Episode Transcript
Well, good morning.
It is 10 o'clock.
And this morning we begin a new verse in 2 Kings chapter 19 and verse 5.
So if you turn to verse 4, you'll be lost because we're in verse 5, right?
2 Kings 19 and verse 5.
As teachers sometimes do, we reflect on our lesson, the last lesson we taught, or something we said, or something we didn't say.
And I did that, of course, on last week's lesson.
I wanted to make a couple of things clear.
We talked about prayer an awful lot.
One is don't ever think that I won't pray for you regardless of what your prayer request is.
I hope you understood the context of what I said about lifting up prayer according to the Scripture, not according to man's desire.
And nobody said anything about this.
It's just the way my mind works.
And I know people hear half of what you say, understand half of what they heard.
So that leaves them with about 25% of what you actually said.
And sometimes we have to go back and amend or repair or whatever we have to do.
And the other, and this happens to me when I give a list of names, when I try to give credit for something and I do this, and I'm sure the pastor does too.
We forget the most obvious people that we were actually meaning to mention.
Last week when I was talking about people who prayed for me, I mentioned my mother and I mentioned my pastor.
But I forgot to mention my biggest prayer warrior and that was my wife.
And that's bothered me all week.
She prays for me more than anyone does.
And you would have to to live with me, by the way, to pray for me.
And again, I know there are other precious people who I haven't named.
So if you're one of those, I again say thank you if you pray for me.
Let's go to the lesson now.
Verse 5, 2 Kings 19, verse 5.
So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
Now to know what that means, you would have had to read the prior verses.
And so let's look at this word, so.
Because if you read verses 1 through 5, you might say, I thought they had already come to Isaiah.
And now it says, so the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah.
The word so is the big difference here.
And this translation might cause you some confusion if you don't understand that word.
Now in verse 3, the men of Judah were already speaking to Isaiah.
So they didn't just arrive on the scene in verse 5.
Another translation might help us understand that the word so doesn't mean what you might think.
It's in context.
And here's what it says.
And the servants of King Hezekiah come unto Isaiah.
That's the young's literal translation.
And also if you put the emphasis on the word so without a pause, then it means in this manner they came.
And I think that is the meaning right here in this manner they came.
They came in what manner?
They came in the manner that was described in the prior verses.
That they had news of trouble in Judah.
And they wanted to have Isaiah pray for the remnant of Judah.
In that manner they came.
Now let's see in verse 6 how Isaiah responds to this prayer request.
"And Isaiah said unto them, 'Thus shall ye say to your master,'" and they're talking about Hezekiah, "'Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.'"
Isaiah said unto them, "Thus say you say to your master, 'Thus saith the Lord.'"
Isaiah did exactly what he was supposed to do.
He said in response to their prayer request, "Tell your master this is what God said."
Tell Hezekiah, "This is what God said."
And you mean it's that easy?
Yes.
In fact, it's really the only acceptable way to respond to a prayer request.
That's why you need to know your Bible.
So when you pray for somebody, you don't do it wrong.
You don't ask God to give them something that is unscriptural.
Because if it's unscriptural, it's not good for them.
And you certainly wouldn't intentionally pray for something that's not good for someone.
And Isaiah in his day was receiving God's Word, and he was writing it down, and he was also telling it to the people.
And if you've ever wondered who wrote first and second Kings, well, because of the similarities between Isaiah 37 especially, and this part of our Bible here, they're almost word for word.
It very well may be that Isaiah wrote a good part of second Kings.
I don't know.
We're not told who the author is.
But there is some evidence that perhaps he wrote some of this as well in second Kings.
The words are exactly the same in many instances as they are in Isaiah chapter 37.
And if you study Isaiah and his name throughout the Bible, and that's easy to do.
Go on your concordance on your computer, enter the name Isaiah, and read all the entries.
It'll take you a while.
And it's Isaiah's in the Old in the New Testament.
So it won't come under Isaiah.
It will be under Isaiah.
But it's the same prophet.
But if you study his name throughout the Bible, you'll see his father's name Amos.
But you don't see that Isaiah had any special qualifications or degrees.
He wasn't called a doctor of the law.
