Isaiah chapter 37. The title of the message this morning
is, An Answer to Accusations. An Answer to Accusations. If you read in verse 22 of Isaiah
37, We'll read verse 21 and preface. Then Isaiah, the son of Amos,
sent unto Hezekiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel,
Whereas thou hast prayed to me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,
this is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him. Concerning Sennacherib, king
of Assyria, this word of God that he gives to his man, his
king, Hezekiah, through Isaiah the prophet, is a word of judgment
against the king of Assyria. You remember the king of Assyria
had destroyed the ten tribes of Israel. They had destroyed
other kingdoms and nations, and now, Now they have come against
the remaining tribes of Judah. They had destroyed their defense
cities. They had destroyed all of their
outward defenses. And now Assyria, the mighty kingdom,
had come to the gates of Jerusalem. 185,000 men had gathered themselves in
front of the gates of Jerusalem, and the men of Israel quaked
in their boots. They were afraid. They were encamped. There was nothing they could
do. They were helpless. Therefore, they sent letters
to Hezekiah. confident of their victory, most
assured that within a moment they could take Jerusalem and
conquer it. Therefore, he sent letters, this
man Rabshakeh, which is the ambassador to Sennacherib. He sent letters
to the king Hezekiah. You can see this in verse 10.
He said, shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, Let not
thy God, in whom thou trustest, deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem
shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold,
thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to the lands
by destroying them utterly, and shalt thou be delivered Have the gods of the nations
delivered them, which my fathers have destroyed, as Gozin, and
Haran, and Rezvah, and the children of Eden, which were in Telesher? Where is the king of Hamath,
and the king of Erephod, and the king of the city of Sepharadrim? Hina and Ivah. Where are these
kings? These were great nations. These
were great kingdoms. These were superpowers of their
day. And yet Assyria conquered them
as a child. They came upon them and destroyed
them. And they said, don't trust in
your God. Your God said, that the king
of Assyria won't come. But I promise you this, look
at all the other nations. Look at all the other kingdoms.
So what did Hezekiah do? Hezekiah then in verse 14 said,
and Hezekiah received the letter at the hand of the messengers
and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and
spread it out. There he is, a king. He's got
a letter. This letter says, don't trust
in your God, look at all that we've done. And he takes this
letter in the house of God and he spreads it out. And he says, Lord, look. Look at what they've said. Look
at what they've said. He spreads it out before the
Lord. Believer in Christ, listen, is this letter from the king
of Assyria, not the same word as our spiritual enemies. Do not our spiritual enemies
make the same accusations to us? Yes, they do. Yes, they do. These are the same fiery darts
of the wicked one who would try to cause us to look away from
our God. Satan says, Don't trust in your
God. Your God said He'll deliver you. But don't you put any trust in
Him. Satan says, rather, look at carnal reasoning. Satan tells
you and me, he says, come and let us reason together. Let's
reason. Let's do some reasoning. Look
around you. Look around you. Satan says,
look at all the earthly circumstances around you. And he would use
these to cause us to doubt and not trust our God. Listen to
what Satan says. Satan says, don't let God deceive
you. God says He will save His people
from their sins. God says that He has an elect
people. God says that His church shall
be saved and safe from all sin. God says there is no condemnation
for those who are in Christ, but look around you. Look around
you. Look at the church. Right now, look around you. That's
what he says. Look around you. Is it not small? Does not Satan bring this accusation
to you? He brings it to me. Look around
you. Is the church not small? Look
around you. The church is small and weak.
Consider. He says, consider what I've done
to past churches. Consider what I've done to the
Roman Catholic Church. Consider what I've done to all
sorts of denominations and how they once called on God. They once followed God. They
once believed in the sovereign free grace of God, like you.
