All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of 2 Kings chapter 19. 2 Kings 19. As I said, I read that 18th verse
to lay the foundation of what we're about to look at. An amazing
passage of scripture. There was a king and his name
was Hezekiah. And the scripture says he did
that which was right in the sight of the Lord. He destroyed the images, places
of idol worship, took that brazen serpent that God had told Moses
to make, raise it up in the wilderness, whenever the fiery serpents were
biting the people. That brazen serpent that was
a picture of Christ lifted up. That's what the Lord said. He
said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even
so must the Son of Man be lifted up. Whoever looked at that brazen
serpent lived. And after that, the people begin
to worship it. And the carnal mind thinks that
it's got to have something to remind him to worship God. People wear crosses, angels,
things like that to help them. God forbid these images to be
made. And to look at, look at. And
they say that we're not worshiping the image, we're just helping
us remember. The Lord said it's an idol. Faith
cometh by hearing. And hearing by the Word of God. And Hezekiah trusted, the scripture
says he trusted in the Lord and claimed to the Lord. and resisted
the enemies of God, and the Lord was with him. That's what the
scripture says. But in the fourth year, this
is what we read in 18, of Hezekiah's reign, Assyria came up against
Samaria, and as I told you this morning, Hezekiah was in Judah,
and Samaria was a city or country over which he was the king, and
Assyria came up against Samaria. and besieged it. In three years
he took the city, and the reason that the Lord allowed Samaria
to be taken was because they had not obeyed the word of the
Lord. They transgressed His covenant, took lightly His worship, and
God is going to deal with His people. They wouldn't hear the
command of God. And the Lord used a heathen nation
to deal with their disobedience. Well, in the 14th year, this
is still what we read, chapter 18, Assyria came against Judah
because Hezekiah, who obeyed the Lord previously, had refused
to pay tribute to Assyria. He said, I'm not going to do
it. And Hezekiah, the king of Assyria, sent an entourage to
him. And Hezekiah was afraid. They said, you haven't been paying.
And Hezekiah said, well, I'm so sorry. I apologize. And he said, now, you just tell
me whatever the fine is. And whatever the penalty is,
I'm going to pay it. And they said it's going to be
this much silver and this much gold. And he went and started
stripping. He took everything out of the
treasure. And he started stripping the house of the Lord of the
precious metals that had adorned the temple of the Lord. He started
taking gold and silver off. And Proverbs 29.25 says this,
the fear of man bringeth a snare. But whoso putteth
his trust in the Lord shall be safe." Well, Hezekiah, he paid
the fine. And still the king of Assyria
sent a group of men to reprimand Hezekiah and all of Judah for
thinking that they could totally disregard their responsibility. He paid the fine. paid what he,
you know. But then they went and still
after he paid the fine, they came back and they said, we want
to remind you that such action is not going to be acceptable
and you're going to end up with nothing but trouble if you try
a stunt like this. Let us learn that the Lord may
be pleased to send trials and troubles to his people to teach
them their need of Him to show their weakness without Him. Now the Lord was going to deliver
Hezekiah and his people. He's going to do it. But their
faith is going to be tried. Now we wonder why, why do we
go, how did I get in this mess? And the Lord may just teach us. how we got in these messes. So the Assyrians sent word to
Hezekiah that he should question. You should doubt any assistance
from any of your allies. The king of Assyria said, don't
you dare think you can depend on Egypt. And he said, and as
far as God himself, he said, Lord send us. You're saying that you're trusting
the Lord. He said, well, we're telling you that God sent us.
Which, he was mocking Hezekiah, but really, the Lord did send
him. He didn't know it. The enemies of God, they didn't
know it. They were nothing but the tools. They were the means.
