Let's pray.
Father, as we have gathered together here today,
we rejoice in the fact that we have
access to you, that we can call upon
you, Lord, in the time of difficulty, in
the times of distress, in the times of
trouble, and that you are always there, ready
to help as we call upon you.
Lord, we pray today that your blessing will
be upon this service and upon your word
as we open now your word.
Let the spirit just apply the truths to
our hearts.
We bring before you, Lord, our junior high
young people who will be going up this
afternoon to the camp for this week.
Do a marvelous work in their hearts, Lord.
Touch them with the realization of your power
and your love.
Let them come home, Lord, with renewed desires
to serve you with all of their hearts
and lives.
Bless them abundantly during this week in the
mountains.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
You may be seated.
Tonight we will be continuing our journey through
the Bible, Isaiah chapters 35 through 37.
I love that 35th chapter.
It has ministered to me so many times
in the hour of grief over the loss
of a loved one.
I've found comfort and strength from that chapter.
Pastor Skip will be leading us in our
journey through the Bible.
I've been enjoying immensely his studies on Sunday
evening.
We would encourage you to come out, join
with us.
I know you will be blessed also, even
as we have been blessed in these Sunday
evening studies.
This morning, I'd like to draw your attention
to Isaiah chapter 37, verse 14.
We read, And Hezekiah received the letter from
the hand of the messengers, and he read
it.
And Hezekiah went up unto the house of
the Lord, and he spread it before the
Lord.
This was a threatening letter that Hezekiah received
from King Sennacherib, telling him that his God
was not able to defend him, as were
not the gods of the other nations that
the Assyrians had conquered.
It was a letter that was a very
threatening letter.
And Hezekiah took this letter into the temple.
He just laid it out before the Lord.
He said, Lord, I want you to hear
what they're saying.
I want you to see what they're doing.
And he sought the Lord's help from the
threats that were being made against him by
the Assyrian army.
It's interesting.
The Assyrians had a portion of their troops.
They're setting siege against Jerusalem.
The spokesman for the Assyrians, Rabshakeh, had challenged
the people.
And he had told them, don't trust in
the word that Hezekiah, your king, is speaking
to you, telling you that your Lord is
going to deliver out of the hands of
the Assyrians.
For, he said, none of the gods have
been able to deliver out of the hands
of the Assyrians.
We have destroyed these other people who trusted
in their gods and don't think your God
is going to be any help to you.
And he spoke about how that Hezekiah had
actually destroyed the high places, the altars and
so forth that were there in the land
and that Jehovah would not be of any
help to them.
But it's interesting how little he really understood
the God that Hezekiah served.
It's very true today that people who are
outside of the church understand so very little
about Jesus Christ and the God that we
serve.
They have a tendency to lump religions all
together.
And they can't really see the difference between
Buddhism, Mohammedanism or Christianity or the Krishnas or
whatever.
They have that tendency to just lump them
all together because they really do not have
an understanding, a true understanding of the God
that we worship and serve.
This blasphemer, Rabshakeh said, if you say we
trust in Jehovah our God, is it not
he whom Hezekiah has taken away his high
places, he's broken and his altars?
In 1 Kings chapter 18, talking about when
Hezekiah came to the throne, the people of
Judah have been worshiping false gods.
They had built groves unto the sex goddess
Asherah.
They had built high places to worship Baal.
They had built altars unto Molech and unto
Mammon.
And as far as the Assyrian was concerned,
he couldn't see any difference between Jehovah, the
true God of Israel, and these other gods
that when Hezekiah came into the position of
king, he destroyed the places of worship.
In 2 Kings 18.3, we read, Hezekiah
did that which was right in the sight
of Jehovah.
According to all that David, his father had
done, he removed the high places.
He broke the images.
He cut down the groves.
He broke in pieces the brass serpent that
Moses had made.
For unto those days the children of Israel
did burn incense to it.
He called it nehushtan, just a thing of
brass.
He trusted in Jehovah, the God of Israel,
so that after him there was none like
him among all of the kings of Judah,
nor any that were before him.
For he clung to the Lord, and he
departed not from following him, but he kept
his commandments.
And the Lord had commanded Moses, and the
Lord was with him and prospered him, whethersoever
he went.
So this getting rid of the false gods,
in the mind of the Assyrians, he was
just getting rid of their gods.
