We've all been hurt. We all carry scars. We can all overcome these things and be
healed through a relationship with Jesus Christ. Let's build that relationship
together right here. Welcome to Healing Scars with Pastor Burton. Hey everybody
welcome back to the sanctuary. It is so good to have you join us. Now this week
we're going to jump right in and we're going to continue on in our discovery of
the least popular books in the Bible. Now if it seems like we've gone through a
lot in the past six months it's because we have. In fact to show you how much I
have some numbers for you. We've covered seven of the least preached books in
the Bible and many of the shortest books in the Bible. Specifically we have
actually covered all five of the shortest books in the Bible and at this
point seven of the ten shortest books in the Bible. So we're really just
trucking on through and we still have so so much to uncover. Today we're going to
begin looking at the book of Naum which is the eighth shortest book in the Bible.
So for those of you who are following along go ahead start opening your
Bible there because that's where we're going to be kicking off. Now of course we
need to look at the background to set things up and get a better view of the
picture that we're looking at here. Alright so there's there's no surprise
here this book was written by Naum. Naum being Hebrew is typically pronounced
either nae-um or nae-ham. This book was likely written during his prophetic
ministry which was between the fall of Thebes around 663 and the fall of Nineveh
about 612 BC. Now remember BC the numbers get smaller and AD where we're at now
they get larger as time progresses. Now the original audience here were
the people of Nineveh and Judah in the southern kingdom and it was to pronounce
God's judgment on Assyria and bring comfort to Judah. Now Nineveh was the
capital of the Assyrian Empire and we know this of course from our study of
Jonah where they were warned of their impending demise if they didn't turn to
God and repent because they were some pretty gnarly people they're pretty evil
you know and looking at these dates what we can also see is that it takes place
about a century after Jonah had gone through and Nineveh had repented. So I
mean really you know in the sense of sequels this is a sequel to Jonah.
Now in the time that passed Nineveh backslid into their previous state
which you know was thriving in sin such as idolatry and violence as a world
power you know they had again risen back you know gotten back to this point of
being just absolutely brutal conquerors who destroyed sacked and pillaged as
they pleased you know very much like what are you gonna do about it you know
you and what army and as we're going to see you know God's going to use Nineveh
to one make it clear that he's in control and two as an example to all
rulers nations you know in the world back then and in the world we know today
and those to come. Now for those following in their Bible those taking
notes go ahead and join me now as we go into Naum chapter 1 verses 1 through 3
the Bible says a prophecy concerning Nineveh the book of the vision of Naum
the Elkushite the Lord is a jealous and a venging God the Lord takes vengeance
and is filled with wrath the Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath
against his enemies the Lord is slow to anger but great in power the Lord will
not leave the guilty unpunished his way is in the whirlwind and the storm and
clouds are dust at his feet that's pretty intense imagery right there so
Naum it was very similar to Jonah and that he was a prophet to Nineveh he came
from Elkush which was a village believed to have been there in the southwest part
of Judah now God had sent his message to Naum in the form of a vision all right
and his message was to proclaim just how angry he had become with Nineveh he was
he was downright pissed all right now God and God alone retains the right to
be jealous and to be vengeful that's right jealous and vengeful now that may
come as a surprise to you especially when I say those two words so if we go
all the way back towards the beginning of the Bible to Exodus chapter 20 verses
4 through 6 the Bible says you shall not make for yourself an image in the form
of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath
on the earth beneath or in the waters below try I lost my place there reading
you shall not bow down to them or worship them for I the Lord your God am a
jealous God punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and
fourth generation of those who hate me but showing love to a thousand
generations of those who love me and keep my commandments so since the
beginning it's been made clear that God's reserved the right to be both
jealous and vengeful and this is different from us as humans all right we
tend to be jealous and take vengeance because of our own selfishness and our
own petty desires we act from our own sin whereas God who is our Creator has
every right to insist that we bear our allegiance to him and him alone and it's
right for him to punish those who rebel he set the bar and defined what is right
and what is wrong he wants us to follow what he has set forth because he knows
what is best for us and that if we do what he has told us to do we will find
true peace true justice and live properly as he has designed for us to you
know parents if this is ringing a bell it should it set the example for how you
know we our children should be raised and if you're afraid to punish your
child or discipline them then you need to take a step back and make some
changes you see when God is jealous and when God is vengeful it's truly
different from us because there's no selfishness involved it all comes from
his love and his desire to remove sin and bring back balance to all who
believe we also see that God is slow to anger and don't we all know someone like
this too that reserved person that doesn't lose their cool often but when
they do Oh buddy you better look out God is the same in this respect he keeps his
cool no matter how much we rebel and no matter how much we act a fool it's a
slow process for him yet when he's had enough even the earth trembles beneath
him now it's because of this a lot of people avoid going to God or even doubt
him we see so much evil in the world corrupt leaders to hypocrites in the
church that people start to wonder where God is or if he even exists and here's
