We're in the last chapter, and there are three chapters, so that's where you're turning to. Chapter 3 of Nahum. What we look at, Nahum has had a burden upon him. That burden is a prophecy from God, and it talks about how God's judgment is coming down upon Nineveh, which is a capital of Assyria at that time. Now, this is relevant for our day and time because the similarities of how God brings judgment upon nations, you can see it in history. And you know what? If we don't repent as a nation, you're going to see it in this nation. What we look at in chapter 3 is Nineveh's destruction, but the reasons that are bringing about that destruction. You remember last week I talked about and we looked at in chapter 2 about how Nineveh dated all the way back to Genesis chapter 10. You remember it was Nimrod the mighty, the mighty hunter before the Lord. who founded Nineveh. That had to be around 2,500 years earlier than Nahum is prophesying here, so Nineveh is an old, old city. Didn't really come to relevant power, prominence, until around 700 BC. In that time, Sennacherib, who was the king in control, He really made it flourish and it grew. It grew in leaps and bounds. I say Nimrod, let me back up just a little bit, I believe somewhere along the road where I've read behind that Nimrod was, he calls a mighty hunter before the Lord. Some interpret that as being a rebel before God. And we can see that in the city of Nineveh, that it was a rebellious city against God ever since it was founded. all the way up until its end. We see it grew by the year 700 BC. It grew so big that the city proper, which were the gate or the fence went around, was 1,700 acres. They said it had a full circumference of about 60 miles. Now that's huge. but in that inner part of that city was about 1,700 acres and it had walls all around that part. The walls were claimed to be 100 feet high, 140 feet across, so wide that they'd have chariot races on the wall. It's a thick wall. It's a high wall. It was, you think, about 140 feet thick. It's hard to comprehend. And yet what we find and what we read about in chapter 3 is its total destruction. Now this would have happened around the year 600 AD, 612, I mean 612 BC. So around 612 BC, it was destroyed. It was so utterly destroyed that by the time Alexander the Great came through, which would have been around 300 to 350 BC, about 300 years later, Alexander the Great didn't even know where Nineveh was. You couldn't see it. The only thing that could give it away, there was a tell or a mound where it was underneath, but nobody really knew that. Until about 1840 AD, when archaeologists dug up portions of that city, they were then able to find out about the circumference of the city. They were able to find out there was a library the king had. There was all kinds of things that they dug up of this ancient, ancient city, which is quite fascinating. Portions of the palace that belonged to the king would cover three city blocks. Imagine that, three blocks of city of house. Now that's quite some palace. If you wanted to get lost, all you have to do is to the palace. Asher Bannipal, who was one of the kings, He had a library that they have dug up that consisted of about 1,500 volumes. So you know what? He was not a caveman. He was an educated man. There were educated people in that time for their time. But what we find, I want you to notice in verses 1 through 4, chapter 3, we find their sins. And their sins consist of violence, immorality, lies, harlotry, and witchcraft. The Word of God says, woe to that bloody city. It is all full of lies and robbery. The prey departs not. The noise of a whip, the noise of the rattling of the wheels, of the prancing horses and of the jumping chariots the horseman lifts up both the bright sword and the glittering spear and there is a multitude of slain and a great number of carcasses and there is none end of their corpses. They stumble upon their corpses because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts that sells nations through her whoredoms and families through her witchcrafts." Some of the things that were dug up by archaeologists of this ancient city had boasts written down, how the kings bragged about certain things. When we read about Nahum saying, woe to that bloody city, listen to how some of these kings actually recorded some of their deeds. I cut off their heads and made pillars. I flayed in the city of Arbella and I spread the skin on the city wall. Another one said, I flayed all the chief men who had revolted, and I covered the pillar with their skins. Another king said, I cut off the limbs of the officers, the royal officers that rebelled. One king said, I burned alive 3,000 captives. Another king said, I cut off fingers and hands. Others said they cut off noses and ears and put out their eyes. In other words, they were a brutal, ungodly people. They didn't care about other human beings. They cared about themselves. Therefore, what they did, they're called a bloody city, and rightly so, and it tells us it was full of lies and robbery. In other words, they stole, and the Word of God says that the prey departs not. In other words, what they stole, they did not return. I don't know how many of y'all heard just on the news over the past couple of days, there is a Black Lives Matters leader. One of the ladies said that she encourages people that if they're hungry, you steal and you take. Because that's reparations. And if you need some clothes and you want clothes, you go loot and break in and take the clothes. Let me tell you, stealing is still stealing. I don't care if you call it reparations or not, you're going to have to answer to the Lord God Almighty when you don't go against God's word. Here, we're seeing that in the United States of America. People pushing that. Mobs pushing that. Thinking that society owes them, so therefore they're going to steal it. Let me tell you, there's a God in heaven people are going to have to answer to. Here, we see these people