Episode Transcript
It's 10 o'clock let's go ahead and begin 2nd Kings chapter 19 Verse 34 is our text this morning 2nd Kings 1934 We've had a trend lately that the worse the weather the better the crowd so This is good Good for us.
I Don't know what that does to our online presence But we're thankful for everybody who's tuned in and has shown up in our study Of this verse and the previous verses last week and even before then We learned that God had a plan to save Jerusalem from the Assyrian army His plan was that he would not let the Assyrian army enter in to the city he would not let them shoot arrows at the city or even take up a defensive position outside the city by having a shield or building mounds outside the city and God's plan Further stated that he would turn King Sennacherib back by the way Which he came and he'd put a bridle in his lips and a hook in his nose to do it And we learned what those things meant Now that was God's plan to save Jerusalem and therefore Judah Therefore Israel and therefore we were able to apply it to the church the Israel of God Now let's Know that was God's plan.
So after that we begin learning about God's purpose in all of this and that was to defend them to save them to preserve them and Let's remember for a moment that Jerusalem in case you either didn't know this or you didn't remember it Jerusalem used to be the capital city of the United Nation of Israel When God brought the children of Israel out Through the wilderness into the promised land then Jerusalem would be that chief city And now because the nation is torn Into two kingdoms as we're reading in our text.
It has been torn into two kingdoms for some time Jerusalem is the capital of the southern kingdom of Judah and Samaria is the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel And Even though God planned to save Jerusalem What is implied here is that he would as I said saved Judah and in Israel as a whole?
we got to talk about that we talked about the Israel of God last week and the everlasting throne of David that Jesus would occupy and We ended up in John chapter 17 where Jesus prayed for those whom God gave him and From that passage we learn that when God defends He saves and when he saves he keeps so let's pick up right there with that wonderful doctrine and Look at another passage about God keeping or preserving as you'll see Now remember the prophet Isaiah was alive and Exercising his earthly ministry During the time King Hezekiah was on the throne of Judah So perhaps when you've studied the prophets in the past or you've read from Isaiah or Jeremiah You wondered when did they live?
Well, that's helpful to see Isaiah in his ministry is earthly ministry During the time of a certain king that we're reading about So that that always helped me put it in perspective for me and we've gone back and forth between Isaiah and second Kings So let's look at something Isaiah wrote concerning God Defending and saving the children of Israel.
It's found in Isaiah 49 verse 8 and if you're taking notes put a little letter a After the number 8 Isaiah 49 8 a that means it's the first part of the verse Thus saith the Lord in an acceptable time I have heard thee and In a day of salvation have I helped thee and I will preserve thee That's the word I underlined in my notes preserve So to the promise to defend and save Israel God added another promise that he would preserve them That means he would keep them.
He would guard them.
I Can't think of anyone better to guard a people than God Who's gonna take down his guard Who's going to break through his guard nobody?
And after all what good would it do?
to be defended and then to be saved but not preserved in other words in the case of Jew or Jerusalem here if God defended them and he saved them But he didn't preserve them and instead turned them back over to their enemy after a while Now that wouldn't be any good.
What if God had told Judah I can defend you for now And I can save you from the Assyrians for a little while But I won't be able to keep them away for long Well, that's that's a silly notion about God That'd be terrible news.
But did you know that many people worship a God?
whom they believe Defends them and saves them but who cannot preserve them And how do we know this well, I know it for a fact and you may too because I've witnessed to people who have that Perspective of God that he can defend and say but he can't hold on to me.
I Usually ask people when I witness to them I asked him When you die, where do you think you're going to go?
And Many of them say well, I hope I'm going to heaven Some will say well, I'm not too sure about that maybe up maybe down and Then to those people I explained the gospel About how Jesus died for their sins and was buried and rose again From the grave and victory over death and ascended to his father Who's and he's coming back together every single one of his believers unto himself and So when I asked those people Well, do you believe what I just told you that because that's from the Bible most of them say well, yeah, I do Now how can a person say on one hand That they aren't sure they're going to go to heaven when they die, but on the other hand say that they believe the gospel Well, you see they're actually saying That or they're actually believing that they can be saved without being preserved In other words, they believe they can lose their salvation.
