Episode Transcript
2 Kings chapter 18 verse 32.
00:00 --> 00:04
2 Kings 18 verse 32.
00:04 --> 00:08
I'm glad you've joined us at the 10 o'clock hour. We ended our Bible study
00:08 --> 00:24
last week in the middle of a verse.
00:24 --> 00:28
That's not ideal, but when it happens we just cut it off like
00:28 --> 00:32
bologna and pick it up next week, don't we, Brother Doug? That's how we do it.
00:32 --> 00:36
We're not worried about time.
00:36 --> 00:40
And Rab Sheikah, the Assyrian military
00:40 --> 00:44
leader, continued trying to persuade
00:44 --> 00:48
Judah to submit to the king of Assyria.
00:48 --> 00:52
He told them how wonderful their lives would be if they just did that.
00:52 --> 00:56
And the last selling point
00:56 --> 01:00
we read from Rab Sheikah was at the beginning of verse 32
01:00 --> 01:04
where he said, "Until I come
01:04 --> 01:08
and take you away to a land like your own land."
01:08 --> 01:12
A land like your own land is where we stopped
01:12 --> 01:16
last week. And our companion text was found in
01:16 --> 01:20
2 Corinthians chapter 11, so if you'll go ahead and turn there again
01:20 --> 01:24
and we'll try to finish that one up.
01:24 --> 01:28
2 Corinthians 11
01:28 --> 01:32
in fact you can just turn there and hold your place there because I'm going to go right
01:32 --> 01:36
to it. When we read verses 3 and
01:36 --> 01:40
4 in 2 Corinthians 11 we learned how much of a
01:40 --> 01:44
counter-fitter Satan is.
01:44 --> 01:48
So our text in 2 Kings
01:48 --> 01:52
showed us how Satan uses his earthly
01:52 --> 01:56
ministers, the king of Assyria being one and of course
01:56 --> 02:00
Rab Sheikah being his representative,
02:00 --> 02:04
but how Satan uses those earthly
02:04 --> 02:08
representatives to appeal to the flesh
02:08 --> 02:12
when trying to draw people away from the Bible
02:12 --> 02:16
and away from the Lord. And it's easy for him to do because
02:16 --> 02:20
the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is
02:20 --> 02:24
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. That's what the apostle Paul wrote.
02:24 --> 02:28
And in
02:28 --> 02:32
fact I love, Brother Fulton and I exchange text messages
02:32 --> 02:36
not every day, but if one of us
02:36 --> 02:40
studies something or comes across a truth or perhaps
02:40 --> 02:44
sees an article that pertains to the church, usually the
02:44 --> 02:48
downgrade of the church, then we'll share that with one another.
02:48 --> 02:52
And he listened to the Sunday School lesson one or two Sundays ago
02:52 --> 02:56
and properly called this the Assyrian Covenant.
02:56 --> 03:00
That's what the Assyrian king was trying to get
03:00 --> 03:04
Judah to join. Now they already had a covenant, didn't they? It was with the Lord
03:04 --> 03:08
their God. And that covenant excluded them from being a member
03:08 --> 03:12
of any other covenant. So if you're
03:12 --> 03:16
now in 2 Corinthians chapter
03:16 --> 03:20
11 verses 3 through 4,
03:20 --> 03:24
when we left off there last week, we saw how Satan
03:24 --> 03:28
counterfeits in the church
03:28 --> 03:32
by using preachers who preach another gospel
03:32 --> 03:36
and speak of another spirit.
03:36 --> 03:40
And we looked at the word "preacheth"
03:40 --> 03:44
there in chapter 11 verse
03:44 --> 03:48
3 through 4.
03:48 --> 03:52
And that was actually in verse 4. And that
03:52 --> 03:56
word "preacheth" was important because when Satan tries to counterfeit
03:56 --> 04:00
in the church, he does it through preaching. And
04:00 --> 04:04
what he preaches is a false gospel. That's how that
04:04 --> 04:08
false gospel gets transmitted to the ears of the people
04:08 --> 04:12
is through preaching. That's how that other
04:12 --> 04:16
spirit, which we learned was the spirit of antichrist, is taught
04:16 --> 04:20
to the people. It's through preaching. It's not through
04:20 --> 04:24
some scary, dynamic, sideshow
04:24 --> 04:28
or anything like that.
04:28 --> 04:32
It's when Satan takes what he wants
04:32 --> 04:36
and puts it right next to God's word, tries to run parallel
04:36 --> 04:40
with it like a set of train tracks and say, "It's close.
04:40 --> 04:44
It's good. It's even better than what you have over here."
04:44 --> 04:48
We looked at the words "another spirit." That was the
04:48 --> 04:52
antichrist. Then we looked at the words "another gospel,"
04:52 --> 04:56
which we learned was a false gospel.
04:56 --> 05:00
And the message that all these false preachers preach,
05:00 --> 05:04
just like the message Rabshika gave to Judah,
05:04 --> 05:08
is a message like
05:08 --> 05:12
your own message. It sounds an awful lot like it.
05:12 --> 05:16
And that's the spiritual application
05:16 --> 05:20
of these promises Rabshika made to Judah,
05:20 --> 05:24
promising that Assyria would be like the land
05:24 --> 05:28
of Judah. Now let's finish the use
05:28 --> 05:32
of this passage here in 2 Corinthians by looking at
05:32 --> 05:36
one more point. Look in verse
05:36 --> 05:40
4. I'll go ahead and read the whole verse.
05:40 --> 05:44
"For if he that cometh preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached,
05:44 --> 05:48
or if ye receive another spirit which ye have not received, or another gospel which ye have not accepted,
05:48 --> 05:52
ye might well bear with him."
