Our God The Deliverer

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0:00 And for the rest of us, today we're going to continue in the sermon series out of the book that we're walking through called The Story. And today the scripture text is found in 2 Kings chapter 19. And we're going to be looking at the story of King Hezekiah this morning. All right. So if you turn with me to 2 Kings chapter 19 and we'll start at verse 14.

0:34 And the Word of God reads, After Hezekiah received the letter from the Lord or from the messengers and read it, he went up to the Lord's temple and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed this prayer before the Lord. O Lord, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim. You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen.

1:05 Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. Listen to Sonakareeb's words of defiance against the living God. It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these nations. They have thrown the gods of these nations into the fire and burned them. But of course, the Syrians could destroy them. They were not gods at all. Only idols of wood and stones shaped by human hands. Now O Lord, our God rescue us from His power.

1:36 Then all the kingdoms of the earth will know that you alone, O Lord, are God. Join me in a word of prayer. O Lord, O Lord, is living in active. Your spirit is at work. I ask that you quiet our minds and still our hearts this morning to receive a word from you, that life-giving, life-changing word of God. Help me your humble and inadequate servant to deliver your word today.

2:09 And it's in Jesus, His holy name we pray. Amen. So you may remember that the nation of Israel split into two kingdoms after the reign of King Solomon. The kingdom of Israel to the north with ten tribes and the kingdom of Judah to the south with the remaining two tribes. So God's people in the northern kingdom turned and worshiped at the altar of other gods instead of the God.

2:39 And as a result, that kingdom eventually fell into the Assyrian hands. So Assyria and its conquering king, Sinakarib, it's hard to say that name, Sinakarib, turned his gaze towards the south towards Judah. So they attacked and conquered several heavily fortified cities of Judah and now they were looking at the next big city to conquer which is Jerusalem. That's where King Hezekiah dwelled. So let's pick up and read now and see how King Hezekiah handled this serious threat

3:14 from the Assyrian kingdom. In terms of the second king's chapter 18, we'll flip back and start there. Look at verse 13. And it reads, In the 14th year of King Hezekiah's reign, King Sinakarib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them. King Hezekiah sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lechish. I've done wrong. I will pay whatever tribute money you demand if you were only withdrawn.

3:49 The king of Assyria then demanded a settlement of more than 11 tons of silver and one ton of gold. So that's 25,000 pounds of silver and 8,000 pounds of gold. So together this amount, King Hezekiah used all the silver stored in the temple of the Lord and then the palace treasury. Hezekiah even stripped the gold from the doors of the Lord's temple. From the doorpost, he had overlaid with gold and he gave it all to the Assyrian king.

4:22 Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent his commander in chief, his field commander and his chief of staff from Lechish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. We'll stop there. Hezekiah sought to assuage King Sennacherib and quell his thirst for conquest. He sought to do that by appeasing him by giving him riches.

4:53 And Sennacherib, he said, hey, thanks for the riches and responded by sending his army to attack. So of course, Sennacherib didn't hold up to his end of the agreement. But of retreating, like he said he would, he continued to advance. As a student of history, this ring is familiar for me. I love history. And me and my son, Jayden, watched a documentary on World War II on Netflix, which was fascinating.

5:26 On September 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain received a warm welcome from a cheering crowd as he touched down in London after meeting and negotiating with Hitler and Munich. So Chamberlain had just left the summit where he and the Prime Minister of France agreed to Hitler's demands of turning over the sedating land, which was part of Czechoslovakia at the time. And Hitler assured the Western allies that he had no further territorial ambitions.

6:02 We know this is going, right? So standing on that airport tarmac in London, the Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain read a statement that the German fear had signed at morning pledging that their new agreement was a quote unquote symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again. Speaking later that day outside, the Prime Minister's office at 10 Downing Street, Chamberlain said, I believe it is a piece for our time.

