All right, let's look at Isaiah
36, 1. Now, it came to pass in the 14th year of King Hezekiah
that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defense
cities of Judah and took them. And the king of Assyria sent
Rabshika from Lachish to Jerusalem unto King Hezekiah with a great
army. And he stood by the conduit of
the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. Then came
forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house,
and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder." So
here you have Hezekiah's messengers. That's Eliakim and Shebna and
Joah. They're standing there at the
wall of Israel. And here you have the king of
Assyria's messengers. They've come up on the outside.
They're the enemy. And they're standing there at
the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the Fuller's
Field. And you remember that's the same place where the Lord
sent the gospel to Hezekiah's father, who was king in Judah. And that gospel was, Judah's
not gonna be, Jerusalem's not gonna be taken. And Judah's not
gonna be harmed because of Immanuel. A virgin shall conceive and be
with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his
name Immanuel. And because he was coming through Judah for
the sake of Christ Jesus his son, the Lord would not allow
that city to be taken. But now that Ahaz made a confederacy
with the king of Assyria, now His son Hezekiah's king. It's
been 14 years that he's been king. Hezekiah's a faithful man,
believes the Lord, but now here sits the king of Assyria, or
at least his messengers, and they've come up to make their
boast, and they're making it right at that place where the
gospel was preached to him before, to his father before. The conduit
of the upper pool and the highway of the fuller's field. A fuller
was a washer of garments. what a fuller did. The gospel
is called fuller's soap compared to fuller's soap. A fuller could get garments wiped.
He whitened garments. Christ is the fuller and his
gospel is like fuller's soap. Whenever he was in the mount
of transfiguration and was chained The Scripture says that His raiment
became shining, exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth
can white them. And those are the garments that
He ropes His children in, so that we're spotless, perfected,
and accepted in Him, in the Beloved. But as we see here, the enemy
will attack right where the gospel is preached. Now, in every case
where there's suffering, every case where the believer enters
into suffering, Satan would have one thing take place. And if
you want to just narrow up whatever your situation is, you want to
narrow it right down to what one thing Satan would have you
to do, it's this. Go back to the garden and remember,
what did he do to Eve? He just wanted her to question
God. That's all. Just put a question
in her mind, that's all. Well, let's see what happened
when this enemy came up. Verse 4, Rabbi Sheki said unto
them, this is the enemy messenger, he came up and he said, Say ye
now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria,
what confidence is this wherein thou trustest? What are you trusting
in? I say, sayest thou, but they
are but vain words, I have counsel and strength for war. Now on
whom dost thou trust that thou rebellest against me? Lo, thou
trustest in the staff of this broken reed on Egypt. Whereon
if a man lean, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is
Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all that trust in him. Indeed, Hezekiah
had turned to Egypt in a time of weakness. He had looked to
Egypt for help. But what a blessing it is when
God uses even the enemy to ask us a question like this. Who do you trust? Who do you
trust? Who is it you trust? Are we trusting
Egypt? That's a staff, if you lean on
it, it's like a broken reed. It'll go right through your hand
and just pierce through. It's of no stability. Anything
in this world. The scripture says, the psalmist
said, I'll walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but I'll
fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me, thy
rod and thy staff comfort me." If we're going to be comforted,
we need to have some strength. We need to have some stability.
