Episode Transcript
Good morning.
It's 10 o'clock.
Let's begin our Bible study good-looking crowd today Even the ones in the second row up there the balcony section all the way across Second Kings chapter 19 verse 22 Was our stopping point last week?
So let's turn there as We continue to examine this wonderful truth That God is able to see Israel as a virgin Only by seeing them through his son in the gospel covenant And if you need to catch up on that lesson Then please go back and listen to it later But we try to march on do a little review from the last lesson and march right on in our verse by verse study and From that truth about Israel who represents the Lord's true church We learned that we who are in Christ Jesus by faith in the gospel are not seen by God as sinners but as members of Christ and his church In fact, we are his body Write down Ephesians chapter 5 verses 30 through 32 Ephesians 5 verses 30 through 32 Now remember the question we've looked at in verse 22 of our text in 2nd Kings 19 is Who has a Syria and their king reproached?
Who have they blasphemed and We've come to the conclusion that it is God Not just the people in Judah or Israel But it's actually God and we talked about why that's the case and we'll continue with that this morning Ephesians 5 30 through 32 for we are members of his body.
That is of Christ's body of His flesh and of his bones for this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife and They too shall be one flesh This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church We are still learning here that when a Syria reproached and blasphemed the Virgin the daughter of Zion Which is the Israel of God They reproached and blasphemed God Now let's consider that word member That was in the Ephesian passage.
I just read you it says but that we're members of his body If somebody were to walk up to me and hit me on the arm with a stick What would you say?
Would you say?
That man just hit brother shepherd with a stick that's probably what we would all say Now would it be large logical to say?
Oh that man didn't hit brother shepherd with a stick He hid his arm with a stick.
It's totally different Well, it's not Because my arm is a part of my body In fact, my arm needs the rest of my body my arm without the rest of my body would be useless and My it needs my brain to tell it what to do And when to do it and when to stop if you hit my arm you hit me and The Apostle Paul was teaching the Corinthians about the church body using this same logic He used the human body as an example of the church body.
So when The scripture says that we're members of Jesus body We're members of his church.
He is the head of that church.
So here's what Paul wrote in first Corinthians 12 verses 14 through 16 First Corinthians 12 verses 14 through 16 For the body is not one member but many so my arm isn't my whole body It's just a member of it if the foot shall say Because I am NOT the hand.
I am NOT of the body.
Is it therefore not of the body and if the ear shall say Because I am NOT the eye I am NOT of the body Is it therefore not of the body?
So it's a very interesting way that Paul demonstrates this He has a little play With these body parts talking to one another.
Do you ever notice that he's got the the hand the foot talking and Saying I'm not the hand.
I'm not part of the body and just because the foot says I'm not the hand So I'm not part of the body.
Does that mean he's really not part of the body?
And of course the answer is no He is too and The eye the ear does the same thing.
I'm not the eye.
I'm not of the body.
Yes, you are So just as hitting my arm is The same thing is hitting me Doing a harm to a member of the body of Christ is doing harm to the body of Christ Approaching and blaspheming the virgin the daughter of Zion is the same as reproaching and blaspheming the Lord so if I'm in Christ and I am part of that one body and brother Luke's in Christ He is part of that one body and Christ is our head if somebody harms brother Luke.
They're harming me they're trying to harm the Lord Jesus now you can't hurt Jesus as We can be hurt but you have blasphemed if brother Luke's reading his Bible at work on a break and Somebody comes up and says look at you wasting your time on that book of fairy tales Well, that's just not brother Luke that they were approached.
They've approached everyone who does that They've approached the one whose word he's reading And Then Colossians chapter 1 verse 18 Colossians 1 verse 18 This is the same apostle Paul who wrote Ephesians who wrote first Corinthians and now Colossians 1 18 It says this about Jesus.
This makes it really simple for us and he is the head of the body the church Who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence?
Now we've talked about this before I know the pastors taught on it during one of his messages That of all the things that give us away that identify us.
