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Message 11 Nah.1:1-3:19/Psa.76:10/Eccl.8:10-14
It is a nation’s own wickedness that brings about her own downfall and destruction. It is so with individuals as well. Though in wickedness many nations do exalt themselves, it is not a perpetual exaltation. For we know that it is “righteousness which exalteth a nation, and sin is a reproach to any people” (Prov.14:34). It is righteousness that will exalt a nation to no end. In righteous nations we see a glimpse of that of the kingdom of God when He shall establish it here upon this earth. It will last because it is established with pure righteousness and no wicked malice mingled in whatsoever. Now we noted last service concerning these wicked nations particularly that of Assyria with her capital Nineveh. Her judgment had come upon her because she continued to grow increasingly in ungodliness. “The Burden of Nineveh” was announced. The atrocities were listed and we found them to fit into three broad catagories: Rapacity, Cruelty, and Imposture. And we did note many of these same sins in the lives of the nations today, specifically taking note of that nation which we do live in: The United States of America. Beloved, our nation shall not escape the judgment of nations. Jesus shall come and He will judge them all as He did say He would in His Word (Psa.82:8; Isa.2:4; Micah 4:3). But let us remember that a wickedness of a nation does not necessarily imply wickedness in all their members. There are ‘good men’ in every nation under heaven, even in the worst. There are Noah’s, Lots, Daniels, Jobs amongst the corruptest people. And let us never forget that these ‘good men’ are made so because of the goodness of God. For it is the Lord who maketh thee to differ (1Cor.4:7—“for who maketh thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?”).
I. Existence of Nineveh: Psa.76:10 Many do ponder why the Lord did permit the nation of Nineveh to continue on in her wickedness and yet they ask and ponder that question as if they are unfamiliar with the long suffering of God towards His people. Have you forgotten your own personal existence when you were wicked and depraved and fulfilling the lusts of the flesh before the very eyes of the Lord? No wonder we are reminded of God’s longsuffering in Nah.1:3—“The Lord is slow to anger.” But the sentence continues and he states, “and will not at all acquit the wicked”. They shall not escape their wicked deeds, but the Lord shall bring His judgment upon them in due time and in His time. We are taught three things in the existence of wicked nations. Remember Nineveh was wicked from the beginning, from the days of when she was founded a few generations after the flood. A. The Freedom of the Human Soul: Jn.5:40—In Nineveh’s existence we do see that all the time she existed it was in a depraved state, save for that ministry of Jonah. They were ungodly, and the Lord sent Jonah unto them and they repented. Had Jonah not been sent unto them they had continued and persisted in their wickedness. This is man’s “Free-Will”: that he has chosen sin, is choosing sin and will continue to choose sin unless the Lord moves in and intervenes in that man’s life. And so it is also on the grandeur scale of a nation. That she will continue to sin, unless God does intervene. You may go back into the beginning and observe if this was not so. That man and woman, that human beings, our federal head when given the opportunity to do that which God had commanded him to do and refrain from that tree of the knowledge of good and evil, that man did disobey the Lord God. God had created man upright (Eccl.7:29). God created man in the image of Himself (Gen.1:26—that man was made without sin). And when God had finished making man, God did say, “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good…” Gen.1:31. Nineveh’s wickedness is the result of God leaving a group of people, a nation alone unto themselves. This is what man has done. They have resisted what God has said, they have strived against the Lord and God because of His long suffering, hath permitted it. The whole of nature speaks contrary to the doings of these nations and that of wicked men and yet they do go on in there pernicious ways. They do resist the Divine, they do pervert the good, and outrage their own natures. Men and women, and a large group such as a nation are not of necessity wicked, but of their own free determination. And this is not contrary to the Sovereignty of God. Rom.1:24—“God gave them up to uncleanness” Rom.1:26—“God gave them up unto vile affections” Rom.1:28—“God gave them over to a reprobate mind”
1. Their Sin Did Abound: But for what purpose? Why did the Lord permit for sin to abound in the nation of Assyria and that of Nineveh. Well, without delving into the complex mind of God, what do we find in our own personal lives? a. Is it not true that the Lord did permit us to manifest and evidence some part of our total depravity before He brought us unto the day of our Salvation, where we did cry out “God, be merciful to me, a sinner”? Certainly He did. For you were no saint before you were saved, but you were a sinner! You were completely and totally, utterly depraved in utmost vile unrighteousness. You were as a dog that returneth to its own vomit; and you sought it again and again (2Pet.2:22). How much more than did your sin abound had God refrained you from sinning altogether? Your sin did abound that His grace might abound the more (Rom.5:20,21). b. And so we find that God permits sin to abound that He might show the greatness of His grace; that His grace can be seen to be greater than the most wicked men, the most wicked nation. That all the wickedness that man could muster together can be overcome by the grace of God.
