Isaiah chapter 10. There are some particular things
that strike fear in the hearts of the Lord's people more than
others. Some things terrify me that probably don't phase you. And some things probably make
you fearful that really don't phase me. But really, There's
nothing that we should fear but God. We learn in the context of Isaiah's
gospel throughout that multitudes in Israel and Judah claim to
fear the Lord. They claim to worship the Lord.
But the Lord declares that very few worshiped Him. Very few worshipped
Him. And therefore, He cut off that
nation, and He brought from it a remnant. And in the history
of Israel, and the saving of His remnant in Israel, we get
a taste of what God has done in every generation since this
world has existed, what He's doing right now, and what He'll
continue to do. He has a remnant. And He's going
to save that remnant. In every generation, He has a
remnant. And He'll save that remnant. And He says here in
Isaiah 10 verse 24, Therefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts,
O my people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian,
he shall smite thee with a rod, and shall lift up his staff against
thee after the manner of Egypt for yet a very little while,
and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in their destruction." I want you to see that the way
that God used Assyria in this day and time in our text here
is how the Lord uses all the events of time for the spiritual
and eternal good of His elect. First of all, who speaks to us? That's the
first reason we don't have to fear is because of who says it.
Verse 24, Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts. We live in a day and a time when
the name of the Lord is the most common slang term there is. All that's needed to evidence that we live in a hypocritical,
self-righteous world is for all the religion, for all of the
religious activity going on. And yet, I dare say, if you're in a school or in a
workplace or on the television, in the news, anywhere a human
is opening their mouth and flapping their lips, an hour won't go
by that you don't hear somebody say, oh my God. The name is Jehovah, the first
and the last. This is a name that's applied
to nobody else, to no other, but the mighty God in three persons. He said, I am the Lord. That is my name. We ought to reverence and respect
that glorious name continually. The name, the Lord thy God, includes
everything that this great, gracious, glorious God is to us who believe. His name teaches us He's God
of covenant mercy and that He will remember and fulfill His
promises. the Lord thy God." When you see
that name, He's speaking to us with a particular reference to
His promises and the assurance that He shall fulfill His promises. This name is Jehovah-Jireh. Whenever Abraham was going up
the mountain with Isaac, and Isaac said, here's the wood and
here's the fire, where's the lamb? He said, I am Jehovah Jireh. The Lord God will provide Himself
a Lamb. And He did. He provided Himself
a Lamb. This is Jehovah Rapha. I am the Lord that healeth thee. We come out of some bondage,
out of some tribulation. And we go a little while and
the Lord takes away from us something as simple as water. And we begin
to thirst and murmur and complain against Him. And He brings us
to the water, but the water's bitter. The water's bitter and
we can't drink it. But He teaches us, I'm the one
that makes this water sweet to you. And I'll not bring upon
you the plagues I brought upon Egypt, because I am Jehovah Rapha,
the Lord that healeth thee. He's Jehovah Nisi, the Lord our
banner. I am the Lord, your banner. When you go to fight in this
warfare against sin, and against death, and against hell, and
against the grave, what flag are you flag? Is it Jehovah Nissi? The Lord is my banner. If so,
you have the whole armor of God. And you are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us. This name is Jehovah Sidkenu. In His days Judah shall be saved
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is His name whereby
He shall be called the Lord our righteousness. In those days
shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this
is the name wherewith she shall be called, the Lord our righteousness." Jehovah Shalom. I am the Lord
your peace. If you'll notice, I just picked
up on this a minute ago before I stood up here to preach, but
there's references here. For instance, in verse 26 he
says, And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for him according
to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. And then you
go down and you see he talks about the manor of Egypt. And
then in verse 28, he's come to Aioth and he's passed to Migron
at Micmash. He's laid up his carriages. And
he goes through all these different names of these places because
to his people that he's talking to, that he's having Isaiah deliver
this message to, they will hear those things. And when they hear
this message of Midian and the rock of Oreb, they're thinking,
Gideon! Gideon! What happened to Gideon?
