Nahum: Letting Go and Letting God | Pastor PJ Berner

Let's try something.

God is good all, all the time and all the time.

God is good.

But what about when it doesn't feel like he is?

He still is.

You're right, but let's be real with ourselves for a second.

We can dress up, we can show up at church on Sunday morning and, and we can look

our best and we can be here thinking and, and saying God is good all the time.

All the time.

God is good.

And yet we have to wrestle with the fact that there are times in life

that it doesn't feel like God is good.

I guarantee you, for those families down in Kern County right now that are

looking for their little girl swept away by a flood, that they're struggling

to say this morning, God is good.

What about moral evil though?

What about when evil isn't a storm?

It's not a hurricane.

It's not a tornado.

It's not an earthquake.

But moral is a person when evil is someone who has hurt you, someone

who has done something against you.

When you sit there and you think to yourself, God, I don't

know how I will ever be able to forgive that person for that

God is good all the time.

All the time.

God is good.

What about the times it doesn't feel like he's,

what about the times when you are sinned against when you are offended?

When you are hurt, when somebody does something to you and it

looks like, man, God, there, there nothing's happening to them.

Where is justice in this?

Where's your goodness?

Where's your wrath?

Where's your holiness?

In this God, this is clearly wrong,

and yet it seems like rights is not prevailing.

What do we do when it doesn't feel like God is good?

The book that we're looking at this morning is The Book of Neum written to

Israel during a time when they might have thought to themselves, God, are you good?

Because during this time, which was around 6 63 to six 12 bc,

the Northern Kingdom is now gone.

7 22 bc, the Kingdom of Assyria.

They're gonna have, uh, a lot to do with the Bo name.

They come in and they wipe out the northern kingdom.

You remember again after King Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel split, you had

the kingdom of Judah in the South with Rebo as the king in the kingdom

of the other tribes of Israel in the north with ome, as the kings

we're in our daily Bible reading.

Going through a lot of that right now, talking about the different kings, the

kings of Israel, the kings of Judah.

And so the kings of Israel and, and the nation of Israel, the Northern

Kingdom now is, is no longer there.

And the same Assyrians that had attacked them had at this point, but

a few decades prior to when Nahum is writing come against Jerusalem too.

In fact, so much so they, they had wiped out much of Judea and they had

laid siege to the city of Jerusalem.

And God had had spared the city at the time, but still.

There was this wicked evil nation flexing their might all over

the world doing horrific things.

And it was enough to probably at this time, cause the people remaining

in Israel and the southern kingdom there to say, God, are you good?

What are you doing?

Why not restore us to the glory that we had under David and Solomon so that we

can be the most powerful nation on earth and do the things that you want done?

Not the Assyrians God.

What are you doing?

What are you doing?

The book breaks down like this.

It's, it's written by Nahum, the, the title, the, the author.

It's written, like I said, about 6 63 to six 12 bc.

It's written to Judah, even though it has to do with the nation of Assyria, just

like we talked about in Obadiah, written to Judah about Edem, and similarly,

it's written to Judah to comfort them.

About the fact that even though it seemed like, man, God wasn't doing what

they wanted him to do when it came to the Assyrians, that he was eventually

going to see that justice is served.

And that's the theme of the book is the theme is comfort.

I.

If you read the book, you're gonna have it a hard time finding the word

comfort in here, but it would've been a comforting message to God's people a

message saying, Hey, when it feels like I'm not good, trust that I am good.

When it feels like injustice is winning, trust that I am just when it feels

like I'm not doing anything, trust that I am still working and will bring my

plan to its full and complete fruition.

The book opens in Nahum chapter one, verse two.

It says this, the Lord is a jealous and avenging God.

The Lord is avenging.

In wrathful, the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries

and keeps wrath for his enemies.

It's interesting, we don't often like to think about God as a, a jealous God.

In fact, jealous is not really a good word most of the time.

Is it?

If someone is considered jealous?

That's something that is, is not something that is commendable, and

yet God calls himself a jealous God.

Exodus chapter 20, verse five.

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

It says this, you shall not bow down to them speaking of false

gods, nor serve them for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.

And y'all, it's a good thing that God is a jealous God.

And there's two reasons why.

First, it's a good thing that God's a jealous God, because if

he weren't, he wouldn't be God.

Because what is God jealous for?

God is jealous that people should worship him in him alone.

That's what it means to be God, right?