what so many of us fail to realize here's the key piece of it God is slow
to anger because he is giving all of us his true believers Christians time time
to do what great question I'm glad you asked that and I have an answer for you
time to share his love and his truth with evildoers and non-believers time to
mourn them so that they can repent and turn to him so while it seems like it's
taking a long time to us we can all rest assured that they're not going to get
eternity to do such there it's it's not going to be forever the clock is ticking
the sand in the hourglass is running out and when it does his vengeance will be
poured out on them at this point I'm certain there's at least one or two of
you that are wondering why doesn't God just punish evil right away why don't
you just get it done with well he could we know this however if he did none of
us would be here not one of us at some point we have all sinned and we have all
fallen short of the glory of God he gave us time in fact he gave our parents and
our grandparents and everyone before us time so that we could turn to him and
because of that we should all be thankful that he gives everyone time to
turn to him continuing on and naum one verses 4 through 5 the Bible says he
rebukes the sea and dries it up he makes all the rivers run dry
Bashan and Carmel wither and the blossoms of Lebanon fade the mountains
quick before him and the hills melt away the earth trembles at his presence the
world and all who live in it now just a quick note here Bashan Bashan how
there's a few ways to pronounce this and Carmel they were fertile areas that's
all we really need to know about that part we're gonna keep on moving along
here into verses 6 through 8 and the Bible says who can withstand this
indignation who can endure his fierce anger his wrath is poured out like fire
the rocks are shattered before him the Lord is good a refuge in times of
trouble he cares for those who trust in him but with an overwhelming flood he
will make an end of Nineveh he will pursue his foes into the realm of
darkness all right the question here is really who can defy God and get away
with it nobody no person no family no state no nation no government nobody
nobody not one not even Satan who we know will be destroyed as it's been
revealed in Revelation 20 verses 7 through 9 after all how do you avoid God
we're talking about the creator of everything known and unknown you can't
no matter how important celebrated or strong you are or anyone else becomes it
simply cannot be done so because of this we know we need to repent and turn to
Jesus because time is running out as Syria let's just face it got too big for
its own britches Jonah had already gone down there told him hey what's up this
is what's going on you need to make some changes or that's it finito the Lord's
had enough and they did and narrowly avoided their sentence just a century
earlier but unfortunately they're blinded by their own reflection in the
mirror their ego got too big their own egos to realize that they were right
back on track to meet their executioner see this right here this is why it's so
important that we learn from the past you know this is what's wrong with
council cancel excuse me cancel culture today a little tongue tied there you
know everybody's so offended they want to tear down statues and monuments and
everything because oh this is wrong and that was wrong you know they decided
that if something is offensive in any way shape or form that it needs to just
disappear needs to be swept under the rug and be made like it never happened
the problem is things did happen the past happened someone is going to be
offended no matter what so instead of playing make-believe and pretending that
something never existed something never happened we need to go back and we need
to acknowledge that yeah it happened we need to learn from it and then we need
to apply the lessons learned to do our best to ensure that we don't make the
same mistakes people we need to stop following the blind herd in the world
and start following Jesus as people as states as nations we should all do well
to learn from Nineveh and the Assyrians to repent to turn to God and to help
one another to make sure that none of us backslide like they did but guess what
we're not doing that we're not doing a good job of it right now at all we're
failing and we see every day when we go out into the world we can't defy God we
can't humble ourselves before him we can repent and we can follow him we can be
obedient to him see those who don't believe in God on the other hand those
who continue to rebel and disobey him his punishments real and his punishment
it's like a hungry fire and it just consumes everything there's no way out
they're trapped they put themselves into a corner that they can't get out of
they've had the chance God has extended his hand to them and they've slapped it
out of the way they're too prideful they're too consumed by their own sin
that fire that they're being burned up now we know God will go to great lengths
to protect and care for those who believe and follow him remember we just
talked about this yet his enemies they don't stand a chance no chance
ultimately it is up to us do you want a relationship with him to know his love
his mercy his grace or would you rather fight against him and find yourself in
hell to only know torment and pain make a choice it's yours to make are you for
him or against him and as the Bible tells us he can't be Luke warm you can't
just be in the middle because even that is a decision to be against him all
right going back into naum here name one we're looking at verses 9 through 11 now
the Bible says whatever they plot against the Lord he will bring to an end
trouble will not come a second time they will be entangled among thorns and
drunk from their wine they will be consumed like dry stubble from you
Nineveh has one come forth who plots evil against the Lord and devises wicked
plans see another way of reading in the first part of this is you know or when
you're looking through and it says you know what do you it's basically asking
what do you foes plot against God it's the same as saying what do you really
think you're going to do you know and as for for those who plot evil against the
Lord that part isn't clear however there are a few ideas that have been suggested
by scholars the first being a sherban oh Paul who was the king of Assyria for
really most of Naum's life and was directly responsible for bringing Assyria