They once believed in Jesus Christ alone, but now look at them. Where now is the church of Martin
Luther? Where now is the church of John
Calvin? Where is now the church of Charles
Spurgeon, these men that you adore? Where are they? Where
is the church of Ephesus? The church of Philadelphia? The
church of Sardis? Where are these churches? Have
not, this is what our enemy says, have not I defeated them? Have I not conquered them? often pointing us to earthly
circumstances and earthly wisdom proposes, how then do you, who
are much weaker, suppose that I will not conquer you? See how the enemy throws his
darts of accusation and condemnation at us? He says, trust not thy God. For
you are such a great sinner. Is that not an accusation He
throws daily at your heart? Is it not that He claimed that
He shows you that He can, without a doubt, without even lying,
isn't that true? Without even having to lie, He
says, you are a great sinner. You are a great sinner. Why then do you hope in God? Why do you have such hope that
He will not turn you over to Me? Does that fear not strike your
heart? It does mine. It does mine. Satan says, look around you.
Is not the world bound in chains of sin? Is not Adam's race? Who in Adam's race has not succumbed
to my temptations? Satan says, have you, have not
yourself been snared by my traps? Have you yourself missed my traps? Have I not destroyed all your
strong defenses? That's what the Syrians did.
They destroyed those strong defenses that kept them from the walls.
And even so now, by these accusations, doesn't that just rip away all
your defenses? Are you not just as wicked as
all the others of your race? How then shall you escape the
justice of God? Do these fears come to your heart,
believer? Are you discouraged when you
look around and see that there are few who believe the gospel
of God's grace? Are you not fearful when you
consider those great men and great churches that have gone
before us are gone? Does that not cause you to fear? Are you not cast down and fearful
because of your own sin and worthlessness? What shall we do with such a letter of condemnation
against us? What will you do? You and I should do exactly what
Hezekiah did. Look what he did. In verse 14,
Hezekiah read the letter. I just read the letter to you.
I just read the letter of accusations that you and I daily are bombarded
with. What do we do with these accusations? Did Hezekiah take the letter
to Rabshakeh? Then he said, hey, you and I,
let's sit down and talk about this. He didn't take it to him.
In other words, you are no match for your enemy. We do not sit and reason with
the enemy. I like that story of the man
that was hunting for a bear. He saw one, he pointed his gun,
and the bear stood up and said, oh, wait a minute. Don't shoot
me. Let's reason this out. Let's
reason this out. You want my fur to keep you warm. And all I want is for you to
satisfy my hunger. Let's compromise about this.
And so they sat down and talked a minute and pretty soon the
man had his coat and the bear had his meal. The bear ate him. So if you're reasoning with the
enemy, pretty soon you'll be his dinner. No, don't reason
with him. Take the letter to God and lay
it out. Lay out all the accusations against
you. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We
should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden?
Yes. Cumbered with the load of care,
precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer. Notice then the prayer of Hezekiah. Look at this. He says in verse
16, he prayed, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwelleth
between the cherubims, Thou the God. Thou alone, of all the kingdoms
of the earth, Thou hast made heaven and earth. When Isaiah
says to God, he said, the Lord that dwells between the cherubims,
remember that is speaking of the mercy seat. Those cherubims
who outstretched their arms over the mercy seat, it was God that
dwelt over the mercy seat. So how is Hezekiah going to God? Through the mercy seat. He's
bringing the letter to God who dwells on the mercy seat. Friends, I don't want to deal
with God in any other way but by a mercy seat. This has reference to the covenant
God. And as we approach unto God,
we must come through Jesus Christ. Friends, let us not be deceived
by this. Listen, there's only one God.
There's only one God. That's why Hezekiah said, Thou
the God. In other words, you're the only
God. When we go to God, we go to God because He's the only
God. The only God. There's only one God who has
created all things, who sustains all things. He is Jehovah, the
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. And He alone is sovereign over
all His creation. In other words, the only one
who can do anything for us is God. That's why I go to God. Because God alone is the only
one who can do anything for me. He's a sovereign God. He does
what He pleases. Now, this God is the God of Israel,
Hezekiah said. Every nation and people upon
the face of the earth has had a God. A God of their own making. A God made by human feelings
and emotions. You know, that's the biggest
complaint I get when I witness to others, well, I just don't
feel like God would be that way. I don't care how you feel about
God. Our feelings don't make God anything. If your God is
based on your feelings, he's a fake God. Many people have
a God of human emotions and feelings and made up of their imagination,
but there's only one true God, and listen, He is the God of
Israel. He is not the God of all men,
but He is the God of Israel. Now, He is the sovereign over
all His creation, but I tell you, only Israel are His peculiar
people. Only Israel are the people He
deals with in the mercy seat. covenant, the covenant of grace. I tell you, God chose Israel, that
nation. He gave them His law, His word.