And then, you know, as I said a while ago, those from Judah,
they asked him, said, don't talk to us, you know, don't talk to
us where all the people can hear what you're saying. You talk
to us in Syrian, we understand it. And they said, no, we want
everybody to know what we're going to do to you. They wanted
everybody to think you don't have any hope whatsoever. And Hezekiah's people went back
and told him what they said. And that's where we ended. They
came back with their clothes rent, and they told the words
to Rapshica. Chapter 19, verses 1 to 6. And
it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard it, that he rent his clothes
and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the
Lord. And he sent Eliakim, which was
over the household, and Shebna, the scribe and the elders of
the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son
of Amos. And they said unto him, thus
saith Hezekiah, this day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and
blasphemy, for the children are come to the birth, and there's
not enough strength to bring forth. It may be the Lord thy
God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom the king of Assyria, his
master, has sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove
the words which the Lord thy God hath heard, Wherefore, lift
up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. So the servants
of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, and Isaiah said unto them, thus
shall you say to your master, thus saith the Lord, be not afraid
of the words which thou hast heard, which with the servants
of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Now here, Hezekiah has heard
the report of the blasphemous Assyrians. And he's rent his
clothes, he's covered himself with sackcloth, and he went to
the house of God, deeply concerned because of the things he's heard. And he's sent for the prophet. He's sent to the spokesman of
God, and he asked the prophet Isaiah. He said, would you seek
the Lord on the behalf of the remnant that's left in Judah
And Isaiah told the man to tell Hezekiah, he said, don't be afraid. Don't be afraid of the words
that you've heard. He said, the Lord is going to,
has heard, and he knew the words of blasphemy spoken by the man
that he had put, he allowed those men from Assyria to come with
that spirit of blasphemy, and he said, I'm going to cause them
to hear a rumor that there's trouble in their land, and I'm
gonna cause him to go back, and there the king's gonna be killed
in his own country. Now look at verse seven. This
is what he said. Behold, this is what Isaiah said. You tell
King Hezekiah this. Behold, I will send a blast upon
him. He shall hear a rumor and shall
return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword
in his own land." Now, when the commander, now what I'm doing,
I'm handling this passage of Scripture. I'm telling you what's
going to be said, then I'm going to read it for you. Usually I'll
read the Scripture and I'll tell you what he just said. I'm going
to tell you what he said, then I'm going to I want you to read
it from the scriptures to find out what he said. He said, no,
this is what I say. He said, you go, don't worry about it.
Don't worry about it. The Lord's heard him. I'm going
to cause the enemies of God to hear a rumor that they've got
trouble somewhere else. And they're going to go, and
he said, I'm going to have him hear that rumor and leave, and
I'm going to kill it over there. Don't you worry about it. He sent the messengers back to
Judah with that word and told them that it's not going to go the way
you think it's going to go concerning the king of Assyria. He said in verse 8, so Rapshica
returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libna,
for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. when he heard say that Terhaka
king of Ethiopia, behold he has come out to fight against us,
he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah saying, now here's what
he's about to say now. It happens just exactly the way
the Lord said it. He said don't worry about it,
I'm going to cause him to hear that there's trouble somewhere
else and he's going to go, he's going to take off. And he's going
to go over there to kind of put out that fire. And this is what's
happening right here. But listen how the enemies of
God, they're going after somebody else, but they're kind of like
as they're leaving, they're going to kind of shout a warning back
to God's people, you know. Now we're going to go over here,
but don't you forget what we told you. Listen, this is what
he's saying. So Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria
warring against Libna. For he had heard that he was
departed from Lachish. He heard this rumor. And when
he heard say of Terhaka, king of Ethiopia, behold, he has come
out to fight against thee, he sent messengers again to Hezekiah. He said, here's where he's going.
He said, we're going, but now remember this. Here's what he
said in verse 10. Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah,
king of Judah, saying, let not thy God in whom thou trustest
deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the
hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what
the kings of Assyria have done to all lands by destroying them
utterly. And shalt thou be delivered?
