Episode Transcript
Second Kings 18 verse 33 Glad to see you all here.
Hopefully we'll have some Joining us on the internet as well on Facebook and by the way while I'm thinking about Facebook I'm not a Facebook person Brother Fulton put me on there as Sunday schooling So I would have a way to correspond with you if you have a question Especially our online members if they have a question about the lesson Then I can answer it that way But if you if you send friend requests or tell me happy birthday and by the way, that's a fake birthday on there I am NOT that old Richard put that on there.
He had me born in 1956 or something and I thought all right you Rascal, but that's okay because I didn't want my identifying information on the internet So he was doing that because he honored my request So don't be offended if you say well, I I wanted brother Andy to be my friend and he's never answered me I'm not going to I'm not gonna answer any of you and I love every one of you You're all my friends.
So I just wanted to get that out there The hand of the king of Assyria Has been exalted by his military leader, Rabshekah as We studied the last couple of weeks You would think by the way Rabshekah describes his king that his king is God himself and he's not And Rabshekah asked the men of Judah hath any of the gods of the nations Delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria And we studied each phrase in that verse But we have a little more to study About the final words of this verse which read if you'll look down in your text out of the hand of the king of Assyria And we learned last week that the hand of the king of Assyria was strong But it wasn't the strongest The hand of the king of Assyria was strong, but it would not always be so and as strong as the hand of the king of Assyria was It would never be as strong as the hand of the Lord much less stronger it wouldn't be even as strong not even almost and By logically shooting down the phrase any of the gods of the nations.
That's what we worked on last week We're left with two hands in view One is the hand of the king of Assyria and one is the hand of the Lord Those are the two hands we have in view because those other God those gods with a little G are non-existent We learned that through studying the scriptures and this is a great time to compare the hand of the king of Assyria with the hand of the Lord and We're talking about more than just the physical hand The having something in your hands is a figure of speech I have In my hands.
I don't have anything right now except air and whatever sweat is on my palms But I don't actually have anything So if I said in my hands are all of my property in my house in my family That's a figure of speech.
That means I have control over those things Okay, and by Rab sheikah's words in these verses we Concluded that he believed there were other gods But he also by his words Believe they were so weak that His own earthly king his own mortal king Could snatch any nation he wanted out of the hands of those weak gods And hold them in his own hand and not let them go and those false gods If this were the case those false gods were so impotent That they could not overcome the grip of an earthly mortal king Now I would not want to place my faith in a king like that Because I would fall out of his hand not long after he put me in his hand and that's the kind of salvation That a lot of people Have now they don't have salvation if that's what they have But that's how they view their salvation so many of the works-based churches view their salvation that way And we'll look at that as well in our study today I'm going to read you a passage from John chapter 10.
I've quoted this a lot because there's always a An application in a passage that we may not study one week and we may study another so listen for the word hand and the word pluck PLUCK in this passage John 10 verses 27 through 30 Where Jesus said my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand So picture right there Jesus sheep the believers are in his hand And then he said my father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand I And the father are one so whether you want to see it is that you're in Jesus hand and he's in the father's hand or You're in Jesus and the father and the Holy Spirit's hand all at once.
It's all the same And he said I and my father are one now that New Testament word pluck is From the same Greek word harpazo or harpazo That is translated in first Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 17 First Thessalonians 4 verse 17 and this is a passage we read at funerals a lot and it's wonderful Because it lets us know that the death of that believer is not the end of things for that believer And in that passage it says we which are alive and remain Shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with The Lord shall be caught up Caught up is the same Greek word as the one translated pluck in The John chapter John passage.
I read you John chapter 10 verses 27 through 30 Now the king of Assyria Could pluck people Out of one nation Out of the hand of their king.
He'd done it and The Babylonian king then could pluck the Assyrians out of the hand of their king and they did it But neither the gods of those nations nor the king of Assyria Can pluck God's people out of God's hand that's where the similarity ends and This speaks of the security that the believer has and It's a question I want you to consider Because people still struggle with this problem.
Maybe some in here some on the internet.
I know of people who still struggle with this problem They struggle with this question and the way we ask it here is can I be plucked out of God's hand?