If, if God was okay with someone else being worshiped other than him, then

whoever that other person was or other God was, that would be God, not God.

See, definitively speaking, the fact that God is God means

that he has to be jealous.

For worship to be rendered only to him.

'cause he's the only one truly do the worship of his people, and not

just his people, but all of creation.

So it's good that God is jealous because he's God.

The second reason it's good that God is jealous is it's good for

you that God is jealous because God knows that it's best for you and

for me to worship him and Him alone.

God knows at the end of the day that it's not good for us to worship false

gods because to worship false gods puts ourselves in the way of his wrath.

And his judgment.

And so God's jealousy for our affection and for our worship is a

good thing because it keeps us away from his wrath and his judgment,

which is a byproduct of his jealousy.

That's why it says this.

The Lord is a jealous and an avenging God.

Remember, he is writing this to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem has had Assyria as a thorn in their sides, and it looks like

Assyria is stronger than ever, even though they were on the down slope.

Judah didn't know that at the time.

And so they're there and they're wondering, God, what

do, what's gonna happen?

Is this Syria gonna come back?

Are they gonna take us out?

And God is telling them, I'm a jealous and an avenging God.

And it's a good thing for us as well, that God is an avenging God for two reasons.

Number one, it's it's good that he's avenging because of who he is.

His vengeance has to be exacted because God is holy and holiness can only stay and

remain intact if all sin is vanquished.

If all sin is punished, holiness can't tolerate sin.

And so holiness must deal with sin, must exact vengeance against

rebellion, vengeance against.

Sinfulness and so it's appropriate that God is a or an vengeful God

because of his character as Holy.

Second, it's appropriate that God is a vengeful God because of our own

good that comes out of his vengeance.

And this gets to the context of the book.

This is the comforting part to the, the people in Judah there, and it's

the comforting part to us as well.

Again, in 7 22, Nineveh and Assyria had taken captive all of

the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom and they had exiled them.

And then after that, they had come against Judea and they

had laid siege to Jerusalem.

And in two Kings 19, we read about the fact that the angel of the

Lord had to go out and strike down 185,000 of the Assyrians in the

middle of the night to spare, to rescue the people of Judah there.

And the Assyrians then fled after that.

And so at the time of writing it again, probably didn't look like God would

be taking vengeance anytime soon.

I see.

Yeah.

They had been dealt at an initial defeat, but they hadn't been taken out.

They hadn't been wiped out yet.

And so the, the Israelites were looking at God going, God, what?

What are you doing here?

When is this vengeance gonna come?

And so God is reminding them, I'm a jealous and an avenging God.

Look at verse three.

He says, I'm slow to anger.

That was what the people had identified as a a problem.

We're gonna talk about why that's not a problem in point number two, but, but at

this point, he's saying, yes, I am slow to anger and great in power, but notice this.

But I will by no means clear the guilty.

So God is saying you may look at what's going on right now as as

weakness or passivity on my part, but just know that though it looks

like I'm slow to bring justice the way Israel, that you want justice.

Justice will come.

I will by no means clear the guilty.

And this launches into the rest of chapter one's.

De description of the judgment that's coming against Assyria,

verses eight and nine.

He says this, but with an overflowing flood, he will make a complete

end of the adversaries and will pursue his enemies into darkness.

What do you plot against The Lord?

He will make a complete end.

Trouble will not rise up a second time.

This is sobering because of the images that I'm sure you've seen this week.

On the news or on social media of the, the flood and the devastation that's

been wrecked by this flood that's gone through down there in central Texas.

Entire campgrounds that the day before were full of RVs and people

have now been left as barren wastes.

And that's what God says his wrath is going to be like.

An overflowing flood will make a complete end of the adversaries.

In this case, it was the adversaries of Nineveh and Assyria.

He says he will make a complete end and trouble will not

rise up a second time there.

I picture Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston, if you've ever seen the famous

photo, Liston Iss laid out flat on the mat, and Ali is standing over him.

Liston is not getting back up, but why is Ali standing over him to make

sure what he doesn't get back up?

That's what God's saying he's gonna do to the enemies here.

He says there, he says, you will not rise up a second time.

When is this gonna happen?

This is gonna happen in six 12 bc.

Six 12 BC the Babylonians are gonna come in and they're gonna wipe out Assyria.

So much so that their destruction of Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria,

led to the fact that it was lost to history until the 18 hundreds.

That was the next time anyone had ever thought of or heard of, of Nineveh.

