0:00 Meet me in second Kings chapter 19 as we complete this chapter tonight by the grace of God. Many of us have been taught that when we are visited by crisis, we should never hesitate to run to God in prayer. But I'm not sure how many of us are equally equipped to know how we should pray in crisis. And to our great encouragement, the Holy Spirit provides us guidance in our text this evening. As we look at Hezekiah's strong example in this area.
0:44 You know, I'm reminded as I've been studying this this week of the single incident where the disciples asked the Lord directly to teach them about something. It's found in Luke chapter 11 where they said, Lord teach us to? Pray. Pray. As John taught his disciples.
1:04 There is something about the way Jesus prayed. How he prayed, when he prayed, that moved his closest followers to inquire about the mechanics, the motives of true prayer. And I believe that's what the Lord has in store for us tonight. We are going to learn how to pray, specifically when we are visited by devastating news. And it's gonna be through Hezekiah's example in the beginning of this study.
1:35 You know, people often ask, how do I seek the Lord effectively, consistently, confidently? And one way that God has given us instruction is by giving us models of prayer, men and women of God in the scriptures, who have poured out their hearts before the Lord in different situations in order for us to be fully furnished in our understanding of what it means to come before the Lord and his presence, to seek his hand. And right from the beginning, we are going to consider four essential characteristics of effective prayer when real problems arrive. These are not the only characteristics, but key ones, and we're going to see them, I'm sure, by just looking at the first handful of verses in second Kings 19, beginning in verse 14. Now some of these points are going to serve as reminders while others might introduce new insights into how we bring our troubles before God.
2:37 Let's read together second Kings 19 verse 14. Hezekiah received a letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, oh Lord, the God of Israel enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God. You alone of all the kingdoms of the earth.
3:05 You have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, oh Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, oh Lord, and see and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly oh Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.
3:31 So now, oh Lord our God, save us please from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, oh Lord, are God alone. So powerful. Four essential features of effective prayer in times of turmoil. Number one, you and I must acknowledge the majesty of God. Always.
4:00 Before Hezekiah speaks about his problems, he fixes his mind on the magnificence of his God. Do we not see it here? I'm afraid that Christians often forget to include this in their prayerful pursuit of relief. Right away, Hezekiah in verse 15 says, oh Lord, the God of Israel enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.
4:32 Listen, when you and I intentionally confess the attributes of God, that alone contains the power of placing everything in its proper perspective. And there even comes moments where you and I do so and we are drawn into a time of worship that helps us forget the very fear or frustration that drove us to pray in the first place. Has that ever happened to you? But in order for this to be true of us, in order for this to actually succeed in our attempts, we have to understand who God is according to his word. Your prayers and mine have to be biblically informed.
5:15 And it is in God's word alone, as you know, where we are taught who he is. And so I want you to look back at these verses and consider, and you can actually answer out loud of some of the things that Hezekiah says that proves that his prayer life was instructed by his understanding of scripture. What does he say here? What does he highlight about the Lord? Anything stand out to you?
5:39 Again, you're welcome to speak out loud if you're if you're willing. The God of Israel. That is not unimportant. Anything else? Okay.
5:52 There you go. Who is seated above the cherubim? Absolutely. Anything else? You are the God of all the kingdoms.
6:08 You made heaven and earth. Beautiful. Wonderful. Now let's look at these things one by one. When he says, God of Israel.
6:16 Again, that's not an insignificant thing. Hezekiah is reminding his own soul that God has a special covenant with the people of Israel. That the people of Israel had this pledge granted to them by the living God. It's an unconditional promise. And one of the most important things about this specific promise is that God assured this people that he would preserve the divinic dynasty, unconditionally.
6:47 And so essentially what Hezekiah is doing from the beginning is that he is setting before his mind, at the forefront of his intercession, the faithfulness of God. I am speaking to the God who has made promises and has never broken one of them. What a way to prepare your heart to seek the Lord. What a way to frame your intercession. The God of Israel, but it doesn't end there.
7:12 Beyond that now, he says, of the same God who is seated where? Above the cherubim. I know one thing about Hezekiah based on this, that he studied the book of Exodus. Because in Exodus twenty five twenty two, we read there that God promised Moses that he would be found seated above the mercy seat between the cherubim and from that place he would speak to Moses to give him the instructions that he was to give to the people of God. So what is Hezekiah essentially appealing to when he says you are the God who is seated above the cherubim?