Is that possible?
now I just read to you from John chapter 10 and knowing the power of God's hand and Knowing that we are in Jesus hand in the Father's hand Can anyone pluck us out of that strong hand?
Jesus said they cannot And You may say no they cannot you may say that with your mouth But you also may fret and worry from day to day about whether you'll lose your salvation And If the answer for you is no I cannot be plucked out of my father's hand I cannot be plucked out of Jesus hand Then you have answered your own question.
You've answered your own dilemma By simply agreeing with what the Bible says and that's what faith is.
We just agree with what God says.
We believe it's true and If you have answered that question, then you have just answered the question.
Can I lose my salvation?
No Not just because that's the stance of the independent Baptist churches or because your preacher your teacher said you can't lose What God gave you?
But he tells you that in his word You know a Christian is in the Father's hand So this is a good place to let the theater of your imagination Take over here imagine yourself in the Father's hand you as a Christian imagine this big hand and This strong hand This hand that cannot be invaded From which nothing can be plucked Imagine yourself in that hand and As a Christian the only way you could ever be lost again is if somebody could wrestle you away from God's grip and So I ask you who worry about this right now can anyone loosen God's grip on a Christian God's not going to because he said he's not going to so the only way his grip could be loosened is if a stronger force Were to loosen his grip and remove the Christian from it Is it possible that God could accidentally let you slip out of his hand.
I mean we drop things all the time, don't we I Was helping my dad this week fix some things around his house And I was on a ladder and I dropped a screw about that big and we just never found it And those things can bounce along further than a basketball when they hit the carpet They'll just go 10 feet before you know it.
I dropped it out of my hand.
So we had to use another one Now Billy, you know when they'll find that my dad will find that when he puts on one of his shoes He'll step right down on it.
That's where it probably ended up If you think that someone else Can pluck you out of the father's hand?
Or if you think God might somehow let you slip out of his hand into hell, then you don't understand the God of the Bible And among all the things God created He created the hands that every creature has Yours mine and the cute little raccoon who's so dexterous with their hands.
I Watched one of them reach outside of a trap cage and unlocked a little hasp And let himself out.
I saw it at a fishing dock in Rowlett he was a bait thief and they were trying to catch him because he would swim under the dock and reach up and pull people's worms or men as down in the water and There you go.
So they trapped him and he was in that cage and I watched him He said he's gotten out before so God made those hands.
Those are pretty dexterous hands, aren't they?
any creature That has hands that has feet but we're talking about hands right now God made those and God did not make the hands of any creature strong enough to compete with his hand and He certainly didn't make them stronger than his own hands now That includes your hands by the way because your own worst enemy when it comes to Doubting your salvation is the one that you see in the mirror The one now, I know Satan is the one who walks about seeking whom he may devour he does But you don't have to yield to him When he suggests to you, you're not really saved you say the Lord rebuke thee.
God said I am I'm in his hand And I can't be plucked away according to Jesus own words People may take all kinds of things from you But they can't take that They can't take you out of God's hand and I know this may sound pretty simple But we have to get down to the basics We have to return to the basics sometimes For people to understand why their worries are unfounded If they'll just rest in what Jesus has done for them You know Jack Nicklaus the famous golfer I used to when I was younger and aspiring to be a golfer that went out the window pretty quick and He said 90% of the problems in a golfer swing are with the grip so he takes every golfer even a professional golfer back to the basics of how to grip that club and That's very much the way it is with the Bible when somebody has a misunderstanding of Doctrine very often.
It's one of the rudiments one of the basics of the faith that they weren't clear on Why do you think we have the Genesis to Jesus class?
You know the Genesis to Jesus and creation to Christ class?
Which was before that are not for people who've never been in a church before they're for everyone but most of the people who go to them have been in church and They're troubled.
They're mixed up with their doctrine and So rather than trying to fix them where they are We take them back to the very first page of the very first chapter of the Bible in the beginning Because if you don't get in the beginning, right, you're not going to get the rest of it, right?
