0:01 Welcome once again to Words of Life. We are studying through the Bible. And we have now come to the book of Nahum in the Old Testament. Many Christians 0:23 never read some of these called so-called minor prophets. Because they feel that they may not get much out of it. It's true that every part of scripture 0:40 is not of equal value. The New Testament is certainly more important than the Old Testament. And to a non-Christian, I would not give the book of Nahum. I'd give him the Gospel of John. 1:02 But if you're born-again Christian and you know the Lord and you want to know God better Jesus said that to know God is eternal life. Then we must know all of scripture. God has given us only one book in the 1:23 world written by him. And that is this Bible. We believe that every part of it is important. There's something of God that we can learn from every book. The way of salvation is of course not 1:44 described in the Old Testament at all. That's why we wouldn't give the Old Testament to someone who's trying to find out how to be saved. But to know God it's great to read these Old Testament prophets. God has never changed. 2:08 And we see something of the heart of God in all these Old Testament prophets. Sometimes we see the prophets repeating something again and again. That's not a waste of time. 2:30 That proves to us that that subject is important to God. And some other subject is mentioned very rarely means that's not such an important thing to God. You find the Old Testament prophets 2:48 emphasize something repeatedly. Christians Christians can tend to be imbalanced here. There are about two verses in the New Testament that 3:05 speak against women wearing jewelry. Jesus never said anything about it. There are two verses on it. In the epistles. But there are many many more 3:23 uh words in the New Testament about love and faith and humility. About not gossiping and being careful with our words. Not judging others. And yet I find some Christians 3:42 taken up with these two verses against jewelry and completely ignoring major sections of scripture. I'm not saying those we should ignore those two verses. I'm saying give the little finger the 4:05 importance of the little finger and give the heart the importance of the heart. In the human body the little finger is not more important than the heart. I'm not saying cut it off. I'm just saying don't make it 12 ft 4:24 long. The same with speaking in tongues and different gifts like this. If you want to know what God is like you must see what he emphasizes more in scripture. What he emphasizes less. 4:48 God may speak on 10 different subjects and repeat two or three of them again and again. The Old Testament prophets never sought their own reputation. They were not always seeking to preach a new message every time. Preachers feel like that because they 5:09 say, "Oh well, what will people think if I preach that same message again?" Prophets are not bothered about what people think. They know what people need cuz God tells them. And they may repeat the same message 20 5:30 times. Because they don't seek the honor of men. And that's why I say there are very few prophets. Because people seek the honor of men so much. Nahum was a man who lived 100 years 5:48 before after Jonah. Jonah went to Nineveh. And Nahum is preaching against Nineveh now. 100 years later. At this time Assyria was the most powerful nation on 6:07 earth and Nineveh was its capital. He speaks about God's anger and vengeance in this book. That is the subject of Nahum's prophecy. 6:28 And he says how Nineveh will be destroyed. Now to say that about the world's only superpower is a amazing thing to say. If you say that some small unknown 6:51 country in Africa is going to disappear in a few years okay, there's a possibility. But if you want to say that about the most powerful nation on the earth today that's going to disappear in a few years not just become weak, but disappear 7:14 altogether. Who would believe it? Who would they not believe it? Who would dare to prophesy such a thing? And nobody believed Nahum when he said that. But as we look back over history we see that every word that these Old 7:34 Testament prophets prophesied were fulfilled exactly. Announcing the destruction of the great world empires of Assyria of Egypt Babylon Tyre The empires of Assyria and Babylon 7:53 disappeared completely. They don't even exist today. The big city of Tyre God said it would be reduced to rubble and that's exactly what's happened today. But God never said any of these things about Egypt. Which is a bigger nation long before 8:15 Assyria and Babylon. In Moses' time. But he never said anything that Egypt would disappear. So what is the result? Egypt exists even today. So when God says something about his about any country through his prophets it happens exactly like that. 8:39 And that assures us that whatever God says in the New Testament the warnings will also be fulfilled exactly as it's written. That assurance we get. See for example, the Lord says that everyone will have to give an account in 8:58 their life one day to him. It will happen. Whether it looks like it or not. Everyone will reap exactly what they have sown. That will happen exactly like it says. 9:16 As it is said it will happen. Jesus said every careless word men speak they'll give an account in the day of judgment. It happened exactly like that. How do we know? Things that Nahum said happened exactly like that. Even though it didn't look like it that 9:36 time that it would happen. But because the judgment doesn't come immediately, people say, "Oh well, it won't happen." People said it won't happen to me. And that's exactly what Assyria said when they heard all about this from Nahum. 