May it please almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let
us turn to the second book of the Chronicles and chapter 32
and we'll read verses 7 and 8. The second book of the Chronicles
chapter 32 and reading verses 7 and 8. Be strong and courageous, be
not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria, nor for all
the multitude that is with him, for there be more with us than
with him. With him is an arm of flesh,
but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles,
and the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king
of Judah. This is really a very simple
account we're able to read off in this 32nd chapter of the second
book of Chronicles, but it does set before us very beautifully
and very wonderfully the power of Almighty God. And we see how
the enemy was overcome, overcome completely, and was therefore
completely beaten. And we can be so thankful that
we have a record like this in the Word of God, because although
it referred, of course, in this occasion to that specific time,
when Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, came up against Hezekiah
at Jerusalem and besieged it. Yet, you see, he did not succeed. And in the day and age in which
we live, we may not be faced with that kind of situation.
But the reality is there are battles that we have to fight
in our life, Perhaps they're not physical, although historically
they may have been, but nonetheless they are spiritual. And we do
find that as Hezekiah had this great adversary, Sennacherib,
who made all kinds of noises and words that he would be defeated
and the people should not listen to him. because he as the great
Sennacherib and his father had won many battles before and therefore
they should not listen to what Hezekiah said. And perhaps today
we may be sorely tempted by the adversary of our souls, the devil,
who may indeed insinuate that there's no point in praying to
God There's no point in relying upon God. He won't deliver us. He won't save us. He won't bless
us. And you see, the temptation sometimes
can be exceedingly strong. But to think of this occasion,
which is an excellent illustration for us, faced with this scene,
Hezekiah committed himself to the Lord. What a blessing that
was, and what a blessing it is to know that we have a God indeed,
who is kind and gracious and merciful still today. Well, in this instance, we have
these beautiful words in the seventh and eighth verses, and
I think particularly as we come towards the end of the eighth
verse, Hezekiah having told the people to be strong and to be
courageous and not to be afraid nor be dismayed and then he explained
and he said with regards to Sennacherib well with him there is an arm
of flesh just natural man trying to attack the children of Jerusalem
But, this is the great blessing, he says, but with us, with us
is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. His total confidence was in his
God. And it would be good for us today
if our confidence for everything in our life is in our God. And there are many deliverances
that you and I can read of in the Word of God where the Lord
wonderfully appeared for his people. There was an occasion
in Jehoshaphat's day when they were told there'll be no need
for you to fight in this battle. No doubt they wondered how could
that occur? They wouldn't have to fight.
you see the Lord turned the enemy upon themselves and they defeated
themselves and therefore the promise to the prophet came to
pass the battle was won the enemy was defeated and in the account
we have before us here so it occurred and the last point in
this eighth verse was just this and the people rested themselves
upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. Well, today, what a
blessing it is if you and I could rest ourselves on the words of
God. And in the word of God, there
are many words to rest ourselves upon. God is faithful. God has not changed. God is the
same yesterday and today and forever. And therefore, as those
people, those subjects of Hezekiah, were able to rest themselves. It's a lovely expression, isn't
it, really? To think of resting. There they
were, you know, with the enemy all around them. And yet they
had confidence in the God of Hezekiah. They had confidence
in the God of Israel and Judah, and so they were able to rest
upon it. Well, my you and I today, we
also found resting and trusting in our God. You know, it's easy
to not rest in the Lord. It's easy to be very rest less and spend a lot of time trying
to work out how we're going to get through this difficulty,
how we're going to get through this trial, how we're going to
overcome this problem. Well The Word of God is encouraging
in a number of places. You know, in Isaiah's day, Isaiah
saw mountains before him. Perhaps sometimes we see what
may appear to be mountains. We don't know how we're going
to get over them. Well, Isaiah was able to record the Word of
God to him, 49th of Isaiah, that's a beautiful chapter, and the
11th verse he says, and I will make all my mountains away. So those mountains which we may
see before us in our lives are in fact the mountains that God
has allowed to be placed there. And therefore as they've been
placed there, and they've only been placed there as God has
allowed them to be placed there. And sometimes God has put them
there. And therefore, in one sense, they are all God's mountains. And he says that I will make
all my mountains away. They're all in the control of
Almighty God. What a blessing that is. And
then in the Psalms, David needed God, didn't he? Many times. to
appear for him. Many times he had to seek the
Lord, he had to ask direction of his God. His God never failed
him, his God always answered. It wasn't always yes, sometimes
it was no, but God did answer. Whereas we read very solemnly
in the case of Saul when he came to Elisha and he told Elisha
that God hadn't answered him. God hadn't answered him, either
yes or no, and of course it was very shortly after that that
Saul was slain in battle. Here's a very sad case is King
Saul. May we therefore remember these
truths. But just continuing a moment
for David and in the 119th Psalm which We think it's evident David
did right. In that psalm, he makes this
statement in the 49th verse. Remember, remember he's praying
to his God. How often David's prayers are
recorded. Remember, remember what? The
word unto thy servant upon which thou has caused me to hope. Perhaps David's evidences appeared
dark. Perhaps he couldn't bring them
to the light. Perhaps he was indeed far off
from God. Perhaps he was feeling that he
was out of the way and out of the secret and therefore he asks
that the Word of God might be remembered. Remember the word
unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope."