It's our face our head and If we don't have our head we're done for aren't we we can do without a finger without a foot even without a whole limb a lung But we cannot do without our head In fact the head has the preeminence that means it's the most important thing in the body Everybody agrees you've got to have your head in order for the rest of your body to live Even a chicken running around its head cut off doesn't run very long does it?
It's a sprint not a marathon so if you do something against the Lord's Church, you're doing something against the Lord and Using the human anatomy descriptions given by Paul in those prior verses We know Jesus is the head of the body.
That means he is the most important part of the body The body is him.
The body is his and he is the head of the body.
There's no way around it He's not the arm He's not the foot.
We are we are all of those members however When the arm or the foot is injured the head knows it doesn't absolutely The head knows when we cut ourselves when we run into something in the middle of a night The head knows when our elbow hurts or we have a heart attack The head knows all of that and the head is directly involved the head feels it The head is fully involved in whatever the foot is involved in Jesus in his body or one body So if a person blasphemes the Lord's Church If a person blasphemes a member of the Lord's Church Then he's blessed blaspheming the Lord and if a person persecutes The Lord's Church as Saul of Tarsus did and we'll read in a moment then he persecutes the Lord When Satan persecutes us he's persecuting the Lord Here's one more passage to tie this together with our primary text when Isaiah asks the king of Syria Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice and so forth This is found in chapter 9 verses 1 through 5 Acts chapter 9 verses 1 through 5 And here you're going to hear the name Saul Saul is the same person as the Apostle Paul So we'll read about him as Saul in this passage, but later on you'll see that he is called Paul It's the same guy a Little bit different attitude though and Saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord went unto the high priests Now who was he breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord?
That's what the text says Went to the high priests and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues Kind of like an arrest warrant that if he found any of this way that is any who were disciples of the Lord Whether they were men or women he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem put handcuffs on them and as he journeyed he came near Damascus and Suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven and he fell to the earth.
So now Saul's on the ground and heard a voice saying unto him Saul saw why persecute us thou me and He said who art thou Lord and the Lord said I am Jesus whom thou persecute us It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks Now that's interesting in just five verses We saw that historically the people like Saul the Pharisees Were persecuting the Lord's disciples Now if Saul had been trying to win an argument with Jesus With the Lord that's who it was.
He might have said Lord.
I wasn't persecuting you I Don't have anything against you You've already died.
I was persecuting your disciples.
I Was persecuting your church not you Did you notice that Jesus never said to Saul why are you persecuting my disciples?
He said why persecute us thou me Now let's apply what we've learned here back to our text in second Kings 19 look back there with me Go up to verse 21.
I want to read the The second half of verse 21 The virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee and left thee to scorn the daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at thee Whom has thou reproached and blasphemed and against whom has thou exalted thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high?
even against the Holy One of Israel When Sennacherib and Assyria Blast themed the virgin the daughter of Jerusalem the daughter of Zion whom did they really blaspheme?
He's asking it was the Lord God the Holy One of Israel.
He was the target of the blasphemy Listen you and I in our flesh Can't withstand blasphemy and reproach because we're guilty We would hang our heads in shame and Despair especially if the enemy were to name all of our sins publicly Ever one of us.
I don't care.
Hold you are you just go oh no here it comes Let's get this over with As Syria blasphemed the virgin the daughter of Zion which means they blaspheme God And They blaspheme the son as well.
They blaspheme God the father they blaspheme God the son as Well now this will be some new ground for some of you to cover But it's important in today's atmosphere of man-made religions Where almost all of them said oh we love God we believe in God we worship God The Bible says the devil's also believe and tremble But they're not saved So this will help you a little bit To know that when one blasphemes God they are blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ as well Remember what?
Rabschika that was the Assyrian military leader and Spokesman we studied about a few weeks ago Remember what he said about the God of Judah Who's the same as the God of Israel who's the same as the holy one of Israel?
Rabschika Had already run down these false gods from these other countries of Syria conquered He said where's that one?
Huh?
He can't deliver.
