Verse by verse teaching - 2 Kings 19:32-34

Good morning. Ten o'clock is our time and 2 Kings chapter 19 verse 32 is our text. So let's turn there. 2 Kings chapter 19 verse 32 and I'd also like for you to mark Isaiah chapter 48. Just put a bookmark there or mark it on your phone Isaiah chapter 48 so we can come right to it when it's time. All right I'm going to read the entire verse 2 Kings 19 32 and then we will get to it. We left off there last week so we need to do a little review. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria he shall not come into this city, speaking of Jerusalem, nor shoot an arrow there nor come before it with shield nor cast a bank against it. And from this verse last week we learned through the prophet Isaiah that God said the king of Assyria would not enter Jerusalem. That he would not shoot arrows into Jerusalem from outside and he would not even get to stand outside Jerusalem and defend himself with the shield. And we left off with the phrase nor cast a bank against it and that means to make mounds and I described those to you last week in a way that little boys would understand digging trenches and building mounds in front of those as a fortification as a shield against the adversaries. And once again God would turn Sennacherib back by the way which he came so he doesn't get to stay outside of Jerusalem and roar. And this ought to be a great encouragement to us. Let's listen to what Peter wrote in 1st Peter chapter 5 verses 8 through 10. 1st Peter 5 verses 8 through 10 from which we've quoted many times where Peter wrote to the Christians, "Be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour." Now that's Sennacherib around Jerusalem, "whom resist steadfast in the faith knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus that after ye have suffered a while make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you." Now that's in an earthly sense what God is doing here for Jerusalem is taking those steps to settle them to establish them. Now it's a lot more chaotic on earth than it will be when this prophecy is fulfilled. We have to deal with the flesh, we have to deal with our our enemies daily and just when it seems like things are going well and we seem to have been delivered from one thing or another then here comes something else. Satan shoots another arrow but he's always walking about like a lion seeking whom he may devour. So when God turns Sennacherib back to the way he came then we're going to learn something about that when it comes to our adversary Satan. And right now Satan roars and he seeks whom he may devour just like Sennacherib was roaring. But from the text I read you there in 1st Peter chapter 5 we learn that we resist the devil just like our brethren resist the devil. And as long as we're in this world he is going to roar. So you can get used to that if you ever maybe you've said this before I wish the devil would just leave me alone. Well if you're a Christian he's not going to. In fact Peter says he's going to roar and he's going to be on the lookout for whom he may devour and he doesn't stop doing that until God deals with him finally one day. But according to God's Word in the in the passage we just read in 1st Peter one day we will be made perfect in every way established strengthened and settled it down for good and we're not that's when we are no longer in this world. That's when our afflictions have been accomplished they're over with and the devil imagine this the devil one day will no longer roar. He'll no longer cast a bank against us or shoot his fiery darts at us the arrows from without. God will turn him back to where he belongs just like he did Sennacherib in our text. Now look down at verse 33 2nd Kings 19 if you just joined us verse 33 he continues saying by the way that he came by the same shall he return and shall not come into this city saith the Lord. Now this is God telling Judah that Sennacherib is not going to have his way and that's important that they know that it's so easy to give up when you think boy the devil's got me down now and I just I'm smothered I can't seem to get up I'll just lay here and take it till I die well you don't have to do that and Satan's never gonna feel sorry for us by the way but I like the assurance that we have that one day he won't get to flee from God and take some alternate route just like Sennacherib is not going to get to run away from God and then circle back to Jerusalem. God's going to turn him back by the way he came and he won't get another shot at Jerusalem or Judah and to reassure Judah God said again Sennacherib would not come into Jerusalem after all that's what the people in Jerusalem were concerned about and it's assuring to me that Satan will not have his way with us because I know what his way looks like and if you study your Bibles you do too and I want to point this out to you because there's no doubt many people in Judah and in Jerusalem in that day who were scared and who would rather have just given in to Sennacherib many of them thought those promises he gave them about prosperity and peace and eating of the fig trees and coming to Assyria and having everything their way they probably thought that sounded good and they were so afraid of his power that they may not have wanted to resist him at all but if they only knew what Sennacherib's way really was if they only knew what he really wanted to do to them he wanted to conquer them he didn't want to be their friends and so because of that we need to learn about Satan's way and why God must turn him back by the way he came well he will because in so many words he said he would listen listen to the devil's way now we when you study your Bible and you study what Satan says you should learn from it and we're going to do that it's Job chapter 1 verses 10 through 12 we're going to listen to what Satan said and try to figure out what is his way how does he do business he sure made it his way appealing to people but what's his real motive okay Satan has appeared before God in this passage and he has got his eye on Job and God's already said that's a best man out there in as my paraphrase of it said he's a perfect man that is shoe with evil is what the Bible said and so here is Joe or