Today we're going to be looking at 2 Kings chapter 18.
2 Kings 18, 17 through 25 is where we'll begin today.
And the title of my sermon is Between a Rock and a Hard Place.
I'm thankful for Colton and all he does.
I sent him my PowerPoint and said, here it's plain Jane screen.
Make this a little more spiffy here.
He sent me a message back and said,
did you mean to say Between a Rock and a Hard Place?
Oh man, no.
No, between a rock and a hard place.
And we're going to be looking at 2 Kings 18, 17 through 25.
Back in 2009, I was serving Mountain View Baptist Church in Hickory, North Carolina.
And we had a mission team that was getting ready to go on that Saturday to Honduras.
And my wife and my 12-year-old daughter Ashley were set to be on that team.
And I got a call the night before about 9 o'clock and said,
we need to meet at the church, the team that's going.
We need to meet.
We've got a problem.
So we get up there at 10 o'clock.
We're supposed to, the team's going to meet at the church at 3 a.m.
to leave on this trip.
And we're meeting for an emergency meeting at 10 o'clock that night.
They said, Honduras is experiencing a coup.
They've already overthrown the president, run him out of the country.
And the people are rioting, burning, looting, doing crazy stuff.
Do we still want to go?
Well, I was thinking half of our team, which I believe there was 10 or 12 on that team,
half of them were teenagers and their parents weren't going except for my daughter.
And I thought no parent in their right mind is going to let their teenage child go to a
third world country during a coup without them even being with them.
Well, to my surprise, I get up there and they're all like, let's go.
And all the parents are like, let them go.
They're like, the safest place to be is in the center of God's will.
And I sat there and listened to that for a few minutes.
But then I had to speak up and I said, that's not true.
The safest place is not in the center of God's will.
Tell that to Jesus.
Tell that to the disciples.
Tell that to countless Christians today who are being arrested, thrown in jail, even killed.
The safest place is not always in the center of God's will.
The best place to be is in the center of God's will.
But it's not always the safest place.
And they said, you're just scared.
You don't want your wife and daughter to go.
I said, I'm going to let them make that decision.
I'm not going to influence it in any way.
But here's what I know.
If they choose to go, I'm sending them and letting them go.
I'm giving them to God.
And I'm praying for God to use them in whatever manner he sees fit to bring glory to his name.
And if something happens to them while they're on that trip, if they were to be injured or killed,
then I sent them to serve the Lord.
And I trusted that God was using that for his will.
Well, we prayed together as a team.
And then we left and went home.
And Michelle was not certain what she was going to do.
And we went home about midnight.
And we began to pray.
Remember, they've got to be back up at the church at 3 a.m.
And it's midnight.
And we go home to pray, asking God what his will is for them to do.
This morning, we're going to see that King Hezekiah, king of Judah, found himself in a very difficult position.
You see, he was surrounded.
Jerusalem was the southern kingdom.
And King Hezekiah ruled Judah.
Or Jerusalem at that point was the capital.
And Jerusalem was surrounded by the strongest military force in all of the world.
The Assyrians had already come down and conquered the northern kingdom,
which is the 10 out of the 12 tribes of Israel.
They were that mighty and that powerful.
So how could Judah, two of the 12 tribes of Israel,
how could they stand up to the Assyrian army?
What should Ezekiel do?
Would Ezekiel trust in the Lord?
Would he put all of his faith in God and trust that God would see him through and protect them?
Or conventional wisdom would have told him, surrender.
Surrender to the king of Assyria.
They'll be deported, but at least they would live.
And the people of Judah and Benjamin were the two tribes.
At least they would live.
They would be deported, but they would live.
Let's go to the word of God and let's begin seeing this situation in God's word in 2 Kings 18.
And let's see the situation that King Hezekiah is in and find out what he does.
Will he trust God or will he seek conventional wisdom?
Let's read.
The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer, and his field commander
with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem.
They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the upper pool on the road to the washerman's field.
They called for the king.
