When You Don’t Know What To Do

0:00 And if you're taking notes tonight, and I would encourage you to do so, you can write down the title of the message. It's very long but easy to remember. And it's simply when you don't know what to do. Now, if I took a raise of hands, my assumption would be if you're being honest and you're alive and you're awake, that you would raise your hand that at some point in your life, you've had a situation that you did not know what to do. That it was, maybe it was a trial of some kind and you didn't know where to go, or a job opportunity, which one do I take? or a million other things, there was something that happened in your life where you didn't know what to do. Well, I'm sure you've heard the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. I'd like to add an example is probably worth 10,000. And tonight we're going to see an example of what Hezekiah does when his back is up against the wall and he simply does not know what to do. And so hopefully by now you're in 2 Kings 19. Go ahead and stand with me and we're going to read verses 1 through 20. Now I went back and forth whether we were going to do the responsive reading which we usually do and I decided to spare you all because there's some pretty hard names to pronounce and I figured it would turn into a comedy show quite quickly and so what I'm going to do is I'm going to read it and we're going to keep the flow of it to get through it nice and quickly but I'd love for you guys to follow along either in your Bibles or on the screen.

1:19 2 Kings chapter 19 verse 1.

1:49 For the children have come to birth, but there's no strength to bring them forth. It may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left. So the servants of Hezekiah came to Isaiah, and Isaiah said to them, Thus you shall say to your master, thus says the Lord, do not be afraid of the words you've heard with which the servants of the king of Assyria has blasphemed me. Surely I will send a spirit upon him. 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. Then the Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria warring against Libna, for he heard that he had departed from Lachish. And the king heard concerning Terhaka, the king of Ethiopia, look, he has come out to make war with you. So again, he sent messengers to Hezekiah saying, thus you shall say and speak to Hezekiah, king of Judah, do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you. Saying Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria, look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands by utterly destroying them. Shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations, those whom my fathers destroyed, Gozen, Haran, Rezeph, the people of Eden who were in Telassar, where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpid, the king of the city of the Sephirvim, Hanna, or Iva? And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord. And he said, O Lord, God of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim, you are God. You alone,

4:01 of all the kingdoms of the earth have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see, and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste to the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore, they destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord God, you alone. And we end in verse 20. Then Isaiah, the son of Amos, said to Hezekiah, or sent to Hezekiah, saying, thus says the Lord God of Israel, because you've prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, I have heard.

4:54 Let's pray. Father, God, I feel like we could just go home. Lord, those words, those prayers, the realities that are in this text, Lord, are rich. Father, I pray that you would fill us tonight with your Holy Spirit to have an understanding of your word and to apply it to each of our lives individually. God, that none of us would go home today wondering what it is that you spoke to us, but that it would be crystal clear. Father, I pray that you would speak to us through your word. And, oh, Holy Spirit, I do pray that you'd give us understanding. and God, would you be glorified as we go out tonight at the end. In Jesus' name, amen. Go ahead and take your seats. There's one thing about life that's universally recognized and I think we could all come to this agreement and really, if you've come in today and you're not a believer in Christ, you would also agree with this statement that people have recognized, affirmed, and felt in every age of human history that sometimes life is hard.

5:54 There are sometimes difficulties that come in And I love the fact that the Bible does not hide from this. In fact, it points it out, it tells us why, and it even tells us how to move forward. No one knew this better than Job, the fact that life was hard. Let's look at a couple verses together. The first one is Job chapter 5 and verse 7. It says, yet man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. Job is simply saying that we were all born and we're all going to experience trouble, just like when you're sitting around a campfire and you see the sparks fly up into the sky. It's interesting to note that before I worked here at the church, I was a first responder. And oftentimes when I would go and I would talk to patients, I would try to look for an opportunity to share with them just like you guys do in your workplace. And oftentimes I begin to ask them if they believed in God or if they've read the Bible or if they believed in the Bible. And what would happen is I would say 90% of the time they would all identify with one man from the Bible and you guys just heard from him.

6:54 His name was Joe. that so often people with no church background really, they knew about Job. Why? Because all of us can identify with Job. Why? Because sometimes life is hard. A little bit later in Job, in Job chapter 14 verse one, Job says it again. He says, Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. Don't you feel like that sometimes? I have no days, and the few days I do have, seem to be filled with trouble. the troubles can take many forms and we could spend all day talking about it i could have you guys come up one by one and share your troubles and we could all go home depressed let me give you a few examples it could be relationships it could be financial troubles it could be work issues it could be schooling for those of you who are still subjecting yourself to that it could be health it could be death or or loss of some kind it could be one of a million things, and I would say these things that I just mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg.

