← ArchiveB2ChurchSunday, August 25, 2019DateAugust 25, 2019Speaker—Text2 Kings 19Passages in this sermonHebrews 100:482 Kings 193:59Psalms 5124:58Luke 2227:51Matthew 1130:06TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00Good morning. Good to see everyone.0:29My name is Josh Burnham, lead pastor here at Bethel. And, you know, why do we gather? Have you ever wondered why you're here? Some of you think, well, my dad would kill me if I weren't at church. My grandmother would kill me. Hebrews says, though, this about the gathering of the people of God. Hebrews 10, 23 says, let us hold to the confession of our hope. Let us hold on. And so the reason we gather in worship, it helps us hold on tighter to the faith that we have in Jesus Christ.0:55And the next verse, let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works. So I hope that by singing with you and reading the word of God with you, that we stir up one another to do good for the kingdom. So provoke someone today, not for anger, but for love and good works. And we live in a world and a culture that provokes people the wrong way.1:23And may we rise up and say we want to hold fast to the confession of our hope in Jesus Christ. So if you don't know why you're here today, that's why. Hold tight to Jesus. If you are new, and Brad, thank you for welcoming everyone. If you're new, we want to say welcome to you guys. If you're not new, if you're really old, you're welcome too. We don't want to leave you out. So for our covenant members, we love you guys. Thank you for what you do and supporting the church and reaching people who are far from Christ.1:52And some are watching online and we want to welcome you today also. We continue a series called Because You Asked. And so last Christmas, we gave you a survey and just simply asked you, what would you want to see or what do you want to know from the word of the Lord? And so one of those was difficult days. How do we manage? How do we handle crisis in our life in a way that honors Christ? And so that's what we're going to look at today.2:22What do you do during difficult days? That's a hard question to answer. If it's 100 degrees, I had this happen a couple weeks ago, and your AC goes out, you call the HVAC guy. Because you know that you will not be staying another night in that house with your family until you fix the air conditioner. That's a crisis. Right, dear?2:52Right, dear? If you're animal sick, you call the vet. If you blow your knee out, I've been there, you call the orthopedist. If your car dies, you call the mechanic. Most of us know what to do in specific crisis. But what do you do when your life falls apart? That's something we don't like to talk about, right? We want to put our church faces on, our game faces, and say, everything's fine, even if it's not.3:20What do we do when everything falls apart? So I began to pray about this and said, God, where should I go in your word to examine crisis in our life? I said, well, why not 2 Kings? So we're going to look in the word of God in 2 Kings today. So it's in the Old Testament. If you can find Samuels, 1 and 2 Samuel, then you can find 1 and 2 Kings, and then 1 and 2 Chronicles. So it's after Deuteronomy, before Psalms, so in that area of the scripture.3:502 Kings chapter 19 today. 2 Kings chapter 19. What do we do, Lord? What do we do when our world is falling apart? Beginning in verse 1, hear the word of the Lord. 2 Kings 19. Beginning in verse 1.4:20I'm going to explain a lot of history. So if you're wondering what have we just read, just give me 10 minutes. When King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes. He covered himself with sackcloth, and he went into the Lord's temple. He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna, the court secretary, and the leading priest who were wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz.4:47So you're asking, is that the same Isaiah in the book of Isaiah? Yes. Same prophet. They said to him, this is what Hezekiah the king says. today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.5:09Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of the royal spokesman, whom his master, the king of Assyria, sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke him for the words that the Lord your God has heard. So the servants of King Hezekiah went to Isaiah, and he said to them, tell your master, thus says the Lord, don't be afraid, because of the words you have heard, with which the king of Assyria's attendants have blasphemed God.5:37I am about to put a spirit in him, that is Sennacherib, and he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.5:59What do you do in a day of distress? Let's pray, Father. We have read your word, and Lord, we confess to you right now that the word of man, the word of any church, has no power to save, but