He wasn't called.
He wasn't touted as some educated person.
We don't know whether he was or not.
In fact, in Acts chapter 5 verse 34, to explain this to you, Acts 5 verse 34, there was a man named Gamaliel.
And the Scripture said this about him.
He was a doctor of the law.
So there's one.
He had a doctorate degree in the law.
And that would be, as far as I can tell, the law of God.
That is the Old Testament law in the prophets and ordinances.
He was a doctor of the law.
He was a lawyer.
And after all, what was the law for the children of Israel?
It was what God gave in the Old Testament.
It covered everything.
It covered civil law.
What happens if somebody sues someone and it covered what we would call indentured servitude.
Somebody has to work their debt off for you.
It also covered criminal law.
It covered ceremonial law.
So to be a doctor in the law in those days, you had to know more than just the penal code and code of criminal procedure.
You had to know the entire law.
So that was Gamaliel's first qualification.
And his second qualification, it said he was had in reputation among all the people.
In other words, everybody thought very highly of him.
And after that, he spoke.
And you can read about that at another time.
But the introduction to Gamaliel was first his qualifications and then what he said.
And this is common when an expert witness is being introduced in court.
If some fellow just gets up on the witness stand and starts talking, nobody knows who he is or whether he's qualified to testify about one thing or another.
But in court, to introduce an expert witness, the prosecutor can't just begin asking the expert witness to make conclusions about DNA results on the stand.
There has to be some groundwork laid, such as establishing this expert witness's education, his training, his experience.
Those are all qualifications that have to come before allowing him to testify in court as an expert witness.
And after that predicate is laid, after that foundation is laid, then what the expert witness says will carry weight with the judge and with the jury.
But of Isaiah, we don't see any such thing.
No qualifications.
We don't know his education, whether he was a professional chariot driver or whatever he may have been.
We don't know.
And so forth.
But what we do know is this.
He was a prophet and his father's name was Amos.
But his most important qualification was this.
He always said, "Thus saith the Lord."
That's what his most important qualification was.
Do you know what causes me to pay attention to a preacher?
I mean really pay attention and soak up those words he's teaching is when he says, "Thus saith the Lord."
Maybe he doesn't use those words.
But he says not only, "Thus saith the Lord," he not only reads the scriptures but explains them to me and helps me understand the sense of the words and the phrases, the meaning, the context, all of those things that a good Bible teacher will do.
And when Isaiah answered, "Thus saith the Lord," he showed us what to do when someone asks us to pray for them.
Remember these men of Judah included elders of the priests.
So these were priests who should have known and applied the word of God across the board in Judah.
But they had not.
They were just beginning to be sanctified and all of that after years of abominations taking place in the Lord's house.
And we read about that when we studied the beginning of Hezekiah's reign.
But Isaiah showed us what to do when someone asks you to pray for them.
Now the men of Judah, if you remember what they told Isaiah, it wasn't very long.
They didn't go into great detail about the trouble Judah was in.
They didn't say, "And on this date this happened and these people were affected and this person said this and this person killed this person."
They kept it very short.
They gave Isaiah just enough so he'd know how to pray.
And when he prayed, he answered back to them, "Thus saith the Lord."
Now I'll stop right there.
When if somebody comes to me privately and says, "Hey, I've got something.
It's an unspoken in public, but I want to tell you about it."
And sometimes that happens.
I don't want this out in public, but I do want you to know what I'm going through.
I don't have to have the one hour version.
I need the cliff notes.
If that, I need the ADD version.
Are you having marriage trouble?
Has your spouse been unfaithful?
Have you been unfaithful?
That's it.
Don't need anything besides that.
I don't need the details.
I don't want the details.
I don't want the theater of my mind to be entertaining those kinds of words and images from you.
I just need to know enough to say, "Okay, I'm going to go to the Lord and ask him to do that which is scriptural in the matter of your marriage."
And that's what Isaiah did here.
"Thus saith the Lord."
So we've been given a clue about prayer and the answer to prayer.
And you know, when we think of answered prayer, we often think about the favorable outcome of a situation we prayed for.
If somebody says, "Oh, I got an answer to my prayer."