05:52 --> 05:56
Now that's what I want us to look at because that's the danger
05:56 --> 06:00
Judah faces, is after all these things
06:00 --> 06:04
Rabshika says, and we're not through with what he's saying,
06:04 --> 06:08
will Judah bear with it? Will they be okay with it?
06:08 --> 06:12
And Paul was concerned about the possibility
06:12 --> 06:16
that the Corinthian church would allow some
06:16 --> 06:20
false preacher to preach another gospel,
06:20 --> 06:24
another Jesus, another spirit, and then that the
06:24 --> 06:28
congregation would bear with that preacher. The words "bear with"
06:28 --> 06:32
mean to endure.
06:32 --> 06:36
Or we might say to put up with. They'd put up with it.
06:36 --> 06:40
Now if someone got into this pulpit and preached another Jesus,
06:40 --> 06:44
another gospel, another spirit, I hope you would not
06:44 --> 06:48
put up with it. I hope you'd say, well that's enough
06:48 --> 06:52
either he goes or I go. And make sure one of those
06:52 --> 06:56
happens. You know there are people that I know
06:56 --> 07:00
personally, and not just in one church but in a couple
07:00 --> 07:04
of different churches, where something happened where the
07:04 --> 07:08
pastor had committed gross immorality. I mean it was
07:08 --> 07:12
just in everyone's face. And after all the dust settled,
07:12 --> 07:16
most of the people stayed there at the church. They were
07:16 --> 07:20
willing to put up with it and it just baffled me and
07:20 --> 07:24
they demonized the people who left. And those people who left
07:24 --> 07:28
for scriptural reasons, and I mean they were on solid ground.
07:28 --> 07:32
One of those pastors
07:32 --> 07:36
was finally arrested and was a registered sex offender and it still
07:36 --> 07:40
is. So can you imagine the church where
07:40 --> 07:44
he was saying, we're good with him. He's okay. We like brother so and so.
07:44 --> 07:48
They put up with it. And that's what Paul was afraid of with
07:48 --> 07:52
this false gospel, is that the people would put up with it.
07:52 --> 07:56
And if you remember the Corinthian church at this reading
07:56 --> 08:00
here was a newly planted church. It hadn't been around that long.
08:00 --> 08:04
And it had new believers. And if you're a new believer, or
08:04 --> 08:08
if you're a believer who's not really grown in your understanding of the gospel
08:08 --> 08:12
and the Bible as a whole, then you
08:12 --> 08:16
might well bear with one like Rabshekah,
08:16 --> 08:20
the false prophet who promises you a land like
08:20 --> 08:24
your own. Now let's go back to our text
08:24 --> 08:28
we've done with the Corinthian chapter
08:28 --> 08:32
for now. And let's see how the land
08:32 --> 08:36
of Assyria was said to be
08:36 --> 08:40
like the land of Judah. What was the evidence that it was like
08:40 --> 08:44
the land of Judah? At least what would Rabshekah say was the
08:44 --> 08:48
evidence that Assyria was like Judah?
08:48 --> 08:52
So back in your text in verse 32, if you've just joined us
08:52 --> 08:56
by way of the internet we're in 2 Kings 18 verse 32.
08:56 --> 09:00
"He said until I come and take you
09:00 --> 09:04
away to a land like your own land, a land of
09:04 --> 09:08
corn and wine." Well we'll start with that.
09:08 --> 09:12
A land of corn and wine. The Hebrew word for corn is also
09:12 --> 09:16
translated wheat in a couple of other places so the
09:16 --> 09:20
corn represents some grain that is
09:20 --> 09:24
part of a plant that's grown for food.
09:24 --> 09:28
And we use corn to make cornbread and tamales and tortillas.
09:28 --> 09:32
We eat corn on the cob, off the cob,
09:32 --> 09:36
and from wheat we'll make bread and cereal and so forth.
09:36 --> 09:40
The word wine here is from the Hebrew word
09:40 --> 09:44
that means a freshly pressed grape. Now there
09:44 --> 09:48
is another Hebrew word for wine and it's "Yaiin" which is
09:48 --> 09:52
the intoxicated type. But this is the freshly pressed
09:52 --> 09:56
grape. Now we eat grapes and we drink grape juice.
09:56 --> 10:00
And a land of corn and wine is a land with plenty to eat and plenty
10:00 --> 10:04
to drink. That's the way you look at this. And that's what drives
10:04 --> 10:08
most people in their daily lives is do I have something to eat
10:08 --> 10:12
and do I have something to drink? Now we all need something to
10:12 --> 10:16
eat and drink, don't we? Several times a day in fact. We enjoy
10:16 --> 10:20
those pleasures, those blessings that God's given us.
10:20 --> 10:24
But if that's what you look forward to
10:24 --> 10:28
every day and that's pretty much all you look forward to every day
10:28 --> 10:32
you've got a lousy life. I'm going to tell you that. You are among
10:32 --> 10:36
all people most measurable because the quality of your food and drink will determine
10:36 --> 10:40
your happiness. The availability of your food and drink will determine
10:40 --> 10:44
your satisfaction.
