Episode Transcript
So let's turn to 2 Kings chapter 18 and verse 30.
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2 Kings 18 and verse 30.
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This is a new verse, but it is a continuation of the previous verse.
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In verse 29,
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Rabbi Sheikah, the Assyrian military leader, we could call him a general, I guess,
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told Hezekiah's men to not let Hezekiah deceive them.
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He told Hezekiah's men that Hezekiah would not be able to deliver Judah
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out of the hand of Assyria.
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And if he said he could, that he was lying.
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Now let's look at what else this Assyrian military leader said.
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You know, if you study Rabbi Sheikah
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and look at all of the things he does and says, he was quite a salesman.
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Because the first thing he did is created a crisis in the minds of his potential customers, didn't he?
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That's what you have to do. You've got to make people think,
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"Your life's not all right right now without this product.
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In fact, you're in trouble if you don't have it.
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And you better get it while the deal is still offered,
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or you're going to have to pay full price."
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You see, Rabbi Sheikah said he created a crisis here in the minds of the children of Judah
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and told them their king couldn't bring them out of it.
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Now look in verse 30 with me. We're in 2 Kings 18, verse 30.
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He said, "Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord,
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saying, 'The Lord will surely deliver us,
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and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.'"
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So there were two things there.
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Rabbi Sheikah said would be lies if Hezekiah told them.
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That is, one, if he tells you the Lord will surely deliver us. That's going to be a lie.
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And two, if he tells you this city, Jerusalem,
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will not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
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That's also going to be a lie.
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That's what Rabbi Sheikah is essentially saying here to Judah.
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In verse 29, he asserted that Hezekiah would not be able to deliver Judah out of the hand of Assyria.
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In this verse, he said the Lord God would not be able to deliver Judah out of the hand of Assyria.
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And you'll see that emphasized in subsequent verses that we'll get to probably in the next week or two.
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Now that takes it to another level.
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It's one thing for a man to predict victory for his country over another country.
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And Assyria's claim here was that they were the most powerful country in that part of the world.
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Maybe they thought they were the most powerful country in the whole world.
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I don't know.
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But certainly in this part of the world, and it was apparently so.
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But now, Rabbi Sheikah has alleged that not only was Assyria the most powerful country in this part of the world,
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but it was also the most powerful force in all the universe.
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Judah was warned not to let Hezekiah tell them that the Lord would deliver them.
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So this isn't about whether Hezekiah can deliver them,
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or whether another nation could join hands with Judah to deliver them.
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This is about whether the Lord could deliver them.
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And Rabbi Sheikah placed Assyria over the Lord God.
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He exalted Assyria over the Lord God.
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In fact, let's split our current verse up into two parts.
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The first one is, "The Lord shall deliver us."
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Now this is what Rabbi Sheikah said for Judah not to believe if their king told them,
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"The Lord shall not deliver us."
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Or excuse me, "The Lord shall deliver us."
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If Hezekiah said this, don't believe him.
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Now that's arrogant, and it's wicked, and that's what happens when you have an infidel,
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an unbeliever such as Rabbi Sheikah, threatening the people of God.
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And Rabbi Sheikah warned Judah not to believe what he called a lie.
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And that lie was that the Lord would surely deliver Judah from the hand of the Assyrians.
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Now, Rabbi Sheikah is saying to Judah what Satan's crowd has been saying to sinners all along.
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And it's very sneaky too.
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Write down Luke chapter 18 verses 10 through 12.
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Luke chapter 18 verses 10 through 12.
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Now we here at God's know that he has the power and the authority to save
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all who put their faith in his son.
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But this passage in Luke says, "Two men went up into the temple to pray,
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the one a Pharisee and the other a publican.
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The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,
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'God, I think thee that I am not as other men are,
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extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this publican.
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I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess.'"
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And if you read further down in that passage, you'll see that the publican
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would not so much as lift up his eyes, but he smote upon his breast.
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And he said, "Lord, be merciful to me a sinner."
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You notice he did not mention a single one of his own works.
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He did not mention a single one of the faults of the Pharisee.
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He didn't say, "Well, I'm glad I'm not arrogant like him.
