The God of Israel
Notes
Transcript
This past week - our country appointed a new President...
This is not NEW to us...
It’s something that has been going on for a long time, since this country was founded.
And if we THINK about the ROLE of President...
We find that what comes with the Presidency - is - Authority.
Authority to MAKE DECISIONS...
EVEN decisions of the highest order.
AND YET - even WITH that Authority - a President isn’t COMPLETELY shielded - from outside FORCES...
Outside pressures...
Outside INFLUENCES...
TO try to - - take ADVANTAGE OF that authority.
SEE - Authority - is an INGREDIENT - I FEEL - of something LARGER...
And that SOMETHING is what we’ll be looking at today in our text.
That SOMETHING - is Sovereignty!
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.
21 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.
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.
I mentioned earlier - that OUR THEME for today was going to be something - LARGER than authority.
SOVEREIGNTY:
Sovereignty - if we were to look up a definition - would return this...
SLIDE:
Sovereignty: Royal rank, authority, or power
I would contend - that SOVEREIGNTY - actually CONSISTS of ALL 3 of these things.
And we’re going to see these things - IN OUR TEXT!
Today - we’re going to see - The SOVEREIGNTY of God… in 2 Kings.
You may not have thought that 2 Kings chapter 19 would a place for us to go to DEFEND the Sovereignty of God - OVER the hearts of men - but we’ll see today - it may very well be one of the BEST places to do so.
20 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard.
21 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.
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!
Storyline here is - King Sennacherib MOCKS God…he REVILES God....
He RAISED his voice to GOD...
He LIFTED his eyes to the heights!
And God responds with - “Against WHOM have you raised your voice and lifted up your eyes to the heights?”
“Against the HOLY ONE of Israel!
God isn’t messing around here.
SLIDE: The God of Israel: The Holy, Preeminent One
The God of Israel
The God of Israel
Basically - God says - “Who do you THINK you’re dealing with here?!!”
You’re dealing with - In God’s WORDS - the HOLY ONE of Israel!
What does HOLY mean?
SLIDE:
Holy: Exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness
God - we kNOW - is HOLY...
PERFECT in ALL WAYS.
Eternally existent - from ALL time...
And BEING HOLY...
He is PREEMINENT!
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
God is PREEMINENT - He is SUPERIOR to ALL!
He is SUPERIOR to all:
Systems of government
Armies in the world
Societies and Social structures
Education Systems
Economic Forums
Health organizations
Social Influences
Charitable Initiatives
Human Endeavors...
And Superior to all human ACCOMPLISHMENTS!
King Sennacherib had a distorted view of LIFE...
Of HIMSELF...
It made sense to him to - REVILE God...
To COME AT God - as though God OWED HIM and answer!!
NOW - we shake our heads - YES at this…and think - HOW DARE HE DO THAT!!
But we’re CONSTANTLY forgetting these things!
We’re constantly ELEVATING OURSELVES…
Let me prove it to you.
SLIDE: What’s this??
PIC of Jordan Dunking
IMPRESSIVE right?
What was said about this?
Best Dunk Ever!
Look how HIGH he is!!
He’s NOT HUMAN!!
OK - NOW - let’s look at the same dunk - from a different angle!
SLIDE: Dunk in Grand Canyon
WOW - impressive HUH?
LOOK how HIGH he is off the ground!!
The BEST DUNK EVER!
A little different?
Is it hard to NOT LAUGH - when we say - LOOK how HIGH he is OFF the ground!!?
Why is it weird?
It’s because - this NEW PERSPECTIVE - puts the AMAZEMENT of the DUNK = into a different light!
It’s like - OUR AMAZEMENT - gets redirected - to SOMETHING ELSE… the Canyon!
SLIDE:
Jordan’s dunk, in light of the Grand Canyon, loses its ‘WOW’ factor.
And it’s almost as if the SUPERIORITY of the Grand Canyon - redirects our WORSHIP to the Grand Canyon itself.
And this REALITY - for US - is a reflection of how our HEARTS are supposed to respond to the SUPERIORITY of Christ over all things!
See - our hearts have no problem trading ONE PHYSICAL IDOL for ANOTHER...
Our hearts are FINE with trading the AWESOMENESS of Jordan’s Dunk - with the AWESOMENESS of the Grand Canyon!
BUT - try to tell my heart that there’s a SUPERIOR GOD - over me - and my heart - by NATURE - isn’t COOL with that!
The same could be said for king Sennacherib - HENCE why God said this next in our text...
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.
These truths here - are deeper than we probably think.
AND YET - what we will see here - is this...
