Don't Believe the Enemy's Lies

Dr. Jeff Schreve: You know, you and I don't have to manufacture trouble in our lives. We don't have to look for trouble. Trouble seems to find us. Now, God has an answer for all your trouble, for all my trouble, for the troubles in this world, for the troubles in our nation. And the answer is prayer.
Larry Nobles: When trouble comes, whether small frustrations or overwhelming moments, God has given you and me a powerful answer, prayer. In 2 Kings chapter 19, King Hezekiah faced disaster that seemed inevitable and unavoidable. However, he prayed and God answered in mighty power. This is from his heart with Pastor Jeff Sriev. Thank you for joining us today. The lesson today is called because you have prayed. Pastor Jeff will remind us that the crises of life are not dead ends. They're actually opportunities to see the Lord work miracles in response to heartfelt prayer, earnest prayer, sincere prayers of faith-filled people. The message we're about to hear is from Pastor Jeff's new six-lesson series, Watch and Pray. You can get the full-length lessons in the format of your choice when you go to promiseheart.org and make a gift of any amount. The web address fromhisheart.org and the series Watch and Pray. Right now, though, open your Bible to 2 Kings. Here's Pastor Jeff to begin the lesson because you have prayed.
Dr. Jeff Schreve: You know, you and I don't have to manufacture trouble in our lives. We don't have to look for trouble. Trouble seems to find us. And trouble sometimes is in small case. It's just a little trouble in our lives. And then there's sometimes that trouble is so big, it's trouble with a capital t r o u b l e. Bold, italics, underline. I mean, it's big-time trouble. Well, the Bible says man is born for trouble, Job 5:7, as sparks fly upward. Jesus said in John 16:31, hey, in the world, you're going to have tribulation. You're going to have problems. You're going to have trouble. But be of good courage. I have overcome the world. Now, God has an answer for all your trouble, for all my trouble, for our all our trouble, for the troubles in this world, for the troubles in our nation. And the answer is prayer. Prayer. Because prayer connects our nothingness with God's almighty power. Today, we want to look at a very important passage of Scripture, a very important event that took place in the nation of Judah in the capital city of Jerusalem. And the year was 701 BC. The king was Hezekiah. He was a great king. His dad was not a good king and his son was a terrible king, Manasseh. But Hezekiah was a good and godly king. And God points out, hey, there wasn't anybody like Hezekiah who followed the Lord fully. And he was the standard bearer along with David for good kings. But this good and godly king who was leading the nation back to trusting the Lord, he had trouble, big-time trouble, trouble with a capital t. And on a scale of 1 to 10, his trouble was an 11. I mean, it was red alert. It was the worst trouble you can have. It's like if you today went to the doctor and you were feeling a little poorly, but you thought maybe it was a cold or something like that, and it comes back you have stage four cancer. It's that kind of trouble. It's the trouble that says you're just a few days away from bankruptcy. It's that kind of trouble. The trouble that was on his doorstep was an evil king. The king of Assyria, his name was Sennacherib, and he was coming to destroy Jerusalem. He had already taken out 46 cities of Judah, of the nation of Judah. He had taken out their sister nation, the northern kingdom, the 10 tribes in 722 BC. And now it's 21 years later and he's coming to take out Hezekiah. What do you do when disaster seems inevitable? Because the disaster is on his doorstep, it seems inevitable unless God does a miracle. So what do you do? You can do what he did. So I want to share with you three discoveries to encourage your heart from this important passage of Scripture. And we know it's important because it's here in 2 Chronicles or 2 Kings chapters 18 and 19. It's also recorded, almost verbatim, in Isaiah chapter 36 and 37. And then it's also recorded in 2 Chronicles chapter 32. Now, God has this story three different times in Scripture. It is really important. There's so much we can learn from it. So what do you do when disaster seems inevitable? You follow in the footsteps of Hezekiah. Discovery number one, do not believe the devil's lies. Do not believe the devil's lies. Sennacherib and Assyria, they're the bad boys of the ancient Near East. And they were in power until Babylon took them out in 612 BC. They were in power for a long, long time. And their capital city was Nineveh. You may remember a prophet from Gath Hepher named Jonah was called to go to Nineveh and preach against it. He didn't want to go. He went the other direction because he said, no, I don't want to go because if I go and preach in Nineveh, I I can't stand those people. I hate those people. Those Assyrians are terrible, horrible, vicious, ruthless people. And if I go and preach, God's just liable to be merciful to them. And I don't want him to be merciful to them because they are the enemies of Israel. Nineveh is the capital city of Assyria. Assyria is a bad Assyria is the bad boys of the ancient Near East. And they're coming up to destroy Jerusalem. And this is what it says in 2 Kings chapter 18 beginning in verse 13. Now, in the 14th year of King Hezekiah, King Hezekiah became king in 715 BC. This is 701 BC. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them, 46 fortified cities. He's 46 and 0 and he 's marching against the crown jewel, which is Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish saying, I have done wrong. What was the wrong that he did? He stopped paying tribute to them. You know, back in those days when you had the big bad king and the big bad nation, they would cause other nations and tell other nations, you have to pay us to survive. And if you don't pay us, we are going to come and destroy you. It's kind of like think about the mob. You've seen some movies where the mob will come into different businesses and say, we'll let you survive as a business, but we're going to come every month and you're going to have to pay us. And if you pay us, then we'll let you keep operating. But if you don't pay us, we'll burn your business to the ground. That's what paying tribute was like. And Assyria was really flexing its muscles. Well, Hezekiah followed the Lord fully and he said, we're not going to be afraid of Assyria. So he quit paying tribute. And he didn't pay tribute for a number of years. And Sennacherib said, hey, you're not paying tribute? Okay, well, I'm going to come and wipe you out. So Hezekiah said, I have done wrong. Withdraw from me whatever you impose on me, I will bear. So the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah, king of Judah, 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. Hezekiah gave him all the silver which was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house. And at that time, Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the door post which Hezekiah, king of Judah, had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. I mean, he had to to come up with the amount. It was about $185 million in today's money. To come up with that amount, he had to scrape the gold off the doors in the temple. And so he says, all right, I'll give you all of this. Now, go away from me. Sennacherib didn't do it. He took the money and then he said, and I'm still going to wipe you out. Verse 17, then the king of Assyria sent Tartan and Rabsaris and Rabshakeh. Those are probably not names. Those are titles from Lachish to King Hezekiah. Lachish is about 25 or 30 miles away from Jerusalem. And he sent them to King Hezekiah with a large army to Jerusalem. So they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they went up, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway of the Fullers Field. They they went by where the people did their laundry. They went to the place where they're going to be most of the people of Judah. A lot of people are going to be there. That's where they want to talk to them because they are wanting to scare them. And it says when they called to the king, Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who is also of the household, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them. Then Rabshakeh said to them, Say now to Hezekiah, thus says the great king, the king of Assyria. What is this confidence that you have? You say, but they are only empty words. I have counsel and strength for the war. Now, on whom do you rely that you have rebelled against me? Now, behold, you rely on the staff of this crushed reed even on Egypt? The northern kingdom, the 10 tribes, when they were in trouble and Samaria or Assyria was besieging them, they relied on Egypt. But Egypt didn't help them very much. And so he said, are you going to rely on Egypt like your brothers did? Egypt, which if a man leans, it will go into his hand. It's like a crushed reed and pierce it. So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who rely on him. But if you say to me, we trust in the Lord our God, is it not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken down? And has he said to Judah and Jerusalem, you shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem? Hezekiah did tear down the altars because they were an affront to God. They were the high places as the Bible talks about where the people had these high places to their pagan gods. So he tore it down. It was part of his reforms. But Sennacherib turns that around to saying, see, he's made God mad. Now, therefore, come make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you 2,000 horses if you're able to on your part to set riders on them. How then can you repulse one official of the least of my master servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Have I now come up without the Lord's approval against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, go up against this land and destroy it. And Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, Hey, speak in Aramaic. And we understand it, but don't speak in Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall. I mean, these people are doing their laundry and you're speaking in the language they can understand. Speak in the diplomatic language, the language of Aramaic. And Rabshakeh said to them, has my master sent me only to your master and to you who to speak these words and not to the men who sit on the wall doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you? Good night. That could be a bumper sticker, huh? Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean saying, hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus says the king, do not let Hezekiah deceive you. For he will not be able to deliver you from my hand, nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord saying, the Lord will surely deliver us and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Wow. That was going on. And Assyria was quite a force. And they are a picture of the devil. And so the first thing that you do when disaster seems inevitable as it seemed with the Jews, don't believe the devil's lies. And know that how the devil works. First of all, he works to intimidate you. He's going to mock. He's going to scorn. He's going to make fun. He's going to say, wait, you you guys trust in Egypt? Egypt's a broken reed. If you use Egypt for a cane to help support you, it's going to just break off and go into your hand. That can't help you any. I'll give you 2,000 horses if you can even find riders to put on them. You guys are a joke. You're going to be eating your own waste. We're going to come up against you and we're going to besiege your city and you're not going to be able to get in or or get out come out of the city. And so you're going to run out of food and guess what? You're going to have to eat your own waste. That's what's coming to you.