10:44 --> 10:48
And even though Assyria promises
10:48 --> 10:52
to have much corn and wine
10:52 --> 10:56
God told his people not to make covenants
10:56 --> 11:00
with other nations. So
11:00 --> 11:04
there has to be a bad ending to this corn and wine
11:04 --> 11:08
the corn and wine of Assyria. There's a bad ending
11:08 --> 11:12
to it. In Genesis chapter 27
11:12 --> 11:16
Isaac was blessing
11:16 --> 11:20
his sons and he blessed his son Jacob
11:20 --> 11:24
and of course if you know the story Jacob
11:24 --> 11:28
fooled his dad into thinking he was Esau
11:28 --> 11:32
the first born. Now Jacob was pretty good at trickery. In fact
11:32 --> 11:36
his name Jacob means deceiver or supplanter
11:36 --> 11:40
so he was born to deceive at least at first.
11:40 --> 11:44
So Jacob convinced
11:44 --> 11:48
his dad it's Esau put some animal hair on the back
11:48 --> 11:52
of his hands and all of that.
11:52 --> 11:56
And during this blessing Jacob said
11:56 --> 12:00
or excuse me Isaac said "therefore God
12:00 --> 12:04
give thee of the dew of heaven and the fatness
12:04 --> 12:08
of the earth and plenty of corn and wine."
12:08 --> 12:12
Notice who Isaac said
12:12 --> 12:16
to give this corn and wine.
12:16 --> 12:20
He didn't say therefore Assyria give thee
12:20 --> 12:24
of the dew of heaven, the fatness of the land, and the corn
12:24 --> 12:28
and wine. He said God give thee.
12:28 --> 12:32
On whom did Isaac rely to give his son Jacob
12:32 --> 12:36
corn and wine? God.
12:36 --> 12:40
He didn't say for anyone else to give
12:40 --> 12:44
him that. Now God may give you corn and wine through this means
12:44 --> 12:48
or that means but it's God who gives it to you.
12:48 --> 12:52
And not only did the corn and wine of Assyria have a
12:52 --> 12:56
bad ending but if God's people
12:56 --> 13:00
fell for that then they would learn to rely
13:00 --> 13:04
on the nations for their corn and wine
13:04 --> 13:08
rather than relying on God for it.
13:08 --> 13:12
If you look at the time in the Bible before
13:12 --> 13:16
the bondage of the children of Israel in Egypt
13:16 --> 13:20
what was going on that caused
13:20 --> 13:24
the children of Israel to even come into contact with Egypt?
13:24 --> 13:28
Jacob told his sons he said we've got a famine
13:28 --> 13:32
go to Egypt and buy the corn.
13:32 --> 13:36
They looked to a nation for their corn
13:36 --> 13:40
for their food during the famine instead of saying Lord here we are
13:40 --> 13:44
we've got a famine and you've told us not to make a covenant
13:44 --> 13:48
with any other nation so we're turning to you and we
13:48 --> 13:52
trust you to do what's best here. God never failed him. He never
13:52 --> 13:56
starved his people out when they turned to him. But they said we're
13:56 --> 14:00
going to go to Egypt and what ended up happening? Oh they had some good
14:00 --> 14:04
years in Egypt until there came a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph
14:04 --> 14:08
and then there was that 400 years of bondage. It had a
14:08 --> 14:12
bad ending didn't it?
14:12 --> 14:16
In fact we've already studied Hosea chapter 7 during the
14:16 --> 14:20
pastor's lesson at the 11 o'clock hour. It's been a little while
14:20 --> 14:24
since we were in Hosea 7 and we saw what happens
14:24 --> 14:28
when God's people rely on the Gentiles for corn and wine.
14:28 --> 14:32
That's what Rabbi Sheikah was trying to get Judah to do here.
14:32 --> 14:36
In Hosea chapter 7 verse 14
14:36 --> 14:40
Hosea 7 verse 14
14:40 --> 14:44
God speaking about the children of Israel said and they have not cried unto me
14:44 --> 14:48
with their heart when they howled upon their beds. They
14:48 --> 14:52
assemble themselves for corn and wine and they rebel against me.
14:52 --> 14:56
That's as clear as it can be. They didn't seek
14:56 --> 15:00
the Lord for the corn and the wine which is more than just the corn and the wine.
15:00 --> 15:04
It's all of the abundance.
15:04 --> 15:08
They didn't seek God for it. And it's not the corn and wine that
15:08 --> 15:12
made them rebel in that verse. It was the fact that their
15:12 --> 15:16
hearts had not cried out to the Lord their God. They depended
15:16 --> 15:20
on the Gentile nations rather than on God.
15:20 --> 15:24
But what an encouragement it is to know that one day
15:24 --> 15:28
God is going to provide that corn and wine to his people
15:28 --> 15:32
spiritually speaking.
15:32 --> 15:36
Joel chapter 2 verses 18 through 19
15:36 --> 15:40
says about that time
15:44 --> 15:48
Then will the Lord be jealous for his land and pity his people.