II. The Lord Employs Wicked Men/Nations: Though He does not need to make the man wicked, He does employ the wickedness of people to carry out many things in His Providential Plan. Was this not so with the betrayal of Jesus? Did not the Lord employ Judas Iscariot, a devil, to betray the only begotten Son of God? Is he not referred to as the Son of Perdition? (Jn.17:12). As one minister did state, “God used wicked men to bring to pass His will. He did not make man wicked, nor did He have to look for to find a wicked man for the world was rampant with them”. God did not choose Judas Iscariot to be wicked, but He did employ that wicked man Judas. Judas’ sin lies with Judas and so it shall with all the unregenerate individuals as well as nations. a. Nineveh Employed by God: Isa.36: & 37: Nineveh had come up before Israel. Israel turned to God and away from her idols and graven images. Thus Nineveh’s employment by God was thus over. But she raged the more against the Lord and His people. So the Lord brought destruction upon Assyria and her capital, Nineveh. b. Others Employed by God: Acts.8:1-4—Saul of Tarsus, a wicked, and vile man; who opposed Jesus with great zealousness, yet the Lord did use him. For we see that Saul did persecute the church and they were scattered abroad, but note what they did having been scattered abroad: “Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.” Many times God’s people get quite complacent and do not do the work that the Lord has called them unto. So He does stir them up with the employment of wicked men and they do go forth all the more preaching the Word. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee.” Acts.2:23—“…ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:” We cannot forget the wickedness of humanity that God did employ for the slaying of His sacrifice which He offered on the tree of Calvary. The Lord was not the cause of these wicked men: both Jews and Gentiles, but He did employ it for the purpose of His Will. Do you see how even the Sovereignty of God is not effected by these wicked nations and wicked men but rather is shown to be all the more Sovereign.
III. The End of Such Wicked Nations/Men: Nah.3:19—“No healing” only destruction. This will come by way of the Lord: a. Note the “I wills” of the Lord: 9 of 10 “I wills” pertain unto Nineveh: i. Nah.1:2—“…the Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries.” ii. Nah.1:14—“…out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.” iii. Nah.2:13—“…and I will burn her chariots in the smoke…and I will cut off thy prey form the earth,…” iv. Nah.3:5—“…and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness…” v. Nah.3:6—“And I will cast abominable filth upon thee…and will set thee as a gazingstock.” vi. Nah.1:12—“…Though I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.”—This verse is in the parenthetical that the Lord is speaking to Judah (See notes on Pg. 14).
This is what the Lord is going to do with the wicked nations. They shall cease to be. For an example unto the Ninevites God gave them “Populous No” or “No-Amon” of Egpyt (Nah.3:8-10). Note down through the scriptures and history the nations that opposed the commands of God were destroyed (Numb.21:21-24). Did not God those Egyptians who pursued His people? Did God not destroy many wicked nations and wicked men that He employed to chastise Israel (The Entire Book of Judges Proves this)? And then we have the Bible and history which tells us of the rise of the Babylonians, then the Persians, then the Grecians and then the Romans: Yet all were subdued because of their wickedness. And God overthrew them by a more wicked nation than they. These nations were very wicked, yet a more wicked nation overcame them and they were punished for their iniquity. Have we not history which tells us of the great wickedness of Nazi Germany which was overthrown by a more wicked nation in that of the Soviet Union (who butchered more than Hitler himself), as well as the combined forces of the U.S. and Britain; two nations who are not righteous in and of themselves, but have continued on in great wickedness for many centuries. But let us take comfort…in all the while God has been on the throne. Though the heathen rage, the Lord shall have them in derision (Psa.2:1-5). There will be a judgment come upon them; let us be not partakers of this judgment of the wicked nations. They will not mock the Lord, they shall reap what they sow (Gal.6:7,8).
1Pet.4:17—“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
Eccl.8:10-14
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