Review / Introduction:
Judgment is a Response to Man's Pride. (Nahum 1:8-15)
If God was using Nineveh, why is He now punishing Nineveh?
Isaiah 10:5-7, 12, 15 - 5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury!
6 Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him,to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 But he does not so intend,and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few
12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes.
15 Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it, or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? As if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
Parable: Isaac and Nick
2 Samuel 22:26, Psalm 18:27, Proverbs 3:34, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5
God Opposes the proud but gives Grace to the humble.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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Open up your Bibles with me please to the book of Nahum.
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So book of Nahum.
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Are you there yet?
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I'm not.
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Harvest Bible Chapel is a church that sits on four pillars.
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They're on the wall in the back in guest reception.
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The first one is proclaiming the authority of God's Word without apology.
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We lift high the name of Jesus in worship.
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We believe firmly in the power of prayer.
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We share the good news of Jesus with boldness.
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Those are the four things that sort of sum up what this church is about.
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And regarding that first one, if you're visiting with us, what we do at Harvest Bible Chapel is we go through a passage of Scripture and we let the Word of God speak for itself.
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You should have no interest in coming here today and hearing what I think about life and things.
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My opinion doesn't matter.
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God's opinion.
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God's truth is what matters.
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That's why we take a passage of Scripture and take time to walk through it.
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And we're in a series right now called "God's Judgment." Why and how?
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Because it's a subject that's so commonly misunderstood everything from God is ready to smack you down and cast you into hell at the slightest offense.
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You better watch.
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He's ready to lay the smackdown on you.
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from that to people saying, "Oh, God's not going to judge anybody. Hell is just a myth.
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Judgment is a made-up thing. It's the boogeyman." And what we want to do with this series is see what the Bible says about judgment, okay? It doesn't really matter what I think about judgment and it doesn't really matter, respectfully, what you think about judgment. What matters is what God thinks about judgment and what He has said about it. And that's why we're going through the book of Nahum. Last week we were setting the stage just a quick review.
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Nahum is about the Assyrian capital, this city called Nineveh. And maybe you're more familiar with Nineveh from the story of Jonah. Nineveh was the town that Jonah went to and when he declared God's judgment they repented and God spared them. But a little over a hundred But years later Nineveh was back to their cruelty and violence towards God's people.
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Like what do you mean violence?
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Nineveh, the Assyrians, they were known for being not just violent but cruel.
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They would, just researching this this week, I just, I got to a point I just had to stop.
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I'm like, "Okay, enough." The brutality was hard to stomach.
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They were known for cutting off people's hands, cutting off their feet, cutting off their heads.
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They were known for taking their enemies and skinning them, and using their skins as tapestries and decorations, monuments from the war.
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They were known for taking their enemies and gouging their eyes out, but letting them live.
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They were known for sticking people on poles to put on display.
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Then Nineveh, the Assyrians, they were known for making monuments out of corpses.
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Just sick.
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Sick!
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You know the book of Nahum, Nahum the prophet shows up and he says to Nineveh, "It's all over.
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It's over.
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You're done.
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God has had enough." And God wiped Nineveh off the map to the degree that it wasn't found again, the site wasn't found again until 1842.
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That was how utterly destitute the Lord made that city, destroyed it.
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Last week we saw that judgment is fueled by God's jealousy.
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The reason God is bringing judgment, the reason God is angry, is because He loves His people so much.
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It's fueled by His love.
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And because He loves His people, He will not tolerate His people being abused.
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This week the title of the message is "Judgment as a Response to Man's Pride." Look at verse 7 with me.
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Again, this is where we left off last week.
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The verse 8 is sort of like the other half of verse 7, so we're going to take a step back before we go forward.
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It says, "We left off last week, 'The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble.
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He knows those who take refuge in Him.
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But on the other hand, with an overflowing flood, he will make a complete end of the adversaries and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
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You see, he knows his people, but if you're not one of God's people, he considers you an adversary or an enemy.
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It says, "With an overflowing flood, he will make a complete end." literal and metaphorical at the same time.
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You're like, "How is that?" Well, in 612 BC, the Tigris River overflowed and actually broke down part of the wall, the flooding broke down part of the wall of Nineveh, which allowed the Babylonians to rush right in for the first wave of attack.
