[0:00] Let's open up the Bible to Isaiah chapter number 10 this morning, the prophet Isaiah and chapter number 10. And we're going to begin by reading verses 5 through 15.
[0:23] Isaiah chapter 10, and please follow with me from verses 5 to 15. O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.
[0:41] I will send him against an hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
[0:54] How be it, he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so. But it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few.
[1:05] For he saith, are not my princes altogether kings? Is not Calno as Carchemish? Is not Hamath as Arpid? Is not Samaria as Damascus? As my hand hath found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria, shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
[1:28] Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion, and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.
[1:39] For he saith, by the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent. And I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man.
[1:50] And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people. And as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth. And there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.
[2:02] Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it, as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood?
[2:16] Now what's going on here is that we've got a king of Assyria that God has raised up, and he has decided to use him for his own purpose against his people Israel.
[2:32] And so he calls him a rod in verse 5, and a staff as that he mentions later in verse 15. And the king of Assyria is that rod and staff that God is using to judge and to punish Israel.
[2:48] However, this king, although he was lifted up and raised up by God, he has to be cut down, and he has to be destroyed by God, because of his pride, and because, as it says in verse 12, his stout heart.
[3:05] And God's quick to simplify the whole situation for us, as we read in verse 15. I'll read it again. He illustrates what's taken place through his eyes in understandable terms, saying in verse 15, Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?
[3:20] Or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? And he's saying, King of Assyria, you have. You have boasted against the one that was using you.
[3:32] You have lifted yourself up and said it was you and not me. And in this passage, the Assyrian, the king of Assyria, displays an attitude that God takes personal. In verse 15, Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?
[3:48] Magnifying itself against him that shaketh it. God took it personal that this king that he had chosen and purposed to use for his own purposes that he pronounced, this king got lifted up and decided to do his own thing.
[4:04] And God didn't like that a bit. And so he had to knock him back down and cut him down and destroy him. And as the passage goes on into the future, how he's going to destroy him. I want to notice today the Assyrian attitude.
[4:18] The Assyrian attitude. And as we do this, I want to caution us all to consider what we see in this king and realize that when we stray from God and when we lose the focus of what God's called us to do and the purpose wherewith he's planted us into this world, we get looking on other things and we cease to take heed to our heart and we cease to take heed to our fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ that we can quickly slip into what I'm going to call the Assyrian attitude, which is going to prove destructive in our own life, destructive in our testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ and destructive in anything we ever try to do for him and fulfill any ministry that he might have called us to.
[5:01] And so this morning I want to preach to you about the Assyrian attitude. And before we do, let's pray together. Lord God, we've never met this king of Assyria. We've never met the prophet Isaiah.
[5:13] We've probably, most of us, never been in Jerusalem or even seen the landscape here that we're speaking of and reading about. But God, the scripture gives us a story.
[5:23] You've placed this in your book, retained it for our learning. And so God, help us to take heed this morning to what took place in the past and to avoid it and be able to then avoid its consequences.
[5:35] God, open our eyes to ourselves and to our flesh and to the wicked one that's inside of us that would rise up against your will and rise up against your commands and would seek to do things our own way.
[5:48] Lord, help us to see this attitude and may we chase it far from us by your spirit. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. The Assyrian attitude. Let's get right into it.
[5:59] Notice, first of all, that the king of Assyria overstepped his orders. You see this in verses 6 and 7 where God says, I'm going to send him against an hypocritical nation and against the people of my wrath.
[6:11] Will I give him a charge? So this is God charging this man as if he's the commander in God's army saying, here's what I want you to do. Go do it and report back to me.
[6:24] God gave him a charge. He said in verse 6 to take the spoil, take the prey, tread him down like the mire of the streets. But verse 7 says, how be it, he meaneth not so. Neither does his heart think so.
[6:37] He thought, no. I'm going to do something different. Actually, I'm going to destroy and cut off a lot more nations than just that one.
[6:47] I've got an opportunity here. And I'm going to take advantage of it. And the king of Assyria overstepped his orders and in doing so ignored God's will and God's purpose for him.