And Elakim, son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator, Shebna, the secretary, and Joah, son of Asaph, the recorder, went out to them.
The field commander said to them,
Tell Hezekiah, this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says.
On what are you basing this confidence of yours?
You say you have the counsel and the might for war, but you speak only empty words.
On whom are you depending that you rebel against me?
Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it,
such as Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who depend on him.
But if you say to me, we are depending on the Lord our God,
isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed,
saying to Judah and Jerusalem,
You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem.
Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria.
I will give you 2,000 horses if you can put riders on them.
How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master's officials,
even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord?
The Lord Himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.
Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Father, we come to you today and we thank you for your word.
Lord, we know that your word is sharper than any double-edged sword
and pierces the depths of our being, pierces the depths of our soul.
And I pray, Lord, today that you would speak to us through your word.
Wherever we are, whatever circumstances we find ourselves up against,
whatever challenges stand before us,
I pray that you speak to us, Lord,
and help us to realize that we are to keep our eyes on you
and trust in you and believe in you.
When the world may say not to trust you,
I pray that we will.
And it's in your holy name we pray. Amen.
As you can see, Hezekiah really found himself between a rock and a hard place.
He had the largest military force in all of the world
that had surrounded Jerusalem and was demanding that he surrender.
If he surrendered to the Assyrians, at least they would live.
And the practice in that day and time is a conquering army would take the people,
they would usually take the most educated, the most skilled, noble families,
the best of the best, and they would take them and deport them
and settle them somewhere else.
One thing it did is it helped from rebellions rising up against them
at a later time and they wouldn't have to keep,
like the Assyrians wouldn't have to keep as large a force there
to constantly squash down rebellions against them.
But it also took those skills, that knowledge, that training,
and it resettled them somewhere else where they could use that to rebuild other places.
Now this is exactly what's happened to the northern kingdom.
The northern kingdom had gotten so far away from God
that they were worshiping fake gods, false gods, idols,
gods of the nations around them.
They had gotten so far away from God that God raised up the Assyrians.
God did that.
He raised up the Assyrians to come in and conquer them
and they led them out of the area and resettled them.
You know, the ten northern tribes of Israel are no more.
We have no idea where they are.
We have no idea what became of them
because what happened is when you resettle them in other places,
they began to intermarry and mix and mingle with the other people groups
and they completely lost their identity.
And so when we think of Israel today and we think of the Jews,
it's the two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin,
that make up God's people today
because the ten northern tribes vanished off the scene of history.
And in chapter 17, verses 7 and 8,
it tells us because they sinned against God,
because they forgot the covenant that they had made with God
when they entered into the promised land.
They forgot and they began worshiping other gods,
doing other things.
They had gone so far that they even sacrificed children to false gods.
They were throwing their babies in fire as acts of worship of these false gods.
And so God raised up the Assyrians, conquered them, and led them out.
You know, Hezekiah, again, is between a rock and a hard place.
Oftentimes the struggles that we face in life are bigger than we can imagine.
Some of the struggles that we face are challenges or obstacles that we face in life.
They're bigger than us, aren't they?
They're bigger than our ability to overcome and deal with.
However, what we're going to see this morning
is that if we will learn to keep our eyes on God,
no matter what struggle, no matter what challenge,
no matter what obstacle you face today,
if we learn to keep our eyes on God
rather than the situation and circumstances,
we keep our eyes on God
and we continue to live in obedience to Him,
we will learn that God will be with us
in the midst of those struggles,
in the midst of the pain,
in the midst of the sorrows,
and He will use those situations and circumstances
to mold and shape us and help us
to be the people that He wants us to be.
He will see us through
and He will bring us through.
I know everyone in here can probably look back on your life
and you can see challenges that you've faced in life
and they were hard, difficult circumstances.
Probably many tears were shed.
But as you look back,
you can see the hand of God
in the midst of those struggles and circumstances
being with you.
Sometimes God uses those challenges that we face in life
to develop character within us.
Sometimes God uses those circumstances
to remove sin out of our lives.