8:01 You all know what I'm talking about. If someone brought you here today or someone convinced you that because, or if you become a Christian, then all your problems will go away. Listen, if you become a Christian, it'll fix your problems. You'll be fat, happy, and healthy, or healthy, wealthy, and prosperous, or however it goes. I hate, or maybe not hate, but I hate to be the one to break it to you. It just doesn't work that way. But I have some good news for you. that before Jesus was crucified, he prepared his disciples for the day that he wouldn't be there any longer. Could you imagine walking with Jesus in the flesh that if you were hungry, he could just whip up something? Right, and it is pretty odd that Jesus is found numerous times in the gospels feeding different people, different folks. But they walked with a man who could raise the dead. If your brother died, you just bring Jesus along and he'll pull him out of the grave. He could fix any problem. Jesus says, guess what, I'm leaving and there's gonna be hard days ahead.

8:55 Said it in John 16, verse 33. Jesus said, these things I've spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world, that is, as long as you live on this side of heaven, you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, Jesus says. I love the fact that Jesus doesn't hide from it. Because you don't have to wonder when difficulties come into your life if you've done something wrong. Now listen, if you're being a knucklehead, just like I've been before, and you're doing something you shouldn't be doing and you're suffering the consequences of it, then repent of that, turn from it and get back to God. But just because difficulty's happening in your life, it does not mean you're in sin.

9:39 Jesus affirms that even the believer in God will have troubles. In fact, he guarantees it. The question I hope to answer today is what do you do when that tribulation comes upon you? What do you do practically when that trouble comes upon you? Because here's the reality. If you can't prevent it, and if you can't anticipate it, then the next best thing you can do is to prepare yourself for it. So that when it comes upon you, you may be surprised, but you will not be unprepared. Now often, when something difficult is going on in your life, you don't know how to respond. You don't know what to do. And that's part of the difficulty. There's some things that are obvious. There's many that are not so obvious. And that's where we pick it up with King Hezekiah in the book of 2 Kings.

10:33 If you don't know or don't remember King Hezekiah was one of the righteous kings. You read the Kings and Chronicles and it just seems like there's bad king after bad king and then every once in a while a good king comes along. Well King Hezekiah was one of those righteous and good kings. But even though he was a good king, he still encountered trouble. He encountered immense difficulty too difficult to describe. And that's why I just want to repeat one more time that your difficulty may not be because of your decisions. Okay? If you're going through hard times tonight and you are racking your brain wondering what you did to deserve this, maybe nothing. Maybe God has allowed the trial to come into your life to grow you, though it was not caused by anything that you've done. Now, I remember being younger in Christ and thinking that every time I had a flat tire, it was because I had some unrepentant sin.

11:27 Or every time my car didn't start, it's because I did something wrong. And so if that's you here tonight, just recognize that your difficulty may not be tied to your decision. It may be what God has ordained for you to go through to grow you. And so when we jump in here with Hezekiah, we find that Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, one of the arch enemies of Israel, has already captured the northern ten tribes known as Israel. You guys remember that in the book of 2 Kings, after Solomon, the nation splits. You have the northern ten called Israel, you have the southern two called Judah, and they essentially are running as two different nations. Well, by this point in 2 Kings, the king of Assyria has already captured the northern 10 tribes of Israel, and now he sets his sights on Judah. We find that out in 2 Kings 17, 23. Just for context sake, it'll be on the screen for you.

12:22 It says, so Israel was carried away to their own land, or from their own land to Assyria as it is to this day. So this happens before our passage today. Now, after taking Israel captive, Sennacherib sets his eye on Judah where King Hezekiah rules and reigns. Now I want to walk you through a quick context just so that we don't jump too far in and so we know what's going on. Look in your Bibles if you still have them open. Down at 2 Kings 18 13 this is where it begins. Sennacherib begins to attack a few cities of Judah and in verse 13 it actually says that he conquers them. Now Hezekiah responds to this there in chapter 18 by trying to pay him off, by basically saying, hey, what do you need from me to leave me alone? And Sennacherib says, ah, I'll take 300 of this certain measurement of silver, and while you're at it, 30 of gold, and if you give me that, I'll leave you alone. What we learn from this is sometimes, and I would even say most times the easy way out is not the best way forward. Because Hezekiah tries to take the easy way out and it worked for a season, but it was only a matter of time till Sennacherib wanted more. And we learned something valuable here and it's that compromise never ends.

13:42 Compromise never ends. There's always more to give, there's always more to take, there's always more to lose. The nature of compromise is that it's never enough, it's never satisfied, and it's never done trying to get a little more. And so in 2 Kings 18, we have a few key moments that lead us to where we are tonight. I want you to picture the scene with me because Hezekiah has already compromised. The king of Assyria wants more, and so what he does is he sends three of his ambassadors to go talk to the Jews. And so Hezekiah sends three of his ambassadors to go talk to the Assyrians. And it just so happens that they're right outside the city gates. And they're going back and forth. The problem is, in the background, is some of the men of Judah sitting on the wall. And what happens is, is through the course of the conversation, in verse 22 of chapter 18, Sennacherib begins to mock the Lord, Yahweh, the king or the God of the Jews.

