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and his goodness behold they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amos and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel and as a chi I slept with his fathers and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honor at his death and Manasseh his son reigned in his stead let's pray dear Lord God thank you for your word for this opportunity here preach just ask that you would be with our pastor now please strengthen him fill me the Holy Spirit and please just help us prepare our hearts and give us all readiness of mine to receive your word in the juice name of Raymond all right we're in 2nd Chronicles chapter 32 this morning and we're gonna go to 2nd Kings 19 in just a bit but look at 2nd Chronicles 32 verse 19 it says and they spake against the God of Jerusalem as against the gods of the people of the earth which were the work of the of the hands of man and for this cause as a chi of the king and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amos prayed and cried to heaven and this morning we're gonna continue with our series entitled epic wars in the Bible just covering some of the most legendary wars and battles in the Word of God and extracting spiritual principles from them and this morning we're continuing with the king of Assyria versus Hezekiah and let me explain what's going on here because in first and second Kings of obviously we know that we essentially have the same stories taking place but just as you see in the Gospels it kind of gives you a bit of different information the second time around and so 2nd Chronicles 32 is more of a consolidated story of what we see in 2nd Kings or excuse me and 2nd Chronicles 32 is more consolidated information of what we see in 2nd Kings 18 19 and 20 and so we're looking at here during the reign of Hezekiah and we're gonna see what kind of principles we can learn from this now number one let me just say up right off the bat why is this such an epic battle well it's an epic battle because of the fact that an army of 185,000 men were destroyed without Hezekiah okay so this war ensues between Assyria Sennacherib and Hezekiah and of course they're besieging the city we're gonna look at 2nd Kings in just a bit that Israel Samaria has already been taken over so Hezekiah is ruling over the southern kingdom known as Judah and you know that's what he's taking care of whereas the northern kingdom the capital of that area was Samaria and Sennacherib just kind of took that over in a couple days or a couple years excuse me and you know just kind of overcomes them but then he comes against Hezekiah and Judah and the Bible tells us that of course Hezekiah prays unto the Lord he kind of makes supplication and then God answers his prayer miraculously through supernatural means sending an angel to destroy this army look at 2nd Kings if you would chapter 19 2nd Kings chapter 19 and we're gonna look at verse 34 here so this is pretty amazing you know a lot of the other battles that we've looked at to a certain extent involves human effort right involves man you know trusting in the Lord and going out to fight and being courageous and having faith and making sure that they're bold and trusting God that the battle is of the Lord even though they have to do some sort of work in order to make it happen okay that's what we've seen so far whereas in this particular story Hezekiah literally doesn't even lift a finger he doesn't send any soldiers out he doesn't send forth any garrisons he doesn't put a strategy together what does he do all he does is pray okay look at 2nd Kings 19 verse 34 for this is the Lord speaking he says for I would defend this city to save it for mine own sake and for my servant David sake 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 100 four score and 5,000 and when they arose early in the morning behold there were all dead corpses so think about that you know you're having this war they're besieging you around about and you know they're threatening you they're mocking the God of Israel they're saying we're gonna do to you like we've done to all these other nations who claim to have the right God and they're like hey don't speak to us in the Jews language speak to us in the Syrian language because then you're gonna scare everyone here and they're like no we're gonna keep talking in the Jews language so that everyone knows what we're gonna do to you and they're like you guys are gonna drink your own piss and eat your own dung I mean they are putting out some some pretty savage railings that we're gonna look at in just a bit okay and no I didn't cuss that's actually in the Bible folks okay you know this is what he's saying to them okay and so Hezekiah is just like beside himself and he's thinking to himself like oh man like I'm not gonna be able to like defeat this guy so what does he do he does the next best thing which is what pray that's right he intercedes and he prays unto the Lord he asked God please deliver me please deliver my people and the Lord answers that prayer miraculously so think about how Hezekiah feels at this time you know he wakes up in the morning probably didn't get much sleep first and foremost he wakes up in the morning thinking alright I guess we got to put a strategy together goes outside and all he sees is dead corpses everywhere and by the way there's only one guy left alive which is Rabsheka the guy the messenger or excuse me which is a Sennacherib you know he's the only one that's left alive and then he has to go back home by himself so he sends him home packing by himself you know he comes with this massive army to conquer Judah to conquer Israel and then all his men die and he literally has to walk home by himself and why does he walk home by himself simply to die back home too because at the end of the day when he goes back home his own son slay him okay now I think it's in particular the reason God allowed Sennacherib to perish was because of the fact that he didn't honor God even after that massive loss because when you see something like that you're like you know what this God is different I'm gonna start new I think I'm a I'm converting to Christianity you know what I mean like let me in on this okay I messed up I lost you know I was wrong about this but instead he actually goes back home and he starts worshiping the first thing he does he goes into the house of his false God to worship and as he's doing so his own sons the Bible says that came out of his own bowels essentially go and slay him and so that's why that took place but this is an epic battle because of the fact that essentially a hundred eighty five thousand soldiers were destroyed without even Hezekiah having to do anything but not only that as I mentioned it's an epic battle because it was won through prayer and you think to yourself you know when it comes to a battle like this we can we need to make sure we have our ducks in order we need to make sure we know how to fight we need to make sure we have to do this but often even in the Christian life the thing that we neglect the most is the most obvious which is prayer because prayer is what is us depending on God to be strong on our behalf right you know sometimes we think well we need to depend on our giftedness our talent our ability our resources we have to do our part and you know in some cases that is true and we we've looked at many wars and stories and battles where you know God is telling them hey you know you can't be careless you need to be vigilant and I'm only gonna take these 300 and you need to