Well, I want to open that, peel the onion back a little bit and show you a little more about what an answered prayer means.
It's not just that.
If we think of a person who has cancer and is healed and is cancer free, we might say, "Well, that was an answered prayer."
And it is wonderful when God does that.
But did you know that all prayer requests are answered by the Bible?
Every one of them are.
And I bet I know what you're thinking.
You're probably thinking, "Well, here's how God answers prayer."
By saying yes or by saying no or by saying not right now.
Have you ever heard God say yes or no or not right now to you?
No, you haven't.
And I don't want to reduce it to just that.
But you say, "Well, Brother Andy, how does God answer prayer then?"
He answers it with His Word.
He really does.
And that's not just some simplistic saying to drive you away and say, "Here, just go find it in your Bible."
"Oh, no, I want to help you find it in your Bible."
"I want you to know where it is."
But you also have to study to find those answers too.
They're not secret.
They're just in a really big book.
And we study the Proverbs on Wednesday nights, and you see an example of some of those things in the Bible.
Now, let's say you've come to me, and you've asked me to pray that the Lord would bless you.
Did you know God's already told me how to pray that you might be blessed?
Psalm chapter 1, verses 1 through 2.
Maybe you've memorized this at some point in your life.
Psalm chapter 1, verses 1 through 2.
Here's what it says.
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night."
All right.
So knowing that, here's what I lift up to the Lord.
You say, "Brother Andy, I want you to pray that God would just bless me and my family."
Okay, here's what I'm going to do.
"Father, help my dear friend not to walk in the counsel of the ungodly, not to stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful.
I pray that the law of the Lord would be his delight, and that he would meditate in it day and night."
Now, that prayer is, you can't get more scriptural than that.
That is a scriptural prayer.
So that prayer comes with some conditions, doesn't it?
You can't just hand that prayer request off and go, "Oh, good.
Brother Andy or Brother Fulton or Sister so-and-so is going to pray for me, and I feel good about that."
No, there are conditions that come with that prayer request, and that is that you obey what the Scripture says if you want to be blessed.
And when you do, here's the answer.
Here is already the outcome of that prayer request, because that's what we want to know is, "Well, what's the answer?
What's the outcome going to be?"
It's in verse 3.
"And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he doeth shall prosper."
Now, if somebody says, "Oh, so that means as long as I don't do these bad things and I meditate in God's law day and night, I'm going to be rich."
No, it doesn't, because if you think that's the case, you've misunderstood the definition of prosperity.
What were the conditions of being this blessed man in the psalm?
It was walking not in the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners, sitting in the seat of the scornful.
It was delighting yourself in the law of the Lord, that is in his word, and meditating in it day and night.
So if you've given yourself to those things, then the prosperity you will enjoy will come from those things, not from a check that's sent to you in the mail from some mysterious person.
That doesn't always mean that.
In fact, most of the time it doesn't mean that, or most of the people who pray for blessings would be rich, wouldn't they?
No, it means that you'll prosper in the things that come from meditating in God's law, not sitting in the seat of the scornful.
You'll bear spiritual fruit.
That's how you'll prosper.
People want a prosperity gospel preacher to pray that they'd receive a great harvest, but then they want to skip God's requirements in his word that he gave for an answered prayer.
To being blessed.
Now other prayer requests are answered in precepts or in principles.
That is the specific issue you're wanting prayer about may not be addressed specifically in the Bible, but I promise you the principle of that issue is addressed.
If someone were to ask that we pray for them to be able to buy a new house.
Now that's, I have not found a specific verse in the Bible that would say, okay, should Brother Doug buy a new house or not?
It's not in there.
So there is a principle or several principles that need to be considered when I'm praying for someone if they're asking prayer for whether, or for, for getting a new house.
And the first thing I'd want to know, I mean, if you're going to ask me to pray for you, there's a couple of questions I might ask you.
I don't have to have all the details, but I do want to know, first of all, why do you want a new house?
That's usually should be the end of the conversation.
Well, we just, we just want to move somewhere else.
Well, do you want a new house because you're trying to keep up with your friends?
Lots of people do that.
Or are you just not content with your house anymore?