14:46 And then in verses 29 and 30, he directs his voice to the people on the wall to not trust their God. So this is how it goes. The three ambassadors from Assyria basically stop talking to the ambassadors of Judah and start talking to the people of Judah saying, hey, I'll make you rich if you defect. I'll make you wealthy. I'll give you land. I'll give you vineyards already planted if you just come to our side. Could you imagine how that would make a king feel? Pretty small, right? it would be one thing if these were empty threats but while this is going on the Assyrian army of 185,000 soldiers is standing outside the city gate ready to conquer ready to destroy waiting on the command and so this is where we find King Hezekiah between a rock and a hard place between impossible and no way out Hezekiah is stuck and that's where I just want to pause for a moment and ask, have you been there?

16:01 Maybe some of you are there right now. That you feel stuck between a rock and a hard place and you don't see a way forward. that's where Hezekiah's account tonight becomes very valuable for each of us. What's awesome about the principles that we're about to apply from this chapter is that whether you're going through a severe trial or you just have a decision to make for something good and profitable, but you're not sure which route to take, tonight is going to be intensely practical for each of you. And so we learn from Hezekiah that when we don't know what to do, listen carefully, we must do what we know. When we don't know what to do, we must do what we know. Okay? There are going to be five actions. You see the first one on the screen.

16:53 There are going to be five actions that we can take when we don't know what to do. Okay? So the first one's there on the screen. Look at it with me. It's this. You need to know where to go. that when you don't know what to do, you need to know where to go. As Hezekiah hears all this information from his ambassadors, he hears these threats for the first time, he's processing all of this, he has no idea how it's going to work out. Listen, we have the privilege of standing on this side of history and reading verse 20. There was no verse 20. There was no chapter 20. Hezekiah was in it. He was in the midst of it. He had no idea. His counselors are at a loss. He's at a loss. And it's in this moment that though he does not know what to do, he knows where to go. And that's what we find in verse 1. Look down in your Bibles. It says, and so it was, when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.

17:54 I just want to point out one more time. Notice where he went. He went to the house of the Lord. notice that when he's overwhelmed and at a complete loss he went straight to God's house now it's important for us to realize that it was far more than a building the temple it was who the building represented that I that Hezekiah went to it was not the house so much as it was who lived in the house and so where Hezekiah went is that he went straight to the Lord. Now just to show you that this is the thinking of the Jews of that day, let me take you back to 1 Kings chapter 8. If you want to turn there, feel free, but the verses will be on the screen for you. 1 Kings chapter 8. This is Solomon as he's dedicating the temple, and he says this. He says, yet regard the prayer of your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which your servant is praying before you today. Okay, verse 29 is essentially the beginning of his prayer. Speaking to God, he says, that your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place which you said, my name shall be there, that you may hear the prayer which your servant makes towards this place, and that you may hear the supplication of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray towards this place, hear in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive.

19:28 Stop there for a moment. What Solomon is praying is what Hezekiah is doing. Hezekiah knows Solomon. It's his great, great, great grandfather. He knows that these words were said. These were recorded for him. So he knew when he got in trouble, there was somewhere to go. He went to the Lord. Now continuing on in 1 Kings chapter eight, Still Solomon speaking, verse 33. It gets a little more personal for Hezekiah. Look at what it says. It says, when your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against you and they turn their back on you or turn back to you, that's the opposite, and confess your name and pray and make supplication to you in this temple, verse 34, then hear from heaven, forgive the sins of your people and bring them back to the land which you gave their fathers. Solomon over and over again is saying, look, God, when they come to you in this place, hear their prayer and answer their prayer.

20:28 Two more verses there in 1 Kings 8, verses 44 and 45. Again, yet more personal for Hezekiah. When your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever you send them, and when they pray to the Lord toward the city which you have chosen and the temple which I've built for your name, then hear from heaven and their supplication and maintain their cause.

20:53 Hezekiah knew this. Hezekiah knew that if he and the nation got in trouble, there was only one place to go, that they went to the Lord. For him, that meant going into the temple and seeking the Lord. He sought his God in the house of God. Now the thing that made the temple so important and so glorious was not its beauty, was not its value. In fact, back in chapter 18, it says that Hezekiah got the gold from melting them off the doors of the temple. the value and the gold is of no importance. No, what made the temple special was that the Lord decided to make his earthly dwelling in that place. And so Hezekiah goes into the building. But it wasn't just the building. It was the God who dwelt in the building. Now, here's where it becomes applicable for us. Is the same thing should be true for you?

21:48 Not that you would fly somewhere and go into some earthly temple, no. Not at all. that the place you would go would maybe more accurately be a person that you would go to. That when life comes upon you and you don't know what to do, the first thing you know is that you can go to God. The first thing that you know, the place you go is you go to him. Now because of what Jesus did for you on the cross, we have better promises, the Bible says, than Hezekiah had. Let me show it to you in Hebrews 4, verses 15 and 16. He says, For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. Verse 16. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in a time of need. Listen, you don't need to fly and go into some earthly temple. You can go straight into the presence of God.