and how they're going to have to answer to God in chapter 3 of the book of Nahum. We see in verses 2 and 3, it's kind of like a vision of the battle that's taking place. And I want you to notice this vision is of the Medes and the Chaldeans, or the Babylonians, as they come into the city. And verse 2 says there's the noise of the whip. It's kind of like Nahum hears this vision. He hears the crack of the whip. He hears the noise of the rattling of the wheels and the chariot wheels rattling as they're bouncing around and the horses are prancing around and the chariots are jumping because the horses are prancing and the horsemen lift up their bright sword and the glittering spear and there's a multitude slain, literally, in this city. It is so big. They've got thousands upon thousands in that city. And these thousands are ending up dead and destroyed. There are corpses. There's so many dead bodies in this city and around about this city. The Word of God says they stumble upon their corpses. Well, thank you, brother. I need a little swig. It's not spiked, is it? It's good. Brother Roger's a lifesaver. Got a little choke there. But literally these thousands and thousands and thousands of people, they're being killed left and right, and there's so many dead that the chariots are literally bumping over the bodies. What a vision! nay whom has. What a horrible sight war is. War is terrible even in our day and time. And when you think about a whole city being destroyed, there are literally thousands of bodies within that city that went out into eternity. Notice what the Word of God goes on to say. It says in verse 4, the reason why is because of their whoredoms, the multitude of their whoredoms, the multitude of their adulteries and sinfulness. The Word of God says of the well-favored harlot, the whore, she was a well-renowned woman. And the Word of God says, the mistress of witchcrafts. In other words, she had demonic power. She flirted around with witchcraft. Here was an immoral, ungodly woman, and what she did, she trapped nations. The Word of God says, that sells nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. Here what she did, an immoral woman, entrapped and enslaved, literally nations, to follow after her and her whoredoms and her idolatry. Some of the things that were dug up in the archaeology in 1840 were some of the records in Nineveh. They consisted of witchcraft and enchantments and the worship of demons. Nations were sold into hell. by their idolatry. Here, Nineveh was the cause of much evil. Not just within their own nation, but within other nations when they conquered them and then they infiltrated their idolatry and whoredoms into those other nations. God will only allow so much before judgment comes down. And here I want you to notice, judgment's coming, and Nineveh is going to be humbled greatly. In verse 5, the Word of God says, and God Himself says it, I am against you. He says, behold, I am against you. Now we read that back in chapter 2 and verse 13, and we saw how the military was going to be destroyed. But here God says, I am against you, and his purpose for saying that is that he is going to humble them greatly. You know what, if you're a child of God, you need to humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and then He'll raise you up. If you raise yourself up, let me tell you something, God's gonna bring you down low. Here's the principle of God's Word. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God. People lift themselves up. And when they lift themselves up, you know what, they don't do anything but deceive themselves. I saw a little news blurb the other day, somebody sent me, and it showed a CNN reporter praying on CNN. I'd never seen that before. And you know what she was praying? She was praying for anybody who voted for Trump that they would suffer and that they were hurt. I'm going like, whoa, that's kind of weird. Never seen that on CNN before. Of course, that prayer didn't leave the grounds what I commented on that post. You know what, there are some wicked people in our world. God is going to bring them down. There are people who think they know God. But Jesus is going to say to them, as he says in Matthew chapter 7, Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. And they're going to say, didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we do wonders and miracles? Didn't we do things and show them we loved you? He's going to say, depart from me. What ominous words. I never knew you. Here God says, I am against you. He's talking to those in Nineveh. I'm against you. And if God is against you, we brought this out last week, who can be for you? Let me tell you, God's going to do some great humbling. Notice how he humbles the people in verse 5. He says, Behold, I'm against you, saith the Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies, and I will discover your skirts upon your face. You know what he's saying there? He's literally saying he's going to pull your skirt up over your head and he's going to He says He's going to show the nations your nakedness. He's going to embarrass and totally humiliate you and the kingdoms of your shame. He's going to show off your nakedness and that's your dominion and He's going to embarrass you and humiliate you right level to the ground. soldiers in Nineveh stripped women in warfare. It's going to come back on their own heads and it's going to happen to them is what God is saying. Just as you treated others, it's going to happen exactly to you. And he says, I'm going to cast abominable filth upon you. That word filth is the word idols. God says he's gonna cast those abominable idols back in their face. I'm gonna make you vile, is what he says, and will set you as a gazing stock. In other words, I'm gonna make you an example, a warning unto other people. And I'm gonna make you weak. In verse seven he says, and it shall come to pass that all they that look upon thee shall flee from you and say, none of us