Well, if you're wanting to keep up with your friends, the Bible says thou shalt not covet.
So if that's the reason you want a new house, then the answer to that needs to be no.
You coveting, is that why you want a new house?
Then don't ask for prayer for that.
If that's why you want a new house, if you say, well, I'm just not content with my house anymore.
I just, I just don't like it.
It's kind of out of style.
The Bible says thou shalt not covet, but it also says, let your conversation that is your lifestyle be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
That's Hebrews 13 five.
So the, the prayer is not so much for the what, but for the why.
And it's not about the house.
It's about why you want one.
Now, if you say, I'm brother Andy, we just went from having one child to having four.
We just had triplets.
Okay.
You may need a bigger house.
I gotcha.
And here's our example, our prayer request scenario.
And I already know God's answer to it.
Here's another one.
You've asked me to pray for you that God would give you wisdom.
I just want wisdom.
That's a good prayer.
And I'm telling you, your prayer request has already been answered.
It's not that you already have wisdom, but you've already been given the answer about how to give wisdom.
If you say, well, I just don't know how to get wisdom.
Would you just pray and ask God to help me have wisdom?
He's already answered that prayer for you.
You might think I'm off my rocker.
I'm just telling you the truth.
Here it is.
And it's just like Isaiah said, except it's in James one five.
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.
So you don't have to come ask me for wisdom.
Did you know that you can ask me to pray for you that God would give you wisdom.
But James said, you can just ask God straight up for that one.
It says that giveth to all men liberally and upbraith not, and it shall be given him.
Now you've asked for wisdom and God's answer is ask me, ask him, and it shall be given you.
But that's not all because verses six through eight in that same chapter.
Now that's James one verses six through eight, continue telling what say of the Lord, but let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.
That is when you ask for anything wisdom included, asking faith, nothing wavering for he that waverth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed for let that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
If you ask God for wisdom, which he said to do, don't be double minded about it.
His word is your answer.
And you may not like it in the flesh, even though it's good for you.
You say, okay, I've asked God for wisdom and I know I can't be double minded about it.
So how is it that God's going to give me this wisdom for which I have asked him?
Guess what the Bible tells us?
Proverbs chapter two, verse six, Proverbs chapter two, verse six, for the Lord giveth wisdom out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
That sounds to me like the word of God is how we get wisdom, isn't it?
Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
And so when God spoke, what did those 40 men who wrote all of the Bible do?
They heard it and they wrote it down for us to read later on.
But you know what people, what many people don't do when they ask for prayer, not just about wisdom, but about anything.
They don't first look at the answer that God gives them in his word.
The knowledge and understanding that came out of God's mouth that James is talking about has been written for you and for me in this book right here.
And I could go on and on with examples of how God has already answered your prayer.
You just have to have a proper understanding of the word answer.
Answer is not always about the outcome.
It's also about the process.
Did you hear that?
The answer is not always about the outcome, but it's also about the process, which is praying in faith according to God's word.
And it will, if you understand that word answer, it'll change how you pray and what you pray for.
When the men of Judah asked Isaiah to pray for the remnant of Judah, they left the prayer request in the hands of one who would give it to God and then report back what God said about it.
Isn't that what we do when we pray?
We give it to God.
You'll hear us perhaps on Wednesday night when I'm praying, or maybe you hear someone else praying, you'll say, "Lord, we lift up these requests to you."
In other words, we're giving these to you.
We're trusting you with them.
And we know that whatever you say is going to be the answer.
And although you may not have told me whether I should buy the house or not, Lord, you have told me I shall not covet.
You have told me to be content with what I have.
So if I don't have a need for another house, then I don't need to buy another house.
Guess which house Warren Buffett lives in?
I'm not using him as an example of a Christian.
I'm using him as an example of somebody who does understand this principle, lives in the same one he bought, what, 50, 60 years ago?
Yeah, he never saw a need for a new house.
But that ought to be our outlook.
And it'll change the way I pray.
I hope you get the picture.
Now let's look back in our text there in verse 6 where Isaiah says in the middle of the verse, "Be not afraid of the words which thou hast heard."
The word of afraid is from a Hebrew word that is also translated as the word dread.
You're dreading something.