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I'm glad I'm not A, B, or C like him." He just said,
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"Be merciful to me a sinner."
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And so the Pharisee praised his own works believing they would make him
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acceptable to God. The publican loathed his own works
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believing nothing but God's mercy would make him acceptable
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to God. And in this Pharisee's prayer, he was assuming that God accepted him
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and he thanked God he wasn't like this publican.
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Now, except for the few Pharisees who ended up believing
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the gospel, the majority of the Pharisees were unbelievers.
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And if they were in unbelief, then they who were the most religious
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people in all the world at that time,
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they rejected the notion that God could deliver
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anyone only through the faith and the gospel.
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And they believed the only way to be accepted by God
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was through the keeping of the law and the traditions
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that they made. And of course, they could not perfectly keep any of the law
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or those traditions. And as Rabshikha said, so the Pharisee
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implied when he was praying, "The Lord will not deliver you," that
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publican. He believed that God would accept him based upon his own works
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and that it must be those works that God looked at and honored.
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Notice the Pharisee did not say, "I've put my trust in
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the coming Messiah, the one who is now on earth and is about to die for my sins."
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He is the one John the Baptist spoke of. He's the one the prophet spoke of.
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The Pharisee never said anything about that. He said, "I've kept the law.
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I've done the ordinances and I'm not like this guy here.
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I'll tell you this, man that is born of woman is a few days in full of trouble."
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That's what Job said and he was exactly right. He didn't say, "Unless you're a
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Pharisee or unless you're a publican or unless
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you're this person or that person." You know, there are many denominations
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that believe that God cannot deliver them through the
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faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's how he delivers you. You believe
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the record God gave of his Son, that he was the Son of God. He died and
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was buried and rose again on the third day according to the scriptures. That's
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the gospel of Jesus Christ. We put our faith in the gospel.
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But I want you to listen to the...these are quotes from the statements of faith
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and I took three very large denominations. Now this is from the United
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Church of Christ. This is from their statement of faith.
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It said, "The United Church of Christ says we believe that all of the baptized
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belong body and soul to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
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All persons baptized, past, present, and future are connected to each other
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and to God through the sacrament of baptism." Now that's the United Church of
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Christ. So if anybody from the United Church of
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Christ tells you, "Oh we believe the same as you do."
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No you don't. Not if you believe what that statement of faith says right there.
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It says through baptism.
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The second one, the Jesus Christ Church of Latter-day Saints,
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or the Mormons, says in their statement of faith, "We believe that through the
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atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience
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to the laws and ordinances of the gospel." Well they first of all don't
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understand what the gospel is. The gospel is good news. It's not the
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laws and the ordinances. Jesus had to keep those because we couldn't.
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So they don't understand what the atonement of Christ was. They don't
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understand what the gospel was. And then the United Pentecostal Church
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International says, "The saving gospel is the good news
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that Jesus died for our sins, was buried, and rose again." Now that is
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absolutely true. But it further says, "We obey the gospel by repentance, death to
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sin, water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ,
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burial, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial sign of speaking
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in tongues as the Spirit gives utterance,
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resurrection." How they connect that with the resurrection I do not know.
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But that's their statement of faith.
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Do you notice how the true gospel is mentioned in there, but it's not
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left as the only way for a person to be accepted to God. They add something,
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every one of them added something in there didn't they?
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And one of them didn't even mention the gospel. They mentioned
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baptism. So what did you notice about each of those statements of faith?
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They all come to the same conclusion as that Pharisee did.
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That faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ alone
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cannot save you. That's the conclusion they came to.
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And when a religious body makes that kind of a statement, when they have that
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sort of a doctrine, they have denied that salvation is by
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grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.
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They've added their baptistries, their so-called speaking in tongues,
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their obedience to ordinances and keeping of the law.
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That's what the Pharisee did didn't he? He said, "I've done this and this and this
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and this." And you may have wondered how Rabbi Sheikah
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could make reference to the Lord God, but then tell Judah it was a lie
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that God alone would and could save Judah. He said he can't do it. He won't do it.