And it's not going to be found anywhere in this world. Whom
do you trust? Who are you trusting? On whom
do you lean? Who do you put all your trust
on? That's the question. Verse 7,
But if thou say to me, We trust in the Lord our God. Now he's
going to get religious now. If you say, We trust in the Lord
our God, is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah
hath taken away and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, You shall worship
before this altar? How often have you come into
a trial And some voice, some voice, whether it's in our own
hearts, in our flesh, doubting, whether it's a voice without,
a friend or a foe, a loved one or an enemy, how many times has
a voice said to you, why are you trusting this one who's breaking
down all the high places and all the altars? He's breaking
down the high places and the altars of God. That's what he was saying that
Hezekiah had done for him. You trust in the Lord? Hezekiah,
he came in and broke down the altars of the Lord. And Hezekiah
did. He came in and he broke down
the altars, he broke down the high places, because they weren't
the high places, they weren't the place where the Lord was
worshipped. It was vain worship. Christ Jesus, who is the King,
breaks down every high place and every altar through the preaching
of His Gospel. But this world, and Satan himself
would have you to think, he's breaking down high places where
God's worshipped. High places and altars where
God could be worshipped. There's one altar. One altar. We have one altar. Christ Jesus
is our altar. We have an altar whereof they
have no right to eat what serve the tabernacle, what serve the
earth, what serve the flesh, what serve man. They don't have
any right to eat at this altar. The bodies of those beasts whose
blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin or
burn without the camp. That's what took place. They
would take those bodies and they would bring them in to use for
worship and they would take them out and they would burn them
outside the camp. Wherefore, Christ, that He might sanctify
us, purges of our sin with His own blood, suffered without the
gate. He suffered without the gate. He wasn't crucified in the tabernacle.
He wasn't crucified there in that place where all the lambs
were being brought. He was crucified out there where
they burned the dung and the skin and the refuse of the animals. That's where he suffered. In
a place of death. That's where he suffered. And
the scripture says, Let us go forth therefore unto him without
the count bearing his reproach. Ever been reproached for Christ?
Ever been reproached for preaching Christ? For standing for something? For truth? You will be if you
stand for the truth. If not, you don't ever have to
worry about it. You will not be persecuted. You will not be
pushed away. You will not have to worry about
it at all. Not at all. But we go to Him
without the count and we suffer. Whatever it is, we have to suffer. Why? Because we have everything
in Christ the Lord. Everything. But Satan would have
us to believe that somebody is doing us a disservice. That God's
doing us a disservice. He'd have us to believe the high
places and the altars of falsehood are really true. It would have
us to compare what you have now with what you could have if you
just make an agreement with Him. That's all you got to do, make
an agreement with Him. He said, I'll give you many horses. He
said, that is if you have men enough to put on them. You don't
have enough people really to put on them, but I can give you
a lot of horses." He says, the least of the captains
of my master are better than yours. How can you turn your
face from them? All of the captains who are leading
in my master's army, he said, the least of them are better
than anybody, any captain you got in your Do we compare ourselves with
ourselves? Do we look at what we have or
don't have and estimate by that whether God's with us or not? If we do, then we're good old
health and wealth and prosperity religionists. But if we don't, We have this
confidence if we believe on Christ. Though my mother and my father
forsake me, He'll take me up. He'll take me up. He's a friend
that sticks closer than a brother. He'll not leave me. He'll take
me up. Well, look at verse 14. Thus saith the king, let not
Hezekiah deceive you. He shall not be able to deliver
you. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying,
The Lord will surely deliver us. This city shall not be delivered
into the hand of the king of Assyria. Don't let him convince
you of that. Hearken not to Hezekiah, for
thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by
a present, and come out to me, and eat ye every one of his vine,
and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one of the
waters of his own cistern. until I come and take you away
to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine, a land
of bread and vineyards? Beware, lest Hezekiah persuade
you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Hath any of the gods of the
nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?
Where are the gods of Hamath and Arfit? Where are the gods
of Seraphim? Have they delivered Samaria out
of my hand? Who are they? Among all the gods
of these lands, they have delivered their land out of my hand, that
the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand. The ambassador
of the king of Assyria says, you eat of your own vine. What
I'm offering you is an opportunity to eat of your own vine. And Christ's ambassador says,
we have no life except we abide in Christ the vine. He's the
tree of life. We have to be in Him or we have
no life. We have to be fed the bread from
heaven or we have no life. We have to be united to the vine
or we have no life. We have to be kept by Him or
we have no fruit. The king of Assyria, the ambassador
of the enemy king says, drink ye every one of the waters of
his own cistern. The ambassador of the king says,
Brethren, our cisterns are broke. They're shattered. They won't
hold any water. We need the man who is as the
waters of life. We need Christ the Lord. We don't
have any cisterns ourselves. But though all this boasting
take place and though we be brought to a point to where These constant
questions and this constant trying to turn you away and this constant
comparison might enter into your mind. How do you answer? How do you answer? You just curse God and die? Here's how to answer. The best
answer. Look at verse 21. But they held
their peace and answered him not a word. For the king's commandment
was saying, answer him not. Answer him not. Don't answer a fool in his folly. Somebody wants to pigeonhole
you and put you into a corner and start trying to put doubts
in your mind. Nice weather we're having. I got no time for that business.