They didn't discern the difference between the true
and the living God and the false gods
that were being worshipped by those in Jerusalem
prior to the reign of Hezekiah.
The world has a tendency to classify all
religions as just that, religions.
They lump them into one category.
They say, oh, he's just religious.
Whether or not you are worshipping Muhammad or
you are worshipping Buddha or any of the
other gods, they have just a tendency to
classify you all in the same category.
In reality, I do not believe that Christianity
is properly classified or should be as a
religion, because it is an antithesis to most
religious beliefs.
Religious beliefs and religion is man's attempt to
reach up and touch God.
Christianity is God's attempt to reach down and
touch man.
Religion declares that you must do good works
that you might appease God.
Christianity says there is not a good work
that you can do that will please God.
That it is your faith and trust that
God is pleased with.
Without faith, it's impossible to please God.
Many religions require that you offer your sons
and sacrifice your sons for your God.
Christianity tells us that God sacrificed his son
for us.
Religions tell you the sacrifices that you must
make in order to appease God.
Christianity tells you of the sacrifice God made
to redeem you.
Religion emphasizes what you must do for God.
Christianity emphasizes what God has done for you.
So we see how that Christianity is really
opposed and opposite to religion as far as
the belief systems of Christianity.
But the world cannot see this difference.
They have that tendency to just classify them
all together.
Unfortunately, many churches have made a religion out
of Christianity, but that is a great mistake.
Rabshakeh was totally ignorant of Jehovah, the God
of Israel, and he just classified him with
the other gods.
Now Rabshakeh had said, don't let Hezekiah encourage
you to trust in Jehovah to deliver you.
None of the other gods of the other
lands were able to deliver their people out
of our power.
So you see, he classified Jehovah with all
of the false gods that were being worshiped
throughout the world.
The world just can't seem to see the
difference between our worship of Jesus and those
who worship Buddha, Muhammad, or Krishna.
But there is a world of difference.
Rabshakeh then declared that Jehovah actually sent me
here to conquer this city, speaking blasphemously concerning
Jehovah.
Now when they brought the words of Rabshakeh
to Hezekiah, they were disturbing words.
Hezekiah took off his royal robes, he put
on sackcloth, and he went into the house
of the Lord.
And there he declared, this is a day
of trouble, a day of rebuke, a day
of blasphemy.
For the children have come to birth, there's
no strength to bring them forth.
A day of trouble.
The siege against Jerusalem had done its work
in that food supplies were very scarce.
People were weakened because of the lack of
food.
And in this weakened condition, those ladies who
went into labor, they just didn't have the
strength to go through labor to deliver the
children.
A time of real trouble.
As far as Hezekiah was concerned, it's about
as bad as it can get.
Only God can help us at this point.
We must put our trust in him.
It's interesting how that so often, when all
other agencies have failed, and that there is
only one recourse for help, and that is
God, people often at this point begin to
panic.
You mean only God can help me?
Oh, you know, and I mean, like, that's
the worst thing in the world.
You're going to have to trust in God.
The doctor said there's nothing that medical science
can do.
You're just, oh, no, you know, like, that's
something terrible.
But in reality, what's so bad about having
to trust in God?
Surely, we should trust in God daily for
our help and for our strength and for
our sustenance.
There's an old saying that man's extremities are
God's opportunities.
And many times God allows us to get
to that place where we have exhausted every
human resource, where there is nothing that any
man can do for us.
That we realize that we have only one
recourse at this point, and that's just to
call upon God and put our trust in
him.
God allows us many times to get to
that place so that he then can work.
And as he works, we can only then
give glory to God.
We can't say, well, I was going through
that and I found this new diet or
I found this new, you know, medicine or
this new drug or herbal substance, and, oh,
my, I'm doing great now.
And we're praising, you know, the ginseng or
something, you know, because it made me feel
young and vibrant again, you know.
And it's so easy to give credit or
give glory to some thing rather than God.
And that is why God often has to
let us get to the place where there
is no place that we can call upon
for help but him, that we are forced
to trust in him.
Man's extremities become God's opportunities.
Hezekiah said it's a day of trouble.
And it's a day of rebuke.
It's true.
This, uh, Rabshakeh have been rebuking them for
listening to Hezekiah who was telling them, trust
in the Lord.
The Lord will deliver us.
You would be amazed at how many times
I've been rebuked for trusting in the Lord.
Probably you've experienced this too.
You're facing a difficult situation, a real difficult
problem.