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And as we've studied the kings, we've seen these hybrid religions
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that Judah and Israel practice. And not only did those religions cast
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doubt upon God's ability to save, but these who practiced those hybrid
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religions put their faith in the ability of a
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false god to save them. Why else would they burn their children
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in the fire to Molech? Why else would they rear up
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statues in high places and sacrifice to them and burn incense to
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them? Because they believe there was something
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in those acts and ordinances and in those false gods that would
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save them, that would make them acceptable.
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And those false gods, by the way, take many forms then and now, some of which I
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read to you in the statements of faith from three large denominations.
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But where else have we seen a religion that says that God cannot or will not
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save you by faith alone in his dear son? Acts chapter 15 in verse 1,
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Acts chapter 15 verse 1, "And certain men which came down from
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Judea taught the brethren and said, 'Except you be
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circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved.'
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By calling them brethren, Luke, the author of the book of Acts,
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had already established that the men to whom these Judaizers spoke
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were already Christians. They were brethren.
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And the Judaizers told these brethren, 'You cannot be saved
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unless you've been circumcised after the manner of Moses.'
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Now there are all kinds of things wrong with that.
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Why did Luke recognize them as brethren? Because they were saved.
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God had saved them through belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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They were already saved and so the Pharisees came along and said, 'Hold on a minute now.
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You also have to be circumcised after the manner of Moses.'
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What is that saying? That is saying God can't save you just through the gospel.
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He's going to have to have you be circumcised.
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Now as you may have learned when studying the Old Testament,
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the circumcision of a male child was done
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to teach Israel about putting off sin.
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And as that part which was removed from the male child was put away,
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so our sin is put away when we are circumcised in our hearts,
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the inner man, that spiritual circumcision.
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Now the physical act of circumcision was not to save a person spiritually,
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but it was to teach them about the putting away of sin.
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Why think about these Pharisees or these Judaizers
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who told the brethren, 'Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses,
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you can't be saved.' What about the women?
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That doesn't apply to the women, does it? So there it falls on its face too.
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It's talking about that which is done right here in the inner man.
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In fact, that circumcision was a sign of an everlasting covenant
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between God and His people. Listen to the New Testament explanation of this.
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The New Testament teaches us what that circumcision meant.
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Colossians 2 verses 9 through 11.
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Speaking of Jesus, it says,
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"For in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
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and ye are complete in Him which is the head of all principality and power,
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in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made
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without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh
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by the circumcision of Christ."
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All right, now the arm of flesh has nothing to do with this circumcision
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because that verse says it's made without hands.
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And that work was accomplished by Jesus Christ,
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and it's applied to us by faith in Him.
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So if the Judaizers told the brethren here in Acts
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that they could not be saved except they be circumcised after the manner of Moses,
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they were pointing the brethren to what the arm of flesh had done
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rather than what the Lord Jesus Christ had done.
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What did Hezekiah tell his captains? He said, "With them is an arm of flesh,
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but with us is the Lord our God."
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And once a religious group starts down that road,
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they get further and further away from the Lord God their Creator
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and closer and closer to what the arm of flesh can do.
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And then the arm of flesh will decide they no longer need a Bible.
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They'll use the writings of some earthly man whose philosophies they admire.
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They'll build idols and images, and they will demean the Lord God their Creator
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saying He cannot deliver. And that's what Rab Sheikah did.
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Now the second lie, Rab Sheikah believed Hezekiah would tell Judah was,
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if you're looking back there in verse 30, "The city shall not be delivered into the
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hand of the king of Assyria." So not only is God not going to save you,
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but this city right here, it's not that God's going to leave you alone and
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we're going to leave you alone and you're going to scare us off.
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He said not only is God not going to be able to deliver you,
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but when your king tells you that this city, Jerusalem, will not fall into the
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hands of Assyria, he's lying about that too.
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It's bad enough to say that the Lord won't deliver us,
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deliver Judah from Assyria, but it's even more aggravating to say
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that Judah will be delivered into the hands of Assyria.
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Do you see how Rab Sheikah is saying without using these exact words,
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"Assyria is stronger than the Lord your God"?