Well, there were the words in David's life upon which he had
caused to hope that it was well with his soul. And as we know,
and he spoke in the last words really of David, although my
house be not so with God, Yes, yet he has made with me. He has
made with me. He had that confidence in his
God, that God hadn't left him. No, God had made with him everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. What was this covenant
that he was relying upon? It was his hope in the mercy
of God. It was his hope in the love of
God. it was his hope in the grace
of God and therefore he was able to come and declare upon which
thou has caused me to hope the word of God the blessed word
spoken to David and so today perhaps we need God to increase
our faith that God may establish our goings nor may put a new
song in our heart, even praise unto our God. And so therefore,
as we have these great truths recorded in the Word of God,
may they indeed be to us something to rest ourselves upon. The people
rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah. Well, we have a
greater than Hezekiah. We have a great Saviour. We have
a wonderful Saviour. One who came into this sinful
world to die upon the cross at Calvary to redeem our souls. What a mercy that is. And may
we indeed tonight remember such words and may we rest ourselves
upon what Christ has done, because that work which Christ did was
not left undone. It was a completed work. He did all that his Heavenly
Father gave him to do, and he finished that work. Yes, at the
time ordained in eternity past, a set time when the blessed Saviour
was able to come to that place to dismiss his spirit because
his work was complete. It is finished. And we know it
was true. We know that the Lord had done
all that was necessary to redeem our souls. may that indeed be
good for us tonight and as Hezekiah spoke to these people remember
in the midst of the enemy in a fearful condition that everything
might collapse around them this is what he said be strong and
courageous be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria
nor for all the multitude that is with him, for there be more
with us than with him." And of course, how true that was and
how true that is today. We have the gracious and blessed
support and strength of Almighty God and all the holy angels that
he sees fit to be round about us to protect us. You know we should remember that
our adversary the devil thinks no doubt that he can control
us, but the reality is he is a chained foe. He cannot go any further than
the Lord God permits him. and therefore he cannot destroy
us. He may pretend he can, he may
tell us he's got power so to do, but you know we can tell
him power belongeth under God. God dispenses power and God is
who has defeated the devil. and you will never be able to
conquer those for whom Christ died. And so tonight, let us
trace back in our lives and find and try and find that time of
hope, of hope that we were, that we are amongst the true household
of faith and that the blessed Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ
has indeed died for us, shed his most precious blood to pay
the price to take away all our sins. Well, Jeremiah gives us a very solemn warning. And of course, Jeremiah was giving
a very solemn warning to Judah and Israel of old, because of
their sins. And in the 17th chapter of Jeremiah,
in the fifth verse, this is what he tells us. Thus saith the Lord. See, he was a true prophet of
the Lord. It wasn't Jeremiah's words. He was just a spokesman. It was
God's words. Cursed be that man that trusteth
in man. Sennacherib was trusting in man,
and solemnly he was cursed. Cursed it be the man that trusteth
in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth
from the Lord. And in that chapter we read,
so clear isn't it, that Sennacherib and his servants spoke how that
they had won the battles, how they'd beaten those who worshipped
gods and therefore the god of Hezekiah would fall into the
same category. They did not realise, they did
not appreciate There was such a vast difference. My friends, today, there is a
vast difference between the true God and the many false gods which
walk up and down in the earth. May we have the confidence to
believe and the evidence that our God reigns. He reigns now
and he reigns forever. Forever and ever, what a mercy
it is then to recognize that we are wonderfully blessed today
to be able to read then this account in this blessed Word
of God. There are many occasions we can
read off and perhaps just thinking of in a spiritual sense of the
experience of the Apostle Paul. Because the Apostle Paul, you
see, was greatly tempted by the devil. He was a wonderfully blessed
man. But God in his infinite mercy
has recorded for us those things that the Apostle wrote to the
Romans. And if we turn to the seventh
chapter of Romans, And there we have, at the end of that chapter,
a testimony of his spiritual understanding and his spiritual
experience and where he looked. And he tells us from verse 21,
I find in a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. Don't forget this is God's servant,
Paul the Apostle, a man greatly blessed, a man greatly favoured,
caught up to the third heaven to see things which were unspeakable,
and yet this is the testimony of words written from his heart. I find in the law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the
law of God after the inward man. That means his new nature. That
means since he was born again, he had that delight in the law
of God, not before, but after this blessed work of God within
him. But he tells us, but I see another
law in my members, warring against the law of my mind. see it was the things he was
thinking the law of his mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members these are the true
words of the apostle paul a real insight to the battle that he
had to fight my friends don't think that although we live many
years later our battle will be any different from this. God
has permitted such words to be recorded that when we find ourselves
in a similar situation we can have recourse to such words because
the Apostle never stops there. He goes on to say, O wretched
man that I am. Perhaps we feel the same. O wretched
man that I am. There's this great battle. O
wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? That's a question, isn't it?
And Paul is able to answer that question. And this is how he
answers it. I thank God. Through Jesus Christ,
our Lord, there was his secret of victory. The secret of victory
to those in Hezekiah's day was the Lord God. The secret of victory
for us today is also in the Lord God. I thank God through Jesus
Christ, our Lord, the only way of deliverance, the only way
of victory. Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. And it goes on. So then with
a mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with a flesh. law of sin. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh but after the Spirit. For the law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law
of sin and death." They're very wonderful and they're very glorious
words. may we therefore rest ourselves
in such truths as that. Just like Hezekiah, the people
in Hezekiah's day rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, king
of Judah. May you and I today rest ourselves
upon the promises, upon the word of God. We might in saying upon
the words of King Jesus. Oh may we then rejoice tonight
in the wonderful blessing of God's Word that takes us through
these Old Testament accounts to encourage us to know and to
believe that we come to that God who is the same yesterday
and today and forever and be able to say he who has helped
me hitherto will help me all my journey through and give me
daily cause to raise new Ebenezers to his praise. Be strong and
courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria,
nor for all the multitude that is with him, for there be more
with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh,
just mere mortal man. But with us is the Lord our God
to help us and to fight our battles, and the people rest in themselves
upon the words of Hezekiah, King of Judah. Amen.