7:51 Well, the cherubim are part of the mercy seat. I believe what this man is doing is reminding himself that he is coming to the Lord, comforting himself that he is making this plea on the basis of God's mercy. That Lord, when you chose to symbolically be enthroned on the earth, you chose the seat of mercy. Now I'm coming to you and asking for mercy. When you and I come before God, it is absolutely vital that we recall his heart even while we entreat his hand.
8:30 As important as it is to, yes, think about his power, his omnipotence, his abilities, do not disconnect that from his compassion, his tenderness, his kindness. He's not indifferent to us. You see, some people when they come to the Lord and ask him of anything, they think they'd have to try to convince God. As though God is reluctant, as though God is there with his arms crossed, isn't my son Jesus enough for you? Is not the gospel enough for you?
9:01 As much as the gospel is sufficient, we learn there that, yes, the Lord has given us his son. How much more then is he willing to give us? And so you have to understand, I am coming to the one whose heart is for me. He is merciful. He is sympathetic.
9:20 He invites me to him. I don't have to try to get his attention by persuading him with my string of sentences. All I have to do is come to him and trust that his heart, he he's a he's kind to me. And then we see something else, because at the same time he does speak of God's power. It's not here though.
9:40 It's in the parallel account. So we find the same scene, not just in second Kings, we find it in second Chronicles 32 and Isaiah 37. But look at Isaiah 37 where the same prayer is recorded. Isaiah 37 verse 15. Yes, the Lord is majestic, not just in his power, but in his willingness to move in our lives.
10:06 But he does still underline his power. Isaiah thirty seven fifteen, this is not mentioned in the text of second Kings. Fifteen and sixteen reads, and Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, O Lord of hosts. God of Israel, we cover that. Enthrown above the cherubim, we cover that.
10:23 So what does he add here? O Lord of hosts. What can that be translated as? Oh, Lord of what? Armies.
10:33 Angelic armies. So Hezekiah here is intentionally bringing to his own mind something that is relevant to his crisis. Why would he say, oh Lord of hosts? Because he's surrounded by an army. It makes sense.
10:52 And this is something for you and I to consider that if we want to do our faith any good, we should know how to address God in a way that makes sense to the thing that is before us. The object of our worry. The cause of our frustration. How familiar are you with who God is and all that he is? Do you need encouragement?
11:14 Well, do you know that in Romans fifteen five, God is called the God of endurance and encouragement? You and I know about the Holy Spirit. But do you also know that he's called the spirit of wisdom and revelation in Ephesians one seventeen? Do you need clarity? Call upon him who is the the spirit of wisdom and revelation.
11:38 And so we have to we have to equip ourselves if we're gonna come boldly and effectively in that place of prayer. Acknowledge the majesty of God, but you have to be informed about it first. And Hezekiah is a biblicist. He's not ignorant of the scriptures. And it fueled his prayer life and a few yours as well.
11:57 That's just the first characteristic. We now come to the second one. We have to understand that there is an invitation that we must make for the wisdom of God. And while we make that invitation, we should rest. So here's a way of telling this.
12:12 Invite and rest in the wisdom of God. That's what we find here in verse 16 of second Kings 19. After describing who God is, in verse 16 he says, incline your ear, oh Lord, and hear, open your eyes O Lord and see and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. You know what's so beautiful about this invitation? You don't get the sense that Hezekiah has a clue how God is gonna solve this situation.
12:38 Nor does he presume to give God step by step ideas of how he should do it. It's as though he's just coming in absolute simplicity. Lord, just look at this, please. Lord, just see this, please. Hear this, please.
12:55 And it doesn't go beyond that. And here's the wonder of this, that's all that was required for God to take action. You know, some of us have an understanding of God as though he is some kind of employer. You know, there's a lot of bosses that ask of their employees, hey, if you have a problem, I don't want you to just approach me with a problem. Come to my desk with what?
13:13 A solution. That's how some Christians think God is like. That if you're gonna come to me, you should put together some plan of action. That that you should come prepared, so to speak, with how this should come about. Not so.
