6_18_2023 - The Faithful God

Opening Prayer)

(Sermon Introduction)

Today we begin our new series entitled “New Eyes,” focusing on seeing what we call the “Old Testament” with “New Eyes.”

(Series Context)

We recognize that it takes a lot of time and study to unpack the Old Testament with “New Eyes.”

However, we cannot overlook the importance of the Old Testament to the development of the Early Church and to the understanding the Gospel message and the depth of what Jesus the Christ has done for us.

I cannot tell you the number of times over the years that I have had well meaning people tell me, even those claiming to be Christians, that Jesus Christ hasn’t always been.

As we begin today I want to set the stage with an understanding that Jesus has always been, He is, and He will be forevermore.

John 1:1–5 (ESV)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 He was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Jesus is a distinct person of the Trinity.

Rev. Charles H. Spurgeon

“Just as every road of England leads to London, every road of Scripture leads to Christ.”

“Don’t you know, young man, that from every town and every village and every hamlet in England, wherever it may be, there is a road to London? So from every text in Scripture there is a road toward the great metropolis, Christ. And my dear brother, your business is, when you get to a text, to say, ‘Now what is the road to Christ?’ I have never found a text that had not got a road to Christ in it and if ever I find one…I will go over hedge and ditch but I would get my Master, for the sermon cannot do any good unless there is a Saviour of Christ in it.”

(Spurgeon. “Christ Precious to Believers,” sermon at Music Hall, Royal Surry Gardens, London, March 13, 1859.)

As we work our way through Scripture, we are going to be looking at different accounts in the Old Testament where Christ is revealed in a powerful way.

I believe that God is going to give you new eyes as you read the Scripture, so that you see Christ!

(Context: The Angel of the Lord / Jesus Christ)

I want to remind you once again about The Angel of the Lord in these texts that we are studying isn’t some random angel.

The way He is referenced and the way that Scripture reveals Him it is clear that this “character” is in fact the Lord Jesus Christ.

William Pakenham Walsh

The unanimous voice of the early Christian Church acknowledged that “The Angel of the Lord,” who so frequently appeared as the Revealer of God’s will to man in the older dispensation, was none other than the Second Person in the glorious Trinity.

(Walsh, The Angel of the Lord, Or, Manifestations of Christ in the Old Testament, pg. VII, 1856.)

(Sermon Title: The Faithful God)

The title of the sermon today is: The Faithful God.

(Context: The Kings and Kingdoms of Israel)

After the time of the Judges, Samuel the prophet established King Saul over the people of Israel as their first king.

Years later after the kingdoms of David and Solomon there arose a dispute under the leadership of Solomon’s son Rehoboam and the kingdom of Israel split into a Northern Kingdom (10 tribes of Israel), and the Southern Kingdom (Judah and Benjamin).

Out of the 19 kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel none of them served the Lord.

There were 8 good kings who served the Lord in the Southern Kingdom of Judah out of 20.

Number seven was named King Hezekiah.

(Context: Hezekiah and Sennacherib)

Around 700 BC Sennacherib, the King of Assyria becomes a consistent enemy of the Kingdom of Judah and King Hezekiah.

Sennacherib and the Assyrians become an empire to be reckoned with.

The Assyrians are known for their brutality and their ability to siege the un-siege-able.

Sennacherib mocks Hezekiah, and the people.

Sennacherib tells them that their God can’t save them.

Hezekiah receives a letter from Sennacherib and how does Hezekiah respond?

2 Kings 19:14–19 (ESV)

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.

15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said: “O Lord, the 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.

16 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.

17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands

18 and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.

19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”

Hezekiah laid the letter before the Lord and sought His help.

The Lord had shown Himself faithful to the people of Judah.

The prophet Isaiah (a contemporary of Hezekiah), brought back word to King Hezekiah that the Lord had heard his plea about Sennacherib and promised that He would take care of him.

(Isaiah records this story as well in Isaiah 37.)

Hezekiah needed a miracle of his own.

It is one thing to know of God and His faithfulness, but it’s another thing to be able to say, “He has shown Himself faithful to me.”

Hezekiah had heard all the stories.

(Worship Team Special Song: “Nothing Compares” by Third Day, 3-4 Minutes)

The stories of God’s faithfulness don’t change our lives, experiencing the Faithful God for ourselves is what changes our lives.

Hezekiah understood Who God was, and therefore Hezekiah knew that God saves His people.

So Hezekiah prayed.

God answered.

Isaiah reveals the answer of the Lord concerning Sennacherib.

Let’s look at His answer:

2 Kings 19:22–28 (ESV)

22 “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!

23 By your messengers 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; I felled its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses; I entered its farthest lodging place, its most fruitful forest.

24 I dug wells and drank foreign waters, and I dried up with the sole of my foot all the streams of Egypt.’

25 “Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass, that you should turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins,

26 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 is grown.

27 “But I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me.

28 Because you have raged against me and your complacency has come into 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 again in verses 32-34:

2 Kings 19:32–34 (ESV)

32 “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.

33 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the Lord.

34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

In magnificent fashion, the Lord tells Sennacherib that he is finished.

King Hezekiah was granted the ability to know what the Lord said to Sennacherib.

Then he watched Christ do the miraculous overnight.

2 Kings 19:35–37 (ESV)

35 And that night the angel of the Lord 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.

36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh.

37 And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Our God is The Faithful God.

He keeps His promises.

We can trust Him.

His plan does not fail.

The Enemy will not win.

1. Know Who He Is and What He Has Done

2. Experience Him Personally

3. Testify to His Faithfulness

Christ has defeated the Enemy.

Christ revealed the Faithfulness personally to King Hezekiah and He desires to do that in our lives as well.

Zechariah 3 tells us, Christ “removed the iniquity of the land in a single day” (Zech. 3:9).

Zechariah was prophesying of how Christ would die for the sins of the world.

John 3:16–17 (ESV)

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Christ desires that we would Know Him and what He has done.

He desires that we would know Him personally.

(Response)

(Invite the Keyboardist and the Prayer Team)

King Hezekiah knew Who God Is and What He Had Done.

He stepped out and trusted Him personally.

Him and Isaiah both were able to testify to what God did in their lives.

(Sermon Recap)

The Faithful God:

Know Who God Is and What He Has Done

Experience God Personally

Testify to God’s Faithfulness

(Closing Challenge)

Where are you at? Maybe you need a miracle.

Do you Know Who God Is and What He Has Done? Maybe you don’t, maybe it’s lip service or head knowledge.

Have you Experienced God Personally? Maybe you need to step out and believe God. Maybe you need to step into a personal relationship with Him.

Are you Testifying to God’s Faithfulness? Maybe you need to share what He has done in your life with others.

(Response Card)

1. What did you hear? (Blank Lines)

2. How will you live it out? (Blank Lines)

3. Who will you share it with? (Blank Lines)

4. Who are you discipling? (Blank Lines)

5. What are you praying for? (Blank Lines)

6. How has God answers your prayers? (Blank Lines)

(Closing Blessing)

Numbers 6:24–26 (ESV)

24 The Lord bless you and keep you;

25 The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

26 The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.