🎵Music🎵
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yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
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Yeah.
Song number 185 as you find your seats.
And let's all stand together if you are able to.
Song number 185.
Song number 185, My Savior's Love.
See it on that first verse.
I stand.
Oh,
wonderful.
Song shall ever be.
Oh,
wonderful is my
for me.
For me.
Was in the garden.
He prayed not my will, but
he had no tears for his
but sweat drops
for my
wonderful.
And my song
ever be
marvelous.
Wonderful is my savior's
love for me.
He took
my sins and my sorrows.
He made them his
very own.
He bore the burden
to Calvary and suffered
and died alone.
Oh,
wonderful is my
marvelous.
Wonderful is my savior's
love for me.
When with the ransomed
glory, his face
shall see
my joy
to see
for me.
Oh,
wonderful is my
marvelous.
Oh,
wonderful is my savior's
love for me.
Amen. Wonderful singing. Let's start our service with a word of prayer.
Dear God, only Father, we thank you so much, Lord God, for
just your love, Lord God, that you had towards us, that you sent
us for us, Lord God. And we do pray, Lord God, that you would please
just bless our service for God this morning.
We do pray, Lord God, that you would please bless the singing unto you,
that you would please help us, Lord God, to just be also
attentive to the preaching of your word, Lord Heavenly Father. And also
do pray that you would please just be with our pastor, Lord God, as he conveys the message
that you've given to him, that you've laid on his heart. I pray that you would please help
him, Lord God, as he goes to the scriptures, Lord God. And Lord, I do
pray that you would please also be with somebody, Lord God, that's
not saved here today, this morning. I pray that you would please just
touch their heart. Help them, Lord God, to understand that they need
salvation this morning, Lord God. And I pray that they would get
saved, Lord Heavenly Father. And I pray that, Lord God, again, that you would please
just bless every aspect of our service now. We pray now these things in Jesus' name.
Amen. You may be seated. Song number 206.
Oh, say but I'm glad. Song number 206
is our second song. Song number 206.
See it on that first verse.
There is a song in my heart
today, something I never
had. Jesus has
taken my sins away.
Oh, say but I'm glad.
I'm glad. Oh, say
but I'm glad. Jesus
has come and my cup's overrun.
Oh, say but I'm glad.
Wonderful, marvelous
love He brings into our heart
that's sad.
Through dark and sorrow the soul just sings.
Oh, say but I'm glad.
I'm glad. Oh, say
but I'm glad. Jesus
has come and my cup's overrun.
Oh, say but I'm glad.
We have a fellowship
rich and sweet. Tons can never
relate.
Inviting in Him the souls retreat.
Oh, say but I'm glad.
I'm glad. Oh, say
but I'm glad. Jesus
has come and my cup's overrun.
Oh, say but I'm glad.
Won't you come to me with
all your care? Weary and
worn and sad. You
too will see as His love you share.
Oh, say but I'm glad.
Jesus has come
and my cup's overrun.
Oh, say but I'm glad.
All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this morning.
Just a few announcements before we sing our next song, which
will be song number 472 if you want to get that ready
in your song books. This is my Father's
World Song number 472.
If you do not get a, excuse me, if you do not get a bulletin,
go ahead and raise your hand and one of the ushers can get one for you. Some important
information on there. Our services are as follows. Sunday morning is at
1030 Sunday evening at 5 p.m. And then, of course, we have our
Thursday night Bible study at 7 o'clock currently going through the book of
1 Samuel. So I hope you join us for that. You see the
Sony teams and times, the list of expecting mothers
if you can continue to pray for them. And then the important
reminders there at the bottom. This coming Thursday,
June 16th, Pastor Stephen Anderson from Faith
Award Baptist Church will be preaching for us. Amen.
Looking forward to having him. It's always a blessing to
have him come preach for us. He's going to be starting a project
where he's going to all the new IFP churches and he's
essentially preaching through a series on the 12 tribes of Israel.
So our church is the first stop. And then he's going to go up
north to hold fast and then Verity and then just
kind of make his way around the country there until I think his
last stop is going to be Mountain Baptist Church or Pastor
Jason Robinson. And so be in prayer for him
that God will give him traveling mercies and that
it would be a productive and fruitful trip. So we're looking forward
to having him this Thursday. And then, of course, Sunday, June 19th, we
have our Father's Day service. I invite your dads, invite
someone's father to come on that day. We'll have a gift for all the fathers
who come. And then, of course, the sermon will be geared towards dads.
And then on Saturday, June 25th, we have the Ladies Prayer
Breakfast. You can see my wife for more details about that.
July birthday breakfast in Judea soul winning is on Sunday, July 3rd.
And then we have a 4th of July church picnic
on Monday, July 4th. Amen.
So it seems pretty obvious, right? At Eucalyptus
Park. And then you see there no food or drink allowed in the
main auditorium except for water and coffee. Make sure you're not loitering
in the foyer or fellowship hall during the preaching service.
The only ones who should be out there during that time if
that is the ushers. And so just keep that in mind.
Make sure you're in the main auditorium when the preaching
begins. And then quiet time is this afternoon
from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. throughout the whole building.
And make sure you silence your phones during the preaching so as to not be a distraction
during the service. So put it on airplane mode or turn it off.
Do what you have to do to make sure it doesn't go off during the service.
One last announcement before we sing the song.
I want to encourage you to be here tonight. I'm going to be preaching a sermon
on winos, okay? And essentially drunkards
and more specifically I'm preaching against a particular
individual on YouTube by the name of inspiring philosophy,
okay? Who is a major advocate of drinking
alcohol, okay? And he recently came out with some
videos against yours truly and I responded
back and you know you just kind of get momentum when you're making
these videos. So I was like why not preach an entire sermon on him? But
I'm going to just completely refute and debunk
what beyond a shadow of a doubt everything that he said
in these videos, okay? And so obviously he's one of these
reformed guys who thinks it's okay to drink beer and all that.
So don't miss out on that sermon tonight. I want to encourage you to be here if you don't typically come.
And that is pretty much it. Let's go ahead and sing our next song.
472, This Is My Father's World.
Song number 472.
Song number 472, This Is My Father's World.
Song number 472, sing it on that first verse.
This is my father's world
And to my listening ears
All nature seems and round me brings
The music of the spheres
This is my father's world
I rest me in the pond
Of rocks and trees of skies and seas
His candle wanders by
This is my father's world
The birds their carols raise
One morning my lullaby
Declare their maker's phrase
This is my father's world
He shines in all that's fair
In the frosty grass I hear him pass
He speaks to me everywhere
This is my father's world
Oh, let me dare to forget
That though the rocks seem to talk so strong
God is the ruler yet
This is my father's world
The bough who is not done
Jesus who died shall be satisfied
And heard and had before
Amen. Wonderful singing.
At this time, our ushers will be receiving the offering.
And please turn your Bibles to 2 Chronicles 32.
piano plays softly
We'll be in 2 Chronicles 32 this morning.
2 Chronicles 32. The Bible reads,
After these things and the establishment thereof,
Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered into Judah
and encamped against the fenced cities
and thought to win them for himself.
When Sennacherib saw that Sennacherib was come
and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,
he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men
to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city
and they did to help him.
So there was gathered much people together
who stopped all the fountains
and the brook that ran through the midst of the land,
saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water?
Also he strengthened himself and built up all the wall that was broken
and raised it up to the towers
and another wall without,
and repaired Milla in the city of David
and made darts and shields in abundance.