So the Babylonians are gonna come in and they're the flood that

God's gonna use to bring judgment.

But still, even now at this point in time, that's still a few decades away.

And as Nahum is writing, the people were left to wait and wonder if God

is gonna be faithful to his word.

God, are you good?

Because it doesn't feel like it right now,

y'all.

I wonder if anyone in the room this morning can relate to that feeling.

God, are you good?

Because it doesn't feel like it right now.

Maybe a wrong committed against you.

Justice wasn't done in return.

Or maybe you're just looking at the evil in the world this morning and shaking

your head saying, God, where are you?

These two descriptors that we read here in the opening part of Nahum,

that God is a jealous and avenging.

God should provide comfort to us in those circumstances because they remind us of

God's holy character and that he must and will see to it that justice is served.

First point this morning, along those lines is this, find solace, find comfort.

In the avenging nature of our God, as you're left there

to say, God, are you good?

Find comfort and find the answer in the avenging nature of our God,

there are scenes in movies that build the tension, right?

Like the greatest movie of all time, top Gun Maverick.

If you disagree, you're wrong.

There's a scene in Top Gun Maverick.

Where I haven't got a Top gun Maverick yet, I don't think with you guys

back in, in my college ministry.

I went to it on the regular.

So get ready.

Spoiler alert.

This is a spoiler alert by the way.

And I'm not sorry because the movie's been out so long and you need to see it.

And even if, even if I tell you what happens, you still need to go

see it because it will fire you up.

You will leave ready to just go fight fly fighter jets against an a nameless

country that we all know is Russia.

But they didn't want to call it Russia in the movie, but we

all know what's going on there.

Anyways, Tom Cruise and Rooster, the, not an actual rooster, but the guy in the, in

the, the copilot, they're on a mission.

They go out, they, they win the day.

They, they fly the mission.

It's this impossible mission, and it's Tom Cruise, so it's of, of course, he's the

hero in it because he has to be in every movie that he's in, except after they're

successful on the mission that they're, they're leaving the, the area and then the

anti-aircraft guns start firing at them, and they're dodging all that and they.

They, he gets shot down, but then they find this old Russian fighter

jet that's not a Russian fighter jet, but it's a Russian fighter jet.

And they get in it and they, they try to escape.

Well, they're, they're flying and they think they're home

free and they're celebrating.

And then all of a sudden, one of the Russian, not Russian,

uh, jets comes up behind them.

And this is one of the, the latest edition stealth jets, and they're

flying like a Soviet era plane here that's barely off the ground.

And so this thing starts chasing Tom Cruise and Rooster.

And, and as they're going, uh, they're trying to evade, they're

doing everything they can.

They take out one of the jets, but then there's another one there, and, and,

and they're, the end is, is inevitable.

And so Cruz goes into this final ascent.

He just points the, the jet nose up, and they're going all the way up.

And the music gets really just intense and it, it fades out slowly

and it's quiet and you just hear them and roosters looking behind him.

And then it shifts to the enemy jet and the, the radar locks on the, the.

Plane flown by cruise, and then you see the missile leave the enemy jet.

But then in the next split second, boom, the enemy jet is blown up along with

its missile by Hangman, who's another pilot, who's with the good guys, right?

So he comes in.

It's one of those scenes in the movie that you're like, yes, yes.

It pumps you up, right?

You're like, yes, the good guys win.

This is what's supposed to happen.

But it's the tension that builds up before that, and you think, man, is Tom

Cruise finally gonna die in a movie?

Is this really gonna happen?

Like, did he die in real life?

Is this why?

But then the tension's resolved and you're like, man, the ask, the good guys win.

And in the back of your mind, you're like, you know, the good guys are gonna

win, but the tension's still there.

Sometimes in life we feel that tension.

But guys, here's the thing.

There should be no tension for us because of the character and nature of our God.

He's an avenging God.

He is going to see that justice is done.

And so as we think about that, here's, I wanna give you three reasons under

this first point, why you can let go of your own thirst for justice

and trust that God is gonna see that justice has done first is this, we

can let go when we recognize that sin is first and foremost against him.

So the thing that you've been offended by the, the sin that's

been committed against you.

I, I'm not trivializing it.

I know that there are awful things done by human beings to other human beings,

and they hurt, and that pain is real and that the effects of it are real.

But even still, if we're gonna go with King David to Psalm 51, we

have to say, man against you and you only Lord has that person sinned.