9:51 This from Nahum. And the Nahum they heard all about this from Nahum. Oh yeah, this crazy Hebrew prophet says all that. We are okay. Nothing is going to happen to us. But the judgment came finally. 10:10 What Nahum said was fulfilled. Another thing we see here is this. When God sent Jonah to Nineveh earlier, we could ask why God sent Jonah to Nineveh when he knew that this nation was going to become so evil and to be destroyed 100 years 10:28 later. Because God is a just God. Wherever there is hope of a person people repenting, he always gives them that option. He doesn't want anybody to perish. 10:52 And he knew that Nineveh would repent. So, he sent Jonah there. Even today God doesn't send his servants anywhere unless he's got some purpose for those people to whom he's sending them. If you're going If you're as a servant 11:12 of God, you're going wherever you feel like going, then of course, you better plan your own message. But if you have waited on the Lord God is leading you to go somewhere. Even if it's a very difficult place like Nineveh, 11:31 you can be absolutely sure that God has a plan for that place. So, Jonah was sent with a purpose. Because many people in Nineveh repented. And in that generation, they turned from sin. And I don't know maybe whether some of 11:53 them went to heaven. But here God did not send Nahum to Nineveh with a message. Why? Because he saw that Nineveh now had no desire to repent. So, what can we learn from the example 12:13 of Jonah and Nahum? That if you listen to God, you won't waste your time going to places that God doesn't want you to go. You'll only go where something useful can be accomplished for 12:31 God. These prophets live before God's face. They waited for him to tell them what to do. They didn't just rush around here and there like Christian preachers today just because they got money. They took time to wait on God. 12:56 Now, the message of Nahum was a basically a message of God's anger. In chapter 1 verses 2 and 6 we see seven words. jealous 13:16 avenging and wrathful vengeance again verse 2 indignation in verse 6 anger 13:35 burning and rage cobalt See, all these are words which express God's intense anger and fury against sin. Also against the people who continue in 13:56 sin. See verse 3. The Lord is very slow to get angry, but when he does get angry, you can't stop him. You can't stop him. God is very patient. 14:16 But finally, he will judge. And I'll tell you something. His anger is primarily directed against those who trouble other people. He's not His anger is not directed 14:34 against those who ruin themselves with drug addiction and alcohol and all that. See, those are sins where you destroy yourself. Yeah, those are bad. This body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. But they are not 1% as bad as the sins 14:54 where you hurt other people. God didn't curse Adam. Because the ground. But he cursed Cain. Why did he curse Cain? Because Adam didn't hurt anybody else by 15:11 his sin. He hurt himself. Cain hurt somebody else. And that's very, very serious. So, God's anger is mainly directed at people who hurt others. That's a much more serious sin than when 15:31 you when you hurt only yourself. These words like anger and vengeance The Bible says that we should not take vengeance on anybody. Because the Bible says vengeance belongs to God. 15:49 And I will repay, says the Lord. We read that in the end of Romans chapter 12. And God will definitely repay. If somebody has harmed you The Bible says that when Jesus was being ill-treated 1 Peter chapter 2 16:08 He did not threaten anybody. He committed his cause to him who judges righteously. And God will one day take vengeance on all those people who crucified Jesus. He may have forgiven them. That's only the horizontal aspect of the 16:26 sin. That's forgiven. But there's a vertical aspect to that sin. Where they sinned against God. And if they don't repent, they'll be punished. And they did not repent. 