And he set captains of war over the people
and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city
and spayed comfortably to them, saying,
Be strong and courageous.
Be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria,
nor for all the multitude that is with him,
but there be more with us than with him.
With him is an arm of flesh,
but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.
And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem.
But he himself laid siege against Lachish and all his power with him.
Unto Hezekiah king of Judah and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying,
Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria,
Whereon do you trust that ye abide in the siege of Jerusalem?
Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst,
saying, The Lord our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Hath not this same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars
and commanded Judah in Jerusalem, saying,
You shall worship before one altar and burn incense upon it?
Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all people of other lands?
Were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to deliver their lands out of mine hand?
Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed
that could deliver his people out of mine hand,
that your gods should be able to deliver you out of mine hand?
Now that were let not Hezekiah deceive you nor persuade you on this manner,
now that yet believe him,
for no god of any nation nor kingdom was able to deliver his people out of mine hand
and out of the hand of my fathers,
how much less shall your god deliver you out of mine hand?
And the servant spake yet more against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah.
He wrote also letters to rail on the Lord God of Israel and to speak against him,
saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand,
so shall not the god of Hezekiah deliver his people out of mine hand?
Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' speech unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall
to affright them and to trouble them that they might take the city.
And they spake against the God of Jerusalem as against the gods of the people of the earth,
which were the work of the hands of men.
And for this cause Hezekiah the king and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amos prayed and cried to heaven.
And the Lord sent an angel which cut off all the mighty men of valor and the leaders and captains
in the camp of the king of Assyria,
so he returned with shame of face to his own land.
And when he was come into the house of his god,
they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.
Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
from the hand of Sennacher of the king of Assyria and from the hand of all other
and guided them on every side.
And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah
so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth.
In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death and prayed unto the Lord,
and he spake unto him and he gave him a sign.
But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him,
for his heart was lifted up.
Therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
Notwithstanding, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart,
both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honor,
and he made himself treasuries for silver and for gold and for precious stones
and for spices and for shields and for all manner of pleasant jewels,
storehouses also for the increase of corn and wine and oil,
and stalls for all manner of beasts and cots for flocks.
Moreover he provided them cities and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance,
for God had given him substance very much.
The same Hezekiah also stopped the upper water course of Gihon
and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David,
and Hezekiah prospered in all his works.
Albeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon,
who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land,
God left him to try him that he might know all that was in his heart.
Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his goodness,
behold they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos,
and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
And Hezekiah slept with his fathers,
and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David.
And all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death,
and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.
Let's pray, dear Lord God, we thank you for your word,
for this opportunity to hear preached,
ask that you would be with our pastor now, please strengthen him,
fill him with your Holy Spirit,
and please just help us prepare our hearts
and give us all readiness of mind to receive your word,
and in Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Alright, we're in 2 Chronicles chapter 32 this morning,
and we're going to go to 2 Kings 19 in just a bit,
but look at 2 Chronicles 32 verse 19, it says,
And they spake against the God of Jerusalem,
as against the gods of the people of the earth,
which were the work of the hands of man.
And for this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amos,
prayed and cried to heaven.
And this morning we're going to continue with our series entitled,
Epic Wars in the Bible,
just covering some of the most legendary wars and battles in the word of God,
and extracting spiritual principles from them.
And this morning we're continuing with the king of Assyria versus Hezekiah.
And let me explain what's going on here because in 1 and 2 Kings,
obviously we know that we essentially have the same stories taking place,
but just as you see in the gospels,
it kind of gives you a bit of different information the second time around.
And so 2 Chronicles 32 is more of a consolidated story of what we see in 2 Kings,
or excuse me, in 2 Chronicles 32 is more consolidated information
of what we see in 2 Kings 18, 19 and 20.
And so we're looking at here during the reign of Hezekiah,
and we're going to see what kind of principles that we can learn from this.
Now number one, let me just say right off the bat,
why is this such an epic battle?
Well, it's an epic battle because of the fact that an army of 185,000 men
were destroyed without Hezekiah.
So this war ensues between Assyria, Sennacherib and Hezekiah,
and of course they're besieging the city.
We're going to look at 2 Kings in just a bit that Israel, Samaria,
has already been taken over.
So Hezekiah is ruling over the southern kingdom known as Judah,
and that's what he's taking care of.
Whereas the northern kingdom, the capital of that area was Samaria,
and Sennacherib just kind of took that over in a couple days,
or a couple years, excuse me, and just kind of overcomes them.
But then he comes against Hezekiah and Judah,
and the Bible tells us that, of course, Hezekiah prays unto the Lord,
he kind of makes supplication,
and then God answers his prayer miraculously through supernatural means,
sending an angel to destroy this army.
Look at 2 Kings, if you would, chapter 19.
2 Kings chapter 19, and we're going to look at verse 34 here.
So this is pretty amazing.
A lot of the other battles that we've looked at,
to a certain extent, involves human effort, right?
Involves men trusting in the Lord, and going out to fight,
and being courageous, and having faith,
and making sure that they're bold,
and trusting God that the battle is of the Lord,
even though they have to do some sort of work in order to make it happen.
That's what we've seen so far.
Whereas in this particular story,
Hezekiah literally doesn't even lift a finger.
He doesn't send any soldiers out.
He doesn't send forth any garrisons.
He doesn't put a strategy together.
What does he do? All he does is pray.
Look at 2 Kings 19, verse 34.
This is the Lord speaking.
He says,
For I would defend this city to save it for mine own sake,
and for my servant David's sake, verse 35,
And it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord went out,
and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand.
And when they arose early in the morning, behold, there were all dead corpses.
So think about that.
You know, you're having this war.
They're besieging you around about.
And, you know, they're threatening you.
They're mocking the God of Israel.
They're saying, we're going to do to you like we've done to all these other nations
who claim to have the right God.
And they're like, hey, don't speak to us in the Jews language.
Speak to us in the Syrian language, because then you're going to scare everyone here.
And they're like, no, we're going to keep talking in the Jews language
so that everyone knows what we're going to do to you.
And they're like, you guys are going to drink your own piss and eat your own dung.
I mean, they are putting out some some pretty savage railings that we're going to look at in just a bit.
OK.
And no, I didn't cuss.
That's actually in the Bible, folks.
OK.
You know, this is what he's saying to them.
OK.
And so Hezekiah is just like beside himself.
And he's thinking to himself, like, oh, man, like, I'm not going to be able to defeat this guy.
So what does he do?
He does the next best thing, which is what?
Pray.
That's right.
He intercedes and he prays unto the Lord.
He asks God, please deliver me.
Please deliver my people.
And the Lord answers that prayer miraculously.
So think about how Hezekiah feels at this time.
You know, he wakes up in the morning, probably didn't get much sleep, first and foremost.
He wakes up in the morning thinking, all right, I guess we've got to put a strategy together,
goes outside and all he sees is dead corpses everywhere.
And by the way, there's only one guy left alive, which is Rab Sheka, the guy, the messenger,
or excuse me, which is Sennacherib.
You know, he's the only one that's left alive.
And then he has to go back home by himself.
So he sends them home packing by himself.
You know, he comes with this massive army to conquer Judah, to conquer Israel.
And then all his men die and he literally has to walk home by himself.
And why does he walk home by himself?
Simply to die back home, too.
Because at the end of the day, when he goes back home, his own sons slay him.
Okay.
Now, I think it's in particular the reason God allowed Sennacherib to perish
was because of the fact that he didn't honor God even after that massive loss.