Sin is first and foremost an offense against God.

And when we understand that we can let go of our own thirst for

justice because we can remember that.

If that's the case, then God is the one that's gonna see to the

administration of that justice.

I don't have to do it.

I don't have to go get my pound of flesh.

I can say, God, you will see to this why?

Because again, your character, you are a, an avenging God.

But to get there, we have to understand the nature and gravity

of sin as it relates to God.

John MacArthur helps in this regard.

He says this, he says, sin is not a psychological concept

or a sociological concept.

It's a theological concept, and you never really know what sin is until

you think of it in terms of God.

And you measure it not by your own standard of wellbeing or your

own reputation, but you measure it by the yardstick of God's

absolute demand on your life.

You need to grasp, he says, the idea that feeling bad about your sin, because

what it does to you and what it does to someone else is not conviction of sin.

It's never conviction of sin until you come to grips with the fact

that you are alienated from God.

Jesus is not a super psychiatrist.

He is a redeemer of sinners who are enemies of God.

So we need to understand sin for what sin really is.

It's a violation of God's law.

So we have to understand in our thirst for justice that the sin that's been

committed against us is first and foremost a sin that's committed against God.

And he has the right to judge.

He has the right to wrath.

He has the right to avenge.

More than we do.

It's like this.

If I lie to Pastor Rod, that's a sin, right?

Yes.

But only because God has commanded us to tell the truth and only because

he's revealed a moral difference between telling the truth and lying.

So if I lie to Pastor Rod, yes, I'm sinning against him, but I'm chiefly

sitting against the one who first said that we have to speak truth and not lie.

So my sin is first and foremost against the law giver before.

It's against the one that I offend horizontally speaking, and that's true of

the sin that's committed against us too.

Second, we can let go of our own thirst for exacting vengeance ourself

and trust the vengeance of God.

When we realize and recognize that God's character demands justice, this

is what we talked about a minute ago.

His holiness demands that justice is done.

And so we can relinquish this thirst, this hunger, this insistence that

we get our own pound of flesh.

When we realize, okay, God, justice will come.

Justice will come because why?

Because you are holy.

And just like the force of gravity, if I jump off of the top of this building,

is gonna take me to the ground, right?

Wrath is the necessary response to sin from a holy God.

Justice will come so we can relinquish that when we trust, okay, God's character,

which is immutable, he's holy, and because he is holy, he cannot let sin go.

Third.

Third, we can recognize we can let go or release our thirst for

personal justice when we trust in the avenging character of God.

When we recognize God's perspective is eternal, God's timeline is eternal.

And so God's timing is not our timing.

Sure.

We may sit here and we may think to ourselves, God, why?

Why aren't you dealing with this right now?

And God says to us, because I'm playing chess, not checkers, because I'm looking

at things from a God's eye view, not a man's eye view, because I'm doing

things that you don't know about.

At this point in time, justice will be served.

You can trust that.

And so we can let go of our own thirst knowing that God's perspective is eternal.

So find solace church in your avenging God this morning.

He's the one who has been sinned against his holy character, demands

that all sin be punished and his eternal plan will see to it that it is.

But let's keep going.

Look at verse three again.

In chapter one it says, the Lord is slow to anger.

I said I was gonna come back to that.

So here we are.

The Lord is slow to anger and.

Will by no means clear the guilty.

Look at verse seven of chapter one.

The Lord is good.

A stronghold in the day of trouble and knows those who take refuge in him,

but with an overflowing flood, he will make a complete end of the adversaries.

See, these are interesting passages because of the juxtaposition

about God that we see here.

He's slow to anger, but he won't.

He won't clear the guilty.

He's, he's good, but he's gonna make a complete end of his adversaries.

The adversaries in Ham's Day were the Assyrians, but God had

been slow to anger with them.

Remember the book of Jonah from a few weeks ago?

The Pastor Rob preached, right?

Jonah went in ready for God to be quick to anger with the Assyrians in that moment.

In fact, that's why Jonah didn't wanna go to Nineveh.

God, I don't wanna go there.

You're gonna let them off because you're a God who is slow to anger.

Jonah even says that.

So God had been slow to anger with the Assyrians.

Why was he slow to anger with the Assyrians?

Because he had people there in that city that he wanted to come

to repentance and trust in him.

That's why Jonah was sent first, but, but he will by no means clear the guilty.

See, there's a time when that patience runs out.

