Let's open our Bibles again to
Isaiah chapter 37. The title of the message this
evening is Lessons in Prayer. Now good prayers don't have to be very long at
all. I'd say the best prayers in scripture take a minute, maybe
two at the very most to read. Prayers are not preaching. When
we pray, we're not trying to teach people something. Prayer
is talking to God, not to people. And there are times that private
prayer is very difficult. Those tedious and tasteless hours
Mike just sung about where it's just you find it difficult to
pray. And if you think private prayer is difficult, public prayer
is very difficult. Man is called upon, like Dale
was a few minutes ago, to lead the congregation before the very
throne of God Almighty. But we're not praying publicly,
so men will say, oh, that was a good prayer. We pray to be
heard of God. And so I hope it will be helpful
for us to see some lessons in prayer from Hezekiah. It's one
of the great prayers in scripture that's recorded in this chapter. Now you remember the chapter
last week, Hezekiah heard all these evil, awful threats from
Sennacherib. Now I want you to look what he
did in chapter 37, verse 1. After he heard all these horrible
things that came to pass when King Hezekiah heard it, that
he ran his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and 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
birth, and there is not 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. Now Hezekiah
had heard what man has to say. He heard all these horrible things.
He knew what man had to say. And what he did was he began
to seek out, what does God have to say about this matter? Now,
you and I both know that trial and trouble drive us to seek
the Lord. It just drive us to seek him. But you know, we ought always
to be found seeking out the Lord, seeking his word, seeking out
what God says. We should always be seeking out
the message that God has for us through his servant. And God's
people normally do. But this flesh being what it
is, now there are times we get complacent and we get cold and
the Lord sends us a trial, he sends us something to teach us,
to remind us who and what we are, to remind us how dependent
we are upon him so that we'll seek him. Now Rabsheki had tried,
through this message from Sennacherib, had tried to drive Hezekiah away
from God by scaring him to death. But instead, he drove Hezekiah
to God. Now the subject tonight is prayer.
But just like a child of God should be frequently found seeking
the Lord's word to us, children of God should be a people of
prayer. We should be found frequently
in prayer. How can we go through a day without
talking to our Heavenly Father? In Luke 18, the Lord taught a
parable to teach us this, that we are to pray without ceasing.
Luke said he taught that parable so we would learn men ought always
to pray and not to faint. We are always to be found in
prayer. And God's children do. Now, you just pray just as much
as your natural body breathes, God's children pray. But if we're
honest, in times of trouble and trial, we pray more fervently,
with more heartfelt desire, seeking the Lord. And that's all right. Now, don't be hard on yourself.
That's all right. God's children have been given great liberty
to come before the throne of God at any time. Well, we ought
to make use of that liberty, shouldn't we? We ought to make
use of it often, especially in times of trouble, trial, and
sorrow. We ought to make use of this
great liberty that the Lord's given us to come before his throne. Now, what can we learn about
prayer from this? Well, here's a pretty good hint. If you want
to pray about a matter, find out what God says about it. It'll
help you in prayer. Look at verse six, Hezekiah sent
word to Isaiah, he wanted to find out what God has to say
about this. And Isaiah said unto them, thus shall you say unto
your master, 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. 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." Well,
Hezekiah found out what God has got to say about this matter,
didn't he? He found out that God is going to take this enemy
who's been blaspheming him, has been blaspheming his name and
causing his children such anxiety. God's going to destroy this wicked
enemy. Now, that really comes as no
surprise, does it? God's going to destroy every
enemy. God's gonna deal with every enemy, with every false
prophet who's blaspheming his name, God's gonna deal with them.
But we don't know when. Now we know God's gonna deal
with them, but we don't know when. Sometimes we see them just
suddenly and swiftly destroyed. Most of the time, seems like
they just keep going on and on and on and on, growing worse
and worse and worse and worse, and just keep going on in their
rebellion, keep going on harming God's people, long time before
Qalatiyah with them. Now this enemy, God's promised
to destroy him, but he didn't do it right away. Look at verse
eight. So Rabshakee 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 Tirhaka, king of Ethiopia,
he has come forth to make war with thee. And when he heard
it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, This is the letter he
sent to Hezekiah. 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? Ye can be different. Have the
gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed?