I got no need for somebody to turn me away from my God. Well,
when we're brought to suffer trials, whatever they may be,
that's what the enemy is trying to do is turn us away. We've
got great reason for to rejoice. And I want you to see what our
faithful father is working with the purpose for which our Heavenly
Father causes us to suffer in the midst of great enemies in
this world. Here's the first thing He does. I don't want to
scare you. I've got 10 things, and I'm going
to go through verse 37, but I'm going to do some good preaching
because I'm just going to read. I'm going to point these out
to you, and then I'm going to read something to you, and just
point these out to you. Tell me if this is so. This is
what happens in the trial. First thing, he draws his servants
to the king. Verse 22. Then came Eliakim,
the son of Hilkiah, that was over the household, and Shebna
the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, to Hezekiah
with their clothes rent, and told him the words of Rabshicah.
Don't answer him? Don't ask the fool in his folly.
Come broken hearted to Christ your King and ask Him. Ask Him. That's what He's giving
the trial for. If you're a son, how do I know
I'm a son of God? How do I know I'm a child of
God? Have you fled to the King? Has He made you just seek His
face? We have a King in glory. His
name is Christ Jesus. King of kings and Lord of lords.
Draw near to Him. Here's the second thing. The
trial is to bring us down, to humble our proud hearts, to bring
us to confess that we have no strength but our Lord. Verse
1 of 37, And it came to pass, The king Hezekiah heard it, and
we like to get to thinking we're kings of ourselves, by our strength. But when the king heard it, what
did he do? He rent his clothes and covered
himself with sackcloth, a picture of repentance, and he went into
the house of the Lord. And he sent Eliakim, who was
over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and the elders of
the priests, covered with sackcloth, unto 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
of blasphemy. For the children are come to
the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth. That's me and you, brethren.
We don't have any strength. We can't bring forth children
of righteousness, fruits of righteousness. We can't bring them forth unless
our God strengthen us and keep us. This is why he gives the
trial, to teach us that, that we don't have any strength in
ourselves. Here's the third thing. The trial
is to make us less self-seeking. Less self-seeking. Hezekiah sought
the salvation of the Lord's people more so than his own. Look at
verse 4. It may be the Lord thy God will
hear the words of Rapshika, whom the king of Assyria, his master,
hath 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." That's who he was praying for,
God's remnant. You see, when the enemy came
and began to speak and spout off his words, these faithful
messengers of Hezekiah did what faithful men do. They said, speak
to us in the language. We understand it, but don't talk
in the Jews' language. The people on the wall don't
need to be troubled with this. You tell us all you want to talk
about. You make your make your boast
to us all you want to. Don't trouble our brethren on
the wall. If somebody wants to talk to
you about any of your brethren, they want to be critical of any
of your brethren. Tell them They can tell you that,
but don't say that to my breath. And don't you tell your breath.
And don't you tell any other breath. Let it go in one ear
and out the other. It'll just cause division. That's
all it'll do. That is all it'll do. But He went and He prayed through
the trial. It made Him pray. You see what
God's doing is He's bringing us to see that this thing's not
about us. It's not about me. He's bringing us to see this
thing is about the glory of God in the salvation of those He's
chosen and given to His Son. And so He brings us to pray not
so much Selfishly but to pray for our brethren Has he worked
that in the trial? He does that Well, here's the fourth thing
the Lord teaches us to wait on him to do as he says he will
do verse 5 so the servants of the king Hezekiah of King Hezekiah
came to Isaiah and Isaiah said unto them Thus shall you say
unto your master. Thus saith the Lord. Now Isaiah
is not just making this up. The Lord gave him the message.
