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 as a chi I 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 thank you for your word for this opportunity here preach just ask
that you would be with our pastor now please strengthen him fill me the Holy
Spirit and please just help us prepare our hearts and give us all readiness of
mine to receive your word in the juice name of Raymond all right we're in 2nd
Chronicles chapter 32 this morning and we're gonna go to 2nd Kings 19 in just
a bit but look at 2nd 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 of the hands of man and for this cause as a chi of the king and
the prophet Isaiah the son of Amos prayed and cried to heaven and this
morning we're gonna 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 first and second Kings of 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 2nd Chronicles 32 is more of a consolidated story of what we see in
2nd Kings or excuse me and 2nd Chronicles 32 is more consolidated
information of what we see in 2nd Kings 18 19 and 20 and so we're looking at
here during the reign of Hezekiah and we're gonna see what kind of principles
we can learn from this now number one let me just say up 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 okay so this war
ensues between Assyria Sennacherib and Hezekiah and of course they're besieging
the city we're gonna look at 2nd 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 you know 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 you know 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 2nd Kings if you would
chapter 19 2nd Kings chapter 19 and we're gonna look at verse 34 here so
this is pretty amazing you know a lot of the other battles that we've looked at
to a certain extent involves human effort right involves man you know
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 okay 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 okay look at 2nd Kings 19 verse 34 for 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 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
100 four score and 5,000 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 gonna 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 gonna scare everyone here and they're like no we're gonna
keep talking in the Jews language so that everyone knows what we're gonna do
to you and they're like you guys are gonna drink your own piss and eat your
own dung I mean they are putting out some some pretty savage railings that
we're gonna look at in just a bit okay and no I didn't cuss that's actually in
the Bible folks okay you know this is what he's saying to them okay and so
Hezekiah is just like beside himself and he's thinking to himself like oh man
like I'm not gonna be able to like 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 asked 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 alright I guess we
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 Rabsheka
the guy the messenger or excuse me which is a 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
him 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 son 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 gonna start new I think I'm a 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 that 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 a hundred eighty
five thousand 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 can 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 is 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 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 gonna 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 look at
chapter 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
1st John chapter 5 that we know that he hear us and that we have the petitions
vote for which we've asked you understand if we pray according to his
will we know that he hear us and that we had the petitions for which we asked 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 right
and if we pray according to God's will if we pray according to what the Bible
says the Bible tells us okay at that point you have God's attention and if
you have God's attention then we know that we're gonna 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 and 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 gonna 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 right 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 an 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
second Kings if you would second Kings chapter 18 what are some principles that
we can learn from this particular battle we're gonna 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 gonna 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 I'm scuse 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 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 second
Kings chapter 18 referring to Hezekiah it says here he trusted in the Lord God
of Israel so that after him after him was none like him among all the kings of
Judah nor any there were before him it'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 with it so ever he went forth
so what's the byproduct of serving God God's gonna prosper you wherever you go
you know if you 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 you're you're you're
taking care of your Christian responsibility God's gonna prosper you
at your job he's gonna give you that promotion he's gonna give you favor with
man he's gonna bless your family he's gonna bless your relationships you're
gonna prosper with us wherever you go okay 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 he says the Lord was with him and he
prospered him with a server he went forth and he rebelled against the king
of Assyrians served him not he smote the Philistines even into Gaza and the
borders thereof from the tower of the watchmen to the fence 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
okay turn with you to go to first 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 gonna 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
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
approve 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 right 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 I
think we 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 a
cherry on top but if there's no cherries the cake is still there man 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 1st
Timothy 6 I'm gonna 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 you 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 what 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 faith
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 enjoyed both of your videos and 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 the 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 comment section saying
hey why are you call pass from here get with him it wasn't until I just moted
him 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 were supposed to earnestly contend for the
faith okay and then and then I said this well you know if you're really
interested and what the Bible has to say I'm gonna preach against him and against
this 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 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
that's right you said well what if there's unsaved people in your church on
Sunday night then there's soul winners that can go up 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 1st Timothy 6 verse 11 it says but thou O men 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 where
unto thou art also called and has professed a good profession before many
witnesses it doesn't say just make peace with everybody says fight the good fight
of faith what does it mean actively be in opposition actively rebel against the
wickedness of this world fight the good fight of faith stand for truth amen 2nd
Timothy 4 6 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've 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 right 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 a lot 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 and 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 could 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 well we still have some vinegar within us
amen well we still have the umph well we still have the energy or we're still