15:48 --> 15:52
May the Lord will answer and say unto his people, Behold
15:52 --> 15:56
I will send you corn and wine
15:56 --> 16:00
and oil and ye shall be satisfied
16:00 --> 16:04
therewith and I will no more make you a reproach
16:04 --> 16:08
among the heathen. So the spiritual truth there
16:08 --> 16:12
is that God will greatly bless his people
16:12 --> 16:16
and when he does we will be satisfied
16:16 --> 16:20
with those blessings and we won't be a reproach among the nations
16:20 --> 16:24
anymore. I'll tell you something Israel and Judah at this time were
16:24 --> 16:28
a reproach to the nations. You saw how Assyria
16:28 --> 16:32
treated them. They've already taken at this time in history
16:32 --> 16:36
they've already taken Samaria. They've already taken Israel. And now they're at the
16:36 --> 16:40
walls of Jerusalem saying submit to us we're about to take
16:40 --> 16:44
you as well. They made fun of the God of Israel, of the
16:44 --> 16:48
people, their religion, all of that. They talked to them like
16:48 --> 16:52
dogs. They were a reproach among those nations and
16:52 --> 16:56
that was the fault of the children of Israel.
16:56 --> 17:00
And depending on God
17:00 --> 17:04
for earthly blessings which is the lesson we need to learn here
17:04 --> 17:08
depending on God for earthly blessings which is what this
17:08 --> 17:12
corn and wine and these other things we'll read about in our text are
17:12 --> 17:16
it reminds us to depend on him for spiritual
17:16 --> 17:20
blessings which are eternal.
17:20 --> 17:24
Those blessings are not in Assyria.
17:24 --> 17:28
Nor do they come from Assyria.
17:28 --> 17:32
To press this point home just a little bit more let's look at what Jesus
17:32 --> 17:36
said about this very lesson concerning physical food.
17:36 --> 17:40
It's found in John chapter 4 and if you read
17:40 --> 17:44
that chapter you'll see that Jesus had just
17:44 --> 17:48
done a great work in the life of the woman he met at the well.
17:48 --> 17:52
And he taught her about the true worship.
17:52 --> 17:56
He taught her about the water of life.
17:56 --> 18:00
And when he taught her about the water, now what was she doing?
18:00 --> 18:04
She was drawing physical water from a well, from an earthly well
18:04 --> 18:08
wasn't she? That's what we do. We go get water. Either from
18:08 --> 18:12
the well or from the faucet or the garden hose or the creek, wherever you get
18:12 --> 18:16
your water from. But when he taught her about that water
18:16 --> 18:20
he directed her attention away from the fulfillment
18:20 --> 18:24
that earthly water brings. In fact he told her
18:24 --> 18:28
you're going to get thirsty again if you drink this water.
18:28 --> 18:32
And he showed her how there was a water she could drink
18:32 --> 18:36
and that she would never thirst again if she drank that water.
18:36 --> 18:40
And after this time
18:40 --> 18:44
of course he told her you have five husbands, the one you're living with is not
18:44 --> 18:48
your husband, all of that. But after this time
18:48 --> 18:52
when the woman left, she testified
18:52 --> 18:56
she said come see a man who told me all
18:56 --> 19:00
things that ever I did. It's not this the Christ.
19:00 --> 19:04
She was the disciple
19:04 --> 19:08
if you will. She wasn't one of the twelve but she became
19:08 --> 19:12
a believer and what did she do? She went out and told people what
19:12 --> 19:16
happened to her. Told people what God had done.
19:16 --> 19:20
And after that the disciples
19:20 --> 19:24
went looking for Jesus. And here is their conversation
19:24 --> 19:28
that's found in John 4
19:28 --> 19:32
it's verses 31 through 34. Verse 31 through 34
19:32 --> 19:36
I wanted to tell you about that woman in the well so you'll see
19:36 --> 19:40
the context of this conversation. This happened right after
19:40 --> 19:44
Jesus meeting with that woman at the well. In the meanwhile
19:44 --> 19:48
his disciples prayed him saying, "Master
19:48 --> 19:52
eat." Now they were telling Jesus you need to eat something.
19:52 --> 19:56
But he said unto them, "I have meat to eat that you know not of."
19:56 --> 20:00
Therefore said his disciples one to another,
20:00 --> 20:04
"Hath any man brought him ought to eat?"
20:04 --> 20:08
Jesus saith unto them, "My meat is to do the will
20:08 --> 20:12
of him that sent me and to finish his work."
20:12 --> 20:16
Even Jesus disciples assumed
20:16 --> 20:20
that what Jesus needed to do the most was eat earthly
20:20 --> 20:24
food at that time. They had his priorities lined out for him.
20:24 --> 20:28
Jesus before you do anything else you need to eat. Can you imagine somebody
20:28 --> 20:32
telling God when it's time to eat? But that's what they did.
20:32 --> 20:36
Don't you think Jesus could have eaten any
20:36 --> 20:40
time he wanted to? Of course he could. He endured
20:40 --> 20:44
40 days without food in that wilderness after
20:44 --> 20:48
his baptism. Satan knew he was hungry. He
20:48 --> 20:52
tried to get him to eat too didn't he? Turn these stones into bread.
20:52 --> 20:56
And Jesus told Satan, he said,
20:56 --> 21:00
"Nope, man does not live by bread alone,
21:00 --> 21:04
but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
21:04 --> 21:08
And he taught the woman at the well
21:08 --> 21:12
the satisfaction from the water in that well would be
21:12 --> 21:16
short lived, but the satisfaction from the water he gave
21:16 --> 21:20
would be eternal. And now Jesus
21:20 --> 21:24
disciples are focusing on the earthly food they thought
21:24 --> 21:28
that he needed the most. When I was
21:28 --> 21:32
studying this last night I thought about a song
21:32 --> 21:36
my little Sarah made up when she was about 5
21:36 --> 21:40
and I heard her singing it upstairs
21:40 --> 21:44
and she made up a lot of songs by the way.