There's a time when God's slowness to anger that gap is, is gone

now, and now he's just angry.

And that's what's happening in, in the book of Naham.

And, and, and this would've been good news for the people of Israel.

Good news.

So much so that that Naham says that this is how they should respond to this.

In verse 15 of chapter one, he says, behold, upon the mountains,

the feet of him, who brings good news, who publishes peace.

Keep your feasts, o Judah, fulfill your vows for never again shall

the worthless pass through you.

He is utterly cut off.

And so here you see Nahum saying it's good news for you to know that

God is going to wipe out the enemy.

Be comforted by that fact.

We're gonna talk about that more in in point number three.

But here in point number two, I, I want to turn things around for us for a second.

For the Jews in, in Nah.

Home's day, they, they were looking forward to the wiping out of assy.

In fact, look at chapter two verses two through eight.

Here's the description of, of some of what this destruction was gonna be like.

For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of

Israel for Plunderers have plundered them and ruined their branches.

The Assyrians.

But here it is, the shield of his mighty men is red.

His soldiers are clothed in Scarlet.

The chariots come with flashing metal on the day he musters them.

The Cypress Spears are brandish.

This is the enemy coming against Assyria.

This is God bringing his judgment.

The chariots race madly through the streets.

They rush to and fro through the squares.

They gleam like torches.

They dart like lightning.

He remembers his officers as they stumble.

As they go, they hasten up to the wall.

The siege tower is set up.

The river gates are open.

The palace melts away.

Its mistress is stripped.

She's carried off.

Her slave girls lamenting, moaning like doves and beating their breasts.

Nineveh is like a pool whose waters run away.

Halt, halt.

They cry, but none turns back.

This is the destruction of the city of Nineveh, which by the way, would

be destroyed by flood, even as God prophesized through Nahum that the

waters are going to be a key part of the destruction of Nineveh.

In NA's day, the adversaries were readily ev identifiable.

Assyria, they're the bad guys.

And in nah, Abraham's day it was good news that they were gonna suffer judgment.

But I wanna pivot our thinking for a second and ask today,

who are the adversaries today?

Put it a different way.

Who are God's enemies?

We might be able to think about some people off the top of the face.

Uh, off the top of our, our heads.

Maybe you're thinking about Iran and the leader of Iran who has set

himself against God, or maybe you're thinking about just Muslims in general,

or atheists or Hindus or, or people that reject God, the enemies of God.

Okay.

How about this?

Romans five.

What does Romans five say?

All of us were at one point in time, church enemies of God.

All of us in this room were as the Assyrians and the

Ninevites at one point in time.

And we're not, God's slow to anger.

All of us in this room would be like they are in the book of Nah.

Him.

So in the second point, as you're thinking about the fact that man,

somebody is sinned against you and maybe you're out there going,

God, where are you when it are?

Are you good still?

'cause it doesn't feel like it right now.

I think it's appropriate and it's, it's comforting for us to come back to the

reality of how compassionate and merciful and gracious God has been with us.

That's a source of comfort for us, and it helps us let go of and trust

God with our thirst vengeance.

Our second point this morning, along those lines is this, find solace in

the compassionate nature of your God.

Remember God before Nahum sent Jonah and he sent Jonah to Nineveh to

call the Ninevites to repentance.

He sent Jonah to Nahum to say, Hey, look, leave off your sin and turn to the Lord.

And at one point in time with us, God has sent Jonah to you.

To say to you, leave off your sin and turn to the Lord.

For some of you that may be this morning right now, and it may be the

voice that you're hearing right now.

Leave off your sin and turn to the Lord because God right now

with you is being slow to anger.

If you have been saved.

Church, we, we can't forget that how compassionate and patient God was with us.

In Matthew 18, Jesus tells a story.

He tells a parable.

Peter says, Lord, how many times do I have to forgive my

brother if he sins against me?

Seven times 70?

Peter thinks he's being generous here.

Jesus tells his parable, he says, there was a a, a man who owed

a king an insurmountable debt.

He could work every day of his life for the rest of his life in the most

high paying job, and pay every ounce to this king and still never pay it back.

And the king called the servant before him on the day of account

and said, you have to pay.

The servant looked at the king and said, king, I don't have it.

And the king said, okay.

I forgive you.

All of it.

All of it.

All of it.

I forgive you, all of it.

That servant Jesus said, then left that king's presence and

went to a friend of his, a fellow servant who owed him a pittance in

comparison to what he owed the king.