Where's that one?
He can't deliver.
Where's that one?
he'd taken those idols and thrown them into the fire and just destroyed them and What Rabschika did is he put God right up there along?
side of those other false gods Talked about him just like he was one of those helpless gods who was an idol and who could not deliver and Rabschika told Judah Don't let God deceive you Don't let him fool you he's not going to be able to deliver you from Assyria So I ask you this Which of the idols and the images of the heathen gods ever delivered any of their people?
none of them Which of those false gods since Rabschika and Sennacherib are comparing the Lord God to all these false gods and just saying they're all the same Which of those false gods could ever send its son to die for the sins of the world?
None of them Because they were dumb idols as the Bible says They were dumb idols who could not hear they could not speak and they had no power to do anything And in reproaching and blaspheming the Lord God of Judah in Israel Assyria was also reproaching and blaspheming the Son of God who is Jesus?
Who is also God the Son?
You might say well, but Jesus hadn't come to earth yet in those days So how could they be blaspheming him?
Now we know from studying the book of Genesis That God promised that the seed of the woman Would bruise the head of the serpent The seed of the woman would be Jesus the head of the serpent the serpent was the devil he took the form of a serpent in the Garden of Eden and That's found in Genesis 3 15 Which occurred way before what we're reading here But even closer to this time in history Involving Assyria and Sennacherib and all that we're reading about even closer to that time in history.
There was a prophet named Isaiah who prophesied that The Son of God would one day come the Son of God had already been preached about Jesus said Moses testified of me and Moses was lived way before these people we're reading about here But this prophet Isaiah said Many of whose words are exactly the words we read in second Kings.
They mirror each other It's very evident.
He lived at the same time and wrote about the same time in history But this prophet said in Isaiah 9 verse 6 Isaiah 9 verse 6 For unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and His name shall be called Wonderful counselor the mighty God The Prince of Peace that are everlasting father the Prince of Peace.
So what Isaiah told the people in that day was This son who will be born He will be called the mighty God he is God He will be called the everlasting father.
He's the same God the Son and God the Father are the same One is a spirit one came as a man that we might see him or that mankind might see him and that he might die for our sins And we often read and quote that passage I saw some of your lips moving you knew that one that passage and that's good from Isaiah We often read that around the time of year when we celebrate the Lord's birth But it's a year-round scripture just like the rest of them are Did you notice that the son who will be born is called the mighty God and the everlasting father So that can mean only one thing God the Father and God the Son are one and we know God the Holy Spirit is though.
We're not expounding upon him at this time But when Assyria blasphemes the virgin the daughter of Zion They blaspheme God the Father and when they blaspheme God the Father they blaspheme God the Son and may I say they Blaspheme God the Holy Spirit as well John chapter 10 verse 30 John 10 verse 30 Jesus said I and my father are one so the question asked to The Assyrian king is whom has thou were approached in blaspheme and the end of the verse the holy one of Israel So if you've blasphemed the father you blaspheme the son you blaspheme the son you blaspheme the Holy Spirit You can't hate Jesus and love God the Father.
It is absolutely impossible Every religion that is mono Theistic that means one God every religion that is monotheistic says there's only one God and That's where the problem lies when you try to fellowship with somebody About spiritual things and they say oh we believe in the same God.
This is wonderful No, they don't and no we don't Islam says there's one God Allah and His prophet is Muhammad We regard neither What is called Orthodox Judaism the religion of most of the Jews if unless they're atheist or agnostic But the religion of the majority of the Jews Says there is one God whether they call him Yahweh or Jehovah or El Shaddai or Yeshua which if they call him Yeshua, they've acknowledged that there is a Savior but They give all of the different names for the one true God The problem and this is what makes it even worse Those Jews believe that there will be a Messiah come one day.
They do not deny that a Messiah will be sent from God and unto this day There are still so many Jews Who do not believe Jesus?
Was God sent in the flesh born of a virgin and sinless in his life They called him a blasphemer then They don't believe his death on the cross Was enough to forgive their sins.