the word of the living God.6:21That is what we desire. So, Lord, speak to our hearts. Father, for those that are walking through days of calamity right now, Father, may they cast aside the mask of hypocrisy. Lord, may they lay their souls bare before you, and may you hear them today in their day of distress.6:47Lord, for those who are walking out of calamity, Father, restore them, heal them. May they know your grace is sufficient. Lord, for those who are walking into a storm, unbeknownst to them, I pray that your words will soothe their soul, that you will prepare their hearts, and that they will run and cling to the good news of Jesus Christ. Lord, may we not only hear your word, but may we do what it says.7:17May we live it out. May we hold fast to the confession of our hope that we find in our Lord and Savior, the risen Messiah, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen and amen. So, let me explain what we read, because most of you did not read the history of Israel and Judah and Hezekiah this morning. So, Hezekiah, all the kings of Israel fall into two categories, bad and good.7:44You guys are with it. And most of your kings of Israel and Judah fall into the bad category. But here's hope. Out of the five good kings, Hezekiah is one. Why is that important? Because some of us think, erroneously, that bad days only happen because of lack of faith. That is not true.8:15That is not true. We'll get to how the Lord soothes our hearts in that. So, Hezekiah, one of the five major kings who led God's covenant community into a spiritual and economic flourishing environment. So, if you turn to chapter 18, which we're going to look at shortly, we read a little bit about Hezekiah's life. He takes the throne when he's 25 in verse 18. And then short years later, he watches his neighbor to the north.8:44So, just not even Canada. Think like Kentucky North. They fall to Assyria. So, Samaria, 722 A.D. is no longer even on the map. So, four years into your reign, you watch your greatest ally and your brothers in the covenant community. They are no longer here. Their capital is destroyed and they are deported. If that doesn't wake you up as a 29-year-old, I don't know what will.9:13And so, now, that is Shalmaneser. And now, we have Sennacherib, a new king who is in Assyria. And he is pressing down on Hezekiah. And he says, if you just give me all your stuff, I'll leave you alone. So, Hezekiah goes and he ransacks the temple. He takes all the silver and all the gold. Even so much that he takes the gold plate off the door frames and the pillars. And he gives it to Assyria. But it's not enough.9:42And so, now, we have this oppressing force bearing down on the people of God. Now, listen to how the word of the Lord describes Hezekiah. Because you've read the calamity. Now, listen to what God says about this king. Look at 18, verse 5. Really quick. This is important for us before we look at calamity and crisis. Because I want to shatter our materialistic worldviews, right? We have these ideas that when you're good, you're blessed.10:12When you're bad, you're stressed. This is what God says about Hezekiah. Verse 5, chapter 18. Hezekiah relied on the Lord God of Israel. Not one of the kings of Judah was like him, either before him or after him. He remained faithful to the Lord and he did not turn from following him. But he kept the commands of the Lord, the ones that he had commanded Moses. The Lord was with him.10:42And whatever he went, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and he did not serve him. Why is this important? Because this sets the stage for the calamity. And so what's now happened? Assyria is surrounding Jerusalem. And he sends his spokespeople to come to the wall. And they're taunting. Football season is upon us. So some of you are in that taunting mode, right? They're taunting the opposition. Some of you are taunting me by the shirts that you wore today, but I forgive you.11:13And so they're screaming to the top of the wall. And the attendants on the wall speak back to the Assyrian forces. And they say, speak in Aramaic because we understand Aramaic and we don't want to hear everyone else. We don't want everyone else listening to what you're saying. And of course, like a good enemy, they continue to speak in Hebrew. And they basically say, your God is nothing, your king is nothing, and you're going to die.11:38If you're in the city, you might as well flee because you're going to die. And did I mention you're going to die a really cruel death? And so these attendants take the report to Hezekiah. And that is where we find him in verse 1 of chapter 19. As a young man, still in his early 40s, receiving this report,12:04that the greatest empire in the world in that moment is going to ransack and raise your city. Not raise up, but R-A-Z-E, raise, destroy down