And he said, Thus saith the Lord. Be not afraid of the words that
thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria
have blasphemed me. The Lord is telling them this.
Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor
and return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the
sword in his own land. I tell you what I hope is happening
today. I hope that you hear the Lord speak into your heart and
say to you in your day of trouble, be not afraid. Be not afraid. And I hope you hear Him say,
I will. I will. I will deliver you. I will deliver you. The battle
belongs to the Lord. It is His Lord. His battle. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. Say unto Jerusalem, their warfare
is accomplished. I have rewarded them double for
all their iniquity, pardoned their sin, purged them of their
sin, and rewarded them. The battle belongs to the Lord,
and He is going to defend His people. Be not afraid, but now
this is important. Though the Lord gives us His
word of comfort, He might not immediately deliver us. That's for a reason though. It's
for a reason. He'll teach us to do, that He's
going to do what's right at the right time. Now I want you to
see here, the Lord began to fulfill His promise. But Isaiah couldn't,
I mean Hezekiah couldn't see it going on. But it was going
on at the time. Look now at verse 8. So Reb Shecha
returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libna.
For he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. And he
heard say concerning Terhaka king of Ethiopia, he's come forth
to make war with thee. But he sent his messengers back
to Hezekiah. with that same blasphemous word
again. Look, when he heard it, he sent his messengers to Hezekiah,
saying, 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 given 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, and
Haran, and Rezath, and the children of Eden, which were in Tilazar? Where is the king of Hamath,
and the king of Arphid, and the king of Seraphim, Hena, and Avah?"
He came right back, just as fierce as ever. The Lord had made a promise,
hadn't He? Hadn't He? He said, I will deliver
you. I will deliver you. And the Lord's
going to try us to ask whether or not we believe Him. We believe
Him. Here's the fifth thing. By the
Lord waiting like He does, He's teaching us to persevere in faith.
Did Hezekiah quit? Did he lose hope? Did he distrust
the Word of the Lord? What did he do? He drew closer. Look at verse 14. And Hezekiah
received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read
it. And Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord and spread
it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed unto the
Lord, saying, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest
between the cherubims." I love that, don't you? You know what
was between the cherubim? The mercy seat. The mercy seat. that place where God meets with
His people. That's Christ, the propitiation for our sin. Thou
that dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone,
of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth.
Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear. Open thine eyes, O Lord,
and see, and hear all the words of Sennacherib which hath sent
to reproach the living God. Don't you love that? Hezekiah
says it how it is. He says, he didn't say he's sent
to reproach me, woe is me. He said he's sent to reproach
the living God. That's who he's sent to reproach. Of a truth, Lord, the kings of
Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their countries and
have cast their gods into the fire for there were no gods.
That's why they did it. There weren't any gods at all.
But the work of men's hands, they were wood and stone, therefore
they've destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God,
save us from his hand." Now here, if this is our motive and this
is our heart's desire, you can be sure you're going to get what
you want, and God's going to be pleased to do it. Here's what
he prayed for, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou
art the Lord, even thou only. even thou only." He asked God
to do what God had already promised He'd do. Make it manifest that
He's the only Lord God, the God of heaven and earth. Now that's
what He's bringing us to do in the trial. That's a good thing,
isn't it? If He brings us there. Look at
the sixth thing. The Lord's going to teach us
through this trial that we are one with Him. bone of his bone,
flesh of his flesh." Now you know the enemy here reproached
the children of God. That's who they reproached. But
the Lord God says they reproached Him. Listen to the reply He gives
to Hezekiah. Verse 21, 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, The
virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed
thee to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem hath
shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou reproached and
blasphemed? Against whom hast thou exalted
thy voice and lifted up thine eyes on high? Even against the
Holy One of Israel." In other words, the Lord sent word back
to Hezekiah when he said, They've reproached you." And the Lord
said, that's right. When they reproached you, Hezekiah,
they reproached Me. Remember what He said to Samuel?