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We can take what he can't deliver. Rab Sheikah was making that claim very
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boldly, "And oh how many nations have done this very thing?"
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Write down Revelation chapter 17 verses 5 through 7.
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Revelation 17 verses 5 through 7.
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"And upon her forehead was a name written, 'Mystery Babylon the Great,
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the Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.'
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And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints
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and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, and when I saw her I wondered with
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great admiration. And the angel said unto me, 'Wherefore
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didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the
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woman and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven
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heads and ten horns." Now I'm not going to try to expound
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that passage out of Revelation because you really need to study the entire book.
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In fact, you need to study the book of Joel and Daniel
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and then study the book of Revelation, but you at least need to study the entire
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book of Revelation to be able to understand what a lot of
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these phrases and words and references mean.
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However, you who studied Jeremiah with us several years ago,
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for several years, right, Nilda? I think it took us a few years to get through it.
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Remember when the physical earthly nation of Babylon
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was the nation God used to capture his people who were in sin. He delivered them
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into the hand of Babylon. And that physical nation of Babylon,
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which was a wicked nation, teaches us about the spiritual Babylon
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in Revelation, the one I just read to you.
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And I also want you to notice from the passage in Revelation
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that Babylon is associated, it says Babylon the Great,
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is associated with the beast. It said the beast
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carried her. The beast carried that same city, which is a spiritual city, it's all
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the wickedness of all the earth, carried that same city which had in it the
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blood of the saints and the martyrs.
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And in verse 2 of that passage, Revelation 17, too, it said that the
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kings of the earth had committed fornication
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with her. In other words, they saw her as more powerful than God.
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They trusted in Babylon rather than trusting
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in God. And this was the mindset of Rabshika
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when it came to the Lord. He thought Assyria was more powerful than the Lord.
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And just like the doom of Babylon in Revelation,
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such will be the end of everyone who in unbelief declares Babylon, Assyria, or
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any other earthly entity more powerful than the Lord.
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Back in our text in 2 Kings 18, let's look at verse 31.
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Rabshika continues, "Harken not to Hezekiah, for thus saith the
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king of Assyria, make an agreement with me by a present
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and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine,
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and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern."
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He said, "Harken not to Hezekiah."
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Now Hezekiah, the Bible tells us, met with his captains
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and spoke to them and encouraged them in the Lord. Those are the ones to whom he
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said, "With them as an arm of flesh, but with us
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is the Lord our God." So he didn't want them to be afraid of the Assyrians.
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But Rabshika said, "Don't listen to Hezekiah." Now he wasn't at the meeting, he just
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said, "Don't listen to him," because he figured he might say something
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like that. After all Hezekiah had a reputation, didn't he, as a godly king,
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the best king that they'd ever had, the one who tore down the high places and
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who restored the temple. He was held in high regard by the Lord,
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by the people, and admired from afar, even by his enemy. So
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Rabshika probably knew what types of things Hezekiah would say
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to his people. But he said, "Don't listen to him, whatever he says."
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That reminds me of what a guilty person would say
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when the police are interviewing his victim.
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In my profession, I've gone to lots of disturbance calls.
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And sometimes they involve family members who can't get along with each other
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without police intervention. Sometimes it involves neighbors who can't get along
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with each other without police intervention.
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And occasionally there are disturbances at places of business.
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Usually when a customer is not paid his bill
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and has had his service cut off by the business and he's mad and he's stomping
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around in their office. And when we go to those calls, we try to
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separate people. We don't need the complainant and the
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victim standing within two feet of each other while we try to talk to them.
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It doesn't work out very well. They're not very courteous. They interrupt.
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And so we separate them. And so if I have another deputy with me, I'll take
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one of the people over here and the other deputy will take the other person over
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there where we can have separate conversations.
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And then we switch and try to figure out whose story makes the most sense.
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Now during our interview with one of the parties, the other party,
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the other person may sometimes say something like this.
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Whatever he's saying, it's a lie. Now they can't hear what he's saying,
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but it's a lie. Or don't believe anything she says because she's always making
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stuff up. Now the person accusing the other person
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of lying has no idea exactly what that person is saying to us.