[6:59] And as he says, he's an axe that's boasting himself against the one that's hewing therewith. God gave him a charge. God pledged judgment upon his people, Israel, because they were deserving of his judgment.
[7:12] They had violated his law, his commands. He had sent prophets to them, rising up early and sending them. And they chased them away and killed them. Said, we won't want to submit ourselves to you.
[7:22] So they deserved it. They were disobedient. God uses the king of Assyria to fulfill this judgment and punishment. And in the future, God's going to raise his people back up and he's going to bring them back into the land.
[7:35] And guess what? He's going to use the king Cyrus to do it. Another just a servant, as he calls him in the book of Isaiah. His servant to restore and to build them back up. And God's, you read in Proverbs chapter 21, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord.
[7:49] As the rivers of water, he turneth it with us, whoever he will. And you can study that out through the scriptures. You're going to find that God's, as he has his hand on the king's hearts in the Bible, it's him working and using them as instruments to deal with his people, Israel, whether to lift them up or to take them down.
[8:05] And it's almost always, if not always, associated with the nation of Israel. And so the king, though, decides that he has other plans and he chooses to ignore these parameters that God has set forth.
[8:17] And he goes beyond it. Why? Because he's not recognizing that God lifted him up for a purpose and that God chose to use him. Instead, he says, I'm going to use this as an opportunity for me.
[8:29] I see something here that I can get out of this. And I can gain in power. And I can gain in wealth. And it just shows the wickedness of his heart. And so he saw a chance to be greater, a chance to be stronger as a king in a nation, a chance to be richer.
[8:45] And he said, I'm going to go for it. This is my chance. And we might say the king got too big for his britches. And what happened was his own destruction. Now, this isn't the only kind of time this took place.
[8:56] I want to show you a few examples of this. Let's come back to 1 Samuel chapter 13. 1 Samuel chapter 13. When a king or any man seeks to lift himself up and overstep the orders that God gave him, you can count on, he's not going to get away with it.
[9:15] Destruction will follow. In 1 Samuel 13, we are introduced to the first king of Israel, Saul. And Saul, very early on in his reign, although God was merciful to him and allowed him to reign longer, Saul cut himself short right away.
[9:32] Look at 1 Samuel 13. And the situation here is he's got a battle. And before the battle, he's supposed to wait for Samuel because Samuel said, I'd be there in seven days, so wait for me.
[9:44] And do this at Gilgal. And when I come, we'll offer the sacrifices and you can go and God's going to grant you the victory. And Saul got a little impatient about this. And verse number 8, he says, He tarried seven days according to the set time that Samuel had appointed, but Samuel came not to Gilgal.
[10:01] And the people were scattered from him. So Saul's like, I've got to do something. I've got to do it now. And Saul said, Bring hither the burnt offering to me, and peace offerings. And he offered the burnt offering. And as it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came.
[10:15] And Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And he tries to blame the people. He tries to justify the situation. And in verse 13, Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly.
[10:27] Thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee. For now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue.
[10:38] The Lord has sought him a man after his own heart. And you know what? We know about the next king, David. The man after God's own heart. And we know David. And we know the covenant that God entered into with David.
[10:49] And we know that Christ came from David's line. And do you realize that none of that had to be? God has sought to establish Saul. As he said, would have been established upon Israel forever in verse 13.
[11:03] But he overstepped his orders. And that's the end of that for you, bud. You're done. I had big plans for you. But you messed up. Look at 2 Chronicles chapter 26.
[11:19] Boy, if Saul could go back and undo that one. 2 Chronicles chapter 26. Here's another king a little later on. King Uzziah.
[11:33] Notice verse 16. Things are going well. He's a very industrious man. Industrious king. Building and inventing and successful.
[11:46] And in verse 16. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction. For he transgressed against the Lord his God. And went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
[12:00] Boy, that king overstepped his orders. And the Azariah the priest went in after him. And with him fourscore priests of the Lord that were valiant men. They withstood Uzziah the king and said unto him, It appertaineth not to thee, Uzziah, to burn incense.
