Verse by verse teaching - 2 Kings 18:35-19:1

All right, 2 Kings chapter 18 verse 35 is our text and that blessed hour of 10 o'clock is upon us. As I was studying and this happens often I was just anticipating what I was going to learn and what I was going to get to teach this morning and I hope we never lose the anticipation of coming here and when you come to hear the Bible taught there ought to be an expectation that you're going to be fed and if you don't get fed that's a problem and if you don't have the expectation of being fed that's also a problem because it means you came for some different reason and organized religion has gotten pretty efficient at giving people all kinds of reasons to come to church and not always majoring on the main reason we come. But that being said if Sunday is the only time a person feasts on God's Word then they're starving to death aren't they? Because there are six other days in the week and we meet for a small part of two of those days. You wouldn't eat food two days a week would you? Unless that's a great way to lose weight by the way but it's a terrible way to live the Christian life. So I hope that this is whether you want to call this the climax of your week or the beginning of your week spiritually speaking I hope it's not the only day that you study God's Word. Now last week we looked further into Rabshekah's mockery of the Lord God. He strongly implied that God was no better than the false gods of all the other nations whom they had conquered. He implied that God had no more power to deliver Judah than a Dramolech and an Amalek those cephervaeum gods. I want to reread verse 35 here if you're in 2 Kings 1835 you can look with me. "As Rabshekah said, '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.'" And this morning I want us to look at what God said would happen to scoffers or mockers in the New Testament. Those are often the same Greek word one time it's scoffer one time it's mocker so they mean the same thing essentially. God said some things would happen to these scoffers and mockers just like Rabshekah and we need to know this because it's easy for us in the flesh to lose heart when all we hear is other people mocking God whether they do it directly with their words or indirectly with their words or their lifestyles and those of you who have a job or you or you had a job and you're surrounded by people who have no spiritual inclination toward godliness at all. They're words, they're deeds, they're actions, they're omissions, they're dirty jokes you're just surrounded by them all day and to some extent you can get away from that but sometimes you can't and it can make you lose heart it can make you think wow am I the only one? Well no you're not Elijah also asked the same question he wasn't the only one who was serving the Lord but listen to 2 Peter chapter 3 verses 1 through 4 2 Peter chapter 3 verses 1 through 4 this second epistle beloved I now write unto you in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance that ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us the Apostles of the Lord and Savior knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers that word is mockers in Jude 1 18 same place or same word walking after their own lusts and saying now listen to what these scoffers and these mockers say where is the promise of his coming that is of the Lord for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation notice that in that passage Peter told the Christians to whom he was writing to listen to whose words did he say listen to those mocking words of Rabshika or others like him no he told them to be mindful of the words of the holy prophets and the Apostles and the words of the holy prophets and the words of the Apostles were God's words that's why they should listen to them not because they were number one on the charts in those days but because the words they spoke and the words they wrote were God's words so when others mock God you be mindful of God's words not of their words because if you're mindful of the mockers words and you keep them in your mind and you think of them over and over and over is that going to strengthen you spiritually no it's not it's going to weaken you it's going to discourage you now how will you keep God's words in mind if you don't read them if you don't study them if you don't memorize them fill up some of that RAM space up here in your head some of that disk space if you will with Scripture memorize it be able to recall it yes you can always pull your Bible out or you can pull it up on your phone but if you have it right here if you have it in your memory then when all those things fail you you'll have God's Word now pay attention to this if if Rab sheikah in our text if he asked if any of the gods of these other nations including the Lord God had deliver their nations from the king of Assyria that was his question he narrowed it down here now he wasn't talking about all the gods in general he was talking about the God of Samaria and the one who would deliver Judah or not now in any war they're going to be casualties they're going to be deaths and even on the winning side just because a military wins a war doesn't mean they didn't lose a bunch of people fighting for them on their side and in each of the conquests that were made by Assyria I have no doubt that many people died fighting both sides or they were killed by the Assyrians for other reasons and this killing continued and none of the gods of those lands could deliver their people from death in fact the so-called Assyrian God in the king I think probably one in the same in the mind of Rab sheikah couldn't deliver all of his soldiers from death it cost him a great price to win but even greater price for those who lost and so Rab sheikah's implication here is that the Lord supposedly could not deliver the Samarians from dying or being captured because Assyria had captured them in the second Peter chapter 3 passage that I just read to you what was it that the mockers said about the promise of the Lord's coming they said for since the fathers fell asleep or died all things continue as they were and the promise of the coming Messiah on the other hand was that he would deliver Israel from the enemies of death and sin