make sure you know what you're doing he's not choosing like the wimpiest of the people to go fight okay obviously the people like the 300 for example were men of valor who knew how to use a sword they knew how to fight they knew how to go to war but we need to have a balance in this view which is why the Bible gives us a story such as this to remind us that at the end of the day the battles of the Lord and the way we can remind ourselves of that is by praying asking God please deliver us from our enemies look at chapter verse 20 of chapter 19 so the battle was won through prayer verse 20 says then Isaiah the son of Amos sent to Hezekiah saying thus saith the Lord God of Israel that which thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard and this is a New Testament principle you know the Bible tells us in 1st John chapter 5 that we know that he hear us and that we have the petitions vote for which we've asked you understand if we pray according to his will we know that he hear us and that we had the petitions for which we asked you know one of the reasons why it's important to pray is to increase our faith but the Bible tells us that we have to pray according to his will right and if we pray according to God's will if we pray according to what the Bible says the Bible tells us okay at that point you have God's attention and if you have God's attention then we know that we're gonna receive the petitions for which we've asked so a guaranteed way to get answered to prayer is making sure that you pray according to his will not my will but thy and be done you understand and I sincerely believe that Hezekiah was praying according to God's will you know God didn't want the king of Assyria to come and destroy Judah and destroy Hezekiah you know he wanted to show himself strong on the behalf of him whose heart is perfect with him you know and the same goes with us you know God's not up in heaven just kind of like well you know you guys got yourself in this mess you're gonna have to figure it out how to get yourself out he's always looking for opportunities to show himself strong on our behalf he's always looking for opportunities to increase our faith he's always looking for opportunities to get us to believe the Bible more right he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him see God wants us to diligently seek him through the Bible through prayer through service you know just make him the pinnacle of our existence type of a thing and so he you know that honors him that pleases him and an honor and pleases him when we say you know what I can't do anything in and of myself I need you I need your help I need you to deliver me okay now go to chapter 18 of second Kings if you would second Kings chapter 18 what are some principles that we can learn from this particular battle we're gonna go through some of the principles here number one is that the greatest battles listen to this come as a result of serving God okay the greatest battles comes as a result of serving God you see you know a lot of Christians don't experience a whole lot of battling or a whole lot of wars because they're not really serving God you know they're saved and they might you know love the Lord they might even read the Bible to a certain extent but if they're not actively serving God they're not gonna experience any particular battles in their life because they don't pose a threat you know who fights you know God's people I'll tell you who fights God's people the people or I'm scuse me who does the enemy fight the enemy fights the people who are actually actively trying to tear down Satan's Kingdom those who are actively winning souls those are actively turning people to righteousness those who are actively living a godly life and serving God that poses a threat to this world okay look at verse 5 of second Kings chapter 18 referring to Hezekiah it says here he trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah nor any there were before him it's a great guy I mean this is the narrator speaking of Hezekiah saying look he trusts in the Lord there is none like him in the kings of Judah before or after him look at verse 6 for he claved to the Lord and departed not from following him but kept his commandments which the Lord commanded Moses I mean this is a guy who obviously loves the commandments of the Lord right he's not he's cleaving to the Lord in other words he's holding on to him he's following him he's keeping his commandments look at verse 7 and the Lord was with him and prospered with it so ever he went forth so what's the byproduct of serving God God's gonna prosper you wherever you go you know if you if you're serving God if you're winning souls to Christ if you're turning people to righteousness you're in church you're you're you're you're taking care of your Christian responsibility God's gonna prosper you at your job he's gonna give you that promotion he's gonna give you favor with man he's gonna bless your family he's gonna bless your relationships you're gonna prosper with us wherever you go okay and this is what's happening to Hezekiah serving God keeping his commandments he's prospering oh wait but the verse is not done yet he says the Lord was with him and he prospered him with a server he went forth and he rebelled against the king of Assyrians served him not he smote the Philistines even into Gaza and the borders thereof from the tower of the watchmen to the fence city so listen to this you know Hezekiah the reason he's such a great leader and a great man of God and a great person is not just because he's keeping God's commandments it's not just because he loves the Lord and cleaves them to him and is following him it's because he's also actively fighting the works of darkness because what does it say there it says that he's rebelling against the king of Assyria by the way that phrase is not there for God God didn't put that phrase there for us to be like oh what a party pooper why can't he just get along with everyone why can't he just be a peacemaker or something I'll tell you why because there's certain people certain organizations certain groups certain cultures certain ideologies that God expects us to rebel against and part of serving God is that we don't give in to the false ideologies of this world okay turn with you to go to first Timothy chapter 6 if you would hold your place there you know the Bible tells us they that forsake the law praise the wicked but listen to this but such as keep the law contend with them so a byproduct of keeping God's law a byproduct of reading the Bible of living a Christian life is that you fight you contend with who with the wicked you see serving God is not enough to just keep God's commandments and live a holy life a righteous life and raise your children and love your wife love your husband that's not the only thing the Bible says that we're in a fight we're in a spiritual battle and if you're gonna be a well-rounded Christian according to the Word of God you have to actively fight the enemies of God you have to actively fight you know the false doctrines of this world because that's that's what's characterized as keeping the law those who earnestly contend with them the Bible tells us in Ephesians chapter 5 have no fellowship listen to this with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them it doesn't say have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness just leave them alone just ignore them and they'll go away just you know just stay in your lane you know don't bother anybody don't say anything it says no you better approve