here is Satan's accusation to God he said has not thou made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side thou has blessed the work of his hands and his substance is increased in the land but put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face and the Lord said unto Satan behold all that he hath is in thy power only upon himself put not forth thine hand so Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord now what was Satan's will for job that he want job to draw closer to God that he want job to be happy and prosper no his will for job was to curse God that's what he wanted him to do and he said God I've got the perfect recipe for that you have made this man prosperous he's rich he has children he's you've protected him pull that away he'll curse you to your face Satan wanted to show God that job was a counterfeit Satan's way was to make Job's life so unbearable that he would accomplish causing job to curse God and with God's permission Satan killed off Job's cattle his children all but four of his servants and seduced his wife to tell Job why don't you just curse God and die and when Job did not curse God and die Satan wasn't content to lose you know if he'd have been a good sport he just said well God you got me there your your servant was faithful he didn't curse you I'm gonna back off I was wrong I'm out of my league he didn't do that did he he wasn't content to lose so listen to Job 2 verses 5 through 7 where Satan came back and now he said this to God but put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face now remember before God said you do what you want but don't touch him well now he's saying let me touch him or you touch him and the Lord said unto Satan behold he is in thine hand but save his life so Satan so went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown right here so in that passage it was again Satan's will for Job to curse God both times he's wanted the outcome to be that Job would curse God because of his own afflictions and it was Satan's will for Job to be smitten with boils from head to toe can't sit down walk lay down roll over swallow can you imagine and this was on top of all the misery and grieving that Job was already going through his children were dead his wife had turned on him his servants were dead all of his substances cows were cattle were burned up stolen and all that and Satan didn't say you know he's having a rough time I'm gonna let him get over this no he piled it on him so that gives you a little glimpse of what Satan's will or Satan's way is in Luke chapter 13 Jesus was teaching in the synagogues and he came up on a woman who was in terrible shape verse 11 of that chapter says and behold there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity 18 years and was bowed together and could in no wise lift up herself now she's twisted up like a pretzel wasn't she she couldn't couldn't straighten up and Jesus went on to heal that woman but listen to what Jesus said about her condition in verse 16 because this reveals once again Satan's will for us Jesus said and ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan hath bound lo these 18 years be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day so what was Satan's will for this woman his will was that she would be bound by the spirit of infirmity and suffer physically with it for the rest of her life now this is one of those conditions where we don't have to wonder was this God testing the woman or was this Satan afflicting the woman sometimes you you have to read to find out well it's pretty plain Jesus said Satan that bound her so there's there's no further debate on that as far as I'm concerned and so that was his that was Satan's will afflict this woman so badly that for the rest of her life she will suffer well how's that for a friend that doesn't sound attractive at all that's that's what the people of Judah needed to understand about Sennacherib is if God lets him stay and do what he wants as good as it sounds to you his will is that you be bound to him he is going to conquer you you will serve him and it won't be pretty but Jesus turned that spirit of infirmity back by the way from which it came just like he did Sennacherib and just in the passages from Job and Luke we've learned that our enemy does not have good things in store for us his will and his ways are absolutely contrary to God's and if you think about Satan's ways when it comes to people you'll see that they are of the pattern that we saw in Sennacherib in the account of the Passover in Luke chapter 22 in verses 3 through 4 Luke 22 verses 3 through 4 we read then entered Satan into Judas sir named Iscariot being of the number of the 12 and he went his way and communed with the chief priests and captains how he might betray him unto them so what was Satan's will for Judas Iscariot it was that he would betray the Lord Jesus Christ essentially he would curse him same as it was when Satan approached God about Job he tried to get Job to curse God and so Satan wanted Jesus to be betrayed by Judas Iscariot just as Sennacherib would have entered Jerusalem and done evil things Satan entered Judas and did evil things what did Satan do when he entered Judas he led Judas to betray Jesus he didn't lead Judas to be closer to Jesus to walk with the Lord spiritually he walked with him physically carried the bag he was a treasurer but he didn't walk with Jesus spiritually and Jesus knew that from the beginning Judas was not a Christian so the door to his inner man was wide open wasn't it wide open and he rejected Jesus and his way and he embraced Satan and his way and that's the choice the people in Jerusalem have is accept what Sennacherib offered them or accept the Lord's deliverance that he promised them but Judas rejected Jesus and embraced Satan and if you're familiar with the story Judas indeed betrayed Jesus to the Jews and then it said he repented unto himself not to God he repented unto himself and then he went out and he hung himself and went to hell Satan on the other hand cannot enter a Christians inner man he was able to enter Judas Iscariot because Judas was wide open he was he was not a child of the king he rejected Jesus and you know why Satan can't enter Doug