Have the gods of the nations delivered them, which my fathers
have destroyed as Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden,
which were in Thelsar? Where is the king of Hamath,
the king of Arpan? the king of the city of Sepharvim
and Hena and Ivan. He's leaving, but he's hollering
back. He said, don't you forget, we'll
be back. We're coming back. We destroyed
all these other countries. Now where did their gods help
them? They haven't done anything. We've
destroyed everybody else, and we're going to do the same to
you. Well, King Hezekiah received that message, that letter, and
he read the letter and did the best thing that any man could
do. He didn't consult with his top advisors, he didn't try to
take a tally of all his military might or call upon his allies
of the other countries. This is the verse of scripture
right here that just gripped my heart for this whole message
right here. 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." Who knows the effect that that
letter had upon Hezekiah, but the Lord. You know, the Holy
Spirit may be pleased to use the means of animosity and blasphemy
to awaken his people. We need to be awoken. We need to be stirred. And there's nothing like adversity
to bring us out of the spirit of drowsiness and back to a sense
of our need to depend upon the Lord. We need it. We need a good
shaking. We need to be taken and just,
as I said, awoken. Wake up. Wake up. It was Hezekiah. The Scriptures revealed he was
a good king. He did that which was right in
the eyes of the Lord. And in a moment that the Lord
would leave him to himself, And that's the only way he can. We're
kept by the power of God through faith. And if God Almighty allows
us, and He knows just exactly how to wake us up, leave us to
ourselves for a moment, and this enemy of God came and told him,
said, you haven't paid up, where's the money? And he has a cow folded. Be careful, be careful, be careful. When you think, I would never
do that. I'd never fall, I'd never stumble.
I would have never done that. That's when you're getting ready
to fall. That's when you're getting ready to stumble. Now the Lord
will never leave us. He'll never forsake us. But I'm
telling you, if we think we stand, Yeah, if we think we do, be careful. Be careful. He got that letter
and he spread it before God. Now I want us to read now and
just consider the prayer of Hezekiah. That's what I entitled this message,
the prayer of Hezekiah. And may the Lord be pleased to
teach us something as we just listen. Look at verse 15. And
Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord God of Israel,
which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God even thou alone
of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven and earth. Here Hezekiah was moved to call
upon the Lord as the Lord revealed Himself to be according to His
covenant relation. to Israel. God had given Moses
instruction on building the Ark of the Covenant. And God gave
that instruction. Turn over to Exodus 25. Let's
read verses 18-22. Exodus chapter 25. Thou shalt make two cherubims
of gold. These cherubims, I won't go into
all of it for the sake of time, but it's explained in different
places, Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 10. These cherubims, they had
the face of a man, the face of a lion, the face of an ox, and
the face of an eagle. You can read of them in the book
of Revelation, the book of Daniel, the book of Ezekiel. And these,
I'm convinced, they're created beings, but they're glorious
pictures and types of the Lord Jesus Christ in his mediatorial
office. The picture of a man, he was
made flesh. of a lion, the lion of Judah,
an ox of the sacrifice and the eagle that overspreads her wings
and protects her people. All these cherubim are pictures
of Christ. And God told Moses in Exodus
25, He said, verse 18, Thou shalt make two cherubims of gold. Beaten
works shalt thou make them in the two ends of the mercy seat.
That mercy seat, if you remember, the mercy seat was the cover.
That was the lid for the ark of the covenant. In that ark,
you know, God had placed the rod that budded, the broken tablets,
manna, and pictures of Christ. And that lid that covered that
ark of the covenant There were two cherubims, pictures and types
of the Lord Jesus in his mediatorial office for the redemption of
his people. And they had their wings, and
these two cherubims, and these wings they touched. And they
were sitting, those two cherubims, on that lid. And it was all one
piece. There was no brokenness. It was
all beaten gold out of that. And this is how you're going
to make it. Thou shalt make two cherubims
of beaten gold, shalt thou make them in the two ends of the mercy
seat, make one cherub on one end, the other cherub on the
other end, even of thy mercy seat, shalt thou make the cherubims
the two ends thereof, and the cherubims shall stretch forth
their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings
and their faces, shall look one to another toward the mercy seat,
shall the faces of the cherubims be, and thou shalt put the mercy
seat above upon the ark, In the ark there shall she put the testimony
which I gave unto thee, and there will I meet with thee, and I
will commune with thee above the mercy seat between the two
cherubims, which are upon the ark of the testimonies of all
things, which I will give thee in commandment unto the children
of Israel." So here Hezekiah is praying back in verse 14. And I'm 15. Here's a guy who
prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwelleth
between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of
all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth. And now he lays his heart before
God. He's wrong. He knows he's wrong. I'm guilty. I need mercy. I'm not here to defend myself.