So If you're in the Hand of another God Which many are the God of another gospel Then you not only may be plucked away But you will surely be plucked away that God can't protect you because it is either Satan the God of this world or it is no God and You will be plucked out of the hand of that God So to speak and cast into the lake of fire if you're an unbeliever if you're in the hand of riches you say well My riches have me I have a 401k and I have this retirement and I had this Fund over here and I've got plenty of money.
You will be plucked out of the hand of those riches Just like that rich man was in the in the story that Jesus told He said I'll tear down my barn and build bigger and That rich man heard these terrible words of judgment Thou fool this night thy soul shall be required of thee He thought riches would hold him but they dumped him he was plucked out of the hand of riches Some are held in the clutches in the hand of religious activity They say alright, well, I'm going to church every time the doors are open and I memorized that scripture brother Fulton or brother Doug puts up there and has us read every Sunday and I sing as loud as I can And I do all these things.
Well, you're in the clutches of religious activity, which will dump you or from which you will be plucked It will not save you It can't keep you from eternal separation from God So a person has to decide for himself in whose hand am I resting?
Am I resting in the strong hand of the Lord or in the unstable grip of another like the king of Assyria?
Now let's look back in our text in second Kings 18 and we will go into verse 34 As Rab sheikah continues.
He says where are the gods of Hamith and of our pad Where are the gods of Sefer Vayim?
Henna and Iva or Iva have they delivered Samaria?
out of mine hand And I believe our comments in the prior verses Have addressed the impossibility That these other gods really exist That they can own a country or that they can deliver or protect any of their followers But because Rab sheikah asked this question.
Where are they?
Well, let's answer that.
Where are those gods?
After all they're mentioned throughout the Bible, aren't they the gods of the nations the gods of the people the gods that the the images represent Jeremiah chapter 9 verses 13 through 14 Jeremiah 9 verses 13 through 14 and the Lord saith Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them and have not obeyed my voice neither walked therein But have walked after the imagination of their own heart and after Balaam which their fathers taught them All right Balaam as you may have learned in The class next door if you took it or in here you've heard it the I am makes it plural So bail is a false God Balaam means more than one false God Now where were those gods according to that passage in Jeremiah those gods were in the imaginations of the hearts of those who worship them.
That's where they are They don't exist except in the imagination of the heart of the people who worship them Now we have we saw that word imagination in that passage We have a different way of using the word imagination today.
Don't we?
I just used it a while ago.
I asked you to imagine something imagine yourself in a big strong hand But the word the Hebrew word for imagination here is different as it often is and That's why we study it.
I remember a pastor of a church where I was a member it's been over two decades ago and He was telling me about studying for his messages and he said He said I get tired of hearing all this in the Greek in the Hebrew in the Greek in the Hebrew And I looked at him and I thought well fella you Realized that this translation we have was not the original That wasn't the original words They were in those languages and for us to know What those words mean we need to study them We don't need to assume that the way we imagine an English word is the way that it was used by the writer or inspired By God, that's why we go back Frequently probably every lesson that I teach or Brother Fulton teaches We teach you something about the Hebrew or the Greek Language and neither of us to my knowledge.
Well, I know I'm not our scholars in either language but we study them because we're not and so I thought well that that pastor has really sold himself short in the study of his For his lessons and I rely heavily Upon that concordance to tell me what those words mean and this word imagination Is also translated in the Old Testament as the word lust lust Now I didn't tell you a while ago to lust in your own mind about a hand like this that holds you did I that Would have sounded foolish So it does mean something different in this text.
In fact, I want you to listen for that word remember we're studying the word imagination from the Jeremiah passage and We found that it is also the word lust here.
It is in Psalm chapter 81 verses 11 through 12 Psalm 81 verses 11 through 12 but my people would not hearken to my voice and Israel would none of me that means they wanted none of me.
So I gave them up unto their own hearts lust That's the word imagination and they walked in their own councils So the false gods of this world aren't real But when you ask and when Rabbe Sheikah ask, well, where are they where are these gods?
They are found in the imaginations of evil hearts.
In fact, they are lusted after in those evil hearts.