22:43 Why? Because of what Christ has done for you. Hezekiah went into a building. You get to go into his presence. And you go straight to him. John Phillips is helpful here. One of my favorite commentators, he says this. He says, in the Old Testament times, the ordinary Israelite could not approach the Holy of Holies where God was enthroned. That is the inner room of the temple. For that was the sole annual prerogative of the high priest, meaning the high priest did it once a year. But we can approach the throne of grace at any time and as often as we wish, whenever we have a need, knowing that our needs are fully known to our priest and will be met with mercy and grace. Listen, it's not just that you would know where to go, it's that you would know to whom you can go. And it's not just that you can go to him, it's that you're welcomed, invited, and wanted there.

23:38 Now all of you who are parents know all about this. That when your child is in any kind of trouble, the expectation is that they would come running to you. And I know there's been times where my children have sought to take care of issues on their own. Sometimes they did really well. Other times creating a bigger mess, as you parents know. And oftentimes I say, sweetheart, come to me.

24:03 If the door is closed, then knock on the door. If I can't hear you, then shout a little louder. I'm always available to you. If there's trouble, come to me. That's how God feels. That's how God thinks. Is that whenever you're in trouble, whenever you don't know what to do, you come straight to him. One more verse and we'll move on. Ephesians 2 verse 18 says, for through him, that is through Christ, through his cross, we both have access by one spirit to the Father. Make sure that when you don't know what to do, that you know where to go. Let's look at the second action Hezekiah takes. It's this, that you gotta know who to ask. You must know who to ask. By God's grace, he has not left us completely alone in life. But who do you go to when you don't know what to do? Well, Hezekiah gives us a great example.

24:58 In verse 2 there in your Bible, Hezekiah sends his counselors to Isaiah the prophet. Now, by this time, Isaiah is an aging older prophet. In fact, he's been in the ministry for at least 38 years, if you start tracing all the years and all the dates. He's been in the ministry for at least 38 years, and he's proven himself a faithful messenger of the Lord. And this is who Hezekiah decides to go to. Now, this verse serves as a great example to each of us, that when you and I are in a tough spot, that we should seek counsel from other believers, and especially those who are more seasoned saints than ourselves. And as I thought about the term seasoned saints, I actually wondered if I should talk to Pastor George about changing the name for Encore. I think seasoned saints sounds pretty cool. That's a conversation for another day.

25:49 And so let me just throw this out there. If you're here tonight and you don't have that person in your life, you don't have an Isaiah to go to, that you don't have somebody that's older and has been walking with the Lord longer and is just a wiser, older person that can give you the word of God and pray for you, then let me encourage you to do a few things. The first thing I would say, ask the Lord to bring them into your life. Ask the Lord to bring that person into your life. Next thing I would say is find someone around you that you're impressed with their walk with Jesus and just ask them. Ask them for prayer. Ask them for guidance. Ask them for help. Now your response might be like, oh no, I don't wanna bother them. Listen, the seasoned saints sitting around you are praying for people to ask them. They want to walk you through whatever's going on. They want to disciple you through that situation.

26:44 And so Hezekiah goes to an older saint. Look at verse three down in your Bibles. They go to Isaiah, and this is what the counselors say to Isaiah. It says, they said to him, thus says Hezekiah, this is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy. For the children have come to birth, but there's no strength to bring them forth. I'm going to stop there for a moment. That's a very dangerous situation, especially in that day and time. is that the woman is so exhausted from labor that she's out of strength, but there's no baby. It's very dangerous for both baby and mama. And so he paints this desperate situation. Verse four, it says, it may be that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, that is the commander of the Assyrian army, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to reproach the living God and will rebuke the words of the Lord your God has heard. And then he says this, therefore, lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.

27:45 Hezekiah, his counselors come, they state the scenario to Isaiah, they tell him about it, and then they ask him to pray. I love the fact that they ask Isaiah to pray before they ask for counsel. That's good. That you would pray before you get counsel. Why? Because you and I should invite God into every situation. And so before they ask Isaiah, what do we do? They ask Isaiah, will you pray for us? So good. Because ultimately, there's nothing wrong with going to man, that is mankind. If you go to a spirit-filled believer with a troublesome situation when you don't know what to do, that's good. The Bible says there's safety in the multitude of counselors, but listen, when we go to them, ultimately, we're going to the Lord. And our hope is that they would be a channel through which the Lord would speak to us. But then Isaiah's response at the beginning of verse 6 proves that he was the right man to go to. Look at Isaiah the beginning of verse 6.

28:46 Isaiah responds, it says, Isaiah said to them, thus you shall say to your master, thus says the Lord. Stop there. Thus says the Lord, Isaiah says. Isaiah doesn't give him his great ideas. Isaiah doesn't give him five steps to defeating the Assyrian army. You know, guide for dummies, those yellow books. Isaiah doesn't say, okay, hold on. I have an idea. I think maybe you should. No. Isaiah shares with him the word of God. He says, thus says the Lord. Now being a prophet, Isaiah gives a divine revelation to Hezekiah that God was going to take care of this situation for him. But I do want to point out that this is a great model for when we do seek other people out for counsel. Is that when you go to somebody for counsel, you need to be sure that the counsel you're receiving is in accordance with the word of God. That they should be able to open up their Bible and says, look, what you're saying actually reminds me of this account from 2 Kings chapter 19.