That's what that's all about in fact And I love to analyze the way people think They People who think that way have an earthly view of salvation They have an earthly view of salvation The truth is that those people really don't understand or believe the gospel They have a misunderstanding of it.
You could tell it to them and they may say oh, yeah, I believe that But when they apply it to their own case They still believe that God won't preserve them if they act badly again and this is This truth takes a while to explain to people and that's one of the reasons that front porch evangelism Is a sure way to confuse somebody rather than leading them to the truth and I'm as guilty as anybody used to do that all The time give them five minutes and say all right, you understand you believe that and I don't think they had a clue plus their supper was burning back here behind them while I was trying to talk to them and I Don't do that anymore.
I Witnessed to somebody there.
They're going to get a load of me for a while if they can stand it and That's why That's why we have the class over here.
Here's an example of how those people view salvation Let's Say a man has a heart attack and a trained first responder performs CPR on him or uses a defibrillator on him and the efforts save that man's life So he doesn't die that day Now did that CPR or that defibrillator save the man from ever having a heart attack again?
No It didn't save him from ever having a heart attack again.
It saved him from dying of one that day at that moment He could have another one tomorrow But even if he never has another heart attack Something is going to cause him to die and in his flesh man has never known of anything From which he can be permanently saved Now that's true Even the most irreligious person will tell you we all have to die sometime in Fact the gospel of Jesus Christ does not promise you salvation from a physical death.
Did you know that it doesn't?
The Bible says it is appointed unto man wants to die and after this the judgment the Bible says for an Adam all die Therefore When you try to explain the gospel to a lost person who tries to understand it in the flesh from an earthly point of view then he will not accept that God saves and eternally keeps Preserves all who come to him By faith in Jesus finished work because he's never known of anything in the flesh from which he can be permanently saved That same man realizes that his strength will one day fade away His good looks may one day fade away.
He'll not always have his job He'll His skin will wrinkle and he will die.
There's nothing that he can be permanently saved from on this earth and so he sees salvation that way and No wonder somebody thinks God can't keep them So when you witness to someone take your time You may have to visit with them over several days or weeks or even years sometimes for them to understand salvation and I recommend while we're on that I recommend not asking a lost person especially one who's unchurched I Recommend against asking just walking up on the street and asking someone are you saved?
because That's a religious term it's from the Bible.
It's a biblical term and if they don't know the Bible They don't know what you're talking about.
Are you saved ask them?
Where they will go when they die and That thought-provoking question applies to every single person regardless of Whether they have a religious background or none at all Everyone has that thought in their mind when I die what's going to happen to me?
Where am I going to go?
What's it going to be like after I die and I believe that that's the best way to start that conversation With somebody about salvation Now if you say well, I still like asking them are you saved?
Well, that's fine I would recommend if you do that you do that with somebody who is churched who has some knowledge of the Bible But in either case I offer that to you But you know, this is why we have that Genesis to Jesus class next door Because we realized a long time ago and I wished I'd have realized it sooner and I'm sure the pastor does too That it takes a lot longer than five minutes to explain the gospel to an unbeliever But when a person learns the truth about the gospel and its author then they are able to learn that he is the God who defends saves and preserves He keeps through his own name those whom he is given to his son Jesus in first Peter chapter 1 verses 3 through 5 first Peter chapter 1 verses 3 through 5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance Unverruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away now There's a clue right there about God preserving us fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time you're kept by the power of God and God is our defender.