Sexton because Doug Sexton is indwelled by the Holy Spirit when he was saved and the Holy Spirit doesn't change addresses it never moves out so if you ever hear somebody say you know I'm a Christian and I was demon possessed no you aren't if you're demon possessed you're not a Christian possession ownership is a serious thing we don't just throw that word around if a person is truly demon possessed they're unsaved now we are obviously in our flesh we're influenced by the devil but our inner man if you're a Christian Jesus moves in he never moves out and as we learned last week that Satan is also like Sennacherib when he cannot enter in now Sennacherib God said he's not coming in the city he's not going to shoot arrows he's not going to stand out there with a shield he's not going to dig the he's not going to make the mounds digging the trenches making the mounds casting banks against Jerusalem he doesn't get to do any of that I'm turning him back putting the hook in his nose and turning him back by the way from which he came and Satan is that same way he can't move in to Andy Shepherd he cannot I'm indwelt by the Holy Spirit from the day that I was saved but he will shoot arrows at the people who are inside the city Ephesians chapter 6 verse 16 Ephesians 6 verse 16 like the rest of Ephesians was written to Christians into whose inner man Satan cannot enter so he doesn't get to come into Jerusalem but here's what that verse says above all taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and darts are arrows they're also translated as javelins darts and Satan launches them our way doesn't he but the Bible says that faith quenches them and faith is a gift from God it's not something you worked up on your own if you have faith in God's Word God gave you the gift of faith so we don't naturally want to believe the things of God in our flesh they're not convenient to us they're contrary to us but faith is a gift from God and it quenches those darts so even though he fires those darts faith is the quencher and as we've seen this morning in 1st Peter 5 Satan like Sennacher when he cannot enter in and even if he's not firing darts he still walks around and roars doesn't he you may say well you know I don't feel like I'm under attack from the devil right now where you are but you maybe you don't feel like it's as bad as it has been well don't think Satan's left you alone he is still walking around he's roaring he's seeking whom he may devour and once again God has given us faith to resist him and by being sober and vigilant then we're in the right spiritual frame to resist Satan which is what has a kayah and the remnant of Judah were they were sober and vigilant they by faith resisted Sennacherib's advances on Jerusalem now they didn't by force they didn't have the power to resist did they that was a superior army standing against them but by faith they were able to resist Sennacherib's advances because they put their faith in God and God said he's not coming in and that's how that works he's a kayah if you remember he spread the matter before the Lord there in the house of the Lord and when he did that he showed that his faith was in God's promises and God's protection and in return God told them how he would dispose of Sennacherib he gave them advance notice Isaiah stood right there and said this is how he's going to do it wouldn't that be nice if we had those words well we do we have those words if you wonder well what's God going to do to keep the great adversary away from me how's God going to finally get rid of Satan so he doesn't bother me anymore his word tells you his word tells you even though you don't have a prophet standing in front of you reading it or speaking it as Isaiah did you have God's Word that has already been written down for you it carries the same force now look in verse 33 in our text by the way that he came by the same shall he return and shall not come into this city sayeth the Lord now although this repeats what was said in the last part of verse 28 and the first part of verse 33 I want to look at the word he and emphasize that where it says by the way that he came and what this word shows us is that Sennacherib's actions were by individual choice he made a choice Satan as Lucifer made a choice and so did every one of the hosts that fell with him that were cast out with him each one made a choice nobody dragged Sennacherib by the nose to Jerusalem he made the decision to come Jerusalem just like he made the decision to go to Samaria and all of its cities and conquer them he chose his actions but he was not able to choose his consequences and that's what so many want to do the lady last night who was arrested for DWI she chose her actions didn't she she went and drank and drank and drank and then she got caught on the highway and oh she didn't want to go to jail but she didn't get to choose that she did get to choose whether she drank and then drove but once she was arrested she did not get to choose the consequences those were already laid out there for her and that's the way the Bible is that's just a print a Bible principle right there as we choose our actions we make our choices and although he chose to come to Jerusalem Sennacherib would be led back by the way which he came and that would be by God's hook being through his nose and it bridle in his lips not a consequence that he would have chosen I can promise you that now in verse 34 God tells us the why for I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake and for my servant David's sake there's a lot in that little verse and we're gonna try to get as much as we can in this morning he first of all said for I will defend this city and as you may have learned the word for and the word because are generally the same thing and so this could also read because I will defend this city he's telling you why he's doing the things in the prior verses I'm doing all that because I will defend this city and that teaches us that the God's purpose in all of this was to save Jerusalem and to save Jerusalem he had to destroy Jerusalem's enemies it's an all-or-none deal God does not let them peacefully coexist if any of y'all ever seen that bumper sticker that just says coexist and has all these different