[12:12] They said, You can't do this. This is not right. Get out of here. And they chased him out. The Bible says that in verse 19, Leprosy rose up in his forehead. And they thrust him out.
[12:23] He hasted to get out because the Lord's smitten him. Verse 21 says, Uzziah the king was a leper until the day of his death. And dwelt in the several house being a leper. For he was cut off from the house of the Lord.
[12:33] What a way. That didn't have to go that way for you either, King Uzziah. I mean, talk about a blunder to his name and to his legacy.
[12:44] He's a leper. King, you better wake up. These kings here, there's a temptation within them to get somewhere and to see, I can have more. I can do more.
[12:55] And they overstepped their orders. And that's what the king of Assyria did here. He overstepped his orders. And you can't overstep and get away with it. The common phrase today would be stay in your lane.
[13:08] Just stay in your lane. Be content to serve God where you are. Be content to serve God with what he's placed in your lap. Whatever abilities he's given you, just give it to God.
[13:18] Glorify God with it. Stop looking at what others can do or how God's used others or what they, if they've done it, I could do it. That's a temptation. That's surely a temptation in all levels of life. Whether it's in the ministry or at the home, I mean, you may think, oh, I'm just a stay-at-home mom.
[13:34] Or I'm a homeschool mom. That's all I am. Hey, do all to the glory of God. And take heed to the ministry that thou hast received of the Lord, that thou fulfill it. Don't ever despise something as what seems as simple as that.
[13:49] You know, in the construction world, when I was working construction, we had a little statement. When somebody wouldn't want to do a particular part of the job, it was maybe the dirty work or it was just something that was just tough.
[14:00] It was brutal. And they weren't looking forward to this section of the job. Some guys would say, hey, if it was easy, they'd have women do it. That'd be the statement. And the statement really was just saying, hey, man up.
[14:14] You got to do it. Somebody's got to do it. And it's not easy. So just toughen up and go do it. And I think of the opposite side of that, about a stay-at-home mom and all the work that gets done at the house and training the kids and the work, especially those early years of their life, and think, hey, if it was easy, men would stay home and do it.
[14:32] It's not easy. It is not easy at all. I didn't know anything about this until I got a wife and had a home and had children and began to see this is a lot that goes on in training children and in keeping a house together.
[14:50] There's a lot of work to it. And I'm not just trying to park here for the night, but stay in your lane. And if it's something that God's called you to, then be diligent and take heed to it and realize that God knows what He's doing and submit to it and own it and do what you can for it.
[15:07] Do all the glory of God. Maybe you're not that stay-at-home person. Maybe you have a successful career or maybe God's blessed you in your work. Well, what about you? Are you going to overstep your orders?
[15:18] Are you going to try to go for something bigger or something better or more than God has put in front of your lap? Are you going to let the devil dangle some bait in front of you and say, you got it. You've done this. You can do more.
[15:29] You can have more. You might want to just exercise contentment and be thankful and be diligent to communicate the blessings as God would have you and be quick to think of others.
[15:42] Be content with your orders. Don't overstep them. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden had everything but just wanted one more thing. Just one more thing. And what did they get?
[15:54] Did the knowledge of good and evil really improve their lifestyle? In sinning and in overstepping what God said, they brought sin into this world and death by sin so that death passed upon all men.
[16:08] Boy, it went downhill from there. Don't overstep your orders. The Assyrian attitude. The king of Assyria overstepped his orders. Secondly, in the passage in Isaiah 10, the king of Assyria was consumed with self.
[16:23] Look at verse 8. And if you want, you can count for yourself, but I count 12 times in this passage where he refers to himself. I. My. In verse 8, he saith, And you can keep seeing it.
[16:58] Verse 13. Verse 14. This man is absolutely consumed with self. Me. My. I did that. Look what I've done. These are all my things.
[17:11] The Assyrian attitude is a selfish attitude. It's a me first, self-centered, egotistical attitude, so consumed with himself that he's blinded to the situation that's at hand and to the reality that surrounds him.
[17:25] Think of this. He is being used by God, verse 6, to punish a hypocritical nation. He's used by God, raised up for that reason, a nation that refused God's will and that chose to do it their own way.