Because when you see something like that, you're like, you know what?
This God is different.
I'm going to start new.
I think I'm converting to Christianity.
You know what I mean?
Like, let me in on this.
Okay.
I messed up.
I lost.
You know, I was wrong about this.
But instead, he actually goes back home and he starts worshiping.
The first thing he does, he goes into the house of his false god to worship.
And as he's doing so, his own sons, the Bible says they came out of his own bowels,
essentially go and slay him.
And so that's why that took place.
But this is an epic battle because of the fact that essentially 185,000 soldiers were destroyed
without even Hezekiah having to do anything.
But not only that, as I mentioned, it's an epic battle because it was won through prayer.
And you think to yourself, you know, when it comes to a battle like this,
we need to make sure we have our ducks in order.
We need to make sure we know how to fight.
We need to make sure we have to do this.
But often, even in the Christian life, the thing that we neglect the most is the most obvious, which is prayer.
Because prayer is what?
It's us depending on God to be strong on our behalf, right?
You know, sometimes we think, well, we need to depend on our giftedness, our talent, our ability, our resources.
We have to do our part.
And, you know, in some cases, that is true.
And we've looked at many wars and stories and battles where, you know, God is telling them,
hey, you know, you can't be careless.
You need to be vigilant.
And I'm only going to take these 300 and you need to make sure you know what you're doing.
He's not choosing like the wimpiest of the people to go fight, okay?
Obviously, the people like the 300, for example, were men of valor who knew how to use a sword.
They knew how to fight.
They knew how to go to war.
But we need to have a balance in this view, which is why the Bible gives us a story such as this,
to remind us that at the end of the day, the battles of the Lord and the way we can remind ourselves of that is by praying.
Asking God, please deliver us from our enemies.
Verse 20 of chapter 19.
So the battle was won through prayer.
Verse 20 says, Then Isaiah, the son of Amos, sent to Hezekiah, saying,
Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, That which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, I have heard.
And this is a New Testament principle.
You know, the Bible tells us in 1 John chapter 5 that we know that he hears us and that we have the petitions for which we ask.
You understand?
If we pray according to his will, we know that he hears us and that we have the petitions for which we ask.
You know, one of the reasons why it's important to pray is to increase our faith.
But the Bible tells us that we have to pray according to his will.
And if we pray according to God's will, if we pray according to what the Bible says,
the Bible tells us, OK, at that point, you have God's attention.
And if you have God's attention, then we know that we're going to receive the petitions for which we've asked.
So a guaranteed way to get answered to prayer is making sure that you pray according to his will.
Not my will, but thy and be done. You understand?
And I sincerely believe that Hezekiah was praying according to God's will.
You know, God didn't want the king of Assyria to come and destroy Judah and destroy Hezekiah.
You know, he wanted to show himself strong on the behalf of him whose heart is perfect with him.
You know, the same goes with us.
You know, God's not up in heaven just kind of like, well, you know, you guys got yourself in this mess.
You're going to have to figure it out, how to get yourself out.
He's always looking for opportunities to show himself strong on our behalf.
He's always looking for opportunities to increase our faith.
He's always looking for opportunities to get us to believe the Bible more.
He that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
See, God wants us to diligently seek him through the Bible, through prayer, through service.
You know, just make him the pinnacle of our existence type of a thing.
And so he, you know, that honors him, that pleases him.
And in honor and pleases him when we say, you know what, I can't do anything in and of myself.
I need you. I need your help. I need you to deliver me.
Okay, now go to chapter 18 of 2 Kings, if you would.
2 Kings chapter 18. What are some principles that we can learn from this particular battle?
We're going to go through some of the principles here.
Number one is that the greatest battles, listen to this, come as a result of serving God.
Okay, the greatest battles comes as a result of serving God.
You see, you know, a lot of Christians don't experience a whole lot of battling or a whole lot of wars
because they're not really serving God.
You know, they're saved and they might, you know, love the Lord.
They might even read the Bible to a certain extent.
But if they're not actively serving God, they're not going to experience any particular battles in their life
because they don't pose a threat.
You know, who fights, you know, God's people?
I'll tell you who fights God's people.
The people, or excuse me, who does the enemy fight?
The enemy fights the people who are actually actively trying to tear down Satan's kingdom.
Those who are actively winning souls, those who are actively turning people to righteousness,
those who are actively living a godly life and serving God, that poses a threat to this world.
Okay, look at verse 5 of 2 Kings chapter 18.
Referring to Hezekiah, it says here,
He trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah,
nor any that were before him.
He's a great guy.
I mean, this is the narrator speaking of Hezekiah saying, look, he trusts in the Lord.
There is none like him in the kings of Judah before or after him.
Look at verse 6,
For he claved to the Lord and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments which the Lord commanded Moses.
I mean, this is a guy who obviously loves the commandments of the Lord, right?
He's not, he's cleaving to the Lord.
In other words, he's holding on to him.
He's following him.
He's keeping his commandments.
Look at verse 7,
And the Lord was with him and prospered whithersoever he went forth.
So what's the byproduct of serving God?
God's going to prosper you wherever you go.
You know, if you're serving God, if you're winning souls to Christ,
if you're turning people to righteousness, you're in church, you're taking care of your Christian responsibility,
God's going to prosper you at your job.
He's going to give you that promotion.
He's going to give you favor with man.
He's going to bless your family.
He's going to bless your relationships.
You're going to prosper whithersoever you go.
And this is what's happening to Hezekiah.
Serving God, keeping his commandments, he's prospering.
Oh wait, but the verse is not done yet.
It says the Lord was with him and he prospered him whithersoever he went forth and he rebelled against the king of Assyria and served him not.
He smote the Philistines even into Gaza and the borders thereof from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
So listen to this.
You know, Hezekiah, the reason he's such a great leader and a great man of God and a great person is not just because he's keeping God's commandments.
It's not just because he loves the Lord and cleaves them to him and is following him.
It's because he's also actively fighting the works of darkness.
Because what does it say there?
It says that he's rebelling against the king of Assyria.
By the way, that phrase is not there for God.
God didn't put that phrase there for us to be like, oh, what a party pooper.
Why can't he just get along with everyone?
Why can't he just be a peacemaker or something?
I'll tell you why.
Because there's certain people, certain organizations, certain groups, certain cultures, certain ideologies that God expects us to rebel against.
And part of serving God is that we don't give in to the false ideologies of this world.
Turn with me if you want to go to 1 Timothy chapter 6, if you would.
Hold your place there.
You know, the Bible tells us, they that forsake the law praise the wicked.
But listen to this.
But such as keep the law, contend with them.
So a byproduct of keeping God's law, a byproduct of reading the Bible, of living a Christian life, is that you fight.
You contend with who?
With the wicked.
You see, serving God is not enough to just keep God's commandments and live a holy life, a righteous life, and raise your children, and love your wife, love your husband.
That's not the only thing.
The Bible says that we're in a fight.
We're in a spiritual battle.
And if you're going to be a well-rounded Christian according to the word of God, you have to actively fight the enemies of God.
You have to actively fight, you know, the false doctrines of this world.
Because that's what's characterized as keeping the law.
Those who earnestly contend with them.
The Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 5, have no fellowship, listen to this, with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.
It doesn't say, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, just leave them alone, just ignore them and they'll go away.
Just, you know, just stay in your lane.
You know, don't bother anybody, don't say anything.
It says, no, you better reprove them.
So it's not enough that you are just separating from the wrong type of people.