30:00 That what you're telling me about, I just read this morning in the book of Proverbs. That last Sunday when Pastor Jack mentioned this, it applies to your situation. And you're leading them back to the word of God. Isaiah gives them God's word, not man's ideas. God's word, not worldly philosophies. Now, this is amazing for a couple reasons. One, because it's accurate and it's safe, but also because this was not the norm in Isaiah's day. In Isaiah's day, there were false prophets that ran rampant through the land. So much so that all the way back in Isaiah chapter eight, there were people who wanted to know what to do when the nation was in trouble. And rather than going to God, They were going and consulting mediums and what the new King James called wizards, which were people who talked to the spirits of the dead. Look at Isaiah chapter 8, verses 19 and 20, and I want you to see how God responds to these people.

30:59 Verse 19, he says, and when they say to you, seek those who are mediums and wizards who whisper and mutter, that is, seek those for advice. God says, should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? Verse 20, to the law and to the testimony, if they do not speak according to this word, it's because there is no light in them. God tells Isaiah, hey, there's people out there who are trying to talk to the dead on behalf of the living. No, go to the word of God. And if they don't come to the word of God, then there's no light in them. What do you do when you're stuck? Well, you go to people. You go to somebody. You ask for help. But what do they tell you? Are you personally receiving worldly or demonic advice from your coworkers, family members, friends?

31:59 When it comes to the most intimate matters of your life, are you testing every piece of advice and counsel against the word of God? And so Hezekiah teaches us that we can go to godly older believers and Isaiah lays down this foundation. And this is how you'll know if that person is a person that you can go to. The first thing Isaiah does is he prays. The second thing Isaiah does is he gives the word of God. Do you wanna know if that person is wise in counsel? Are they praying for you? And are they giving you the word of God? Now you may say, wait a second, whoa, whoa, whoa. What if my specific issue that I'm dealing with is not something that's covered in God's word? What if it's not that specific? Well, the good news is you find a biblical principle that most nearly aligns with what's going on and you use that biblical principle to discern what you should do.

32:53 This is what the psalmist said in Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse 104, he says, Through your precepts, that is through your word, I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. Then down in verse 130, he says, As the entrance of your word gives light, it gives understanding to the simple. That as you read God's word, it may not tell you which job to take. It may not tell you which house to buy. It may not tell you where to go for vacation. It may not tell you which person to marry. No, but you should be able to find in God's word basic principles that will give understanding to the simple. and sometimes you need an older saint's help to find those things. And so Hezekiah knew that in this situation he needed to hear from the Lord and so he sent for one who knew would pray for him and give him godly counsel.

33:51 Now just very quickly, because it fits with the theme of tonight, briefly look back with me at verse six in your Bible. Isaiah gives here one of the most repeated commands in the entire Bible and it's simply this, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. One of the, or if not the most, repeated command in the Bible.

34:13 Uncertainty, when you don't know what to do, can often cause fear. And yet over and over again, we're told in God's word not to be afraid. To trust God through the unknown. now I'm not speaking of the severity of your problem because some of you are going through things that I could never imagine going through for even a moment but it does speak of the sovereignty of your God that though your problem may be severe your God is sovereign Psalm 46 verses 1 through 3 he says God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble Therefore, in light of that truth, in light of that reality, we will not fear. And then he goes on to give four conditions even. He says, even though the earth be removed, though the mountains be carried in the midst of the sea, though the waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling, it almost feels like there should be something that comes after that.

35:18 but if you look there at the bottom of the screen, it says, Selah, meaning stop, pause, ponder, and think. That no matter what comes upon you, God is a present help in trouble. And so Isaiah prays, he gives Hezekiah the word of God, which leads us to our third action, which is this, to know what God's word says. That when you don't know what to do, you need to know what God's word says. We find this in verses 8 and 9. In verses 8 and 9, we read that God sends a distraction to Assyria. He says that they'll hear a rumor. And if you continue reading down in verse 19 beyond, beginning in verse 21, you find out that there is a rumor that he hears. And what happens is the king of Assyria temporarily pulls his troops back from attacking Judah and they go to fight on another front.

36:13 But before they leave to fight on this other front, they write Hezekiah a letter. it's almost like before they go, they just want to jab him one more time. And we find this letter, or the contents of it, in verses 10 through 13. So I want to look at that together with you. Let's start in verse 10 together, 2 Kings chapter 19 verse 10. He says, thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah. So this is the letter he's writing. He says, Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. He comes to Hezekiah and he tells him and all of Judah to not trust God. Don't trust God.

37:01 This word trust, it means to have trust in, to be confident in, to be sure, to be bold, or to hope. And the word deceive there, it means to lead astray, to dilute, or to seduce. Now when you're looking at those verses, this is what the Rabshakeh is telling Hezekiah. Is whatever your God told you, he's deceiving you. Don't trust God. You can't have hope in God. now I just want to point out quickly that this is Satan's oldest trick and I can actually prove it to you biblically speaking because he will always cast doubt on God's word and God's promises you see that word deceive there in your bibles in verse 10 it is the exact same Hebrew word for deceive that is used all the way back in Genesis chapter 3 verse 13 what is Genesis 3 13? Well, that's when Eve is responding to God and says, the Lord God said to the woman, what have you done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me and I ate.