That's the difference a Person who rejects God does it willfully and when they worship Any God other than the one true God whether they call that God I Don't know all the Hindu gods are over 300 of them whether they say well, that's God or they say Zeus is God or they say This allies God Those are all gods that are after their own imaginations and they would say the same thing about us They'll say well what's so different about your God in mind.
Well mine created all things and In fact in the Quran it would acknowledge that same thing.
My God created all things My God sent a deliverer for his people who had sinned My God's spirit dwells in us.
None of these other gods can make that claim nor do they So The fact that people worship false gods doesn't just mean they imagine them in their minds one day According to the way it's used in the Bible.
They lusted after them and that's what God said about his people in Jeremiah They lusted after them.
This is what they wanted You don't just sit around Idly waiting for the appearance of a false God in your heart It's something for which you lust and it's your own stubbornness in rejecting the one true God and Preferring or lusting after a God of your own making a God of your own lust So our answer to Rab sheikah's question.
Where are the gods is what we just saw?
they are in the imaginations of evil hearts just like his and although the molten images of them are made and Men teach their children to follow them the gods themselves exist only in the imaginations of carnal men Well, then that would bring the next question up that those who worship those gods including Rab sheikah might say well Where is the Lord?
Where's your God?
You said my gods are in the imaginations of the hearts of the people.
Where's your God?
After all, Rab sheikah included the Lord God in his challenge He put them on the same he put the Lord on the same plane as he did these false gods So I'm glad you asked that question.
Where is the Lord?
well, first of all You see God in his creation Romans chapter 1 verse 20 Romans chapter 1 verse 20 For the invisible things of him that's God from the creation of the world are clearly seen Being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead So that they that are without excuse so that they are without excuse It they're clearly seen You just take any Anything you saw outside before you walked in like a tree a bug a bird Snake whatever you saw and you look at that and you will see God's design I have a book that was written by creation scientists that talks about different aspects of God's creation and how the evolutionary argument Would not hold water.
I gave a copy to you mom and I told her vet it first because I wouldn't just tell you here give this to your kids and so It's wonderful because it points you to things about God's creation Then allow you when others say oh that was evolution you can say oh if it was then how come this happened How did this happen this couldn't have happened this species would have died off if it had to wait for this particular part of its body to evolve it couldn't live Those are the things that are clearly seen Exodus in fact you not only see God in his Creation, but you see him in his tabernacle Exodus 29 verses 42 through 43 this is answering the question.
Where is the Lord?
Exodus 29 verses 42 through 43 Where God is giving this order he said this shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your Generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord where I will meet you To speak there unto thee and There I will meet the children of Israel and the tabernacle Shall be sanctified by my glory you see that tabernacle was nothing more than a bunch of earthly components assembled together in a pattern that God had given Moses in the mountain and Without God's presence there those people could show up at the tabernacle all day every day and God would not meet with them They would not see God in his tabernacle, but he said that's where I'm going to meet with you.
That's where my glory will be and We've studied the or if you've been here you've studied the tabernacle But it's a it's a wonderful thing that God showed himself in his tabernacle Thirdly you see him in his son You see God in his son.
Where is the Lord?
He's in his son John 14 9 John 14 verse 9 Where Philip had asked Jesus he said To he wanted for him to show him the father and Jesus said Have I been so long time with you and yet?
Hast thou not known me Philip he that has seen me has seen the father how sayest thou then show us the father now could the gods of Hamath and arpad and sephir vem and heena and I have a say those things That they're seen in their creation that they're seen in their tabernacle that they're seen in in their son of course not They exist only in the imaginations of the hearts of those who follow them their dumb idols and Whereas they exist in the evil imaginations of the hearts of those who follow them Our God exists as he always has he's not limited by time and space and matter and geography He's not limited by the works of men's hands.
We didn't fashion him out of wood or stone He lives in us by faith in the gospel and He said he will never leave us nor forsake us once he moves in he doesn't move out Once you're in his hand you don't drop out you can't get plucked out Those false gods could never say that and fourthly To this question.
Where is the Lord?
You see him in his saints First Corinthians 6 verses 19 through 20 First Corinthians 6 verses 19 through 20 Where Paul wrote what?
Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you Which ye have of God and ye are not your own For your bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and spirit which are God's So God lives in the Christian by his Holy Spirit We're in dwelled by his spirit and that is our inner man the part of us that believes on God our spirit Is where God's spirit lives in us?
You can't cut someone's chest open and look in there and say oh, I see the Spirit of God.
You're not going to do that in fact that God doesn't live in my spleen or my liver or my actual heart this That is beating.
He doesn't live in my brain or in my hand Those are simply members and organs of a corrupt body that is going to die and rot Or it's going to be shed and changed But that's not where God lives God lives in our inner man.
So when we glorify God in our bodies and our spirits Then he is seen in us By those who see us.
He said let your light so shine before men That they may see your good works and glorify my father which is in heaven not glorify you But glorify my father because those works you do with your hands with your feet with your mouth those are earthly works that are inspired and Are you're enabled to do by the Spirit of God?
So the works we do as we are led by God's Spirit glorify him not us That's how we are seen.
That's how God is seen in his saints First Peter chapter 2 verse 12 First Peter chapter 2 verse 12 Having your conversation that means your manner of living honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak Against you as evildoers they may buy your good works, which they shall behold glorify God in the day of visitation so these people who Scough at you mock you make fun of you for living the Christian life what they don't realize is That glorifies God in the day of visitation when they're punished When they're punished at that great white throne judgment, oh Those works will no doubt come before their eyes.
I don't know how God will do that But they'll say well, I've done this and I've done that Jesus told us they would trumpet their own accomplishments And he'd say depart from me.
I never knew you Now let's look back at our text Where In verse 34 Rabs Sheikah said have they delivered Samaria out of my hand Now the way this is phrase takes it to another level Now Rabs Sheikah is coming home to Samaria.
He's talking about Israel the northern ten tribes and It's become apparent over the last couple of weeks that Rabs Sheikah and his king see the Lord God is just like another God now.
It's obvious that he has no fear of the Lord God at all he mentioned Samaria and Whether or Not Samaria all of the the Israelites in Samaria, which is also another name for the northern kingdom Whether or not they all accept God the God of Samaria is the Lord God Back in verse 22 in our in this chapter Rabs Sheikah told Judah he said you've taken away the high places of the Lord and In that he insinuated the Lord's not going to deliver to you.
He would not deliver them because they'd taken away the high places But in this verse we read He doesn't just say the Lord would not deliver you he said he could not He insinuates that the Lord God could not deliver them because he had not delivered Samaria from the hand of the king of Assyria Now from man's point of view this makes a very strong argument if the enemy were to come to your gates and say hey We've taken over all these nations We even took your sister nation ten tribes you're just two So if we can take them and God can't deliver them out of our hands, how's he gonna deliver Judah Jerusalem?
out of the hand of our king But anytime God's people Were captured by another nation it never was because they plucked that nation out of God's hand It was because and the Bible tells you God delivered his people into the hands of their enemies.
He delivered them into captivity and At no time and he would do that to punish them for their sin He wasn't just playing tricks on them.
He would warn them the prophets would tell them over and over and over Don't do that.
Don't do that.
God's gonna bring about this calamity upon this nation and not only would they do it anyway They would stone the prophets or put them in the dungeon as they did Jeremiah persecute them But at no time did a Gentile nation overpower God's hand by taking his people prisoners Killing them and destroying their temple all of those things happen because God permitted them to be done So what is the answer to Rab Shikha's Rhetorical question here that's based on a false premise The answer is no those gods have not delivered any of the nations out of the hand of the king of Assyria It's not because they had a bad day.
It's because they didn't exist Except in the imagination of the hearts of their followers and The answer is also no when it comes to the Lord.
He has not Delivered Samaria out of the hand of the king of Assyria The false gods couldn't do it, but the Lord wouldn't do it But he will I hope you see the difference now verse 35 as Rabshikha continues who are They among all the gods of the countries that have delivered their country out of mine hand that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand If it's not clear to you before it ought to be now Rabshikha Sees the Lord God the same way He sees the false gods of all the other nations He ascribes no power to the Lord God only weakness in Fact he presents the flesh of man his king is more powerful than the spirit of the Lord Isn't that something if you think about that?