And he said to Gideon, The Lord said unto Gideon, Peace be unto
thee, fear not, thou shalt not die. I'm your peace. I'm your peace. This is who's
speaking. So all through here he's constantly
reminding us, this the Lord God of hosts has said, and he's not
only said it, but historically I've shown you. I've shown you
what I'll do. Hasn't he shown you what he'll
do? He's shown me what he'll do. I've seen it. And he said,
Jehovah Shema, I'm the Lord is there. I am the Lord is there. This was the name which describes
the Lord and His church, His guarded city. The Lord is there. Jehovah Raya, I am the Lord your
shepherd. As you walk through this valley
of the shadow of death, He said, I'll make you lay down in green
pastures. I'll lead you by still waters. I'll take you, I'll take
you right where you need to go, right when you need to go there,
because I'm the Lord Rea, the Lord your Shepherd. And all of
these names meet in one great name, and this is what, this
is what the Lord God says to you and me. Jehovah Jesus, I
am the Lord your Savior. That's what all His name says. So when we hear this name, this
is who's saying this to us. That gives us reason not to fear.
And then He adds here, the Lord God of hosts. We know we quote
Nebuchadnezzar a lot, but in Daniel 4.34, listen to this. Let me read it slowly. At the
end of days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven,
and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most
High. The Most High. And I praised and honored Him
that liveth forever. whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion. You know what that word dominion
means? He dominates. He has the dominion. Over what? The hosts. Everything. Everything. And his kingdom is from generation
to generation. There's never been one generation
from the beginning to the end that he's not the king over that
generation. Did you notice in that scripture
you just read? He said, I'll make my people kings and priests
and they'll reign on the earth. You know what you have right
now? You have physical, you have spiritual sight to behold the
king. What did he say to Nicodemus? Unless you're born again, you
can't see the kingdom. The kingdom is more than a place
that you're going to come to. The kingdom is the one who has
the dominion. It is the king. There is nothing
but kings in this kingdom. Have you ever noticed that? Nothing
but kings in this kingdom. There is the king of this kingdom,
and there is all those that he's made kings in this kingdom. And
yet this world is so backwards that we can't even think of that
because he also tells us there's nobody in this kingdom that don't
serve the other one and doesn't like to do it. What king do you
know that does that? Kings of this earth want people
to serve them, not this kingdom. But the person that has that,
you're raining on earth right now. You're raining now. Some
folks think they don't have that sight and they don't understand
what it is to reign with Christ, the conquering King, and be more
than conquerors through Him that loveth us. And so they're looking
for yet an earthly king to be established. They're thinking,
it's got to be something better than this. No! We got it. And it's only going to get better.
But it's not going to be an earthly place. It's going to be a kingdom
with Him. seeing Him as He is, coming into His presence. But
that's who He is. And He said, and all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. He doeth according to His will
in the army of heaven. You ever seen the army of heaven?
He is the Lord of hosts over things we've never even seen
and don't even know about. Just because we don't see it,
know about it, don't mean he's not the king over it. He's the
king of the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. None can stay his hand. None can say unto him, what are
you doing? So first, if we trust the Lord
God, we have no reason to fear because thus saith the Lord God
of hosts. Now, here's the second reason
we have no reason to fear. Let's see what he says. Now,
when I know that's who it is that's doing the talking, that
makes me want to hear, okay, what's he got to say? What does
he say to me? Well, here's what he says. Secondly,
he says, Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that
dwellest in Zion. Now, let's just take that. O
my people. The great Almighty God, this
Lord God of hosts is God over everybody and everything. Whether we know it or we don't
know it, whether we admit it or we don't admit it, whether
we bow to Him or we don't bow to Him, He's still your God.
Whether you'll admit it or not, He's your God. He said, I've
sworn by myself the words gone out of my mouth in righteousness
and shall not return that unto me every knee shall bow and every
tongue shall swear. And those that are shaking their
fist at him, he said, they're going to be ashamed. Going to
be ashamed. But here he says, my people. And this is not a title given
to everybody without exception. He said, these are, I'm talking
to my people. My people. These are those whom
it's His pleasure, His pleasure to have mercy on them and have
compassion on them. It's His pleasure. He takes great
delight in it. He says, I delight to show mercy. He told Moses, I'll have mercy
on whom I'll have mercy and I'll have compassion on whom I'll
have compassion. And this is His people that dwellest
in Zion. Look at Psalm 87. Psalm 87. This Zion. What is Zion? It's Christ's church. It's the
city of King Jesus, our great David. And here's why this is
important. Psalm 87. His foundation is in
the holy mountains. Now listen to this, the Lord
loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, O city of God. Stop and think about that. Stop
and think about that. Glorious things are spoken of
thee, my people, who make up this Zion, this city of David. Glorious things are spoken of
you. I'll make mention of Rahab and
Babylon to them that know me. Behold, Philistia and Tyre with
Ethiopia. This man was born there. And
of Zion it shall be said, this and that man was born in her.