[17:41] Shouldn't that sound a little familiar? King, what you're doing here? What you've decided to do? He meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so. I'm not going to do that.
[17:53] I'm going to do what I want to do. Doesn't he see? No, he doesn't see what's happening around him. He doesn't see that he's being exactly what they were being, that God decided to judge them.
[18:04] Because he was so consumed with self, he was too consumed to see it. He was too in love with what he was doing, too in love with seeing his pockets get fatter, too in love with seeing his kingdom grow stronger, his army conquer more, to realizing that he's weaving his own web and he's not going to get away with it.
[18:26] He was consumed with self. And success can do that to a person. Look at Luke chapter 12 first. Luke chapter 12, and notice that success can have that effect on some people.
[18:40] If you don't stay humble and stay close to Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ will point that out to you, and he'll rebuke that in you, but the Assyrian attitude is to be consumed with self.
[18:57] Notice in Luke chapter 12, verse number 16, he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully, and he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do?
[19:12] Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, This will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods, and I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years.
[19:31] Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then who shall those things be which thou hast provided?
[19:42] Notice verse 21, So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. The Assyrian was consumed with himself.
[19:52] God calls this man a fool. A fool that's living in the moment, consumed with his possessions, rather than, as Christ said, being rich toward God. Look at chapter number 18.
[20:04] I trust you noticed the references to himself, me, I, my. He's a fool, consumed with self.
[20:15] Chapter 18, and look toward verse number 9, 9 through 14. He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.
[20:26] Two men went up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as a publican.
[20:39] I fast twice in the week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes into heaven, was smote upon his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
[20:51] I tell you that this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
[21:03] Somebody's going to have to get it. And it's the Pharisee. It's the one that's consumed with himself. He's going to have to be brought low. That's the only way God's going to be glorified in their life.
[21:16] In Daniel chapter 4, verse 30, remember Nebuchadnezzar, it says, The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty?
[21:30] While the word was in the king's mouth, down, boy. Down he goes to have his hair grown like eagle's feathers and nails like bird's claws.
[21:45] Down to the ground, literally down to the ground he went when he got lifted up. There's others. King Saul, we could show you that one as well. A man named Nabal in the life of David.
[21:56] These are fools that are consumed with themselves and display for us the Assyrian attitude. Come back to Isaiah chapter 10 and notice the third thing is that the king of Assyria, not only did he overstep his orders, he was consumed with self, but thirdly, he was deceived by pride.
[22:19] Deceived. It's a terrible place to be. Deceived by pride. Verse number 12, Wherefore it shall come to pass that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his high looks.
[22:36] You ever run those references about high looks or high things? It's devilish. It's spiritual. It's spiritual wickedness in high places. In Isaiah 24, I'll punish the host of the high ones that are on high.
[22:50] It's always wicked. And the king of Assyria has high looks and he's deceived by pride and it's just a recipe for deception and a recipe followed by destruction.
[23:03] The Bible says, Before destruction, the heart of man is haughty. Pride goeth before destruction. The Bible says in the Proverbs, A man's pride shall bring him low.
[23:15] You can count on it. God won't let a mountain get away with pride. In verse 13, he's deceived by pride because he thinks, number one, he thinks that he's stronger than he is.
[23:26] In verse 13, For he saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it. You know they say this, they say one thing that men learn from history is that men never learn from history.
[23:40] This man should have looked back and known that, I mean, he's a king. He's educated. He knows history. He knows powers and the world and the nations and Pharaoh in Egypt.
[23:52] How his heart was hardened by pride and lifted up against God and how he had to be brought low. Like so low that he was buried with his chariot underwater. He thinks he's stronger than he is.
[24:05] We've mentioned Nebuchadnezzar. There are several kings in the history of the nation of Israel, Judah and Israel, that experienced success, went to their head, went to their heart and God had to lower them.
[24:17] The Lord God had to remove them because he thought he was stronger than he was. Not only that, the king was deceived by pride, he thought he was wiser than he was. In verse 13, he said, By the strength of my hand I have done it and by my wisdom for I am prudent.