eternal judgment the same deliverance we have and the mockers in Peter's day had the same mind as Rab sheikah in our text where is your God that was the question wasn't it where is your God your God hasn't delivered these people in Samaria where is he where's the God of the sephir of a mmm and of havath and those other countries where are they they haven't delivered their people from the king of Assyria where is your God and you're gonna be asked that why does your God allow this and why does your God allow that and don't you worry about the words of those mockers when you hear them you keep God's words in mind and we don't have to try to protect God by the way we don't have to try to defend him so he doesn't get hurt we just need to preach him we need to preach his judgment on sinners and then the salvation he offers to all who will believe you know I was reading some of the comments pastor put a post up actually a couple of them one was in response to the comments of another post this week and there were some people on there who were arguing about Calvinism and limited atonement and one particular person presented his views and I thought about all of these systems that man has come up with in his effort to try to describe his theology to try to describe the doctrine that he believes the Bible says and these different acronyms and calling something Calvinism or Armenianism you know they're named after people and I thought if we'll preach Jesus Christ and him crucified like the Apostle Paul said he did then all of that other stuff doesn't matter it can go out the door because to any of those groups I say what does the Bible say not what do you conclude the Bible says what does it actually say about that and that solves all the arguments and I'm not interested in arguing with those people anyway I'm not interested in doing anything other than preaching Christ and him crucified and there are times where we do have to defend the faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints just like Jude said to do that we need to know our Bible to do that we need to be able to answer some of these people who have steered folks away from the cross of Christ and are pointing at something else but we don't have to protect God he does that himself now look back in your text he said at the end of the verse he had said who are they among all the gods and at the end of the verse that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand now he's gotten down to a specific city he's not talking in generalities anymore but about Jerusalem and what was it but the chief city of the nation of Israel but now in our text it's only the chief of Judah because the nations had been split they'd been torn in half because of Solomon's sin actually for Rehoboam as well but from this earthly Jerusalem which was a mess and it still is by the way let's learn a spiritual lesson and when we learn this spiritual lesson we're going to see how preposterous Rabshekah's statement is that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of mine hand Galatians chapter 4 verses 21 through 26 Galatians 4 verse 21 through 26 where Paul wrote tell me ye that desire to be under the law do you not hear the law for it is written that Abraham had two sons one by a bond made the other by a free woman and he's talking about Ishmael and Isaac but he who was of the bond woman that's Ishmael was born after the flesh but he of the free woman that's Isaac was by promise which things are an allegory for these are the two covenants in other words that which happened with the bond woman and Ishmael that's a covenant that which happened with the free woman Sarah that is a and in Isaac that's a covenant all right he said which things are an allegory for these are the two covenants the one from Mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage which is agar which that's Hagar the mother of Ishmael for this agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answer it to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children that's what I wanted you to see but Jerusalem which is above is free which is the mother of us all now that passage can be pretty hard to understand and we certainly won't try to examine all of it but we will a little bit of it as it pertains to our text so what Paul said is the Jerusalem down here is not free it's in bondage it's in bondage just like Sinai is in bondage and there's there's not any difference it's sin because of sin now you remember Abraham's son Ishmael came into this world as the result of an illicit union with Hagar called agar in the Galatian passage and Abraham's son Isaac came from his proper union with his wife Sarah who represents Jerusalem and the Galatian text teaches that both earthly Hagar and earthly Jerusalem are in bondage that word answer us in that passage is from a Greek word that means to stand or to march in the same row it said for this agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answer to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children so if Jerusalem and agar answer if Jerusalem answers agar that means they stand in the same row in March they're both in bondage together that passage clearly says the earthly Jerusalem is in bondage all right now what about the Jerusalem which is above well Paul said that Jerusalem is free is a spiritual Jerusalem listen to what it is called in the book of the revelation where you will see it called the New Jerusalem spoken about in Revelation 21 verses 1 through 3 Revelation 21 verses 1 through 3 now this is toward the end of the Revelation John wrote and I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea and I John saw the holy city new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God now if you go all the way back to the Old Testament where the law the pattern of the tabernacle and all the ordinances and sacrifices were given every one of those was a type of something that would be future relating to the Lord Jesus Christ relating to the forgiveness of sins the peace offerings the tabernacle every piece of furnishing the curtains that were hanging the material that it was made of and it was covered with all of that well Jerusalem is no different and the earthly Jerusalem was supposed to represent the