13:32 We're children of the king. You and I have been granted access to the throne of grace and we can just come and spread our needs before him and call his attention to it and trust that he will wholeheartedly move on our behalf or give us the wisdom to know how to proceed. Paul tells us that the spirit helps us in our weakness. We just hear that and think, okay. Yeah.
13:59 I'm generally weak. No. What kind of weakness is he speaking of in that place? In Romans eight twenty six. For we do not know how we ought to pray.
14:07 We're very weak in prayer, are we not? We're guaranteed that the spirit is right there with us translating every word perfectly, bringing it before God so that nothing is missed. Then even if our prayers are reduced to size or repetition because you don't know how to eloquently present yourself before the power of God and the might of God and the authority of God, we are we are comforted to know that he knows exactly what you need. My mind went to King David when he was expelled from his own kingdom because of Absalom his son, that rebel. And while he was enduring a whirlwind of emotions, he was being reported to with different updates.
14:53 And one of the most terrifying updates was that one of his chief counselors, Ahithophel, sided with the rebels. And so weak, so dejected, the only thing that this man could say on his way to safety was, oh, Lord, please turn the council of Ahithophel into foolishness. And God took that, and he did much more on behalf of his servant David. He put a permanent end to Ahithophel. So so it's a beautiful thing, isn't it, that we can come fumbling and unsure with how we're going to speak about these things.
15:37 And God calls us to still invite his wisdom and rest in it. Rest in it. Thirdly, be honest before God. A third characteristic of effective prayer in time of crisis. Be honest before God.
15:53 Look at verse 17. Truly, oh Lord, the kings of the Syria have laid waste the nations and their lands. I love that. You know, there are some Christians who have very strange ideas about what faith looks like. Faith that pleases God.
16:07 And to some believers, faith means that you should minimize the severity of a situation, downplay it, maybe even outright deny it. There are many ways that we do this. A common way that I've seen my own life is that, let's say for example, that there is a doctor, doctor's diagnosis or a report and it's tragic. You also you have some believers who will, in their response of faith, rebuke that. And they will even verbally rebuke it.
16:33 Never to revisit it in their thoughts. Never to bring it up to anybody else. Never to even bring it before God. And that's not what Hezekiah does here. He assesses what this problem entails, how real it is and he brings it before God in total honesty.
16:51 And if there's any instruction here, it's it's quite obvious I think, that this dispels any notion that we shouldn't come before the Lord transparently. You have every right to do that. Last Wednesday at our prayer meeting, we were meditating before we started praying on that famous verse in Hebrews four sixteen. Let us then with confidence approach the throne of grace that we may receive grace or receive mercy and find grace in times of need. You know what that word confidence means?
17:22 In some of your translations, it might say, let us come what? Boldly. It actually means in the original to speak freely, to speak openly, to be frank. No concealment. Be blunt.
17:42 That's not to say that we should speak without reverence, but it does mean that we can speak honestly. And so the invitation there is that we can come before the Lord and express in words. This is what's confusing me. I am confused. This is what's annoying me.
18:02 He's the one who is annoying me. She's the one who's bothering me. This is what's making me fearful. I'm terrified. And what Hebrews tells us in that context is we have a high priest who sympathizes with us as we do so.
18:22 Does it scoff at us? It doesn't belittle us. We're told by the Holy Spirit, come with that kind of confidence. Come with that kind of freedom. Spill your heart out.
18:36 Whatever is in there. This makes prayer more inviting. You'd be amazed how many Christians are intimidated, not just in corporate settings, even in their own prayer lives. Be honest before God. But as much as being honest before God about the discouraging things are important, we should also at the same time, if you want to build your faith in prayer, have the presence of mind to acknowledge other things.
19:03 The good in the midst of our pain. Now, it doesn't mean that you try to wishfully think or make up things to try to soothe your soul, but it does mean that you should widen your your own perspective. And understanding the the the landscape, the total landscape of what's taking place, So that you can be built up as you approach the Lord and believe him for more. One of the things in my life when I've been persecuted and all of us in some way I'm sure have been persecuted, is as I cry out to God, I remind myself of the support system I do have, of the people in my life that love me and that are with me and are standing by my side. That has done me good.