According to the Bible, you should be preaching against, standing against, living against that which is evil and wicked in this world.
Okay?
You're like, oh man, but that's kind of uncomfortable.
Well, that's what it means to serve God.
Serving God is not a bed of roses, folks.
Serving God is not the easiest thing in the world.
It's the most productive thing in the world.
It's the most fulfilling thing in this world.
But it's not the easiest thing in the world because of the fact that it's not always just, you know, loving your family and being a good employee.
The Bible tells us that we have to stand against the false ideologies of this world as well.
We have to reprove those things.
And this is the problem with a lot of Christians nowadays is the fact that, you know, they have their ducks in order as a church.
They have their ducks in order as a Christian.
But there's one element that's always missing in their life and it's this.
They're unwilling to reprove the works of darkness.
They're unwilling to stand for truth.
You say, why? Because they're afraid of the consequences of doing so.
They're scared of persecution.
They're scared of, well, you know, I just want people to just be pleased with us and be happy with us.
Folks, we should seek to please the Lord and the Lord only.
And if a group of people, you know, are pleased by what we're doing too, then that's just the cherry on top.
But if there's no cherries, the cake is still there, amen?
And so, you know, serving God is just like what we see with Hezekiah that he's not only keeping God's commandments.
He's rebelling against the other kings who are trying to conquer them, okay?
So in other words, you know, the king of Assyria is trying to impose his laws, right?
Trying to impose his laws upon Israel, impose his laws upon Judah, impose his ideology.
And Hezekiah is saying, no, we're not following that.
We're God's people, okay?
The Bible tells us, you're in 1 Timothy 6, I'm going to read to you from the book of Jude, verse 3,
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation,
it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Now, this is the verse that I want to give people when they tell me this.
Why are you fighting online? Just preach the gospel. Just preach the gospel.
Well, I'll tell you why, because here it says I have to earnestly contend for that gospel that I'm preaching to, right?
And the faith is not just the gospel. The faith is just referring to the Christian faith.
It includes everything that's in the Bible.
You know, this whole back and forth that I'm going with this guy on YouTube,
people are just constantly telling me, oh, I'm so devastated.
I can't believe this is happening online. I enjoy both of your videos.
I'm like, don't let me in with this guy. That's insulting.
And they're just like, I can't, you know, why can't you guys just talk it out and everything?
And I'm like, I have no desire to talk it out with a false prophet.
That's right.
The Bible tells me I have to earnestly contend.
And it's just like, where was all this compassion when that guy made his video against yours truly?
I didn't see anybody in the comments section saying, hey, why don't you call Pastor Mejia, get with him.
It wasn't until I just moted him.
That's right.
It wasn't until I just dismantled this guy that people started going online saying,
oh, you know, you guys shouldn't fight. This is so childish and I can't believe it.
Folks, we're supposed to earnestly contend for the faith.
And then I said this, well, you know, if you're really interested in what the Bible has to say,
I'm going to preach against him and against his doctrine on Sunday night.
And I put this on his channel.
I said, so anybody interested in listening, you know, come visit the channel on Sunday night,
because I'm talking about alcohol tonight, okay, alcohol consumption and why it's sinful.
And someone said, oh, that's so ridiculous.
Using the pulpit to preach against doctrines, preach the gospel, brother.
I'm like, why would I do that?
Everyone's pretty much saved here.
Why would I get up on a Sunday night and just give you the gospel when you're already saved?
That doesn't benefit you.
You say, well, what if there's unsaved people in your church on Sunday night?
Then there's soul winners that can go to them afterwards and give them the gospel.
Okay, churches for believers, churches for us to edify the saints with the word of God.
It's for us to earnestly contend for the faith.
Look at 1 Timothy 6, verse 11, it says, But thou, O man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
But someone says in verse 12, Fight the good fight of faith.
Lay hold on eternal life whereunto thou art also called and has professed a good profession before many witnesses.
It doesn't say just make peace with everybody.
He says, fight the good fight of faith.
What does that mean?
Actively be in opposition, actively rebel against the wickedness of this world.
Fight the good fight of faith.
Stand for truth. Amen.
2 Timothy 4 says, For I am now ready to be offered in the time of my departures at hand.
I have fought a good fight.
I have finished my course.
I have kept the faith.
I'm encouraged by the Apostle Paul that even in his latter years, he said, you know, I fought.
He basically fought to the bitter end, so to speak.
Right.
He was preaching against false doctrine in his latter years.
He's being persecuted in his latter years.
You know, and obviously he basically finished his life in peace because of the fact that he's in Rome.
He's on house arrest, but people are coming to him and he's giving them the gospel.
He's teaching the word of God, which kind of shows us, you know, you know, bear the yoke in your youth.
Amen.
Fight the battles in your youth because it could be that God will give you peace in your days, in your latter years.
I mean, I think that's a that's a legitimate principle that we see in the word of God.
I mean, think about David.
David fought a lot of bloody wars.
And in fact, that's one of the reasons why he could not build a temple was because, you know, he had shed so much blood.
So the responsibility fell upon his son Solomon to build a temple, but he wasn't allowed to do so.
But you know what? In the latter years of his life, he died basically the way we would all want to go.
On our bed, surrounded by our loved ones.
That's it.
You know, and giving a hit list to his son Solomon.
That's a cool way to go out.
He's like, he's about to die and he's just like, by the way, take care of this guy, this guy and this guy right here.
Don't let them go down to the grave, you know, or let them go down into the grave.
And, you know, I mean, I kind of like that, you know.
I might have some names that I might be, you know, I'm just kidding.
But what I'm saying is that, you know, bear the yoke in your youth now.
And we can apply this to us as a church because our church is still young.
We're about to complete five years in August, September or so.
And, you know, that's a young church.
You say, why are you guys surrounded?
You know, so much controversy surrounds you because we're fighting the good fight of faith.
That's right.
And you know what? We need to do that while we still have some vinegar within us. Amen.
While we still have the oomph, while we still have the energy, while we're still zealous and we can run, we can shout, we can yell, we can scream.
About it. Amen.
But, you know, our church is young as far as the years are concerned, but our church is young in general as well.
I mean, a lot of people in our church are fairly young.
I mean, yours truly. I mean, I'm fairly young.
36 years old. Most people in our church are in like their 20s.
Raise your hand if you're like 25 to 30 years old.
Yeah, see, that's still young.
Raise your hand if you're 25 and under.
See? Very young church. Understand?
I'm not going to go above that. Okay?
I know. I know.
We're supposed to fight the good fight of faith.
And, you know, this is all that Hezekiah is doing.
And you know what? I'm sure people in his days are like, why do you have to rebel against him?
Why can't you just like get along with everyone?
You know, this nation capitulated to them. This nation's cool with them.
Why is it that you have to be the one to be the wrench in the whole thing?
And now you're going to bring this upon yourself.
So it's just like this war comes upon him and they're blaming him for it or something.
It's like, oh, look, look what you brought upon yourself.
I brought it upon myself because I preach God's word.
That's right.
If that's what you're implying, then I'm guilty as charged. Understand?
But it doesn't even give us like this whole thing of like he rebelled against the king of Assyria because of X, Y, Z.
It just says, and he rebelled against the king of Assyria.
Just telling us like that's part of serving God. Okay?
But it shows us that some of the greatest battles that we will experience will come as we serve God.
We don't have to put a sign out there of every single belief that we have to attract all the enemies of God to come to us.