them so it's not enough that you are just separating from the wrong type of people according to the Bible you should be preaching against standing against living against that which is evil and wicked in this world okay you're like oh man but that's kind of uncomfortable well that's what it means to serve God serving God is not a bed of roses folks right serving God is not the easiest thing in the world it's the most productive thing in the world it's the most fulfilling thing in this world but it's not the easiest thing in the world because of the fact that it's not always just you know loving your family and being a good employee the Bible tells us that we have to stand against the false ideologies of this world as well we have to reprove those things and this is the problem with a lot of Christians nowadays is the fact that you know they have their ducks in order as a church they have their ducks in order as a Christian but there's one element that's always missing in their life and it's this they're unwilling to reprove the works of darkness they're unwilling to stand for truth you say why because they're afraid of the consequences of doing so they're scared of persecution they're scared of well you know I just I think we I just want people to just be pleased with us and be happy with us folks we should seek to please the Lord and the Lord only and if a group of people you know are pleased by what we're doing too then that's just a cherry on top but if there's no cherries the cake is still there man and so you know serving God is just like what we see with Hezekiah that he's not only keeping God's commandments he's rebelling against the other kings who are trying to conquer them okay so in other words you know the king of Assyria is trying to impose his laws right trying to impose his laws upon Israel impose his laws upon Judah impose his ideology and Hezekiah is saying no we're not following that we're God's people okay the Bible tells us you're in 1st Timothy 6 I'm gonna read to you from the book of Jude verse 3 beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints now this is the verse that I want to give people when they tell me this why are you fighting online just preach the gospel just preach the gospel well I'll tell you what because here it says I have to earnestly contend for that gospel that I'm preaching to right and the faith is not just the gospel the faith is just referring to the faith Christian faith it includes everything that's in the Bible you know this whole back and forth that I'm going with this guy on YouTube people are just constantly telling me oh I'm so devastated I can't believe this is happening online I enjoyed both of your videos and I'm like don't let me in with this guy that's insulting and they're just like I can't you know why can't you guys just talk it out and everything and I'm like I have no desire to talk it out with the false prophet that's right the Bible tells me I have to earnestly contend and it's just like where was all this compassion when that guy made his video against yours truly I didn't see anybody in the comment section saying hey why are you call pass from here get with him it wasn't until I just moted him it wasn't until I just dismantled this guy that people started going online saying oh you know you guys shouldn't fight this is so childish and I can't believe it folks we were supposed to earnestly contend for the faith okay and then and then I said this well you know if you're really interested and what the Bible has to say I'm gonna preach against him and against this doctrine on Sunday night and I put this on his channel I said so anybody interested in listening you know come visit the channel on Sunday night because I'm talking about alcohol tonight okay alcohol consumption and why it's sinful and and someone said oh that's so ridiculous using the pulpit to preach against doctrines preach the gospel brother I'm like why would I do that everyone's pretty much saved here why would I get up on a Sunday night and just give you the gospel when you're already saved that doesn't benefit you that's right you said well what if there's unsaved people in your church on Sunday night then there's soul winners that can go up to them afterwards and give them the gospel okay churches for believers churches for us to edify the Saints with the Word of God it's for us to earnestly contend for the faith look at 1st Timothy 6 verse 11 it says but thou O men of God flee these things and follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness but someone says in verse 12 fight the good fight of faith lay hold on eternal life where unto thou art also called and has professed a good profession before many witnesses it doesn't say just make peace with everybody says fight the good fight of faith what does it mean actively be in opposition actively rebel against the wickedness of this world fight the good fight of faith stand for truth amen 2nd Timothy 4 6 says for I am now ready to be offered in the time of my departures at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I've kept the faith I'm encouraged by the Apostle Paul that even in his latter years he said you know I fought he basically fought to the bitter end so to speak right he was preaching against false doctrine in his latter years he's being persecuted in his latter years you know and obviously he basically finished his life in peace because of the fact that he's in Rome he's on house arrest but people are coming to him and he's giving them the gospel he's teaching the Word of God which kind of shows us you know you know bear the yoke in your youth amen fight the battles in your youth because it could be that God will give you peace in your days in your latter years I mean I think that's a that's a legitimate principle that we see in the Word of God I mean think about David David fought a lot of bloody wars right in fact that's one of the reasons why he could not build a temple was because you know he had shed so much blood so the responsibility fell upon his son Solomon to build a temple but he wasn't a lot to do so but you know what in the latter years of his life he died basically the way we would all want to go on our bed surrounded by our loved ones that's it you know and and and giving a hit list to his son Solomon that's a cool way to go out he's like he's about to die and he's just like by the way take care of this guy this guy and this guy right here don't let them go down to the grave you know or let them go down into the grave and you know I mean I kind of like that you know I might have some names that I might be you know I'm just kidding but what I'm saying is that you know bear the yoke in your youth now and we could apply this to us as a church because our church is still young we're about to complete five years in August September or so and you know that's a young church you say why are you guys surrounded you know so much controversy surrounds you because we're fighting the good fight of faith that's right and you know what we need to do that while well we still have some vinegar within us amen well we still have the umph well we still have the energy or we're still zealous and we can we can run we can shout we can yell we can scream about it amen but you know our church is young as far as the years are concerned but our church is young in general as well right I mean a lot of people in our church are fairly young I mean yours truly I mean I'm fairly young 36 years old most people in our church are in like their 20s raise your hand if you're like 25 to 30 years