1. "How do we know that God's promises to save us are not as delusional as Jim Jones promises? As we heard last week, the enemies of God today are saying that we are deluded like Jim Jones, and we're harming our children, we're harming our families and ourselves, all because of some delusional vision about some messiah king named Jesus."

2. "Brothers and sisters, we can fight the fear of the enemy and all of the lies of the world by faith in God's promises. Over and over in Scripture we see that command, do not be afraid. Why? How can we not be afraid of the enemy when we're outnumbered? It feels like greater are they out there than us in here."

3. "When has God ever lied to you? When did God ever break a promise? When did God not come through for you?"

4. "Oftentimes where we think God failed is where God actually never promised to do what we were asking him to do to begin with. And so that's where it's so important for us to learn the Scriptures."

5. "Brothers and sisters, praise God that we have a better prayer warrior than Hezekiah. We have Jesus Christ, who is the perfect king, the perfect priest and the perfect prophet all in one. So that makes him the perfect Savior. Not only is he all that, he's more, he's fully God and he's fully man."

6. "The zeal of Yahweh is speaking of his infinite passion, his fervency for his own reputation, to be treated with dignity, honor and respect. Brothers and sisters, if Yahweh himself lives for his glory as his supreme mission, why would we settle for any lesser mission?"

7. "Can you imagine afresh what it would look like for you in a new way this week to just dedicate yourself to the glory of God in your marriage, the glory of God in your family, the glory of God in your home, the glory of God in your workplace?"

8. "Hezekiah's deliverance is a small glimpse of the deliverance that awaits us. And the final greatest exodus. When the Lord Jesus comes back to get his bride and we will be with him forever. We shall reign with him forever. We will no longer will be there death anymore. No more tears, no more suffering, no more sorrow. And most importantly, we shall see his face. A face that is more beautiful than a billion sunsets put together."

9. "Whether it is judgment now or judgment later, judgment is inescapable. Except for if you hide yourself in Christ Jesus."

10. "Jim Jones made his people drink a cup of poison so that he may cause them all to die. But our Christ Jesus, he drank the cup of God's wrath on our behalf so that we might live."

Observation Questions

1. In Isaiah 37:1-2, how does Hezekiah respond when he hears Sennacherib's threats? What does this reveal about his character as a leader?

2. Looking at Isaiah 37:14-20, what specific attributes of God does Hezekiah acknowledge in his prayer? How does he structure his petition?

3. From Isaiah 37:21-22, what reason does God give for responding to the situation? What does this teach us about prayer?

4. In Isaiah 37:30-32, what two signs does God give to confirm His promise of deliverance? What is significant about each one?

5. Examining Isaiah 37:35, what two reasons does God give for defending Jerusalem? What does this reveal about His motivations?

6. According to Isaiah 37:36-38, how does God fulfill His promise of judgment on Sennacherib? What irony do you see in where and how Sennacherib dies?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does God take Sennacherib's mockery of Jerusalem personally? How does this connect to Jesus's words to Saul in Acts 9:4?

2. What is the significance of Hezekiah spreading the threatening letter before the Lord (Isaiah 37:14)? How does this action demonstrate both faith and dependence?

3. How does Hezekiah's metaphor of a woman in labor (Isaiah 37:3) illuminate the crisis Jerusalem faced? What does this image teach us about human helplessness and divine intervention?

4. In what ways does Sennacherib's boasting (Isaiah 37:24-25) reflect Satan's tactics in Genesis 3? How does God's response expose the emptiness of human pride?

5. How does this historical deliverance of Jerusalem point forward to the greater deliverance accomplished by Christ? What parallels can we draw?

Application Questions

1. When was the last time you faced a situation that felt as hopeless as Hezekiah's? How did you respond, and what did you learn about God's faithfulness?

2. What current challenge in your life needs to be "spread before the Lord" like Hezekiah's letter? What keeps you from bringing it to God in prayer?