And the highest himself shall establish her. The highest shall
establish her. The Lord shall count when he
writeth up the people that this man was born there. Selah. As
well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there.
All my springs are in thee. The fountain, the water of life
is in thee, in the midst of thee. Look over at Psalm 48, verse
1. Psalm 48, verse 1. Here's why. Here are the springs
that are in thee. Here's why those gates are beautiful. Here's why glorious things are
spoken of thee. Listen now. Psalm 48, verse 1. Great is the Lord. and greatly to be praised in
the city of our God and the mountain of His holiness. Beautiful for
situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion. On the sides
of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her
palaces for refuge." Oh, it's a blessed man that's been drawn
to Him and made to delight in His city, in His church, in His
kingdom. You know the word, Psalm 65,
look there with me real quick. Psalm 65, just one verse. Praise
waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion, and unto thee shall the vow be
performed. You know why this vow shall be
performed? You know what? Zion, it's taken
from a word that's spelled T-Z-U-N. And it means a monument raised
up. That's why it's beautiful for
situation. It's a monument raised up. It is a trophy, a monument
of His grace and His glory. All the glory of this city, all
the glory of His church is Him. All the glory of the greatness
of it is Him. And everyone that's called into
this city is called into this city because a vow has been made
to Him that He shall be praised in this city. And that vow is
going to be performed. He performed the covenant that
He made with the Father. And the Father is going to bring
that vow to pass to Him. And all are going to be brought
in and all are going to praise Him in this city. Revelation
14, verse 1 says, I looked and lo, a lamb stood on the Mount
Zion, and with Him 144,000. Not one missing. not a one missing, having His
Father's name written in their foreheads. And I heard a voice
from heaven as the voice of many waters and as the voice of a
great thunder. And I heard the voice of harpers
harping with their harps. And they sung as it were a new
song before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders.
And no man could learn that song but the 144,000 which were redeemed
from the earth." They're the only ones that knew that song.
And these are they which are not defiled with women, for they
are virgins. These are they which follow the
Lamb wheresoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among
men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their
mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault before
the throne of God." Who's that 144,000? One, two, three, four, five. And over every generation, there's
been a remnant. There's been a thread running
through every generation. And when they're all brought
together, they're going to make up that complete number. And
they're the only ones that know this song. They're the only ones
that know this song. Why? Because God promised it. A vow was made. Praise would
be unto thee in this mountain. And they've been taught the song.
They know the song. Do you know the song? It's a
great song. Worthy is the Lamb. Holy, holy,
holy. It's about Him. This song is
all about Him. It's not about me. It's not about
you. It's not about anybody else in this, nobody else in this
mountain, nobody else in this city, nobody else in this, in
this city of this King wants to sing about anybody else but
this King. That's all. That's how you can
tell the difference between those who know the song and those who
don't. Those who don't know it want to sing about something
else. Not these. They know the song. They've been
taught the song and that's the song they want to sing. Why don't
they have any fault in them? Ephesians 5 verse 25. They don't
have any fault because Christ loved the church. He loves Zion
and he gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word. Why is it without
fault? Why is this? Why is this? These
people have no guile, no hypocrisy, nothing in their heart that's
vile before God. Because by His finished work,
He presents it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle
or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. No fault in it. My people which
dwelleth in Zion is what's spoken of in Ephesians 1.23. It is His
body. Now listen to this. Get this
now. Get this. It's His body. The fullness of
Him. It won't be less than 144,000.
And it won't be more than 144,000. Because the completion of that
number is the fullness of Him. If one's missing, the body's
not complete. If there's some trying to get
in that haven't been taught the psalm that he didn't represent,
there'll be a schism in that body. Can't be any in that city
but that which dwelleth in righteousness and true holiness because of
the work he did. But because it's the fullness
of his body, he said, all my people that dwellest in Zion,
thus saith the Lord God of hosts. Now listen to me. Listen to me.