They don't believe in his resurrection of the dead.
They're still looking as it were For God to send the Messiah the first time We're looking for him to come the second time aren't we we've already received him.
We've trusted him by faith We're waiting for his second coming and when he comes again, it's gonna be too late to be looking for his first coming In your own time if you will read John chapter 7 it's a fairly long chapter But what you'll see when you read through that is the people in that day Were divided about whether Jesus was a good man or a deceiver Whether he was the Christ the Son of the living God or whether he was an imposter there was a great division in that day among the Jews and These religious Pharisees who denied Jesus was the Son of God who blasphemed him calling him a blasphemer Those same religious Pharisees were supposed to be keepers of God's law which Yet they denied what even Moses and the prophets before them believed when it came to the Messiah and If they believe not the record That God gave of his son.
It's right here If they don't believe that record Then they don't believe in the God who gave the record of his son.
You cannot It's all or none So don't let someone tell you they love God but they don't believe in Jesus as their Savior The God they love starts with a little G and it's just as good as one of those burnt up dumb deaf idols That rap sheikah burned in His conquest That's a lie from the devil that they can believe in God but not in Jesus and We could continue along this line for some time But I think it is probably clear to you by now if you've stuck with us for a few weeks That a serious blasphemy and reproach was indeed against the Lord even though their earthly Conflict was against the sinful nation of Israel and Judah thank God he saw them through his son and Thank God he sees us through his son when we put our faith in his son Otherwise we'd be uncleaning his sight - he couldn't look at us and call us the virgin the daughter of Zion Looking back in our text in 2nd Kings 19.
Let's look at verse 22 and we see in the middle of the verse and against whom Has thou exalted thy voice now?
We've read that a couple times, but now we're going to expound upon it Against whom has thou exalted thy voice?
This is God speaking through Isaiah in answer to Benacor of the king of Assyria, so it's God talking to the king of Assyria through the prophet Isaiah This is the answer God gives Against whom is thou exalted thy voice?
We've studied the word exalted a few times in our adult Bible study Let's review what it means Exalted means lifted up high In fact, it's an active verb.
So here the actor the person doing the action Takes initiative and lifts something up He lifts up in this case his own voice It's what it said and against whom has thou exalted or lifted up thy voice And based upon what we know about man's sin nature Do you think the king of Assyria exalted his voice just a little bit?
Just maybe moved it up a notch.
Let it sit there for a while just loud enough to be heard Or do you think he lifted his voice as high as he could?
Trying to lift it higher than anyone else's The voice is the means by which we speak words you're hearing mine and I hear yours when you speak to me We have lungs into which we inhale and from which we exhale air we have vocal cords that are very complex By the way the older they get the less you get to tell them what to do They kind of start doing what they want after you get get old enough I'll go back and listen to myself speak or sing and I'll think oh That was painful My voice wasn't doing what I thought I was telling it to do and that's the way it goes But it's very complex and all of those members of our body make sounds and form them into words or musical notes and We have a mouth and a tongue and lips and teeth that all participate in that joint venture And from all of these bodily members and organs we produce Words and sounds with our voices and in the case of the Assyrian king His voice represented his words now.
He wasn't physically there speaking but He actively lifted up or exalted his words by promoting them over the words of everyone else including the Lord He sent those words all over Samaria the northern kingdom also called Israel and Then Judah he used that voice though It was written down to express that voice in words but the reader of those words used his voice to pass on the words that came from the voice of the king and That voice made threats it made promises to God's people Now God's people Had God's words didn't they they had Moses and the prophets they had they had enough to be saved and to Have all that they needed they didn't say old man.
We're just waiting around for the New Testament We can't live a complete life without the New Testament.
That's not true live a complete life with the book of Genesis for for all that But they had God's words Yet they had largely disobeyed them.
