SERMON NOTES
Nahum1:1-15
The Lord is Good, a Stronghold in the Day of Trouble
The name Nahum means comfort.
God gave a message to Nahum and that message was that Nineveh was going to be destroyed. This brings comfort to Judah.
Nahum is believed to have been written between 660BC and 630BC.
Jonah was sent to Nineveh (782-753 BC) to encourage them to repent. God gives sinful people the chance to repent and turn to Him. If people continue in their sin and do not turn to God, there will be a just punishment for their rebellion.
Though the Ninevites did repent, they turned away from God around 745BC.
Nineveh was destroyed in 612 BC.
This destruction would be the end of Assyria.
Themes-
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Nahum proclaims that the Lord is slow to anger and He is longsuffering, but He is a jealous God and He will not put up with false worship and idolatry.
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God controls the nations and history and He is a just and righteous ruler who is just, fair, good, merciful, gracious, loving, and faithful; He will deliver His people and protect His people if they trust in Him.
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Nineveh did not fall because it was large, wealthy, and Gentile. It fell because it was godless, idolatrous, violent, and full of lust and greed.
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Our Lord is a stronghold for all who take refuge in Him. He can handle any and all of our problems and He is actively loving and caring for His people. He delivers His people and will wipe out all evil.
God used the Assyrians to chasten the wayward Southern Kingdom (His people), but He did not allow Judah to be wiped out. God would keep His promise that a Messiah (God with us) would come and save His people if they would repent and turn to Him.
Vs 2-4 God wants us to take refuge in Him, and He wants us to be faithful.
God allowed His people to go through struggles so that they would turn to Him and ask for help and deliverance.
Are you living your life in rebellion to God, or do you seek Him for help and refuge?
God is always there for us. When we turn to Him, He is there with us to save us, protect us, and rescue us!
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The Lord is jealous- God will not put up with false worship. We either worship the triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) or we do not. If we worship anything other than the one true living God, He is jealous and will punish for sins.
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The Lord is slow to anger and is great in power, but He is just and will not clear the guilty.
There is only one way for us to be right with God. We all sin. We all need a savior. The only way we can be right with our holy God is to believe in Christ, ask Him to forgive us of our sins, and ask God to take control of our lives.
Vs 5-8
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God is over all! He is the ALMIGHTY!
God is over the heavens and the earth. There is nothing He does not control. He is patient and will allow us to wander or sin, but there is final judgment.
God is over us. We are not over God. His ways are the best ways, and we should pursue them.
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God helps protect His people
God is good. We can trust Him and His ways. Sometimes God might allow us to go through a difficult time to grow us or to turn us back to Him.
We are not strong, but our God is. He helps us when we are in trouble. Do you go to God with your difficulties? Do you trust Him in His process for our lives?
God sees if you are living for yourself, for this world, or for Him. Are you seeking Jesus in your life right now, or have you become reliant on yourself or the world?
God will protect us from satan, demons, and our enemies.
Is there an area of your life where you are plotting to do sin, evil, or go against God and His ways? God will not put up with that.
Vs 12-15 It might look like the world is winning or that evil is prevailing, but God will lead His people to victory in the end; God will justly judge all people.
Those who have been purified because of their trust in Christ will not only be forgiven, but they will also be welcomed into eternity with God in heaven.
Those who deny Christ, live for themselves or for the world, will be judged justly and they will pay the punishment for their own sin.
False gods will be destroyed. The things of this world are meant for us and meant to give glory to God. They are not meant to be worshiped.
Salvation comes through faith in Jesus. We need to live for Him, speak about Him, and have peace through Him.
God wants us to believe in Him, trust in Christ, and ask Him to take control of our lives.
God is slow to anger, but He is just and will judge those who do not trust in Jesus and go against Him.
God is good and He is a stronghold for His people in a day of trouble.
Living for ourselves, or for the things of this world, will never satisfy and both will come to an end.
Nahum 2:1-13
Behold, I am Against You
God cares about His own honor. God will not be mocked. God will get glory. God is merciful and loving and slow to anger, but if people rise up against Him or His people, He will always be victorious.
If we, as His people, are in a covenant relationship with God, He will never leave us or forsake us. God will always be there to help His people, and His people will be delivered into eternity with Him in perfection.
God's holy anger is against Nineveh.
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They were warned by God, but still turned away from Him, abandoned Him, and worshiped false idols and gods. God used the Assyrians to discipline unfaithful Judah.
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The Assyrians plundered Judah and God always delivers and protects His people.
Romans 9:4-5 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
The Jews were unfaithful and God brought them back.
We are sometimes faithful, but we have been forgiven through Christ's birth, death, and resurrection. We might stray from God, but He will always bring us back.
