28:56: You hurt God's people God is going to bring that back upon you So their punishment would be complete because their punishment on others was complete total
29:07: It was the measure that they used Matthew 7 1 through 5 judge not that you be that you be not judged
29:15: For with the righteous judge for with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged and with the measure you use it
29:20: It will be measured to you Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye? But not notice the log that is in your own eye or how can you say to your brother?
29:29: Let me take the speck out of your eye when there is the log in your own You hypocrite first take the log out of your own eye
29:35: And then you will see clearly to take this take the speck out of your brother's eye Now this does this is not saying that you shouldn't judge
29:43: Okay, you judge with the right standard and you judge in humility You have a log in your own eye or you're suffering first from a certain sin now
29:52: You're gonna tell other people you're gonna condemn other people for committing the same sin that you have an issue with Not good not good.
29:59: You need to repent of that sin. You did to turn from it. You need to walk in victory over it Right now it doesn't mean that you can't tell somebody hey listen brother.
30:07: I saw you doing something you know in love Trying to persuade them you know snatch a brother
30:13: Away from that sin and help him overcome it right come alongside pray for them work with people
30:18: I love people if you love somebody when you see them doing something That's that's wrong.
30:24: That's gonna injure others or injure their relationship with God you lovingly want to tell them Let's not do that.
30:30: Here's what the word says about that. Okay. It's a difference between loving somebody and helping correct them or Keeping judgment on somebody and pointing a finger saying you're condemned for what you're doing right
30:46: Remember what happened to Assyria and Nineveh 150 years prior they were granted repentance
30:52: Right when Jonah preached they repented they act they did actually repent and Israel was spared judgment and Only a generally generation later.
31:02: They were back to their old ways So they went back to being a Syria and conquering the the lands around them
31:09: Jesus did say in Matthew 12 41 the men of Nino Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it for they
31:18: Repented at the preaching of Jonah and now one greater than Jonah is here
31:23: The generation that heard Jonah did repent, but the subsequent generations didn't follow
31:29: Assyrian history does not show a great or lasting effect as the result of Jonah's reluctant preaching right, so When we recognize that Nineveh Syria same thing
31:41: Was a wicked city and God granted them repentance such that They're gonna rise up at the judgment and they're gonna point to Jesus and say you should have repented you had
31:53: Jesus Right Nineveh in Assyria didn't have that. They just had Jonah Right, how much more severe will it be for those?
32:03: Whose who knew Jesus when he when he physically was here? Okay Who rejected him like the
32:09: Pharisees and the Jews of that time to know to see him and then to see his death and resurrection?
32:16: and deny him Even Nineveh is gonna look and say you should have repented.
32:23: Are you kidding? Right. So again before we before we point the finger at someone else.
32:31: We have to look at our own our own self Does Jesus death burial and resurrection mean anything to us?
32:37: Are we truly living humble repentant lives acting justly loving mercy and walking humbly with God?
32:44: Right, we know Jesus How similar this was to the children of Israel in the
32:49: Old Testament as they wandered through the wilderness time and time again They incurred severe displeasure of the
32:55: Lord and then there was a turning to him in repentance when he acted against them But it had no lasting effect and they again incurred his severest displeasure the writer to the
33:06: Hebrews uses this To telling the effect when he says today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion
33:15: Okay, so we know We know the death burial and resurrection of Jesus.
33:21: We have the testimony of the Scriptures We have so much today that God has blessed us with we have the proclamation of the gospel
33:28: We have a better sign the sign of Jonah, which again is the death burial and resurrection of Jesus So before we judge people
33:39: Harshly or with the wrong Standard we have to look at our own hearts. Have we turned have we repented do we trust in Jesus?
33:48: Okay, remember God's gonna pursue his enemies It's only those who take their refuge in him that will be spared
33:56: Again, when Jesus is your ark, you've you will come through the waters of judgment
34:02: Purified that the water will purify us rather than punish us Okay, so various of the leaders of the
34:14: Assyrians had plotted evil against the Lord But this is the message given to all who seek to work against God with that whatever they plot against the
34:22: Lord He will bring it to an end No lasting success can ever come to those who are the enemies of God No blessing can ever come upon any who do not acknowledge the
34:32: Lord to be the one who is in Supreme control of all things. So again when you look out at the people who are raging against God Okay, we actually need to have pity on the fact that they don't know what a what a man or a woman is
34:48: Ridiculous ridiculous God help God help them But Nahum gave them some good news
34:54: He said trouble will not come to Israel a second time once God wiped out the Assyrians They were gone.
35:00: They the Israelites didn't have to worry about them anymore He meant that torment would not come again from the
35:06: Assyrians He could say this because he knew that it was his plan that the whole Assyrian Empire would shortly be utterly destroyed
35:13: The Assyrians were to find out that the things they depended on for their protection and their joy would backfire upon them
35:20: How many people in the government in the world are depending on money?
35:26: Depending on pleasure on toys all these things that they're accumulating. That's not going to help them
35:33: That's not going to help them in God's judgment in God's wrath Matthew 1230 whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not gather with me scatters
35:43: So that's the question God's going to pursue his enemies his enemies are those people who resist him and fight against him
35:53: There's no neutrality. You are either with Jesus or against Jesus If you haven't repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus you're his enemy you're against him
36:06: You're not gathering with him, you know gathering Pete God's people into his kingdom.
36:12: You're scattering that Not making a decision is a decision Right. You need to recognize who
36:19: Jesus is We have to recognize our own simple state before him and recognize he's the solution to the problem
36:25: Government is not the solution to any of our problems Government adds to the problem
36:32: All right. The only solution to our problem is Jesus as King. He's Lord.
36:37: We need to repent trust in him Any final questions were right at the end.
36:43: Yes And Israel was given all this stuff from God right and they
37:38: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah God's God's in control We have to remember God's in control, but we're also responsible for our actions.
37:45: We can't just do whatever we want to say Well God's in control. He must the sovereignly decided I do this
37:52: You know, you're responsible for God's moral will you're responsible for what he's revealed to us in his in his book
37:59: In his word morally you are called to act in a certain way Claiming that God's sovereign and you don't have to act in a certain way is is is negating your responsibility.
38:09: Yes Yes, God does thankfully actively restrain the evil in men's hearts
38:24: And and for his people he changes their hearts such that they're now inclined towards good
38:29: All right, but we have to overcome the world the flesh and the devil. We're still in this temptation Period one day.
38:35: We're going to be delivered from that right and in In justification where we're delivered from the penalty of sin and sanctification
38:44: We're delivered from the power of sin and in glorification would would deliver from the presence of sin
38:50: Right, so we have that promise that there's gonna come a day. We're gonna be in a place with God where there is no sin right now
38:58: We're in that testing for that temptation phase. All right, we have to remain faithful We have to be right the righteous are as bold as a lion go out proclaim the gospel and let
39:08: God do what God does We're good. All right. We're right on time.