6:34 That's what he said of that agreement with Hitler. Those hoped for is rang hollow. As Hitler's forces seized, all of Czechoslovakia on March 15. Then on September 1, less than a year after they signed this agreement, German troops invaded Poland and started World War II. The strategy of appeasement didn't work for Hezekiah. It didn't work for Western allies. So let's turn back to the scripture and see what happened next with Hezekiah.

7:07 And we'll pick up in verse 18, verse 19, 325 of 2 Kings. Verse 19 says this. This is what the great king of Assyria says. What do you trust in that makes you so confident? Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength?

7:39 Who are you counting on that you have rebelled against me? On Egypt? If you lay it on Egypt, it would be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable. True statement. But perhaps you will say to me, we are trusting in the Lord our God. But isn't he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah? Didn't Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?

8:13 I'll tell you what, strike a bargain with me. Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria. And I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find them. That many to ride. I'm sorry. I'll give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them. With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master's troops, even with the help of Egypt's chariots and charateers? What's more do you think we have invaded your land without the Lord's direction?

8:46 The Lord Himself told us to attack this land and destroy it. So we see here that Sonai Krib, his envoy Taunt Hezekiah and the delegation that Hezekiah sent to meet the king of Assyria. And they told them, don't look at Egypt and put your trust in them, which is a true statement. Then He told them the Lord directed them to come and attack their land and destroy it, which is also a true statement. And we'll see later on in the text. Look, you're on your own here is what He's basically telling them.

9:19 No one's coming to rescue you. Strike a bargain with me. I have all the power is what this king is saying. So at this point, Hezekiah's representatives told the Assyrian chief, hey, just speak to us in Aramaic. We can understand it. We don't want the people who are standing on the wall to hear this message. And in verse 27, here's what the Assyrian said back to the delegation from Hezekiah.

9:51 Do you think my master sent this message only to you and your master? He wants all the people to hear. For when we put this city under siege, they will suffer along with you. They will be so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine. So no longer is this conversation between the delegation from the king of Assyria and Hezekiah's delegation. Now all the people are standing hearing this, this conversation.

10:23 Why do you think those Syrians did this? They did it to strike fear in the hearts of the people, right? Did it to discredit their king? And the Syrians also did another thing. They wanted to get the people of Judah to not trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Verse 33 of the same chapter says this,

10:58 Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Zerfun and Hina and Eva? Did any God rescue Samaria from my power? What God of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? So it makes you think that the Lord can rescue Jerusalem from me. So these guys are bold. They're taunting not only Hezekiah and the people, but they're taunting God, the living God.

11:36 How did the people of Judah respond when they heard this? It's fascinating that it says in verse 36, the people were silent and did not utter a word. Why do you think they did that? I believe they did it because they trusted the king, Hezekiah, who had turned the people of Judah away from other gods and turned them to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They didn't shop back in defiance against the Syrians.

12:11 They didn't demand that they go to war immediately. They just sat silent. They trusted. So let's pause for a moment and consider what this may look like for us today. What are the things crouching at our doors? Promising to give us life, peace, protection, and provision. Kind of like King Samyakrib, Samyakrib had boasted about doing for the people of Judah.

12:44 Could it be an addiction to a substance or behavior? Promising to make life easier, more enjoyable, and satisfying? Could it be the temptation to pursue temporary peace and rest through the convenience of a divorce instead of doing the hard worker counseling to obtain lasting peace and shalom in your marriage? Maybe it's someone tempted to deal with their fear for the future by becoming a workaholic and seeking to store up as much money as they can in the meantime.