[24:33] He attributes his success to his wisdom and his prudence because pride had blinded his mind to realizing he's only a tool that's being used by Almighty God.
[24:49] People say this, people say that hard work will get you anywhere. If you give yourself to it, if you dedicate yourself, you devote your time and effort to it, you put in the work and you'll be successful.
[25:01] You could do anything you want to do. And there's a truth to hard work for sure in this life and success in this life, but I can tell you this, that's the very reason why God will not allow hard works to get into heaven.
[25:16] He won't let a man with his hard working ethic to work his way to heaven. You want to earn righteousness? You can't do it with your works. God saw to it, he made it so that anyone that seeks eternal life must bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, acknowledging his worthlessness and the righteousness of God, which is by faith in Christ Jesus.
[25:39] The Bible says that salvation's not of works, lest any man should boast. Jesus Christ, the only means of salvation. This man is deceived by pride, thinking he's stronger than he is, that he's wiser than he is, and thirdly, thinks that he's unstoppable.
[25:57] In verse 13, he finishes saying, I have removed the bounds of the people and have robbed their treasures and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. My hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people.
[26:09] And as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth. There was none that moved the wing or opened the mouth or peeped. Nobody said a thing against me. You know why? I'm unstoppable.
[26:20] You can't touch me. I'll do what I want. You want to, I walk in the room, nobody even opens their mouth because they know who I am. This man's lifted up in pride, deceived by his pride.
[26:33] Look at Jeremiah. I'll show you another example of this quickly. Jeremiah chapter 49. This is Edom. Some years later, God's pronouncing judgment against many of these nations, Moab and Ammon.
[26:50] And in chapter 49, verse Edom and Damascus and others. And as he gets down to verse 15 of chapter 49, he says, For lo, I will make thee small among the heathen and despised among men.
[27:05] Thy terribleness hath deceived thee and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock that holdest the height of the hill. Though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from then, saith the Lord, and Edom shall be a desolation.
[27:21] What was the problem? They got too tough. They got too invincible. They were so strong, it deceived them. The pride of their heart, verse 16, deceived them.
[27:35] Nobody could touch them. And God's like, Oh no, you're not seeing it either. Down you go. I'll make you a desolation. I'll wipe you out.
[27:45] Your economy, your kingdom, your royal line, it's done. No more to be thought of. The history books stop with you and it moves on to someone else.
[27:56] When someone's deceived by pride, he thought he was unstoppable. And that king of Assyria may have been strong, but he was only a tool that God picked up and then decided to lay down.
[28:09] And that's why God responds with, Shall the axe boast itself against him that he was therewith? Now when you think about an axe or a saw or any tool for that matter, those tools are designed for a purpose.
[28:23] They're created for a reason to accomplish something. Left alone to themselves, just sitting in the corner of the garage, they're of real no value, no use at least, just sitting there.
[28:34] They have to be put to use. They have to be put to use. And during use, would the tool itself have the right to boast itself or magnify itself?
[28:44] Now the answer is no. You could notice that it's well made. You could notice that this isn't the cheap tool. This is good stuff. The axe, it's sharp.
[28:55] It's got the right head on it. It's not something cheap. The handle's not going to snap. It's not made of some cheap wood. You could notice that the tool is well made, but the tool itself, the instrument, doesn't have the right to boast itself, does it?
[29:09] If that instrument's good, if it's solid, if it's sharp, if it's worthy of using, it's because somebody else made it that way. It's because it was manufactured by another, so therefore the glory or the praise should go to the manufacturer of the tool and not the tool itself.
[29:28] Now furthermore, that tool, the axe, the saw, is only of use in the hand of somebody using it. it's only by the use of another that it can accomplish anything, and it's not the tool itself.
[29:44] For instance, if we put the strongest man in this room versus the smallest boy and gave him an axe and said, here's a piece of wood, let's see who can finish first, is it the axe that's going to boast itself?
