 Nahum chapter 3, quite a powerful chapter here, a lot of strong language in Nahum chapter 3. Of course talking about the ruin and the judgment of Nineveh. So this evening I want to talk to you about the subject of violence, the subject of violence. Now when I started looking at this subject and I started thinking about it, I started studying it out throughout the Bible and realized that especially with our country that we live in today, this could have been a sermon series by itself. We live in a very violent nation. I'm talking about just the United States. We live in a very violent nation. And you know, it could have been just a sermon after sermon after sermon on the different areas of violence in our society that we see today. So I want to talk about, you know, but that would be kind of depressing to have week and week after week of just talking about violence. So I'm going to try to do it in one sermon. But first of all, you know, what is violence? We have to understand that, you know, sometimes the meaning in the Bible doesn't exactly mean, you know, what we think that it means. So what is violence? Turn to Jeremiah chapter 22. Because all fighting and all struggle and all physical struggle is not necessarily violence according to the Bible. But the Bible tells us what violence is. So first let's define what it is. Then we can look at what the Lord thinks about it and then look at some application for us. Okay, look at Jeremiah chapter 22 and verse number three, where the Bible says, Thus saith the Lord, Execute ye judgment and righteousness and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. So he kind of has a parallel description of what violence is. He says, do no violence to these people. You know, the stranger, the fatherless, the widow. He says, neither shed innocent blood, kind of equating those two things. So violence is the shedding of innocent blood. Look at just the dictionary dot com definition of violence. It says this. It says it's an unlawful exercise of force. Okay, it's an unlawful exercise of physical force upon someone. I mean, just the word itself means, you know, as violate in the word, right? Murder is violence. Unjust war is violence. Now the just wars that God had in the Old Testament where he sent the children of Israel into the Promised Land, that would not be considered violence. That was a just war that they were doing, okay? Now turn to Psalm chapter 144. So I mean, there is war that is not what the Bible would call violence. Okay, look at Psalm chapter 144 and verse number one. And the Psalmist says this. He says, So this is talking about God teaching him how to fight these just wars and fight these enemies of the Lord, okay? So basically, you know, the just wars were fought against the literal enemies of God, okay, in the Old Testament. You know, assault, if you think about someone assaulting someone, you know, today, it doesn't even have to be murder, but assault, it would be considered violence, all right? In a nutshell, it's unjust physical harm, is what the Bible calls violence. All right, now turn to Psalm chapter 73. It's unjust physical harm. It's unbiblical, unrighteous physical harm against someone else. Look at Psalm chapter 73. Let's look at what the Lord thinks of violence. Psalm chapter 73, look at verse number six. The Bible says this. It says, So it says here that violence goes hand in hand with pride. In Psalm chapter 73, turn back to Psalm 11. This is the verse of the week. Look at Psalm chapter 11 in verse number five. You can just look at the front of your bulletin. Psalm chapter 11 in verse number five. The Bible says, Now look, it says, But the wicked and him that loveth violence, his soul hated. So the Lord literally hates him that loveth violence. So number one, it says here that there are people, there are people in this world that love violence. I mean, that's kind of a scary thought, but the Bible says that there are those people, all right? And it says that the Lord hates those people. He doesn't hate the sin of violence. He hates them. Period. The individual. You say, I don't believe you. Well, let's look at some examples in the Bible. Turn to Genesis chapter six. Let's look at the pre-flood world. The pre-flood world. Now the pre-flood world, that's an interesting study in itself. But the pre-flood world was an interesting time. Now, why did God flood the world is the question. Well, the Bible actually tells us, which is funny, because all the movies that you see come out about, you know, the flood and there was just one a few years ago that came out, this big holy wood production and God flooded the world. I think it was because of, you know, they were destroying the environment or something like that, right? We weren't treating the earth right. But the Bible, the funny thing is that the Bible actually tells us why God flooded the world. Let's look at Genesis chapter six and verse number 11. And the Bible says this. It says, The earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with what? Violence. And God looked upon the earth and behold, it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. I mean, he said it was corrupt and it was filled with violence. And in verse 13, God says, and God said unto Noah, the end of all flesh has come before me and the earth is filled with violence through them and behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Turn to 2 Kings chapter 21. So twice God says they're corrupt. They've corrupted. But then he says a very specific thing that they're doing. They're violent. They're violent people. I mean, this shows that God cares about the innocent, right? Because violence is people, you know, killing or killing innocent people is what it is. And this shows how much God defends the innocent. Okay? Look at 2 Kings chapter 21. Let's look at a king in the nation of Judah, a king called Manasseh. And in 2 Kings chapter 21, look down in verse number one. And the Bible says this. I mean, God destroyed the whole world because of violence. Think about it. I mean, that's how serious he takes this. That's how serious he takes the sin of violence. But if we drill down into it more deeper, that's how serious he takes the defense of the innocent. God is not going to stand around and just let the innocent just be destroyed and violated with violence. Look at 2 Kings 21 verse number one. We'll see another example. We can go through these examples all day long on God destroying violent people. Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 50 in five years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Havziba. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. I can't speak tonight. I don't know what's going on. For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed. And he reared up altars for Baal and made a grove as did Ahab king of Israel and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord in which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he made his son pass through the fire and observed times and used enchantments and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards. He wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. Look at verse number 11. Skip down for sake of time. Because Manasseh, king of Judah, had done these abominations, had done wickedly abound all the Amorites did, which were before him, and have made Judah also to sin with his idols, therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel. Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah that whosoever heareth of it both his ears shall tingle. And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Sumeria and the plummet of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeeth a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. So God said that because of this violence, he was sacrificing his own children and he made the nation sacrifice children to these false gods. And you'll see later on, and if you keep reading through the book of 2 Kings, you'll see that it wasn't just him, he also, he led Israel into that sin. He led Judah into that sin. Okay, flip over a couple chapters. Now here's what's really scary. Here's where it really gets scary. Go to 2 Kings 23. 2 Kings 23 is talking about the story of Josiah. And Josiah was a great king. Josiah was a king that got everything right. He righted the wrongs. Josiah, don't get prideful, I see you smiling. But he righted the wrongs. They found the book of the law and they said, hey, we have to do these things. And he wiped out all the fall. He killed all the priests of the false gods and he cleaned house. He really did. Look at 2 Kings 23 in verse 25. And the Bible says this, I mean, he smashed the altars. He even pulled the bones of the false prophets out of the graves and smashed them upon the altars and smashed them into powder and threw them into the river. I mean, the guy went over the top. The Bible says 2 Kings 23 verse 25. And like unto him, there was no king before him. This is Josiah that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might according to all the law of Moses. Neither after him arose there any like him. So there was none that was as dedicated with his heart towards the Lord as Josiah. And there was none after him that had that type of heart towards the Lord as Josiah. But look at verse 26. Notwithstanding, the Lord turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah because all the provocations that who? Manasseh had provoked him with all. The Lord had not forgotten about what Manasseh had done generations earlier. This ultimately, by the way, and I'm not going to get into it yet, is why we're in trouble in this country because the Lord had not forgotten. The Lord does not forget this type of thing. Turn to Jonah chapter 3. Let's look at another city. And by the way, these aren't people, individuals getting destroyed. These are nations getting destroyed. These are cities getting destroyed. Woe to the bloody city, we just read. These are entire groups of people being destroyed over violence. Look at Jonah chapter 3. Look down at verse number 5. Let's look at another example. So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed, so Jonah was sent to Nineveh. He didn't want to go. And it's the whole story of him getting swallowed by the whale. And then he finally went to Nineveh. And it's one of those rare stories of the people actually getting right in the Bible. They actually listened to the preaching of the prophet and they got right. They turned from their evil way, the Bible says. And they got right. But what was the problem with Nineveh? What was the problem? Let's read Jonah 3 in verse number 5. So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed it fast. And put on the sackcloth from the greatest of them even to the least of them. They repented. They turned. For the word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne and he laid his rope from him to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his noble saying let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in their hands. So they were a violent people. And by the way in Nahum chapter 3 Woe to the bloody city. Same city. Same city. So they were a violent people. Nahum chapter 3 Let me reread for you verse number 1. Woe to the bloody city. It is all full of lies and robberies and they pray, the pray departeth not. Look, this is a violent place. And they repented during Jonah's preaching but Nahum's time 80 years later they were back to the same thing. Verse number 2 of Nahum chapter 3 The noise of the whip and the noise and the rattling of the wheels and of the prancing of the horses. Go ahead and turn there. And the jumping chariots. The horsemen lifted up both the bright sword and the glittering spear and there is a multitude of slain and a great number of carcasses. This is talking about now they are being destroyed and there is none end of their corpses. They stumble upon their corpses. This is a multitude of the hordoms of thy well-favored harlot the mistress of witchcrafts that selleth nations through her hordoms and families through her witchcrafts. Behold, I am against thee saith the Lord of hosts and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face and I will show the nations thy nakedness and the kingdoms thy shame. Keep your finger on verse number 5. We are going to visit that again throughout the sermon. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee and make thee vile and we will set thee as a gazing stock. He is saying that people will just people will not believe people will be looking at what has happened to your city and they will just not believe it because God has just brought so much wrath down upon you. As he said he is going to wipe them like a dish. People are just going to be like we can't believe it. I mean pray to God that God never says I am against thee to you and God is against you. That's not a good place to be. Verse 7 It shall come to pass that all day that took upon thee shall flee from thee and say Nineveh is laid waste. Who will bemoan her? When shall I seek comforters for thee? So they turned back to it and they turned back to their violence. Jonah came and preached and they got right and about 70, 80 years and they were back to it. And then here's Nahum and they were destroyed and this is right around when the Assyrians took over the northern kingdom of Israel. Look, God hates violence. God hates the violent man. God hates those that love violence. He hates the people. He hates the person. And he will judge it. He will judge it. If the Bible was clear about anything, it's clear about that. God will judge violence. So what's the application here? What's the application for us today in the United States? Well, there's probably not a better example of violence in our whole entire world today than abortion. We're talking about violence against the innocent. We're talking about, you know, murder of the innocent and to a level in this country of 2,500 to 15 wives per day. Per day. 55 million abortions since Roe v. Wade was passed in 1973 in this country. Now could anyone argue that an unborn child is the most innocent of all human beings? Could anyone actually argue that? But people do. So let's look at that. Turn to Isaiah chapter 44. You know, the personhood of an unborn child. Because if you're for abortion or you're pro- death of unborn children, you can't believe or you can't at least admit that that is a person. But let's look at that. Let's look at what the Bible says. Because guess what? The Bible has the answers to everything. And this is a big answer that some people need. Turn to Isaiah 44. Look at verse number 2. Thus saith the Lord that made thee and formed thee from the womb which will help thee. Fear not, O Jacob, my servant, and thou, Jesserun, whom I have chosen. The Lord made you and formed you in the womb. Look down to verse number 24 of the same chapter. Thus saith the Lord, my redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things and stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself. Look, everybody sitting here today was formed by God in the womb. That's where God formed you. That's where God puts you together, the Bible says. Now look, turn to Jeremiah 1 in verse number 5. But wait, there's more. So God formed you in the womb, the Bible says. Look at Jeremiah chapter 1 in verse number 5. The Bible says, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. He's talking about the womb here again. And before thou came as forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. So the Bible here is saying that Jeremiah was ordained before he was sanctified in the womb. Before he came as forth. The Bible says that God knew you before you were born. He knew you. Look at Isaiah chapter 49 in verse number 15. Isaiah chapter 49 in verse number 15. So okay, God forms you in the womb. Does that really mean that you're a person? If you're being formed in the womb, the Bible says look at Isaiah 49 in verse number 15. The Bible says this. Can a woman forget her sucking child and she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Okay, now just think about that. The son of her womb, the Bible says uses this type of language in a few different places talking about in Malachi 2.15 it says let none deal treacherously against the wife of thy youth. The wife of thy youth in Proverbs 5.18 it says rejoice with the wife of thy youth. That means when you were a youth she was your wife. It was saying that during your youth she was your wife. That's when it began. This is saying that look I got news for you. Isaiah 49.15 says that the child in your womb is your son. The child in your womb is your daughter. That is your child. That is exactly what Isaiah 49.15 is saying. Turn to Psalm 139. Psalm 139, look at verse number 13. Psalm 139, look at verse number 13 the Bible says for thou has possessed my reigns, thou has covered me in my mother's womb. He's literally speaking of himself as a person in his mother's womb. Here. I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Once again see how consistent this is in the Bible. Look this is talking, I mean we talk about the personhood of the Trinity. This is talking about the personhood of someone in their mother's womb right here. Okay. My substance was not hid from me then when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect. And in my book all my members were written which in countenance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them. Look he knew what you were, you see what you understand what verse number 16 says he knew what you were going to look like before you were even made. God knew what your members were going to look like before they were there. You were designed before you were made because guess what you have to do before you make something you have to design it. You can't make something and you know I hate to break it to you but even the simplest among you is pretty complicated. Before you can make something you have to design it. So the Bible says that and in my book all my members were written the design was done before you were even started to be made. Isn't that beautiful? So much for the blob of cells. Right? Look many people don't know what abortion actually is and I think that you know that's one of the biggest problems. Does anyone have a bulletin that they could bring to me actually? I think that that's one of the biggest problems out there today. My mom when I was growing up was actually very involved in a lot of different pro-life groups and you know what one of the biggest things that pro-life groups will do to save unborn children is they will just give the young lady or the lady who's thinking about having an abortion and ultrasound. Because guess what Planned Parenthood won't do? When you're