21:44 --> 21:48
But this one, the title of it was called "Jesus Always Eats His Food."
21:48 --> 21:52
How about that?
21:52 --> 21:56
Jesus always eats his food and it was precious.
21:56 --> 22:00
At the supper table most parents like me tell our kids
22:00 --> 22:04
you need to finish your plate or eat your food. Eat all your food up.
22:04 --> 22:08
That's usually the requirement before they get dessert or get to
22:08 --> 22:12
get up and go play, do whatever they were doing before supper.
22:12 --> 22:16
And I'm not sure who told her that Jesus always eats his food.
22:16 --> 22:20
Maybe nobody did, but in her little mind that was true and it was worth
22:20 --> 22:24
turning into a song. It was a virtue to
22:24 --> 22:28
be emulated and it would be easy to look at these
22:28 --> 22:32
disciples though that we read about and say you guys are so thick-headed.
22:32 --> 22:36
It's not about the physical food.
22:36 --> 22:40
But Jesus would use this occasion to teach them and us yet another
22:40 --> 22:44
spiritual lesson. I agree with what Brother Fulton said last
22:44 --> 22:48
week when he was talking about these great kings in the Bible
22:48 --> 22:52
and how their sins were also
22:52 --> 22:56
mentioned. And some of them were
22:56 --> 23:00
sinful kings. They were terrible kings.
23:00 --> 23:04
And how he was glad they were written down and I am too so we can learn from
23:04 --> 23:08
them. Because there's not any finger pointing from us
23:08 --> 23:12
to say, "Uh-huh, you see what David did? Let me tell you I couldn't tie
23:12 --> 23:16
David's shoes." And nobody else around here could either.
23:16 --> 23:20
But his sins were magnified
23:20 --> 23:24
for us that we might learn that even
23:24 --> 23:28
the one who is closest to God in his daily walk can fall
23:28 --> 23:32
and it can happen that quickly. And it happens through the
23:32 --> 23:36
same lust of the flesh that anyone else has. So even
23:36 --> 23:40
these in Judah, and there probably weren't very many, but we know
23:40 --> 23:44
Hezekiah was one who walked with God and perhaps some of those priests
23:44 --> 23:48
and some of his representatives and the people did, it was a remnant no doubt.
23:48 --> 23:52
But perhaps they understood this
23:52 --> 23:56
lesson. We'll die here before we
23:56 --> 24:00
put our hand out and let Assyria feed us and give us
24:00 --> 24:04
corn and wine and protection.
24:04 --> 24:08
And it's not in the passage I read you from John 4, it's not that
24:08 --> 24:12
God never wanted Jesus to eat.
24:12 --> 24:16
Jesus was a man and ate food just like we do. He drank water just like
24:16 --> 24:20
we do. But He did not depend on physical
24:20 --> 24:24
food to sustain Him as a man.
24:24 --> 24:28
You think about it, Jesus didn't come here to live a long, healthy, happy life.
24:28 --> 24:32
33 years is not a long
24:32 --> 24:36
time to be alive. In fact, we would call that a tragic
24:36 --> 24:40
untimely death if somebody who was 33
24:40 --> 24:44
died for whatever reason.
24:44 --> 24:48
Jesus instead came here to show Himself
24:48 --> 24:52
to man, to obey the law perfectly
24:52 --> 24:56
and to suffer and to give His life a ransom for others.
24:56 --> 25:00
He knew He would suffer, He was God. He gave His
25:00 --> 25:04
life a ransom for sinners. And although He was
25:04 --> 25:08
probably physically hungry, His priority
25:08 --> 25:12
was to do the will of the Father.
25:12 --> 25:16
And if His disciples had been dialed in spiritually,
25:16 --> 25:20
they would have greeted Him and instead of saying, "Master,
25:20 --> 25:24
here you need to eat," they would have said, "Master,
25:24 --> 25:28
what a great thing you did for that woman at the well.
25:28 --> 25:32
You taught her about eternal life and true worship and
25:32 --> 25:36
about a water that would sustain her forever."
25:36 --> 25:40
But instead they greeted Jesus with a concern for His physical health.
25:40 --> 25:44
Was that a bad thing? No, but it wasn't the priority
25:44 --> 25:48
at that time. Jesus' disciples loved Him
25:48 --> 25:52
and He used this moment to teach them
25:52 --> 25:56
what I hope we are learning from our text about the
25:56 --> 26:00
Assyrian covenant. When Jesus told His disciples, "I have
26:00 --> 26:04
meat to eat that you know not of,"
26:04 --> 26:08
they wondered if someone had slipped Him some food without their knowledge,
26:08 --> 26:12
didn't they? They said, "If any man brought Him ought to eat,"
26:12 --> 26:16
and it wasn't until Jesus said, "My meat
26:16 --> 26:20
is to do the will of Him that sent me in to finish His work,"
26:20 --> 26:24
that they realized what He was teaching them.
26:24 --> 26:28
He didn't come to finish a plate of food, He came to finish the work of God.
26:28 --> 26:32
Now let's go back to our text here
26:32 --> 26:36
in 2 Kings 18, 32.
26:36 --> 26:40
How else is Assyria said to be
26:40 --> 26:44
a land like your own land? It says
26:44 --> 26:48
in verse 32, it's a land of bread.