That's why they were in the mess they're in here in our text however God had lifted up his voice To his people through Moses and the prophets including Isaiah and Hosea who lived in the days were reading about here but sadly the children of Israel Had lifted up their voices above the voice of God They'd made their own words higher than God's words in their heart and Now the Assyrian king is trying to lift his voice higher than theirs and higher than God's The word voice in the Hebrew Means a sound or a noise and it's even translated as the word thunder in a few places but The first use of the Hebrew word translated voice is found in the book of Genesis Now it's in Genesis 3 17 but first before I read that I want to read you an earlier verse and That is Genesis 2 16 through 17 Genesis 2 16 through 17 so write that one down first or at least I'll read it first to you And this is after God made Adam Says and the Lord God commanded the man That's the voice of God right there Is the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat?
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it For in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die These were the first words that man heard there weren't the first ones God spoke because God said Let there be light and there was light man didn't get to hear that when he got to read about it He got to hear about it from the Moses and the prophets later on but the first words man heard best I can tell Or what is recorded?
So when God said these words in Genesis 2 16 through 17 They were from the voice of God and as long as man Adam and then Eve later as long as man obeyed those words Then it would show that to that man God's voice Was the highest one there was God's words were lifted up as long as man obeyed them Now if man disobeyed those words which were the voice of God It would show that he exalted someone else's words above God's words someone else's voice above God's voice and Yes, we are learning how foolish the Assyrian king was when he exalted his own voice against the Lord's voice Now I told you the first use of the Hebrew word Translated voice is found in Genesis 3 17 and I've read to you the first voice Adam heard After he was made Adam and Eve Disobeyed God after that point and they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and here's what God told Adam After that and it's found in Genesis 3 17 and unto Adam He said because thou hast darkened unto the voice of thy wife and Has eaten of the tree of which I commanded these saying thou shalt not eat of it Cursed is the ground for thy sake in Sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life in other words Adam you Exalted your wife's voice above my voice I Told you not to do it.
She told you let's go for it and you went for it You took her voice and you put it above mine Friend there should never be any competition for a Christian Between God's voice and the voice of any other I don't care whose voice it is I don't care if it's the voice of your mother if your mother's voice if your father's voice if your best friend's voice Your spouse's voice goes against God's voice God's voice is always to be exalted in your heart above the voice of any other No, you're probably not going to hear Audibly the sound of God's voice.
You don't need to you have his words right here in the Bible cover to cover And when we teach you hear my voice read the words, but it's God's voice that gave those words for me to read Isaiah in his day literally heard God's voice That doesn't make it any more special than if we read it today It's the same thing.
It's from God and Isaiah wrote down those words from God's voice so that everyone after him Could also hear God's voice in the reading of those words Do you realize how important it is to listen to the right voice?
When my little Sarah was born I Took her into the nursery So the pediatrician could check her out and prick her little heel for blood and generally irritate her as a welcome to Lake Point Hospital and Sarah cried like newborn babies do her face was red and she was maddering a wet hand Just unhappy with the medical staff there However, as soon as I put my hand on her little back and I began speaking to her she calmed down and did it every time That was pretty cool to me.
She'd never met me outside the womb before I don't know how much babies here and all that but perhaps she was able to hear my voice Before then but whatever the case was my voice was comforting to her.
She heard her father's voice Even as a newborn baby her father's voice was the right voice for her to listen to and although the pediatrician and the nurses tried to speak comfortably to her and as we do babies She was not persuaded by their voices.
They couldn't settle her down, but I did And oh how Judah and Israel were at a spiritual Crossroad here.
They had exalted their own voices Against God their father whose voice could comfort them in fact You read in Isaiah one place at I forget the which chapter it is it may be chapter 9 verse 1, but It says comfort ye comfort ye my people That's what the voice of God does to his people he comforts us But Israel Judah Had exalted their voices against God's and now as we read in our text a Syria had done the same So you have all these voices for the children of Israel to listen to?
Unto whose voice will they harken?
Who will they hear?