I'm not here to make excuses. I've acted, I've played the fool. I haven't trusted you. I've done
that which was wrong. And here I'm appealing to you,
the God of heaven and earth, the one who has made all things,
the one that does as he will in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth. And who stays your hand? and that you would be long-suffering
with a foolish creature of the dust like me." And the king,
in subjection unto the Lord who alone could save, appealed to
His mercy and omniscience and power. He said in verse 16, Lord,
bow down Thine ear and hear. Open, Lord, Thine eyes and see
and hear the words of Sennacherib which has sent him to reproach
the living God. He knew that the victories, Hezekiah,
he knew that the victories that Assyria had over their enemies
of the world were victories of countries that had no god at
all. They didn't have a god. They
didn't have a god that could help. He said, I know this. Look
at 1718. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of
Assyria have destroyed the nations in their lands and have cast
their gods into the fire, for they were no gods. But the work
of men's hands, wood and stone, therefore they have destroyed
them, because they're nothing. They weren't anything. And finally,
Hezekiah appealed unto the Lord, not for his own sake, but for
the Lord's sake. Verse 19. 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. Urgency, moved upon the king
to call upon the Lord. Urgency, divine, blessed urgency
that every sinner saved by the grace of God, as I said before,
needs. We need it. If we be without
chastisement, it's because we're not His. We're not His. We're
not His. Somebody say, well, I tell you
what, I never have any problems. Well, Lord knows. Every sinner saved by God's grace
needs a good spanking. We need it. We need it. Seek
ye the Lord, Isaiah 55, 6, while He is found, while He may be
found. Call ye upon Him while He is
near. Every believer knows that God has a people, a people of
His choosing, a people that shall surely call upon Him and shall
surely be saved by His power and grace. And we're commanded
to seek the Lord. Call upon Him. Psalm 27, eight,
when thou saidest, seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee,
thy face, Lord, will I seek. Now rest assured, Hezekiah sought
the Lord because the Lord sought him first. It wasn't, but for
God's grace, Hezekiah would have never been broken. Without him,
we can do nothing. And then after the king prayed
unto the Lord, then Isaiah related the Lord's answer. Look at verse
20 to 34, 2 Kings. Verse 20 to 34, 2 Kings 19. Then Isaiah the son of Amos sent
to Hezekiah saying, thus saith the Lord God of Israel. I read
these verses a moment ago preparing for this and I thought, I listened
to what a short prayer Hezekiah prayed. He just, let your words
be few. but I want you to listen to the
depth of God's answer. Then Isaiah the son of Amos sent
to Hezekiah saying, thus saith the Lord God of Israel, that
which thou has prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria,
I have heard. This is the word that the Lord
has spoken concerning him, Sennacherib. The virgin, the daughter of Zion
has despised thee. and laugh thee to scorn, the
daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee." I think to
myself, what mercy. What had they actually
done? Well, they were scared. They
paid tribute. They'd sinned against God. Hezekiah had folded. He folded. And everybody up on
the wall heard what The messengers from the king of Assyria had
said to him, he said, you're gonna eat your own refuge, drink
your own refuge. And here's what Isaiah said,
this is what God said to you, to Hezekiah. He said, the virgin,
the daughter of Zion has despised thee. He says, this is what you
say to the king of Assyria. The virgin, the pure, God's people,
this is how God said, this is how you are in my son. The daughter
of Zion has despised thee and laughed thee to scorn. The daughter
of Jerusalem shaking her head at thee. 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. This is what he said. What you're
doing, he said, you think you're doing it to Hezekiah and people. He said, you're doing this to
me. You're doing, this is what you did to me. You looked at
them and said this to them, but he said, you did this to me. By thy messengers thou hast reproached
the Lord, and hast said, with the multitude of my chariots,
I am come up to the height of the mountains to the sides of
Lebanon. I cut down the tall cedar trees thereof, and the
choice fir trees thereof, and I will enter into the lodgings
of his borders into the forest of Carmel. I have digged and
drunk strain strange waters, and with the soles of my feet
have I dried up all the rivers of besieged places." This is
what he's saying. He said, you're saying that this
is what you've done to my people. We've gone in there and we've
kind of pilferaged everything. We've taken the best of it. And
he said, you have no idea that you were my means. You were my
messengers that I sent to help and strengthen and lift
up and cause my people to be brought down that I might lift
them up. He said, this is what's happening. He said, all this
bragging you're doing, you think you're something else. And he
said, I'm the one that sent you. Has thou not heard long ago how
I have done it and of ancient times that I formed it? That's
what I just, that's what I said. He said, have you not heard that
I order all things after the counsel of mine only? that I
created heaven and earth. You think that you're so high
and mighty. He said, now have I brought it
to pass that you come over here to straighten up my people. I
sent you. Now have I brought it to pass
that thou shouldest be to lay waste fenced cities and to ruin
us heaps. Therefore, their inhabitants,
which were of small power, they were dismayed and confounded.