16:44 So, that is vengeance. Why was God so angry with Assyria here? Not because they were smoking and drinking and all that. No. Assyria, God was angry with them because they were hurting other people. One day, God will judge every single 17:06 human being who has hurt another person in any way. You hurt people by your words or by your actions. One day, God will judge you. Matthew 5:22, Jesus said if you hurt somebody with your words, God will not even listen to you till you set it 17:26 right. See, love demands anger. God is a God of love, therefore he's angry. Suppose you have two children. Say 5 years old, 2 years old. 17:46 5-year-old one day is hitting the old younger boy on his head with a stone. Would you get angry? If you don't get angry, you don't love your little boy. And you will punish that older child for hurting the other one. 18:06 That's exactly what God does. All are God's creation. And if one of God's creation hurts another of God's creation and that poor person cannot do anything in return and you think that's the end of the 18:24 matter? Even if they are believers one day, this person will have to pay for all that he did. Chapter 1 verse 7 to 10, you see God's attitude towards his friends and his enemies. The Lord is a stronghold in the day of 18:46 trouble. He knows those who take refuge in him. But he'll make a complete end of and will pursue his enemies into darkness. So, there's a different attitude he has towards his friends and his enemies. And he says to Nineveh, "What are you 19:08 scheming against the Lord? He'll destroy you with one blow." First of all the Lord was angry with Assyria for their pride. They took advantage of others and exploited them. Even if some of this is heavy reading 19:31 these Old Testament prophecies, you see something of God's heart here. The Lord says here in verse 12 and 13, "I won't afflict you anymore, my people. I will break the yoke of this Nineveh, 19:50 this Assyrians from you. He tells the Assyrian king, "I'll bury you for the way you treated my people." And to his people God says, "See on the mountains, verse 15, the feet of him who brings good news, the 20:10 Assyrian has been defeated." Which one will never pass through you. This is the message we preach. In Isaiah 52 we saw how lovely are the on the mountains are the feet of those 20:28 who bring another good news. That your God reigns. That is the message there. Here the people are bringing the good news that the devil has been defeated. Assyria is a picture of Satan. 20:48 And the message is means gospel. Satan has been defeated. He can never rule over you again. Don't be afraid. That's the message in Nahum. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring that good news. And a few years after Nahum prophesied, 21:12 there was no hope left for the people of Assyria. God didn't give them an opportunity of repentance. Because unlike in Jonah's time, they resisted his calls again and again and again. It says in chapter 2 verse 2 that 21:32 Assyrians had devastated Israel and destroyed them. And then in 8 and 9 God says how he will destroy and devastate Nineveh. And you know that happened one day when 21:52 Babylon defeated Assyria. And exactly like Assyria treated Israel, God treated I mean Babylon treated Assyria. The 22:14 Nineveh had filled their houses with the plunder they got from Israel. And Babylon came and treated Assyria the same way. In chapter 3 22:33 it speaks of the harlotries by which they enticed the nations in verse 4. There was something attractive about Nineveh by which they attracted the nations before they destroyed them. This is a warning to us also. 22:56 Very often the world attracts us and entices us with something before it destroys us. How did in in Nineveh destroy the nations? First attracting them and then destroying them. 23:15 That's exactly how the world attracts today. Satan tried to even tempt Jesus with the glory of the world. So we have a warning here to be careful of things that entice us. We see here in the Lord asked Nineveh in 23:36 chapter verses 8 to 10 of chapter 3, "Are you better than all these other countries which were great once upon a time but which were destroyed?" God says, "You'll be destroyed, too." 23:57 See, the Assyrians could say God used us to defeat these other countries. It's true. Later on God used Babylon to destroy Assyria. But we can't we can't become proud when 24:14 God gives us a ministry. Because he can take it away from us if we backslide and take the glory to ourselves. And finally it says verses 11 to 19, "Everyone everywhere will agree with my 24:33 judgment on you, Nineveh." One day all men will stand before God for the final judgment. And the whole world will stand before him and be judged. People are sent to hell. 24:52 Same thing that's written here will be fulfilled. All people will agree with my judgment on all those people who are being sent to hell. That's the meaning of Nahum 3:19. 