He's our Savior and he is our keeper and if Jerusalem and Judah and all Israel would embrace this truth Then their faith would be on firm ground they'd never have to worry about whether God keeps his own and If you've never met somebody who doesn't believe God can keep them when he saves them Then I wouldn't say you're in for a treat you're in for a trial Because you're talking to somebody who does not understand the gospel if you understand the gospel of Jesus Christ You will come to the conclusion that God does keep whom he saves That's his nature now look back in our text, please in 2nd Kings 19 and we'll read in verse 35 And it came to pass that night That the angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians 104 score and 5,000 and when they arose early in the morning behold they were all dead corpses Let's break that down it says and it came to pass that night That the angel of the Lord went out Now this statement Can be a very scary thing Or it can be a very wonderful thing Depending on where you stand with God in the Bible the first time we read about the angel of the Lord going out is in Genesis chapter 16 where Hagar had Ishmael and Sarah had already driven her away from the house of Abraham.
She's out in the wilderness and God the angel of the Lord went out and found her in The wilderness and showed her God's mercy and God's provision For her after she fled from Sarah We also see in Luke chapter 2 The angel of the Lord was who brought great good tidings of great joy Announcing the birth of our Savior, but the going forth of the angel of the Lord can also be a Terrible thing as we're about to see here in our text where it said that that angel of the Lord looked back in the text Smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred four score in five thousand Now that's a hundred and eighty five thousand Assyrian soldiers who were killed by the angel of the Lord.
That's a lot of soldiers You know the strength of the Assyrian army was not only in their skill but also in their great numbers and as a hundred and eighty five thousand outside of one city, that's pretty overwhelming Now what had God done here?
Well, he did a lot of things But he showed us by his angel that even a large Highly skilled army is nothing to him When he says be not afraid that's what he wants you to remember That no matter how many of Devils angels come against us They're nothing to God and we don't have any reason to fear with one angel God killed a hundred and eighty five thousand Assyrians You know when Saul was on the throne of Israel and David was his loyal subject and was the captain of his armies There was a song the people used to sing Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands Well, the angel of the Lord has slain his hundred and eighty five thousands now that's more than either one of those fellows did and Back in our text.
It says when they arose early in the morning Behold, they were all dead corpses Don't be confused here.
The dead men did not rise early in the morning and look around and see all the dead men the ones whom God did not kill arose early in the morning and they saw all the dead corpses around them and Those who remained alive were going to be witnesses of what God wrought upon the Assyrians They would go back and tell people you guys aren't going to believe this We were just about ready to attack and that night 185 thousand of us lay there dead don't know what killed us I don't know whether they knew the angel of the Lord did it or not, but we do because the Bible tells us But they would know now If they ever knew it that their pride led to their fall if they were if there were any of the Assyrians who were somewhat Spiritually minded they had to know that their pride has led to their fall, but if they don't we do They would also know that although they outnumbered Jerusalem they didn't outnumber God I Like being on God's side because I'm never outnumbered Remember God's math is not like ours is it there in 2nd Peter verse chapter 3 and verse 8 We're told but beloved be not ignorant of this one thing that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day and So a day or a thousand years none of it matters to God he doesn't age in fact my my Lauren she's Grown woman mother now, but when she was a little bitty thing she came up to me one day and she said daddy God is not an age and I said that's right And she was still trying to figure out what that meant how somebody couldn't be an age, but she had learned that in in school And I was proud of her, but this scene in our text with all these dead Assyrian soldiers Shows us something else and that is how quickly the wicked will meet their doom And to us it seems sometimes like the wicked just endure and endure and keep coming don't they They get they keep getting rich and escaping justice and exercising their ill-gotten power over us But just as the angel of the Lord smoke those hundred and eighty five thousand Assyrians The wicked of all the ages are going to be thrown into the lake of fire.
It's going to happen that quickly Speaking of the children of darkness the lost the Apostle Paul wrote this in first Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 2 through 3 First Thessalonians 5 verses 2 through 3 He said for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night For when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them as Trevail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape sudden destruction cometh upon them sudden is unforeseen It's not just quick, but it's quick and unexpected unforeseen Destruction like that is what these Assyrians experienced and now they are no more they're dead corpses and that is an interesting piece of this truth that the suddenness of This destruction was unforeseen Now there's another Use of the same Greek word.