Maybe we have sin.
Maybe we have rebellion and stubbornness in our heart.
Maybe unforgiveness of someone in our life.
And God uses situations and circumstances
in our lives to remove that out of us.
Sometimes He's preparing us for future work
that He has for us.
We think about Joseph of the Old Testament.
He went through a great deal,
but God was using that to prepare him
for what He had in store for him.
And sometimes God is just simply testing our faith.
Testing to see if we will stand firm
and stand strong and believe in Him
and obey Him and the things that He's called us to do.
What struggle are you facing today?
What challenges are you up against?
You know, they say that we're all faced,
we're either going into a problem
or a struggle or a storm.
We're in a storm or we're coming out of a storm.
That's pretty much everybody's life, right?
We only spend a short period of time on the mountaintop
before we go back into something.
So what are you facing today?
What are you getting ready to go into?
What are you coming out of?
And let me ask you this.
What struggle have you faced
or you might be getting ready to face
that God cannot handle?
What struggle or challenge or obstacle
can God not handle?
Luke 1.37 says,
For nothing is impossible with God.
Also Romans 8.28 says,
And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those who love Him.
So whatever hardship, difficulty, struggle, pain
that you might be facing,
if we keep our eyes on the Lord
and we stay focused on Him
and we continue to walk in obedience to Him,
then we have to realize that God is working
in the midst of all of that
and He will be with us in the storm.
He may not stop the storm immediately.
He may not remove the pain immediately.
He may leave us there for a time.
But He's working to accomplish His purpose
and His will.
I think of the Apostle Paul.
The Apostle Paul had a very painful thorn in his flesh.
And he prayed three times for God
to remove that thorn.
What was God's answer?
Yeah, but He just said,
No.
My grace is sufficient.
He said, No.
He didn't remove the thorn.
Why?
Because God was using that thorn
for a purpose in Paul's life.
Now we don't know what the thorn was,
but we do know Paul had begun to get prideful,
puffed up,
because God had been using him to do some mighty things.
And God was using that thorn
to kind of humble him a little bit
and bring him back down.
You know, God will work the same way in our lives.
It may not be a thorn like Paul faced.
It may not be pride and humility that you need.
But God will be working in the circumstances
and situations in our lives
to mold and shape and develop us
into the people that he needs us
and wants us to be.
Israel had been led into the promised land by Joshua.
And God had clearly told Israel
through Moses, before Moses died,
and now through Joshua,
he clearly told them,
If you will go into the promised land
and you will honor me, obey me,
stay faithful to me,
then I will bless you.
But if you do not,
you know, if you go back and look at that scripture,
you'll notice that God had about 15 verses
where he says, I will bless you.
But do you realize there's about 50 verses
where he warns them and says,
But if you do not,
I will curse you.
I will fight against you.
He wanted them to clearly know
and clearly understand
that if they forgot the covenant
that he had with them,
if they disobeyed him,
if they walked in sinfulness
or worshiped other gods,
then the one true God
would fight against them
and curse them.
Unfortunately, the northern kingdom
they forgot.
Another generation arose
and they completely forgot
the covenant they had with God
and they had become disobedient.
They began to worship other gods.
They abandoned their faith.
And as I said a minute ago,
they had sunk so low
that they even sacrificed their children
in the fire in worship
to these other gods.
Well, God is a patient God,
slow to anger.
And so he sent the prophets.
He sent prophets to warn them
and tell them,
you know,
to remind them
of the covenant they had
and that they needed
to come back to the Lord.
But the Jews were very stubborn,
hard-headed people
and they didn't listen,
did they?
Many times they killed the prophets
or they abused the prophets
or they just didn't listen
to them at all.
And so God raised up,
God had to raise up the Assyrians
to come in and to conquer
the northern kingdom.
Today, I look at the United States
of America
and I think about a nation
that was founded and built
upon faith in Jesus Christ,
a land that religious freedom,
but when it was founded,
that meant religious freedom
to worship Jesus Christ.