26:48 --> 26:52
It's a land of corn and wine, a land of bread.
26:52 --> 26:56
Now bread is made from the wheat we just read about.
26:56 --> 27:00
You plant water wheat, the wheat grows, you process the wheat,
27:00 --> 27:04
separate the wheat and the chaff and do all those things that you may already know about.
27:04 --> 27:08
You make the bread, you eat the bread,
27:08 --> 27:12
but the word bread here is also
27:12 --> 27:16
a general word for
27:16 --> 27:20
food. It's not limited to bread made out of a grain, so bread could
27:20 --> 27:24
be any type of food. Just like in the Old Testament
27:24 --> 27:28
the word meat is also
27:28 --> 27:32
a meal. It can be corn meal. It doesn't have to be
27:32 --> 27:36
flesh from an animal.
27:36 --> 27:40
So let's learn a very important lesson, a spiritual
27:40 --> 27:44
lesson about bread, because this
27:44 --> 27:48
Rabbi Sheikah from Assyria said Assyria is a land of bread, and that's
27:48 --> 27:52
why you need to submit to us and come there.
27:52 --> 27:56
When Adam and Eve were in the garden, before
27:56 --> 28:00
sin entered into the world, their food was the
28:00 --> 28:04
fruit of every tree in that garden except for one.
28:04 --> 28:08
That's what they'd live by. We read
28:08 --> 28:12
nowhere that they had to break out the plows,
28:12 --> 28:16
yoke the oxen, plant the seeds, water them,
28:16 --> 28:20
fight off the weeds until the
28:20 --> 28:24
crops produced their grains and then go through all the labor of
28:24 --> 28:28
having to break that down and separate the wheat and chaff.
28:28 --> 28:32
You don't see any of that. God said, "Of all the trees in the garden
28:32 --> 28:36
thou mayest freely eat thereof, but the tree of the knowledge of
28:36 --> 28:40
good and evil thou shalt not eat, for in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."
28:40 --> 28:44
And when sin
28:44 --> 28:48
entered into the world and man was evicted from the garden,
28:48 --> 28:52
God said this to Adam in Genesis chapter 3 verse 19.
28:52 --> 28:56
Genesis chapter 3 verse 19.
28:56 --> 29:00
You're going to hear the word "bread."
29:00 --> 29:04
"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread."
29:04 --> 29:08
Now before then he didn't have to eat bread in the sweat of his face, did he?
29:08 --> 29:12
He just went and picked from the trees that God put in the garden and they were sustained.
29:12 --> 29:16
"In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
29:16 --> 29:20
till thou return unto the ground. For out of it was thou taken,
29:20 --> 29:24
for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return."
29:24 --> 29:28
Now to make bread or food
29:28 --> 29:32
Adam would have to prepare the ground, plant the seed,
29:32 --> 29:36
water the seed, hoe the weeds, gather the grain, process it,
29:36 --> 29:40
and cook it and eat it, and that's a lot of work.
29:40 --> 29:44
That was work that he wouldn't have had to have done in the garden.
29:44 --> 29:48
He dressed it and kept it. That was his assignment in the garden.
29:48 --> 29:52
And to eat meat from an animal, Adam would have to raise it,
29:52 --> 29:56
feed it, make sure it had water and keep
29:56 --> 30:00
the predators away, protect it, and then kill it,
30:00 --> 30:04
dress it, cook it, and eat it.
30:04 --> 30:08
And after what God called the sweat of thy face in Genesis 3.19,
30:08 --> 30:12
after the sweat of thy face Adam would
30:12 --> 30:16
eat that bread, that meat.
30:16 --> 30:20
And he would do that until he died and returned to the ground.
30:20 --> 30:24
That bread would prolong
30:24 --> 30:28
his life, but it would not give him life.
30:28 --> 30:32
In Genesis chapter 5.5
30:32 --> 30:36
it says, "And all the days that Adam lived were
30:36 --> 30:40
nine hundred and thirty years and he died." Now nine hundred and thirty years
30:40 --> 30:44
is a long time, but it's not eternity.
30:44 --> 30:48
He ate bread for nine hundred and thirty years.
30:48 --> 30:52
Well, we don't know how long he was in the garden,
30:52 --> 30:56
but he ate bread probably the better part of that nine hundred and thirty years
30:56 --> 31:00
and he still died.
31:00 --> 31:04
And as I considered Adam's new horticultural duties after being
31:04 --> 31:08
evicted from the garden, I thought about Cain
31:08 --> 31:12
and what he brought to the Lord for an offering.
31:12 --> 31:16
If you read Genesis chapters 1 through
31:16 --> 31:20
chapter 3, you'll see the English word "fruit" used
31:20 --> 31:24
five times and it always refers to the offspring.
31:24 --> 31:28
That's another translation of the word "fruit" is "offspring."
31:28 --> 31:32
It always refers to the offspring of the trees God made
31:32 --> 31:36
before he created man.
31:36 --> 31:40
Now that's key.
31:40 --> 31:44
In other words, man had absolutely nothing to do with the
31:44 --> 31:48
fruit of those trees. His only involvement
31:48 --> 31:52
with the fruit of those trees was after the fact, during which
31:52 --> 31:56
time he would just enjoy what God provided him.