19:43 And the way Hezekiah is doing it here in this situation is what? Look at verse 18. And have cast their gods into the fire for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Yes, sure. Assyria bulldozed over lands and kingdoms and armies, but those nations didn't serve real gods.
20:02 They served things that were created by men. So he's getting his facts right. He's he's realizing, I I serve the true and living God. Do you see how he's broadening his understanding? Be honest before God.
20:15 Be truthful to yourself. And part of being truthful to yourself is also looking at the good. Seeing the positive. Seeing the blessings. Being thankful.
20:25 That will charge you up in the place of faith and prayer and adoration before God. Lastly, this is an obvious one I'm sure, but oh, how we need to be reminded of it. Seek seek the glory of God. Look at verse 19. So now, oh Lord our God, save us please from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, oh Lord, are God alone.
20:55 This is why David is a man after God's own heart and it or Hezekiah in his own respect. He imitates David in this way because his truest desire in this predicament is that the Lord's honor would be known. It's not his own reputation. It's not his own preservation. It's not anything else.
21:14 More than anything, it's, God, I desire that through this answer people would recognize who you truly are. And so use this problem as a platform for you to show up in your power, in your grace, in your might. I don't know how that's gonna look but I'm just inviting you to it. And a passion for the Lord to be exalted in all things, at all times will undoubtedly shape the way you and I pray. In fact, it's the very motive and ambition that will compel you to pray.
21:46 When you're moved by that, when you live for that, for God to be known, then you will be driven to that place of inviting God and seeking God for the sake of God's name. And that's precisely what this man does. What's the result? What's the result of Hezekiah's praying? Look at verse 20.
22:06 Then Isaiah the son of Amos sent to Hezekiah saying, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard. Now, Isaiah records his own words here differently. A little differently. Not in a contradictory way, but in a way that completes what he says to Hezekiah. So go to Isaiah 37.
22:31 This will be worth it. And look at verse 21 of Isaiah 37. Then Isaiah the son of Amos sent to Hezekiah saying, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, because you have prayed to me. Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria. Implying what?
22:53 If you had not prayed, I wouldn't have answered. But Hezekiah, because you took the time to be strategic and intentional of coming to my house, laying this request before me, I will do something about it. What's the encouraging thing about this verse? God hears when we pray. What's the warning?
23:14 If you don't pray, God might not move. So why not pray when things hinge on our prayers? I know we can sit across the table and debate about the sovereignty of God and how that works with our prayers and I'm not here to debate anything. I'm here to take the word of God at face value. There are things that will not happen in my life or yours unless we pray, full stop.
23:44 So instead of spending my energy trying to understand all the intricacies and all the mechanics of this, I'm simply going to do what? Pray. Pray and trust that God will do something because I prayed. Now, I gave you four characteristics of essential effective prayer, but I wanna give you a bonus one. And the bonus one is not in second Kings 19.
24:07 It's not in Isaiah 37. It's in that other book, second Chronicles 32. Look at verse 20 of second Chronicles 32 while we have bible study people cut their grass. Second Chronicles 32 verse 20. Then Hezekiah the king and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, prayed because of this and cried to heaven.
24:44 You know, when people come to this story in second Kings, they are often moved by the imagery of this royal man leaving his throne, leaving his palace, making his way to the public sphere of worship, and taking this letter and spreading it before the presence of God saying, Lord, you need to do this. And it is a moving sight. It's a wonderful picture. But people tend to forget this side of Hezekiah's praying. What does he do?
25:11 He invites the prophet to pray with him. So don't just limit it to Hezekiah. I see here this king calling his companion, a man of God saying, let's pray and cry out to God in unison. What a sight that is. Here you have the king and here you have the chief prophet of the time lifting up their voices together for God to come.
25:35 And that moving, it should be moving. And I believe something similar takes place in this very sanctuary week after week on Wednesday nights. Can I ask you something? In the surprising afflictions of your life, in the seasons of challenges, have you ever considered calling a friend? A friend who prays, a friend who fears God, a friend who loves God, and inviting them to the house of God so that you and him or her can intercede on behalf of a wayward child, a struggling marriage, financial strain, a dead end situation.
26:29 Has that ever occurred to you? Let this be your inspiration. I'm calling so and so and we're gonna go to the house of God. We're gonna hold hands. We're gonna put our arms around each other and we're gonna seek the Lord together.