old okay yeah see that's that's still young raise your hand if you're 25 and under see very young church understand I'm not gonna go above that okay hey I know I know we're supposed to fight the good fight of faith and you know this is all the Hezekiah is doing and you know what I'm sure people in his days are like why do you have to rebel against him why can't you just like get along with everyone you know this nation capitulated to them this nation's cool with them why is it that you have to be the one to be the the wrench in the whole thing and and now you're gonna bring this upon yourself so it's just like this war comes upon him and they're blaming him for it or something it was like oh look look what you brought upon yourself I brought it upon myself because I preach God's Word that's right that's the only if that's what you're if that's what you're implying then I'm guilty as charged understand but it doesn't even give us like this whole thing of like he rebelled against the king of Assyria because of XYZ it just says and he rebelled against the king was here just telling us like that's part of serving God okay but it shows us that some of the greatest battles that we will experience will come as we serve God we don't have to put a sign out there of every single belief that we have to attract all the enemies of God to come to us all we have to do is serve God all we have to do is win souls to Christ folks nowadays the culture is so sensitive that if you and your wife are dressed just as Christians and you go to a restaurant with your kids I mean you'll get looks it's like they hate that which is wholesome sometimes you don't have to do much I can literally just make a short a 60-second short on why you shouldn't drink alcohol and then just get all kinds of hate for it you don't really have to do much anymore to have go to war go to battle all you have to do is just serve God preach against false doctrine which God's commanding us to do right and it'll come upon us look at go go back to 2nd Chronicles 32 if you would hold your place there in 2nd Kings what's another principle that we can learn from this particular battle well we learned that some of the greatest battles that we'll experience in our lives will come as we serve God by the way this is why you should stay in church you should keep serving God because you don't want to miss out you do not want to miss out on the great battles you know because you know that they turn into war stories and then we look back and remember this and remember this it's like you got you were there okay but here's another thing that we can learn from this is that battles help us to get right with God okay look at 2nd Chronicles 32 verse 1 it says after these things in the establishment thereof Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered into Judah and encamped against the fence cities and thought to win them for himself and when hezekiah saw the Sennacherib was come and then he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop waters of the fountains which were without the city and they did help him verse 4 so there was gathered much people together who stopped all the fountains and the brook that ran through the midst of the land saying why should the king of Assyria come and find much water also he strengthened himself and built up all the walls listen to this that was broken and raised it up to the towers and another wall without and repaired repaired Milo in the city of David and made darts and shield in abundance you see the city at this time you know there's some repairs that need to be made it just kind of went unnoticed right it's like you know that thing in your house you just keep putting off the fix that one thing that you just keep putting off and you know it's like I'll get to that later I'll get to that later I'll get anything like a year passes by and it's just getting worse and worse kind of thing well this is kind of how where he was at there's some walls that are that need to be repaired there's some things that need to be fixed you know they're they need darts they need shields but you know what we're not in battle right now so why even have those things well going to battle or having a threat caused him to recognize hey you know what we need to start building up these walls again we need to start repairing these walls getting some darts and some shields what is he doing he's essentially repairing himself as a leader right and so you know in the spiritual principle that we can learn from this is that anytime you get into a war anytime you get into a battle it makes you take inventory of yourself because you don't want to be on the wrong side number one but number two you want God to favor you and you know God can't favor you if you have sin in your life you know God can't it's not gonna favor you if you're regarding iniquity in your heart right and so what do we begin to do we begin to repair the broken walls maybe some bad habits that we've formed some bad thoughts that we've we've had some bad ideologies that we've conjured up ourselves so whatever it may be maybe you know you're not reading your Bible very often oh when you're in a battle you're like oh I'm gonna read it every day now for sure I want to read it every single day because I need God's favor you know maybe you're not praying enough well you'll pray once you go into a war or battle because it's helping you to recognize I need to be you know at optimum performance right now I need to make sure that I'm in the right place at the right time for God's blessing in God's favor and so you know what do we have to fix you know you'll make sure that your house is in order you'll make sure that everything's in place everything's in order you'll take inventory you know that's why battles are good for us okay now I often say this you know a time of peace you know like for example our church we're to certain standards in a time of peace right but it actually takes more discipline to be in a time of peace and to be in a time of war because the truth is is that we should be repairing ourselves spiritually even in a time of peace when there is no war you know you should be in church serving God and winning souls and standing for truth and reading the Word of God and and doing all these things even when there is no threat right all right so it takes more discipline it's actually easier in a sense to serve God when there is war because it's right in front of you it's like urgent it's important you need to do it now whereas you know there's no urgency right now right and we can't control the ebb and flow of wars and battles and times of peace and our personal lives in the lives of our church all we can do is make sure that we keep under our body and bring it into subjection let's by any means when we have preached to others we ourselves can be a castaway all we can do is make sure that we are disciplined to be consistent in the Christian life and and adhere to spiritual principles even though we're not fighting spiritual battles right now because it's easy to just say well you know I can just kind of put it on cruise control I can just kind of cruise by the Christian life not have to do anything crazy because we're not fighting anybody right now yeah but you know what after a while once you get into that war into that battle and there's like four walls that need to be repaired you know it's gonna seem urgent at that point and so wars are good battles are good because it helps us to repair the broken walls it helps us to make more spiritual darts to make more shields right