And yet I look at a nation
that a new generation is arising
that has forgotten much of that.
And it's now become socially unacceptable
to go back and teach
that we were founded
upon faith in Jesus Christ.
You want to know why
the United States of America
is one of the greatest nations
in the world?
It's because we were built
upon faith in Jesus Christ.
And yet now we see a nation
that is drifting further and further
and further away from God.
If you go out west,
do you know what the percentage
of evangelical Christians
live in Washington State?
I can go to Africa
and find nations
that are more Christian
than Washington State
or Oregon.
These 3%,
3% are evangelical Christians
in places like Seattle
and Oregon
and out west
and then up north
it's not a whole lot better.
But you know what really worries me?
What really worries me today
is not the condition
of the lost people
in our country.
What concerns me
is the church.
What really worries me
are those who are children of God
that are allowing the things
of the world
to be adopted into their lives
and living by the world's standards
and yet claiming
to be Christians.
That's what concerns me more.
People often talk about
is God going to destroy
the United States?
Well,
I'm more concerned about
us giving an account to God
as His children
and people of God
and how we live.
Are we being faithful?
Are we being obedient
to the things He's called us
to do in His Word?
Or are we allowing
trends,
you know,
things that go on
in the world
to be adopted
into our lives
and our patterns?
Are we doing
the things God
has called us to do?
That's what we need
to be concerned about
and focused on today
is the church.
And are we being
the church?
Are we going out
into the world
and proclaiming
the gospel
and reaching lost people
with a message
of forgiveness?
Not of hatred
and anger
and judgmental,
but forgiveness
and love.
Which, by the way,
I forgot this
in the announcement time.
Then I aimed to do it again
when I got up here
and I forgot again.
But we had a great week
this week
with Vacation Bible School.
We had a great week
and I wanted to say
thank you to everyone
who participated in that.
If you were here
serving in any capacity,
if you helped decorate
in advance,
if you put a yard sign
out in your yard,
I want to say thank you
because that is
one of the tools
that we can use
to reach,
you know,
a lost world.
We had a lot of children
who came here.
I helped teach
the Bible story
and I was blown away
at some of the knowledge
that a lot of these
children did have.
But we also had children
here that probably
don't ever go to church
anywhere except
for Vacation Bible School.
So I do want to say
thank you to everybody
that helped be a part
of that in any way.
Now during the time
that the northern kingdom
was being conquered
and destroyed
by the Assyrians,
King Hezekiah
ruled the southern kingdom
or Judah.
Now Hezekiah's father
was Ahaz
and he was a very evil king
and he did many things wrong
in the eyes of the Lord.
However,
Hezekiah,
he didn't follow
the example of his father.
He was one of the greatest kings
next to David
that ever ruled over Israel.
He honored God
and he actually went through
and tore down
all the Asher poles
and the places of worship.
He did everything
in his power
to lead Judah
back to being faithful
to the Lord.
And as a result,
God was with him
and he was successful
in everything that he did.
It was his faith
in the Lord
that caused him
to rebel
against Assyria
to begin with
and not pay the tribute
that he was supposed to pay.
So what that did
is the Assyrians
got angry
and they invaded Judah.
And this reminds us
that sometimes
our faith
cost us something.
To have faith
in the Lord
and be obedient
and faithful
is not about
an easy walk
in the park
and everything's
going to be roses
every day.
Sometimes we have
to take a stand
for the Lord
and honor Him
and it will come
at a cost.
It will come
as an expense.
But faith in the Lord
is not always
about God
just making everything
smooth sailing
in our lives.
Sometimes
if you look
in the New Testament
especially
there's a cost to pay.
When Michelle
and Ashley
were thinking
about going
to Honduras
we prayed
and we began praying
and God
just gave them
an overwhelming
sense of peace
to go.
Go to Honduras.
Do not let fear
keep you from going.
And so we quickly
went to bed
they got about
an hour of sleep
got back up
got ready to go
to Honduras
and they got on
that plane
and flew to Miami.