25:11 God takes vengeance on those who have hurt other people. Everybody will agree with God. That's a righteous judgment. So let's live in the fear of God. 25:29 Amen. Welcome once again to Words of Life. We have reached the book of Habakkuk in our study through the Bible. The subject of this book is the conflict 25:50 and triumph of faith. This is the story of a man who had questions that he wanted to ask God. Questions that made him doubt. But he journeyed from that place of 26:12 doubt to the place of certainty. You know, he starts with doubt in verse 2. How long, oh Lord, will I call for help and you don't hear? I shout to you and you don't answer. No one is coming to save me. 26:33 But by the time you come to the end of that book, he says, "The Lord God is my strength." I will rejoice in the Lord. Verse 18 of chapter 3. Basically, Habakkuk had two questions 26:50 that he wanted to ask God. And God gave him the answers. The point we see here is that even a man of God can have doubts. That we see right through 27:11 the scriptures. As long as we live in this earth, there can be certain doubts that can come into our mind and many questions, too. There's nothing wrong with asking God questions. In fact, when our children are little, 27:30 if they don't ask questions, we think something is wrong with them. An intelligent child will keep on asking questions, "Daddy, why this and why that?" How does this happen? 27:48 Why is it like this? We're delighted when we hear such questions. In fact, a good father will encourage his children to ask questions. If you get upset with your little children asking you questions, something wrong with you as a father. 28:11 But I want to tell you that God is a good father and he loves people who ask him questions. When you have questions, don't go to people of your own level of maturity. They will confuse you even more. 28:30 Go to God directly or go to someone who is more mature. Otherwise, you go and ask some person your maturity level questions, you'll confuse him, also. They may not have any doubts till then, 28:49 but you ask questions and then they begin to have doubts again. The best thing is to go to God. Go to the scriptures. For everything that you need to know for your life, there is an answer in the Bible. There are a lot of things we don't need 29:11 to know for our life for our life and for that there may not be answers in the scriptures. There are the Bible tells us things related to life and godliness. For such things, 2 Peter 1 says 29:30 everything for for life and godliness is taught us in this book. The first question that Habakkuk had is a question that all of us have. How about we could get in the middle of the killing and all of them 29:50 and that is why Lord you cause wicked people to prosper. This is the question that Asaph had in Psalm 73. It's a question that Jeremiah had. He asked the same question. 30:09 The Lord told him if you can't run with men how will you run with horses? If you are bothered by such a simple question how will you deal with major questions? We saw when we studied Psalm 73 that 30:27 Asaph got his answer when he went into the presence of God. Jeremiah also went into God's presence and got an answer. Habakkuk also went into God's presence and got an answer. You can go to a godly brother but the 30:47 best is to go to God. Habakkuk had to go to God because there were no godly brothers around and living near him. Jeremiah was living at the same time but probably some distance away and 31:04 prophesying in some other place. Habakkuk's cry was how long oh Lord must I call for help and you don't save me. Have you ever felt like that? Many godly Christians have felt like 31:22 that in the last 2,000 years. Why do you allow these godless people around us to prosper? Why do you allow these people to harass your children like this? Chapter 1 verse 3. 31:41 There's destruction and violence everywhere. And surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. And then he looked at Judah. And Habakkuk says the law has become paralyzed and is 32:00 useless here. And there's no justice given in the courts. And the wicked are far greater in number than those righteous. And justice is perverted and bribes and 32:17 trickery and all types of things go on. This is written 2,600 years ago. You see how relevant it is for our day because this is exactly what we see in our day. In many parts of the world we find this 32:36 to be true. And the Lord did not answer Habakkuk directly. Just like Jesus many people sometimes asked him questions and he didn't give a direct answer. He sometimes asked them another 32:57 question. God's wisdom is far superior to ours. And his ways of answering questions and dealing with things are very different from ours. What is God going to reply? He says in 33:16 verse 5 look among the nations I'm going to do something that will you won't even believe if someone told you about it. See Israel the northern kingdom had already gone into captivity. More than 100 years ago. 33:38 Judah had never experienced slavery. They thought that will never happen to us. It was more than 800 years earlier that they had been slaves in Egypt. But they don't remember all that. Now the Lord was going to do something 33:57 with these people that they wouldn't even believe. Now when we read a verse like that you think he's going to do a mighty miracle of deliverance or