as Gozan and Haran and Rezba and the children of Eden, which
were in Telassar? Where's the king of Hamath and
the king of Arfad and the king of the city of Sepharvim, Hina
and Iva? Where are all these men? Are
you going to be any different? This is the same thing he said
in the last chapter, isn't it? This enemy of God just keeps
going on his way. Now, Sennacherib had sent his
emissary, Rabshiki, to Israel and he's waiting on response
from him. And while he's waiting on a response,
see what's happened with Israel. He just went and got into another
war. I mean, this is a warring, violent man. He just went and
got into another war while he's waiting. And while he's doing
it, He keeps on blaspheming God. He's not going to go back to
the city, but he sends a message. He keeps comparing God to idols.
He keeps questioning God's power to save his people. He keeps
questioning God's love for his people. It just keeps going on
and on, and it's seeming like he's prospering. And don't we
see that happen today? The God that men preach today
is an idol. He's just a figment of man's
imagination. He doesn't exist. And these false
prophets blaspheme God by bringing God down to man's level. They
try to make God like a man. They make out God just like he's
just like a sinful man, just like you and me. They question
God's power to save his people. They say, no, God's not going
to save you against your will. Christ died to save everybody,
but if you're going to be saved by Christ, you've got to make
a decision to accept him. You've got to invite him into
your heart. You've got to accept his blood. See, they're making
it dependent on you. Christ's power to save, not enough,
is it? I tell you the reason they do that is they don't know.
The blood of Christ wasn't offered before me. The blood of Christ's
not offered to you and me. See, we think about it. The blood
of Christ was offered as a sacrifice before the Father, not to us.
They're questioning God's power to save. They question His sovereign
right to save whom He will. They question God's love for
His people who are doing the same thing Snack Crab did. Now you'd think when someone
says God loves everybody, how's that questioning God's love for
his people? Well, when they say God loves everybody, they make
the love of God out to be nothing. And it sounds so sweet and so
adorable and so loving to say God loves everybody without exception.
That sounds real sweet until you think God sends people to
hell that he's supposed to love. If God loves everybody, how can
he send people to hell? It's not very loving for God
to love you today and hate you tomorrow. I'm just honestly not
really interested in that kind of love. And thankfully, that's
not how God loves his people. God loves his people with an
everlasting, eternal love. But when they say God loves everybody,
what they're doing is calling into question God's covenant
love for his people. We know God's promised to destroy
every enemy like that. We know that, don't we? But we
see him go on and on and on. And we cry, how long, oh Lord,
how long are you going to let this go on? Well, in his time,
at the time that will accomplish his purpose, he'll deal with
it. So now all this has happened and Hezekiah comes to the house
of the Lord to pray. And here's our first lesson in
prayer. Knowing God's will makes us pray. Knowing God's will doesn't make
us fatalistic and say, well, you know, God's gonna do what
he's gonna do. I don't have to worry about it. No, knowing God's will makes
us pray. 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. Now, why
did he pray? Why did he pray unto the Lord?
Hezekiah already knew what the Lord was going to do. He already
knew the Lord was going to send a rumor. He's going to send Sennacherib
back to his country and he's going to be killed in his own
country. He already knew what the will of the Lord is in this
matter. Then why did he pray? If you know the will of the Lord,
why bother praying? Well, I got three reasons. First
is this. We pray because God commanded
us to pray. Men are always to pray and that's
what he's taught us. 1 Thessalonians 5, 17, pray without
ceasing. This is God's word, pray without
ceasing. A few verses down, Apostle Paul said, brethren, pray for
us. James said in chapter five, verse
13, is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Enough said. We pray because it's God's commandment
for us to pray. Secondly, we pray because God
answers prayer. In Psalm 65 verse two, David
identified the Lord as thou that hearest prayer. God hears prayer,
that's why we pray. David said in Psalm 34, this
poor man cried and the Lord heard him and delivered him out of
all of his troubles. God hears prayer. You remember
that time Hannah prayed? She was sitting there and her
lips moved but no sound came out and the priest thought she's
drunk. She wasn't drunk, she was praying. He didn't hear what
she was saying. God did. God heard her prayer
and sent her a son. God remembered Hannah. Look at
2 Chronicles 7. We pray because God said he hears
the prayer of his people. 2 Chronicles 7, verse 12. And the Lord appeared to Solomon
by night and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and I have
chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice. If I shut
up the heaven, that there be no rain, or if I command the
locusts to devour the land, or if I send a pestilence among
my people, if my people, which are called by my name, shall
humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from
their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will
forgive their sin. and will heal their land. It's
no wonder, James said, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous
man availeth much because God answers prayer. That's why we
pray. And thirdly, if we know God's will, why do you pray? Because if I know God's will,
then I can pray according to God's will. Does that make sense? Now we know it's God's will.