to increase our weaponry our artillery to make sure we're ready for the battle go back to second Kings 18 second Kings 18 and so some of the princes that we learned so far is that the greatest battles come as a result of serving God battles help us to get right with God let me also say this is that the greatest losses come when we are at enmity with them no when we're enmity with God right I'm explaining to you what I mean here look at verse 9 this is prior to Sennacherib conquer or seeking to conquer Judah it says in verse 9 and it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah which was the seventh year of Hushia son of Elah king of Israel the Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it so obviously they're coming from the north sir they're gonna see to conquer Israel first because Israel is that northern kingdom okay Hushia is the king of that northern kingdom so Sennacherib besieges it he's kind of surrounding it that's simply essentially what the tactic here is that they would surround the city and they would starve them out okay so they're surrounding him they're cutting off their water supply they're cutting off their food supply and eventually they just have to give in because their people are starving it says in verse 10 and at the end of three years they took it so it took three years they had three years of extra resources and and surplus and at the end of those three years it just ran out so then they were able to take it even in the sixth year of Hezekiah that in that is in the ninth year of Hushia king of Israel Samaria was taken and the king of Assyria did carry away Israel onto Assyria and put them in Helah and in Hebor by the river of Gozan and in the city of the Medes so what happened they conquer him they invade them they take Israel Hushia and all the inhabitants and they take them captive now if you're Hezekiah and you're not spiritual you think to yourself I'm next they're gonna take us like what happened how come God allowed that I thought I thought you know we had God's favor but look at verse 11 verse 12 excuse me why did it happen because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord their God but transgresses covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded and would not hear them nor do them so why did Sennacherib invade Israel I'll tell you why because Israel disobeyed God it's not because Sennacherib was more powerful than Israel it's not because Sennacherib just had a better tactic and was more patient than Israel it's because God was against Israel it's because Israel was at enmity with God now this is an eye-opener for a lot of Christians and sometimes I think to myself you know sometimes as Christians or as human beings we can often fear what man can do into us because you know they put out threats and you know you think about what's going on at steadfast right now with all the threats that they're receiving and some of it's actually pouring over here too now and you know you think about all these things that they're saying but you know I think to myself one of the greatest fears that I have actually is not that they'll do something to me it's not that they'll hurt me it's not that they'll hurt my family it's not that they'll hurt our church that's actually not my greatest fear my greatest fear listen to this is that God would allow them to hurt me is that God would allow them to invade us that's actually my greatest fear because at the end of the day God can remove the protective hedge of the covering that hedge that keeps us safe and just say have at it that's at the end of the day that's what it is because no human being out there is more powerful than God no organization no you know whatever that's out there you know no doesn't matter how many threats they put forth no one can do anything to us if God doesn't prevent it to do do so so my greatest fear is not that they're gonna do something my greatest fear is not that they're gonna come here and bomb us again or something my greatest fear is that God will allow them to do so right he says so what do we do we stay right with God obey the Lord serve God because the only reason Israel was taken captive but they were invaded is not because they weren't good fighters or anything like that it's because they disobeyed God they didn't obey the Lord so therefore God allowed them to be destroyed and you know what this is applicable to us as a church but it's applicable to you as a Christian too you know the reason God would allow you know Satan and his minions to destroy your life to just ruin your resources to take away your money to destroy your health to just destroy you as a person is because God would allow it to because at the end of the day we can make ourselves at enmity against God by disobeying him now I want you to notice though that God is merciful right amen God is gracious he's long-suffering he's merciful well how so because it took three years they took it in the third year three years was a long time that's a long time for you know Hoshia at the first year should have been like yeah let's put let's put away these false gods let's just serve God and and have but you know obviously he was they were still disobeying the Lord there were their idolatry was rampant and God gave them three years to repent and get right with him and God's like okay if you don't want to you don't want to come on in take it over and take them to Assyria take him captive humble them embarrass them shame them because they disobeyed me understand and so you know this is a rude awakening for them and you know the Bible tells us in James chapter 4 you don't have to turn there go to Hebrews chapter 10 James chapter 4 verse number 4 says this ye adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God who so whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God the Bible says so if you want to back up the world and defend the world and be with the world God says okay then at that point you're at enmity with me and let me just say this the last enemy you want to have is God himself why is that well look at Hebrews 10 verse 29 by the way for believers or unbelievers obviously for believers if God destroys our lives we just go to heaven but for an unbeliever once you become an enemy of God I mean you have hell waiting verse 29 says of how much sore punishment suppose ye shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under the foot of the Son of God and had counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace for we know him that hath said vengeance be longeth unto me I will recompense sayeth the Lord and again the Lord shall judge his people verse 31 it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God now we often quote that right we have to talk about vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord I will repay but we apply it to like the enemies of God and is definitely applicable but in this context he's saying I will strike vengeance upon you and he's talking about God's people he's like I will wreak vengeance on you and you know what it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God right because God hits where it hurts and so the greatest losses that you and I can experience is when we're in enmity with God that's why it's important you know whenever you find yourself in a position of fear of terror just make sure you're right with God because who we should be fearing more than anybody else is God himself and some of the worst experiences that I've had in life some of the worst trials that I've experienced in life so some of the worst hurts