And he went to that servant.

He said, Hey, I need some startup money because I've been, I,

I've, I've been paying this debt back and I don't have anything.

You gotta pay me back what you owe me.

And the servant said, I, I, I don't have it on me.

And the man who had just been forgiven so much by the king said, okay, well

then you're gonna have to go to debtor's prison until you can pay me back.

The king got word of it called the servant that he had forgiven back before

him and he says, you wicked servant.

I forgave you so much and you couldn't forgive such a little tiny amount.

Church, we have to be careful that in our thirst for vengeance against

those that have sinned against us, that we aren't the wicked servant.

We have to remember how compassionate God has been to us.

And so in your struggle to release that thirst, that, that, that to, to let go

of unforgiveness even in your heart.

A couple thoughts that might help you along these lines.

Number one, remember your own sin against God.

Like I said earlier in point number one, all sin is against God,

first and foremost, and that means that your sin is against him too.

My sin is against him too.

Yeah.

We've been sinned against and, and sometimes grievously sinned against.

Yes.

And it's not wrong to seek justice through appropriate channels.

Peter says, or Paul says, rather that, that the, the government

doesn't bear the sword in vain.

So man, somebody comes in and, and assaults you.

Is it right to pursue legal ramifications for that?

Yes, it's good to pursue justice through the means that God has

provided to pursue justice.

But listen, y'all, you need to understand that, that you deserve

the wrath of God as much as that person deserves the wrath of God.

The only difference between the two of you, if you're in Christ, is

that you've come to faith in Jesus.

I want to sell someone.

Tell me, pastor, I, I don't want to just walk around feeling like I,

I'm unworthy, like I deserve God's wrath and that this isn't a ref.

That, that, that's not a true reflection of their understanding of the gospel.

They said, pastor, I, I think you, you talk too much about the, those things,

and I don't wanna feel like, like it's just God's grace and he's doing me a

favor by waking me up in the morning.

Y he is doing you a favor by waking you up in the morning.

In fact, the breath that you just took into your lungs there is, is grace.

And I think we see that in in scripture.

This is what Paul says in, in one Timothy chapter one.

He says, I thank him, verse 12, who's given me strength?

Christ Jesus, our Lord, because he judged me, faithful appointing me to his service.

Notice this though, formerly he doesn't say though formally, ah, you know what?

On second that, don't worry about who I used to be because now I'm

in Christ and I'm just gonna live my best life now and be who I am.

No, Paul says, no, no, no, no.

Formally I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an ins insulin opponent of God.

But, but I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief and the grace

of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus

came into the world to save sinners of whom Paul says, I am present tense.

Paul says, I am the foremost.

But I receive mercy for this reason that in me as the foremost Jesus Christ

might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to

believe in him for eternal life.

You know, it's so important for us as we think about injustice and things being

done to us that harm us or hurt us.

It's so important for us to remember our own offense against g.

We can't ever get over the magnitude of God's mercy towards us in juxtaposition

to the magnitude of our sin.

I'm not saying that we walk around like a bunch of eos from Winnie the Pooh.

Thanks for noticing me.

That's not it.

Instead, an awareness of your sin and God's grace and mercy and response

should fire you up, should be motivating to you, should change the way that you

look at offenses committed against you.

And how you look at those that have sinned against you.

And so the first way that we can begin to let go under this understanding

of God's compassion towards us and remembering our own offenses against God.

And the second remembering just how patient God has been with us.

Just like he was patient with Nineveh between Jonah and Naam.

Man, God was so patient with us.

Peter says in second Peter chapter three, he says this, God is not slow to fulfill

his promise of some count slowness.

But he's patient towards you.

Not wishing that any should rep should perish, but that

all should reach repentance.

The flip side of that means that at one point in time in

your life, God was patient.

He had not sent Jesus back for the bride yet because he wanted you.

And could it be, could it be that God is being patient in the

pouring out of justice against those that have offended you?

Because maybe he's after them too.

Maybe he wants them too.

In our thirst for justice, our our sitting here saying, God in Precatory

Psalms, I'm praying about this person.

I'm calling down judgment upon this person.

I want them vanquished off the face of the planet.

Maybe God's looking at that person saying, yeah, you know what, though?

You're gonna spend eternity side by side with them worshiping me because of Jesus.

And so this second point doesn't necessarily jump off

the page from the book of Nahum.

I get that.