to save his elect people. Don't we know that? There's no
chance that one of them can be lost. There's no chance. Well,
then we pray, Lord, save your people through the preaching
of your word. Send faith to your people. Honor
your word. Now, knowing God's will, knowing
it's God's will to save his elect does not make us fatalistic. It doesn't make us say, well,
you know, whatever's gonna happen, it's God's will. They're gonna
be saved no matter what. No, knowing that it's God's will
to save his people drives us to pray for sinners. Lord, save
your people. You said you were gonna save
the remnant back here in versus that at the end of verse four.
This is Hezekiah's request to Isaiah, wherefore lift up thy
prayer for the remnant that's left. That's it, we pray for
God's remnant, his elect people. Knowing God's will causes us
to pray. We know that it's God's will. He told us it's his will. Christ
said, where two or three are gathered together in my name
to worship me, there am I in the midst of them. That's his
will to be with his people when they worship. Well, we don't
just take that for granted, do we? We know it's God's will that
Christ be with us, so we pray. Lord, be with us. Give us, Dale
prayed it, give us a spirit of worship. Meet with us. We know
that it's God's will. that in times of trial, He will
not give them more than they can bear. They'll go through
the waters, but the waters won't overflow them. They'll go through
the fire, but it's not going to burn them. Well, we know that's
God's will. So we pray, don't we? Lord, deliver
me. Don't give me more than I can
bear. Help me, be with me. When we know His will, we can
pray in accordance with His will. Now look at Romans chapter eight.
What about when we don't know God's will. There are many matters.
I don't have the foggiest idea what God's will is, none whatsoever.
Well, what do we do in prayer when we don't know God's will?
Well, we pray seeking his will. We do like Hezekiah did, we lay
out our heart before him and say, thy will be done. Look at
Romans 8 verse 26. Likewise, the spirit also helpeth
our infirmities. For we know not what we should
pray for as we ought, But the Spirit, and that itself should
be himself, the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. And hearing the
word of God and knowing God's will encourages us to pray. That's why we pray. Well, here's
a second lesson in prayer. When you pray, Who are you talking
to? You're talking to God, aren't
you? In prayer. Then address Him accordingly. Address Him
reverently. In verse 15, Hezekiah prayed
unto the Lord, saying, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel that
dwells between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone
of all the kingdoms of the earth. Thou hast made heaven and earth. Now, Hezekiah very distinctly
identifies who it is we pray to. First, we pray to the great
God. He said he prayed to the Lord
of hosts, the Lord God of a great army, the God of all the earth. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
just a savior of a few people. He's the Lord of hosts, the savior
of a number no man can number. And when you bow to pray, You
think about the greatness of the one to whom you pray. He's
the Lord of hosts. Reckon he's able to hear you?
Reckon he's able to answer your prayer? He's the Lord of hosts.
Second, we pray to the covenant God, the God of Israel. Now God's the God of all men,
isn't he? He's over all men. All men have
to answer to him with whom we have to do. But God is the covenant
God of his chosen people. He made special promises of covenant
mercies to his people. Now God's chosen people, they're
no good. They're sinful people. They're
just rotten to the core. They weren't chosen because they're
good. They're chosen in spite of who and what they are. God
chose them so that he'd save them by his grace, by his covenant
mercies, his covenant grace, his covenant promises to them.
And this is what we learn when Hezekiah says the God of Israel. Now you remember Jacob, he was
one of the sons of Isaac. Jacob had an older brother, his
twin brother born just before him, that boy's name is Esau.