26:46 If this if this moves me, if Isaiah and Hezekiah coming together and seeking God moves me, how much more do you think it moves God? And that's not just a way for you to come to prayer on Wednesdays. Never mind Wednesday night prayer meeting. When's the last time you and I have considered to call a friend and saying, you know, this is what's going on in my family. This is what's going on in my own heart.
27:07 This is what's going on in my own spiritual journey. Will you commit with me to pray for one week? And let's just bombard heaven. And let's acknowledge the majesty of God. And let's invite the wisdom of God.
27:24 And let's just be honest before God. And let's let's seek God's glory in this matter together. And let's see what God does. This is the second time that Hezekiah went to the house of God when he was visited by a threat. Two out of two.
27:45 100% of the time. What kind of inspiration was this for the people of Israel? Remember, he went to the house of the Lord. As much as we need our own prayer clauses, this man went before others and they saw, wow, the king prays. What a leader.
28:04 Showing the people what they should do when they don't know what to do. Oh, I pray parents that you have that same conviction. That your kids when they see that things are going wrong, when uncle so and so or grandpa so and so, we get we get together and pray. We seek the Lord. May the Lord give us the grace to remember this as a reflex.
28:31 Now the rest of this chapter contains the detailed response God gave to Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah, and the Holy Spirit could have simply summarized this and said, the Lord heard his servant and acted on his behalf, but he doesn't do that. We read here and said that there's a lengthy specific answer. And clearly, this is important for us. And more than that, not just because it's it's long here, it's detailed, it's because it's found also in Isaiah 37. So whatever Isaiah is ready to say, it's repeated and it's meant for us to investigate more closely what the Lord is revealing in it.
29:07 So here's how we're going to do this. We're gonna comb through these verses lightly and make brief comments every other verse perhaps or in a collection of verses and see what the Lord wants to say to us in a specific promise that he gives to the king. Let's begin here in verse 21. This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him. She despises you.
29:32 She scorns you, the virgin daughter of Zion. She wags her head behind you, the daughter of Jerusalem. Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel.
29:50 By your messengers you have mocked the Lord and you have said with my many chariots I've gone up the heights of the mountains to the far recesses of Lebanon. I felled its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses. I entered its farthest lodging place, its most fruitful forest. I dug wells and drank foreign waters and I dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt. So with this cluster of verses, I wanna make one simple point.
30:20 God not only hears very carefully the cries of the righteous, he also remembers the boasts, the taunts and the blasphemies of the wicked. Look back at verse 23 again. Remember now he's speaking to Hezekiah about what he is saying regarding Sennacherib, the king of Assyria. And about Sennacherib, he says in the middle of verse 23 and you have said. And you have said.
30:50 So God is not just aware about the letter that Sennacherib gave to Hezekiah. He's also aware of what he said prior to this. And what's the essence of what Sennacherib was saying? That his army was essentially unstoppable. Look at some of the language again.
31:09 I have gone up to the heights of the mountains, to the far reaches of Lebanon. I fell that its taller cedars, its choice of cypress. I entered its He's saying that there is nothing and no one that could stop me. Earlier he says my many chariots have gone up the heights of mountains. Chariots don't go up mountains.
31:28 They can only work with level ground. But he's saying my chariots, oh no, they can go up any mountain. Oh, yeah. There's some natural borders, some seas and rivers and niles, but look what he says in verse 24. I dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.
31:46 The amount of men that I have when we crossed creeks and rivers, that kind of impact made those things dry. And the Lord says, I I've heard all your boasts, all your accolades. Not only is he aware of the words, look at verse 27. We didn't read it yet, but just to give you an idea. He says as of Sennacherib, but I know you're sitting down and you're going out and coming in and you're raging against me.
32:19 Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into my ears, I'll put hooks in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came. I know where you go. I know where you come from. I know when you stop. I know when you accelerate.
32:38 So essentially what the Lord is saying is, I know everything about you. Now for for somebody to have such a detailed understanding of someone else means that he's very passionate about it. And what I learned here is that God is passionate about his dealings with the proud. Remember Job? We all do, I'm sure.