3. Where in your life are you tempted to doubt God's trustworthiness? How can Hezekiah's example help you face those doubts?

4. Think about your workplace relationships. How can you demonstrate this week that you're living for God's glory rather than human approval?

5. When you pray, do you focus more on your immediate needs or God's glory? How can you begin to pray more like Hezekiah, with God's reputation as your primary concern?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Psalm 46:1-11
   This psalm celebrates God's presence and protection of Jerusalem, echoing the themes of divine deliverance found in Isaiah 37.

2. 2 Chronicles 20:1-30
   Jehoshaphat's prayer and God's dramatic deliverance provide another example of how God responds when His people trust Him in crisis.

3. Daniel 3:1-30
   The deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego demonstrates God's power to save those who refuse to worship false gods.

4. John 17:1-26
   Jesus's high priestly prayer shows how our perfect mediator prays for His people, surpassing even Hezekiah's example.

Sermon Main Topics

The Urgent Question of God’s Trustworthiness Amid False Saviors

God Sees and Hears (Isaiah 37:1–21)

God Promises (Isaiah 37:21–35)

God Delivers (Isaiah 37:36–38)

The Unshakable Assurance of Christ’s Ultimate Deliverance

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Detailed Sermon Outline

- Jones declared himself “God the Messiah” and led his followers to mass suicide, claiming divine selection.

- Critics liken faith in Christ to dangerous delusions, questioning God’s ability to save.

- The sermon positions Isaiah 37 as the answer to this critical challenge.

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- He tore his clothes, wore sackcloth, and went to the temple, symbolizing humility and repentance.

- He mobilized leaders and priests to seek God’s intervention through the prophet Isaiah.  
- Described their crisis as a “day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace” (v. 3), comparing it to a woman powerless in labor.

- Assyria mocked Yahweh as a deceiver, likening Him to impotent pagan gods (vv. 10–13).

- Parallels Eve’s temptation (Genesis 3:1–5) and modern attacks on Scripture’s reliability.

- He spread Sennacherib’s letter before God, acknowledging His sovereignty (v. 16).  
- Praised God’s self-existence, strength, singularity, and sovereignty (vv. 15–17).

- “Save us…that all kingdoms may know You alone are the Lord” (v. 20).

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- God condemned Assyria’s pride, revealing their power was ordained by Him (vv. 24–27).

- God would treat Sennacherib like a beast, hooking his nose and forcing retreat (v. 29).

- Three-year promise of provision: spontaneous growth, residual harvest, and renewed planting.

- A remnant would “take root downward and bear fruit upward” (v. 31), foreshadowing Messianic hope.

- “I will defend this city…for My own sake and for My servant David.”

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- 185,000 Assyrian soldiers struck dead overnight (v. 36).

- Killed by his sons while worshiping a false god (v. 38), fulfilling God’s prophecy.

- This rescue prefigures Christ’s victory over sin, death, and Satan.

- Unlike Jim Jones’ poison, Christ drank God’s wrath so believers might live (Matthew 26:39).

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- Jesus intercedes for believers (Hebrews 7:25), unlike Hezekiah’s limited role.

- His death ensures forgiveness, reconciliation, and adoption into God’s family.

- Trusting Matthew 6:33, 16:18, and 28:20 amid earthly trials.

- Believers will see Christ’s face, where “death, sorrow, and pain are no more” (Revelation 21:4).

- Sennacherib’s fate reminds us that rebellion against God leads to destruction.

- Christ’s blood provides refuge from wrath for all who repent and believe.

Please pray with me.

Father, lift your son up in these next few moments. May I decrease and may you increase. Help me to be faithful to proclaim and help your people be faithful to listen. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

How do you know that God is not a fake deliverer?

David Chydzter, in his book recounting the story of Jim Jones writes about Jim Jones saying, Jones spoke of the development of his messianic role. He said that he had prayed, and he had let his last prayer to the sky gods at the age of five. And he discovered the power of socialism himself and noticed that people around him would not die when they were dying. They would spring to life. Jones recounted hearing the highest voice in the universe.