They were as the grass of the field, as the green herb, as
the grass on the housetops, and corn blasted before it beat,
growed up. But I know thy abode, and thy
going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me." He
said, I know what you're thinking. I know what you're thinking.
But I know what you're doing. Your rage, because, verse 28,
thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore
I will put my hook in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips and
I will turn thee back by the way which thou camest. And this
shall be a sign unto thee. Now he's talking to Hezekiah.
Not talking, he rebuked. He rebuked the king of Assyria.
But now he's gonna say something to Hezekiah. You've been so fearful? Now this shall be a sign unto
thee, ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves.
Now the king of Assyria had come and said, I'm going to come in
there, I'm going to take all the best trees, I'm going to mess up the water,
I'm going to do this, that, and the other. And the Lord said,
no, you're not. He says to the king of Hezekiah,
ye shall eat this year such things as grow of themselves. In the
second year, which springeth of the same. In the third year,
sow ye, and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat the fruits thereof. And
the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet
again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of
Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant. And they that escaped out of
Mount Zion, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall do this. Therefore,
thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall
not come into this city. nor shoot an arrow there, nor
come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the
way that he came, by the same shall he return, and shall not
come into this city, saith the Lord. For I will defend this
city and save it for mine own sake and for my servant David's
sake." Now, what a blessing. What a comfort. to God's people. Not only did the Lord reveal
that He heard the prayer of His servant Hezekiah, but He was
pleased to relate His response through His prophet. He was pleased
to tell His people why at times He allows these things to come. That they might realize that
they triumph only in Him. That He alone is the power of
his people, the sustaining grace that he gives. And he said, you
tell my people that this is why the Assyrians did what they did. But when they did what I sent
them to do, I took it personally as an insult to me. Now you talk
about power. God sends the enemies of God's
people. which is the enemies of God.
God sends the enemies of God's people to God's people to rebuke
them. And then God judges them for
it. Now who is a God like our God?
Who is a God that does as He will? Whenever He stops Saul
of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, what does He tell Saul? Why persecutest
thou me? You're doing this against me.
The Lord revealed to Zechariah chapter 2 verse 8, He that touches
you, touches the apple of His eye. God's people touched by
those of the world. God sent them. Remember this.
Who sent them? Who works all things? Who rules
in heaven and earth? Who does as He will in the inhabitants
of the earth? Who does? God does. And then
God deals with them. And they said, He that touches
you, the ones that God sent. He said, they did that to me.
And He judges them for it. This world means evil against
the people of God, but all they do is they do as God has directed
them to do, and He's going to do it for His glory and the good
of His elect. Who do we have to fear? I need
to remember this. Oh, how little did the sons of
Jacob know that when they sold Joseph into captivity. Remember
that? They were jealous of him. He had a coat of many colors.
They said, let's kill him. Let's just kill him. And Judah
said, no, no, no, no. Let's don't kill him. Let's sell
him to this group that's going over there to Egypt. And they
did. And what happened? God raised Joseph up and provided
for his family. Saved them alive by, you know.
