“We Need To Straighten Up!”
Nahum 3:1-19
David P. Nolte
America was founded by those who sought freedom from religious persecution. Because of their faith and religious persuasion, the Judeo-Christian morals, ethics and values of the Bible became the basis for law in the colonies. God was given recognition and respect. For years the Supreme Court supported teaching the Bible in public schools. We were called a “Christian Nation.” The church had a powerful influence in society.
I love America but I don’t love what is happening to America! How things have changed in the past 50 or so years. The downward spiral began in earnest when Madalyn Murray O’Hare filed a suit against the Abington School District. The United States Supreme Court ruled that official Bible-reading in American public schools was unconstitutional.
Like Nineveh we have lost our moral compass and it has been off-course ever since. Nineveh had straightened out when Jonah preached – now, 140 years later they are worse than before. So Nahum is sent to them. He was sent because God always gives an opportunity to repent. He still says, “As surely as I live, I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live.” Ezekiel 33:11 (NLT2).
To the end that Nineveh (and America) be motivated to turn from sin and to Him, God made it clear in His word that:
I. GOD DETESTS SIN:
A. Nineveh was sinful. Verses 1-4: “What sorrow awaits Nineveh, the city of murder and lies! She is crammed with wealth and is never without victims. Hear the crack of whips, the rumble of wheels! Horses’ hooves pound, and chariots clatter wildly. See the flashing swords and glittering spears as the charioteers charge past! There are countless casualties, heaps of bodies— so many bodies that people stumble over them. All this because Nineveh, the beautiful and faithless city, mistress of deadly charms, enticed the nations with her beauty. She taught them all her magic, enchanting people everywhere.”
B. Archaeologists have unearthed monuments to their terrors, inscribed with heartless boasts.
1. On top of being cruel and depraved, they bragged about it. Some of the inscriptions read, "I cut off their heads and formed them into pillars." "Bubo, son of Buba, I flayed in the city of Arbela and I spread his skin upon the city wall." "I flayed all the chief men who had revolted, and I covered the pillar with their skins."
2. These guys were mean to the core! And that was their good point.
C. The Assyrians wanted to destroy. They wanted to hurt people. They wanted to induce terror. And God decided to repay them for their wickedness.
D. Our beloved nation has become sinful as well! What is America thinking
1. When millions of unborn images of God are aborted every year?
a. When some kid can walk into a school and assassinate his / her peers?
2. When anyone can walk into a theater or mall or church and kill perfect strangers?
3. When a person is ambushed just because he / she is an officer of the law?
4. When every other religion in the world is tolerated but Christians are basically told, “Sit over there and shut-up!”?
5. When preachers are forbidden to preach against immoral lifestyles?
6. When political correctness supplants truth and rightness?
E. I am not pessimistic, but hopeful; I am not being negative, but realistic. I Am speaking the truth in love. There is but one hope for America and that is a return to God. And that is not the job of government or higher education or science – it is the job of the church! We need to be reminded:
1. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.” Psalm 33:12 (NIV).
2. “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” Proverbs 14:34 (NIV).
3. “When there is moral rot within a nation, its government topples easily. But wise and knowledgeable leaders bring stability.” Proverbs 28:2 (NLT2).
F. A man wanted to impress on his young teens that a little compromise with sin, a little yielding to temptation makes us unclean and guilty. He baked a batch of brownies and just as the kids were about to take a delicious chomp he stopped them and told them that he had added just a dab of doggie pooh to the mix. With a gag they tossed the brownies down and said, “Dad! Why did you do that?” He replied, “To show you that even a small bit of impurity ruins the whole batch.” It does not take a lot of sin to make us unclean and guilty in God’s eyes, just as robbing one bank would make us as guilty of crime as robbing 100. And God hates that sin.
II. GOD DENOUNCES PRIDE:
A. Nineveh was proud and God was going to humble them. Verses 5-11: “‘I am your enemy!’ says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. And now I will lift your skirts and show all the earth your nakedness and shame. I will cover you with filth and show the world how vile you really are. All who see you will shrink back and say, “Nineveh lies in ruins. Where are the mourners?” Does anyone regret your destruction?” Are you any better than the city of Thebes, situated on the Nile River, surrounded by water? She was protected by the river on all sides, walled in by water. Ethiopia and the land of Egypt gave unlimited assistance. The nations of Put and Libya were among her allies. Yet Thebes fell, and her people were led away as captives. Her babies were dashed to death against the stones of the streets. Soldiers cast lots to get Egyptian officers as servants. All their leaders were bound in chains. And you, Nineveh, will also stagger like a drunkard. You will hide for fear of the attacking enemy.’”
B. Under King Sennacherib, Assyria easily defeated Egypt and destroyed Thebes. God asks, “Are you better than Thebes?” That city fell – so will you!”
C. God is always opposed to pride.
1. Not the kind of pride we take in wanting to do our best without feeling that we are better than everyone else..
2. But the haughty, the arrogant, the smug-self-satisfied, the “I am sufficient and don’t need God” conceit, the boastful, attitude that causes people to elevate themselves above others.