Assuring that although he was a servant and the son of an unmarried woman and outcast and a mean devil, he would be the father of eternal salvation. Using terminology employed by Father Divine to describe his own divinity, Joan said, I combusted in a poor shanty. I combusted on the side of a railroad track. Out of poverty, out of a racist environment, through an identification with the suffering of humanity. For some unexplained set of reasons, Jones declared, I happened to be selected to be God.

Jones was God, the Messiah. He was a center and circumference of the universe, the beginning and the end, the earth God, the actual personal present sense of God in the body. Jim Jones sadly went on to promise his followers a utopia in Guyana and after a huge debacle that included the assassination of a US congressman, he led his whole 900 and some odd congregation to commit mass suicide. How do we know that God's promises to save us are not as delusional as Jim Jones's promises?

As we heard last week, the enemies of God today are saying that we are deluded like Jim Jones. And we're harming our children. We're harming our families and ourselves all because of some delusional vision about some Messiah King named Jesus. So how do we know that God is the true Savior and not a dangerous counterfeit? Well, we'll see this morning, because one, God sees and hears, two, God promises, and three, One, God sees and hears.

That's Isaiah 37, verses 1 through 21. God sees and hears. Two, God promises. That's Isaiah 37, verses 21 through 35. And three, God delivers.

Isaiah 37, 36 through 38. Those are our three points today. Please open your Bibles with me to Isaiah 37.

In the red Bibles, it's on the page 596, 596. Isaiah 37, and it reads, As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priest, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz. They said to him, Thus says Hezekiah, this day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace. Children have come to the point of birth.

And there is no strength to bring them forth. It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the rapschak whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to mock the living God and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.

God sees and God hears. And that has some three, about three sub points. First, we see God sees and hears our repentance. God sees and hears our repentance. Verse 1, we see Hezekiah's personal response.

He rips his garments apart. That's the way to respond to such blasphemous lying words that are slandering God's character character and reputation. That's what blasphemy is. And he then puts on sackcloth. That's a sign of mourning.

And then he travels up to the temple and would have been in the temple courts and to the very place where God had promised his people that he would dwell, that sacred space. And so we see Hezekiah, first and foremost, turning away from lies and turning to the truth. And that's what repentance is, right? Turning away from lies and turning to the truth. But then in verses two through five, we see Hezekiah's response as a leader, as a king.

You see it in verse two? He leads the national leadership. It's kind of like his cabinet and the priests in repentance. They had already torn their garments, but now they add to that mourning, that sackcloth. And so we have the kingly cabinet, the priests, and they're going to the prophet.

All three offices are converging here. And in verse 3, we see a report to Isaiah. He tells Isaiah how his day is going. How's your day going? Well, he says, It's a day of distress, a day of great shame, and a day of discipline.

When he says distress, he's talking about oppressive physical, mental, or social economic diversity. And then he talks about rebuke, that is correction or punishment for covenant infidelity. That is breaking God's law. The people had some way broken God's law and they're being punished for it. It's hard to tell if he's looking at his own sin or maybe the sins of his fathers, but in any way they see their sin and he's saying they're being corrected for it.

Then we see this word disgrace. That's a humiliating word, a word that is very dishonorable and a place of great shame. Then we see this metaphor there of a woman giving birth. It's such a graphic imagery. It's sad when some of you all know some of this agony and even some of its sorrow.

He says, he gives the metaphor of a woman powerless at the crowning point of labor. Now, I've seen a labor or two in my day, and it's a rough process.