And people say, well, what are you doing
about it?
Well, I'm just trusting the Lord.
Oh, you can't do that.
You've got to do something.
Well, I am.
Well, what are you doing?
I'm trusting in the Lord.
And it bugs people uh, if you're just
putting your trust in the Lord and trusting
him to work things out, they, they think
that we ought to take some kind of
action and so forth.
And you ought to be, you know, upset.
You ought to be worried.
You ought to be, uh, you know, just,
uh, all nervous and upset, but it bothers
people when you just are trusting in the
Lord.
Hezekiah declared it was a day of blasphemy.
Indeed it was.
This Reb Sheka have been blaspheming the Lord
that they had been trusting in.
Now this is the situation.
The King of Assyria was up in the
Northern part of the country and he was
setting siege against the city of Libna.
He was needing help in taking Libna.
So he sent down to Jerusalem to the
Assyrian force that had set siege against Jerusalem.
And he commanded that they come North to
help him in his siege against Libna.
And so Reb Sheka had to leave, uh,
the siege and the army of the Assyrians
withdrew to the North, uh, to take care
of that city up there.
But as they left, they sent a threatening
letter to Hezekiah.
And basically it was saying, don't think that
we're leaving off the conquering of Jerusalem.
We'll be back.
And so, uh, the letter said, don't let
your God in whom you trust deceive you
into saying that Jerusalem will not be given
to the hand of the King of Assyria.
Behold, you have heard what the King of
Assyria did to all of the lands by
utterly destroying them.
You will not be delivered.
The gods of the other nations were not
able to deliver from Assyria.
And so here's this threatening letter.
We'll be back.
Don't trust in God or think that your
God is going to be able to help
you.
When we get back, we're going to take
this city.
Hezekiah took this letter.
As we read in our text, he went
into the temple and he just unrolled it.
It was a scroll and he just rolled
it out before the Lord.
And, and he laid this letter out before
God.
I think that this was probably the wisest
thing that Hezekiah could do at this point.
It is true that the Assyrian army had
conquered the world.
It is true that, uh, they did not
have the force or the might to deliver
themselves from the Assyrians.
And the threat will be back.
Don't think that your God is going to
deliver you out of our hands.
And so he laid it out before the
Lord, this threatening letter.
And I think that that's a wise thing
to do.
If someone threatens you, just bring it to
the Lord.
If you get a threatening letter, threatening email
or something, just lay it out before the
Lord and say, look, Lord, look what they're
threatening to do.
Uh, and, and just take the problem, the
difficulty, the issue, and rather than worrying about
it and fretting over it, just set it
before the Lord.
The Bible tells us to cast all your
cares upon him because he cares for you.
So Hezekiah set it out before the Lord.
And then in verse 15, there we read
and Hezekiah prayed unto the Lord saying, Oh,
Lord of hosts, God of Israel that dwells
between the cherubims.
You are God, even you alone of all
of the kingdoms of the earth.
You have made the heavens and the earth.
Notice this is his address.
Who's he praying to?
He's praying to the only true God in
all the earth.
He's praying to the God that made the
heavens and the earth.
I think that in prayer, the most important
part of prayer is right at the beginning.
Who are you addressing your prayer to?
The address.
Who are you addressing when you pray?
Hezekiah is addressing the only true God, the
one who made the heavens and the earth.
Jesus said, when you pray, say our father,
which art in heaven, that's a good address.
Our father, you see, that speaks of relationship.
It's important that you have a relationship with
him, a personal relationship, our father, which art
in heaven, a good address for prayers.
When the disciples have been threatened of what
would be done to them if they continued
to preach in the name of Jesus Christ
to the people, they came together and they
prayed and said, oh, Lord, you are God.
You created the heavens and the earth and
everything that is in them.
That's who they were addressing their prayer to.
The God who made the heavens and the
earth and everything that is in them.
You see, if you get the right address
on your prayer, then the petition that you're
bringing to God doesn't seem to be so
overwhelming.
Though you're overwhelmed by the circumstances, by the
situations, though you can't see any way out.
You're turning it over to him who created
the universe and all of the life forms
in it.
And though it is impossible for you, it
is divinely simple for him.
Difficulty must always be measured by the capacity
of the agent that is doing the work.
If God is the agent doing the work,
then talk of difficulty is absurd.
I'm asking, I'm calling upon God.