your city. So what does that tell me about crisis, first of all? Crisis are common to every man.12:30Crisis are common to every man. Think about, did Assyria attack Judah because of Hezekiah's unfaithfulness? No, thank you. Stephen, I love you, brother. God himself says that what Hezekiah is faithful, he did not turn from the right or left. He kept the commands.12:59So if you are going through difficult crisis right now and you just think, God, this is happening to me because I'm not faithful, that might not be true. So have heart because this is happening to Hezekiah because he was faithful. So crisis are common to man. It occurred because of his broken world. And you know what? The world hasn't changed. We still live in the midst of a broken world.13:26I don't have to tell you that, do I? I walk into the nursing homes and to people's houses and we have dementia. And it just rips me up. It's such an ugly, ugly disease where our mind is taken away. And I just want to say, God, come quick. I hate this brokenness. God, I hate when people walk into movie theaters and walk into synagogues and walk into outlet malls and shoot victims for no reason at all.13:52And we say, God, come quick. So we must be quick to seek the Lord, but we cannot point fingers. We should lend a hand. Because crisis is common to every person. And if you're not in a crisis, just wait. Right?14:22Right? I don't say that to scare you, but it is common to us. We live in a broken, difficult world. But Hezekiah relied on God. So I want to set the stage of saying crisis are common. I had someone tell me one time that you are either in a difficult situation, you are either coming from a difficult situation, or you are either going into the storm. So if you're in a storm right now, don't worry, you're not going into one. God is faithful.14:53And if you're in a good place in your life, and you say, man, the roses are blooming. We got some rain last night for the first time in months, it seems. Things are awesome. Don't stand with hubris, but live with humility. Because God is faithful. Crisis are common to every man. If you're carrying guilt because you think your trouble is because of lack of faith, maybe your trial is given to build your faith. Maybe you're going through what you're going through to build your faith.15:20So secondly, how do we deal with crisis? So let's jump back in. Are crisis found because of a lack of faith? Not necessarily. So how do we deal with crisis in our life? Look at verse 1. King Hezekiah heard the report. What's the report? Shouting, in Hebrew, we are going to kill you. And they were. This was not just a taunt. They had destroyed everyone from Assyria to Egypt.15:48And now they were circling Jerusalem. And they were really good at what they did. And when Hezekiah hears this report, what does he do? He tears his clothes. He covers himself with sackcloth. And he does what? He goes into the temple. The first thing we need to understand about the crisis, when you are going through the dark night of the soul, as Spurgeon called it,16:17your character matters. Your character matters. I like to think of it like this. What happens when the stove of your life goes from medium-low heat to hot? Our character matters. One commentator says it this way. Hezekiah's actions do not seem out of character. Given the fact that he has been a reforming king for many years, his dependence on God is striking.16:48Contrast to Ahaz, the bad king, embracing of Assyrian gods when he was in trouble. So when he rips his garments, when he puts on sackcloth, when he goes into the Lord's temple, these are public displays of mourning. He's saying, he's saying, people, I am in anguish. Help me, someone. And it's as if he knew what to do17:17because his character stood strong. Makes me think about two different men who were in the same war, but character was completely different in their life. One man was named George Washington. George Washington was, ended up being our first president, and he had a friend. Both men were extremely charismatic generals. Both men were extremely successful17:44and highly influential in the American war. The second man's name was Benedict Arnold. Benedict helped drive the British from Boston. He also took the offensive against the British in twin battles, and he ended up forcing the entire surrender of the British army at Saratoga. But Benedict Arnold had a problem.18:15Even from an early age as a general, there were patterns of insubordination and excessive drinking and lavish overspending. And ultimately, it was Benedict Arnold's lack of personal integrity that caused him to have this coup where he was trying to force the surrender of the American troops to the British. And even today,18:43we call treason and traitors what we call them Benedict Arnold's. What was the difference between