something. That's not what he's saying. What he says I'm going to do something 34:14 in your days that you won't believe he's not talking about a miracle. He's saying I'm going to send you back as slaves to a heathen nation. You can't even believe that, right? It is difficult for you to believe that 34:35 God would ever do such a thing. And he was saying I'm raising up Babylon to be a superpower in the world. They're not going to rise up by accident. God 34:52 allows them to rise up. And he allows them to rise up to harass his people Judah. People in Judah can't believe that God would do such a thing. He will raise up heathen people. We may be bad but he's going to 35:15 raise up people worse than us to trouble us. Yes. God uses heathen people to harass people to chasten people who are his people. It's happened in the Old Testament it's 35:34 happening in the New Testament. So that's what he says you want to you won't even believe it if I say so. We must believe that God is in control of all nations. In various times in India when we have 35:51 had national elections we believe we could influence the elections more by praying than by voting. We as believers are such a small number 36:09 in India we can't influence by voting. We can pray and change results. And fulfill God's will. 36:27 And that's what we always used to do. We say Lord we don't know what's good for India. But we want you to put into power those whom you sovereignly permit for the fulfillment of your purposes. Sometimes what we think is the best may 36:46 not be what God thinks is the best. We got to humble ourselves and admit we don't know God's ways. God's ways are not our ways. We would not have raised up Babylon to be a superpower in order to trouble 37:04 Israel. See some people think of God as a grandfather up there in heaven always giving us gifts to make us happy. They can't imagine that God can use 37:23 non-Christians to discipline Christians. Let me take give an example. Supposing there's a country where the Christians are always fighting with each other. All criticizing each other and every denomination thinking we are the only 37:41 ones who are God's people. In such a situation what sort of political party do you think God will allow to win the elections? The Christians may pray like this. 37:59 Lord give us a government that allows um that allows preaching of the gospel. Give us a government give us a government that allows plenty of money to come from America for the spread of the gospel here. But God may see that all that money 38:19 coming coming from America is a hindrance to the spread of the gospel. Or hindering the testimony of Christ in this land. So he may allow a party to win the elections that stops all that foreign money coming. The Lord says I'm going to do something 38:42 which you won't even believe that I would do such a thing. But what will happen when all this foreign money stops? Persecution of Christians starts. I think the Christians will stop criticizing each other. I think the Christians will stop criticizing each 38:59 other. And they will start fellowshipping with each other a little more. They'll be a little more united. There's enough money in this country to do God's work. And as a result Christians in India will 39:17 become stronger. And more united. And more and more united. So we don't know what to pray for. God does what is best for the overall growth of his church. And in this particular situation 39:38 he says in verse 6 I am raising up the Chaldeans. They are a fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth. They are dreaded and feared. Their justice and authority originate with themselves. They don't listen to 39:57 anybody else. So, Habakkuk's question is why are you allowing the wicked to prosper? And this is God's answer. And Habakkuk says, "Lord, you haven't answered my question." You said that the wicked are going to 40:19 prosper. But God says, "That is my answer." I am fully in control. And I am accomplishing my I'm going to accomplish my purpose through Babylon, even if you can't understand it. Now, today, 2,600 years later, 40:41 we look back. We see God raised up Babylon. And then God destroyed it. And now we say, "God, that was wonderful what you did." God raises up a political party and gets gives them power. And the next election he pulls them down 41:00 and they lose that power. To teach us what? God is in control. So, what is the result of Judah being taken by Babylon captive for 70 years? Let me tell you one result. 41:24 You know, from the time of the judges, 1,300 years before Christ, to the time of the Babylonian captivity, 600 years before Christ, 700 years, 41:40 they frequently worshipped idols. For 700 years, somewhere or the other idol worship was going on in Israel. Then God raised up the Babylonians to capture them. They went to Babylon for 70 years. 42:02 And they got a place full of idols. And they came back. You know what is the result? Since the time they came back, till today, but 2,500 years, they never worshipped idols again. 