that I've had in my life the most emotional damaging experiences that I've that I've had in my life I can recall time in those times thinking God allowed this to happen to me because it's easy to say where's God in all this like how come God allowed this well it's you know number one either because you're just in sin he's punishing you or two he's just kind of pruning you as a Christian helping you to get stronger but at the end of the day the number one thought that I had was this well God allowed it this doesn't catch God off guard this is God's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes understand go back to second Kings chapter 18 if you would here's the next principle that we can learn is that you never you're never supposed to capitulate to the enemy's terms okay as my friend pastor Shelley would say you don't negotiate with terrorists now Hezekiah is a great guy but he messed up right here look at verse 14 and Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lakish saying I have offended returned for me that which thou putest on me will I bear and the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold and Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house at the time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the pillars was Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria so what's going on here Hezekiah goes to Sennacherib and basically says like I must have offended you he's basically apologizing and he said what can I do to make things right and Sennacherib gives him a bill he's like give me all this so he gives them all the silver and gold from the house of the Lord and it actually wasn't sufficient so he commanded his men to cut the golden doors of the house of the Lord and give that as well so he gives all this hoping to appease Sennacherib to placate him so he just go away but he does not go away he comes back and poses more threats and say accept this pledge or else we're gonna destroy you you can't be delivered out of our hands because now Sennacherib what is he thinking he's like oh we got him right where we want him he's afraid he's scared oh look he he's like giving all this gold from his the house of his Lord of his God but now he's capitulating now what is the principle we can learn here never never never never negotiate with terrorists my friends whatever the enemies of God require of you you tell them to go jump in a lake right a fire don't negotiate with anybody right well you know we'll leave you alone if you know you just allow certain people in your church or whatever no well we will leave you alone we'll stop threatening you we'll stop doing X Y & Z as long as you didn't know we're not negotiating any terms we're gonna keep preaching exactly what we're preaching serving God exactly how God told us to do it if you don't like it go jump in a lake of fire right you don't like it go somewhere else because we don't we're not gonna negotiate with invaders you're trying to invade Christianity and invade our doctrine and invade our church we're gonna put up a fight and at the end of the day God's gonna deliver us and he's gonna honor the fact that we're doing so but there is no negotiation just like in Omani when the the mayor and the city manager wanted me to negotiate with them no negotiation is like just leave me alone here's the negotiation I'll set forth the terms leave me alone I don't leave me alone and God won't punish you I think those are pretty good terms Bible says neither give place unto the devil you know this makes me think of Jesus Christ when he was in the wilderness Satan was trying to negotiate with him and try to get him to worship him and Jesus is just like man shall not live by bread alone but by ever where the proceed out of the mouth of God thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God right him only shalt thou worship and he just kept throwing the scriptures out there just not giving in to Satan and Satan after a while just gave up and moved on and this is what happens when the devil is constantly coming at you and trying to get you to capitulate trying to get you to surrender trying to get you to just give up your Christian rights and do all these things you just say no no no no no no no and after a while the Bible says resist the devil and he will what? Flee from you. Because at the end of the day it's it's it's a game of just who can outweigh who who can who's the one who can be more persistent and look folks we got all of eternity we can fight this to the bitter end because our life is but a drop in the bucket considering where we're gonna be after we die this is just a drop in the bucket you can fight us all the days of our life but we're just gonna hold we're just gonna hold out we're not gonna wait three years because you know what God's not gonna allow us to starve you can besiege us for three years four years ten years you can put the pressure on us there's no negotiating you know makes reminds me of Moses and Pharaoh because remember Moses wanted God wanted his people to leave Egypt to serve him in the wilderness right so Moses came to him and said hey let my people go and then he just was really obstinate he's rebelling said no and then he would say okay well you guys can go but you know leave your flocks though he's like no we got to do an offering unto the Lord can't leave our flocks okay well you can go but just the men go it's like no we got to take our kids too they got a worship God too and he just kept putting forth these terms like well do this but don't go very far though we're gonna go really far we're gonna go it's a 40 days journey we're gonna go really far into the wilderness like no we're not we're not obeying your terms it's like well you guys can preach that but don't say this word I'm gonna say any word I want right so oh yeah well you guys can say that but just don't put that on your statement of faith I'll put more on my statement of faith you know oh you guys can do this but just don't have these rules we'll put whatever rules we deem fit as a church we're not negotiating with you this is not this is not a terminal negotiation because if we don't obey your commandments who cares right like what can you do unto us what can you really do unto us you know you can take our building you can take our life but you can't take away our soul and at the end of the day most of the time God doesn't even let it get to that point so how do you know because he sent an angel and just destroyed 185,000 of them right there you go you just got to keep holding on and not negotiate with them and so you know the enemy is implacable and I'm referring to just anybody okay anybody who's an enemy of Christianity or an enemy of our church you know they will often try to put terms out there to try to get you to negotiate with them to make peace with them but folks we need to make peace with God you understand we need to be at peace with the Lord the terms it's always on his terms like God doesn't negotiate with us he's not like well do this and do he says do this and if you don't do this here the consequences if you don't now thankfully there's times when he actually gives us a plan B and a plan C because he's so gracious to us as his children but he's not gonna go she ate with unsafe people folks God's not in heaven like oh man they do have a point there that's true but I didn't really think about that look at chapter 18 again along with that never allow the enemy to define religion for us right look at look at verse 19 and Rab Sheka what a name said unto them we'll call him Robbie said unto