But I think it's there when we remember that Nahum is part two after

Jonah came first and God says, I, I, I'm slow to anger and we should be

thankful church, that God was slow to anger with every single one of us.

If you're in Christ, if you're not there, if you've never bowed the knee of

Jesus Christ and faith and repentance, this morning is the morning that he's

being slow and slow to anger with you.

He's been patient with you.

He's led you to this point this morning to get there.

When we're hurt, offended, or wronged, it's natural and right for us to desire.

The justice should be done Still, though we can't ever forget

God's patient mercy towards us.

When we were his adversaries, the enemies deserving the full weight

of his wrath, speaking of his wrath.

Look at verse 13 now, verse 13, chapter two says this, behold I am against

you, declares the Lord of hosts.

Chapter three verse five.

Behold, I am against you declares the Lord of hosts.

Okay?

You never want to hear God say, I am against you.

It's never gonna go well 'cause God wins every time.

And so God is now telling asy, behold, I'm against you.

He says in verse 13 of chapter two, again, declares the Lord of horse, I'm

gonna burn your chariots in smoke and the sword shall devour your young lions.

I will cut off your prey from the earth in the voice of your

messengers shall no longer be heard.

See, before this God had been comparing in verse 12, ay to a lion and its cubs

the lion Assyria tore enough for its cubs and strangled prey for its lioness.

He filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh.

But then God says, but you know what?

Now Assyria, I'm against you.

And the swords gonna devour your young lions.

And I'm gonna cut off your prey from before the Earth.

Chapter three verses five and six.

Behold, I'm against you, declares the Lord of host.

I'm gonna lift up your skirts over your face, and I will make the

nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame, and I will

throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle.

I am against you.

I look down at verse eight.

He says this, that's all right.

It's just, it's a false alarm.

Don't ever anybody worry the beeping it, it'll, it'll go away.

He says, are you better than thieves?

Thieves was the capital of Egypt.

That Assyria had already gone and taken out and taken out

in, in a pretty violent way.

And are you better than thieves that sat by the Nile with water all around her,

her ramper at sea and her wall water.

Her wall, Kush was her strength.

Egypt too, and that without limit.

Put, and the Libyans were her helpers, yet she became an exile.

You remember that Assyria?

'cause you're the ones that exiled her.

She went into captivity.

Her infants were dashed in pieces.

Assyria, let me remind you what you did.

In other words, he's saying her infants were dashed in pieces

at the head of every street.

For her honored men.

Cast lots were cast, and all her great men were bound in chains.

You also, he says in verse 11.

You also, Assyria will be drunken.

You will go into hiding.

You will seek a refuge from the enemy.

In other words, Assyria, as you have done so, will be done to you.

Chapter three, verse 18.

He says, as the book concludes, he says, your shepherds, oh, king of Assyria, your

nobles, your shepherds there are asleep.

Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them.

There's no easing your hurt.

Your wound is grievous all who here news about you?

Clap their hands over you for upon whom has not come.

Your unceasing evil.

Chapter three is the, the full reality of the Wrath of God against the Syria

and Y'all as uncomfortable as it is.

That's still another source of comfort for us when we're tempted

to say, God, are you good still?

'cause it doesn't feel like it right now.

The reality of God's wrath is a source of solace for us as

we consider all of the horrific things that mankind has ever done.

All of the evil ever committed to know God's wrath will be sad,

is a comfort for us as we wait for it.

Point number three, final point this morning.

Along those lines, find solace in the wrathful nature of our God.

I find solace in the wrathful nature of our God.

God's wrath is the other side of his holiness Wrath exists

because holiness exists.

Maybe I should say wrath exists because sin exists, but sin is the

rebellion against God's holiness.

And I don't know about you, but when I think about the evils and the atrocities

of the world, I want God's wrath to be poured out against those that

have committed these horrific events.

Murder, assault, abuse.

You think of all the evil despots of the world that have ever led and done horrific

things to the people under their care.

There there's a, a measure that we thirst for that or you, you think

about the, the prince of the power of the air and all of his demons, and

you want God's wrath to be poured out.

And there's something comforting in knowing that all of the wrongs

committed are going to be dealt with.

All of the wrongs that have been committed in this world will elicit

the full wrath of God in response,

and so that comforts us

in an uncomfortable way

under this point.

The final reason you can let go of your personal thirst for justice

and vengeance this morning is this.

You can let go of that because God's wrath is indeed coming.