in the business of killing unborn children you don't want people to see pictures like this because that looks like a baby. That looks like a person. You want to tell me it's just a blob of cells it's not a life it's not anything but guess what that's why so many women who have had abortions have so many problems later in life because they have an abortion they're told something and then they go and they make that decision and then a lot of them have children of their own one day and they find out what that actually is and they realize what they've done they realize that they've murdered their own child so many times it just takes an ultrasound just takes showing a woman her own baby because guess what guess what folks here's the good news most people aren't reprobates most people aren't psychopaths most people don't love violence and when most people I've had this experience myself I had some friends in two of these friends of mine were talking about that they were pro-choice they were girls and they were visiting at my house and my mom was there and my mom had this medical book and it had what an abortion looks like what an aborted baby looks like with the little parts and legs and arms and all these types of things I know it's terrible to even think about it and I showed them pictures of it and I said that's what you're for whoa we're not for that because they don't know they don't know that's why it's great that there's imaging technologies like this that have come out in the last 10, 15, 20 years so they can show what God is making and appeal to people's their conscience the law written in their heart they're like no we're not for that just to realize that it's not a blob of cells this is a life look even science today knows this by the way you don't have to be a bible believing Christian to know that life begins a conception from metalineplus.gov it says this a single sperm in the mother's egg cell meet in the fallopian tube when the single sperm enters the egg conception occurs the combined sperm and egg is called a zygote the zygote that's the fancy term for an an embryo of a baby the zygote contains all of the genetic information needed to become a baby half the DNA comes from the mother's egg and half from the father's sperm you have a person and you don't even it's the same as the bible so science was 3,000 years late but they got there it's the same as the bible look there isn't even another time from a scientific perspective that you could even you could even say personhood begins you know I've heard two other times from pro-choice pro-abortion people I've heard there's two other times and here's what they are the number one is that the child until it can survive on its own is not a person okay so basically what they're saying is until a child could survive outside of the mother's womb that's not a person I've heard this people believe this yeah it's wicked but people believe this so basically as technology gets better we can have babies survive earlier and earlier and earlier we're basically redefining when life begins I mean that's stupid to even believe that that our technology in our ability to have a newborn baby or a premature infant survive would define when that baby becomes a person is idiotic you know we can't even we don't have the technology to redefine personhood folks to even create a single-celled organism think of all our technology think of all our technology that we can do the last time I was in the semiconductor design industry we could put 20 million transistors on the head of a pin 20 million transistors little tiny electronic switches on the head of a pin it's amazing we can't create a single-celled organism we can't create the simplest of life to think that we define when life begins is arrogant and stupid we can't create a virus we can't create that either look we don't define when life starts folks and you don't have to believe the bible for that the second one is this that personhood begins at birth a lot of people believe that that personhood or that those rights of a person begins at birth you say that is extreme you say a baby can survive I think now at like 5 months you know being 5 months and then being born that early they can survive but guess what you say that's an extreme position in January of 2019 Governor Cuomo of New York passed a new law and his law said this basically it was this aside from keeping abortions available the law removed the procedure no code which had previously made it illegal after 24 weeks of pregnancy unless the mother's life was in jeopardy he allowed abortions to be illegal up to birth for nearly any reason because they added the health of the mother not the life of the mother and if you go look up what the health of the mother means it says this the physical, emotional, psychological and his age are all relevant to the well being of the patient and these all factor into what is called health so you can basically what Governor Cuomo did was he lifted any abortion restrictions up to birth in his state he went out on a limb to make that happen this man for any reason folks you will not find anything more violent in this world than abortion we talk a lot about the martyr's mirror here, this large book I think I have it this book talking about how Christians are martyred throughout history they are tortured, they are beaten they are burned it's nothing compared to what abortion is on speaking of the personhood of the baby on ultrasounds of abortions they have those you can see the baby trying to get away what defines the personhood of Christ what defines the personhood of the father they have their own will not my will but thine be done, Jesus said the baby has a will to live I mean this child is sucking his thumb they are trying to get away from the knife from the thing that is tearing them apart and killing them it's but there is nowhere to go there is nowhere to go partial birth abortion which is what Governor Cuomo basically legalized for any reason the baby is violently delivered with the head still in his mother and the spinal cord is cut at the base of the skull a full term baby I'm sorry while alive someone who knows this and is for it loves violence and that man knows it and he legalized it he loves violence Barack