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So I think when Nahum is talking about a flood here, I think there's a literal truth there.
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So we're going to look at verses 9-15 today.
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And before we do that, listen, this can be confusing.
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Who is actually being addressed in the passage?
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Because in these verses that we're looking at today, God is addressing Nineveh and He's addressing Israel at the same time.
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He's sort of alternating back and forth messages are sort of intertwined and sometimes it can be hard to read if we're not sure exactly who he's speaking to. He's giving judgment in Innova, he's giving hope for Israel, and here's what we're going to do. This will really help you if you do this. Okay? So I want you to take a pen and I want you to mark your Bible. Mark a bracket around verses 9 down 9 through the first part of verse 12. Just put a bracket. 9 through the first part of verse 12. And then in the margin put an N. And that stands for Nineveh, meaning that's who God is speaking to. So 9 through the first part of 12 is speaking to Nineveh. The second This is part of verse 12.
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Down in verse 13, down to verse 14, but not verse 14, just 12b and 13 rather, he's speaking to Israel.
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So verse and a half, he's speaking to Israel.
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Put an "i" in the margin beside 12b and 13.
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You're allowed to write in your Bible.
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I give you permission.
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Just don't like add stuff.
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Like, God also said this.
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No, He did not.
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So verse 14 through verse...
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Actually just verse 14.
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He's speaking to Nineveh again.
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So write a bracket around verse 14, write an "N." And then verse 15, write a bracket around that and put an "I" around that.
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He's speaking to Israel again.
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So you should have four brackets.
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"N-I-N-I," Nineveh, Israel, Nineveh, Israel.
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That's how I marked it in my Bible and it just helps keep things clear as we go through the passage.
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Now how can you be sure who he's speaking to?
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Well, here's a little trick.
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That we know for sure that he's changing audiences.
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Like in verse 12, God says, "Though I have afflicted you." That word "you" in the Hebrew, which is more of an exact language than English, but that word "you" in the Hebrew is actually feminine.
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And it's a change in gender.
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And in the Hebrew language, when you change gender like that, the audience is also changing, obviously.
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So that's a little textual clue that - hard to see in English, obviously, but that's one of the clues that we have - that He's definitely changing back and forth between audiences.
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So what God's doing in this passage, alternating back and forth.
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For example, I was thinking how to illustrate this.
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I thought, "Well, I'm gonna need somebody "that I just love so much and I'm so jealous for "and just means the world to me." And I'm like, "Well, obviously Aaron." And then I thought, "Well, I'll start for this illustration.
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"I need just somebody to represent Nineveh, "just vile and nasty and Tony." I am totally kidding, but you're sitting near the front, so you're gonna come up here for a second and help me out.
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So here's what's happening in this passage.
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You know I don't mean that about you.
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He could kill me with a dirty look.
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I love you brother, just an illustration.
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But here's what God's doing in the passage.
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He's speaking to Nineveh and Israel.
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And he's like, same passage, he's like, I love you.
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I have a glorious plan for you.
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It's over for you.
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Here comes the boom.
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But you, your best days are ahead of you.
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Huge blessings are coming.
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I am digging your grave right now.
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Okay, you can have a seat there.
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That's what's happening in this passage.
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So let's look at verse nine.
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Again, God speaking to Nineveh.
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Why do you plot against the Lord?
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He will make a complete end.
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Trouble will not rise up a second time.
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Plotting against the Lord.
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He says it again in verse 11.
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we'll get to that in a second.
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God's decreeing something and Nineveh says, "No, that's not gonna happen." Really, you think you're going to stop God's purposes?
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Is that your plan?
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You're plotting against the Lord?
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God says, "Well, I'm gonna make a complete end." And he says, "You're not going to rise up a second time." Now, being a product of the '80s, Remember those cheesy horror movies from the 80s?
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How many people remember those horror movies?
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You know, like Friday the 13th and Halloween and you know, the scary monster movies.
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You know what I'm talking about?
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You don't drive me nuts about those movies.
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I'm gonna, here's what I'm gonna do.
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I'm going to demonstrate a scene for you and you tell me what happens next, okay?
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So like the monster's chasing after the innocent, you know, teenager at summer camp or whatever and the teenager grabs the shovel and the monster breaks in the door and thwack, hits Jason or Freddie or whatever right between the eyes, down, laying there.