He blessed them above any other nation. But they were only a
type. They were only a picture, friends.
That nation of Israel, like the law of the Old Testament, had
a purpose. And that purpose has run its
course. Paul says this in Romans 9 about
that. National Israel, all those who
are of national Israel, are not of spiritual Israel. Consider this. If this is true,
because I know that people are making a big deal about that
nation over there in Palestine. And truly, I know this, God has
an elect people among them, even as He has among the Gentiles.
But listen to this, if they are the only elect people, then the
Word of God has failed because not all of them are saved. Paul
says the Word of God has not failed because God has a remnant
of people, a sovereign election. and that cannot fail and so in
Romans 11 26 Paul makes a statement so then all Israel all Israel
shall be saved all Israel not national but spiritual spiritual
Israel therefore cry out to thy God
If you are a believer in Christ, you are the elect of God. Cry out to your God. When should you cry? Now! Don't wait. Don't wait. Well, I'm going to wait until
everything's calm. I'm going to wait until everything's
peaceful, and then I'll cry out. You'll never cry out, because
it's never going to be peaceful. If Hezekiah waited until the
Assyrians had gone, they had already been conquered. No, cry
out in your trouble, in the midst of Satan's attacks, cry out to
thy God who loved thee and chose thee before the foundation of
the world. Cry out because you are His beloved people. You are
His eternally loved and secured people. Consider that our God
loved us freely. And so when Satan's attacks come
to us, when they come in the midst of the fire and they say,
oh, how can you expect to stand before God? How is it that you
think the church shall stand before my attacks? You cry out
to God. You spread it out. You say, Lord,
truth. I am a sinner. But my hope, it
rests in you loving me freely. Without a cause. Without a cause. As God met with Israel above
the blood-stained ark of the covenant, even so will God meet
with us in perfect peace through the mediator of the covenant,
Jesus Christ. So then when you approach unto
thee God, know this, you are accepted in Christ. You are accepted because of His
blood, His righteousness, and God hears your cries. God hears
all your cries. Believer, the scripture says,
come boldly. Come instantly. Come in confidence
to thy God. For in Jesus Christ, the ark
of the covenant, remember, in Him is the unbroken law." What
was in that ark that God dwelt above? What's in the ark? The
unbroken law. What's in the ark? The dead rod
of Aaron that sprouted life. What's in the ark? The manna. The manna, which is Jesus Christ,
the bread of life. Do you not see that He is all
our acceptance? And so then when we call out
to God, our prayers ascend with a sweet smell in the nostrils
of God. I tell you, I don't smell that.
When I pray, I don't smell that sweet savor. God does. God smells it and accepts it. O sinner, may the Holy Spirit,
even now, teach you this. If you are ever to come to God,
you must come by Jesus Christ. Come to God with all thy problems,
with all thy cares. Listen, for He careth for you. He careth for you. seeing that He meets with us
there in the blood and righteousness of Christ and cleanses us from
all sin, seeing by faith that Jesus Christ is all our redemption,
our righteousness, our sanctification, our redemption, and our wisdom,
we come, we come quickly, we come boldly. Bring now the accusations
and letters of thine enemy, even before thy God. Listen, when you are attacked,
when you are condemned in your heart and your mind, don't hide these things, expose
them. Lay them out openly before God,
honestly. How many times do you go to God
and you try to hide something? Is that not... I guess I'm the
only one. I guess I'm in. How foolish is
that? How ignorant is that to not confess
our unbelief? Not to confess our sins? Our
God knows these things. These are not hid from Him. Lay
them out openly and honestly before God. Bring these accusations
and bring the reasoning of your enemy. Bring the circumstances. Bring the claims of His victories. If you have sinned, if you are
weak, if you have been cast down into the vilest of sins, confess
it. Confess it. Confess your unbelief. Believers,
we do confess that we are sinners. Isn't this the nature of the
new man? To openly confess before God. Job, when he was confronted
by God, what did he say? Behold, I am vile. Isaiah said, woe is me. For I
am undone. David said, Against thee and
thee only have I sinned. You see, believers are those
who confess their sins. We confess. And that's what he
does in verse 18. Look at this. He says, Of a truth.