Obama turned to Matthew chapter 5 Barack Obama was the same thing Barack Obama when he was a legislator in Illinois signed like three times he was against the born alive infants act that said that if an aborted child somehow survived a procedure which it happens many people breathing on this earth who have survived abortions they exist but what they do is they let them die so they tried to pass a law in Illinois before he was president by the way before this wicked country voted for him to be president for eight years he voted against a law that would say if the baby was born alive you would have to give them medical attention and try to save that child's life and he voted against it burning hell God hates you have a nice day you love violence these people turn to Matthew chapter 5 Matthew chapter 5 Governor Cuomo said this week on the news and I'm going to stop watching the news I'm going to try Governor Cuomo said this week something that reminded me of Matthew chapter 5 but he said I could care less for either one of them over this whole virus thing Governor Cuomo said my mother is not expendable your mother is not expendable we're not going to accept the premise that human life is disposable and we're not going to put a dollar figure on human life the first order of business is save lives whatever it costs that should make you throw up knowing who this man is look at Matthew chapter 5 I'm loving your enemies but I say to you love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you that you may be the children of your father which is in heaven for he maketh his son to rise on the evil and the good and send the rain on the just and on the unjust don't miss verse 46 for if ye love them which love you what reward have ye do not even the publicans the same Governor Cuomo says my mother is not expendable but guess what even the publicans love their own mother even a psychopath loves his own mother it's nothing that's what Jesus said he's like no it's special if you love your enemies he's like because even the publicans even these politicians love their own mother so don't think that he loves life because he's proved not even a year ago that the man loves violence is what he loves he showed it to us I mean think of it he went out of his way to decriminalize I mean the more murder of unborn children I mean this should vex your soul hearing this stuff and I know it does now go back to Nahum chapter 3 go back to Nahum chapter 3 Nahum chapter 3 in verse number 5 really especially what's going on in our country today really popped out at me when I was reading Nahum chapter 3 in verse number 5 I'm going to read it for you again behold I am against thee sayeth the lord of host and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face and I will show the nations thy nakedness and the kingdoms thy shame ye see when things are great in this country when things are really good in this country you heard those numbers 3,000 a day 55 million when things are great in this country I think us as Christians I think we forget about these things that's what I think I think that it's easy to go on with our great you know American lives when everything's going well and we can just do what we want to do and we have the freedoms that we have and all these things and I think it's really easy to get desensitized to these things but guess what they're still there they're still there they were there the whole time and what God has done now and he's dropped the veil on us and he's exposed the nakedness in this area you see God still sees the violence even when things were good and we maybe forgot about it God still sees it God always sees it the violence he says no I'll show you your nakedness I will drop all of the good that is hiding this murder and I will show you the bloody city that's what he says and well let me end here I like looking for trends connections and I don't know if this is one or not but I'll just show it to you most recent data was from 2017 that I could find but New Jersey and New York where the pregnancy is ending in abortion in the United States California I'm sure is not far behind you say I don't think that you should say this right now well Isaiah 58 says cry aloud spare not lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression in the house of Jacob their sins look somebody's got to say it somebody's got to say it somebody's got to say that you know you deserve a lot of judgment in this country I mean somebody's got to stand up for these kids I mean who's doing it who's standing up for these innocent children that are being murdered for the innocent you know my small weak voice I'm telling you is not enough it's not enough and in the end in the end God's will be done and if that whirlwind hits us all God's will be done there's a lot of stats flying around these days there's a lot of stats flying around a lot of numbers flying around let me give you some stats every minute two children are illegally murdered in this country every minute where's that chart where's that map with the dots where are those news stories there is no news stories about this anymore even the pro-life people there's no news stories about this anymore nobody even wants to talk about it anymore every minute two unborn children in this country are butchered every single minute maybe we should start a website with a map wake people up that's our nakedness that's our skirt upon our face remember Romans 1219 where the Lord said vengeance is mine I will repay we talk about that a lot on wicked people but this nation is going to pay and the Lord is right for everything that he repays this world for this because that is violence right there let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer dear heavenly Father we thank you for this evening we thank you for your word we pray for all the innocent lives that have been lost to abortion in the last several decades Lord we know that you hold all these children and we thank you for that we thank you for taking care of all these children Lord I ask that you stay the judgment so we can still get people saved in this country but ultimately Lord whatever you decide is right and it's deserved we love you we thank you for everything you blessed us with in Jesus name amen