zealous and we can 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 right 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 okay yeah see that's that's still young raise your
hand if you're 25 and under see very young church understand I'm not gonna go
above that okay hey I know I know we're supposed to fight the good fight of
faith and you know this is all the 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
the wrench in the whole thing and and now you're gonna bring this upon
yourself so it's just like this war comes upon him and they're blaming him
for it or something it was like oh look look what you brought upon yourself I
brought it upon myself because I preach God's Word that's right that's the only
if that's what you're 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 XYZ it just says and he
rebelled against the king was here 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 short 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 have go to war go to battle all you have
to do is just serve God preach against false doctrine which God's commanding us
to do right and it'll come upon us look at go go back to 2nd Chronicles 32 if
you would hold your place there in 2nd 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 you know because you know that they turn into war stories and then we
look back and remember this and remember this it's like you got you were there
okay but here's another thing that we can learn from this is that battles help
us to get right with God okay look at 2nd Chronicles 32 verse 1 it says after
these things in the establishment thereof Sennacherib king of Assyria came
and entered into Judah and encamped against the fence cities and thought to
win them for himself and when hezekiah saw the Sennacherib was come and then 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 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 it just
kind of went unnoticed right it's like you know that thing in your house you
just keep putting off the 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 I'll get
anything 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 are that
need to be repaired there's some things that need to be fixed you know they're
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 it's not
gonna 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 we've had some bad ideologies that
we've conjured up ourselves so 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
gonna 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 in 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 we're to
certain standards in a time of peace right but it actually takes more
discipline to be in a time of peace and 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 and doing
all these things even when there is no threat right all 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 right and we can't
control the ebb and flow of wars and battles and times of peace and our
personal lives in the lives of our church all we can do is make sure that
we keep under our body and bring it into subjection let's 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 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 into that battle and there's like four walls
that need to be repaired you know it's gonna 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
second Kings 18 second Kings 18 and so some of the princes that we 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 enmity with God right I'm
explaining to you what I mean here look at verse 9 this is prior to Sennacherib
conquer or 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 Hushia son of
Elah king of Israel the 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 okay Hushia is the
king of that northern kingdom so Sennacherib besieges it he's kind of
surrounding it that's simply essentially what the tactic here is that they would
surround the city and they would starve them out okay so they're surrounding him
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 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 in that is in the ninth year of Hushia king of
Israel Samaria was taken and the king of Assyria did carry away Israel onto
Assyria and put them in Helah and in Hebor by the river of Gozan and in the
city of the Medes so what happened they conquer him they invade them they take
Israel Hushia 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 gonna
take us like what happened how come God allowed that I thought I thought you
know we had God's favor but look at verse 11 verse 12 excuse me why did it
happen because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God but transgresses
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 into us because you know they put out
threats and you know 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 of the covering that hedge that keeps us safe and just say
have at it that's 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 no doesn't matter how many threats they put forth no one can
do anything to us if God doesn't prevent it to do do so so my greatest fear is
not that they're gonna do something my greatest fear is not that they're gonna
come here and bomb us again or something my greatest fear is that God
will allow them to do so right he says so what do we do we stay right with God
obey the Lord serve God because the only reason Israel was taken captive but 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
you know Satan and his minions to destroy your life to just ruin your
resources to take away your money to destroy your health to just 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 was a long time that's a long time for you know
Hoshia at the first year should have been like yeah let's put let's put away
these false gods let's just serve God and and have but you know obviously he
was they were still disobeying the Lord there were 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 him captive humble them embarrass them shame them because they
disobeyed me 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 who so 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 waiting 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 had counted the blood of
the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite
unto the Spirit of grace for we know him that hath said vengeance be longeth unto
me I will recompense sayeth 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 have to talk about vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord
I will repay but we apply it to like the enemies of God and is 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
right 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 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 so some of the worst
hurts that I've had in my life the most emotional damaging experiences that I've
that I've had in my life I can recall time in those times thinking God allowed
this to happen to me because it's easy to say 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 understand go back to second Kings
chapter 18 if you would here's the next principle that we can learn is that you
never 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 to the king of Assyria to Lakish saying I have offended
returned for me that which thou putest on me will I bear and the king of
Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah 300 talents of silver and 30
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
like 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 them 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 gonna 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 he's like giving all
this gold from his 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 right a fire don't negotiate with anybody right 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 & Z as long as you didn't know we're not negotiating
any terms we're gonna 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
right you don't like it go somewhere else because we don't we're not gonna
negotiate with invaders you're trying to invade Christianity and invade our
doctrine and invade our church we're gonna put up a fight and at the end of
the day God's gonna deliver us and he's gonna honor the fact that we're doing so
but there is no negotiation just like in Omani when the the mayor and the city
manager wanted me to negotiate with them no negotiation is like just leave me