laid waste. Who will bemoan her? Think of this warfare that's going on and none of us laid waste and there's nobody there to comfort her. There's nobody there to grieve for her. The word of God says, whence shall I seek comforters for you? Where can I seek a comforter for you? You remember all the nations that they conquered, they humiliated them. Ain't none of them coming to their rescue, uh-uh. Where can he find comfort? There's nowhere they're gonna find comfort, absolutely nowhere. You know what? Sinners, when they sin, with a group of sinners, when one of them gets in trouble, the other sinners run away. In other words, don't expect your buddies to stand up for you if you're getting involved in sin. Let me give you an illustration. Had a roommate one time, got busted for drugs. Once he got busted for drugs, well, before he got busted for drugs, he was the popular dude. He always had people around him, always people liked him and da-da-da-da. Once he went off to jail, he only had one or two people visit him the whole time he was there. In other words, sinners, when they get caught in their sin, Don't expect other sinners to come and help you out. If you're in trouble, if you're in distress, they're going to abandon you. And that's what we find in verse 7 in Nahum here. I want you to notice God's judgment upon Nineveh. It's found in verse 8 all the way through the end of the chapter here. And it talks about how they're ripe for judgment. The Word of God says in verse 8, Are you better than the populace? No. Now what does that mean? Yes. No. That's not what it means. What does no mean? Does everybody's Bible say no? Anybody got a different word there? Are you more populous than No? No. No was a Hebrew name for Thebes. Thebes was a city in Egypt. Now, Thebes was a pretty renowned city. It was a large city. It was located with seven rivers coming out of the Nile right there at Thebes. where it comes together right to the Nile. On the other side was the sea, so they had a barrier there. Nobody could attack them by sea and really accomplish much. They were like invincible in the eyes of man. But you know who conquered them? Assyria is the one who conquered Noah or Thebes. They came in and they knocked them out and maimed them. and cause great havoc. So what the writer is saying, by inspiration of the Spirit of God, he's saying, are you Assyria, Nineveh? And they had to remember this. Are you more abundant in people than those in Thebes, or no? They wiped them out, Assyria did. And he says that was situate among the rivers that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea. Notice here, they thought they were invincible, but God took them out by Assyria. They had partners, they had alliances, they had allies, Ethiopia and Put. were her strength, and it was infinite. Luban were thy helpers. They had backup. But let me tell you something. Can you have an army big enough to fight against God? If all the armies of this world, if there was one world order, and they tried to defy God, you know what? They're not going to stand a chance. Here, the word of God says, yet was she carried away in the captivity. Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets, and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains. Notice here what happens to them. The size of the strength does not matter if God's against you. God has said, I am against you. They were taken captive. Those that were not taken captive were killed. They were gambled away. Notice here it says, they cast lots for her honorable men. There were warriors they put in chains, sold off into slavery. Their children were literally crushed, thrown headfirst into the streets. God says, You also shall be drunken. You shall be hid. You also shall seek strength because of the enemy. In other words, you and your fighting, when you fight against God, you're gonna be like a drunk man fighting. Anybody ever seen a drunk man fight? And all you gotta do is just blow him down. That's a drunk man. God compares a serious strength to a drunk man. You shall also be drunken. You shall be hid. You're not going to have any assistance. You also shall seek strength because of the enemy. But there's no one that can strengthen you. All your strongholds shall be like fig trees with the first ripe figs. I remember one of the houses we lived in down in South Carolina had a fig tree. When those figs on that fig tree become ripe, if you shook that tree, you know, if they're ripe enough, they just start falling all over the ground. Then they start spoiling if you don't eat them. Here, the strongest part of your city, God is saying it's going to be like fig trees with the first ripe figs. In other words, Notice it says, if they be shaken they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. It's like an overripe fig tree shaken. Then God says, behold your people, your soldiers, your army in the midst of you are women. In other words, your strong warriors are like women fighting. Now don't get mad at me, women. That's what God's Word says. It says, though I don't want to get in a fight with a woman. The gates of your land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies. The fire shall devour thy bars. In excavation, you could tell the place was burnt. There's reminiscences of the fires that took place. The gates were burned. In verse 14, draw the waters for the siege. In other words, you're about to get locked in, you better get a lot of water. Fortify your strongholds, make them as strong as you can. Go into the clay, tread the mortar, make strong the brick kiln, make it as strong as you can. Fortify everything that you can, because there shall be the fire that's gonna devour you. No matter how strong you make it, you cannot make it too strong for God. You're going down. Here's human fortification. Make it as strong as you can. There shall the fire devour thee. The sword shall cut thee off. It shall eat you up like the canker worm. It's a form of locust, early locust. Make