religious symbols on there that's what they're hoping will happen well what people who have that sort of thing don't understand is there is no coexistence with God you either are in him he and you or you're his enemy and it doesn't matter which of your little religious symbols you go by if you are not in him he is not in you then you are against him and that's where Sennacherib was and that's where Satan is spiritually as well and there was no room in Jerusalem for a few Assyrians not even one and from the time that God led his people out of Egypt he told them to go into the land and to possess it and did he tell them to coexist with their enemies he said drive them out every one of them he never told Israel to try to make friends with their enemies in fact he told them not to and he told them why not and the Lord's promise here to defend Israel in verse 34 is not just for the sake of keeping the Assyrians at bay look back at your verse he said for I will defend this city to save it to save it when God saves it he delivers it which is what the word means in our text now I I get paid a certain amount every paycheck and I put some away here and I'll put some way here and since I'm saving it and but that's a different way to think of the word save here it means to deliver so it has a it carries the idea of delivering and God defends the city that he may save it or that he may deliver it and to defend the city he has to drive away the enemies that makes sense I think about this God would not save a city that was inhabited by his enemies he wouldn't say well I'm gonna save it with the enemies in there I'm gonna leave them in there but I'm gonna save it because that would mean the enemies would be saved as well and if they're God's enemies they don't want to be saved by God they don't believe in God they don't trust his word so he drives his enemies out when he defends the city that's all all in one that's all part of the same thing listen to Romans chapter 11 verses 26 through 27 Romans 11 26 through 27 this is going to show us that God is all or none when it comes to delivering his city it says and so all Israel shall be saved as it is written there shall come out of Zion the deliverer with a capital D that's Jesus and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob now what did God do with Sennacherib he turned him away turn him back by the way which he came and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob for this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins now let's break this down first that verse says so all Israel shall be saved now many religious people in this world including many Jews have taken that to mean that everyone who can trace their line their genealogy back to Israel is going to be saved that's not true that is not true the Bible says it's not in fact in Romans chapter 9 verse 6 Romans 9 6 Paul wrote same one who wrote Romans 11 right he wrote for they are not all Israel which are of Israel he said just because they're from Israel doesn't mean they're the Israel I'm talking about and in Galatians chapter 6 verses 15 through 16 Galatians 6 15 through 16 just to clarify who that Israel is Paul also wrote for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but a new creature and as many as walk according to this rule peace beyond them and mercy and upon the Israel of God so the Israel of God are the ones who are in Christ Jesus doesn't matter what nation they're from and so something had to happen here for all Israel to be saved that's the Israel of God and that something is the deliverer has to turn away ungodliness from Jacob or Israel it's remember Jacob Israel Ephraim Samaria those are all referring to the same people but in this case ungodliness being turned away from Israel is the Israel of God and for God to save Jerusalem in our study he first had to turn away the Assyrians not let them enter Jerusalem can you imagine if God said well the way I save people is I just save them like they are and I let him stay like they are I save them in their sin that doesn't make any sense that doesn't agree with his principle of salvation of deliverance when God saves a person he turns away their ungodliness through faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ turns away every bit of it Jesus took away our sins he didn't save you in your sin he saved you from your sin and those words are very important Matthew chapter 1 verse 21 Matthew 1 verse 21 says this about Mary before Jesus was born it says and she shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins he'll turn away ungodliness from Jacob and so to save us from our sin he drove out the ungodliness by shedding his blood to deliver us from our sins and boy we have to get a hold of that that's a that's a basic gospel truth and you know we we know that we're saved by faith in that gospel but let me tell you there are a lot of people who claim to be Christians who aren't and they believe they can have Jesus over here and have the world over here and be just fine I just don't see anything wrong with it and then when you confront them about their worldliness they say well it doesn't matter because I'm saved no it does matter too are you a new creature in Christ or are you not and if you are it doesn't mean you're gonna live a perfect life you still have the flesh but if you're if you're content by saying well Jesus is gonna save me but essentially he doesn't have to deliver me from all ungodliness because he saved me doesn't make any sense whatsoever and that's because it's not true he saved us from our sins and we look back in our text now and we read that God will not only defend and save Jerusalem but he said I'll do it for mine own sake why will he save them for his own sake this is so instructive God's not saving Jerusalem for their sake he's not saving Jerusalem for the sake of King Hezekiah he says for his own sake he is doing it now I've asked you to turn to Isaiah 48 at the beginning so hopefully you can turn right over there keep your place in 2nd Kings and I'm going to read a section here it's 11 verses but I want to do this so that you'll understand what God means when he says he's going to do something for his own sake and not necessarily ours all right I'll