them speaking not to Hezekiah thus saith the great king the king of Assyria what confidence is this wherein thou trustest thou sayest but they are but vain words I have counsel and strength for war now on whom dost thou trust that thou rebellious against me behold now behold thou trust us upon the staff of this bruised reed even upon Egypt on which if a man lean it will go into his hand and pierce it so it's fair king of Egypt unto all that trust on him so he's implying that Hezekiah is making an affinity with Egypt so the Egypt will help him in this war that's not what's happening at all he's there are you trusted in Egypt this is like the atheist and the agnostics of today saying oh you're trusting in the Constitution that's gonna be made null and void soon enough but you know what us as Christians we don't trust in the Constitution I mean think we thank God for it that it's there right but at the end of the day this is our Constitution right here right look at verse 22 but if he's saying to me we trust in the Lord our God is not that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah hath taken away and had said to Jude in Jerusalem he shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem what is he talking about he's like you're saying you're trusting the Lord your God but wasn't the Lord your God the one you were moved from the high places look at verse 4 go back to verse 4 this is what he's referring to verse 4 says referring to Hezekiah he removed the high places and break the images and cut down the groves and break in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it and he called it Nehushtan so in Rabsheka's mind he's like you guys don't even serve God because you broke down that idol Nehushtan you broke down that brazen serpent but here's the thing the reason he broke it down is because they were worshipping it which is something that weren't supposed to do so what is Rabsheka trying to do he's trying to define religion for them he's like you guys don't even believe what you're saying because you're over here tearing down these altars you don't really love everyone you don't really believe in grace you don't really believe in these things Jesus wouldn't say that you don't believe in the real Jesus the real Jesus would do this right isn't that what people say I mean that's probably my number one pet peeve is to hear people tell me how Jesus really is when they don't even know who Jesus is I've heard the Bible scores of times throughout the last 15 years and 99.99% of what people tell me out there who are unsaved and atheists or whatever how Jesus is just not found in the Bible so don't allow the world to define what religion is for you and for me no don't don't ever capitulate to some atheist and say who says you know oh well Jesus actually did this you don't even believe in Jesus what are you talking about well God did this what do you mean you mean the God that you claim doesn't exist for someone who claims to be an atheist you sure focus a lot on God if he's such an imaginary person why are you even talking about him as though he's real oh that's because he is real huh and by the way why are you so focused on the God of Christianity he's so hateful and all these things oh you know there's another false god out there his name is Allah but you wouldn't touch a law with the temple pull my would you so you know Rapsheka is is is claiming to know what the the the religion of of Judah is and he's wrong and obviously you know hezekiah is not gonna tell him like look that was a false god or whatever he's just kind of letting them spout off but here's another thing that they do you know the world tries to speak on God's behalf sometimes right they try to come and act like they're speaking on his behalf and this is what Rapsheka does look at verse 25 am I now come up against the Lord excuse me am I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it the Lord said to me go up against this land and destroy it God's the one who told me to come here and take you over liar we didn't and this is the same thing that people do out there no God told me this God told me that this is I'm of the Lord we're of the Lord and and you know flower power and LGBTQ this and LGBTQ do you know God is love and all you know they don't even know the God of the Bible though God didn't send them okay look at verse 6 here here's a quick point is that the enemy always the parts for a season okay the enemy always the parts for a season I'm sorry go to chapter 19 in verse 6 chapter 19 look at verse 6 it says and Isaiah said unto them thus shall you say to the to your master thus saith the Lord be not afraid of the words which thou has heard with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me behold I will send a blast upon them upon him and he shall hear rumor and shall return to his own land and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land so Rapsheka returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libna for he had heard that he was departed from Lakish and when he heard say of Terhacah king of Ethiopia behold he has come out to fight against thee he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah saying thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judas saying let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee saying Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of a king of Assyria now what's going on here well you know Hezekiah goes to Isaiah and he says what am I gonna do he says don't worry God's gonna distract him for a bit he's gonna hear a rumor and he's gonna go back to his land and just leave you alone for a while and it happens you know he gives them a blast there's like a mini war that takes place somewhere else and they kind of leave for a while but then he comes back okay and I think the principle we can learn there is that the enemy always takes a break for a little bit okay now why is that important to know because we're gonna be in a battle again war is coming again folks because Satan only departs for a season there's never just like one major war one major battle you know within yourself with the world and then it's just all over and done with life is war this is spiritual warfare and in fact even with yourself let's not let's let's not even talk about the world how about the war within yourself you know because a lot of people think well once I got saved I God just delivered me from drinking alcohol or smoking pot or doing XY and Z and I'll never have to struggle with that again wrong wrong that desire will depart for a season but then it will reappear again you just have to be ready to fight again once it reappears Satan always the parts for a season but don't think he departs permanently that doesn't happen until Revelation chapter 20 or I'm sorry Revelation 21 okay where is cast into the lake of fire and so very important to note there I must hasten here's the last thing 2nd Kings go to 2nd Kings 19 verse 14 and this is a point that I made in the beginning but I think it's an important point to finish off with is that at the end of the day our greatest weapon the greatest weapon that we possess is prayer okay and I and I don't want to minimize the importance of that because I think naturally as Christians sometimes we don't put a whole lot of emphasis on prayer sometimes because prayer is hard work and a lot of what we do in the Christian life is out in the open before others which helps us to make sure that we do a good job right when we preach when we so in when we're living the Christian life and there's people there's