33:03 By the end of the book, the Lord appears to Job and challenges him. Because Job was questioning the sovereignty of God. Job was essentially challenging the sovereignty of God and so the Lord responds to the challenge. And he says, let's see if we're alike. And he begins to list all these different things that he does and from time to time he says, are you aware of when this happens?
33:25 Can you do this? If so, then we we can have this conversation. But it just, one after the other, these different abilities of the Lord presents of himself. And there's one thing that I think people miss about God and his sovereignty. It's in Job 40 verse 11.
33:46 God says to this man, pour out the overflowings of your anger and look on everyone who is proud and abase him. Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low, and tread down the wicked where they stand. And the verses after he says, if you can do this, then you can save yourself. In your knowledge of the sovereignty of God, have you ever considered God's ability to humble absolutely everyone who's proud? That's fascinating to me.
34:20 We think of creation, we think of salvation, we think of healing, we think of miracles. No. No. Add this to the category of God's sovereignty. He's able to humble every arrogant person on the earth.
34:33 And if you wanted to, you could do it at the same time. So we see here that God feels very strongly about the proud. As much as he is passionate about the prayers of his people, he's also very fervent about hearing what men say in defiance of God and uplifting themselves and dealing with them accordingly. So here's what I learned looking at this this afternoon. If God feels this way about pride, how do I protect myself from it?
35:02 That's a good question. Right? Are we susceptible to pride as Christians? If you say no, that's an indication that you're probably struggling with it. Of course.
35:15 Is there any clue in second Kings 19 that can help my heart be shielded against this venom, this poison called pride? Absolutely. Look at verse 25 of second Kings 19. We didn't read it yet. After he reveals that he knows what Sennacherib said, In verse 25, he says something to Sennacherib.
35:37 Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins, while their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded, and have become like plants of the field and like tender grass, like grass on the housetops blighted before it has grown? What is God saying? Sennacherib, here you are, tooting your own horn, telling yourself and everybody else how wonderful you are, how how you're the superpower of a nation, how you take over anything and anyone, And I'm here to inform you that I am the one who gave you such success. That what you're realizing now has been for ordained.
36:26 That in my providence I have weakened these other nations and I have raised you up as the rod of my anger to chastise these other people groups for their iniquity. In other words, the reason why Sennacher was so proud was because he believed that it was his wisdom and his strength and his training and his resources that brought about his success. And the Lord's here to tell him, no, it's actually because of my sovereignty. That's the essence of you and I. That's the antidote against pride.
37:02 Constantly being mindful that every ounce of intelligence, of creativity, of wisdom, Any open door whether small or very wide is because God permitted it. Because God enabled you. And when you and I lose sight of that and begin to look at ourselves and praise ourselves and boast in ourselves, you're treading on dangerous ground. You know what's amazing about this is that God confronts Sennacherib about his sovereignty even though Sennacherib was not in a relationship to God. He was not he was not in covenant with God.
37:46 He was an enemy of God. And this is not really spiritual, is it? God's not talking about his sovereignty over your spiritual gifts and your knowledge of scripture and your holiness. He's talking about your innovative abilities. Your your ability to to think about things and strategize.
38:01 Any aspect of life must be acknowledged as God's goodness in your life. Any good, any anything, any prosperity, any power has to go back to him as the permitter. And only when you live under that revelation are you protected from exactly what's gonna get Sennacherib in trouble. So he says, I'm here to tell you, because clearly you didn't hear, that I determined all of this a long time ago. I authored this.
38:35 Unfortunately, Sennacherib is not gonna humble himself regardless. So what do we find next? Well, we see here that Sennacherib is about to be visited by a surprise. And before that surprise comes, we see something else here in verse 30. We read verse 28.
38:54 Let's read verse 29 and verse 30. And this shall be the sign for you. Now he's speaking to Hezekiah. This year eat what grows of itself, And in the second year, what springs of the same. Then in the third year, sow and reap and plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
39:15 So he promises Hezekiah with a sign of how he will know that this victory over Sennacherib will be of God and it will be a lasting peace. You know, the the brutality of a siege when an army surrounds a city is that essentially they confiscate all their foods, all their goods. So they starve to death, essentially. They're starved into surrender. And the difficulty there is not only do they confiscate, they also limit the people from being able to produce their own food.