yourself many as the canker worm. Make yourself many as the locust. Here in other words, multiply, fortify, but it's all going to be to no avail. Numbers are not going to help you. You've multiplied your merchants above the stars of heaven, the canker worm spoils and flies away. The canker worm here in the latter part of verse 16, that's the Medes and the Chaldeans. They're going to come in and take and they're going to fly away. In verse 17, your crown are as the locusts, are those that are wealthy, and your captains as the grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but when the sun arises, they flee away, and their place is not known where they are. In other words, the wealthy are gonna run. The stored wealth is going to the conqueror. Thy shepherds slumber. These are the watchmen. your watchmen that are watching for the enemy to come, they're going to be slumbering, snoozing. And you know what? All of a sudden, death will be upon them. O King of Assyria, your nobles shall dwell in the dust, your people are scattered upon the mountains, and no man gathers them. In other words, it's going to be totally annihilated. Notice in verse 19, that's what it says. There is no healing of your bruise. Your wound is grievous. All that hear the brute of thee, that means the report of you, shall clap their hands over you. Yay! Assyria is gone! It's conquered! It's down! It's no more! For upon whom hath not, your wickedness pass continually. In other words, they're going to be utterly destroyed and people are going to be rejoicing because they are no more. O Nineveh, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. O people of the day, it's a fearful thing to fall in the hands of a living God. When God's wrath is upon you, let me tell you something, if God is against you, there is nothing that can help you. But you cry now for mercy. I want you to listen to what the Word of God says. over in John chapter 3. As you're turning to John chapter 3, I'm going to close with a verse here. But I read a story about a man who said he wished, and I think Spurgeon quoted this man, he wished a window could be put into his head where people could see his thoughts. Spurgeon says, what a fool. Because you know what? If you could see people's thoughts in their head by looking at a window through their head, you would probably be scared to death of people. because of their wicked thoughts. And if you'd be angry at their wicked thoughts or appalled at their wicked thoughts, can you imagine what God thinks of your wicked thoughts? Is God against you? If so, listen to what the Word of God says in verse 36 of chapter 3. He that believeth on the Son Hath everlasting life. In other words, it's like the story in the Old Testament. God told Noah to build an ark. Noah built an ark. 120 years he's building that ark. God warned him a flood's coming. Through the preaching of Noah for 120 years of building an ark, he's telling him, God's wrath is upon you. You need to come to the ark, flee to the ark. If you come into the ark, you'll be saved. Everybody thought he was a fool. And all of a sudden, all those animals going into the ark. Can you imagine people watching all the animals two by two, God's bringing them into the ark? And all these people, I can't fathom this. These animals are walking orderly into the ark. And these unbelievers are saying, Noah, you're a fool. But they're looking at these animals, God's walking them into the ark. And then all of a sudden, the door is shut. And once the door is shut, the wrath of God is poured out upon this earth. Let me tell you, that's going to happen again someday, but not with a flood. God's wrath is going to be poured out upon this earth. The only way you can escape the wrath of God is flee to the Lord Jesus Christ. to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is that ark in the Old Testament. He is the only place that you'll be able to find safety when the wrath of God is poured out. The Word of God says, He that believes on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. God's wrath is dwelling upon him right now. Have you ever seen some of those torture chambers? You ever seen how there was one where they laid the person out and there's a big old blade swinging down and it swings down closer and it gets closer to the neck and closer to the neck and pretty soon it gets the neck. You know what, that's the way God's wrath is. And if you don't know Jesus Christ, that wrath is going to come crashing down and you leave this world and you'll be spending an eternity in hell. Here, the Word of God clearly tells us, believe on the Son. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Salvation is in no other but in Jesus Christ. Oh, I'm praying that you find your hope in Him. When you have Jesus Christ, He is all you need. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, as we read in the book of Nahum, we read the destruction of this very ancient city that had survived years and years. more than a couple thousand years. But your wrath came down upon it. And it is no more and no one's ever rebuilt upon it. Lord, even so, we are warned in your word that your wrath is coming again someday upon this sin-sick world. And Lord, we read in your word that those who know not the Lord Jesus Christ, those who don't know Him, will be damned for eternity. But yet we read in Your Word, those who trust in You have everlasting life. Lord, we pray Your Word would go forth with great power Even as Nineveh's sins were found out, Lord, convince this generation to be sure their sins will find them out. Lord, we ask that You'd help us to hold forth the Gospel, to not be ashamed that others might come to a saving knowledge of You, doing effectual and powerful work in our midst, in our own lives, stirring us to revival, that it might be stirred into others, causing many to repent and to glorify Your name. We give You praise and thanks for what You're going to do, for Christ's sake. Amen. and you are.