What evil did the enemies of God performed when they took
the Lord of glory, and by wicked hands they took Him and crucified
Him, all according to the determinate counsel and will of Almighty
God. Psalm 76 10 says, Surely the
wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath thou
shalt restrain. What does that mean? God is going
to allow exactly how much wrath against His people to be executed,
but it's going to be to His glory and their good and the rest of
the wrath, He's going to hold that back. Nothing is going to
come apart from His will. May the Lord be pleased to bring
to our memories in the time of His loving hand of chastisement
that again, He rules. The enemy of Judah had purposed
to destroy the crops But the Lord said they're not even going
to shoot an arrow. And then lastly, verses 35 to 37. Now you remember
the promise that God had made? He said, you tell Hezekiah, He
said, they ain't coming here. They're not coming. I'm going
to send them back and I'm going to deal with them, you know,
in another land. I'm going to take care of this.
Now listen how God did it. It came to pass At that night,
here they done sent this letter, remember they're going out, they're
getting ready to go out, we're leaving. The enemies of God said,
we're leaving, but don't you forget, we're coming back. The
Lord said, they ain't coming back. We're coming back and we're
gonna get you. I'm gonna get you. Nobody else
has been exempt from our wrath. No other God saved him. Hezekiah
goes in and he takes that letter and he lays it before God. He
said, Lord, look what they wrote. Look what they wrote. God sent
Isaiah and said, you go tell Hezekiah this is what I'm going
to do. I'm going to send him out. I'll deal with it. Here's what he did right here.
It came to pass that night, and obviously they're getting ready
to leave and go take care of that little hot spot somewhere.
The angel of the Lord went out and smote in the camp of the
Assyrians a hundred, four score and five, a hundred and eighty-five
thousand. And when they arose, now who were they? That's the
ones that God didn't kill. That's the ones God didn't kill. He didn't kill one in particular. They arose early in the morning.
Behold, they were all dead corpses. And Sennacherib, that's one of
the ones that didn't that didn't die. He got up. The Lord spared
him temporarily. Now this second act, remember
this. This is the hot shot. He's going in there and he's
telling, this is what I'm going to do. This is what I'm going
to do to Judah. This is what I'm going to do to Hezekiah.
This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to come in here and
I'm going to take this, I'm going to take this, I'm going to take this. Made
him pay that tribute. Hezekiah folded, paid him. He
comes back, he says, you shouldn't have done that. I'll teach you
a lesson. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, one that God didn't
kill that night by that angel, he departed and went and returned
and dwelt in Nineveh. And it came to pass, as he was
worshiping in the house of Nishrak, his god, that Adramelech and
Sherezer, his sons, smote him with the sword and they escaped
into the land of Armenia And as Carhaddon, his son, reigned
in his stead. Now here's what happened. We
behold the surety of God's promise of salvation to his people and
judgment upon his enemies. Now, again, I know, I know we're
going through some trying times in this world. I know that. We're
going through some times and we look around and we say, I
have never seen I've never seen this country in such a mess.
I've never seen so much disruption with all this, you know, China
virus. I've never seen, I mean, it just
seems like every time I turn around, there's something else.
This has got to be. Everything is OK. Everything's
OK. It's OK. Almighty God has ordered
all these things and he's going to deliver his people. He's going to deliver His people.
And then He's going to deal with everyone that He's been pleased
to use as the means to send them adversity, His people, adversity. He's going to bless by bringing
them up, causing them to call upon Him, repent, ask for forgiveness. He's going to forgive them because
He's everlastingly loved them. And He's going to deal with the
problem. Sennacherib was temporarily spared
in the destruction of the Assyrian army by those angels. But he
was sent home to suffer a more painful death. His own kids killed him. The
ones he thought I'm sure he could trust. Oh, the merciful love of God
and grace of God toward his people. Remember, he said, I will never
leave you. I will never forsake you. Believer,
rest assured, whatever God has been pleased to send is for our
good. We needed it. We needed it. We've not suffered one thing
that was unnecessary. If we beheld the end from the
beginning, we would say, It was perfect. It was perfect. This is the way God did it. I
wouldn't change it for anything. What a promise we have concerning
the final deliverance of the church. In the day when the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, Trump the archangel,
he's going to come with his holy angels, with all of his saints
that have departed. In that day, we're going to see
with new eyes. We're going to be changed. going
to meet the Lord in the air and forever be with Him. Take heart. Take heart. Everything's fine. May God bless this to His glory
and our good. Amen. OK, Gary.