All we have to do is serve God.
All we have to do is win souls to Christ.
Folks, nowadays the culture is so sensitive that if you and your wife are dressed just as Christians and you go to a restaurant with your kids, I mean, you'll get looks.
It's like they hate that which is wholesome sometimes.
You don't have to do much. I can literally just make a 60-second short on why you shouldn't drink alcohol and then just get all kinds of hate for it.
You don't really have to do much anymore to go to war, go to battle.
All you have to do is just serve God, preach against false doctrine, which God's commanded us to do, and it'll come upon us.
Go back to 2 Chronicles 32 if you would, hold your place there in 2 Kings.
What's another principle that we can learn from this particular battle?
Well, we learned that some of the greatest battles that we'll experience in our lives will come as we serve God.
By the way, this is why you should stay in church, you should keep serving God, because you don't want to miss out.
You do not want to miss out on the great battles.
Because, you know, they turn into war stories.
And then we look back and remember this and remember this.
It's like you were there.
But here's another thing that we can learn from this is that battles help us to get right with God.
Look at 2 Chronicles 32 verse 1.
It says,
And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,
he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop waters of the fountains, which were without the city, and they did help him.
Verse 4,
So there was gathered much people together who stopped all the fountains and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying,
Why should the king of Assyria come and find much water?
Also, he strengthened himself and built up all the walls, listen to this,
that was broken and raised it up to the towers and another wall without and repaired Milo in the city of David and made darts and shield in abundance.
You see, the city at this time, you know, there's some repairs that need to be made and just kind of went unnoticed.
Right? It's like, you know that thing in your house that you just keep putting off to fix?
That one thing that you just keep putting off and, you know, it's like, I'll get to that later. I'll get to that later.
And then like a year passes by and it's just getting worse and worse kind of thing.
Well, this is kind of how where he was at.
There's some walls that need to be repaired.
There's some things that need to be fixed.
You know, they need darts, they need shields, but you know what?
We're not in battle right now, so why even have those things?
Well, going to battle or having a threat caused him to recognize, hey, you know what?
We need to start building up these walls again.
We need to start repairing these walls, getting some darts and some shields.
What is he doing?
He's essentially repairing himself as a leader.
Right?
And so, you know, in the spiritual principle that we can learn from this is that anytime you get into a war,
anytime you get into a battle, it makes you take inventory of yourself.
Because you don't want to be on the wrong side.
Number one, but number two, you want God to favor you.
And you know God can't favor you if you have sin in your life.
You know God can't, he's not going to favor you if you're regarding iniquity in your heart.
Right?
And so what do we begin to do?
We begin to repair the broken walls, maybe some bad habits that we've formed,
some bad thoughts that we've had, some bad ideologies that we've conjured up ourselves, whatever it may be.
Maybe, you know, you're not reading your Bible very often.
Oh, when you're in a battle, you're like, oh, I'm going to read it every day now for sure.
I want to read it every single day because I need God's favor.
You know, maybe you're not praying enough.
Well, you'll pray once you go into a war or battle.
Because it's helping you to recognize, I need to be, you know, at optimum performance right now.
I need to make sure that I'm in the right place at the right time for God's blessing and God's favor.
And so, you know, what do we have to fix?
You know, you'll make sure that your house is in order.
You'll make sure that everything's in place, everything's in order.
You'll take inventory.
You know, that's why battles are good for us.
Okay?
Now, I often say this, you know, a time of peace, you know, like, for example, our church, to a certain extent, is in a time of peace.
Right?
But it actually takes more discipline to be in a time of peace than to be in a time of war.
Because the truth is, is that we should be repairing ourselves spiritually even in a time of peace when there is no war.
You know, you should be in church serving God and winning souls and standing for truth
and reading the Word of God and doing all these things even when there is no threat.
Right?
So it takes more discipline.
It's actually easier, in a sense, to serve God when there is war.
Because it's right in front of you.
It's, like, urgent.
It's important.
You need to do it now.
Whereas, you know, there's no urgency right now.
And we can't control the ebb and flow of wars and battles and times of peace in our personal lives and the lives of our church.
All we can do is make sure that we keep under our body and bring it into subjection unless by any means when we have preached to others, we ourselves can be a castaway.
All we can do is make sure that we are disciplined to be consistent in the Christian life and adhere to spiritual principles even though we're not fighting spiritual battles right now.
Because it's easy to just say, well, you know, I can just kind of put it on cruise control.
I can just kind of cruise by the Christian life, not have to do anything crazy, because we're not fighting anybody right now.
Yeah, but you know what?
After a while, once you get into that war and into that battle and there's, like, four walls that need to be repaired, you know, it's going to seem urgent at that point.
And so, wars are good, battles are good, because it helps us to repair the broken walls.
It helps us to make more spiritual darts, to make more shields, right?
To increase our weaponry, our artillery, to make sure we're ready for the battle.
Go back to 2 Kings 18.
2 Kings 18.
And so, some of the principles that we've learned so far is that the greatest battles come as a result of serving God.
Battles help us to get right with God.
Let me also say this, is that the greatest losses come when we are at enmity with them.
No, when we're at enmity with God.
I'm gonna explain to you what I mean here.
In verse 9, this is prior to Sennacherib seeking to conquer Judah.
It says in verse 9,
And it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea, son of Elah, king of Israel,
that Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria and besieged it.
So obviously, they're coming from the north, sir.
They're gonna see to conquer Israel first, because Israel is that northern kingdom.
Hoshea is the king of that northern kingdom, so Sennacherib besieges it.
He's kind of surrounding it.
Essentially, the tactic here is that they would surround the city and they would starve them out.
So they're surrounding them, they're cutting off their water supply, they're cutting off their food supply,
and eventually they just have to give in, because their people are starving.
It says in verse 10,
And at the end of three years, they took it.
So it took three years, they had three years of extra resources and surplus,
and at the end of those three years, it just ran out.
So then they were able to take it.
Even in the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is in the ninth year of Hoshea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken.
And the king of Assyria did carry away Israel unto Assyria,
and put them in Hala and in Habor by the river of Gozan and in the city of the Medes.
So what happened?
They conquer them, they invade them, they take Israel, Hoshea, and all the inhabitants, and they take them captive.
Now, if you're Hezekiah and you're not spiritual, you think to yourself, I'm next.
They're going to take us.
Like, what happened? How come God allowed that?
I thought, you know, we had God's favor.
But look at verse 12, excuse me.
Why did it happen?
Because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant,
and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and would not hear them, nor do them.
So why did Sennacherib invade Israel?
I'll tell you why, because Israel disobeyed God.
It's not because Sennacherib was more powerful than Israel.
It's not because Sennacherib just had a better tactic and was more patient than Israel.
It's because God was against Israel.
It's because Israel was at enmity with God.
Now, this is an eye-opener for a lot of Christians, and sometimes I think to myself,
you know, sometimes as Christians or as human beings, we can often fear what man can do unto us.
Because, you know, they put out threats, and you think about what's going on at steadfast right now,
with all the threats that they're receiving, and some of it's actually pouring over here too now.
And, you know, you think about all these things that they're saying, but you know, I think to myself,
one of the greatest fears that I have, actually, is not that they'll do something to me,
it's not that they'll hurt me, it's not that they'll hurt my family, it's not that they'll hurt our church.
That's actually not my greatest fear.
My greatest fear, listen to this, is that God would allow them to hurt me.
Is that God would allow them to invade us.
That's actually my greatest fear.