Here's what he says back there in Isaiah 10. This is the rest
of what he says to us. Be not afraid of the Assyrian. He shall smite thee with a rod
and shall lift up his staff against thee after the manner of Egypt
for yet a very little while and the indignation shall cease and
mine anger in their destruction. Be not afraid of the Assyrian. What makes you afraid? What are
you afraid of? I was thinking on this. When
Pearl Harbor was bombed and there was a foreign invasion in our
land, when the towers were attacked and we watched them fall, there
was a foreign invasion in this land. And I wasn't around when Pearl
Harbor was bombed, but I guarantee you it was then, just like it
was when the towers were hit, that fear came upon us. But really think about it. Why
would we fear when we saw that? Did we get, were we assured and
strengthened because we didn't see that? Is that where our strength
lied, because there's blue skies out and doesn't seem to be much
trouble on the horizon? Well, we got some security in
that? Not really. Not at all. Is it when the economic
times get like they are, is that what terrifies us? But why should
it? When we had money in the bank,
was that our strength and our security and our assurance? Before
we watched our savings go down the drain? Or was that our assurance
and our strength? Unemployment beats job security. If we have learned something,
we ought to learn right now that there's no security, no assurance,
no safety in a job. Is it? Job security. That's a foolish term, isn't
it? Job security. What about health? Our health?
We find out we're ill, and boy, we just get afraid. But when
we don't feel like we're ill, is that our security? Because
I feel like this body has some kind of strength in it, some
kind of security in it? What I'm saying is, why should
we be afraid of the Assyrian? Whatever the Assyrian is, why
should we be afraid when those things strike? Are we trusting that Because
they haven't struck, we have some kind of security. The only
security we have is the Lord God of Hosts. The Assyrian, at
the time of this invasion, it was the greatest economic and
military power in the world. Every nation, every nation in
that part of the world had been, or in time would be, under the dominion of the Assyrian.
No one opposed them. Nobody stirred up the wrath of
the Assyrians. Nobody did anything to the Assyrians
but submit and bow and do whatever the Assyrians wanted them to
do. I suppose that the only thing right now that might make our
situation more dire in this country is if a great superpower in this
world invaded from all directions our country tonight, and we woke
up in the morning and found out we're under the complete dominion
of another nation. We'd be terrified then. We'd
be terrified. That's what happened. That's
what happened right here. And that's who the Lord's talking
to. He's talking to His people that were in the midst of that
situation. And here's what He says about
them. He says, don't be afraid of the Assyrian. Isaiah was a
man who, I guarantee if you'd have seen him, you wouldn't have
recognized him from any other man. And all he had was a message. And he came and here was his
message. Isaiah 10.5. He said, this Assyrian and his
whole nation and his king is nothing more than a tool in the
hands of God. Isaiah 10 5, O Assyrian, the
rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. That's what God said they were.
That's what God said they were. He recognized this was a tool
by which the Almighty sovereignly would accomplish his purpose.
And he had two things he was doing in his purpose. The first
was he was bringing the Assyrians upon the nation of Israel in
judgment against those who refused to submit to the Lord God of
hosts. It was judgment. Look at verse 6. I will send
him against an hypocritical nation and against the people of my
wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil and to take
the prey and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
This is the Lord talking. This is the Lord talking. They
drew near with their mouths, but their hearts were far from
Him. They had a form of godliness. Start back at Isaiah 1 and refresh
yourself with it. Read through it. They were in
the temple. They were there worshiping week
in and week out. Every holy day. Ceremonies and
prayers and sacrifices. And they had a form of godliness.
But when they got wind that there was some trouble brewing on the
horizon, they began to scramble and try to find some way of saving
themselves. He said, they draw near with
me with their mouth, but their heart's far from me. They were
going about to establish their own righteousness and they wouldn't
submit themselves to the righteousness of God. The judgment of God in
providence are righteous and just because there's not one,
not one who has done good and not sin. Not one. Scott sent
me an interesting article this week and I was reading it. I
wanted to read something to you that this man wrote and I won't
even tell you his name. It's not worth knowing. He wrote
an article, he read the Bible, or read through the Bible, and
he makes this statement. After reading about the genocides,
the plagues, the murders, the mass enslavements, the ruthless
vengeance for minor sins, or none at all, I mean one place
in this book where God ever put judgment on the people for minor
sins or for none at all. Not one place. He said, and all
that smiting, every bit of it directly performed, authorized,
or approved by God. He got that right. Every bit
of it. I can only conclude that the God of the Hebrew Bible,
if He existed, was awful, cruel, and capricious. He gives us moments
of beauty, such sublime beauty and grace, but taken as a whole,
He is no God I want to obey and no God I can love. He got that
part right, too. He's no God He can obey and no
God He can love, unless that God shows Him mercy. That's why
there is no small sin and not the possibility that there's
no sin at all. If you don't go past the garden,
if you don't even move past the garden at all, right there, God