This is a New Testament passage I read to you from first Thessalonians 5 but that Greek word translated is sudden in that passage is Translated in another place as unawares unawares So it means that the destruction is not foreseen By the ones who suffer it they never saw it coming They weren't expecting it to come in fact They did not believe it was coming now that gets to the heart of a lot of people and probably most people In this world right there as they don't believe it's coming now Let's pause right there and consider the pride and the willful ignorance of a person who believes he will not be destroyed God's Word teaches not only that it will come But it will be unexpected to those who are destroyed now us who are believers to us It's not a surprise.
We do expect it.
Don't we?
Because God's Word says it in fact we who believe God's Word believe that sudden destruction will come upon the wicked just like we read it and The wicked on the other hand believe they'll never be destroyed They get a little bit nervous talking about what's going to happen when they die, don't they?
And that's one reason that these prideful unbelievers mock Christians and rage at God and against the Bible They have all kinds of insulting names for us who are Christians and for what we believe and how we live in Fact unbelievers generally don't believe they'll be destroyed at all.
They're either atheists Nor they believe in some kind of God who just saves everyone no matter what And many of them like the heaven part of the Bible but When you talk about the judgment of God the wrath of God the truth of hell in the lake of fire They stiffen their necks and they harden their hearts against it just like these Assyrians these Assyrians didn't think for a moment that they were going to be destroyed and certainly not suddenly Now back in our text again verse 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh Excuse me now this mouthy haughty arrogant king Was suddenly like a little mouse wasn't he?
His army had been decimated and now the Lord's hook was in his nose and his bridle was in his lips Then he was turned back to Nineveh.
Do you remember Nineveh?
That was once a very wicked city.
In fact, it was one of the chief cities of Assyria It was a product of the line of the of Ham One of Noah's three sons a cursed son who was cursed after seeing his father's nakedness there in the tent and Speaking about the line or the the descendants of Ham in Genesis chapter 10 verses 8 through 11 Genesis 10 verses 8 through 11 The Bible speaks and says and Cush begat Nimrod He began to be a mighty one in the earth He was a mighty hunter before the Lord Wherefore it is said even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erek and Akkad and Calneh in the land of Shinar out of that land went forth Asher A-s-s-h-u-r and Builded Nineveh and the city Rehoboth and Calah So Asher is from the same word that is also translated Assyria or Assyrians So Assyrians come from Asher and Asher built Nineveh In those days Nineveh was a wicked city But God in his great mercy sent a great prophet To that city.
His name was Jonah.
He had an interesting ride.
He wished he would have called an uber but he got puked up on the shore by a great fish that swallowed him and Took him directly to Nineveh where God told him to go in the first place now I'm gonna read to you from Jonah chapter 3 verses 4 through 6 Jonah 3 4 through 6 and Jonah began to enter into the city of days journey and he cried and said Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth From the greatest of them even to the least of them for word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne And he laid his robe from him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes now I'm gonna skip down to verse 10 in that same chapter and God saw their works that they turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil that he said he would do unto them And he did it not Now, how about that?
Jonah preached God's Word to Nineveh and the people believed and that city Had every opportunity to continue as a godly city with godly leaders and citizens but just like Israel in Judah and hundreds of years later we have a wicked King who is returning to Nineveh and as we'll see Nineveh has once again become a wicked city Verse 37 in our text And it came to pass as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his God that a dramalek and shaariz or his sons smote him with the sword and they escaped into the land of Armenia and Esar had on his son reigned in his stead So look at the first part of the verse and it came to pass as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his God now that's a city where God's truth had been proclaimed and believed upon and now it has returned idolatry and Sennacherib the king of Assyria surely knew Nineveh's history He would have had to have known Nineveh's history and He knew how God sent a prophet to Nineveh warning them they'd be destroyed in 40 days and Sennacherib surely read of how those people believed God's Word and repented and were delivered from the wrath of God and Now even though the angel of the Lord has killed a hundred and eighty five thousand of his soldiers Sennacherib refuses to repent and Turn to the Lord the same Lord who once delivered the Ninevites of Assyria from his own wrath So just in case you feel a little bit sorry for Sennacherib say well, he just never had a chance.