[29:57] It's the man swinging it. It's the man swinging it. It has nothing to do with the tool then, but everything to do with the hand that it's in. If a man hits a home run in baseball and flips the bat and turns to do his little trot around the bases and the bat says, hey, wait a minute, I'm the one that hit that ball.
[30:19] You stay put, I'll do the run around the bases. How out of bounds is this? How crazy is that? That's what's happening when the axe is boasting itself against him that heweth therewith.
[30:33] The Bible says, boast not thyself of tomorrow. Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth. In Ephesians chapter 2, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
[30:46] We as believers are created to fit into his hand, to be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use. Don't be a fool to think that you're something.
[30:58] And don't be a fool to think that the things that you possess or the qualities that you possess are better than someone else's or worthy of better praise than another because it's just God that made you the way you're made.
[31:09] 1 Corinthians 4, verse 6 and 7. And what he put inside of you, he did it for his glory so that he could use you. The Assyrian attitude is deceived by pride.
[31:21] Be not wise in thine own eyes. The Bible says, fear the Lord. Look at first, I'm sorry, look at Psalm 131. Psalm 131. We're almost finished here.
[31:32] Psalm 131. And let's look at King David, a man after God's own heart and see what comes out of his heart in situations like this.
[31:51] Psalm 131. Lord, my heart is not haughty nor mine eyes lofty. Neither do I exercise myself in great matters or in things too high for me.
[32:06] Surely, I have behaved and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother. My soul is even as a weaned child. Let Israel hope in the Lord from henceforth and forever.
[32:21] Do you see that attitude? That assessment of himself? God, I'm going to hope in the Lord. Hoping in God. I'm just a child.
[32:33] Oh no, David, you're king. You've taken down many of the Lord's enemies, Israel's enemies. Well, they're praising you. They're singing songs about you. God, my heart's not haughty.
[32:46] I'm going to stay in my lane. I'm going to behave myself just like a child, just like an adolescent, as a toddler, as all I am. And anything that you want to do, God's going to have to be through you.
[32:58] I'll hope in the Lord. What a different attitude than the Assyrian attitude. Now, come back to Isaiah and there's one last thing I want us to consider. Maybe more of a theological nature to close this out.
[33:13] In Isaiah chapter 10, we've seen the attitude displayed by this king that he overstepped his orders.
[33:24] We saw, secondly, that he was consumed with self. And then third, that he was deceived by pride. And the third thing I want us to, or the last thing that I want us to consider about the Assyrian attitude is that it is a satanic attitude.
[33:40] A satanic attitude. Come to chapter 14. Isaiah chapter 14. And watch where this attitude comes from.
[33:55] In verse number 12. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations?
[34:08] For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, overstepping his orders. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.
[34:21] I will also, I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation of the sides of the north. Do you notice how he's not just overstepping his orders, he's also consumed with self.
[34:33] I will, verse 14, ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the most high. Deceived by pride was the third thing because the reality is, verse 15, yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
[34:51] Oh no, I'm going to lift myself up. God says, oh no, you're not. You're going to be brought down. You're going to be cut down to the ground. The Assyrian attitude that we're reading about in Isaiah chapter 10 is a satanic attitude.
[35:07] The prophetical application of the passage we read about the Assyrian is to the future and to the tribulate. The prophetical application is to the man of sin and the Antichrist.
[35:18] He's called the Assyrian. It's all satanic inside. Satan inside of man, defying himself or defying God and overstepping his orders and being consumed with self, deceived by pride.
[35:34] And so Christian, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour.
[35:46] There's a king in Assyria that got devoured and showed it with three quick signs that we see, well I know that MO. That came from somebody else.
[35:58] And Christian, God created you in Christ Jesus to do right for good works and whatever you can accomplish it's through his working and the glory belongs to him and he deserves it.
[36:10] If I could say two things here to close for you to, a mindset to adopt like David, it's that mindset attitude assessing yourself is just of no ability. Just as a toddler, I'm not going to mess with things that are too high for me.
[36:24] I'm going to stay in my lane. I'm going to do what God wants. I'm going to hope in the Lord. Realize this, I'm not here for greatness. I'm here for God. I'm here for God. A simple tool, just an instrument that has been made by him and fit for his hand to be used and if he wants to use me however he finds acceptable, I just want to be a vessel fit for the master's use.