Because at the end of the day, God can remove the protective hedge, the covering that hedge,
that keeps us safe, and just say, have at it.
At the end of the day, that's what it is.
Because no human being out there is more powerful than God.
No organization, no, you know, whatever that's out there, you know,
it doesn't matter how many threats they put forth,
no one can do anything to us if God doesn't prevent them to do so.
So my greatest fear is not that they're going to do something,
my greatest fear is not that they're going to come here and bomb us again or something,
my greatest fear is that God will allow them to do so.
So what do we do? We stay right with God.
Obey the Lord. Serve God.
Because the only reason Israel was taken captive, that they were invaded,
is not because they weren't good fighters or anything like that,
it's because they disobeyed God.
They didn't obey the Lord, so therefore God allowed them to be destroyed.
And you know what, this is applicable to us as a church, but it's applicable to you as a Christian too.
You know, the reason God would allow Satan and his minions to destroy your life,
to just ruin your resources, to take away your money, to destroy your health,
to destroy you as a person, is because God would allow it to.
Because at the end of the day, we can make ourselves at enmity against God by disobeying Him.
Now, I want you to notice though that God is merciful. Right? Amen?
God is gracious, He's long-suffering, He's merciful. Well, how so?
Because it took three years. They took it in the third year.
Three years is a long time. That's a long time for, you know, Hoshia,
at the first year should have been like, yeah, let's put away these false gods.
Let's just serve God and have God. But you know, obviously they were still disobeying the Lord,
their idolatry was rampant, and God gave them three years to repent and get right with Him.
And God's like, okay, if you don't want to, you don't want to.
Come on in! Take it over and take them to Assyria, take them captive,
humble them, embarrass them, shame them, because they disobeyed Me.
You understand? And so, you know, this is a rude awakening for them.
And you know, the Bible tells us in James chapter 4, you don't have to turn there.
Go to Hebrews chapter 10. James chapter 4, verse number 4 says this,
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?
Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God, the Bible says.
So if you want to back up the world and defend the world and be with the world,
God says, okay, then at that point you're at enmity with Me.
And let me just say this, the last enemy you want to have is God Himself.
Why is that? Well, look at Hebrews 10, verse 29.
By the way, for believers or unbelievers.
Obviously, for believers, if God destroys our lives, we just go to heaven.
But for an unbeliever, once you become an enemy of God, I mean, you have hell awaiting you.
Verse 29 says, Of how much sore punishment suppose ye,
shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under the foot of the Son of God,
and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified in an unholy thing,
and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompensate the Lord.
And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
Verse 31, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Now we often quote that, right? We often talk about vengeance is mine, say it the Lord, I will repay.
But we apply it to like the enemies of God and it's definitely applicable.
But in this context, he's saying I will strike vengeance upon you.
And he's talking about God's people. He's like, I will wreak vengeance on you.
And you know what? It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Because God hits where it hurts.
And so the greatest losses that you and I can experience is when we're in enmity with God.
So that's why it's important, you know, whenever you find yourself in a position of fear, of terror,
just make sure you're right with God.
Because who we should be fearing more than anybody else is God himself.
And some of the worst experiences that I've had in life, some of the worst trials that I've experienced in life,
some of the worst hurts that I've had in my life, the most emotional, damaging experiences that I've had in my life,
I can recall in those times thinking, God allowed this to happen to me.
Because it's easy to say, well, where's God in all this? Like, how come God allowed this?
Well, it's, you know, number one, either because you're just in sin, he's punishing you,
or two, he's just kind of pruning you as a Christian, helping you to get stronger.
But at the end of the day, the number one thought that I had was this, well, God allowed it.
This doesn't catch God off guard. This is God's doing, and it's marvelous in our eyes.
You understand?
Go back to 2 Kings 18, if you would.
Here's the next principle that we can learn, is that you're never supposed to capitulate to the enemy's terms.
Okay? As my friend Pastor Shelley would say, you don't negotiate with terrorists.
Now Hezekiah is a great guy, but he messed up right here.
Look at verse 14.
And Hezekiah king of Judah sent the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying, I have offended, returned from me.
That which thou putest on me will I bear.
And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold.
And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house.
At the time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord.
And from the pillars was Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria.
So what's going on here?
Hezekiah goes to Sennacherib and basically says, I must have offended you.
He's basically apologizing.
And he said, what can I do to make things right?
And Sennacherib gives him a bill.
He's like, give me all this.
So he gives him all the silver and gold from the house of the Lord.
And it actually wasn't sufficient.
So he commanded his men to cut the golden doors of the house of the Lord and give that as well.
So he gives all this hoping to appease Sennacherib to placate him so he just go away.
But he does not go away.
He comes back and poses more threats and say, accept this pledge or else we're going to destroy you.
You can't be delivered out of our hands.
Because now Sennacherib, what is he thinking?
He's like, oh, we got him right where we want him.
He's afraid. He's scared.
Oh, look, he's like giving all this gold from the house of his Lord, of his God.
But now he's capitulating.
Now, what is the principle we can learn here?
Never, never, never, never negotiate with terrorists, my friends.
Whatever the enemies of God require of you, you tell them to go jump in a lake of fire.
Don't negotiate with anybody.
Well, you know, we'll leave you alone if, you know, you just allow certain people in your church or whatever.
No.
Well, we will leave you alone.
We'll stop threatening you.
We'll stop doing X, Y and Z as long as you didn't.
No.
We're not negotiating any terms.
We're going to keep preaching exactly what we're preaching, serving God exactly how God told us to do it.
If you don't like it, go jump in a lake of fire.
If you don't like it, go somewhere else.
Because we're not going to negotiate with invaders.
If you're trying to invade Christianity and invade our doctrine and invade our church, we're going to put up a fight.
And at the end of the day, God's going to deliver us and he's going to honor the fact that we're doing so.
But there is no negotiation.
Just like in Omani when the mayor and the city manager wanted me to negotiate with them.
No negotiation.
It's like, just leave me alone.
Here's the negotiation.
I'll set forth the terms.
Leave me alone.
I told him, leave me alone and God won't punish you.
I think those are pretty good terms.
The Bible says, neither give place unto the devil.
And you know, this makes me think of Jesus Christ.
When he was in the wilderness, Satan was trying to negotiate with him and try to get him to worship him.
And Jesus is just like, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceed out of the mouth of God.
Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God.
Him only shalt thou worship.
And he just kept throwing the scriptures out there, just not giving in to Satan.
And Satan, after a while, just gave up and moved on.
And this is what happens.
When the devil is constantly coming at you and trying to get you to capitulate, trying to get you to surrender, trying to get you to just give up your Christian rights and do all these things.
You just say, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
And after a while, the Bible says, resist the devil and he will what?
Flee from you.
Because at the end of the day, it's a game of just who can outweigh who?
Who's the one who can be more persistent?
And look folks, we got all of eternity.
We can fight this to the bitter end.
Because our life is but a drop in the bucket considering where we're going to be after we die.
This is just a drop in the bucket.
You can fight us all the days of our life.
We're just going to hold.
We're just going to hold out.
We're not going to wait three years because you know what?
God's not going to allow us to starve.
You can besiege us for three years, four years, 10 years.
You could put the pressure on us.
There's no negotiating.
You know, it reminds me of Moses and Pharaoh.
Because remember, Moses wanted, God wanted his people to leave Egypt to serve him in the wilderness, right?
So Moses came to him and said, hey, let my people go.
And then he just was really obstinate.