38:16 That's Satan's oldest trick is to deceive, to dilute, to lead you astray. Now the question is, how did Satan lead Eve astray? I know you guys are a well-taught bunch and so you know. Genesis chapter 3, verse 1. It says, now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God has made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said? The oldest trick of the Satan, the oldest trick of the enemy, is to cast doubt on the word of God. He says, has God indeed said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. Verse 4, the serpent said to the woman, you will surely not die. Listen, when the enemy of your soul wants to mess you up, he's gonna shoot at the foundation.

39:13 The foundation for our life as believers is the very word and promises of God. And so he's gonna cast doubt on God's word and God's promises just like he did with Eve. That's what he's doing in our culture. It seems to be on steroids, on social media, and YouTube. And that's exactly what he tried to do with Hezekiah. Now, somehow we find out in verses 11 through 13 that the Rabshakeh, the commander of his army, must have heard what Isaiah had told Hezekiah. And so look in your Bibles at verses 11 through 13. This is still the Rabshakeh writing his letter. He says, look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands by utterly destroying them. And then he casts this first seed of doubt, shall you be delivered? Is that not exactly what God said?

40:09 I will deliver you. And he says, will you be delivered? Verse 12, have the gods of the nations delivered those whom my fathers have destroyed? Gozen, Haran, Rezeph, the people of Eden who were in Telassar? verse 13. Where is the king of Hamath? The king of Arpad? The king of the city of the Sepharvim, Hanna, and Iva? With every single question, you can see what he's doing. He's casting a seed of doubt, a seed of doubt, a seed of doubt. He gives Hezekiah every reason not to believe in what God said. this is why you and I need to know the word of God for ourselves. This is why you cannot trust in a once a week hour dose of Bible study and then spend the rest of the week with your Bible closed.

41:10 This is why you and I need to wake up, for me personally, it's every morning, and open up God's word and say, God, would you speak to me today? I don't need the warm and tinglys. I don't need the feelings. I don't need to feel fuzzy inside. What I need to do is prepare because I'm gonna go out into this world where Satan is trying to deceive and destroy. He's going around like a roaring lion and he's looking for you and he's looking for me. The question is, do we know the word of God well enough to defend ourselves? knowing God's word will protect you from all kinds of schemes and attacks of the enemy. You guys know this, but it bears repeating. In Ephesians 6, beginning in verse 11, I'm gonna bounce around a little bit, but he says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And I wanna stop there for a moment. That word wiles, the Greek word is the word methodia, and it is where we get our word methods.

42:04 You see it there on the screen. It means trickery, scheming, cunning arts. Can you picture the devil? If you've read screw tape letters, you know this is how C.S. Lewis put it. But can you picture him just scheming? How can we trip them up? How can we deceive them? How can we leave them astray? Cunning arts, deceit, craft, and trickery. So back to Ephesians chapter 6. He says that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Stand therefore having girded your waist with truth, verse 17. and take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Listen, if you don't have a sword in your hand and truth girding your waist, you're gonna be tripping over yourself and have no defense. That's why Paul says to have truth and to have a sword. It is with God's word that you and I have the ability to see the lies as they come and avoid them.

42:56 And God's word will keep us out of all kinds of trouble when we apply it to our lives. Now I do want you to notice Let's go. the timing of all this, the timing of the seeds of doubt for Hezekiah. It was not when Hezekiah was on his highest moment or on his best day. The enemy strategically came to Hezekiah when he was in the thick of it. And that seems to be when the enemy comes whispering lies and doubts to us as well. if Hezekiah did not know God's word he would have been tossed to and fro like a raging sea but Hezekiah held tightly to God's word and so when you don't know what to do you must know what God's word says which brings us to our fourth action tonight which is this you need to know how to pray you need to know how to pray because this letter from Rabshakeh he comes and we just read it It was in the verses we just went through.

44:02 In verses 8 through 13, we read the letter. But it comes and it's full of blasphemy against God. It's full of lies against his character. And it's full of doubts against his power. And this letter comes to Hezekiah. Now, I want you to notice very carefully what Hezekiah does. This has to be one of the most practical and awesome moments, in my view, in the entire Bible. And I don't think I'm overstating it. Look in your Bibles at verse 14. Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of God and spread it before the Lord. Just picture this in your mind. Hezekiah gets this letter. Now, I'm just trying to picture myself. I don't know if I would use it to like wipe my tears out of fear. I don't know if I would shred it and put it in the fire and say, you know, good luck or whatever I would say.

44:59 But Hezekiah, in a moment of absolute clarity, takes this letter, goes into the temple, and I just picture him getting on his hands and knees, spreading out the letter before the Lord, and essentially saying, Lord, look at what they're saying about you. And what we learn from Hezekiah is that he does not make prayer his last resort, he makes it his first resource. He doesn't get the boys together, he doesn't get the gang moving, He doesn't begin to sharpen the sword. He goes in to God.