God's wrath is indeed coming.

As I mentioned, this is the uncomfortable aspect of God's justice.

However, God allows us to find solace and comfort in the impending reality

of the execution of his just wrath.

Lemme give you a real life example

in just a second.

First, let me direct our attention to some passages from Revelation,

revelation 1116 through 18.

You don't have to turn there.

I'll, I'll read these, but you can maybe write 'em down.

Revelation 11, 16 through 18.

Notice what happens here is God's wrath is being poured out.

The 24 elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their

faces and notice what they do.

They worship God saying, we give thanks to you.

Lord God Almighty, who is and who was for you, have taken your great power

and begun to reign the nations raged, but your wrath came and the time for

the dead to be judged and for rewarding your servants, the prophets, and

the saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for

destroying the destroyers of the earth.

Notice that the saints are giving thanks to God and worshiping God because he's

pouring his wrath out on the ungodly.

There in the end.

That's not the only passage.

Revelation 16, five through seven.

Revelation 16, five through seven says, I heard an angel in charge of the water.

Say just, are you oh, holy one.

Who is and who was for you brought these judgments for, they have shed

blood of the saints and the prophets, and you have given them blood to drink.

It is what they deserve.

And I heard the altar saying, yes, Lord God, the Almighty,

true and just are your judgments.

And so there again, you have the judgment being poured out and the

response is this is what they deserve.

Yes, Lord.

Revelation 1820, rejoice over her, oh heaven and you saints in

apostles and prophets for God has given judgment for you against her.

Talking about Babylon at that point.

Rejoice over her.

Why?

Because God is pouring out his wrath upon her Revelation.

19.

One more.

After this, I heard what seemed to be a loud voice of a great multitude

in heaven, crying out, hallelujah.

Salvation and glory and power belong to our God for His judgments are true.

And just for He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth

with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.

Once more, they cried out.

Hallelujah.

The smoke from her goes up forever and ever.

The 24 elders and the four living creatures fell down and

worshiped God who was seated on the throne saying, amen, hallelujah.

And from the throne came a voice saying, praise our God.

All you his servants who fear him small and great,

they're celebrating the pouring out of God's wrath.

This is why this is a source of our comfort that's uncomfortable.

At least it should be uncomfortable.

Here's the thing, y'all,

you may be thinking about the, the, the people that have done you

wrong, that have hurt you, that have harmed you on this point and

going, yes, that's why hell exists.

But this point is true about me.

And it's true about you.

See, here's the thing.

God's wrath is going to be poured out against every and all, all sin.

The question is where

either it was poured out at the cross on Jesus Christ, or

it was poured out, will be poured out for all of eternity in the torments of hell.

The opportunity exists still for repentance to take place

and justice will be done still.

I told you, I, I had a real life example.

One of the most recent examples of all of this is what happened with Carmello

Anthony and Austin Metcalf, right?

There is a scenario.

In which the two of them could spend eternity side by

side, praising Jesus Christ.

I don't know.

I have no idea.

I have no, I'm not claiming any insider knowledge on that at all,

but I'm saying to you, that's how big the cross of Jesus Christ is, and if

you can't get there, then you don't understand the grace of God enough.

You don't have a, a keen enough appreciation of your own sin.

And that also means church, whoever you've been picturing this whole sermon, that

that has sinned or wronged you and you're thinking, I can't forgive this person.

There's a scenario in which if they would come to faith and repentance

in Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior, that you could be side by

side with them for all of eternity.

Worshiping God

and justice will still have been done.

At the cross,

and that's what we're about to remember Together,

we're about to take communion together and as these elements are going to

be passed here momentarily, you'll hold the bread and you hold this cup

of juice, and it's a reminder of the wrath of God poured out on the cross

against our sins, such that justice was done and our sins can be forgiven.

So I wanna encourage you this morning, church, if you have that person in

mind that has sinned against you, that's done you wrong, that's hurt you.

Again, I'm, I'm, I don't want to trivialize what they did to you,

but I do want you to have hope that you can let go of that hunger,

that thirst for retribution and trust that God will see to it.

And perhaps even what God might be nudging you towards is you praying

that they would repent from their sins and put their trust in Jesus and that

that might be the way the justice is ultimately gonna be done in their life.

Because maybe sometime somebody was praying for you that way,

and that's why you're here and that's why you're saved

and that's why justice has been done in your life.

So these elements will be passed and then I'll come back up

and we'll take them together.