He was just rebelling.
He said, no.
And then he would say, okay, well, you guys can go, but you know, leave your flocks though.
He's like, no, we've got to do an offering unto the Lord.
Can't leave our flocks.
He said, okay, well, you can go, but just the men go.
He's like, no, we got to take our kids too.
They got to worship God too.
And he just kept putting forth these terms like, well, do this, but don't go very far though.
We're going to go really far.
We're going to go, it's a 40 days journey.
We're going to go really far into the wilderness.
It's like, no, we're not obeying your terms.
It's like, well, you guys can preach that, but don't say this word.
I'm going to say any word I want.
So, oh yeah, well, you guys can say that, but just don't put that on your statement of faith.
I'll put more on my statement of faith.
Oh, you guys can do this, but just don't have these rules.
We'll put whatever rules we deem fit as a church.
We're not negotiating with you.
This is not a term of negotiation because if we don't obey your commandments, who cares?
What can you do unto us?
What can you really do unto us?
You can take our building, you can take our life, but you can't take away our soul.
And at the end of the day, most of the time, God doesn't even let it get to that point.
So how do you know?
Because he sent an angel and just destroyed 185,000 of them.
There you go.
You just got to keep holding on and not negotiate with them.
And so, you know, the enemy is implacable.
And I'm referring to just anybody, okay?
Anybody who's an enemy of Christianity or an enemy of our church,
you know, they will often try to put terms out there to try to get you to negotiate with them, to make peace with them.
But folks, we need to make peace with God.
You understand?
We need to be at peace with the Lord.
The terms, it's always on his terms.
Like, God doesn't negotiate with us.
He's not like, well, do this and he says, do this.
And if you don't do this, you're the consequences if you don't.
Now, thankfully, there's times when he actually gives us a plan B and a plan C
because he's so gracious to us as his children,
but he's not going to negotiate with unsafe people, folks.
God's not in heaven like, oh, man, they do have a point there.
That's true, but I didn't even really think about that.
Look at chapter 18 again.
Along with that, never allow the enemy to define religion for us.
Right?
Look at verse 19.
And Rabsheka, what a name, said unto them, we'll call him Rabi,
said unto them, speaking now to Hezekiah, thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria,
what confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
Thou sayest, but they are but vain words.
I have counsel and strength for war.
Now on whom dost thou trust that thou rebelest against me?
Behold, now behold, thou trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed,
even upon Egypt, on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it,
so is fairer king of Egypt unto all that trust on him.
He's implying that Hezekiah is making an affinity with Egypt so that Egypt will help him in this war.
That's not what's happening at all.
He's like, are you trusting in Egypt?
This is like the atheist and the agnostics of today saying, oh, you're trusting in the Constitution?
That's going to be made null and void soon enough.
But you know what, us as Christians, we don't trust in the Constitution.
I mean, we thank God for it, that it's there, right?
But at the end of the day, this is our Constitution right here, right?
Look at verse 22.
But if he's saying to me, we trust in the Lord our God,
is not that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away
and hath set to Judah and Jerusalem, he shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem?
What is he talking about?
He's like, you're saying you're trusting the Lord your God, but wasn't the Lord your God the one you removed from the high places?
Look at verse four. Go back to verse four. This is what he's referring to.
Verse four says, referring to Hezekiah,
He removed the high places and break the images and cut down the groves and break in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made.
For unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it and he called it Nehushtan.
So in Rabshakeh's mind, he's like, you guys don't even serve God because you broke down that idol.
Nehushtan, you broke down that brazen serpent.
But here's the thing, the reason he broke it down is because they were worshipping it, which is something they weren't supposed to do.
So what is Rabshakeh trying to do? He's trying to define religion for them.
He's like, you guys don't even believe what you're saying because you're over here tearing down these altars.
You don't really love everyone.
You don't really believe in grace. You don't really believe in these things.
Jesus wouldn't say that.
You don't believe in the real Jesus. The real Jesus would do this.
Isn't that what people say?
I mean that's probably my number one pet peeve is to hear people tell me how Jesus really is when they don't even know who Jesus is.
I've read the Bible scores of times throughout the last 15 years and 99.99999% of what people tell me out there who are unsaved and atheists and whatever,
how Jesus is, is just not found in the Bible.
So don't allow the world to define what religion is for you and for me.
Don't ever capitulate to some atheist who says, you know, oh well Jesus actually did this.
You don't even believe in Jesus. What are you talking about?
Well God did this. What do you mean? You mean the God that you claim doesn't exist?
For someone who claims to be an atheist, you should focus a lot on God.
If he's such an imaginary person, why are you even talking about him as though he's real?
Oh, that's because he is real, huh?
And by the way, why are you so focused on the God of Christianity?
He's so hateful and all these things.
Oh, you know, there's another false god out there. His name is Allah.
But you wouldn't touch Allah with a ten-foot pole now, would you?
So, you know, Rapsheka is claiming to know what the religion of Judah is and he's wrong.
And obviously, you know, Hezekiah's not going to tell them, like, look, that was a false god or whatever.
He's just kind of letting them spout off.
But here's another thing that they do.
You know, the world tries to speak on God's behalf sometimes.
Right? They try to come and act like they're speaking on His behalf.
And this is what Rapsheka does. Look at verse 25.
Am I now come up against the Lord?
Excuse me. Am I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it?
The Lord said to me, go up against this land and destroy it.
God's the one who told me to come here and take you over.
Liar. No, He didn't.
And this is the same thing that people do out there.
No, God told me this. God told me that.
This is I'm of the Lord. We're of the Lord.
And, you know, flower power and LGBTQ this and LGBTQ.
You know, God is love and all.
You know, they don't even know the God of the Bible, though.
God didn't send them.
Okay, look at verse six.
Here's a quick point is that the enemy always departs for a season.
Okay, the enemy always departs for a season.
I'm sorry, go to chapter 19 and verse six, chapter 19.
Look at verse six. It says,
And Isaiah said unto them, Thus shall you say to your master, Thus saith the Lord,
Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
Behold, I will send a blast upon them, upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and shall return to his own land,
and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
So Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah,
for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish.
And when he heard say of Terhacah, king of Ethiopia,
behold, he has come out to fight against thee.
He sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah, king of Judas,
saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Now what's going on here?
Well, you know, Hezekiah goes to Isaiah and he says, What am I going to do?
He says, Don't worry, God's going to distract them for a bit.
He's going to hear a rumor and he's going to go back to his land and just leave you alone for a while.
And it happens, you know, he gives them a blast.
There's like a mini war that takes place somewhere else and they kind of leave for a while.
But then he comes back, okay?
And I think the principle we can learn there is that the enemy always takes a break for a little bit.
Okay? Now why is that important to know? Because we're going to be in a battle again.
War is coming again, folks.
Because Satan only departs for a season.
There's never just like one major war, one major battle, you know, within yourself, with the world, and then it's just all over and done with.
Life is war.
This is spiritual warfare.
And in fact, even with yourself, let's not even talk about the world. How about the war within yourself?
You know, because a lot of people think, Well, once I got saved, God just delivered me from drinking alcohol or smoking pot or doing X, Y, and Z, and I'll never have to struggle with that again.
Wrong. Wrong.
That desire will depart for a season, but then it will reappear again.
You just have to be ready to fight again once it reappears.
Satan always departs for a season, but don't think he departs permanently. That doesn't happen until Revelation chapter 20.