45:36 Is that what you do when trouble comes knocking? Do you go straight to him? Or are there times where you've made him your backup plan? I know there's times where I'm presented with a problem and it's very difficult. And so I want to spring straight into action. I just want to fix it. I want to take care of it. I'm going to get after this when the reality is what I should do is take a note from Hezekiah and take that problem, spread it before the Lord and say, God, what do I do? God, how would you lead me?

46:06 And so Hezekiah knows how to pray. Now, fortunately for us, Hezekiah's prayer is recorded. And it's very instructive because sometimes when you don't know what to do, you may not know how to pray. And that's okay, the Bible tells us in the New Testament that the Holy Spirit will assist us when we don't know how to pray. But we also can take this format from Hezekiah and pray when we're in difficulty. I want to show you guys three things that Hezekiah does. The first thing is in verse 15. And he recognizes God's glory. He recognizes God's glory. That's what he does. He recognizes and declares the glory, power, and authority of God. Look in your Bibles at verse 15. It says, then Hezekiah prayed. So he goes in, he spreads out the letter, and he prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord God of Israel, the one who dwells between the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. And then this last phrase, you have made heaven and earth.

47:08 the unknown, the fear, the anxiety, the troubles, the decisions, the trials that come upon you all seem very big when you're focused on them. But what Hezekiah does is he takes his problems and he shrinks them in the presence of God. He says, God, you made heaven and earth. God, you are God, yes, even of the kingdoms that don't obey your word. He says, God, you are the one who dwells between the cherubim. God, that's you.

47:47 Hezekiah sets his troubles next to God, and you and I should do the same. Is that when we don't know what to do and we don't know how to handle a situation, if we get too fixed on that situation, it gets bigger and bigger and bigger, and the doubts go stronger and stronger and stronger when the reality is if we would go to God and say, God, you created heaven and earth. God, you made my life. My life is in your hands.

48:14 Recognizing the glory of God. Why is this important? Well, Hebrews 11, 6 is telling for us this evening. He says, without faith, it is impossible to please him. for he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he's a rewarder of those who diligently seek them or him rather. So for Hezekiah to go into the Lord and spread out this note to the Lord, it was him believing that God was bigger than the problem. It was the faith that made Hezekiah confident. He recognized God's glory. I do believe that this is why Jesus taught us to pray our father in heaven, hallowed be your name rather than our Father in heaven, here's all my problems. You get to your problems a little bit further down in Matthew 6. Don't worry, they're there. You can talk to them about them, just like Hezekiah does. But the first thing we do is say, God, you're holy.

49:09 God, you are entirely set apart from all creation as the one and only God. So that's the first thing. Let's look at the second thing, is he realizes the real problem. He realizes what is really at stake here. For Hezekiah, the real problem was not the threat of the invasion. That was not the real problem. That was a fruit issue, if I could put it this way. That is what produced the problem. The invasion was what was the fruit. What was the root? The root issue is that they were mocking the glory of God. That was the root issue. If Assyria knew the power and glory of God, they never would have come to Israel's gates. In fact, they would have bowed their own knees. But because they did not believe in the glory of God, they mocked him. And Hezekiah took that personally. We see it in verse 16. In verse 16, Hezekiah is still praying. He says, incline your ear, O Lord, and hear.

50:03 Open your eyes, O Lord, and see. And hear the words of Sennacherib, which he sent notice to reproach the living God. He doesn't just talk about the attack. He talks about how he is mocking God. So Hezekiah goes in and says, God, they're mocking you. Remember when you were a little kid and you thought your dad was Superman? You're like, wait till my dad finds out. My dad could beat up your dad. That's what's going on here. Except Hezekiah says, God, they're mocking you. Are there other problems in Hezekiah's life right now? Oh, yeah. Of course. But for Hezekiah, the biggest problem is that they were mocking his God. Which leads us to the third thing, which is this. He requests help. Like I mentioned, it's not that you can't ask for help. In fact, Hezekiah here is very specific in verse 19. He says, Now therefore, O Lord, our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord God, you alone.

51:06 Hezekiah gets specific. His prayer is for the glory and honor of God. He prays that God would help them, not just simply so that they would be safe, but rather so that he would be glorified. And notice what it says there, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the Lord God. Interestingly enough, this was supposed to be Israel's mission, was to shine a light to the world that God was the true God. And so Isaiah, or Hezekiah prays exactly in line with the will, the revealed will of God. When Hezekiah didn't know what to do, he knew how to pray. and in doing so, he also teaches us how to pray when we don't know what to do. Not only can we pray, but we can also pray boldly knowing that God hears us and desires to answer us. The old hymn written by Joseph Scriven goes this way.

52:00 I'm sure you guys have heard it. It says, oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. this leads to our fifth and final action that we take. And this one certainly would be the hardest of all of them. Because it has a four-letter word in it. Not a four-letter word that you might be thinking when you think of four-letter words. But it has the word wait.