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And this was Rab Sheikah. He told Judah don't believe Hezekiah,
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even though he wasn't present during the conversation Hezekiah had,
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the words we read about with his captains.
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Rab Sheikah continues. He said, harken not to Hezekiah for thus saith the king of Assyria.
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What Rab Sheikah is saying here is, hey Judah, don't believe your king
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but believe my king. Don't trust the words you heard your king speak to you,
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but trust the words that you did not hear my king speak to me.
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And what were those words from Sennacherib? Well according to Rab Sheikah,
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here they were looking back in your text, verse 31.
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Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, told Hezekiah
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through Rab Sheikah. He said, make an agreement with me
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by a present. Now if you look down, if you have a King James translation,
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if you look down at the two words, an agreement, those are in italics.
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And if you're not familiar with what that means, it means the King James translators
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put those English words in there to help us understand the translation from Hebrew
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because the languages don't translate word for word.
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And so that's an assistance for us. The literal rendering of these words in Hebrew
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to English is, make with me a present. Make with me a present.
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And the Hebrew word for present here is almost always the word blessing.
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And what this means in this context is that Sennacherib, the king of Assyria,
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wants Hezekiah and Judah to team up with him to make a blessing.
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How's this going to work? Really the best way to understand it is,
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this is a proposed peace treaty. That's what it is.
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Judah does something to show their allegiance to Sennacherib and Assyria,
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and in return Sennacherib rewards Judah with something to show his acceptance of them.
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And that he'll protect them. Let's look at how this mutual blessing is supposed to be made.
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The first thing he says is, come out to me. Come out to me.
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Coming out of the city of Jerusalem to present themselves before Assyria
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was a symbolic gesture for the time being.
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But it was going to be the gateway to their captivity if they went through with it.
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After all, if the enemy can get you to come out from the protection of the walls of your city
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into the countryside there and meet with him, then he can get you to do it again.
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And so this tells us Judah, if you look at the phrase, come out, come out to me,
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look at the phrase, come out. This tells us that Judah had gone in somewhere, doesn't it?
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And that somewhere in this case was the fortified city of Jerusalem.
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And their earthly protection was behind that wall.
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And they were being told by the Assyrian king through his spokesman
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to come out from behind that wall. Now, Israel was a peculiar people
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whom God brought out of Egypt way back in the Exodus.
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And in Numbers, chapter 15, verse 41, Numbers 15, 41,
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God spoke to his people and he said, "I am the Lord your God which brought you out
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of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God."
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So not only did God bring them out, but he brought them into another place,
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brought them out of Egypt and brought them into another place.
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In Nehemiah, chapter 9, verse 23, Nehemiah 9, 23, if you don't know how to spell Nehemiah, just
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NEH, period. You can save face that way. Speaking of the children of Israel,
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Nehemiah reflects back to that time that he read about. He said, "Their children also multiplies
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thou as the stars of heaven and broadest them into the land." In other words, thou broadest
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them into the land. "Concerning which thou had promised to their fathers that they should go
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in to possess it." And the land into which God brought the children of Israel was called the
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Promised Land. And the capital city of that Promised Land was Jerusalem. And God's people
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were delivered into it and they took it from the previous owners of it. They didn't get them all
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out, all the enemies out. That's what caused many of their remaining problems. But they took over.
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God delivered that city to them. And in fact, more specifically in Joshua, chapter 15,
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it said that God delivered Jerusalem to Judah. That was in their lot of land, their boundaries
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and borders, all of that which is defined in those several books in Joshua. It said Judah
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was given Jerusalem as a possession. Now with all of this in mind, the king of Assyria, who represents
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the kingdom, the king of the kingdom of darkness, and Assyria represents the kingdom of darkness,
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just like Egypt, Assyria is demanding that Judah come out of a place into which God brought them.
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He's demanding they come to a place, Assyria, which represents the kingdom of darkness,
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just like Egypt. He's demanding they come to a place from which God delivered them.