new Jerusalem but the earthly Jerusalem had failed sin had stained the earthly Jerusalem just like sin stained the tabernacle and all of the ordinances and the furnishings and the sacrifices that were made man messed every bit of that up those were wonderful types but man messed them up didn't he when God said offer a clean animal man would offer a mangy animal when God said bring a certain thing man would bring something else or just shut it down altogether or make the great altar and put it next to the brazen altar remember so the new Jerusalem the earthly Jerusalem failed and the earthly Jerusalem is part of that first earth referred to in the Revelation passage said that first earth was passed away and in that Jerusalem on the first earth God had given the children of Israel a religion and he said I'll meet with you he met with them in the tabernacle in the most holy place then they polluted that religion they defiled themselves they defiled their temple their own nation and they worshiped other gods and they taught their children to do the same thing and Jerusalem as a result was delivered into the hands of her enemies and was ransacked and rebuilt and ransacked and rebuilt the first Jerusalem on the first earth had the same problem as the first Adam in the garden on the first earth sin God gave something that was wonderful and man messed it up that's the best way I know to put it and man is trying to fix what he messed up and man is relying on man to fix something that man messed up doesn't work in the current city of Jerusalem has been overtaken by her enemies many times and it's going to be overtaken by her enemies again so the earthly salvation the earthly deliverance of Jerusalem is not the answer saving the city of Jerusalem from Hamas is not the answer and I want them to be saved from Hamas but that's not the answer that they need killing off all of Jerusalem's earthly enemies is not the answer will that will killing off all of Jerusalem's earthly enemies suddenly bring people to the Lord Jesus Christ not in this current earth not on this current earth the answer is the destruction of this corrupt earth by fire and the coming down of the new Jerusalem the city of God the passing away of the first earth and the coming down of the holy city in the new Jerusalem where we will all dwell with God and he dwells with us and will be his people and he'll be our God so glory in that when the mockers of this world like Rabschika hurl insults at the Lord God and mock him and mock you just like scoffers do Peter said they're coming and he told you to remember the words of the prophets and the Apostles now going back to what Rabschika had proposed to do he suggested very plainly I think that God could not deliver Jerusalem from Assyria and seeing what we learned about the earthly and the spiritual lessons about Jerusalem the spiritual implication made by Rabschika here is this the new Jerusalem is in danger of being overtaken by the king of Assyria as well I think about that if the king of Assyria was allegedly more powerful than all the gods including the god of Samaria the god of Judah if that would have been true then the king of Assyria could keep God from sending his son to die for sinners the king of Assyria could keep God from redeeming his creation he could prevent God from making the first earth pass away because the king of Assyria if he were more powerful than God would never let go of his grip on the nations of this first earth that he had conquered isn't that insane but that's the extension of what Rabschika is saying is huh my king's more powerful than the Lord God and a mere mortal creature a created being could imagine that his earthly throne would exceed that of the Creator is ridiculous and that's just another way that Satan tries to exalt himself above God the place his throne above God is by using his earthly followers to exalt themselves above God and that is what the religion of Cain has done that is what the man-made religions have all done and neither Rabschika or the worldly-minded leaders we've had and that we have now really understand the spiritual significance of the things written in God's Word especially in the Old Testament they see that and they say oh well that's uh that's nice maybe we can find some artifacts that show what happened they don't really understand that for every earthly lesson there is a spiritual lesson as well so they without that vision without that understanding they rest in the works of their own hand don't they and they worship their own will and now Rabschika has finished speaking he's made his closing statement and he yields his time to the representatives of Judah these select men King Hezekiah sent he didn't just randomly pick out three and send them you're gonna see that in just a moment these were trusted men who would be hearers and messengers of this interaction with Assyria and with Rabschika and let's see what they said look back in your text in verse 36 but the people held their peace and answered him not a word for the king's commandment was saying answer him not but the people held their peace and answered him not a word there was no argument there was no threat no back and forth they held their peace now this is wonderful two weeks ago on Wednesday night brother Fulton taught on Proverbs 11 12 and that Proverbs said he that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor but a man of understanding holdeth his peace now same Hebrew word was used there for holdeth his peace as it is in our text when it said the people held their peace those words held their peace are from one Hebrew word and we learned that our Wednesday night study that this Hebrew word for hold your peace has the idea of scratching on a clay tablet to write something down now we would call that inscribing wouldn't we scribe something on a clay tablet so the man of understanding in that passage would figuratively inscribe something on his heart and just retain it rather than mouthing off you just hear it write it down in his heart and leave it right there now this gets even better I'm gonna read verse 18 again to you from since it's it's been a while go back to verse 18 in second Kings 18 just so we remember who has a Kai sent it said and when they had