And it can also be a dangerous process, especially at that crowning point where the baby needs to get out of there or they will suffocate or there can be oxygen oxygen loss, things of that nature, and perhaps become a stillborn. And then if the mother is running out of strength, she can't find the energy to push, that is a devastating moment that can lead to both a maternal mortality and also a stillborn. Hezekiah is saying, that's the situation he's in. He's tried to lead God's people into a place of renewal, into a place of rebellion against their oppressors and faithfulness to Yahweh, but he has no strength left. And if God doesn't intervene, he's dead, his children are dead, his nation will be destroyed.

Then in verse 4, we see Hezekiah's request. Hezekiah requests, it gives this phrase, it may be that your God will hear. This is a sign of hope rather than presumption. So it's not that he's doubting, he's saying, look, I know that God has promised to deliver in Deuteronomy if we turn back to him. I know that God has promised the Davidic covenant.

But at the same time our sin could have led us so deep that this is actually God's plan for us to be destroyed. That's such a humble state to be in, to admit we deserve complete judgment and Lord you don't have to deliver us but please deliver us. And one of the things that is so distinct about this is it smacks the prosperity gospel in the face. Because the prosperity gospel is built on a presumption that if you have enough faith or you have enough power, you give that mustard seed, God is obligated to bless your pocketbook. Well, Hezekiah, if anybody could have been presumptuous, it could have been Hezekiah.

But he knows better that the Lord of the earth shall do right. He can deliver or he can judge and he will be right in it. And then we see in also in verse 2, his petition though, he asked Isaiah to pray. Did you notice that? It kind of strikes a little bit odd.

He says, May Yahweh your God, your God, may you pray. This is gonna be a tension that we'll see come to resolution a little bit later, but let me ask you this, Christian. When you are faced with a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, what do you do?

Do you mourn your own sin, the sin of your enemies, or do you merely blame others and complain?

And let me make this point too.

God's messengers, because thinking about Isaiah, Hezekiah's reluctance to pray himself, God's messengers, preachers, pastors, they aren't priests that you have to go through to get to God. Through the gospel, you, a born-again Christian, have direct access to God through the blood of Christ Jesus. So you don't have to go through a pastor to get to God. Now you can be helped by pastors and their ministries. Praise God for that.

But we are not priests. Verse 6 through 7 we see Isaiah reply. Isaiah replies with reassurance. And in that reassurance, instead of a prayer, he doesn't pray, he prophesies. You see that?

He first gives a command. He says, don't be afraid of Sennacherib's blasphemy.

Over and over in Scripture we see that command, do not be afraid. Why? How can we not be afraid of the enemy and all of the lies, the world, we're outnumbered. It feels like greater are they out there than us in here. But brothers and sisters, we can fight the fear of the enemy by faith in God's promises.

It's the promises of God. And notice that Hezekiah gets three promises, right?

He says, Isaiah says, I will put in him a spirit, talking about Sennacherib, and he will hear a rumor. This is some type of supernatural force that will cause Sennacherib to be paranoid. And then he says, I will, the second promise is that he will cause Sennacherib to return to his own land. This king that has come to destroy you, I'm going to send him back where he came from. And then the last one, is he will fall in his own land by the sword.

Brothers and sisters, as we face the threats of the enemy in the world around us, let us learn God's promises. Let us cling to those promises. Let us study them. Let us delight in them. And maybe it's good for you to start with the promises that God directly gave to the church so you don't end up taking any out of context.

Let me give you three. Matthew 6:33, God promises to provide for his people as we seek first his kingdom. Matthew 16:18 or so, God promises, Jesus says to his disciples, On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. Isn't that Matthew 28:20? The Lord Jesus, He promises us.

He says, I will be with you even to the end of the age. Brothers and sisters, we have such great promises. But not only does God see and hear our repentance, He also sees and hears the enemy's blasphemy. He sees and hears the enemy's blasphemy. Look at verses 8 through 13.

The rapsack returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. Now the king heard concerning Tarhaka, king of Cush, 'He has set out to fight against you.' and when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah saying, 'Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising you that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them?

The nations that my fathers destroyed go on, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar. Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena or the king of Iva?