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Okay, and then the teenager starts crying.
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It says, "It's over." And then puts the shovel down and walks away.
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What happens next?
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The monster gets up.
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And every time I'd see one of those cheesy movies, I had the same thought.
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Take that shovel and hack that thing into pieces the size of Skittles.
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Like this thing has been trying to kill you.
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Like why did you let it get back up?
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And in this passage here, the Lord is saying to Nineveh, He goes, "You're not going to get up.
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I put you down, and you're not going to get up.
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There's not going to be any restoration from this.
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Verses 10-12, look at this, he says, For they are like entangled thorns, Like drunkards as they drink, They are consumed like stubble fully dried.
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See the picture there?
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They're like a mesh of thorns that you can't get through.
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God says, "I just set them on fire." He says, "From you came one who plotted evil against the Lord, a worthless counselor." There it is again, plotting against the Lord.
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We're going to talk more about that in a few minutes.
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"Thus says the Lord, 'Though they are at full strength and many, they will be cut down and pass away.'" Done with that section for Nineveh.
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God already started actually, Isaiah 37, 36, years before this passage, God went through the Assyrian camp and He struck down 185,000.
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And at this point, Assyria, Nineveh, they rebounded from that, but that was just a taste of what was coming.
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God says the next time, there's no rebounding.
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It's over.
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Over and over in this passage.
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Complete end.
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It's over.
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You're not getting up.
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Now let's look at what he says to Israel.
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He says, "Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.
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And now I will break his yoke from off you and will burst your bonds apart." You see, God had used Nineveh, the Assyrians, to punish Israel.
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God warned Israel even way back in Moses' day, If you persist in idolatry, if you persist in rejecting the Lord, I'm going to allow other nations to conquer you, to rule over you." And Israel, hard-hearted, stiff-necked, persisted, and God used the Assyrians to conquer northern Israel about 722 B.C.
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So God used Nineveh, used the Assyrians to punish Israel, and in this passage God is saying to Israel, "That's over now.
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Your punishment's done." Now back to Nineveh 14.
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"The Lord has given commandment about you.
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No more shall your name be perpetuated.
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From the house of your gods I will cut off the carved image and the metal image.
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"I will make your grave, for you are vile." See, in that culture, it was considered a curse to have no descendants.
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It was considered humiliating to not have any gods.
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And God says, "Yeah, your descendants are cut off.
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I'm going to put your Mickey Mouse gods down.
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And by the way, right now, I am digging your grave." Wow.
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He says, "You're vile." Then verse 15, back to Israel, "Behold, upon the mountains the feet of Him who brings good news, who publishes peace." See, in Israel He says, "This is good news for you.
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Your punishment's over." It says, "Keep your feasts, O Judah, fulfill your vows, for never again shall the worthless pass through you." Here it is again, "He is utterly cut off." Last part of verse 15, he says, "Keep your feasts." You see, during this captivity, Judah would have been prevented from going to Jerusalem to keep their appointed feasts.
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And God says, "Well, I'm clearing a path for you now.
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You can go do that again." And He says, "Fulfill your vows." You know, while Israel's in captivity, many people are making vows.
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"You know, God, if you restore us, I will follow you with all my heart.
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We will never go back into idolatry.
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God, if you please deliver us. Have you ever made a promise like God to that?
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If you just get me out of this, I will...
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And here God says to Israel, "Fulfill your vows." You know, God always keeps His word to you.
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Maybe we should be more diligent about keeping our word to God.
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So God was using Assyria, Nineveh, as the capital, God was using Nineveh to punish Israel for her sin.
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But has it ever crossed your mind, do you ever think about this?
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If God was using Nineveh to punish Israel, why was God now punishing Nineveh?
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Has that ever bothered anybody else?
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Like why in the world would God use them and then punish them for being used?
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That just seems so like...it just doesn't seem right.
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I thought about that a lot this week.
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You know, why would God punish somebody that he's using?
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And actually, the Bible has the answer for that, but I need you to turn back.
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I hardly ever do this, but you have to turn with me to Isaiah 10.
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You've got to see this.
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Isaiah 10.
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I don't have the time this morning to read all of this, but I just want to highlight a few verses and you're going to see the point.