Now if Jacob and Esau were living today, if they were living here
in our town, Every one of us would like Esau and we wouldn't
like Jacob. Esau was a man's man. I mean,
he's a working man. He's a, just a, he's a man. Jacob
is a mama's boy. He's soft. He's just, oh, you
just don't like being around a guy like that. Esau, he wanted
to please his father. Jacob wanted to save his father.
Jacob was a cheat. You've been around a guy like
this. He's always got an agenda. He's always working an angle.
He's always got a motive. And you don't know what it is.
You don't know what he's doing. And you've just got to be on your
toes around him all the time. You're just exhausted by the
time you spend an hour with this guy. That's Jacob. But God loved Jacob. God loved
Jacob. and hated Esau. Boy, that gives
me hope. God loved Jacob. And he said
it before he was born. Before those boys were born,
God said, Jacob have I loved, and Esau have I hated. God chose
Jacob. And in the fullness of time,
God met Jacob. One night God met him. And God
changed his name to Israel. Prince with God. That's God's
covenant people. Every one of us, we're Jacob
by birth. That's who we are, Jacob. But
God chose to save a people and he changed their name because
he changed their nature. He gave them a new nature, made
them Israel, sons and daughters of God. God has a chosen people. He chose to save them. And before
time began, the father entered into a covenant with his son
to save those people through the obedience and through the
sacrifice of Christ. Now God's going to fulfill his
covenant. This is God's promise to his son. And that's who we
pray to when we pray that sinners be saved. This is the God we
pray to, the covenant God who promised to save his people,
whose glory is dependent upon saving his people. The first
time the word covenant is used in scripture is in Genesis chapter
six. God told Noah he is going to
destroy the world with a flood. Every living thing is going to
die. God told Noah to build an ark. He said, Noah, I'm gonna
save you and your family alive in that ark because I'm gonna
establish my covenant with you. My covenant promises of salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God's covenant and that's
who we pray to. We pray the covenant God. Thirdly,
we pray to God who's merciful. Hezekiah said, thou that dwellest
between the cherubims, Now, what's he talking about? Is he talking
about being in heaven surrounded by all these angels? That's not
what he's talking about. He's talking about God's Shekinah
glory that appeared in the tabernacle over the mercy seat between those
wings, outstretched wings of those cherubims that were in
the beaten gold over top of the mercy seat. God told Moses, Moses,
this is where I'm gonna meet with men, above the mercy seat,
above the mercy seat covered with the blood of the sacrifice.
When we pray, we pray to the God who's merciful. Matthew Henry
said this, I just really like this. Prayer is the midwife of
mercy. Knowing that God is merciful
to sinners causes me to pray. Isn't it you? Oh, I need mercy.
I'm telling you, I'm a sinner. What I need is mercy. Well, what
good news? I can call in prayer on the God
who's merciful to sinners. A sinner can call on God who
said this about himself. I delight to show mercy. What
more motivation does a sinner need to pray than this? We pray
to God who's merciful. And that mercy enables us to
come before God boldly. Hebrews 4.16, let us therefore
come boldly into the throne of grace. that we may obtain mercy
and grace to help in time of need. Oh, what motivation to
pray. God's merciful. Fourthly, we
pray to the sovereign God. Look at Daniel chapter four.
Hezekiah says, this is the sovereign God. Thou art the God, even thou
alone of all the kingdoms of the earth. When we pray, we pray
to God who's sovereign over all things. And this is a lesson
we do well to learn. I hope we don't have to learn
it in the same manner that Nebuchadnezzar learned it, but Nebuchadnezzar
learned this lesson, God's sovereign. Verse 34, Daniel chapter four.
And at the end of the days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine
eyes into heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed
the Most High. I praised and honored him that
liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and
his kingdom is from generation to generation. There is no end
of it. And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his
hand or say unto him, What doest thou? God is sovereign. Well, who better to lay out your
problems before? Who better to lay out your heart
before than God, who's in control of everything? You know, that's
exactly what Hezekiah did, isn't it? He received this horrible
letter from Sennacherib, and he read it, and what'd he do?
He went to the house of the Lord, and he just spread the letter
out before the Lord, and said, here it is. I'm not making any
suggestions about what to do or how to do it. I don't know.
Here's the whole problem. He just laid it all out before
the Lord. And we do well to follow Hezekiah's example. Just go lay
our heart open before the Lord. Lord, here I am. I mean, here
it is. There's no point hiding it. There's
no point disguising it. Here I am. And I'm not making
any suggestions about what to do or how to do it. This is what
I know. I'm here because of who I am.