39:45 Right? They're stuck within the city walls. And so what the Lord says, the essence of the sign is you're gonna eat what grows of itself and in the second year what springs of the same. So once I put a hook in Sennacherib's nose, put a bit in his mouth and pull him back to his hometown. Do you know why the Lord said that by the way?
40:03 Because that's what the Assyrians would do to their victims, historically speaking. This is how vicious this people group were. Wonder why Jonah was hesitant to go and preach to them. When they would take over, when they would have they when they would have victory over a people group, they would so demoralize them that they would make them seem like beast and they would put actual sharp objects in their limbs, in parts of their body and drag them back to their own demise. You're gonna do that to people, I'm gonna do it to you.
40:39 And he says to Israel, he says to Judah specifically, here's a sign that you know that I've done this well and it's a complete job. For the first two years after, you're not gonna have to sow anything. The earth is gonna produce itself. And by the third year, there's gonna be the natural course again of farming and agricultural cycles, and you'll go back to normal. Watch.
41:00 You're gonna be able to go back to the way life was without any interruption. You're gonna have peace again. I'm gonna bring this peace. And so they were comforted with this, but but farming wasn't the only thing that God had in mind. There was a different kind of revival.
41:14 Look at verse 30. And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord will do this. So remember, before Jerusalem was surrounded there were all these neighboring towns in Judah that were that were taken over.
41:40 And the Lord says there's a remnant left, but I want to promise you this, that the remnant will go downward in their roots and they will bear fruit upward. In other words, they're gonna be planted in this land and they are going to flourish right here. Nothing is gonna change that. And so it's wonderful assurance, but I wanna tell you something in verse 30. Do you see the spiritual principle there?
42:04 Look at it again. The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. How do you and I bear fruit according to this verse? It's impossible unless you first invest in inner hidden rootedness. You and I cannot even fathom making any kind of spiritual impact unless we find our souls deeply invested in the things that God calls us to be invested in.
42:43 And so if there's gonna be anything on the surface, if there's gonna be anything that's worthwhile, outside, observable, tangible, there needs to be something in the secret place of my heart. My affections and my ambitions have to be deeply rooted and nourished by primarily the word of God, my relationship with God, the presence of God. You you and I cannot grow on accident. There needs to be a determination that we will first plant ourselves where God calls us to be planted and to remain there for the life of God to come through and for there to be true fruit. And I can tell you this, wherever there is shallow Christianity, it's inevitably because of shallow roots.
43:33 So we even see something of a proverb here, do we not? I believe so. Be encouraged by that. Before I move on to the final verses, look at the last statement of verse 31. The Lord signs off on this promise by saying what?
43:49 The zeal of the Lord will do this. You know what that means? Here's how you can translate it. My passion for this cause will bring about the reality of it. I was looking at this today and here's the thought that crossed my mind.
44:13 If God is passionate about his work, how much more us? God is passionate about his will. The zeal of the Lord will do this. We see we see this phrase in different places in scripture. And I'm invited to do what God calls me to do, but I don't wanna just obey his commands.
44:36 I wanna do it with the passion that God calls me to have for it. Don't settle for just mechanical routine observance. If you and I really wanna get things done for the kingdom of God, we have to tap into a spirit inspired zeal. What was said of Jesus? Zeal for your house has consumed me.
45:04 The zeal of the Lord will do this. In Deuteronomy where it went wrong for the people of Israel is when they stopped serving the Lord with joy and gladness of heart. Don't allow this to condemn you, allow this to be an invitation for you. Lord, I want zeal. I need zeal.
45:24 Supply that zeal. Be inspired by it and trust that God is able to provide it. If he is passionate about his work, let us also be passionate about it. Speaking of passion, this really convicted me. This actually bothered me.
45:44 Every time I go through kings, this never ceases to irk me. I'm gonna skip over verse 32 and verse 34. We'll read that at the end. Look at verse 35. And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down a 185,000 in the camp of the struck down a 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians.
46:04 And when people arose early in the morning, behold these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisrosh, his god, Adrammelech and Sharazor, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place. Did you see it? What stands out to you about Sennacherib's response to his defeat?
46:38 Anything? He goes to his God. Guess what he does? He worships. Does that bother anybody else?