these two men who were equally charismatic, equally had equal leadership qualities? What was the difference? It was character. What made the difference in Hezekiah's life? He knows what to do because he is walking with the Lord, as God's word says. I think crisis really is the magnifying glass of our souls.19:11Crisis is the magnifying glass of your souls. And just think of it like this. If you are waiting for a crisis in your life to build and forge your character, it's too late. People all the time tell me, well, you know what? I'll just wait until it gets really bad and then I'll follow Christ. It could be too late.19:39That's not how character is built. That's not how the abundant life is found within us. You will never rise to the occasion. You know what happens? We fall back on our character. What are you doing today to build patterns of character in your life for Christ? Why is it so important that you take time during your day just to speak with the Lord? Because you're building character.20:09You're building character. I took some people to Israel with me last year. Was it this year? One year I took some people to Israel and we're able to walk on a first century road, stone marble road. And our guy said, hey, kneel down and touch this area. It had inventions. And this was where the chariots would go on this major thoroughfare. And 2,000 years later, those rivets and those ruts are there.20:38The pattern of chariot was there because every day over and over and over again, the patterns were being built and our character is forged the same way. For our youth, it is not too early for you to start seeking the Lord and building godly patterns of holiness in your life. And if you're not in this section and you're not youthful anymore, it's not too late. Build your character. But crisis magnifies your character.21:05It matters in our lives. What you do today determines what you'll do tomorrow for Christ. Love his word. Speak with him. What else does Hezekiah do? So we see his character is shining forth. And we see in verse one again, he hears a report. He tears his clothes. He puts on sackcloth21:34and he goes into the temple. What is Hezekiah doing? He is taking a lowly posture, a lowly, humble position. He is saying, I am going to mourn with our nation. He doesn't say, well, you guys, good luck. I'm the king. I'll be treated well. He takes a posture of humility. The second aspect of any crisis, any dark night of the soul in our lives, your posture will determine22:04your response. You see, our posture displays our dependence on God. Hezekiah goes to the temple and I just see him bowing down and taking a low position. Praise God for football. Some of you might not like football, but I do. So just bear with me because you're going to have some football illustrations in this sermon. And when I used to play offensive line back in my early years,22:32left tackle, I shrunk. They put me in water and I shrunk after the game. But if you watch the O-line, it's usually the person who has the lowest position that wins that battle on that snap. It's the person who has the best leverage. Now, what would happen if an O-lineman says, well, I want the high position today. I'm going to push down on my opponent23:02instead of getting low and pushing up. What would happen if the O-line, hopefully they're playing my team when that happens, but what would happen if that was their desire, if that was their attitude, they would fail? And how much more is our spiritual need to taking low positions of humility and saying, God, I'm going to take a low posture with you. And this is so true even on our worst days. Flip over to verse 14 of the same chapter.23:32There's more. So there's this back and forth. Hezekiah hears a report and he goes to Isaiah. Isaiah brings a report back. The messengers come back to Hezekiah. The enemy comes and they are still taunting God's people. And so here we have Hezekiah a second time going before the Lord, but now he has something in his hand. And she has the letter from the messengers. And he took the letter in verse 14. When he read it,24:02he went up to the Lord's temple and he spread it out before the Lord. And we're not told how he does this. He could have rolled the scroll out and just said, here it is, God. But I really believe that he probably just unfolded that thing on the ground. And I can just see Hezekiah rolling it out and putting his face before God and saying, God, this is a time24:31of distress. And God, I will bow my head and bend my knee. And God, I will take a posture of humility because you are awesome. You are wonderful. You are glorious. And who am I, God, to be in your presence? Posture will determine your response. That's why Psalm 51, verse 7, says that the sacrifices25:01pleasing to God is a broken spirit, a humble and contrite heart the Lord