Maybe you're dreading your first day of work or school or dreading talking to this person about a problem you have with him.
But it's also translated as the word respect as in reverence.
And so when Isaiah said, "Be not afraid of the words which thou has heard," he meant Judah should neither dread nor have respect for the words that Rabbi Sheikah spoke on behalf of the king of Assyria.
In other words, they don't hold water, so don't treat them like they do.
You know, giving respect to the words of the enemy is what got Eve and Adam in trouble, isn't it?
In fact, I'll read for you the relevant portion of that passage in Genesis chapter 3.
It's in verse 6.
And Satan has described to Eve how wonderful this tree is and all of the good things that are contrary to what God actually said about it.
And she said, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat."
Back to the word saw.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that word is a very similar word to the word afraid in our text.
It's not the same word, but it is also translated as the word respect.
So in other words, she had respect to those words that the serpent spoke that said, "Hey, this tree is good for you.
Make you wise.
You'll be as gods and have your eyes open."
The text doesn't show Eve cowering in fear, so she wasn't afraid in that sense.
But it does show her as having respect to the tree as Satan described it.
Now God said eating from the tree would have deadly consequences, didn't He?
So really she should have been afraid, dread.
She should have been afraid to eat from that tree.
The serpent told her it's not harmful and it's good.
So now because she had respect to the words of the serpent, she saw the tree differently than she had before.
And both of the words respect and dread are words that we should never have for the words of the enemy.
We shouldn't be afraid of them.
We shouldn't cower in fear and we also shouldn't have respect for the words of our enemy.
Isaiah told the men of Judah not to fear the words sent by the king of Assyria.
And the secondary implication here is that they should also not have respect to the words sent by the king of Assyria.
Don't be afraid of them in a dreadful sense.
Don't respect them as in a sense, as in a reverential sense.
Don't give them any credence whatsoever.
These words should not have sounded attracted to them.
When Rabshika was standing there saying, "Hey, we've got all these cool things in Assyria.
In fact, we're going to let you continue to enjoy the liberties that you have.
Boy, that's a red flag, isn't it?
You're going to continue to let me enjoy liberties that God gave me?
Yes, you are.
That doesn't add anything to me."
But those words spoken by Rabshika should not have sounded attractive but repulsive.
They should have repelled.
And I want to make a point right here.
If you're a Christian, sin should never sound attractive to you.
It shouldn't.
And perhaps you've heard somebody say, "Well, you know, sometimes that sounds really good.
It sounds really good.
It shouldn't."
Let's look at why.
First of all, you're a new creature.
Did sin ever sound attractive to Jesus?
When he was tempted, did sin ever sound attractive to him?
No.
He was hungry.
But do you think he thought for a minute that the devil's offer to allow Jesus to turn those stones into bread sounded good?
No, it was sin.
Jesus knew his father would take care of him.
And what was the worst thing that could have happened to him?
He go to be with his father.
I'm glad he didn't because we needed him to die on the cross before he went to be with his father.
So if you're a new creature and you're in Christ and sin never sounded good to Jesus, it should never sound good to you.
Now, before you were saved, you may have thought an extra marital affair sounded fun, daring, full of pleasure.
But it shouldn't sound that way.
You shouldn't think of it that way because you're a new creature.
Proverbs 6 verse 32.
To continue with that example, Proverbs 6 verse 32.
"But whoso comitteth adultery with a woman, lacketh understanding.
He that doeth it destroyeth his own soul."
Now, that's how God sees it.
Proverbs 6 verse 32.
So if someone were to suggest to you as a Christian that you either step outside of your marriage if you're married or you step into someone else's marriage, is if they're married and you're not their spouse, your first thought should be not, well, you know, that sounds like fun, but I better not.
I'm a Christian.
You've already missed the mark.
Your first thought ought to be God said this destroys my own soul, meaning your life.
It doesn't mean it takes your salvation away.
That word soul in the Old Testament is often used as a reference to someone's life. 100,000 souls were destroyed that day.
That means 100,000 lives were destroyed that day.
In fact, the penalty for adultery in Leviticus chapter 20 verse 10 was death.
And what Satan tries to do to you in this area is what he did to Eve.