Or I'm sorry, Revelation 21, okay, where he's cast into the lake of fire.
And so, very important to note there. I must hasten.
Here's the last thing. 2 Kings 19 verse 14.
And this is a point that I made in the beginning, but I think it's an important point to finish off with is that at the end of the day, our greatest weapon, the greatest weapon that we possess is prayer.
And I don't want to minimize the importance of that because I think naturally as Christians, sometimes we don't put a whole lot of emphasis on prayer sometimes.
Because prayer is hard work. And a lot of what we do in the Christian life is out in the open before others, which helps us to make sure that we do a good job, right?
When we preach, when we sow in, when we're living the Christian life and there's people, there's eyes on us, we have a tendency to kind of put our best foot forward in that area.
Whereas there's certain things done behind closed doors that we should essentially be experts at, do well, like reading our Bibles and praying.
And prayer is an important aspect. It's an important element of the Christian life.
And in fact, I would say it's probably the most important for an individual to know how to pray and get a hold of God so that he can show himself strong on our behalf.
Look at verse 14, and Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.
So what is this letter? Rab Sheka gives this letter to Hezekiah saying, I'm going to make your men drink their own piss and eat their own dung and you're not going to be delivered from our hands.
And you know, no one, all the other countries that we've invaded, their gods couldn't deliver them, don't believe Hezekiah, we're going to take you guys, you guys are done.
The God of Israel is incapable of delivering you. I mean, they're hearing this just over and over and over again.
And let me say this, words, you know, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can't hurt me. But here's the truth, words can have an impact.
You know, it can increase someone's fear sometimes. It can increase someone's anxiety, someone's fear, and it can cause you to question like, oh, man, maybe he's right.
And then he gets this text message, right, of everything that he's going to do to them. He gets this email, right, back in those days, email as an Ethiopian male, no, I'm just kidding.
He gets this email of all these threats, of everything that they're going to do to them. And what does he do? He's not like, I don't want to read it. He's like, I'm going to take it to the Lord.
So he goes to the house of God, he takes the letter and he spreads it before the Lord and he says, look, look what they're saying. Look what they're saying to us.
Verse 15, and Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwells between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou has made heaven and earth.
Lord, bow down thine ear and hear, open, Lord, thine eyes and see, hear the words of Sennacherib, which had sent him to reproach the living God.
Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations of their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for there were no gods.
But the work of men's hands, wood and stone, therefore they have destroyed them. Now, therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even thou only.
Then Isaiah, the son of Amos, sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Thou which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Israel, I have heard.
So this is great faith on Hezekiah's part. He's like, look what he's saying. He's like reproach us. He's reproach you. And you know what? He's right. He did destroy those nations because those gods are not gods.
You're the one true God. He took that text message. He took that email. He took that letter. He spread it before the Lord. And obviously the Lord already knew the contents.
But so why does he do it? Why does he take this letter and spread it before the Lord if he already knows? Well, the principle is this. Cast your care upon him, for he careth for you.
That's the principle there. You know, sometimes we need to take our burdens unto the Lord. And you know what? Sometimes it actually helps to kind of write it down and just put it right there wherever you pray and say, Lord, help me with this.
Hey, that bill you can't pay? Put it before the Lord and say, help me with this. That problem that you're having? Put it before the Lord and say, I need help with this. I can't do anything about this.
And you know what? The Lord helps the helpless. He helps those who have no more strength, no more resources, no more ability, no more power. They're just incapable.
Or you know what? They may be capable but in their eyes they're incapable and that's what God's looking for.
So God hears this and he's like, done. Sends one of his boss angels and, you know, strikes 185,000 of them dead. I mean, just like that. Okay.
Now, what's the principle that we can learn from this particular, this last point here is that, yes, we need to take the sword of the Spirit, the helmet of salvation, girded loins with truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shot our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
But at the end of that particular list in Ephesians 6, it says, praying always with all prayer and supplication.
So really like the glue that kind of brings everything together is prayer. Okay. Asking God, Lord, please deliver me, please help me, please.
And you know what? People can come up with the most elaborate threats. They can come up with the most elaborate things to say. It's not even a drop in the bucket in God's eyes.
Because God can strike anybody dead like that. He can turn things around like that. Okay. And so a great story here. Go back to 2 Chronicles 32. This is the last verse.
I really appreciate Hezekiah because I think he's a well-balanced king in the sense of the fact that he's depending on the Lord, but he's also doing his part to call upon the name of the Lord and encourage his people.
Because look what it says in 2 Chronicles 32 verse 7. He's telling his people here. He says, Be strong and courageous. Be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Syria, nor for all the multitude that is with him, for there be more with us than with him.
Listen to this. With him is an arm of the flesh. What does that mean? When it comes to weapons and people and horses, he's got us beat for sure.
Because with him is the arm of the flesh. But with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah.
You know what? Hezekiah was right. Hezekiah was right. And you can read the rest of the story in 2 Chronicles 32 where because of it, people brought gifts unto Judah because they heard of this just great victory of 185,000 losing.
You understand? And so this is a wonderful story for us to learn from that, you know, at the end of the day, yes, we need to do our part. Yes, we need to make sure that we're courageous.
Yes, we need to make sure that we are bold and that we're standing for the truth, but not at the exclusion of prayer. Stand bold in public. Amen?
But when you're in private, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and let the Lord know, Lord, I'm weak. I'm frail. I'm but dust and I need your help.
Because if you can't deliver me, I'm done. You're the only one who can make this happen. You're the only one who can pay this bill. You're the only one who can change this heart.
You're the only one who can win this battle. You're the only one that can deliver me from evil. You're the only one who can provide for me. I need your help.
And then once you're done praying, go do your part. Then you do your part. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for your word.
So thankful for Hezekiah's example. I pray that we take it to heart, Lord. And even in the midst of trial and tribulation and difficulties, whenever the enemy comes to attack, help us to remember this story and spread our cares before the Lord and cast them upon you because we know that you care for us, Lord.
And I pray that you continue to show yourself strong on our behalf. Bless us as a church. Help us to get more people saved, Lord. And bless all there is, Lord.
We love you so much and we thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Please grab your song sheet that you have there. If you don't have a song sheet, please raise your hands and the ushers should be able to get one for you.
This song, He Descended, this was actually written by Pastor Mahian and Eric, so we'll be singing it over the next couple of weeks so that we can learn it.
If you do know it, sing it very loud and strong so that we can all sing this strong as a congregation together.
The song, He Descended, all together on that first verse.
The Lamb of God was slain, a burnt offering became.
The keys of death and hell He took to ban me from its flame.
O death, where is thy sting? Its bed removed by heaven's King.
This corn of wheat shall fall and die, a new body shall spring.
He descended, and I may rise.
He preached the lowest gates of hell, for my soul's in dispel.
Paints He fell, no one can tell, and I may rise.
He descended, and I may rise.
Three days, three nights in the heart of the earth, that I may know the second birth.
He set aside joy and birth, and I may rise.
To death my sin is scattered, O death and hell devoured.
I'm weak and frail, I shall be raised in power.
My faith in this world cannot be found.
No praise, no glory, and no ground.
Though this world will forget my name, my God won't law it out.
He descended, and I may rise.
He preached the lowest gates of hell, for my soul's in dispel.
Paints He fell, no one can tell, and I may rise.
He descended, and I may rise.
Three days, three nights in the heart of the earth, that I may know the second birth.
He set aside joy and birth, and I may rise.
Amen. Wonderful singing. You are dismissed.