will never despise. So the first thing that we should do when calamity hits, hit your face. Just hit your face before the Lord and say, God, here I am because a prostrate heart and a bended knee will always be lifted up. And when we bow our face before God, He will turn His face25:30towards us. That's how we respond on the darkest days of our lives. We come to God and say, God, who have I but you? What a beautiful example in Hezekiah's life. But that's not all he does. Go back to verse 1. His character shines. He takes a humble posture. In verse 1, when King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his garments,26:00he put on sackcloth and he goes into the temple. Now, what is he doing here? Hezekiah basically says, I want to go into the presence of God. I have nowhere else to turn. He hears that report and he's thinking to himself, God, I need you. Some of you have been there on those dark days. You're thinking, where can I go?26:29And Hezekiah says, if I could only go one place, I want to go into the presence of the Almighty. The presence of God is everything in our life. Andrew Murray said it this way. I love Andrew Murray's quotes, especially on prayer and spiritual aspects of our lives. But Andrew Murray says, may not a single moment of my life be spent outside the light,26:58the light, the love, and the joy of God's presence. Lord, may not a single moment of my life be spent outside of your presence and not a moment without the surrender of myself as a vessel for him to feel full of his spirit and his love. The presence of God in your life is everything. Think about Jesus. When he's about to walk27:28to walk into the road of the Via Della Rosa and he's in the Garden of Gethsemane praying before he dies on the cross. And Jesus looks at his disciples and said, you guys stay here, you pray. Simple enough. Just pray. And Jesus leaves them and Jesus begins to pray. And in the first prayer that he utters from his lip in Luke chapter 22, he says, Father, if you are willing, take this cup27:58from me. But nevertheless, not as I will, God, but you. That word Father, what a powerful word of presence. Jesus is saying, God, Father, I need you. I need you right now. So if you're going through major crisis today, seek the presence of the Lord. Jesus shows us that his presence is everything in our life.28:28And being in the presence of others is good for your soul. Find someone that loves the Lord and that loves you and tell them, look, don't even speak. I know how the whole Job thing turned out. Don't speak like his friends. Just come near. Maybe God is calling you today to be the presence for someone. You know they're going through a difficult time and God is just saying, just go be with them. Give them a hug.28:58Shake their hand. I'll never forget when my dad has stomach cancer and he's going to have a tumor removed. And he was in South Mississippi and my dad lived in North Mississippi at that time. And I'll never forget two men, I think it's from a Sunday school class. He'll probably listen and correct me later and hopefully he'll fill me in on the details. But they drove from Grenada, Mississippi three hours to Hattiesburg just to be there.29:27I can't tell you a word they said. I can't tell you their names. But you know what I can tell you? They were there. And it made a difference. Be the presence of Christ in someone's life. And if you say, well, pastor, I don't have the words. Yes, you don't. Just be with them. Spend time with them29:58and by your presence, may you remind them that the presence of God is there. Jesus even reminds us of that. Matthew 11, 28 says, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, I will give you rest. He says, come, come into the presence of God. When times of crisis hit, the presence of the almighty presence of Yahweh is everything. But we see a continuance30:27a continuance in Hezekiah's life. Not only does his character shine forth, not only does he need the presence of God, not only does he take a humble position, but he begins to pray. So the first thing he does in chapter 19 is he sends a word to Isaiah. Now, I don't know who you respect in your life, but Isaiah is a pretty good person to receive the ear of the Lord, right? Isaiah in chapter 6 sees the throne room of God. So if I want a word from the Lord and I'm going to phone a friend for that day,30:57it's Isaiah. You saw the cherubs. Give me a word. But then, later on in chapter 19, Hezekiah prays and we hear his prayer. Look at verse 15. This is how Hezekiah prays. Lord God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim. Now, do you think he's already read the word from Isaiah? You are God,31:28you alone, all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. Listen closely, Lord. Hear, open your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God. Lord, it