Hebrews 13:5-6 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
Vs 1-13 God's coming judgment is imminent.
Nahum writes this account as if he is there and Nineveh is being attacked, overrun, and plundered.
This is prophecy.
As Christians, we should fear turning away from God and worshiping the world instead of God.
God will discipline His people and turn them back to Him.
Non-Christians should fear the final judgment of a holy and perfect God. God is so holy that He will not allow sin and wrongdoing to go unpunished.
Both the Christian and non-Christian should fear the Lord.
Vs 2 Imagine trying to prepare for a war against God. They are in deep trouble.
Imagine how useless their false gods are when God comes for judgment!
What do you cling to for help now that will perish for eternity? What do you worship before God?
The Lord is vindicating Himself and restoring majesty to His covenant people.
God’s defeating army was made up of Medes and Babylonians.
Vs 6- This defeat is predicted and Nahum takes the reader into Nineveh as it was being destroyed.
The Khoser river flowed through Nineveh.
Vs 7-8 The gates that controlled the water could now be controlled and they could be closed to build up water and then the gates could be lifted and the city could be quickly devastated by flooding.
Vs 9- Gold and silver and money seems so valuable in everyday life. When death is near and we are under attack it is worthless.
We will not be able to take anything to heaven with us. Do we put stuff or finances over God?
Matthew 6: 19-24 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money."
Nineveh had plundered many cities. They were rich from taking other people’s things. They thought they were strong until they ran up against our mighty God. We sometimes think we are powerful and strong. We are built to worship and submit to our mighty and loving God.
Vs 10-12 Nineveh was warned by God to repent and turn away from false gods and turn toward the one true living God. They worshiped false gods and trusted that their own strength and might, believing false gods would be enough for them. Then they had to face God Himself. They had been warned.
We have been warned. We need a Savior. Only Jesus can save us. Do we trust in Jesus? Do we live for Jesus?
The lion was a symbol of kingship. The Assyrian king exhibited ferocity to other cities and nations. They thought they were powerful and could never be defeated. Now, the Lion of Judah would destroy them forever.
Deuteronomy 10:12-22 Circumcise Your Heart
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? 14 Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. 19 Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 20 You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. 21 He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.
Do you serve the one true living God, Father Son, and Holy Spirit or do you serve yourself?
Do you serve the one true living God or do you serve the world?
God cares if you live for Him. God cares if you live for the world.
Nahum 3:1-19
Destruction or Peace with God through Faith?
We have all sinned.
We are not saved by our good works.
We are saved by our faith in Christ and asking Him to take control of our lives.
Romans 3:22-26
the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
There is no unforgivable sin except for not asking Jesus to be our Lord and Savior.
The Ninevites did not trust in the coming Messiah. They rejected God and chose to live for sin and this world. As a result of this, God sent Nahum to predict their righteous judgment and destruction.
Vs 1-7 Nineveh had destroyed other cities and stolen their riches. They had also built their lives on thinking they were rich and that they could live for themselves and their false gods.
Instead of living for the one true God, the Ninevites lived for themselves. They did not love God or others. They loved themselves and destroyed others.
There was going to be an attack. God would rescue His people, and God would judge His enemies. God would use the Assyrians.
God judges Nineveh for being violent, blood thirsty, and idolatrous liars.
The Assyrians were ruthless, and they loved, and worshiped, false gods.
Exodus 20:1-17 The Ten Commandments
And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 13 “You shall not murder.14 “You shall not commit adultery. 15 “You shall not steal. 16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”
The Assyrians broke all of the Ten Commandments without remorse. They rejected God's ways and chose rebellion.
Though they rebelled against the almighty God, our Lord still sent a messenger to warn of their destruction. There are some today that know Christ will return to judge the world; and yet, they still do not repent and trust in Him as Lordand Savior. There will be judgment and destruction.
These people are:
Not faithful
They do not love God
They have no commitment to God
They boldly worship the created instead of the creator and they don’t care
Vs 8-11 in 664BC Thebes fell. Everyone knew this. No one thought that this Egyptian stronghold could fall; it did. And, so would Nineveh.
God is over all. God is the most powerful. We should live for God; He will be victorious.
Vs 12-18 We oftentimes think we are big or strong in life. Our success is like a second in time compared to the greatness of God. If we are successful, it is because God helps us and makes us that way. We should not give ourselves, or our country, glory for success.
We should thank God for anything that we have.
May God bless America. May God be worshiped in America.
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
There will be a time when it is too late. We are made to worship God through faith in Jesus.
Do you trust in your riches and the things of this world, or do you trust in Jesus?
Peace with God Through Faith
Romans 5:1-11
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.