We see in verse 8 some of Isaiah's prophecy starting to be fulfilled. You see that repetition of he heard, he heard, he heard. King Sennacherib hears a rumor and he then goes to fight and get ready. And so we see that part, but then in verse 11 through 13 we see this same old blasphemous character that we saw in chapter 36 when King Sennacherib sent the Rabshakeh to decry Israel and threaten their destruction and call for Hezekiah's, for the people to betray Hezekiah. That same blasphemous arrogance is there, but it has increased a little bit.

Did you notice that? It increased because he now accuses Yahweh directly of being a deceiver.

How deranged is that? That has been Satan's scheme ever since the beginning, right? And if we want to be faithful to finish this Pilgrim's Progress, we need to not be unaware of the evil one's schemes. Fundamentally, Satan wants to deceive you. He wants you to think that God is a liar.

That he is a false savior like David Koresh or Jim Jones. That is Satan's prerogative and that's what he's been doing. And remember, I just hear that sinister question he asked Eve, Did God really say?

No, no, no, you will not surely die.

Well, Brothers and sisters, where are you tempted to doubt the trustworthiness of God and his word?

Let me press it a little bit deeper. When are you tempted to doubt God's ability to deliver you, whether in this life or in the life to come?

But you know what helps me to face the lies of the evil one?

I have to ask my questions, Welton, when has God ever lied to you? When did God ever break a promise? When did God not come through for you?

I remember there were days when I first started ministry, me and Casey were first getting married and we first got married, we barely had a dollar to our name. There were times where we did not have the funds to get groceries that week. But we remembered Matthew 6:33 and we cried out to God. And who would have thought that a whole box of meals would literally be sitting on our doorstep and our neighbor would reach out to us and say, Hey, my oven exploded. Do you want these hello Fresh meals?

This was right on time. And we of course said yes.

And we put, and those meals lasted us to our next paycheck so we could get more food. The Lord has been faithful to provide, and I'm sure there's thousands of those stories that we can recount to one another. And I encourage you, recount these around the table at lunch or before you leave here with somebody. But if you're not a follower of Christ, have you ever considered the question, When has the God of the Bible ever lied?

Can you prove a place where God did not keep his word?

Maybe there's some pain or disappointment where you feel that God had made a promise that he didn't come through on. But let me tell you this. Oftentimes where we think God failed is where God actually never promised to do what we were asking him to do. Him to do to begin with. And so that's where it's so important for us to learn the scriptures.

But not only does God see and hear our prayers, I mean, not only does God see and hear the enemy's blasphemy, God sees and hears our prayers. God sees and hears our prayers. Look at verses 14 through 20. Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and he read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.

And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you, are the God, you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire.

For they were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.

In verse 14, Hezekiah receives the message from Sennacherib's emissaries, and he takes that very scroll, that very letter, and he takes it right before God and he spreads it out. He's like, God, I want you to see this. And then he begins to pray in verse 15 through 20. And in short, he starts first and foremost by praising God. Did you notice that?

That's a good corporate prayer. He begins with praise just like we praise God earlier. And in that praise, he praises God. And you can summarize it for about four things. Number one, he praises God for his self existence.

That's God's, God does not need anything to survive or to be or to exist.

He in and of himself is life. And so God relies on nothing or no one. And we see Hezekiah is pointing to that by the repetition of Yahweh, Yahweh, that all capital L-O-R-D, that's the sacred name of the Lord. But then also we see him praising God for his strength. The Lord is strong.

God is the general of a great army and he made Israel his people. That's when he says, Lord of hosts. It's talking about the angelic armies that the Lord commands. How great must somebody be to have an army of supernatural beings at his disposal? That's our God.

And then he says, this great God is enthroned among the cherubim. Then he also praises God for his singularity. His singularity. That is that God alone is God. God alone is creator.

God alone is God. All other so-called gods are no gods at all. They are powerless. Only God, only Yahweh is God. And then we see him praise God for his sovereignty.