They've not rejected you, Samuel. They've rejected Me. Rejected
Me. You know why? Because God's people
are one with Him in Christ Jesus. How one with Him? Husbands and wives are one with
each other. This one is one more so than
that. More so than that. He's in us
and we're in Him. By His grace, He says together
that we may be one in Him. One in Him. reconciled to God
by the finished work of Christ, brought near to God, accepted
of God, one with Him. So that He says, touch not mine
anointed, and do my prophets no harm. This is the apple of
mine eye. You can't touch them without
touching me, God said. And He makes us to know that
through the trial, that you're bone of His bone and flesh of
His flesh. And He's not going to let you go. He's just not
going to let you go. Here's the seventh thing. The
Lord shall teach His children in these trials that He's sovereign
over everything. Satan himself is doing God's
bidding by God's permission. He's doing exactly what God permits
him to do. Look at this word, verse 24. This is the Lord speaking. By
thy servants, he's speaking to the enemy. Thou hast reproached
the Lord and has said, by the multitude of my chariots am I
come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon. I'll cut down the tall cedars
thereof and the choice fir trees thereof, and I'll enter into
the height of his border and the forest of his caramel. I've
digged in drunk water. With the sole of my feet have
I dried up all the rivers of the besieged places. Listen to
the Lord. As thou not heard long ago how
I have done it, and of ancient times that I have formed it,
now have I brought it to pass that thou shouldest be to lay
waste defense cities into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants were
of small power. The Lord said, I had to take
their power away from them just so you'd be strong enough to
conquer them. That's how powerless the enemy
is. He says, they were dismayed and
confounded. They were as the grass of the
field, and as the green herb, as the grass on the housetops,
and as corn blasted before it be grown up. But I know thy abode,
and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me,
because thy rage is against me, and thy tumult is come up into
mine ears. Therefore will I put a hook in
thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I'll turn thee back
by the way by which thy cameth. You can read Isaiah 10. He did
all that boasting. The king of Assyria did all that
boasting. The Lord said it before it came to pass. He said, does
a saw boast itself against the man who's got the saw in his
hand and is doing the cutting with it? Does an axe boast itself
against a lumberjack that's using it to hew down? And he said, that's all he is. is just an instrument in my hand.
So why then does he boast? Why does he boast himself of
anything? And he's going to make us to
see that's the sovereignty of our God. And he's not just sovereign
in king's hearts, in nations, he's sovereign in the hearts
of his people. Oh, I wish we could understand
that this God we're talking about, who could do this right here,
can save with His Gospel. He can bring His Gospel near.
He can work the whole trial and the whole nations together. Nations together. to sanctify
His Word to our hearts and make us to behold, not only from the
Word itself, but also from the trial that He's working together,
that He indeed works everything together for the good of His
people right according to His purpose. His grace is not some
kind of thing where you just rise above
somebody else and they don't quite have what you have. No,
His grace is sovereign grace. He said His grace is sovereign
not only in predestination, not only in everything in this world.
His grace is sovereign in the midst of His people to bring
salvation to His people, to bust their hearts open and to bring
them down off our high horse and make us to behold that He's
the Lord. He's sovereign to do that. And when He does it, we'll
know it. We'll know it. Here's the eighth
thing. The Lord's going to make us to
know Through the trial, when everything seems impossible,
that He is our provider, that He has and that He shall continue
to furnish the table for us in the wilderness. Look what He
says to Hezekiah, verse 30. This shall be a sign unto thee,
you shall eat this year such as groweth of itself. In the
second year that which springeth of the same, and in the third
year sow ye and reap and plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof.