Oh he did too Nisroch his God that's what the text tells us.
He was worshiping Nisroch is a what not a who he's just another idol another false god and That tells you something he said it said he was worshiping Nisroch his God The Lord was not his God Nisroch was Nisroch who had failed to protect Assyria from the angel of the Lord Was Sennacherib's God Now from historical sources I read that Nisroch means a great eagle And it was apparently represented by an idol of a great eagle Now this is as hard-hearted and stiff-necked as you can get to ignore the Lord Who once delivered your own great city from wrath?
To ignore him in favor of an idol that couldn't even save you from the angel of the Lord and Had Nineveh stayed true to the Lord from Jonah's days on The Assyrian king would have never fled there because he wouldn't have been welcome In fact Assyria probably wouldn't have been what it was if Nineveh that great city had remained godly Now back in the text it says After he was in the house worshiping Worshipping in the house of Nisroch his God that a dremelech and shaarizah his son smote him with the sword Now what a fitting ending this was These sons Whom he taught by his own example to be treacherous to disrespect other nations To be idolatrous Those very sons would be his undoing And neither Sennacherib nor his sons took heed to the wisdom of the Proverbs of Solomon There was no wise father to teach the sons So the sons were all the more wicked You know in the life of many evil people There's a time during which we would feel pity for them perhaps when they're little children Maybe they were raised in an abusive home or abandoned by one or both of their parents But then there comes a time as that person gets older where they become wholly responsible for their own actions And a dremelech and shaarizah were raised in the king's palace But they weren't taught the ways of the Lord in Psalm chapter 84 verse 10 Psalm 84 verse 10 I Agree with the Psalmist who wrote these words He says for a day in thy courts is better than a thousand I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness and the palace of the Assyrian king Was nothing more than a fancy tent of wickedness thus the awful deeds of the king's evil sons and After they killed him the text says and they escaped into the land of Armenia now this was also known as Ararat or Ararat a Region with which were familiar because that's where Noah's ark rested After the waters of the flood abated the Bible tells us in Genesis 8 4 that it rested on the mountains plural of Ararat and This was quite a distance northeast of Jerusalem, so these boys ran a long way to get away from where all this happened there even from from Nineveh and So their hope well they did just like carnal men didn't they they did something wrong so they run and Their hope is that they won't be apprehended by the earthly authorities but what they don't understand is they can't outrun God and That's not just a catchy saying that is absolute truth sinner you cannot run from God's sight you can't run from his hearing and you can't run from his judgment and That is what the wicked try to do You know David confessed that the very opposite was the case When it came to running from God he said in Psalm or wrote in Psalm 69 verse 5 Psalm 69 verse 5 Oh God thou knowest my foolishness and my sins are not hid from thee There's nowhere David could run And in our text we see that they escaped into the land of Armenia and that word escape Comes from a Hebrew word that is also translated deliver now isn't that something?
escape and deliver or the same Hebrew word and in one place that same Hebrew word is translated preserve It's found in Isaiah 31 verse 5 Isaiah 31 5 as birds flying So will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem.
That's what we're reading about in it defending also he will deliver it and Passing over he will preserve it as he told us the same thing that we learned in the other passages about God defending and saving and preserving and The only way that Jerusalem will be preserved is if God does the preserving He's the only one who can truly preserve isn't he?
That's the reason you have an expiration date on your eggs and your peanut butter and your milk You cannot you can say well, I've it's got preservatives in it not for long and the only way Jerusalem Will escape wrath will be if God delivers them from it and if he keeps them from it or preserves them Now what about the two sons of Sennacherib?