Did you notice that? God is the king. He has dominion over all nations, over all creation because he is the creator. There is nothing that can happen in this universe that God himself has not decreed already. God is in control.

God is sovereign. God is all powerful. Man can make a plan, but God is the one who brings what he wills to fruition.

But then not only do we see Hezekiah praise, he also petitions. He petitions Yahweh to hear and see the blasphemy.

It's not that God was blind. It's not that God was deaf. It was that God, he was asking God to listen and take action. That's what we see the cause for God to hear and to see is asking for. And then he also in verse 18 through, I mean, verse 18 and 19, you see that he's honest, right?

He's honest that, yes, Sennacherib and his army, yes, they have decimated other nations. They have defeated other kings.

They have destroyed other gods and their idols. But he calls out why. It's because they were not gods to begin with. They were powerless to begin with. And so he is saying, though the rapshek and Sennacherib are trying to put you on the same plane, As the gods of Sepherveam and Evah and all that.

No, no, no, it's not true. You are not on the same plane as them. You are holy, you are exalted, you are supreme, you are wonderful, and there is no one else like you. And so he confesses that that God, Yahweh, you, O Yahweh, are our God. And then finally he petitions Yahweh, to cause Jerusalem's salvation.

Salvation. That means to rescue from danger. He's saying, Lord, may you bring that rescue about. Why? Verse 20.

So that all the nations would know that Yahweh is Yahweh alone. When God saved you and me from the wrath to come, he did not do that for only our sake.

He did that for His glory. He did that so His name could expand to the ends of the earth. That is God's purposes and our salvation. So what does healthy intercessory prayer look like? It looks like this.

It looks like praising God for His greatness, acknowledging God's priorities, being honest about our problems in light of God's priorities. We don't have to pretend like it doesn't hurt when we go before a holy God. People around you might make you feel like you need to pretend. You don't have to pretend with God. He knows your heart.

He knows your anxieties. He knows your worries and he cares and he wants you to bring them to him.

That is our God. And then finally we ask boldly for his glory. We ask boldly for his glory. And so we've seen that God sees and hears but secondly, God promises. God promises.

Look at verse 21.

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Because you have prayed to me Concerning Sennacherib, king of Assyria, this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him.

The Lord himself responds to Hezekiah's prayer. Did you notice that? Isaiah knew somehow that Hezekiah prayed, likely getting that prophetic word from the Lord. He sends a messenger straight to Hezekiah to encourage him. And did you see why Why God responded.

Did you notice that? It's because Hezekiah himself prayed. No longer just trying to ask Isaiah to help. No, no, he went to God himself. Hezekiah was asking for the prophet to pray, but God delighted in the king's prayer.

And this act of faith is what God ordained to respond to. But brothers and sisters, Praise God that we have a better prayer warrior than Hezekiah. We have Jesus Christ who is the perfect king, the perfect priest, and the perfect prophet all in one. So that makes him the perfect savior. And not only is he all that, he's more.

He's fully God and he's fully man. So that in him, he being fully God, He could bear the wrath of God. And being fully man, He could stand on behalf of man.

This Christ Jesus, our greater prayer warrior, He laid down His life so that you and I could have a relationship with God. He shed His blood so that you and I could be reconciled to God. Former enemies, former blasphemers, former haters of God, former self-righteous people can have all of our debt forgiven, expunged in the courtroom of heaven because our great advocate, Lord Jesus, he died on our behalf. That is how we can be reconciled with God. And not only are we like just kind kind of like, yeah, I'm gonna let the debt go.

No, no, no. We're fully family now in Christ Jesus. We can be truly friends now in Christ Jesus.

And if you want to see some of this prayer in action, I encourage you look at John 17. Maybe meditate on that sometime and let it just wash over you. John 17 is Jesus praying that very thing. And he's praying for you and me even before we were born. That we, us who have repented of our sin and trusted in Christ Jesus, we could persevere to the finish line.