And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again
take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem
shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape 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 shields, 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. Christ has, the Lord has furnished
a table for us in Christ Jesus. Everything that we need is everything
we could not provide for ourselves. Satisfaction to his law, perfect
righteousness before him, perfect obedience before him. We needed to, you know, you not
only have to, you not only have to obey the law and be perfectly
righteous and perfectly just, You gotta undo what got us into
this mess. Satan got us into this mess.
He came and beguiled Eve in the garden. And his head's got to
be crushed. And he came to Christ and tried
everything he could to get the Lord Jesus Christ to turn to
him. And he found nothing in him.
Absolutely nothing in him. So He's furnished a table for
us in Christ. Everything. And He will furnish
the table for us in this place right here, in our lives. He
will. And if we think that the... When
He gave them bread in the wilderness, He said, He said, eat this bread
I've given you right now. Use it right now. He said, don't
gather up a bunch for tomorrow. And he was trying them. He was
trying them to see, will you eat what I'm giving you, use
what I'm giving you, right now when I'm giving it to you. And
they went out there and they gathered up the amount he told
them to gather up. And they went ahead and gathered
up a little bit for tomorrow too. And they woke up the next
day and everything they gathered up for tomorrow had worms in
it. He took it away. That's a blessing
to his people. If he makes the surplus breed
worms, it's good because he's teaching us, trust the grace
I'm giving you today. Today. If we have his grace today, sufficient. Tomorrow, we get
to tomorrow, we have his grace sufficient for tomorrow. Get
to the next day and this day we have grace sufficient. Get
to the next day and this day we have grace sufficient. We don't have extra. We got grace sufficient for right
now, this hour. Tell me, will there ever be anything
that we need? Never. He says, My grace is sufficient
for you. My grace is sufficient for you. We believe it? He did. I could tell you it's so. It's so. His grace is sufficient. Why does he do all this? Here's
the ninth thing he's going to make us to see. He's going to
make us to know He's doing all this for one reason. Verse 35,
For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake and
for my servant David's sake. You see, He's not going to give
His glory to me. He's not. He's not going to give
his glory to you. He's not going to give his glory
to this church. He's not going to give his glory
to this nation, to our king in the White House. His glory is
his own. the glory in saving His people,
in providing for His people, in bringing His people to Himself
without losing one of His dear children. The glory belongs to
Him. And all He's doing right now
is teaching us the glory is His. And He's doing everything for
His sake. He's doing everything for His servant David's sake.
Christ Jesus the King. Because He's satisfied. He's
pleased with Him. And me and you who are saved
by His grace, we just get in on it freely, without payment
or price. But He's going to make us to
see that's why He's doing it, for His glory and His Son. And
here's the last thing. He's going to make us to behold
that He does everything exactly as He said He will do it. everything. Verse 36, Then the
angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of the
Assyrians a hundred and four score and five thousand. And
when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all
dead corpses. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria,
departed and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh. And it
came to pass as he was worshipping in the house of Nishraq his god,
that Adrimelech and Sherezer, his sons, smote him with a sword,
and they escaped into the land of Armenia. And Eshadon, his
son, reigned in his stead." And God did everything he said he'd
do. Now he said he'd do it this way before he ever made a grain
of sand. And he said he'd do it for his
glory, and he said he'd do it for his servant, Christ Jesus
the Lord's sake. And ever since he put a man on
this earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,
everything that he has ever done has been to bring honor and glory
to his name in the face of Christ Jesus the Lord. And until the
day that he calls the last sinner into the fold, everything he
does will be for that purpose and that one purpose only. And
when we get the glory, we're going to find out. We're going
to find out. that he did it so perfectly,
so in order, so exactly as he said he would do, that we're
just going to be in utter amazement at the wisdom and the power and
the holy righteous character of our God. Now, if He works
the trial and causes us to suffer today, just so He can wean us
from these things that He's given us just as props to teach us
all these things, and work all these ten things,
bring us to just get a glimpse of these ten things, isn't it good? Isn't it good? How can we say anything but,
Lord, it's been good that I've been afflicted, that I might
learn your statutes. All right.