When they got
to Miami
there were people
flying from Honduras
other mission teams
coming back
into the country
and they were saying
you can't go.
Do not go.
It's too dangerous.
There's looting
there's burning
there's destruction
people are being killed
do not go.
Well our team
was faced with
a challenge once again
and they got together
the adults
and they discussed it
and they prayed.
Well that time
my daughter Ashley
don't tell us
she's not here today
so don't tell her
I said this.
Again she was only 12
but she was scared
and she started crying
and didn't want to get on.
Michelle just grabbed her arm
got on that plane
and they went.
And you know what?
God protected them.
God kept them safe
and he sent them
to the mountains
where people
had been praying
for years
for God
to send somebody
to them.
And they were able
to also meet
a little girl
that we had been
sponsoring in an orphanage
there.
They were able
to spend time
with her
and meet her
for the very first time.
It was a great experience.
But it could have
cost them.
It could have turned out
very differently.
They went
knowing that they
gave their lives
to the Lord
and asked God
to use their life
in a way
that would bring
honor to him.
Hezekiah sent a message
to the king
of Assyria
stating that he
had sinned against him.
He was sorry
that he had rebelled
against him
and that he would
collect the money
the gold
and the silver
that the king
of Assyria
was demanding
if he would
just withdraw.
And he was
demanding
11 tons
of silver
and 1 ton
of gold.
And so Hezekiah
this is the one
blemish
on King Hezekiah's
account
is that he went
through the land
and he took
the silver and gold
as much as he could find.
He even went
into the temple
and he took
the silver
and the gold
out of the temple
that was
decorating
and designing
the temple
and he gave it
to the king
of Assyria.
But what happened
much like
sometimes when we
play with fire
you're going
to get burned.
You know what?
The king
of Assyria
did.
He took
the gold
and silver
and he did
not withdraw.
He besieged
Jerusalem
and he came
against them
to conquer
them
and defeat
them.
And Hezekiah
found himself
in a time
of crisis
with a fundamental
question
that is just
as fundamental
for us
today.
What do you
believe
about God?
What do you
truly believe
about God?
Is God
worthy
to be trusted?
Can we
really trust
God?
Can He really
fulfill His
promises
to us
today?
If Hezekiah
trusted God
and he
stood up
to Assyria
and God
was not able
to do
what He
said He
would do
then the
people of
Judah
would have
been killed
and destroyed.
They would
have been
wiped out
as bad
as we see
on the news
in Gaza.
They would
have been
mutilated
by the Assyrians
if God
was not able
to do
what He
said.
And so
Hezekiah
being the
man of God
that he
was,
he consulted
the prophet
Isaiah
to know
what he
should do
which is
really good
advice,
really good
example here
of what
King Hezekiah
did.
He went
to a prophet,
he asked
for a prophet
and then in a
minute we'll
see that even
after getting
the word
from the
prophet he
went back
to God
in prayer
seeking God.
But look
at 2 Kings
19 verses
5 and 7.
Should be
on the...
There we
go.
When King
Hezekiah's
officials came
to Isaiah,
Isaiah said
to them,
Tell your
master this
is what the
Lord says.
Do not be
afraid of
what you
have heard,
those words
with which
the underlings
of the king
of Assyria
have blasphemed
me.
Listen,
when he
hears a
certain report
I will make
him want to
return to
his own
country and
there I will
have him cut
down with
the sword.
God is
saying through
Isaiah the
prophet,
don't worry
about the
Assyrians.
I can handle
them.
I can deal
with them.
They're not
going to
conquer this
city.
And so
Hezekiah,
still a bit
concerned and
worried,
he goes to
the temple
and he
begins to
pray,
wanting to
know for
sure,
is that the
message God
was giving?
And so
once again,
God gives
a message to
Isaiah,
to give to
King
Hezekiah.
And it's
in verses
32-36 of
2 Kings 19.
Therefore,
this is what
the Lord
says concerning
the king of
Assyria.
He will not
enter this
city or
shoot an
arrow here.