I need mercy. I need saving. I'm so weak, I
can't deliver myself. I need you to deliver me. That's
what Hezekiah was saying back here at the end of verse three. For the children are come to
birth, and there's not strength to bring forth. I can't deliver
myself. I can't do anything about it.
I'm too stupid to know what to do. I don't even know what can
be done. I need you. Lord, just, I'm laying
it all out before you. Now your will be done. When we
pray, we're praying to God who's sovereign. Just lay it out before
him and leave it there. Fifth, we pray to God who created
all things. Hezekiah pointed this out, thou
hast made heaven and earth. This will be a preview of our
Bible lesson on Sunday morning. God's the creator. And since
God made heaven and earth, God reigns in heaven and earth. Now
you read through the prophets and you see how frequently they
refer to God as the creator, the one who made heaven and earth.
I'll tell you why they do that. Because whoever created everything,
all this world that we see, whoever created it, that's God. Isn't that right? And this is
why people today want to push this theory of evolution down
the throats of our children. They think if they can prove
God didn't create everything, then the rest of God's word's
not true. If chapter one's not true, then
the rest of it's not true. And the reason they want to prove
that is if they can prove God doesn't exist, they don't have
to answer to God now. They don't have to bow to Christ
now and they won't have to face God in judgment. That's why they're
trying to prove God's not the creator. But brethren, God did
create heaven and earth. This idea of evolution is the
most backward thing. It's what fallen man would come
up with. God did create heaven and earth and He does rule in
heaven and earth. And I can tell you why God created
heaven and earth. He did it for the glory of His
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God created man on this earth
knowing that man would fall so that Christ, His Son, would get
all the glory in saving His people from their sin. Now what an encouragement
to pray. This world in which we live We've
got air to breathe for this reason. God's gonna glorify his son,
save somebody. Lord, would you save me? Would
you have mercy on me? Would you get glory to your name
by saving me? The very one who created heaven
and earth is the one who can create a new heart in me. Lord,
would you create a new man, a new heart in me? So when you pray,
now remember who you're praying to. We're not talking to somebody
of ours. We pray to God, who's the Lord
of hosts. God who sovereignly rules and
reigns over all of his creation. God that shows mercy to whom
he will show mercy. God who's got the power and wisdom
of the creator. Then let's let all of our prayers
begin with praise for who God is and always come to him reverently. But here's our third lesson in
prayer. And this is important. The issue is not us. The issue is not our troubles.
It's not our situation, and it's not our desires. Janet was always
just real big on teaching our girls the world does not revolve
around you for this reason. The issue is not us. Now, what's
the issue? The issue is God's glory. Verse
17. 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. O
truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations
and their countries, and they have cast their gods into the
fire. For they were no gods, but the work of man's hands.
They're just wood and stone. Therefore they've destroyed them.
Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand. that all
the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord,
even thou only. Now, Hezekiah just lays it out
before the Lord that this is the situation I'm in. And I know
I'm nothing. This is a situation, but that
doesn't change the fact that I'm nothing. You think what God's
gonna have to do to hear me, to hear the likes of me, how
far down is he gonna have to condescend to hear the likes
of me? In verse 17, when Hezekiah says,
incline thine ear, that word incline means bend way down. God's gonna have to bend way
down. He's gonna have to humble himself
to get low enough to hear somebody like me. Now, when you consider
who God is and who I am, try to put that in some perspective.
Well, it's easy to see I'm not the issue. The issue doesn't
have anything to do with me. The issue is God's glory. And that's why Hezekiah prays
the way he prays. Now, this dead dog, Rabshakeh,
he's said his peace, and he's brought this letter from Sennacherib.
He's been sent to reproach the living God. And he thinks, God's
no different, all these other idols. You know, everybody we
captured had their idols, and we conquered all them already.
And Hezekiah's prayer is this, Lord, show them you're different.