to the apex of its power brought him you know he's the one responsible directly
for bringing them to the tippy top of where they got the second being
Sinistri who was really the embodiment of what it means to rebel against God at
that time you know he openly defied him and we can see more of that in second
Kings chapter 18 verses 13 through 35 and the third being that there was no
particular king instead it was really the entire Assyrian monarchy regardless
it doesn't really matter because the point here the point of the matter is
because of their rebellion against God all of Nineveh is going to be destroyed
it's all going bye-bye good night Alice all right see we're in the home stretch
here people we're gonna finish out this reading strong so pick back up Naum 1
verses 12 through 15 so verses 12 through 15 the Bible says this is what
the Lord says although they have allies and are numerous they will be destroyed
and passed away although I have afflicted you Judah I will afflict you no
more now I will break their yoke from your neck and tear your shackles away
the Lord has given a command concerning you Nineveh you will have no descendants
to bear your name I will destroy the images and idols that are in the temple
of your gods I will prepare your grave for you are vile look they're on the
mountains the feet of the one who brings good news who proclaims peace
celebrate your festivals Judah and fulfill your vows no more will the
wicked invade you they will be completely destroyed Wow there's some
good news to be had there's some great news to be had here you know for Judah
it was the fact that their occupiers were going to be taken out taken out as
a matter of fact they were brought down and wiped out sign sealed delivered they
were going to never have a chance to rise again I mean they were done they
were so utterly just beaten that their ruins weren't even identified by
archaeologists until about 1845 we're talking so battered and beat up Indiana
Jones wouldn't have even bothered with them the same good news for the people
of Judah applies to the world today those who rebel against God doing evil
things against his people will eventually find themselves at the
business end of God's jealousy and vengeance to defy and to oppose God
there's just no chance done that's the message of hope that's being given to
all believers for all time all these groups these leaders and I use that term
leaders very loosely you know regimes governments and nations that try to take
what they want with brute force and violence and cruelty and on and on their
time is running out and they will be judged and they will be destroyed yet
those who believe those who follow God will be protected they'll be protected
see there are so many examples of these rises of power and power and falls
throughout history even today regimes dynasties nation celebrities you know
all these people who have been deemed to be of great importance you know they've
they've all risen and they've crumbled you know even in the last few months
we've seen powerful banks go under you know over the years we've seen actors
athletes politicians and you know so on lose everything not just here but around
the world as Christians we need to step back we need to put ourselves in check
we need to exercise self-control yeah see we need to we need to get a hold of
our emotions are real the men there's so much that's happening out there today
people get fired up they get fired up they're pumped but not in a good way it
doesn't matter what the issue is anymore everyone wants to pick up their torch
and their pitchfork and start marching for their view on a cause in anger not
love selfish anger they lose control they want vengeance they want justice
they want to force their view on others but they can't even see their own sin
they can't see how they're sitting and how they're going about it they want to
point the finger but they don't want to examine themselves remember the Bible
even talks about this you know the the the speck in the eye versus the plank
Deuteronomy 32 verse 35 the Bible says it is mine to avenge I will repay and
due time their foot will slip their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes
upon them and in Matthew chapter 6 verses 14 through 15 the Bible says for
if you forgive other people when they sin against you your heavenly father
will also forgive you but if you do not forgive others their sins your father
will not forgive your sins see vengeance getting even it comes naturally to us
because of our human nature but it's rooted in selfish sin so for believers
for those of us who follow Jesus vengeance it's always going to be best
when we leave it in God's hands feeling a need for revenge is very very much like
holding a grudge or in other words not forgiving other people
unforgiveness God clearly tells us that if we expect for him to forgive us we
must be willing to let go and love and forgive everyone else against human
nature it's natural to want revenge to hold grudges to refuse to forgive however
this is not only on Christian it is a rebellion against God Ephesians 4 verse
32 the Bible says be kind and compassionate to one another forgiving
each other just as in Christ God forgave you he's given us time he's given us
love he has forgiven us and shown us that he will deal with those who want to
do us harm who wish ill upon us he has shown us the way through Jesus Christ we
need to stay focused on him in the storm that we are all in we need to stay
focused on God we need to stay focused on Jesus we need to stay focused on the
good news he has given us and sealed in blood when Jesus went to the cross and
died for the sins of all mankind we need to be patient we need to be obedient we
all need to be the light in others times of darkness we need to be the church we
need to let the same love and hope Jesus has given to you and me shine for others
to see in doing so you may well be that answer that God has sent to someone else's
prayer in someone else's time of need that's all we have this week next week
we're going to continue on and we're going to continue to explore Nahum and
we're going to see that fall of Nineveh God bless y'all I want to thank you for
joining us today if you have any questions prayer requests or would like
to know more about our ministry you can find us on our website at be the light
sanctuary org or on Facebook at be the light sanctuary we'll catch you next
time God bless