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Isaiah 10, look at verse 5.
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"Ah, Assyria!" Again.
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Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, that's who we're talking about in Nahum.
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Assyria! The rod of my anger!
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The staff in their hands is my fury.
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Against a godless nation I send him.
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Against a people of my wrath I command him to take spoil and seize plunder and to tread them down like the mire of the streets." So there's God saying, "I'm going to use Nineveh, I'm going to use Assyria to punish Israel." Look at verse 7, "But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think.
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But it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations, not a few." So you see God says, "I have this plan how I'm going to use Assyria, but the problem is they have different plans.
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And that's not going to work.
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Look down at verse 12.
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When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech, look at this, of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the boastful look in his eyes.
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Down to verse 15.
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"Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it?
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Or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it, as if a rod should wield him who lifts it, or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood?" God says how foolish for an instrument to be arrogant.
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It would be like lining up after service today and coming to this guitar and saying, "Hey, hey sweetie, you did a really good job today." And I really thought worship was powerful.
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Wasn't worship powerful this morning?
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And I just want to thank you.
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I want to thank you for all the work that you put into that, because you really did a great job.
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I mean, how foolish is that?
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That's just an instrument in the hands of somebody who knows how to use it.
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And God said, "Assyria, that's all you are." So why are you boasting?
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The reason that God was going to punish Nahum, two reasons.
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One is violence.
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We already talked about the violence.
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I'm not going to revisit that today.
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But I want to talk about pride for a few minutes.
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Pride.
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So, okay, God was using Nineveh, but now He's punishing Nineveh.
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Why?
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And I was thinking a lot this week about how to explain in a way that we could sort of wrap our brains around why God would want to punish a nation that He's using.
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And I thought and I thought and I thought about it.
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So I did something that I never do.
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I wrote a parable.
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You want to hear it?
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This is sort of an earthly example to try to help us wrap our brains around what's happening with God and Israel and Nineveh and sort of make sense from an earthly illustration and it'll help us to understand why God's so fired up.
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All right?
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So again, earthly example, we're going to have to use our imaginations here, but I want you to imagine with me that you have two kids.
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Their names are Isaac and Nick.
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Isaac is pre-adolescent, Nick is a teenager.
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Well, Isaac has been disobedient.
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Isaac's been a lot of problem, having a lot of problems obeying you lately.
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And you say, "Nick, I have to be out of town for a few days.
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So Nick, your job is to babysit Isaac while I'm gone." Isaac absolutely hates that.
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But you say, "Nick, listen, while I'm gone, You're in charge because Isaac is under discipline.
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He's not allowed to have TV.
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He's not allowed to play the PlayStation.
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He's not allowed to have his friends over.
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You're in charge, Nick.
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He's not allowed to have any privileges.
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So you use Nick to sort of punish Isaac.
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Now, infant dedication Sunday, listen, this is not good parenting advice, okay?
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Nor is it meant to be.
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This is an illustration.
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But you're using Nick to sort of punish Isaac.
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So you go away, but here's the problem.
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Nick doesn't just babysit Isaac.
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Nick ruthlessly beats on Isaac every day.
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Every day, just beats on him.
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Nick keeps burning Isaac with cigarettes.
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Nick is constantly humiliating Isaac.
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And after a few days of this torturous scenario, Nick starts to get a little full of himself because he's wielding all this power over this younger, weaker brother.
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He's starting to get a little full of himself.
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And he says, "You know, Isaac, this is why I'm in charge.
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You're an idiot.
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Mom and dad are losers.
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And I'm the only one around here that has a clue.
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Nobody's gonna tell me what to do." And then you, parent, you find out about Nick's behavior.
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So what do you do about Nick?
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You used him to punish Isaac, but he violently and arrogantly went way too far.
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You see in the parable, Isaac is like Israel, and Nick is like Nineveh.
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So yes, Israel needed punished, but Nineveh's violence and pride were just too much.
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And it's clear when we look in Nahum, you're plotting against the Lord.
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You look at Isaiah, you know, you're arrogant and boastful.
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A big problem for God that he could no longer tolerate was Nineveh's arrogance.
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And there's a principle that you'll find everywhere in Scripture.
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We're not going to look all these up, but we'll put them on the screen for you.