I'm addressing my prayer to the God who
created this universe and all of the life
forms within it.
That helps me, you see, to focus upon
the greatness of God and the power of
God and the ability of God.
And seeing then my problem in the light
of God's greatness and God's power and God's
ability, all of a sudden my problem dissolves
into nothing in the light of God's power
and strength.
In verse 17, as Hezekiah is praying, he
said, Hear, Lord, what they're saying about you.
Lord, they're saying some pretty mean things about
you, that you're not able to deliver, that
you are powerless against their power.
He then acknowledged the facts.
He said, It is true, they have defeated
all of the other nations and they have
burned their gods in the fire.
But the gods that they destroyed were not
true gods, but they were the creation of
man.
And that is why they could not help
the people.
And then he called in verse 20 for
God's help, O Jehovah, our God, save us
from His hand, that all of the kingdoms
of the earth may know that you are
Jehovah and you alone are God.
So Lord, help us, help us to have
victory over them so that all of the
nations of the world will know that you
are the true, the living God, the God
who is able to deliver even in impossible
circumstances.
And we read that God answered his prayer
in verse 29, that God in the answer
addresses Himself to the Assyrians.
He said, Because you have raged against me,
that is the Assyrians, and your tumult has
come up into my ears, therefore will I
put my hook in your nose and my
bridle in your lips, and I will turn
you back by the way which you came.
It's interesting, the archaeologists have uncovered pictures that
were made during the time of the Assyrians'
power.
And in these pictures from Nineveh and all,
they show the Assyrians leading their captives away
by big hooks through their nose or big
hooks through their lips.
And this was the way by which the
Assyrians led their captives, by hooks through the
nose.
God said, I'll put my hook in your
nose and I'll lead you away, even as
you have led other peoples away, I will
lead you away.
And then in verse 33, Therefore thus saith
Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria, He shall
not come into this city, Jerusalem, nor shoot
an arrow there, nor come before it with
shields, nor cast a mount against it.
But by the way that he came, by
the same way he will return and shall
not come into this city, saith Jehovah, for
I will defend this city to save it
for my own sake and for my servant
David's sake.
The beautiful assurance, he's gone to prayer, he's
taken this problem to God, too big for
me.
And you know, I don't have the ability
or the strength to defend the city, but
Lord, I'm calling upon you for your help.
And God now gives him assurance that the
Assyrians will not be able to build a
mount or they won't shoot an arrow into
the city.
What God did to the Assyrians, as they
say, it's now just a matter of history.
What happened?
Well, the Assyrians came against Jerusalem with a
whole army to set siege against it.
And we read in verse 36, Then the
angel of Jehovah went forth, and he smote
in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred
and eighty-five thousand men.
And when the men of Israel awoke early
in the morning, behold, all they saw were
the dead corpse.
So Sheneqereb the king of Assyria departed and
went and returned and dwelt in Nineveh.
The angel of the Lord went into the
camp of the Assyrians, and in one night
he destroyed a hundred and eighty-five thousand
of those soldiers of the Assyrian army, wiped
out the army in one night so that
the rest of the Assyrians fled back to
Nineveh.
And Assyria no longer was a world power.
It was soon conquered by Babylon and totally
defeated.
As Hezekiah, I would encourage you today to
place all of the troubling issues in your
life before the Lord and let the Lord
fight your battles for you.
The Lord can do a much better job
in defending you than you can do for
yourself.
It may be that the issues that you
are facing seem to be overwhelming.
You can't seem to see any way out.
It looks like it's a hopeless kind of
a situation, the same as was with Hezekiah.
From a physical human standpoint, it was a
hopeless situation.
But by putting his trust in the Lord,
God delivered and gave him victory.
And by you putting your trust in the
Lord, God will deliver you and give you
victory in whatever difficulty you might be facing
at this time, whatever problem or trouble you
might be going through.
Just spread it out before the Lord and
say, Lord, here's what's happening.
Here's what's going on.
Help me, Lord, that your name might be
glorified as others see what you can do
for a person who puts their faith and
trust completely in you.
Father, we thank you for the help that
you've promised to give to those that would
put their trust in you.
And Lord, we just pray that today those
that are going through some real deep water,
those that are passing through the fiery trials,
Lord, that they this day might just cast
all their cares upon you because you do
care for us.
Help them, Lord.
Come to their aid.
Deliver them, Lord.
Be their defense.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.