called to the king there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah which was over the household and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder now Hezekiah sent a scribe and a recorder what does a scribe do well the Hebrew word for scribe means to score with a mark or a tally that's inscribing and although the word for scribe and the word for hold of his peace are different they mean the same thing but there was also one whom he sent who was a recorder and a recorder is one who remembers what was said and records it so it can be recalled or retold whenever it's needed Shebna and Joah were men who listened to what was said saw what was done and held their peace they were men of understanding just like the man in the Proverbs and when when Rab sheikah was finished Shebna and Joah didn't respond to him at all but they remembered what he said they inscribe those words in their hearts and maybe in writing as well now what about that third man Eliakim who was with him it said he was over the household other translations have that as the word palace in place of the word household so it meant the king's household and the king was over the land but under him was one whom he trusted to be over the operations of the palace and although Eliakim was not a scribe or a recorder by trade his job would have been to take the words of the king inscribed them in his heart and then passed them down to the workers in the palace and these three men were the perfect ones to send to Rab sheikah all of them as we just read all of them inscribed Rab sheikah's words in their hearts but they held their peace and answered him not a word in fact it appears that nobody else answered him a word either because the text said but the people held their peace so the they stayed quiet so the representative of the most powerful king on the earth is the Assyrian king had come to Jerusalem that day he threatened the people he mocked the Lord their God and they held their peace and they answered him not listen to what was written about Pilate's interrogation of Jesus it's found in Matthew 27 verses 12 through 14 Matthew 27 verses 12 through 14 and when he was accused of the chief priests and elders he answered nothing then Pilate said unto him here's thou not how many things they witness against thee and he answered him to never a word in so much that the governor marveled greatly I kind of have to wonder if Rab sheikah didn't also wonder greatly after all of that he said and those men went I just I don't know if they just stared at him or what they did at some point they turned around and went to the king which we'll read about in a moment but you know Jesus being the perfect example there when you are right you don't have to defend your words Jesus was perfect and he was and is the Son of God he did not need to defend himself or his words in fact I'm glad he didn't defend himself if he had defended himself in his words he would have completely exonerated himself found himself not guilty he would have exonerated himself from a death on the cross and we would be hopelessly lost if he had done that in answering his mockers and his accusers and boy Jesus had more than anyone else has ever had he made sure he would die he answered them nothing and in doing that he made sure he would die for the unrighteous so we could be made righteous by answering nothing Jesus guaranteed that we would be delivered from our sin there was nothing the men of Judah could say to Rab sheikah that would bring about their deliverance because they were in the right they had a king who was in the right what then did they do with those words that they inscribed in their hearts verse 36 it said but the people held their peace and answered him not a word for the King's commandment was saying answer him not then came Eliakim the son of Hilkiah which was over the household and Shebna the scribe and Joah the son of Asaph the recorder to Hezekiah with their clothes rent and told him the words of Rab sheikah they went to their king they took those words to their king and Hezekiah is very much a type of the Lord Jesus Christ just like David was and there's a great lesson in what we're reading probably more than one great lesson listen to what David wrote in Psalm chapter 38 verses 12 through 16 Psalm chapter 38 verses 12 through 16 he said they also that seek after my life lay snares for me and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things and imagine deceit all the day long but I as a deaf man heard not and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth thus I was as a man that heareth not and in whose mouth are no reproofs for in thee Oh Lord do I hope thou wilt here Oh Lord my God for I said hear me lest otherwise they should rejoice over me when my foot slippeth they magnify themselves against me when David was in despair of those who spoke those mischievous things against him he said he opened not his mouth and this was a prophecy of what the Lord Jesus Christ would do when those same words were spoken against him in fact we just read the fulfillment of that he opened not his mouth and David opened not his mouth because as his Psalm said he was trusting and hoping in the Lord and the Lord would hear him where did he take those words where did he take all of those things that were spoken against him he inscribed them in his heart and he took him to the Lord that's what he did he took them to the Lord and David opened not his mouth because he was trusting and hoping in the Lord who would hear him and it was the Lord who would exonerate David from those mischievous deceitful words that his enemies spoke against him what did David do with those hurtful words he took him to the father the one who would deliver him and what did Jesus do with all those terrible things that men did and said unto him he answered them not he took it to the father the one who would deliver us through him thank God he didn't deliver Jesus from death he delivered us through him and on the cross Jesus said father forgive them for they know not what they do now what was all of that about all of those mischievous things that were said about him all of those things that were done against him the deceit and the lies and the accusations that were made