You're not an idol. You're not the works of man's
hands. You're not the figment of a man's imagination. You are
the true and living God. And Hezekiah made sure he not
praying for merit. He didn't say, Lord, we're just
this remnant. Now, would you save us? Because
we stayed here and kept your law. Lord, we're just this little
remnant that kept the faith. So would you save us? We're just
a remnant. We're the only ones that kept
up the true worship of God. Would you save us? That's not
what he prayed. Hezekiah prayed, Lord, save us
for your glory. Save us so all the earth will
know that you're God. Save us in a way that the whole
earth will see your glory and be caused to worship you. God will hear that prayer. He'll
hear that prayer. I know He will, because everything
God does, He does for His glory. Everything God does, He does
for the glory of His Son. In Ephesians 2, verse 7, Paul
talks about the mercy of God, the salvation of His people,
and this is why He did it. Then in the ages to come, He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness
toward us through Christ Jesus. That's why God saves His people.
And we pray, Lord, save Your people. We pray that He save
His people for His glory. Look over in Ezekiel chapter
36. In times of trouble and trial, we pray that the Lord would deliver
us, don't we? Well, I tell you, God's going
to deliver His people for His glory. Ezekiel 36, verse 21. But I had pity for mine holy
name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen,
whether they went. Therefore saying to the house
of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sake. See, we're not dis you. I do
not this for your sake, so house of Israel, but I do this for
my holy namesake, which you have profaned among the heathen, whether
you went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned
among the heathen, which you have profaned in the midst of
them. And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the
Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For
I'll take you from among the heathen and gather you out of
all countries and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle
clean water upon you and you shall be clean from all of your
filthiness and from all of your idols while I cleanse you. A
new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within
you. And I'll take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and
I will give you a heart of flesh. And I'll put my spirit within
you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you should keep
my judgments and do them. And you'll dwell in the land
that I gave to your fathers, and you should be my people,
and I will be your God. Why did God do all that? Why
did He deliver His people? He talked to them about the new
birth. Why is He going to put a new
heart in them? For my holy namesake, the issue is God's glory. God
does everything He does in providence for His glory. And now we told
Pharaoh, God raises up kingdoms and destroys kingdoms. For what
reason? For His glory. Pharaoh, I raised
you up and I'm going to get glory and cast you down. It's all for
His glory. The old-timers talk about wrestling
with God in prayer. If you'd wrestle with God in
prayer, plead the glory of Christ. If you'd wrestle with God in
prayer, plead the glory of His Son, it'll always prevail. Well, then our prayers should
be for the glory of our great God and Savior. And God answered
this prayer, look at the end of the chapter, verse 33. Thus
saith the Lord God, in the day that I shall have cleansed you
from all... I'm sorry, I'm in the wrong chapter. I'm in the wrong book, that's
the problem, right chapter, wrong book. Okay, Isaiah 37, verse
33. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God 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. For I will defend this city, to save it for mine own
sake. See that's why Hezekiah prayed,
for your glory. And that's what God said, I'm
gonna save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.
Then the angel of the Lord went forth and smote in the camp of
the Assyrians a hundred, and fourscore, 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 in Nineveh. And it
came to pass, as he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch, his
god, that Adrammelech and Chazir, his sons, smote him with the
sword. And they escaped into the land
of Armenia, and Eschardon, his son, Reign did as said, just
exactly like God promised he'd do, didn't he? And God kept his
word. He kept his promise for his glory. All right, I hope that'll be
a blessing. Let's bow in prayer. Our great God, Lord, how we thank you for your
word. How we thank you for your character, that you, Infinite
love and mercy would set your affection upon a people. That you'd send your son to be
our righteousness. We could be righteous no other
way than in Christ. You sent your son to shed his
blood as a sacrifice for our sin and how we thank you. There's
no other way we could be cleansed from our sin but the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you that you sent
your spirit to give life. We're so dead and depraved and
vile. There's no way we could have
spiritual life except you give it in the new birth. Give it
freely by your grace. Father, we're thankful. We're
so thankful you've preserved your word. You've gathered it
together and preserved it, kept it all these years to put in
the laps of your people this evening. And Father, we pray
that you'd bless your word. For the glory of your matchless
name, bless your word as it's gone forth. Comfort and strengthen
the hearts of your people. It calls us to, in awe and wonder,
see the glory of our great Savior and to fall before you in worship
and thanksgiving. Father, bless your word, we pray.
For it's in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we
pray and we give thanks, amen.