Now, he brings these letters and he spreads them out and he
says, you know what he says of his accusations? They're true. They're true. Isn't the church small? Isn't
the remnant few? Have not the churches of old
been overtaken with sin? They're true. Confess these things. Sin and
darkness seem to prevail in this world. The church is weak. Those
who worship the false free will God of this world are many and
they seem to prosper. But Lord God save us. Now what
he said? Look, these things are true.
Lord save us. What was Hezekiah trusting in?
Merit? Did he have any merit? I'll tell
you, if you read over there in a few chapters before this, Hezekiah
was scraping the gold off the doors to give it to the king
of Assyria. He had no merit. He had no merit,
and neither do we. We come to God begging for grace. That's what he founded his hope
on. Hezekiah founded his hope on
grace. He said, Lord, but save us from the hands of our enemies. Not that we should boast in our
doctrine or even our faith, but for thine own name's sake. Why
is it God has saved you and passed by so many? He says, I do this for my own
name's sake. Believer, let us not look to
men or to churches of old, for the Lord has raised up churches,
and He has put out lights since the beginning. But His church,
which is made up of His elect people, shall never fail, and
the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. That's the word of
our Lord. even because the church is not
built on men. Why is it the Roman Catholic
Church has failed? Why is it a wicked entity? Because it bases its foundation
on Peter, on a man. Why is it that false free will,
works, religion, churches are a disaster? Because they base
salvation on man's will, on man's works. No, not us. Save us, for our foundation is
based on Jesus Christ alone, and nothing else. Save us. And now look at the judgment
that God condemns our enemy with. In verse 22, this is the word
of the Lord spoken to him, to the enemy. The virgin The daughter of Zion hath despised thee, and laughed
thee to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem hath
shaken her head at thee. Now, believer, listen to God's
answer. Look what he calls us, the virgins. the pure, spotless daughter of
God. We, who God says have committed
adultery under every green tree, God says to our enemy, these
are pure and without sin. These are my blessed children
and the apple of my eye. Therefore shall the church of
God, who is despised and rejected by this world, even in the purpose
of God, shall laugh at our enemies. Right now it seems as though
they laugh and mock at us, but I tell you that's not how it
will end. That's not how it will end. God's church will triumph
over all their enemies. All our enemies. And anyone who
trusts in the refuge of lies, one day when hell consumes their
body and their soul together, we will look down as God laughs
at their calamity. They've been crying for centuries
to God in hell. And God will not hear them. Ever. He will only give them the remembrance
of their rejection of the Son of God forever. Abraham said to the rich man
in hell, Son, remember. Remember. What an awesome thing. If God
casts you into hell, you'll always remember this day forever. Believer, consider that the mockery
of men against us is not against us. It is against Him. It's what He says in verse 23. He says, Whom hast thou reproached
and blasphemed, and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice,
and lifted up thine eyes on high, even against the Holy One of
Israel? Jesus said, They hated Me before
they hated you. The gospel of Jesus Christ will
always be hated in this world. You'll be only disappointed if
you expect this world to turn and believe the gospel. The world
will always hate the gospel. And as Assyria boasted, even
so does the world boast. Look at that in verse 24. By
thy servants thou hast reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the
multitude of my chariots I'll come up to the height. Isn't
that false religion? Isn't that the servants of the
enemy who says, I will exalt myself before the Most High. I will come up to God. I, me,
me, my. That's the world. That's the
false gospel. I'll cut down the choice trees. I'll cut down those trees of
Lebanon which is the law of God." Isn't that what men do to the
law of God? They chop it down to make it where they can obey
it. They cut it and they piece it together so they can think
that they'll please God. But this is nothing but a reproach
unto God. Believer, be assured of this.