And so we see that God not only promises our deliverance, he also promises, I mean first we see that God heard Hezekiah's prayer, but now we see that God promises destruction. This is the longest section that I'll read, and this is verse 22 through 35.

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, this is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him. She despises you. She scorns you, the virgin daughter of Zion. She wags her head behind you, the daughter of Jerusalem. Whom have you mocked and reviled against?

Whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights against the Holy One of Israel? By your servants you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains to the far recesses of Lebanon to cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses, to come to its remotest heights, its most fruitful forests. I dug wells and drank waters, to dry up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.

Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I plan from days of old, what I now bring to pass, that you should make fortified cities, crash into heaps of ruins, while their inhabitants, shorn of strength, are dismayed and confounded, and have become like plants of the field, and like tender grass. Like grass on the housetops blighted before it's grown.

I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in and your raging against me. Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come to my ears, I will put my hook in your nose, and my bit in your mouth, and I will turn you back on the way by which you came. And this shall be a sign for you. Speaking to Hezekiah, this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year, sow and reap, and plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city.

Or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.

Now you may notice those, that chunk, that first chunk is about, is kind of set in Hebrew poetry. That this is kind of like God's poetic verse against King Sennacherib. If you know anything about hip hop, sometimes you have rap battles. Well God is laying his final verse against Sennacherib. Or, let me, if you don't know that rap, a debate team, okay?

This is the closing argument time, all right?

But unlike a rap battle that only says, talks about reality, God's verse creates reality. Verse 22 and 23, the Lord takes mocking his people seriously. You mocking the virgin daughter of Zion, You mocking the daughter of Jerusalem? No, you're mocking against me, the Lord says. This is just like what we read with Saul.

Saul, Saul, why have you persecuted me? The Lord Jesus says. Brothers and sisters, do you know that when the world mocks your faith, the Lord takes that personally? When you're excluded for righteousness sake, when you're being attacked for righteousness sake, for the name of the gospel, the Lord takes that personally. Personally, he cares so much for you, more than you even care for yourself.

And one day he will judge those who oppress Christians for their faith. And if you're here and you're not a Christian, would you want to stand before this holy God and have to hear the questions, the type of questions he asked the king of Assyria? Why have you mocked me?

If you die and you're not in right relationship with God through repentance and faith in him, you will stand before a holy God and hear the tragic words, depart from me, I never knew you. You worker of iniquity. And that's not what we want for you, and it would be unloving for us not to warn you. But that's why Christ Jesus came to reconcile us to God. God.

So stop mocking God today. Turn to him today. Give glory and honor to him today. In the name of Jesus. Verse 24-29 God reveals that all the power that Sennacherib is intoxicated by was actually sovereignly decreed by Yahweh.

There is nothing that Sennacherib had that the Lord had not and since he pretends he is the sovereign one and can rage against Yahweh, Yahweh is going to treat him like a prisoner of war, that's the hook in the nose part, and like a brute beast, a horse that is bridled, and control him and turn him back to his land. That hook in the nose is the very tactic that the Assyrians would do to humiliate their enemies. God is saying, I'm going to do something like that to you. In verse 33-35, in fact, he will return home without even having done any physical assault to Jerusalem. No arrow, no shield, no siege mount, nothing.

And then God promises deliverance. If you look at verses 30-32, we see two signs of fruitfulness there. First we see the supernatural agricultural growth.

God is saying, I will cause supernatural productivity of the land. And then he says, I'm going to also provide supernatural national growth. I will replenish your nation because Sennacherib had besieged the whole nation all the way to the capital city. But why?

Why would God make these promises of destruction upon his enemies and deliverance to his people. Saints, it's all for his glory. It's all for his name. If you look at verse 32a, Yahweh promises to defend this city to save it. Why?

It's for his name. It's for his glory.