read Isaiah 48 verses 1 through 11 hear ye this O house of Jacob which are called by the name of Israel and are come forth out of the waters of Judah which swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel but not in truth nor in righteousness for they call themselves of the holy city and stay themselves upon the God of Israel the Lord of hosts is his name I have declared the former things from the beginning and they went forth out of my mouth and I showed them I did them suddenly and they came to pass because I knew that thou art obstinate and thy neck is an iron sinew and eyebrow brass I have even from the beginning declared it to thee before it came to pass I showed it thee lest thou shouldst say mine idol hath done them and my graven image in my molten image hath commanded them thou hast heard see all this and will not ye declare it I have showed the new things from this time even hidden things and thou didst not know them they are created now and not from the beginning even before the day when thou hurtest them not lest thou should say behold I knew them yea thou hurtest not yea thou knewest not yea from that time that thine ear was not open for I knew that thou wouldst deal very treacherously and was called a transgressor from the womb now that's a hopeless bunch of people right there isn't it listen to verse 9 for my name's sake will I defer mine anger that means I'll put it off and for my praise God said will I refrain for thee that I cut thee not off behold I have refined thee but not with silver I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction for mine own sake even for mine own sake will I do it for how should my name be polluted and I will not give my glory unto another okay what we read in those verses tells us two main things number one how good God was to Israel and number two how rotten Israel was to God those first ten verses help you understand why God would save them for his own sake because they had done nothing worthy of being saved they were stubborn obstinate they were self-willed they worshipped idols they were know-it-alls and they'd done nothing worthy of being saved and neither have we all we like sheep have gone astray every one to his own way all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the sight of God and when God was giving these words to Isaiah Israel was in bad shape they acted religious but they were full of idols and conceit and pride and to that group of people God said he would defer he would put off his anger and not cut them off and that is nothing more and nothing less than the grace and mercy of God in full operation for it's out of that nation that he would bring forth a deliverer his dear son who was the lion of the tribe of Judah and not only for his sake would God save Jerusalem but look back in your text there in 2nd Kings 19 34 he said and for my servant David's sake he would save Jerusalem God would honor a promise that he made to his servant David who had been the king of Judah about 300 years before Hezekiah so what was it that would make God save Jerusalem not only for his sake but also for his servant David's sake well we find that in 2nd Samuel chapter 7 verses 12 through 16 2nd Samuel chapter 7 verses 12 through 16 where God spoke these words to Nathan the prophet who would speak these words to David and here they are so Nathan speaking to David on behalf of God and he says to David and when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy bowels and I will establish his kingdom he shall build and house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever and that's key I will be his father and he shall be my son if he commit iniquity I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of men but my mercy shall not depart away from him as I took it from Saul whom I put away before thee and thine house speaking to David and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee thy throne shall be established forever so the phrase for my servant David's sake has spiritual and eternal significance it has to because David died God didn't defend and save an earthly Jerusalem just so David could have some earthly offspring to inherit an earthly throne as we learned last week David's house his throne and his kingdom would be established forever in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who as a man was of the seed of David that means he came from the line of David 2nd Timothy 2 8 2nd Timothy 2 8 where Paul wrote remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel and if Jesus was raised from the dead that means death had no more dominion over him and therefore death has no more dominion over us when our faith is in him when God said he would defend and save Jerusalem for my servant David's sake he wasn't just referring to David the man but even more so to his own son for whose sake he would save those who believe in him in Jesus prayer to his Heavenly Father in John chapter 17 he prayed this in verse 11 just before he went to the cross he said it now I am no more in the world but these are in the world and I come to thee Holy Father keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as we are so for his own name's sake for the sake of his dear son God has defended us God has delivered us and Jesus prayed that God prayed that God would keep us Jesus always gets his prayers answered by the way and that's the next thing I want you to see about our deliverance but you're gonna have to wait till next week don't you love it when that happens let's pray father thank you so much for the people who've come and the ones who've tuned in all those who will watch and listen and Lord we know that the Word of God is exactly what they need even when it's delivered through the frailty of a human instrument and Lord we know that it's your spirit who teaches us not necessarily man we thank you that you have ordained teachers and pastors to do this work of the ministry and we feel so blessed and we count on your grace and mercy to help us to complete this mission here on the earth before you take us to be with you one day so while we're here let us encourage one another in this word and lean upon these promises we've heard this morning and we thank you for them in Jesus name amen