He says committing adultery is not from a lack of understanding.
It actually shows that you do understand.
That's the kind of thing Satan would try to persuade you with.
God said it shows a lack of understanding and Satan would say, no, it doesn't.
He'll say when the penalty was death for adultery in Leviticus chapter 20, Satan would say, "Hah!
You shall not surely die."
Isn't that what he told Eve?
And God said, "The day you eat of that tree, you shall surely die."
And Satan said, "No, you won't."
Christian, do as Isaiah said about the words of the Assyrian.
Don't fear them and don't even have respect.
Never have respect towards sin, the suggestion that you sin, or toward the sinful works of others.
Don't envy someone and go, "Well, I wish I was in his shoes.
He sure has a lot of fun doing A, B, and C, things that we're not supposed to do."
That shouldn't sound fun to a Christian.
If it does, you need to ask God to help you with that.
Now let's focus on a phrase within a phrase here in our text.
We read, "Be not afraid of the words which thou has heard."
Now let's look at that part of the phrase, "words which thou hast heard."
Isaiah said not only to be not afraid, but to be not afraid of the words which thou has heard.
And I've underscored the word "heard" in my typewritten notes.
Now what do we hear and sometimes even say with great frequency in our daily lives, "Guess what I heard?"
Now don't you tell me you hadn't said that.
I don't even need a hands being raised.
Guess what I heard.
Now you have to be very careful with that.
Don't you?
Because it can spin up a tornado.
And if it's a false rumor or if it's something true that was not supposed to be revealed, because that can hurt people too, you know.
If you say, "Well it's true, well do you want me to tell everything that I know about you that's true?"
No, you don't.
And I sure don't want you to tell everything you know about me that's true.
But in either case, guess what I heard.
Now these were words which the children of Judah heard.
Proverbs 26 verse 20, listen to this, "Where no wood is there the fire goeth out.
So where there is no tail-bearer the strife ceaseth."
I've heard a saying that if a rumor comes to your ear that ought to be where it stops.
But let me tell you, we gossip, don't we?
It's not good, but we do.
And sometimes when we gossip, we tell things that we're not sure are true.
So here you go.
And I've seen, let's open the picture up a little bit, we're not just talking about gossip, we're talking about what you hear.
That is certainly one of the things you hear.
And I've seen people paralyzed with fear based only on something they heard.
They were having a great day and all of a sudden they heard something or maybe they read it and went, "Ugh."
And you know what they just did?
They assumed it was true.
So before you get your feathers ruffled about something you heard, try this, write this down if you're taking notes.
First of all, find out is it true.
Now if it's not true, that's the end of it, isn't it?
It doesn't matter what was said.
It's a false rumor.
Is it true?
If it's not true, then let it fly away.
Don't worry about it.
If it is true, then the next question is, does it matter?
Does it matter?
I irritate my family sometimes, actually a lot, but I'll just say sometimes to save face up here.
I'll get a little piece of food or something right there and somebody will say, "Dad."
Well, I know it's there and I know what they're saying is true, but you know what?
Act like it doesn't matter.
I say, "Oh, I'm saving that for later."
I'll leave it on there for a minute and then I'll wipe it off.
I know none of y'all ever are on re-like that, but I certainly am.
So if it's true, does it matter?
And if it doesn't matter, then let it fly away.
If somebody said, "Well, I heard Abigail made a 93 on her math test and so and so made a 95."
Okay, it's true.
Does it matter?
No, let it fly away.
If it does matter, so that means it has to be true because if it's not true, it doesn't matter, does it?
If it is true and it does matter, then ask this question.
Is it something I can fix?
If it is, then fix it using biblical principles.
If you have said, let's say you hear it work, "I heard old Pete's mad at Andy because Andy said something about him the other day."
And let's say it's true.
I did say it and it got around and got back into Pete's ears.
It's true and it does matter because I've heard him.
Then I need to ask myself, "Is that something I can fix?"
You bet it is, or I can at least try.
I go to Pete and say, "Hey, I opened my big fat mouth again.
I'm sorry.
I hurt you.
I know it's going to take you a while to trust me again, but I apologize.
What can I do?"