52:39 We need to know when to wait. Hezekiah prays, and then he has to do that terrible, terrible word that we all hate so much. Wait. but God's word has a lot to say about waiting, especially when it comes to waiting on the Lord. I wanna give you a few rapid fire verses, just write them down. Let's go to the first one, Proverbs 20, 22. It says, do not say I will recompense evil. Wait for the Lord and he will save you. Next one, Psalm 130, verse five. I will wait for the Lord, and then he declares, my soul waits, and in his word, I do hope. Psalm 25 verse 3. Indeed, let no one who waits on you be ashamed. Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without a cause. Now sometimes when we hear the term wait on the Lord, it may seem like Christianese and ambiguous and we really don't know what it means. Well, biblically speaking, waiting on the Lord is different than waiting in line. It's different than waiting for something you've ordered at a restaurant, and it's different than waiting at the DMV. Thank God.

53:56 Waiting on the Lord is an active process of seeking God while patiently waiting for Him to act on your behalf. Let me say that one more time. Waiting on the Lord is an active process of seeking God while waiting for him to act on your behalf. If you want to know what that looks like, look at the first four points from tonight. The first four points illustrate Hezekiah waiting on the Lord. Once you notice, he was not rash. He did not go out and make a foolish decision. he received information and he took it to the Lord. He received information and he looked at God's word. He received information and he prayed and sought counsel. The real temptation for us is to rush ahead and try to force something to happen when God is saying, hey, slow down and wait on me.

54:53 2 Kings 19, 20. Look at your Bibles there, verse 20. It says, Then Isaiah the son of Amos sent to Hezekiah, saying, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Because you have prayed to me against Sennacherib, king of Assyria, simply put, I have heard. Now you might be like, oh, well that's easy. Hezekiah didn't have to wait. Well, it's not immediately apparent here in the verses that Hezekiah and all of Judah actually did have to wait. The truth is that we don't know how long it was before God delivered Judah. It was at a very minimum, not on the same day, so it was not Amazon primed to him. he had to lay hold of the promise of God from Isaiah and all the verses that we read earlier about waiting on God and persevere in trust as he waited on him.

55:55 Now you can read God's full response in verses 21 through 34. I just want to point out a few verses. So if you still have your Bibles open, go to 2 Kings 19 and go down to verse 35. because verse 35 is after God's response and it says this and it kind of tells us how this all wraps up it says and it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out and killed the camp of Assyrians 185,000 when the people arose early in the morning there were the corpses all dead and if you continue reading it goes on to say that Sennacherib's own children killed him in his temple of his God. What's my point? Look there at the beginning of verse 35, and maybe you'll highlight it, underline it in your Bibles. It doesn't say on the same night. It says on a certain night.

56:50 We don't know how long Hezekiah had to wait, but we do know that God moved and acted in God's own perfect time, and there's gonna be times in your life where you feel like God missed the perfect window, where you feel like God is maybe a little too late, but let me share something with you. God is never late. God never misses the mark. God never drops the ball. I want to close with one last verse, and then I want to tell you a short story, very short story, I promise. Psalm 27, verse 14. It says, wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Hezekiah needed to know when it was time to wait. now when it comes to troubles difficulties trials decisions and all these things the real issue is when you and I don't know what to do we must do what we know now all of this is undergirded by the fact that God's character is unchanging and Charles Spurgeon used to tell this story of a man who used to sail with his wife and he used to sail with his wife and one night there was an especially stormy sea, and the boat was up, the boat was down, and the woman was anxious, terrified, afraid, and the man was just at the helm, confidently steering the ship.

58:13 Now the wife comes and says, hey. why are you not afraid? Why are you so confident in this storm? Now the husband pulls out his sword immediately, interesting relationship, turns the sword towards his wife and looks at her. And so she smiles and looks back at him and he says, why are you smiling? And she said, because, and he said, don't you know this sword is sharp enough that I could slay you here in the moment? And she says, but I know the man in whom, I know the man's hand in whom the sword is, and I trust him. He sheathed his sword and he said at the helm of his ship, I know the man whose hand we are, and I trust him. No matter what you're going through, listen, trust him, and when you don't know what to do, do what you know, amen?

59:11 Let's pray. Father, we come this evening and God, we've sang songs about your glory, about your trustworthiness, about how good you are. Lord, Hezekiah is an amazing example of a man who was at a loss of words. He didn't know what to do and so he went to you. He didn't know what to do so he sought counsel. He didn't know what to do so he sought your word. He didn't know what to do so he prayed. Lord, he didn't know what to do so he waited. Father in this room I know there's those that are going through all kinds of difficulties they don't know what to do some of them God I pray that tonight they'd go home just like that sailor confidently at the helm of a ship that was going through a storm knowing that they're in your hands Father, for those that have decisions to make, they're not bad or good.

1:00:05 They're not life or death. They really have no serious bearing on their life, but they don't know what to do. God, would they apply these principles to their life? And Father, for anybody that might be here who is not in either of those positions, God, would they take this and put it in their pocket because they may never know when that time will come upon them.

1:00:27 Father, these people are in your hands and you are God. you alone. Father, would you guide, protect, and keep them in your perfect will?