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When God delivered Israel from Egypt, it wasn't just from that country. That was a picture of
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our exodus from sin. That was representative of the kingdom of darkness, a place in which
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the people were in bondage. And this is all the prince of darkness wants. He wants to take you
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away from where God brought you. He wants you to come out from the place into which God delivered
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you. He wants to bring you to a place from which God took you away. And he wants to take away that
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which God has given you. Prince of darkness, the devil, wants all of those things. Now the demands
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that Rabschica and his king, as Sennacher, placed upon Judah, were no different than the demands the
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devil places upon the people of God. Now because we who are Christians are secured in Jesus' hand,
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who is in the Father's hand, that's John chapter 10, 27 through 29, that's where you'll find that.
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Then the devil cannot take our salvation away. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they
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follow me and I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. Neither shall any man
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pluck them out of my hand for my Father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to
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pluck them out of my Father's hand. So if you ever want to read passage about the security of the
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believer, if anybody ever asks you why do you think you're once saved, always saved, just take them
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right there. That's enough. So the devil cannot take that away. That salvation, our spiritual man,
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it's secured. So again, you who tend to be anxious or worried about those things,
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put your faith in what God's word said. Don't worry about what man says.
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Now the devil though is a roaring lion, isn't he? The Bible tells us he
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walks around seeking who he may devour. If he can't have the Christian's spiritual man and he can't,
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what can he have? Well he can try to destroy your body and your mind. He can try to destroy those
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two things. Did God deliver you from drugs and alcohol? Satan will try to take you back to it.
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Did God deliver you from a foul mouth? Satan will try to take you back to it. He'll tell you it's
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not that bad. Those words are okay and before you know it, you're filling the air full of it.
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After telling Judah to come out to him,
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Rabbi Sheikah tells Judah the benefits that they will receive from the Assyrian king if they'll
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just come out to him. Look back in your text in verse 31. He says, "And come out to me, and then
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eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters
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of his sister." In other words, after you submit yourselves to me, Judah, I'll let you enjoy the
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fruits of your own labor. You can eat and drink just like you did before. It won't be any difference.
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The vines, the fig trees, and the cisterns, they'll still be yours. You can keep your doctor. Wait,
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that was not in there. I'm sorry, that was something that President Obama said about it,
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but it just came to mind. "Boy, does the devil know how to appeal to man's flesh.
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He offers fleshly pleasures in exchange for submitting to him." That's what Rabbi Sheikah
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did. He said, "You guys can eat and drink and own what you own to your heart's content."
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In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus had been fasting for 40 days in the wilderness, and it was then
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that Satan attempted to get Jesus to submit to him, to come out to him, if you will,
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in exchange for worldly comforts. And the first of those was, "Command that these stones be made
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bread." I know you're hungry. Do what I say. That's what, when you obey someone's word,
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you've submitted yourselves to them. Now, when I teach you God's word, if you submit yourself
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to what I say, you're submitting yourself to what God says. You're not following Brother Andy around
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going, "Oh, what's he going to tell me to do next?" I don't want you to do that, and I don't think you
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would. But when I tell you what God's word says and you do it, don't say, "Well, I guess I'll have
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to let Brother Andy get his way this time." I can't argue against that, no, it's God's word telling
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you what to do. I'm just his instrument. Now, when Jesus was tempted by the devil,
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I want you to listen to what Satan said to Jesus here in chapter 4, verse 3, and I just mentioned
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it. And when the tempter came to him, he said, "If thou be the Son of God,
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command that these stones be made bread." Now, who made those stones? Jesus did, God did, yeah.
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And if he made bread from those stones, and if he did just did what Satan said to do,
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Jesus could eat from his own stones. He could eat from his own creation.
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Wasn't he already doing that? He was. Anything Jesus ate as a man, anything he drank was something
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he made. Now, why would you be concerned about eating and drinking? We don't read anything in
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the last few chapters that said they were in famine. Oh, there were times when there was famine,
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but not here. Why is it that of all the things Sennachred could offer them,
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he offered them the freedom to eat from their own trees and vines and to drink from their own
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cisterns? That was his number one selling point. It's because most people are worldly.