That's it.
Now, if it's not something you can fix, then just leave it with the Lord.
In that instance, I just gave you is something you can fix.
If it's not something you can fix, then leave it with the Lord.
And as always, see what God's Word says about that matter.
Do you know what I often do with a rumor at work?
I tell myself or the person who told me, "Well, I'll believe it when I see it."
That kind of ends the conversation, doesn't it?
If it's something I don't want to talk about, maybe there's someone you work with and they're hard to get along with.
And you've heard that person is about to retire.
It just kind of made its way through the grapevine.
And you get all excited.
Well, let me tell you something.
The better course to take is just to be patient and say, "I'll believe it when it happens."
If it happens, it happens.
Don't let it determine your attitude.
Don't let it get you too excited because the next thing you'll hear is, "Well, he said he's going to wait another year."
And then you'll go, "Oh," and you get upset about a big nothing, right?
Just being real here.
Do your job anyway.
Do it as unto the Lord.
If you do it as unto the Lord, those things won't be as big a deal as they are.
And I'm speaking to a weakness that every one of us have.
This is not something you go, "Well, I've never struggled with that."
Yes, you have.
And you're also struggle with lying if you tell me that you never struggle with that.
You know, when the stock market takes a dive, be not afraid of the words which thou has heard.
It's true, it matters, but can you do anything about it?
No.
Give that to the Lord.
When you find out the wrong candidate gets elected, wrong, meaning the one you didn't want, be not afraid of the words which thou has heard.
It's true, it matters, but it's in God's hands.
It's not something you can fix.
And we have greater things to concern ourselves with anyway.
Spiritual things, kingdom business.
And kingdom business does not depend on what the world does.
Did you know that?
Kingdom business does not depend on what the world does.
You hear the scriptures?
They say, "Be not afraid of the words which thou has heard."
Now look back in your text, "with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me."
That is, those words that you've heard, don't be afraid of them.
Those are the words that the king's servants, the Syrian king's servants have used to blaspheme me.
Who was me?
It was God.
Not to blaspheme Judah, but to blaspheme God.
God said, "I take what they did to you personally.
I take what they said to you personally.
The offense is toward me."
And that's an even greater reason for Judah, to not be afraid of the words which they heard.
Those words were against God.
They were used to blaspheme or to defy the Lord.
Imagine this.
Imagine Almighty God who made all things and all people.
And then imagine some little pip-squeak general like Rab Sheikah or the king of Assyria, speaking words of blasphemy to God.
Now should we be afraid of those words that they spoke to God?
Should Judah have been afraid of those words?
No.
They were directed toward God even though they were directed through Judah.
When people blaspheme God by saying, "Oh, you Christians, you all believe once saved, always saved," you know there are some Christians who say that you can't stay saved once you're saved.
And we fight against them all the time, at least in religious circles we do.
They even have an acronym for it.
O-S-A-S.
Once saved, always saved.
So they call us OSAs.
And I'm glad to be an OSA, aren't you?
And I'm glad to be an OSAS.
I have to be the whole thing.
Verse 7, and we'll have to stop.
Verse 7, "Behold, I will send a blast upon him."
Now that's God through Isaiah saying he will send a blast upon the king of Assyria.
And let's just pause at this word, "Behold," for a minute.
It was said right after Judah was told not to be afraid of the words of blasphemy spoken against God.
And the word "Behold" is a word that calls attention to some fact.
And it's a fact upon which some action is going to be taken.
So in other words, it's like, "Hey everybody, this is about to happen."
That's what you need to think of when you see the word "Behold" is, "Listen up everybody, behold."
And the fact here is the blasphemy, the enemy directed toward God by terrorizing the people of Judah.
And with that, we'll stop and we'll look more at that word "blast" next week.
Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you for those who love your word.
And Lord, we wouldn't trade for any of them, both those who come, those who are online.
And Lord, we just pray that we've done faithfully today, standing up and teaching the scriptures daily, or as often as you give us the opportunity.
And I pray as we go from this lesson now, we'll meditate upon what we've learned and may it make us stronger Christians, more confident in your word, knowing that the answer to every problem is found in the Bible.
In Jesus' name, amen.