eyes on us we have a tendency to kind of put our best foot forward in that area whereas there's certain things done behind closed doors that we should essentially do you know be experts at do well like reading our Bibles and praying and prayer is an important aspect it's an important element of the Christian life and in fact I would say it's probably the most important for an individual to know how to pray get a hold of God so that he can show himself strong on our behalf look at verse 14 and Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers and read it and Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord so what is this letter Rab Sheka gives this letter into Hezekiah saying I'm gonna make your men drink their own piss and eat their own dung and you're not gonna be delivered from our hands and you know no one all the other countries that we've invaded their gods couldn't deliver them don't believe Hezekiah we're gonna take you guys you guys are done the God of Israel is incapable of delivering you I mean they're hearing this just over and over and over again and let me say this words you know sticks and stones can make me may break my bones but words can't hurt me but here's the truth words can have an impact you know it can increase someone's fear sometimes it can increase someone's anxiety someone's fear and then can cause you to question like oh man maybe he's right you know and then he gets his text message right of everything that he's gonna do to him he gets his email right back in those days email as an Ethiopian mailing it no I'm just kidding he gets his email of all these threats of everything that they're gonna do to them and what does he do he did he's not like I don't want to read it he's like I'm gonna take it to the Lord so he goes to the house of God he takes the letter and he spreads it before the Lord and he says look look what they're saying look what they're saying to us verse 15 and Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said Oh Lord God of Israel which dwells between the cherubims thou art the God even thou alone of all the kingdoms of the earth thou has made heaven and earth Lord bow down thine ear and hear open Lord thine eyes and see hear the words of Sennacherib which had sent him to reproach the living God of a truth Lord the king of the kings of Assyria have destroyed the nations of their lands and have cast their gods into the fire for there were no gods but the work of men's hands wood and stone therefore they have destroyed them now therefore O Lord our God I beseech thee save thou us out of his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord God even thou only then Isaiah the son of Amos sent to Hezekiah same thus saith the Lord God of Israel that which thou has prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Israel I have heard so this is great faith in Hezekiah's part he's like look what he's saying he's like reproaching us he's reproaching you and you know what he's right he did destroy those nations because those gods are not gods you're the one true God he took that text message he took that email he took that letter he spread it before the Lord and obviously the Lord already knew the contents but so why does he do it why does he take this letter and spread it before the Lord if he already knows well the principle is this cast your care upon him for he cares for you that's the principle there you know sometimes we need to take our burdens unto the Lord and you know what sometimes it actually helps to kind of write it down and just put it right there on your wherever you pray and say Lord help me with this hey that bill you can't pay put it before the Lord and said help me with this that problem that you're having put it before the Lord said I need help with this I can't do anything about this and you know what the Lord helps the helpless he helps those who have no more strength no more resources no more ability no more power they're just incapable or you know what they may be capable but in their eyes they're incapable and that's what God's looking for so God hears this and he's like done sends one of his boss angels and you know strikes 185,000 of them dead I mean just like that okay now what's the principle that we can learn from this particular this this last point here is that yes we need to take the sword of the Spirit the helmet of salvation girded loins with with truth the breastplate of righteousness shot our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace but at the end of that particular list in the Ephesians 6 it says praying always with all prayer and supplication so really like the glue that kind of brings everything together is prayer okay asking God Lord please deliver me please help me please and you know what people can come up with the most elaborate threats they can come up with the most elaborate things to say it's not even a drop in the bucket in God's eyes because God can strike anybody dead like that he can turn things around like that okay and so a great story here go back to second chronicles 32 this is the last verse I really appreciate has a kayak because I think he's a he's a well-balanced King in the sense of the fact that he's depending on the Lord but he's also doing his part to call upon the name of the Lord and encourages people because look what it says in second chronicles 32 verse 7 he's telling his people here he says be strong and courageous be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Syria nor for all the multitude that is with him for there be more with us than with him listen to this with him is an arm of the flesh what does that mean he when it comes to weapons and people and horses he's got us beat for sure because with him is the arm of the flesh but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles and the people rested themselves upon the words of his king of Judah you know what hezekiah was right hezekiah was right and you could read the rest of the story in second chronicles 32 where because of it people brought gifts unto Judah because they they heard of this just great victory of 185,000 losing understand and so this is a wonderful story for us to learn from that you know at the end of the day yes we need to do our part yes we need to make sure that we're courageous yes we need to make sure that we are bold and that we're standing for the truth but not at the exclusion of prayer stand bold in public amen but when you're in private humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and let the Lord know Lord I'm weak I'm frail I'm but dust and I need your help because if you can't deliver me I'm done you're the only one who can make this happen you're the only one who can pay this bill you're the only one who can change this heart you're the only one who can win this bet you're the only one they can they can deliver me from evil you're the only one who can provide for me I need your help and then once you're done praying go do your part then you do your party man let's pray father we thank you so much for your word so thankful for hezekiah's example I pray that we take it to heart Lord and even in the midst of trial and tribulation and difficulties whenever the enemy comes to attack help us to remember this story and spread our cares before the Lord and cast them upon you because we know that you care for us Lord and I pray that you continue to show yourself strong on our behalf bless us as a church help us to get more people saved Lord and bless all there is Lord we love you so much and we thank you pray these things in Jesus name amen