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Now, if you remember back a few verses, he had told the three representatives Hezekiah sent out
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when they asked him, "Please don't speak in the Hebrew language, speak in our language."
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And Rabbi Sheikah said, "No, my king didn't send me to say these words. He sent me to say these words
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to all the people on the wall that they may eat their own dung and drink their own piss." That's
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what he said. Well, in a culinary sense, that would be the worst absolute thing you could put on your
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plate, right? And he's saying, "Hey guys, I got something better for you. You can either eat and
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drink what we're about to make you eat and drink if you don't submit to us, or you can eat figs.
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You can eat from your vines and you can drink from your own cisterns." Now, comparatively,
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that sounds a whole lot better than the alternative, doesn't it? But he offered them these things
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because most people are worldly. The devil knows what works. They're motivated by carnal things.
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Now, that doesn't mean those things are bad. There's nothing wrong with eating. I did that this
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morning. Most of you probably did. And we'll probably eat again and then maybe one or two
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more times before the day's over and we're going to drink something, keep our bodies hydrated.
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Those aren't bad things by themselves.
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Listen to a... Now, if they're used to disobey God, they are. And that's what Sennacherib
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through Rabshika was trying to get Judah to do. "Come out to him, which would be disobeying God,
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and we'll make sure you have plenty to eat and drink and you can own your own
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cisterns, vines, and trees." Here's a passage from Matthew chapter 6 and verse 25,
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where Jesus said, this is Matthew 6, 25, "Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life." That
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means don't worry about your life. "What ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body,
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what ye shall put on, is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment," which is clothing.
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Jesus said, "The food that you eat and what you drink, what you wear, should not be the things
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that you're worried about." That should not be what motivates you. Life is about much more than
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what you eat and what you wear and what you drink. And he goes on to say in verse 33 of that same
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chapter, that's Matthew 6, 33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all
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these things shall be added unto you." If Rabbi Sheikah had written that, he'd say, "But seek ye
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first the kingdom of Assyria, and all these things shall be added unto you." You see how the devil is
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a counterfeiter and marches right along beside what Jesus Christ tells us, what the benefits are
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of being a kingdom citizen. Hey, I can do that too. We can do that too. What did the magicians
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do whenever Aaron and Moses performed those miracles? They said they did so with their
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enchantments. They did in like manner with their enchantments. They paralleled what Moses and Aaron
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did until a certain point and they couldn't do it anymore. "But you seek God in his righteousness,
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and all the earthly things will be taken care of." And when a person such as Sennacherib tells Judah
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to submit to him in return for food and drink, he is counting on those people being carnal
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just like most of the world is. So what does that mean? Most of the world will fall for that.
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When God described the Promised Land, what was one of the things he said about it?
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Exodus chapter 3 verse 8, we're almost done. Exodus 3, 8, he said, "And I am come down to deliver
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them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land
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and a large unto a land flowing with milk and honey unto the place of the Canaanites and the
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Hittites and Amorites and the Parazites and the Hivites and the Jebusites." Milk and honey, that is,
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drinking food that almost everyone loves. It was in the hand of the Canaanites and the Hittites and
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Amorites, Parazites, Hivites and Jebusites, but God said, "I'm going to give you their milk and honey."
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"I'm going to give you something to eat and something to drink."
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And of course, the milk and honey meant more than just that.
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So Sennach had promised to give Judah freedom to eat from their vines, their trees, and drink from
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their own cisterns when God had already given those things to them. And when Judah obeyed the
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Lord, he protected them, he blessed them, and he gave them peace from their enemies. Why then would
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Judah or Israel or we ever seek to make a covenant with an earthly king in exchange for carnal
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pleasures? And with that, we'll stop for the day and pick up with verse 32 next week. Let's pray.
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Father, thank you for the instruction of your word that no matter where we turn,
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Old or New Testament, any chapter, any passage of the Bible, we can learn truth that we can apply
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today. Father, these aren't old traditions that were kept by man one time and which are irrelevant
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now as some would suppose, but they're life-giving to us. They're just as fresh as when you spoke them
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into the ears of the prophets and the apostles. So help us to learn from them now
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to increase our faith in Jesus' name. Amen.
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