Larry Nobles: Ooh, what a vital truth to understand that the devil is a liar, a big remorseless liar who works to intimidate us. Pastor Jeff wants you to know that what we already know is true. The battle for truth is real. And that's why your special gifts this month to help fromhisheart continue proclaiming the unchanging truth of God's word is so vital. We're providing answers and hope and and spiritual stability in an increasingly hostile culture. In a culture filled with confusion, compromise, and competing voices, believers need confidence in God's truth more than ever. They need confidence that their prayers are being heard by a loving and forgiving God. And they are. In this powerful six-lesson series we're in now called Watch and Pray, you'll discover how to watch and recognize the devil's lies and learn to pray God's power to dispel the lies. This timely series is our thank you for your generous partnership to help fromhisheart this month, helping more people with the life-changing truth found in God's word. Make your gift today of any amount. We'll send you the series in the format of your choice. It's called Watch and Pray. Just call 866-40 Bible, 866-40 Bible, or go to fromhisheart.org. Thanks again. Now, back to our lesson today because you have prayed.
Dr. Jeff Schreve: The devil works hard to intimidate us. The Bible says he prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Now, a roaring lion is a scary thing. And the devil is a he scares us and he works to scare us, to intimidate us. Goliath is a good picture of the devil too in 1 Samuel chapter 17. And he was an intimidator. What does he say to David? When David goes out on the battlefield, says, come to me, little boy. I 'm going to break you up in pieces and I'm going to feed you to the pigeons. And he cursed David by his gods all to intimidate. But not only does he work to intimidate us, he works to deceive us. And he tells us things that are just out and out lies. Verse 22, we trust in the Lord our God. Now, don't listen to to Hezekiah who tells you to trust in the Lord. Hezekiah is the one who's made God mad. He said Hezekiah has torn down the Lord's high places. Hezekiah has done all these reforms, but they were against the Lord. He's lying to the people. And then he says in verse 25, hey, the Lord said to me, this is Sennacherib through his emissaries saying to the people, the Lord sent me to destroy you. Well, that's a lie. God didn't tell Sennacherib to destroy Judah and Jerusalem. But the devil is a liar and the father of lies. And he's working hard to deceive. And he's wanting to get you to look at all the circumstances. You know the the deception and the intimidations all about circumstances. Well, just look and see. When I played basketball in high school, we had a cheer that if we were ahead, the cheerleaders would sing this cheer. I don't know if they still do this today, but it was a good cheer. It said this, watermelon, watermelon, watermelon rind. Look at the scoreboard and see who's behind. You remember that one? And so the devil's big on that. And look, look and see what is going on here. Look and see into your future. Get a big old glass of your waste and that's what you're going to be eating because we're going to wipe you out. It works to intimidate you. It works to deceive you. And then he works to get you to quit. That's what he wants. He wants to get you to quit. Verse 31, do not listen to Hezekiah for thus says the king of Assyria, make your peace with me and come out to me and eat eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you saying, the Lord will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his hand from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Hey, you guys remember not too long ago in 722 BC we took over Samaria. We destroyed Samaria. Actually, they they conquered Samaria. They didn't destroy the city as Nebuchadnezzar did when Babylon came in and destroyed Jerusalem. But you know what the Assyrians did? They were different from the Babylonians. When the Assyrians conquered you, they would take your people and they'd put them in a different part of their kingdom and they would take people from the different part of their kingdom and put them into the conquered area. And they would commingle and mix the people together. And that was really critical that the Jews didn't do that because the Jews were only supposed to