46:55 What bothers me about it is the sheer determination of this pagan. His commitment to his false God. His resilience. In one night, you lost close to 200,000 of your men. You were put to shame because of one man's prayer.
47:14 This man Hezekiah didn't shoot one arrow. He didn't fling one sword. He didn't do anything. He just got on his knees and cried out to God and you were defeated in less than twenty four hours. And what does this man do?
47:25 Does he go and he topples his idols, burn them, renounce his deities? What does he do? He worships his God. And here we have some believers, not here, that's a general comment. In our day we have believers.
47:45 All it takes is a little trouble, a little persecution, a little suffering. I forget this God. I didn't sign up for this when I said I would follow Jesus. You wanna be provoked? Look at Sennacherib.
48:00 That's the only place where I'll always say look at Sennacherib. He goes straight back to his God and he worships him. After all this loss, after being embarrassed, after being defeated, on a world scale, a loser. And he goes before a pagan god and he worships. And here we have our God who's never been defeated, who loves us more than you can imagine, who in everything in our lives, even the painful thing that are being applied to the masterpiece of the testimony that he's trying to create.
48:46 And we are ready to turn away from him? May it not be so of us. Let's come to the final verses, verse 32. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come into the city or shoot an arrow there or come before with a shield or cast up a siege mount against it. By the way that he came, by the saying he shall return and he shall not come into this city declares the Lord, for I will defend the city to save it for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.
49:27 Tell you why I'm ending here because there's a gospel truth tucked in it. Don't we see it? God makes it so incredibly clear. The reason why I'm going to come and intervene and defend you is because, yes, number one for my sake, but also because I made a promise to one man, David. David was long before this time.
49:49 David was in a tomb. And yet, this generation would benefit from one man's covenant with God. And here we are hidden in Jesus Christ, the son of David, the greater king who's given us a greater covenant. And any reward that you and I enjoy, any promise of eternal life, any blessing that we are recipients of is solely because of who he is and how we are related to him by faith. Not as though God is hesitant to work in our lives or be good to us, but because Jesus stepped in and was willing to be the mediator between a very reluctant God and a stubborn people.
50:42 That's not so. The father is just as much invested and included in this plan of redemption and the blessings that would come in Christ. But we have to understand it's because I bear his name, I'm clothed in his righteousness. I I live in him. That God will do what he alone can do.
51:06 That's why you and I pray in Jesus' name. We're not coming in our own name. We're not coming with our own merit, with our own righteousness. We're coming on the basis of the Son of God, and how he stood in the gap for us. And that is something that the Lord God Almighty will always smile at.
51:24 And so be refreshed today. So much is available to us because of Christ in us. And I wanna invite you today in this brief moment that if you've come here like Hezekiah, even though in the background, nobody may even know about it. You are trying to solve something that seems impossible, that is sucking the life out of you. You barely made it into this very room.
51:53 Just acknowledge his majesty. Invite him. And when you invite him, rest in the very wisdom that you're asking for. Trust that the spirit in your weakness will translate everything that you're trying to communicate and a perfect plan will be on its way. Be honest before God.
52:15 And and maybe you've never done this before. Maybe you only seen prayer as a way of getting God to do something for you, but let tonight be the the beginning of a new way of praying for the glory of God. Deliver, save, provide, protect, intervene, solve, Lord. And that through this people would say, that God is a real God. That God is a God who loves his people.
52:45 Can we pray now? Let's do it. We gladly, father, in our collective weakness come before you. So many things have been said. It can actually be overwhelming at times, but we trust that you will bring to remembrance what is needed at the right time.
53:18 And we ask that you would help us retain these truths that have been shared tonight. Lord, where there may be a lack of zeal, we pray that you breathe fresh wind into our sails. That we may have the zeal that you have for your doings. Where there may be a weakness in prayer, let that change tonight. Where there may be a temptation to, even for a season, pull away from you in our anger and our disappointments, or may it never be so.
54:04 If Sennacherib can worship his dumb idol, how much more are you worthy of our consistent adoration in all things? And Lord with everything else that was expounded on tonight, we just pray that you would receive glory in our response. We just want to acknowledge you and thank you for who you are. You never failed to touch our hearts. We glorify you now as your church in Jesus' name.
54:32 Amen. Let's stand and worship the Lord together.