13:17 Or could it be the temptation to trust our competence and our talents or our resources over and above the God to deal with the challenges that confront us? Or it could be the pressure to keep the peace with our friends, our neighbors, and even our colleagues by adopting a worldview that we know good and well goes against the word of God that calls us to love him with everything we are and everything we have and to love our neighbor as ourselves? What are the things crouching at our door to get us to turn away from the living God,

13:55 to turn to those things for peace and life instead? So we saw earlier how Hezekiah's first response of a peace meant how that worked out for him, right? It didn't work out too well. Let's see what the king does next. Let's look at chapter 19 verse 1. So we see Hezekiah's confronted with this threat from Assyria. He tried once to use everything that

14:31 he had in his power to make it go away. Let's see what he does next. So when king Hezekiah heard this report, he tore his clothes and put on burlap. He went into mourning. And he went to the temple of the Lord. So he goes there and then he sends Eliah come, the palace administrator, Shebna, the court secretary, and the leading priest all dressed in burlap to go visit the prophet Isaiah, son of Amos.

15:07 So he tore his clothes and then he sent the same delegation that was talking to the Assyrians. He sent them to talk to Isaiah, the prophet, to see what he had to say. So while his guys are meeting with the prophet, Isaiah, a third message arrived from the king of Assyria. This dude is relentless, right? And his conquest is attempt to conquer. He's relentless. In that message, the king of Assyria continued to mock God and attempted to persuade the king

15:40 that the God of creation and life can't be trusted. So what happened to all the kings of the other nations we conquered? Their gods didn't save them. What makes you think that outcome would be any different with you is what he's basically saying. And that's in, you can read it later today, but that's his whole message is in chapter 19 verse 10.

16:10 So this king, again, taunting and ridiculing the God of creation and life and saying he can't be trusted. That sounds familiar, right? All the way back to the very beginning with the snake in the garden whispering to Adam and Eve, hey, this God who put you here, he can't be trusted. Trust me. What does Hasakiah do next? Let's pick up at 2 Kings 19 verse 14 and see what he did next.

16:48 Hasakiah received the letter from the Lord from the messengers and he read it and he went up to the Lord's temple and spread that message out before the Lord. So he took the threat from king, the king of Assyria, took it to the temple of the Lord and he just laid it out in front of him. And he prayed to the God of creation and life. And we read the prayer earlier, O Lord, God of Israel, you are enthroned between the mighty cherubim. You alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You alone created the heavens and the

17:24 earth. Bend down, O Lord, and listen. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. Listen to Sonakareb's words of defiance against the living God. Yes, it's true that they've destroyed all these nations and they've thrown the gods of those nations into the fire and burning them. But of course, the Assyrians could destroy them. They were not gods at all on the idols of wood and stone shaped by human hands. Now, O Lord, God, rest here us from this power. Then all the kingdoms of the earth would know that you alone are God. So Hezekiah recognizes and proclaims who God is

18:02 as king of kings and creator of all things. And he appeals to God to bend down and listen. The king then acknowledges the truth of Sonakareb's boasts about destroying other nations and their gods. And he also recognizes that the difference between those nations gods and the god of them, their people, is that their gods are made in human hands and their god is the living God.

18:39 Hezekiah has given us a wonderful template to follow in our prayers when we encounter seemingly insurmountable challenges and enemies. We can go to the god of creation in life and we know that he will hear us. So let's see how God responds to King Hezekiah. So as Hezekiah is at the temple crying out to God, his guys are hanging out with Isaiah.

19:11 And here's the word that God gave, Isaiah for the king of Hezekiah. And it's in verse 6 of chapter 19. And it reads, do not be disturbed by this blasphemous speech against me from the Assyrian messengers. Listen, I myself will move against him and the king will receive a message that he has needed at home and he will return to his land where I will have him killed by the sword. That's what God said to pass that message alone to King Hezekiah.

19:44 So the god of creation in life, the omniscient one, the omnipotent one says to Isaiah, I hear his cry, I got this, I'll take care of it. Later today you can read the rest of the story here and see kind of what the message that God had given, spoken through Isaiah to King Sonaiacharyp, it's a pretty long message, but the gist of it is this.