D. What does that kind of pride look like?
1. It serves self-interest even at the expense of others.
2. It puts one’s self above the Bible or law or any restriction.
3. It believes it is entitled to things without working for them.
4. It looks down on others as of lesser worth than self.
5. It is the “Big I - Little You” perspective.
E. To counter pride:
1. Paul wrote, “Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” Romans 12:3 (NLT2). As we ought not esteem ourselves disproportionately superior, neither let us devalue ourselves in some false or unhealthy humility.
2. Peter wrote, “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor.” 1 Peter 5:6 (NLT2).
a. First the lowness then the lifting.
b. First the cross then the crown.
c. First the bowing then the blessing.
F. It reminds me of a young preacher who was trying out for a congregation. He had prepared well but proudly. He strutted up to the pulpit and peered pompously at the people. Then he started to speak and the impressive, theological precepts, Greek words and obscure concepts became a muddle in his mouth. He flailed about and stammered trying to make sense of his muttering. When he left the pulpit it was with head lowered and feet dragging. One old man put his arm around the young man and said, “Son, If you had gone up as you came down, you’d have come down as you went up.” Pride had destroyed his sermon but God used it to humble him.
So, God wants to humble the haughty. God Detests sin and Denounces pride and:
III. GOD DECLARES THE CONSEQUENCES:
A. Verses 12-19 “All your fortresses will fall. They will be devoured like the ripe figs that fall into the mouths of those who shake the trees. Your troops will be as weak and helpless as women. The gates of your land will be opened wide to the enemy and set on fire and burned. Get ready for the siege! Store up water! Strengthen the defenses! Go into the pits to trample clay, and pack it into molds, making bricks to repair the walls. But the fire will devour you; the sword will cut you down. The enemy will consume you like locusts, devouring everything they see. There will be no escape, even if you multiply like swarming locusts. Your merchants have multiplied until they outnumber the stars. But like a swarm of locusts, they strip the land and fly away. Your guards and officials are also like swarming locusts that crowd together in the hedges on a cold day. But like locusts that fly away when the sun comes up, all of them will fly away and disappear. Your shepherds are asleep, O Assyrian king; your princes lie dead in the dust. Your people are scattered across the mountains with no one to gather them together. There is no healing for your wound; your injury is fatal. All who hear of your destruction will clap their hands for joy. Where can anyone be found who has not suffered from your continual cruelty?”
B. Gordon Franz said, “There is an old adage that says, ‘What goes around, comes around.’ The Bible would use an agricultural metaphor, ‘You reap what you sow’ (cf. Gal 6:7). This is true in the geo-political realm as well as the personal realm. The Assyrians, over their long history, were brutal and barbaric people. Yet there came a point in history where God said, ‘Enough is enough,’ and He removed the offending party.”
1. Thebes, though mighty and powerful had been destroyed, as Nineveh well knew, since it was their armies that destroyed It.
2. Nahum implies, "Remember what you did to Thebes? The same is coming on you."
C. This was literally fulfilled when the Medes and Persians took them to the woodshed. The historian Diodorus Siculus wrote: "So great was the multitude of the slain that the flowing stream, mingled with their blood, changed its color for a considerable distance … They plundered the spoil of the city, a quantity beyond counting."
D. No nation or religion or individual can continue in rebellion against God and Christ and survive. As the soul that sins shall die, so it is with nations.
E. This story illuminate the certainty of consequences: A woman was married to one man and had a lover at the same time! They both ended up in the same hospital at the same time! The woman visited them both, but was dressed up in a red wig and flamboyant clothing for her paramour (he was used to her changing her appearance regularly) and she visited the husband in her normal hair and clothing. A doctor got onto the game. He decided to say nothing at first, but when the hospital was going to put both men into the same room, he spoke to the resident surgeon. They confronted the woman who said she'd deal with it. She disappeared for 2 days during which time the boyfriend got angry with her for not being there with him. She returned to the hospital to confess her misdeed. She walked into the boyfriend's room and he was angry with her so he lashed out at her, "You weren't here when I needed you! You can just get out of my life!" She tried to explain but he wouldn't listen. So she went to her husband, and learned that he was being discharged so she decided not to say anything since the problem seemed to be solved. But when she and he were getting onto the elevator, Lover Boy came up to her to apologize. When he called her "Honey," hubby wanted to know why! She was trapped. Her sins found her out!
F. But there is hope in the midst of, and in place of, doom.
God is patient and slow to anger. He gives every country and individual time to repent and turn to Him. But He is not mocked. Any time nations or individuals turn away from Him and remain in stubborn rebellion, He steps in with judgment.
Today is a day of opportunity, of hope, of renewal. Jesus has made it possible to come before God, not as our judge but as our Father. He takes great delight in forgiving those who come to Him – be one who comes! PRAY / INVITE: Jesus I Come.