is true that the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands. He's really saying, God, you know I'm in trouble here. They have thrown their gods into the fire. I love this.31:57For they were not gods. They were made with human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. Now, Lord, covenant name of God, Lord, please save us from His power so that all the kingdoms of the earth will know what? That you are the Lord God, you alone. church, we need to pray32:27specifically to a God who is personal. I was listening to a sermon last week. Tony Evans, and he mentioned this. I love Tony Evans. He's just good for my soul. And he said, some of us pray in a way that if even God answered your prayers, you wouldn't know that they were answered. I was driving down there. I said, I can't believe he said that. And I began to think how I prayed that morning. God,32:57God, be with the kids. God, bless the breakfast. You know, this neutral grain bar, I don't think it's real fruit. It says it is, but Lord, do something. Give me some nourishment from this cardboard.33:14Lord, let us have a good day. Hey, if it rains, that'd be really nice if tomatoes need it. And I began to think if every single prayer that I prayed that day were answered, would I even know it? And that broke me because I just believe God desires to hear our prayers. And God says, Josh, if you would answer, if you'd ask, I'll answer you. I'm a father33:43who loves you. My son says, come near to me. We should pray like Hezekiah. Lord, listen close. Save us, Lord. In times of calamity, we need to pray specifically. Hezekiah wants a specific word from Isaiah. Hezekiah doesn't say, you know what, Isaiah, if you have time, give me one of those generic fortune cookie things. No,34:13No, Hezekiah says, God, I need a word. I need a specific word from you. And from your prophets. Are we praying specifically in our lives? What does Hezekiah pray for?34:33Yeah, save. Lord, save us. Now here's what's interesting about that prayer. Was it answered? Yes. How do you know it was answered? Because he prays specifically. He didn't say, God, you're good. You just do what you want to. And you know that there are Assyrian relives today that show that Jerusalem was never captured by the king. There are ancient documents35:03that are not biblical. They are extra biblical that even record this event as if to say, hmm, we wanted that land. But for some reason we could never acquire it. Why? Because Hezekiah prayed specifically. Robert Murray McShane says, God will either give you what you ask or something far greater. In Christ35:34In Christ we don't have, we don't worship a generic God. We worship the Lord Almighty who sent His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him might not perish but have everlasting life. We need to pray specifically. God, bring revival and bring it in this place and Lord, bring it through these people and God, we want to seek Your face. And Lord, when You answer our prayers, I'm ready to celebrate. Pray specifically. Don't hedge your bets. Church,36:06Church, we're bad about that, aren't we? We're bad about praying and hedging our bets. Oh, that we can pray with a fervent heart so that God will either give us what we ask or something better. Hmm. I love that. Lastly, what do we do in times of crisis? Pray specifically magnify your character, humble yourself, seek the presence of God and then lastly, look at verse 14. I've already read it and referenced it36:35but let's read it again. Hezekiah took the letter right? From the messenger's hands. Do you think the messenger peaked by the way? You think he handed it like, oh, this is not, this is not gonna be good. He probably didn't. I'm sure it was sealed with a wax seal. When Hezekiah read it, he went to the Lord's temple and he spread it out37:05before the Lord. The greatest leader in the kingdom comes before God and he just puts that report right there. what do you think what do you think he's doing? What an odd response. Can't God read the letter without Hezekiah's involvement? By all means. But Hezekiah,37:36But Hezekiah, instead of white knuckling, instead of him walking and saying, God, you, there's Assyrians, you know, the Sennacherib person, he's killed everyone else. God, let's just work harder. Hezekiah built a cistern there. He had water. He could probably last for four years. Samaria lasted for about three. God, you know, just give me the strength to hold on to this and we'll make it through. No,38:06No, Hezekiah didn't go with white knuckles. He went with an open hand. Let me give you another football illustration. That'll be it for the day, I promise. If you've ever watched a football game, you notice that when they hike the ball, they usually hike it to the quarterback. And in that moment, all 11 people on the defense, their