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You find this everywhere.
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Here's just some examples.
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1 Samuel 22.26 Psalm 18.27 Proverbs 3.34 James 4.6 1 Peter 5.5 It is over and over and over and over in Scripture.
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And it's what prompted God's response to Nineveh.
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And the principle is this, God opposes the proud.
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that He gives grace to the humble.
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Are you a proud person?
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I've got a warning for you today.
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If you're a proud person, God says I'm against you.
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Now there's somebody here like, "Oh my gosh, my kid drew a picture for me and I said I'm so proud of you and now I'm going to hell." That's not what we're talking about here.
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We're talking about pride.
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Here's what we mean by pride.
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Pride is confidence in yourself, not in God.
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Biblical pride is the root of all sin.
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It's a focus on self.
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It's an exaltation of self.
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It's a praise of self.
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It's a preoccupation with self.
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It's when you elevate yourself to the position of God.
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No one tells me what to do.
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That's pride.
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The minute you think you know better than God.
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I know the Bible says that, but...
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You ever heard that?
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Have you ever said that?
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I think we all have at some point.
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I know the Bible says that, but...
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But what?
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That's pride.
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That's pride.
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I know better than God.
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And God says, "I will fight that every time." Every time I see somebody raising up thinking that they're above me, God says, "I will oppose that every single time." So I have a word today Somebody here that hasn't received God's grace in Christ.
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Maybe you've been a churchgoer, but not a Christ follower.
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Maybe your attendance has been great, but you haven't been born again.
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Maybe it's the churchgoer who says, "Yeah, God's not going to tell me what to do.
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God's not going to tell me how to live.
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His word, the Bible, has no place in my life.
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I got a word for you.
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And that's this.
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God is opposed to you.
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He's against you.
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Do you really think that this way that you're living is going to land you somewhere good?
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Do you really think that you're going to find meaning apart from your Creator?
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Do you really think that you know better than Him?
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That your wisdom is greater than His Word?
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Is that what you think?
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Do you think God considers it a small matter?
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That you won't embrace the forgiveness and new life that He purchased for you by the death of His Son?
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God is opposed to you.
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You see, pride is a godless mindset.
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It's God and His Word has no bearing on my life.
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No, no, no, no.
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My daily activity, my choices, God and His Word have no bearing.
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It is a godless mindset that leads to a godless attitude, that leads to godless action, that leads to a godless lifestyle.
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So don't be shocked if you find yourself someday in a godless eternity.
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I'm always amazed at the people that have objections to hell.
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Like, "Oh, hell's such a cruel concept.
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"Why would God send anybody to hell?" You mean to tell me you want to take somebody that lived their entire life and didn't give a rip about God or his word, and all of a sudden when they die, it's like, "Oh, I'm all about heaven.
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"Woo, where's the line to worship?" What?
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You didn't want anything to do with God your whole life, and suddenly now he's awesome to you?
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You see, pride says, "I don't need God.
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I don't want God in my life." And hell is a grace, hell is a gift, hell is God saying, "Okay, if you don't want anything to do with me, then I'll cast you out of my presence forever." If that's you today, I would encourage you not to leave until you talk to me or talk to one of our elders, stop by guest reception, see one of the people by the prayer sign during the last song and beyond.
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Because listen, if that's you, if you fall into that category of, "Yeah, God's Word really hasn't had any place in my life.
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God hasn't really been a priority in my life." I got some awesome news for you.
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There is hope for you.
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Do you realize in an instant, you can turn from that mindset.
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You can say, "I've been wrong, God is right, I want to receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I want a new beginning, I want new life." And that can happen instantly today!
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And He will save you, and He will love you, and He will change your eternity!
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It's just waiting for you to get out of your own way.
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And right now there's some good church folk saying, "You tell them people that need Jesus how it is." Well, church folk, I got a message for you too.
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God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble.
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And that message is the same for the church as it is for people that haven't received Christ.
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Do you realize when Peter and James were writing and talking about that, they were writing two churches.
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They were writing two Christians.
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And you're like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait one second.
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I'm not a proud person." Well, here's the tricky thing with pride.
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You know, pride is the most recognizable sin in other people.
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We can spot that a mile away in other people, but it's the hardest to recognize in ourselves.