That a man could say another man is more powerful than the creator of all the earth and Rabshikha's words may turn some of the feeble hearted unbelieving Jews But those words will not sway the true worshippers of the Lord You know nobody likes to be mocked and Faithful people don't like to have their leaders mocked Whether they're religious leaders or the head football coach or their parents whatever it might be and You see it right now in the midst of all the political races and debates that take place in our country One side will mock the other side and the people on that side will get upset And then this side will mock these over here and these people get upset and Those political races in debates that are taking place in our country and that will continue to take place Are often vile and nasty and uncivil and sometimes they're profane Those campaign speeches have cussing in them and it irritates me when Any of the candidates I don't care what side they're on get up there and start cussing In front of the people that shows a lack of restraint it shows a lack of education And a lack of respect for the people you're talking to Especially the children whose minds are so impressionable You know if a mom or a dad says we're gonna go Stand in line and we're gonna listen to President Trump Talk about this country and they build him up and they say that's who we're voting for Wonderful, and he gets up there and he starts cussing And that little child thinks well my mom thinks that he's wonderful.
So everything he says must be pretty cool I'm gonna go to school and tell people what I heard Donald Trump say Or what I heard a OC say or whoever it might be Listen the Bible just cuts right down the middle of all that it doesn't take any sides.
It's right from wrong and Much of what the well, I'll get to this what the modern Democrat Party believes not all of it but much of it is Contrary to God's Word now.
We certainly know that abortion is contrary to God's Word and Those beliefs mock God in his people But for those who Follow Donald Trump Even though you may agree with much or all of what he professes, please don't join in on the profanity That he and many of his followers are using don't get into those chants You know, we're voting for one sinner over another center In fact, we're centers voting for one sinner over another sinner, aren't we?
And none of us have a clean plate or a clean slate except in the eyes of the Lord because of his son and we want our Votes to bring about results that will strengthen our country and lead us back to the Lord.
Although I don't see that last part happening and Just because you vote for someone just because you agree with someone doesn't mean you need to repeat what he or she says You don't need to wear slogans on your t-shirt that have their origins in profanity Don't post them or repost them or their initials and you know what I'm talking about if you're an adult On your Facebook accounts put a difference between yourselves in the world And God's enabled us to do that by his spirit nobody likes to have their leader mocked and Christians don't like to have our Lord mocked and It hurts my stomach when I hear somebody use the Lord's name in vain If I would have been standing in front of Rab Sheikah, that would have hurt my stomach to hearing him say all your God can't deliver your nation out of my King's hand and somebody makes jokes about Jesus or ascribes to him anything less than Him being the holy Son of God you know Peter Was offended when Jesus was mocked?
When he was about to be arrested and Peter smote off the ear of the high priest servant Malchus in the Garden of Gethsemane But friend no matter how much the world mocks God like this man, Rab Sheikah has done God doesn't need us to protect him He takes care of that himself Galatians 6 verses 7 through 8 Galatians 6 verses 7 through 8 Says be not deceived God is not mocked For whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to his flesh Shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he that so to the spirit Shall reap of the spirit like life everlasting And although there were probably a handful of Jews in our text Who must have been seething at Rab Sheikah's disrespectful?
mocking words They wouldn't forget that God would steamroll those Assyrians in their pride Because the Babylonians would conquer the Assyrians the Medes would conquer the Assyrians and The Babylonians would be conquered and the Medes would be conquered In fact every government Institute of men has been or will be conquered And They sowed to the flesh So they reap corruption and their best life was the one they just lost and for us We hear the mockery of the Bible and its precious promises and We'll look a little bit more at that next week as we consider The egregious sin this man Rab Sheikah is committing by saying what he said about the Lord Time has failed us, so we'll have to stop for now.
Let's pray Father thank you for reminding us That all those who mock you as this man did in the front of your people that They have signed and sealed their death warrant not just physical but spiritually as well as they reject you as they exalt themselves and their false gods above you and Say that you cannot deliver your people We thank you that your word tells us that not only can you but you have and you are and you will and That your people will never fall out of your hand neither be plucked by another so-called God Thank you for this in Jesus name Amen