He will not
come before
it was
shield or
build a
siege ramp
against it.
By the way
he came,
he will
return.
He will not
enter this
city,
declares the
Lord.
I will
defend this
city and
save it
for my
sake and
for the
sake of
David my
servant.
That night
the angel
of the Lord
went out
and put to
death
185,000
in the
Assyrian
camp.
When the
people got
up the
next morning
there were
all the
dead bodies.
So Sennacherib,
king of
Assyria,
broke camp
and withdrew.
He returned
to Nineveh
and he
stayed there.
God was
showing that
he can
handle just
about anything.
He can
handle anything.
You've got
the largest
military in
all the world
at that time
surrounding you
and he sent
an angel,
one angel,
that went
through the
camp and
he destroyed
or killed
185,000
Assyrian
soldiers.
And so
the king
of Assyria
withdrew
and he
went back
to Nineveh.
God showed
king Hezekiah
that his
faith in
him
was real.
That he
it was
worthy
to put his
faith
in God.
That he
put his
faith and
trust
that God
would defend
them and
God did
just that.
No one
has ever
lived
without having
problems or
crisis to
arise in
our life.
We see
throughout
the scriptures
faithful servants
such as
Hezekiah
facing great
challenges.
You know
it can be
hard to
understand
sometimes
why God
allows us
to go
through
difficulties
and hardships
and we
pray and we
ask for
God to
solve the
problems,
to deal
with situations
and circumstances
and he
doesn't always
do it when
we want.
And it's
hard for us
to understand
and sometimes
we get angry
at God or
we get mad
at God and
we wonder
where are
you God?
Why are you
not solving
this problem
for me?
But if we'll
learn a lesson
here today that
God is more
than able and
he works in
situations, he
works in
circumstances of
our lives,
maybe not the
way we want
him to,
maybe not as
quickly as we
want him to,
but he works
in his
timetable and
in a manner
that he brings
about his
purpose and
his will in
our lives.
Everyone faces
problems at
some time or
another, but
how each
person responds
to those
problems or
those challenges
is what makes
the difference.
Do we respond
in faith or
do we respond
in fear and
doubt?
King Hezekiah
faced what
the world
described as
a hopeless
situation.
He was
surrounded by
a superior
army, one
that had
already destroyed
many lands
and ten of
the twelve
tribes of
Israel, but
Hezekiah trusted
in the Lord
and the Lord
delivered him
in a manner
that only God
could do.
It's my hope
and my prayer
today that we
will take a
lesson from
King Hezekiah
and we will
realize that
whatever challenge
you're up against
today, whatever
obstacles stand in
your way, whatever
struggles you're
enduring, don't
focus on them.
Focus on the
Lord.
Stay focused
on Him and
He will more
than be willing
to handle those
situations and
circumstances and
resolve them in a
manner that empowers
us, builds us
strength, gives us
character and helps
us to maybe serve
Him in a greater
capacity in the
future.
And most of us
can look back and
we can see where
God has worked in
times past.
let those experiences
encourage us
today to stay
faithful and
obedient and
trust in the
Lord.
Today I don't
know what
challenges you're
up against.
I don't know what
circumstances that
you're fighting.
I don't know what
painful things are
going on in your
life.
But I hope that
you will hold
tightly to God to
work in your life,
build your faith,
build your strength
and know that God
is able.
Let's go to the
Lord in prayer.
Father we thank
you for this word
today.
We thank you for
your word.
And I pray Lord that
you speak to each of
our hearts.
We're all facing
different things.
We're all facing
different circumstances.
We all have
different painful
experiences in our
lives that we've
gone through.
But I pray Lord that
we keep our eyes on
you.
and we trust in
you Lord.
And that we will
know that you are
working to help us
to get through those
situations and
circumstances and
be stronger to have
greater faith and to
be a people that you
will use to bring
glory and honor to
your name.
And it's in Jesus
name that we pray.
Amen.
We're going to stand
and have a time of
invitation.
If there's anything
that you want to
do,