[36:48] That Assyrian got lifted up and it was to his own demise. And I don't make threats to you because I can't threaten you. I can only pronounce the scriptures. But what I see in God and his nature is he don't take too kind to somebody lifting themselves up against himself in pride.
[37:06] Somebody who boasts himself. That's a recipe for destruction. That delusion in your mind saying I did this, I'm wise, well you better learn how to give the glory to God.
[37:19] The Bible says, in all thy ways acknowledge him. Acknowledge him. Praise the Lord. You did something. Hey, praise the Lord. Hey God, thank you for helping me.
[37:31] Hey, I passed my test. Praise the Lord. God, thanks for helping me to recall those things that I've studied. The satanic attitude, the Assyrian attitude says, I could do that with my eyes shut because I studied, because I worked.
[37:45] I know what I'm doing. I've done this before. instead of acknowledging him. The Assyrian attitude is one that's going to be put back down and destroyed. And the warning comes out today, you don't have to face that destruction.
[37:59] You don't have to adopt the Assyrian attitude. Let's bow our heads together and we'll be dismissed in a moment. Do you realize that this attitude is a satanic attitude?
[38:15] That it's that deceitful, that subtle serpent that will work at your heart, will tell you how good you are, how pretty you look, how handsome you are, how strong you are, how wise you are, how unstoppable you are.
[38:33] It's that wicked, lying spirit that will seek to get you to lift yourself up against your maker and deceive you.
[38:46] God says, pride do I hate. It's an abomination to him. The Assyrian attitude doesn't want to stay in its lanes, wants to go somewhere else.
[38:58] The Assyrian attitude is consumed with their self and deceived by pride. God help us to learn from this man's mistakes and to humble ourselves before our holy God.
[39:14] Father, as we consider the scriptures and what we learn today, I pray that this truth would be planted in our hearts and that you'd reveal the wickedness inside of us and how our heart is deceitful and how it will try to boast itself against its maker.
[39:31] God, from your perspective, we're just tools, we're just dirt. You said of that rod as if it's no wood. All we are is man-made vessels.
[39:43] We're nothing. But, oh God, with you inside of us, you can accomplish some things. You can be glorified. If only we'll submit ourselves to you.
[39:56] Father, I pray you'd help us to walk with you, draw our hearts to fellowship with you, may we seek to glorify you with the breath that you give us, with the days that we have.
[40:10] And Lord, may you rebuke this attitude within us as it rises up and may we see it before it gets in too deep. I wonder this morning if you're here and you don't know for sure that if you died today, you don't know for sure that you'll go to heaven when you die.
[40:29] The message didn't really have much to do with that. It had to do with somebody's attitude. But I wonder if you say, I'm not sure, preacher, I don't know for sure that if I died today that I'd go to heaven.
[40:40] I just don't know and I'd like to know. If you're here, would you slip your hand up with no one looking? Just slip it up and pull it down and say, I just, I don't know but I want to. I'm in church today and I'd rather know that I'm going to heaven than hell.
[40:56] Then Christian, what about you? What about this attitude? Do you see how it can creep in? Do you see how God could try to use you and give you something to do and then how you could try to take it to another step?
[41:10] Do you see how you can be deceived? Christian, do you realize how wicked your heart is? Do you realize that Satan's looking for a place?
[41:23] The Bible says neither give place to the devil but he's been looking for a place and he may have found it in you. He may have found it in you to lift you up just so that God will have to knock you down.
[41:38] Perhaps some of you have been knocked down. The Bible says that you can cast your care upon him. He says you can humble yourself before him and he'll exalt you in due time but you'll have to humble yourself.
[41:51] We're going to sing a hymn of invitation just a way to invite you to do business with God just to speak to him if he's spoken to you and as we stand together 204 in the hymnal I invite you to come and pray if you need to 204 turn your eyes upon Jesus.
[42:09] 204 in the hymn of whole thing need to be lust the sun or the proc Pete 204 and are there to who you do