Though the false church of freewill works religion seems to prosper,
they are of no account to the kingdom of God. They will profit God's people
nothing. Because their gospel is no gospel. Why is it that the enemy so easily
conquers the churches of false religion? Because their God is
no God. Why are they easily stirred up
and destroyed? Because their God is no God.
Their God is no God. How is it that the wicked one,
listen to what he says, he says, I will enter in the heights of
the border of the forest of Carmel. I have digged and drunk water,
and with the sole of my foot I have dried up all the rivers
of the besieged places." Satan in this world, they preach
a false gospel that says, I have digged and drunk water. In other words, they've hewn
out for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. How is it that this has happened?
How is it that the enemy seems to have had the upper hand? Look
at God's answer in verse 26. Hast thou not heard long ago
how... Listen, I have done it. And from ancient times that I
formed it, now have I brought it to pass that thou shouldest
be laid waste, defense cities, and ruinous heaps. How is it
that Assyria was able to conquer those other kingdoms? Because
God allowed them to. How is it that Satan has come
in and accused us? And how is it that he has caused
so much havoc in the world? Because God allowed it. That's the only reason. God ordained it. Do you not see
the comfort in this? People don't see any comfort
in this. They say, how can you say that? I tell you, God is
not chargeable with sin. By no means is God chargeable
with this sin. But God allowing this to happen,
see what He does. He shows us His power in that
He only allows them to go so far And they can't go any further. You see that Assyria was only
allowed to come to the gate. They were not allowed to go in.
The enemy is allowed to come to your gate of your heart and
send accusations. But listen, he cannot come in. He cannot come in. He cannot
come in. He has set their bounds and their
habitations. God says, therefore their habitations
were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded, they
were as grass of the field, the green herb and the grass on the
outstops, as the blasted corn before it was grown up. But I
know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy
rage against me, because thy rage against me and thy tumult
has come up to mine ears. Therefore, listen, Will I put
my hook in your nose and lead you back the same way
you came? Do you not see that your enemy can only come so far
and God will put his hook in his nose and lead him anywhere
he pleases? Satan is God's devil. He'll do
with him as he pleases. You see, he allows him to destroy
all of your so-called refuges. Isn't that what he does? Comes
in and his accusations, what does it do? It destroys our self-righteousness. It lays us low. It causes us
to do what? Cry out to God. And when we cry
out to God, God puts his hook in his nose and leads him away.
And he can't do anything about it. How safe is the church of
God? Listen to me. You are as safe
as the throne of God. You are as safe as the deity
of God. If God were to lose one of his
elect, do you not see what he would lose? He would lose his
deity! And that just ain't gonna happen.
He will not lose one. Not one. for whom Christ died. All our sins, all our sins were
satisfied when Jesus Christ died for them. I'm sure Hezekiah was very troubled
all that night. Don't you? I'm sure as he led
that letter and spread it out before the Lord and prayed, all
that night he was still troubled. In the morning, when he walked
outside the gates, what did he see? God had killed 185,000 men
without his help. Do you not see this? God took
care of all your sins without any of your help. He said, there shall not one
arrow. He says in verse 33, he said
you shall not come into this city nor shoot an arrow there. God says in verse 35, I will
defend this city and save it for my own namesake, for my servant
David's sake. Why is it that God will save
you? For his own namesake and for his servant, Jesus Christ's
sake. But make no mistake, he will
save you. He will save you. and not one accusation will make
it through. The ears of God are deaf to all
the accusations of our enemies. Listen, there is therefore now
no condemnation, no condemnation to those who are in Christ, the
city. He's our refuge. We're safe in Him. May God bless
this to you.