Adremilac and Shairaeser Well, they also sought to be preserved Because they escaped and that's the same word they wanted to be preserved but in the sixth chapter of Revelation The opening of the sixth seal is described and the events that accompany the opening of that sixth seal are going to be terrifying to the wicked and Before the seventh seal is open Jesus will gather his elect from the earth and I don't want to get into everything about that right now, but I want you to see what the response of The great and the small are to the opening of the sixth seal revelation 6 verses 15 through 17 Revelation 6 15 through 17 you're going to see these people do the same thing that Adremilac and Shairaeser did and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and From the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath has come and who shall be able to stand Do you know why they hid themselves or why they will hide themselves?
Because They knew the things they experienced in that sixth seal when it was open Were indicators that God's wrath was about to be poured out upon this earth So they hid themselves.
They tried to tell rocks.
Hey fall on us Mountains fall on us protect us from the wrath of God now how silly is that?
God made the mountains in the rocks, didn't he and Do you think by hiding yourselves in the dens in the caves and having rocks and mountains fall upon you that you can?
Preserve yourself from the wrath of God you cannot They hid themselves just like the wicked Sons of King Sennacherib after they murdered their father But even though they went all the way to the north east there to Armenia their hiding place was not out of God's reach and neither will the hiding places of those Who remain on earth to endure God's wrath at the opening of that seventh seal?
Be and may I say to you if there's anybody listening or here who's trying to hide from God?
There's nowhere to run Except straight to him By faith in the gospel You can run to Armenia with a dramalek and shahrizer Or you can hide in the dens and the rocks of the mountains at the opening of the sixth seal if you happen to be Alive then but in your unbelief you'll experience the full weight of God's wrath no matter where you run because you can't run from his judgment All right, if you've noticed there we are now in chapter 20 and if you have a paper Bible, I Want you to look at the pages of 2nd Kings chapter 19?
And I don't have a straight page in my in that chapter and I'll bet those pages are worn and bent and some may have notes written on them in your Bible and do you realize what's happened over the Many months we've spent in this chapter.
You've found a gold mine of truth and From that gold mine.
You've gathered many many riches You found a fruitful bow of doctrine here And you've enjoyed that fruit.
I hope you have I sure have Did you know there are 1188 other chapters just like this one in the Bible and From those chapters you may enjoy the same divine treasure that we've been allowed to study if you'll be faithful to study it Now let's look at verse 1 here and then we'll have to shut it down for the day In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death Now let me just stop right there Well, what an introduction to this chapter Especially considering the great deliverance we just read about in the last chapter Hezekiah had spread the matter of the Assyrians before the Lord The Lord had delivered Jerusalem from Assyria piled up those dead bodies of the Assyrians and now in the next breath Hezekiah's on his deathbed the same place you and I are going to be one day So we ought to pay attention It's the same place that our loved ones rested in their final days before they went to eternity and It's a necessary reminder that no matter your position Whether you're a king or a dead soldier You're Going to be on that sickbed one day It may not last very long if you get killed in a car wreck.
Well, that's your sickbed, isn't it?
but no matter your position how close you are to God like Hezekiah was or whether you live in a wicked life This fleshly corrupt body has got to die one day and I remember reading When we were studying One of the the lines of the people in the Old Testament and we noticed that after each one it said and he died And he died and he died Well, the same thing is a is going to be said about Hezekiah one day, but we're gonna have about a 15 year pause I'll just give you a little bit there But he is on his sickbed and he's sick unto death and we'll pick up right there Lord willing next week father Thank you for the study of your word today.
Thank you for your spirit who indeed does the teaching and We thank you that you're faithful Lord to every time we come to you seeking truth.
You give it to us You never hold it back.
And so I pray we'd retain what we've learned today and live by it Meditate upon it throughout the week and come back ready to hear some more of it in just a little bit as our pastor teaches and again Wednesday and again next Sunday and to do so until you come or Until we go to be with you in Jesus name Amen