was just and right to do whatever He was pleased to do because
man disobeyed Him. And from then on, If he shows
mercy to any, it's strictly because he desired to show mercy. And
if he wants to punish all and bring evil upon all, it's his
right, just right to do so. For some reason, we see tragedy
come upon people, and people die from it, and we start going,
oh, God wouldn't do that. Listen to me, what do you think
hell's gonna be? Do you think hell is not going
to be death and destruction and the worm that never dies and
torment worse than anything we've ever seen in judgment on this
earth? It's just judgment of God, whether it happens in our
lifetime and we see it happen, or whether it's the end of the
world and we see hosts cast into hell. And in that day, Scriptures
tell us the revelation said and the host the heavenly host shouts
with joy because of God's just judgment There are no minor sins
and they and there is not any that have not seen So first of
all this judgment that came up above the Assyrian was by God
towards a people Who felt about him like this man felt about
it? Didn't care anything at all about him. Thought they were
just. Thought they deserved something better than that. Well, secondly
though, the purpose in God's just judgment and providence
is when he sends judgment upon a people, the believer and the
unbeliever is affected by it. But while God punishes the wicked,
He preserves His elect. That very judgment is the preservation
of His elect. That's why He said, Thus saith
the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwell in Zion, be not afraid
of the Assyrian. Don't be afraid of him. Well,
the key here is, He shall smite thee with a rod and shall lift
up His staff against thee after the manner of Egypt. Why was
Pharaoh lifted up? Turn to Exodus 9.13. That's what
the Lord is saying here. Do you remember Egypt? Do you
remember what happened in Egypt? I'm doing this just after the
same manner that I did this in Egypt. Now, what did He do in
Egypt? Exodus 9.13. And the Lord said unto Moses,
Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and
say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews. That's
what we just looked at. Thus saith the Lord God of hosts.
O my people, this is the God of the Hebrews. You're a Hebrew. If you know Him, you're a Hebrew.
Let my people go, that they may serve me. For I will at this
time send all my plagues upon thine heart. And upon thy servants,
and upon thy people, that thou mayest know that there is none
like me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out my
hand, that I might smite thee and thy people with pestilence,
and thou shalt be cut off from the earth." Is he unjust? Pharaoh hated him with every
fiber of his being. He transgressed against him.
He rebelled against him. He hated him from the very beginning.
God said in very deed, for this cause have I raised thee up,
for to show in thee my power, and that my name, there's why
he did it, that my name, the Lord God, Jehovah, might be declared
throughout all the earth. Now, who's it gonna be declared
to? It was declared to Pharaoh, but
he wasn't bringing him up, he wasn't raising him up just to
declare his name to Pharaoh. Paul said in Romans 9.23, he
said, Romans 9.23, and that he might make known the riches of
his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto
glory, even us whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also
of the Gentiles. That's why he said he did it.
And Paul applied this in Romans 11, 22, and he said, Behold,
therefore, the goodness and the severity of God. Behold, His
grace, it's sovereign. It's His to give to whom He pleases.
And behold, His severity. If He doesn't give it, it's just. on them which fail severity,
but towards thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness.
Otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off." That's what Paul said.
But the object of God's providence is the spiritual, eternal good
of his elect. That's what he's doing. That's
what he's doing right now. That's what he was doing yesterday.
That's what he was doing last month, last year, and for the
past 38 years of my life, 39 years of my life, that's what
he's been doing. preserving me, keeping me from the evil, and
doing nothing but what is for my spiritual and eternal well-being. And that's what He's done for
you, that knowing. Look there in Isaiah 10.20. And
it shall come to pass in that day. I did a little study on
that word, in that day. And I think it's over in Isaiah
4. I don't know where. I'll tell
you when I find it. But it's in Isaiah 2 or Isaiah
4, somewhere in there. It's used the first time in Isaiah,
but there's a bunch of references to it. And if you've got a King
James Bible, there's a bunch of references. And I looked them
all up yesterday. And, you know, I know people
get to talk about, well, when is that day? You know, was it
this time or that time or this time or that time? Yeah, it was. It was the day that he did this
right here in Israel with Isaiah. It's the day that he came to
this earth and he established his kingdom at Calvary. It's
the day that he comes to you in power and you experience the
power of his grace and he reveals his name in you. It's every day
since then and he's brought you through a trial. And it'll be
the day when he comes again and brings this world into the final
judgment. It's in that day, and it shall come to pass in that
day, and this is true in every case, that the remnant of Israel,
and such as are escaped to the house of Jacob, shall no more
again stay upon him that smote them, but shall stay upon the
Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. The remnant shall return,
even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. For though thy
people is shall be as the sand of the sea, yet a remnant of
them shall return. The consumption decree shall
overflow with righteousness, for the Lord God of hosts shall
make a consumption, even determined in the midst of all the land.