marry Jews. You don't marry outside of the Jewish race. And so what happened to the Samaritans? Well, they commingled their the practices of pagan worship with their own practices. They commingled the bloodlines and Jews took Gentile wives and everything got mixed together. That's why in the New Testament Jews have no dealings with Samaritans because they look at Samaritans as you guys are half-breeds. You guys are compromisers. You guys aren't pure. And so we don't want to have anything to do with you. You're worse than a Gentile. You're a Samaritan. And so that how did that happen? It happened in 722 BC when Assyria took them over and they commingled and mixed all that stuff together. That didn't happen to the Jews. When they got taken over by Babylon, Babylon took them all lock, stock, and barrel back to Babylon and they were still able to stay Jewish. The Samaritans lost their Jewishness. And so he says, hey, where's Samaria? Don't forget what happened to Samaria. Who among the gods, verse 35, of the lands have delivered their land from my hand that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand? But the people were silent and answered him not a word. For the king's command was this, do not answer him. Says then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who is over the household, and Shebna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of Rabshakeh. Situation is grim. Sennacherib says, you just need to quit. That would be better for you. Just quit. Just throw in the towel now. If you do, guess what? I'll take you to a land and it's going to be a lot like your land. It's not going to be that bad. But he's a liar. It's going to be horrible. He's a liar and the father of lies. You've heard me tell you this and it's really true. The only way the devil wins as we battle with him, he's a defeated foe because Jesus defeated him on the cross and through the empty tomb. But the only way he wins in your life and in my life is if we quit. If you keep showing up to the battle, even though you may lose some skirmishes, you keep showing up. You don't quit. You remember the words of the late great Dr. Jerry Falwell, it's always too early to quit. It's always too early to quit on your marriage. It's always too early to quit on that wayward family member. It's always too early to quit. In your faith, it's always too early to quit. Keep trusting God. Keep believing God. The devil works to get you to quit. 2 Chronicles 32 verses 7 and 8. I love this what it says about Hezekiah. He told the people, be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria, nor because of all the horde that is with him. For the one with us is greater than the one with him. With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah, king of Judah. What a godly godly king, but he's got disaster knocking on the door. He's got trouble with a capital t. So the first discovery, do not believe the lies of the devil. Second discovery, take your problems to the Lord in prayer.
Larry Nobles: Will you pay attention to that discovery? Will you take your problems to the Lord in prayer? Say, Father God, I have desperate needs right now and I need you. I need you to step in and to heal and to comfort and to bring peace and to bring connection and to bring love into a situation that is lacking it. Lord, I trust your word and I trust you and I know you never will let me down. Thank you for the prayer that you're going to answer in your time. I'll be patient, but I'm trusting you. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Well, a prayer like that covers a lot of ground, but God is a big God. So trust him today. Speaking of big, Pastor Jeff has a big trip he wants you to join him in. He's going to the Holy Land in April of next year. And he wants you to go with him. There tremendous sites and sounds and historical truth that you'll learn all about when you visit Israel with Pastor Jeff for 11 days this coming April. Find out all the details. Go to fromhisheart.org and click the Holy Land banner. Thank you for joining us today on From His Heart. I'm Larry Nobles inviting you to return next time for part two of this timely and power-inducing message called because you have prayed from the Watch and Pray series. Join us on Monday when we'll be reminded that no matter what, God loves us and has a wonderful plan for each of us. You can find out more at fromhisheart.org.