31:56 --> 32:00
He lived by the fruit from the trees
32:00 --> 32:04
that God had made. Now when man's
32:04 --> 32:08
sinned and was cast out of the garden,
32:08 --> 32:12
the life-giving fruit of the trees God made was no longer
32:12 --> 32:16
available to him because there were cherubims
32:16 --> 32:20
to guard the way. In fact,
32:20 --> 32:24
not only would those life-giving fruits from those
32:24 --> 32:28
trees no longer be available to man, he would have to
32:28 --> 32:32
till the ground, plant the seed, water, weed eat, harvest,
32:32 --> 32:36
process eat every day.
32:36 --> 32:40
And the food or the fruit of the ground,
32:40 --> 32:44
the offspring of the ground that he ate
32:44 --> 32:48
would not give him eternal life.
32:48 --> 32:52
In Genesis 3.17,
32:52 --> 32:56
God told Adam, "Cursed is the ground
32:56 --> 33:00
for thy sake."
33:00 --> 33:04
And then down in verse 23 of that same chapter, Genesis 3.23,
33:04 --> 33:08
"Therefore the Lord God sent him forth
33:08 --> 33:12
from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken."
33:12 --> 33:16
So the fruit Adam would receive from
33:16 --> 33:20
the ground was received from a cursed ground.
33:20 --> 33:24
A ground to which his cursed body would one day
33:24 --> 33:28
return in corruption. That doesn't sound like
33:28 --> 33:32
a very good deal, does it, compared to what he had in the garden?
33:32 --> 33:36
Now if you fast forward to Genesis 4.3,
33:36 --> 33:40
Genesis 4 verse 3,
33:40 --> 33:44
it says, "And in the process of time it came to pass
33:44 --> 33:48
that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground
33:48 --> 33:52
an offering unto the Lord."
33:52 --> 33:56
Now what did Cain bring God? He brought him fruit from a cursed ground.
33:56 --> 34:00
And I'm sure it was good tasting fruit,
34:00 --> 34:04
whatever kind it was, but it was cursed.
34:04 --> 34:08
And because God was pleased with the blood offering that Abel brought,
34:08 --> 34:12
then we have to assume that God had instructed
34:12 --> 34:16
man that the way to be accepted by me is to come
34:16 --> 34:20
to me through a blood sacrifice. That's what he taught Adam and Eve
34:20 --> 34:24
when he put the skins, the animal skins on them.
34:24 --> 34:28
He shed the blood of those innocent animals and put their skins on Adam and Eve
34:28 --> 34:32
after they had sinned.
34:32 --> 34:36
That was the first bloodshed we read about in the Bible.
34:36 --> 34:40
And yes, we are still learning about the Assyrian promise that their land
34:40 --> 34:44
was a land of bread. Adam needed bread
34:44 --> 34:48
that would give him life,
34:48 --> 34:52
eternal life. And that bread was not from the
34:52 --> 34:56
cursed ground. And Cain needed to present an offering acceptable
34:56 --> 35:00
to God, but that acceptable offering was not the fruit of the
35:00 --> 35:04
cursed ground. Another way of saying this is that
35:04 --> 35:08
Cain presented the wrong offspring to make himself
35:08 --> 35:12
acceptable to God. And as I said before,
35:12 --> 35:16
that word "fruit" is also translated as the word "offspring."
35:16 --> 35:20
Abel, on the other hand, presented blood from the offspring, the first
35:20 --> 35:24
sling of his flock. And the reason that offspring
35:24 --> 35:28
was acceptable to God at that time was that it was blood.
35:28 --> 35:32
It was blood that was shed from that offspring.
35:32 --> 35:36
It was acceptable because that's what God had done when he set the pattern
35:36 --> 35:40
with Adam and Eve.
35:40 --> 35:44
And because sinful man would now have to die a physical death,
35:44 --> 35:48
the animals would have to die a physical death.
35:48 --> 35:52
And because sinful man now had to die a spiritual
35:52 --> 35:56
death, which is what happened when sin entered into the world,
35:56 --> 36:00
then he would have no chance to make himself acceptable to God.
36:00 --> 36:04
Now, animals don't have a spirit.
36:04 --> 36:08
So animals can't, they couldn't die anyway
36:08 --> 36:12
for the sins of the world. And the Bible says the blood of bulls and goats can never take away
36:12 --> 36:16
sin.
36:16 --> 36:20
I don't know if you've ever thought about this, but when God shed
36:20 --> 36:24
the blood of those animals to clothe Adam
36:24 --> 36:28
and Eve, the blood of those animals could not take
36:28 --> 36:32
away their sin. It couldn't.
36:32 --> 36:36
The blood of any animal shed after that point could not
36:36 --> 36:40
take away sin. So that left man in a pickle, didn't it?
36:40 --> 36:44
And God's shedding
36:44 --> 36:48
the blood of that animal would not be the means
36:48 --> 36:52
of the salvation of mankind, but it would point to it.
36:52 --> 36:56
It would point to our salvation
36:56 --> 37:00
accomplished by the one whom Jesus Christ called the Lamb of God.
37:00 --> 37:04
And whether an earthly lamb or
37:04 --> 37:08
earthly bread, carnal man has to
37:08 --> 37:12
learn about this spiritual lesson God is teaching here.
37:12 --> 37:16
You know carnal man has offered millions of sacrifices,
37:16 --> 37:20
of animals, humans.