And therefore thus said the Lord God of hosts, O my people that
dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians. For yet a very
little while, and the indignation shall cease, and mine anger in
their destruction." I've showed you this. I won't go into great
detail, but that wicked king, he didn't think that was the
case. He didn't have any idea, and neither do wicked men in
our day. They don't have any earthly idea.
That fellow that wrote that article don't have any idea When he was
writing that article, if it wasn't for any other use, so that I
would see it and bring it here and read it to you to show you
God's judgment in judging somebody, he's a tool. He was used. That's
what he was used for. If that's the only reason he
was used, God used him for that. When he's done with him, it's
over. Done with him. That's what he said here. Look
at verse 7. Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither
doth his heart think so, but it's in his heart to destroy
and cut off nations, not a few. Look down at verse 13. For he saith, By the strength
of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent.
Look at verse 15. Shall the axe boast itself against
him that heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify itself
against him that shaketh it? As if the rod should shake itself
against them that lift it up. Or as if the staff should lift
up itself as if it were no wood. No power, no strength in us.
No strength in us. Wherefore, he says, verse 12,
it shall come to pass, look at verse 12 there, when the Lord
hath performed His whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem. And don't look at that as a temporal
plate. Remember, that's the Lord's church. That's His people He's
addressing. When He's performed His whole
work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, then I'll punish the fruit of
the stout heart of the King of Assyria in the glory of His high
looks. So, let me apply this to you. When's this trial going
to be over? When's this trial going to be
over? When the Lord hath performed
His whole work. When He's finished teaching us
what He's teaching us. That's when it's going to be
over. When He's performed His whole
work on Mount Sinai, it'll be over. When the Lord has purged
us of our enemies, when He's edified His saints and brought
us to Him, when He's made His name known in all the earth,
when He's drawn in all His elect from the four corners of the
world, it'll be over. He said it'll be just a little
while. Just a little while. And their indignation will cease
in their destruction. It'll be just a little while.
But He says to you, O my people, The Lord God of hosts said, all
my people that dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians.
Don't be afraid of them. Now let me give you something
here. Romans 5. Romans 5. Look there with me
and we'll close. Verse 1. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also
we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and
rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but
with glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation worketh
patience, and patience experience, and experience hope. and hope
maketh not ashamed. Because the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us."
1 Peter 5. Look at 1 Peter chapter
5. The Lord said, There's no temptation
that's taken you. You'd be turning to 1 Peter 5.
Let me read this through Paul to the correctness. He said,
There's no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.
But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted
above that you are able, but with the temptation also make
a way to escape that you may be able to bury. Boy, I'd like
to know that way, wouldn't you? 1 Peter 5, verse 6. Here it is. Humble yourselves,
therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you
in due time, casting all, all, all your care upon Him. Here it is. For He careth for
you. He does. He's caring for you. You know what that means? That
means that if I can't, as hard as I try, and trust me, trust
me, trust me. Oh, I'm under such a heavy, heavy, just a I can't describe to you
how I want to be able to just cast my care on Him, to humble
myself under His mighty hand. I try and I try and I try, and
all I find myself being is a stiff-necked rebel pushing against Him, pushing
against Him, pushing against Him. But here's the way, here's
the way. No matter what I do, no matter
what I do, And He careth for me. He's not going to allow me to
leave Him. He's not going to allow me to
turn out of the way. He didn't say I wouldn't pass through fire.
He didn't say I wouldn't pass through waters. But He said it
won't burn me. And I won't drown therein. Why? He careth for you. He'll do it. He'll do it. And what I do when I see it,
when I understand it, when He's brought me to that place where
He's humbled me, what do I do? Here's what He said to the Thessalonians.
1 Thessalonians 5.16. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. And in
everything give thanks. You mean for the Assyrian coming
in over the border and overtaking the land? In everything give
thanks. For this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus concerning you. Is it His will that I give thanks?
Yeah. And He'll bring us to do that. But whatever it is, whatever
Assyrian is coming in right now, this is the will of God concerning
Christ Jesus for you. You know why? Because He careth
for you. And the word that He says to
us is, be not afraid. Be not afraid. Consider who said
it. Consider what He said and consider
why He said it. For He careth for you.