Well the the virgin the daughter of Zion who's the Lord's true church both then and now Will listen to only one voice The Lord's true church those who are born again Hear one voice John chapter 10 verses 14 through 16 John chapter 10 verses 14 through 16 listen for that I Am the good shepherd that's Jesus speaking and know my sheep and have known of mine as The father knoweth me even so know I the father and I lay down my life for the sheep and other sheep I have which are not of this fold them also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and There shall be one fold and one shepherd How do the sheep know the shepherd they recognize his voice I Listen to a missionary one time missionary to Mexico and He said that when He went there.
He went to the villages and so forth like a lot of them do and That he watched this little boy.
He said this little boy wasn't very big and this little boy had a bunch of sheep he was in charge of and He could give him that command in Spanish and boy They'd go into the sheepfold and he'd shut the gate when it was time for them to come out He'd open the gate and he'd say something in Spanish and here they'd come they'd follow him and so he said To this little boy.
He said I won't try that so Brother Charlie went over to the gate and he opened it and he said come on And boy, they just stayed right where they were they wouldn't move Which is a wonderful illustration of the truth here that Jesus sheep hear his voice.
They recognize his voice.
They not only recognize his voice, but they follow him When Jesus sheep who are the same as the Israel of God hear the words of the shepherd and those are the words right here in this book Then they recognize that it's Jesus whose voice they're hearing They recognize this Jesus whose words they're reading and Jesus sheep get used to the sound of those words.
That's why we don't preach anything here, but God's Word We're not interested in anything else here Because that's what you need if you're sheep You need more of God's Word if you're not you need God's Word to make that change in you But Jesus sheep get used to the sound of the word.
So when the words of a hireling Or a wolf Are spoken the sheep will not hear We won't receive those words we won't follow the one who speaks those words But here's the problem our flesh will pull us in that direction That's how a lot of people get confused Because they're not used to the Shepherd's words and if you think well, I'm brother Andy.
I'm a Christian I put my faith in what Jesus did at the cross and that's good enough.
That's good enough for your salvation But how's that going to help you live the Christian life if you just leave it right there Because someone else can come along who's a lot better speaker than me a lot better than brother Fulton Maybe a car salesman type who could persuade you Away from hearing the Shepherd's words and ruin your life but the more you hear the words of the Shepherd and Exalt them in your heart the less likely you are to follow someone else and to follow their voice Our flesh will pull us in that direction, but our spiritual man that inner man Will not exalt those voices against the voice of the Shepherd It seems today that everyone wants their voices heard They want their words listened to Social media developers seized upon that natural desire of man and it was ingenious They made it to where you could actually see how many people liked what you posted Now before social media we had newspapers and magazines television news channels and radio And if you liked a particular television program you watched it at some point you might even read about the Nielsen ratings The Nielsen rating was obtained by the use of telephone surveys and other crude measurements and it would tell you how many Homes watched a program, but it didn't tell you whether they really liked it or not They assumed you liked it if you watched it Now there are all kinds of ways to communicate whether you like something on Facebook Instagram Or any other part of social media and it is addictive to the flesh and it works Mark Zuckerberg and others like him knew exactly what they were doing and Now the voice most people here is the voice of social media the voice of their latest influencer and People are drawn to the instant gratification that social media provides To those voices to those likes to those views Not many people say I love to hear the Word of God you don't hear people walk around saying that very much and the ones that do on the the internet lesson they're precious if they really love God's Word and When we love seeing those comments, we don't live by those comments.
I don't say well brother Fulton I must not have done well in Sunday school today.
I must not have faithfully expounded God's Word We only got eight views and ten likes even got a couple thumbs down Doesn't bother me at all Everybody wants their voices heard and we're gonna pick up with that next week So we can again see how foolish a Syria was to exalt their voice Against the voice of the Lord father.
Thank you so much for all who came and paid attention Thank you for the good use of the internet whereby people far away or those who are shut in or sick Can still go to church they can hear God's Word taught and archive it and go back and hear it again and Lord, we just pray that you would build each one up in the most holy faith And if there's one among them who is listening but is lost I Pray you draw them to the cross of Jesus Christ for salvation.
It's in his name.
We pray.
Amen