The zeal of Yahweh shall do this. The zeal of Yahweh is speaking of his infinite passion, his fervency for his own reputation to be treated with dignity, honor, and respect. Brothers and sisters, if Yahweh himself lives for his glory as his supreme mission, why would we settle for any lesser mission?

Can you imagine afresh what it would look like for you in a new way this week to just dedicate yourself to the glory of God in your marriage, the glory of God in your family, the glory of God in your home, the glory of God in your workplace? What would that mean for the slights that you face? In the workplace. What would that mean for the fatigue that you face sometimes? What would that mean for the disagreements that you and your spouse may face if you are primarily living for the glory of God instead of the glory of yourself or your own happiness or your spouse's happiness primarily?

But then also we see that the Lord, he's going to do this for his namesake. You see that in verse 35, For I will defend the city to save it for my own name's sake and for the sake of my servant David. That namesake is saying, For God's reputation, he's going to save his people and for his servant David. Isn't that so sweet? David is long dead, but not to God.

And God's promises to David forgotten, that he would put a king on his throne who would reign forever. God is saying, I'm gonna make sure I bring that to pass, because I love my servant David, and I love you, Hezekiah, and I love my people, and I will bring you all salvation. Well, God sees and hears and God promises, but also God God delivers. That's our last point. God delivers.

That's verses 36 through 38. And the angel of Yahweh went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch, his god, Adrammelech and Sharzer, his sons struck him down with the sword.

And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon, his son, reigned in his place. Now, when I say God delivers, I'm not talking about Uber Eats or Grub Hub.

We're talking about Exodus. We're talking about people captive being set free. We are talking about a second kind of Exodus. In the book of Isaiah, Isaiah, he tells of another Exodus coming that would be similar to the first one, but even greater.

And this incident is like a new type of exodus. We're talking about a big nation versus a small one. Their gods versus Yahweh, our God. Their king versus our king. And the Lord delivers miraculously.

Brothers and sisters, Hezekiah's deliverance is a small glimpse of the deliverance that awaits us in the final greatest exodus. When the Lord Jesus comes back to get his bride and we will be with him forever, we shall reign with him forever, we will no longer be there, death anymore, no more tears, no more suffering, no more sorrow, and most importantly, we shall see his face. A face that is more beautiful than a billion sunsets put together. His glory outshines the sun. We will get to see His beautiful face.

And after all of the opposition we face in this life, we will recognize it was all worth it. Our God delivers by sending His angel to strike dead 185,000 people.

It's a lot of image bearers being destroyed.

And God is righteous and just for every last one of their execution. For their rebellion against Him, they deserved it. And so do you and I. We deserve it by nature for our rebellion against God. We deserve it for our sins.

But praise be to God Christ Jesus. He took all of the sins of all of those who would trust in him, and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. And he was pierced for our transgression and wounded for our iniquities. Praise be to God. Now Sennacherib, who claimed to be so sovereign, notice he does exactly what God promised he would do.

He runs back home with his tail between his legs. He runs back to his nation, back to his capital, back to his temple to worship his God, this big sovereign God. So he says, and yet he's killed by his own sons in front of his own so-called God who was impotent to deliver him.

Whereas Yahweh our God delivered all of his people from him.

Whether it is judgment now or judgment later, judgment is inescapable except for if you hide yourself in Christ Jesus.

And friend, if you are not a Christian today, you could be saved from the wrath to come. You could be forgiven for all your sins and you could be brought into God's family. That is the heart of the Lord. And that is his heart for his people. And brother and sister, that's his heart for you and me, to rescue us from the enemy and bring us to glory.

We know that our Christ is nothing like Jim Jones. Jim Jones made his people drink a cup of poison so that he may cause them all to die. But our Christ Jesus, he drank the cup of God's wrath on our behalf so that we might live. Let us pray.

Father, we give glory and honor to you for you are a mighty deliverer. You save us from the wrath to come through the blood of your son. Lord, help us to trust in your deliverance and yours alone. In Jesus Christ's name we pray, amen.