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I would like to stand before you today and say, "I've won the battle with pride." I have not.
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I haven't.
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I still wrestle with it.
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It's time for you to get honest and say, "You know what?
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I do too, to some degree, in some measure, in some way." You know, for me, when I preach a sermon and I get good feedback, I start to think, "You know what?
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God's really lucky to have me." Oh, that is not funny.
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I can be replaced in a second.
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And you know what that statement is?
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That statement is pride.
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That's pride.
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That's pride.
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Maybe you don't get the recognition that you think you deserve, whether it's in the church or in the workplace.
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"Why aren't people recognizing me?
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Why ain't I getting the credit?
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And where's my ticker tape parade?" You know what?
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That's pride.
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And God will oppose you.
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You know, when you don't get your way in your home, at the workplace, in the church?
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I've seen it in the church a lot over the last 20-some years.
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You want your way and the church leadership makes a decision contrary to your wishes and that just gnaws at your soul.
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You know what that gnawing is?
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Pride.
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And God is opposed to that.
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When you're wrong, when you're wrong about something and you refuse to go to the person that you've wronged and apologize and say, "Look, I'm sorry, I messed up.
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I messed up, I am sorry.
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When you refuse to do that, do you know what it is that makes you refuse to do that?
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Tell me.
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It's pride.
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And how does God feel about that?
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He says, "I'm opposed to that." He goes, "I will fight you on that." Is that where you wanna be?
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Or maybe you're in an argument, and maybe the argument you were in, maybe you were right.
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But you were so harsh in the way that you treated the person, and you refuse to apologize for that.
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That's pride.
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And God will fight you on that every time.
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God opposes the proud.
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Church, if you're a born-again believer in Christ, There's not a thing in the world that can rob you of your salvation.
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But I'm going to tell you, God may use something like a Nineveh in your life to get your attention.
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He might.
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Because the Bible says He disciplines those He loves.
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God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.
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That's a whole other sermon. I'm not going to get into that today.
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Just to say being humble isn't thinking less of yourself.
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Being humble doesn't mean you walk around going, "I'm dirt. I'm such a loser. I'm a terrible pastor. I smell bad." And like, "Oh, look how humble he is." That's not humble. That's not humble.
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Humble isn't thinking less of yourself. It's thinking of yourself less.
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It's having such a God-centered mindset, and an other people mindset that you're not focused on yourself.
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That's humility.
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God says the person that isn't focused on themselves, God says that person gets grace.
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So God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.
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So either way, you're going to get God's attention.
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You humble yourself, you get His grace.
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If you're proud, He will oppose you.
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And I've got to warn you, the way Nahum told Nineveh and told Israel in this passage, God's judgment is a response to man's pride.
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Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, we thank You for Your Word.
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We thank You for Your Word even when it stings.
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The reality is, Father, we all deal with pride.
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There are people here today, Father, who...
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There are people sitting here today that are too proud to admit that they've been wrong.
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There are people that are sitting here today that are too proud to admit that rejecting your Word has been a mistake and they need to repent.
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God, I pray that You would tattoo this message on their brains.
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God opposes the proud.
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There is no place in your kingdom for the person that thinks they don't need you.
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They don't need to regard your words, "Father, I pray that you would go after them." I pray that they would feel your opposition.
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And I pray that in feeling your opposition, they would reach out for your grace, because God, we know mercy triumphs over judgment.
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You are ready to give it.
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Father, I pray for Your people here that are born again, are followers of Christ, but Father, we all at times struggle with pride.
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And I pray, Father, that You bring a repentance, bring a refreshing among Your people.
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Say, "I'm not going to go anywhere in the same zip code as pride, because I know how God feels about it." Bring repentance for your people.
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Father, thank You that You are the God of the second chance.
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Just as You didn't wipe Nineveh out the first time they sinned, but You were patient in the long suffering.
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God, I thank You that today is a day of salvation for somebody here.
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Let them not be too proud to reach out for Your grace.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Nahum 1:7-15
If God was USING Nineveh (Assyrians) to punish Israel, why would God punish Nineveh? See Isaiah 10:5-15
What is pride? In what ways are YOU tempted to be prideful?
Why is God so opposed to pride?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another- specifically to be able to identify your own areas of pride!