alone here's the negotiation I'll set forth the terms leave me alone I don't
leave me alone and God won't punish you I think those are pretty good terms
Bible says neither give place unto the devil 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 ever where the proceed out of the mouth of God thou
shall not tempt the Lord thy God right 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 it's it's a game of just who can outweigh who who can 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 gonna be after we die this is just a drop in the
bucket you can fight us all the days of our life but we're just gonna hold we're
just gonna hold out we're not gonna wait three years because you know what God's
not gonna allow us to starve you can besiege us for three years four years
ten years you can put the pressure on us there's no negotiating you know makes
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's
rebelling 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 got to do an offering unto the Lord
can't leave our flocks okay well you can go but just the men go it's like no we
got to take our kids too they got a worship God too and he just kept putting
forth these terms like well do this but don't go very far though we're gonna go
really far we're gonna go it's a 40 days journey we're gonna go really far into
the wilderness like no we're not we're not obeying your terms it's like well
you guys can preach that but don't say this word I'm gonna say any word I want
right 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 you know 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 this is not a
terminal negotiation because if we don't obey your commandments who cares right
like what can you do unto us what can you really do unto us you know 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
right 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 do he says do this and
if you don't do this here 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 gonna go she ate
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 really think about that look at chapter 18
again along with that never allow the enemy to define religion for us right
look at look at verse 19 and Rab Sheka what a name said unto them we'll call
him Robbie said unto them speaking not 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 rebellious against me behold now behold thou trust
us 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 it's fair king of Egypt unto all that
trust on him so he's implying that Hezekiah is making an affinity with
Egypt so the Egypt will help him in this war that's not what's happening at all
he's there are you trusted in Egypt this is like the atheist and the agnostics of
today saying oh you're trusting in the Constitution that's gonna be made null
and void soon enough but you know what us as Christians we don't trust in the
Constitution I mean think 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 had said to Jude in 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 were moved from the high places look at verse 4 go back to verse
4 this is what he's referring to verse 4 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 Rabsheka'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 that
weren't supposed to do so what is Rabsheka 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 right 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 heard the Bible scores of times throughout the
last 15 years and 99.99% of what people tell me out there who are
unsaved and atheists or whatever how Jesus is just not found in the Bible so
don't allow the world to define what religion is for you and for me no don't
don't ever capitulate to some atheist and say 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 sure 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 a law with
the temple pull my would you so you know Rapsheka is is is claiming to know what
the the the religion of of Judah is and he's wrong and obviously you know
hezekiah is not gonna tell him 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 we 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 and you know flower power and LGBTQ this
and LGBTQ do 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 6 here here's a
quick point is that the enemy always the parts for a season okay the enemy always
the parts for a season I'm sorry go to chapter 19 in verse 6 chapter 19 look at
verse 6 it says and Isaiah said unto them thus shall you say to the to your
master thus saith the Lord be not afraid of the words which thou has 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 rumor and shall return to
his own land and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land so
Rapsheka returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libna for he had
heard that he was departed from Lakish 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 a king of Assyria now what's going on
here well you know Hezekiah goes to Isaiah and he says what am I gonna do
he says don't worry God's gonna distract him for a bit he's gonna hear a rumor
and he's gonna 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
gonna 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 let's
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 I God just delivered me from
drinking alcohol or smoking pot or doing XY 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 the parts 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
is cast into the lake of fire and so very important to note there I must
hasten here's the last thing 2nd Kings go to 2nd 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 okay and I 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 so 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 do you know 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 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 into Hezekiah saying I'm gonna make your men drink their own piss and
eat their own dung and you're not gonna 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 gonna 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 can make me 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 then can
cause you to question like oh man maybe he's right you know and then he gets his
text message right of everything that he's gonna do to him he gets his email
right back in those days email as an Ethiopian mailing it no I'm just kidding
he gets his email of all these threats of everything that they're gonna do to
them and what does he do he did he's not like I don't want to read it he's like
I'm gonna 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
Oh 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 king of 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 same thus saith the Lord God of Israel that which thou
has prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Israel I have heard so this is
great faith in Hezekiah's part he's like look what he's saying he's like
reproaching us he's reproaching 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 cares 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 on your wherever you pray and say
Lord help me with this hey that bill you can't pay put it before the Lord and
said help me with this that problem that you're having put it before the Lord
said 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 this last
point here is that yes we need to take the sword of the Spirit the helmet of
salvation girded loins with 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 the 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 second
chronicles 32 this is the last verse I
really appreciate has a kayak because I think he's a 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 encourages people because
look what it says in second 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 he
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 his
king of Judah you know what hezekiah was right hezekiah was right and you
could read the rest of the story in second chronicles 32 where because of
it people brought gifts unto Judah because they they heard of this just
great victory of 185,000 losing 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 bet you're the only one they can they 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 party man 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