20:18 God says, hey, I gave you king of Assyria. I gave you permission to go into Tackdee cities, but now you're defying me, you're mocking me. I'm going to have you killed. I'm going to, what he says, I'm going to put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth and make you return the way you came. Just last week we read about how the Airmian army

20:52 besieged the city in Israel and the prophet Elijah helped lead the people of Israel out from underneath that siege by giving them the words of God. God supernaturally calls that massive army to flee when they heard like a galloping horses, the sounds of galloping horses, and they heard the sounds of a great army approaching and they left everything they owned so that the people of

21:23 Israel can come and take it over. That's what we kind of looked at last week. So I bring that up to say the God of creation and life brings supernatural problems, supernatural solutions to our earthly problems. He brings supernatural solutions to our earthly problems that we face. I wonder if Hezekiah heard the Syrian king's proposition earlier to that, hey, if you surrender to me and make a deal with me, I'll give you life. Choose me,

21:58 choose life instead of death by making a deal with him. I wonder if King Hezekiah heard that and remember, hmm, somebody else said that to us, to our people but once before. Turn with me, if you would, to Deuteronomy chapter 30 and look at verse 19. So as this is happening, King Hezekiah is in the temple prostrate before the Lord and I'm sure he

22:34 recalled this message. And in verse 19 of Deuteronomy 30, he says this, it says this, and these are the words that Moses will speak unto the people of Israel. Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I'll call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life so that you and your descendants might live. You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God obeying him and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love

23:07 and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land. The Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It's fascinating because in one of King Sonata Cribs earlier messages, he told King Hezekiah to choose life instead of death. So Hezekiah, he chooses life.

23:39 Like Hezekiah, we sometimes find life in our resources and our own wisdom. And we try to use that first to find life. We try to make a bargain with the things that are crouching at our doors to threaten to overtake us. And we're unsuccessful. And I can imagine that after King Hezekiah tried his best by giving him all the gold and silver of the land and he failed, how he felt. I felt

24:11 that way. He felt weak and vulnerable, helpless. However, I find great comfort in knowing that there is something that God promises to do for us. Let's look at 2 Kings chapter 19 verse 35 and 37 and conclusion here. So verse 35 says this that that night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers

24:50 when the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere. Then King Sonata Crib of Assyria broke camp and returned to his own land and he went home to the capital of Nineveh and stayed there. One day while he was worshiping in the temple of his god, Nisrock, his sons, Adramalik and Shahrazzar killed him with their swords. God took care of it.

25:21 Just like he did before, he'll do it again and again and again. He'll do it for us. I find great comfort in knowing that fact that the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who defeated 185,000 troops with one angel, he's our dad. That's my dad. My dad promises to show up. Our dad promises to show up and fight our battles with infinite resources and

25:55 infinite power. The invitation for us is to lay out our problems, our fears, our needs before him and call on him to show up. That's the invitation for you and me today is to take whatever is burning us and lay it before him and ask him to show up. See what happens. Let's see what happens.

26:26 Let's pray. Let's ask him to do that. Heavenly Father, thank you for your good word to us this morning. Thank you for meeting us here and showing us who you are through your word. I know reading these stories for me. It's hard to fathom what that looks like. Maybe some of us in the room may experience that but help us to know that these words are true and that you are capable just like you were then. You're capable today to do the same thing.

27:01 You know every single problem, every single fear, every single need that confronts all of us here this morning. Remind us that you can be trusted to deliver us. By the power of your spirit, give us the sight and the strength to choose life with you over life with counterfeit gods that claim to bring us life instead of death. Remind us that you long to be the hero who will bring supernatural solutions to our earthly problems. And at the end of the day, may we be reminded as though

27:34 Apostle Paul was reminded that your grace is all we need, your power works best in our weakness. So now may we be glad to boast about our weaknesses so that the power of Christ can work through us. May we take pleasure in our weaknesses in the insults and hardships and persecutions and troubles that we encounter for Christ's sake. And may we know and recognize that when we're weak, we are strong because you are working through us and in us and on our behalf.

28:09 We thank you and we love you. Your name is Pray. Amen.