Jesus didn't answer his accusers he took those words to the father and he said father forgive them for they know not what they do and then he said father into thy hands I commend my spirit his trust was in his father that special relationship within the Trinity that we don't understand maybe that much of but there it is right there for you and when he like him Shepna and Joah inscribed in their hearts those deceitful mischievous words that Rabbi Sheikah spoke to them and after they held their peace and answered him not they took those words to their king their king was the only one who could deliver them in their minds their clothes were rent it said there in 37 their clothes were rent and there they were in great distress there was sackcloth they had held their peace and they waited to pour out those words to their king trusting him to deliver Judah from the hand of their enemies now go right to chapter 19 verse 1 there's no need for a chapter break there in my opinion because this is a continuing event and it came to pass when the king Hezekiah heard it that he rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord now I said that the three men put theirself in sackcloth I don't know that that I imagine they did but it doesn't say that it does say that their clothes were rent and that was usually what preceded girding themselves with sackcloth and it is what the king did here so now that King Hezekiah has heard these same words he also answers not a word he doesn't do as Peter did in the Garden of Gethsemane where he tried to handle God's business for him the greatest thing said about King Hezekiah was found in chapter 18 verse 5 where it said he trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah nor any there were before him and that meant David too when you trust in the Lord God of Israel you let him handle the things that he alone is capable of handling you base your every word indeed on what his word says you trust him to fight against your enemies the passage there in 19 one says that Hezekiah rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth that means he tore his clothes we don't use the word rend or the past tense rent in that fashion but that's what he did and this is a sign of grieving it's a sign of great humility imagine a king and his kingly robe and a ray doing that but it's what David commanded Joab and the people with him to do when Abner that great Jewish fighter leader under David's reign when Abner died when he was killed David and the people were in mourning and he told them bring your clothes cover yourself in sackcloth and for Hezekiah the most powerful nation on the on the earth has set itself against Samaria and already won they've already taken the northern kingdom and now it set itself against Judah and mocked their God and with his clothes rent and with his body girded with sackcloth Hezekiah the text says went into the house of the Lord Wow it wasn't time to stay in the palace was it or to tend to national affairs or to matters of his own household Judah was in grave danger of being overrun and Hezekiah teaches us a great lesson here when your country is being threatened by the enemies you need to turn to the Lord and by putting off his own garments Hezekiah showed us that it would not be his leadership or his might or his words that would deliver Judah from her enemies by putting on sackcloth he did just enough to cover his own nakedness and not bring further shame upon himself but he did not array himself in any sort of clothing that might magnify him or his office and by going into the Lord's house he showed us that seeking the Lord was the only chance Judah had for deliverance please remember this lesson because our own country has standing at its door and inside its gates many enemies who want to take this country over and we're long past this being a conspiracy theory it's come to pass we've been weakened within and without the climate change alarmists have said that reducing greenhouse gases is the way to deliver America and not just America but the whole planet and the artificial intelligence designers claim that being able to improve the quality of life for everyone relies upon artificial intelligence government bureaucrats believe that more restrictive laws and higher taxes will make us a better nation and deliver us from our present circumstances warmongers believe we can save the whole world by just stationing our military all over the place and those of our allies while we are weakened and destroyed from within perverts believe that letting little children choose their gender that they want to be will make them happier and deliver them from confusion but none of those powerful people involved in those movements have done what hezekiah has done here they all agree the country's in trouble unless they're absolutely off their rocker they agree this country is in trouble he went into the house of the Lord remember he was the greatest King Judah ever had but he rent his clothes he girded himself with sackcloth and he went into the house of the Lord he humbled himself under the mighty hand of God and the United States of America better do the same what an answer to prayer it would be if during this time our president could not be found in the White House or on Air Force One or on a golf course but instead was in the Lord's house house with his clothes rent girded and sackcloth alone seeking the Lord and we are to pray for our leaders just like the Apostle Paul urged Timothy in first Timothy 2 verses 1 through 3 where he wrote I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life and all godliness and honesty for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior and when it comes to our earthly lives as citizens of this country do you hope to lead a quiet and peaceable life and all godliness and honesty then pray that our leaders would be men such as Hezekiah and we'll pick up with verse 2 next week let's pray father thank you for the instruction of your word thank you Lord for showing us that whether Old New Testament or right before our eyes today that the solution is always the same that we need to answer this mocking world not bring those words to you and to trust in the Lord our God just like Hezekiah did in Jesus name amen