42:21 Wasn't that good what God did? It's amazing. They may have committed other sins, but they haven't gone back to idolatry. Sometimes God gives his people a one blow and solves a major problem. Like Jacob, 42:41 God broke him in little little ways and finally broke his leg one day. Then he became a different person. And God has used people who hate Christians to fulfill his purposes. Like the Roman Empire that persecuted 43:00 Christians, communists in our day who have persecuted Christians. God has allowed communists to persecute Christians for many years in China. What is the result? 43:21 Some of the finest Christians in the world are today found in China. So, was it good or bad? Very good. He is the blessed controller of all things. That's what it says in 1 Timothy 6:15. Then Habakkuk has a second question. 43:44 And that's in chapter 1:12-17. He said, "Lord, you are from everlasting to everlasting. You allowed these Babylonians to chasten and correct us. We are wicked, but they are far more wicked. 44:03 How can you who don't allow any sin to come before you allow such people to stand? If they catch us in their nets, they start worshipping their nets. They think their gods are more powerful 44:22 than our God. Won't that bring a bad name to you?" Now, it looks as if Habakkuk is concerned about God's glory. I will wait on my watchtower in chapter 44:41 2:1 and see what the Lord has to say in reply to me. And the Lord replies to him says, "Write my answer plain and clear, verse 2. So, everybody can see it and read it. 45:02 What I'm planning will not happen right away, because there's a particular time for it, verse 3. But slowly, steadily, it will surely take place. That is, I will judge them finally, don't worry. I will make my people prosper, 45:26 but it won't happen straight away. So, the what the Lord's answer was, you got to learn to be patient. So, that's the first thing God told Habakkuk, you got to learn to be patient. The second thing Habakkuk he told Habakkuk was, 45:46 verse 4, the righteous will live by faith. You got to live by faith. Patience and faith go together. This is the word quoted three times in the New Testament. Justified by faith. 46:04 But in the context here, the the Lord was telling Judah to have faith in God. The Babylonians trust in themselves, you live by faith and trust in me. Look at these proud people. 46:23 They trust in themselves. But you humble yourself and trust me. Their lives are crooked. So, the opposite of faith here is not just unbelief, but pride. The other thing he warns here is the 46:43 great danger of wealth. In chapter 2:5 onwards, they are always greedy, wanting more and more and more and more. And chapter 2:6-19, 47:06 is a description of how a self-centered life will finally destroy itself. He says a proud person is centered in himself. He doesn't have faith. 47:23 That means he has confidence in himself. And what is the result of that? He says, "How terrible it will be for you. Your security is in your wealth. You will destroy yourself. But one day, verse 14, the whole earth 47:42 will be filled with the glory of the Lord. And those who live by faith will see it. And for that we have to be patient. When Habakkuk saw this, his heart was full of praise. God didn't answer the questions the way 48:00 he expected it, but he learned to worship. What is worship? That's more than praise. He said let verse 20, "The Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him." That's worship, silence. 48:24 Lord, I accept your ways. Like Job putting his hand on his mouth and saying, "I won't say anymore." When Habakkuk saw God, he saw the reward of living a life of faith. A life that is centered in God. 48:44 Even if you don't have the answers. He says, "I'm filled with amazement at the things you have done, verse 2 in chapter 3. You have crushed the head 49:01 of the house of the wicked." That's what God has done. And finally, in the end he says, "Even if the fig tree doesn't blossom, verse 17, and there's no fruit in the vine, there's no olive yield shall not yield 49:24 any fruit, the fields there's no fruit fruit, the flocks are dead, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. He is my strength. He's made my feet like hinds' feet. 49:42 He will make me walk on the high places. He says, "It doesn't matter if I've lost everything. It doesn't matter if I don't get the answer to any of my questions. I believe his word and I live by faith. For the proof of that is I rejoice now. 50:00 God is my strength. Now let the Babylonians rule, let them do what they like. God is on the throne. In the midst of suffering to say that. And in the last line he says to the choir director, "You got to sing this song with string instruments. Don't sing 50:18 it in a gloomy tone." Let's learn to praise the Lord like that. Even if we don't know the answer to many things. We know that God will make us ride on the high places. 50:36 He will make us live in victory. Praise the Lord. God bless you.