one job is to kill the quarterback.38:35the quarterback. You think I'm joking. I was watching something yesterday and they were asking these defensive linemen from not the SEC. It was another conference that we don't recognize. And you can send me an email later. I'm sorry. And they asked the defensive linemen, how do you force a fumble? And the guy said, I'm going to grab the football here and then I'm going to grab the quarterback's fingers and I'm going to try to break his arm so he'll fumble.39:04I'm thinking, yeah, that would do it. I'm fumbling. At that point, yes, I am fumbling. But what happens the moment the quarterback hands it off to the running back? In that moment, if I'm the quarterback, I'm thinking, good luck. Now, all 11 people have focused their attention on39:34on the person who has the ball. And as I begin to just wrestle with crisis, I see that's what, I just, in my mind, that's what I think Hezekiah's doing here. It's as if he has this crisis and he hands it off to God and says, God, you take it. God is yours. God, you know there's not a single nation that's what stood40:03Sennacherib. But God, these other gods that he's destroyed, they're no gods. They're made with wood and stone and Lord, it's yours. How do we handle crisis? Hand it off to God. And maybe in our time or response, you physically just need to come to the altar and you need40:32to lay your life before the Lord like Hezekiah. I just picture Hezekiah on his face saying, God, it's yours. God, you know I can't deal with it. But God, I trust you more with my problem than I trust myself. What a beautiful picture of trust. Hand it off to the Lord. You might be asking,41:01well, how does this all end? Just quickly, I want to read one verse.41:11Verse 35, chapter 19. Now again, the Assyrian annals describe that Sennacherib was never able to completely capture Jerusalem. They don't tell you how or why that didn't happen, but this is what King says about the situation. Verse 35, that night, what night? The night41:42The night he prayed. The night he prayed. The angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. When they got up the next morning, there were all these dead bodies. So King Sennacherib of Assyria broke camp and he left and he returned home and lived in Nineveh. Later on, one of his sons killed him as he was worshiping his false God. Wow,42:12Wow, what a response. Some of you today have been in the room when the doctor came to you and said, it's cancer. I remember getting the phone call from my dad and said, look, I got a diagnosis. It's not good. We already have a plan. Don't worry. But it's cancer. Some of you have lost a child. Some of you42:44have held the hand of your spouse recently when that person passed away. some have lost a job and you don't know how to make ends meet. Crisis are common to every person. I don't want to make light of our difficulties. But I want to give you one verse43:14one verse today. Verse 20. I skipped over Isaiah's response. But this is the word of Isaiah to Hezekiah when he was in just the worst day of his life. Verse 20, 2 Kings 19. Isaiah, son of Amos, sent a message to Hezekiah. The Lord, the God of Israel says, I have heard your prayer. There43:43There are no more beautiful words ever spoken in the Hebrew or English language. God, when I hear the word cancer, where do I turn? Josh, the Lord has heard your prayer. When I lose a spouse, God, what do I do? The Lord has heard your prayer. God, when I've lost a child and we live in a broken world and dementia is ravishing someone I love, God, what do I do?44:13I do? The Lord has heard your prayer. The presence of God changes everything. And if you are going through a crisis today, I want you to know that Lord knows and he loves and he's not pointing fingers at you, he's extending hands. Actually, he extended two hands on the cross. He said, Josh, I did this because I love you, because I want you to come near to me. During our time of response, wouldn't you just draw near to God and take44:41and take a low posture and say, God, I want to leave you with one last verse. I promise. We love45:11We love scripture around here. What can I say? Second Corinthians. Listen to how Paul describes our crisis and our calamity. He says, we are afflicted in every way, but we're not crushed. We are perplexed, but we're not in despair. We are persecuted, but we are not abandoned. We are struck down, but we are not destroyed. We carry the death of Jesus in our body so that the life,45:41life, the life of Jesus might be on display. If you have never trusted in Jesus Christ, he is saying to you today, come near. Turn from your sins, believe in him, confess him as Lord, and you will be saved. Hand off your crisis to God. He loves you, church. Let's pray.← Previous in B2ChurchSunday, August 18, 2019More sermons on 2 Kings →