37:20 --> 37:24
They put food offerings at ancestors graves. That's one of the things that
37:24 --> 37:28
the, it's a tradition there in Mexico
37:28 --> 37:32
it's called Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. And they'll take
37:32 --> 37:36
pretty good looking cookies and milk if you ask me, and
37:36 --> 37:40
leave them at an ancestors tomb. And I think
37:40 --> 37:44
it's such a waste. I'm glad they do it because I'd eat them up and get fatter than I already am.
37:44 --> 37:48
But that's what people do to try to make themselves
37:48 --> 37:52
acceptable to God.
37:52 --> 37:56
But all of them, all of those things,
37:56 --> 38:00
the animal sacrifices, even of the best animal, even of the first
38:00 --> 38:04
ling of the flock, come from a cursed earth
38:04 --> 38:08
which is what the land of bread is in Assyria.
38:08 --> 38:12
It is a cursed bread. It's the fruit of
38:12 --> 38:16
a cursed ground. And it's that bread,
38:16 --> 38:20
to that bread, which the Assyrian king hopes Judah will turn.
38:20 --> 38:24
He hopes that will draw them. But in John chapter
38:24 --> 38:28
6 verse 51, John chapter 6 verse 51
38:28 --> 38:32
Jesus said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven." Now that's
38:32 --> 38:36
a different kind of bread, isn't it? Not just because he is a spiritual
38:36 --> 38:40
bread, but where he came from is not cursed.
38:40 --> 38:44
All the bread that comes from the ground is cursed. I don't care what it looks like.
38:44 --> 38:48
And I love good sourdough bread. It's cursed. It comes from a
38:48 --> 38:52
cursed earth.
38:52 --> 38:56
He said, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven.
38:56 --> 39:00
If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.
39:00 --> 39:04
And the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the
39:04 --> 39:08
world." So it's obvious to the believer that Jesus is
39:08 --> 39:12
the bread of life, and it is to him that we look
39:12 --> 39:16
for the bread. In Exodus chapter
39:16 --> 39:20
16, God gave manna to the children of Israel.
39:20 --> 39:24
That should be a familiar story to most of you.
39:24 --> 39:28
And to commemorate that event and engrave it in their heart,
39:28 --> 39:32
God gave Moses a command in
39:32 --> 39:36
Exodus 16 verse 31 through 32.
39:36 --> 39:40
Exodus 16, 31 through 32.
39:40 --> 39:44
Where God told Moses, "And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna."
39:44 --> 39:48
That's what they called what God dropped down to them. "And it was like coriander seed,
39:48 --> 39:52
white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. And Moses said,
39:52 --> 39:56
"This is the thing which the Lord commandeth. Fill an omer of it to be
39:56 --> 40:00
kept for your generations, that they may see the bread wherewith
40:00 --> 40:04
I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt."
40:04 --> 40:08
He had a lesson.
40:08 --> 40:12
He didn't say, "What did he do with the physical manna?" He fed the people, didn't he?
40:12 --> 40:16
They had a daily need, and that was to eat. He fed them. But he said,
40:16 --> 40:20
"You're going to keep some of this in an omer. You're going to keep a certain
40:20 --> 40:24
quantity of it. And with that, you're not going to hand that out
40:24 --> 40:28
and feed people so they can eat. You're going to teach them about how
40:28 --> 40:32
I brought you out of Egypt."
40:32 --> 40:36
And if God had not fed Israel in the wilderness,
40:36 --> 40:40
they would have starved to death. That's for sure. So in keeping of
40:40 --> 40:44
this omer of manna, Israel was to remember that they depended
40:44 --> 40:48
on God alone for the bread to sustain them, both the physical
40:48 --> 40:52
and the spiritual bread. Jesus taught us He was the living
40:52 --> 40:56
bread, the bread that gives eternal life to those who eat it, which is what we
40:56 --> 41:00
do by faith in the Gospel. If you've ever wondered, how do you eat
41:00 --> 41:04
of the bread of life, Jesus? Well, we don't physically eat Him,
41:04 --> 41:08
but we do so by faith. We partake of that
41:08 --> 41:12
Gospel. And so when Rabshikha and Assyria had
41:12 --> 41:16
bread for Judah, they said it's a land of bread, Judah should
41:16 --> 41:20
have known that the bread of Assyria
41:20 --> 41:24
was not the bread which spoke of the living bread, Jesus Christ.
41:24 --> 41:28
So they should not have looked to Assyria for bread,
41:28 --> 41:32
but rather to God. They should have had
41:32 --> 41:36
a big poster on their roads that says
41:36 --> 41:40
"Just say no to the land of bread."
41:40 --> 41:44
That's free. And with that, we'll have to stop and we'll
41:44 --> 41:48
pick up with the remainder of the verse next week. Let's pray.
41:48 --> 41:52
Father, You've been so good to show us Your truth, and Lord,
41:52 --> 41:56
it just gives us so much to meditate upon. And Father,
41:56 --> 42:00
where we need correction in our lives, I pray that we would allow
42:00 --> 42:04
Your truth to correct us. And we'd not be stubborn,
42:04 --> 42:08
mule-headed about these spiritual lessons, but admit to You
42:08 --> 42:12
that we were wrong and that You're right, and do things Your way.
42:12 --> 42:16
And not look to the land of bread which makes all of these false promises
42:16 --> 42:20
that can do nothing but end in death, but to look to You
42:20 --> 42:24
and to that spiritual bread and for those blessings that
42:24 --> 42:28
are eternal. In Jesus' name, Amen.
42:28 --> 42:30