SLIDE: The God of Israel: The All-Authoritative; All-Sovereign One
The God of Israel
The God of Israel
In this section of our passage - God is SPEAKING TRUTHS all throughout...
Back to v23 - - listen to how many PERSONAL pronouns we find...
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.’
Here we find the words this king had SPOKEN...
of ALL the things HE had done!
IS ALL of this TRUE?
He said - with my chariots I went up the highest of mountains… (he REALLY did that - it’s true)
I cut down the tallest trees (He DID cut them down)
i dug wells and I drank foreign waters (YES - he did)
I DRIED up the streams of Egypt…with the sole of MY foot.
YES - The king was speaking what was TRUE -
SO WHAT WAS wrong with what he said?
God tells us...
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,
OK - here it is!
A 100% PURE DOSE of - SOVEREIGNTY…!
What is God saying here?
He’s saying - YES - you DID those things...
But what you DON’T UNDERSTAND - and FAIL to acknowledge is that - I [Determined] you would do those things...
And that [I] = GOD - brought these things to PASS!!
God is saying - ULTIMATELY - these things happened because I MADE them happen!!
I ORDAINED them to happen.
NOW - not sure if we understand the implications here.
This TRUTH here today - is a DEEPER truth of God.
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
NOW - what’s really hard for MOST people to understand - is that this “ALL” in this verse - INCLUDES - ALL THINGS that happen.
back to v25
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,
He says - I PLANNED this...
AND - I BROUGHT those things to PASS...
No - MIKE - God doesn’t DICTATE WHAT WE DO IN LIFE…!
Give me a break!!
**Drop Pen - I DID THAT!
I DROPPED IT!!
AND God SAYS...
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 DROP THAT PEN...
We see here - that God DID plan for those cities to be destroyed and overtaken.
God WAS in control.
BECAUSE He’s GOD - He has ALL Authority....
And having ALL authority - He is ALSO SOVEREIGN...
MEANING - He doesn’t just make decisions...
HE CONTROLS the narrative....at all times!!
16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
God put Pharaoh into power -
God CAUSED decisions to be made - CAUSED desires to be had - and Pharaoh lived out what GOD CAUSED to happen.
KINGS and RULERS and PRESIDENTS (GOOD OR BAD) are put into place - BY GOD’s DESIGN!!
Pharaoh was no different.
PUT INTO PLACE by God - so that God would SHOW His power - in going AGAINST Pharaoh!
Read v18… So then He (God) has mercy on whomever He wills, and He HARDENS whomever He WILLS.
God HARDENS WHOMEVER HE WISHES to HARDEN...
NOW - here’s how cool the Bible is!
next verse...
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”
It’s SAYING - Ok, if GOD HARDENS WHOMEVER HE WISHES - then WHY does GOD FIND FAULT with those He hardens? Because - WHO can RESIST His WILL - to harden them?
We ALL THINK THIS DON’T WE???
We may even WAR AGAINST this IDEA - this GOD who would choose to HARDEN someone!
What’s the answer from the Bible? - Next verse!
20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”
Basically - this is the apostle Paul saying - YES - it’s a hard thing for us mere humans to grasp = SO THEREFORE - Deal with it!
You QUESTION how God could HARDEN SOMEONE and then still find FAULT with them? Still BLAME that person??
Paul says - Deal with it!
He’s GOD - and YOU are not!
Deal with it!!
And THINK ABOUT IT - ALL of mankind takes issue with this TRUTH of God!
ALL mankind takes issue in some degree with the absolute SOVEREIGNTY of God!!
That God may ACT in nature - and control the external world - but NO WAY does He IMPACT and DICTATE what I DO in life...
NO WAY God would IMPEDE on my = FREE WILL!
Did God IMPEDE on the WILL of MEN - ALL the men and women in the choices that they made that led to Pharaoh being put in place?
Yes - GOD DID
Did God IMPEDE in the KILLING of Christ Himself?
OF COURSE He did!
27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness,
GOD decided that Christ would be EXECUTED by MAN!
AND - man - was accountable for it happening!
Sennacherib DID what HE DID - BECAUSE GOD DID WHAT HE DID.
And God’s DISPLEASURE with Sennacherib was IN PART - due to Sennacherib BELIEVING that HE HIMSELF was in complete CONTROL of his own life.
We see this elsewhere in scripture...
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—
14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
I think we KNOW these verses - yet we don’t REALLY believe them - in their fullest extent!
GOD REIGNS over what you do and don’t do!
LISTEN - GOOD - OR bad!
HOW? So then did God CAUSE Sennacherib’s sin?
How do we think thru this??
We start here...
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
God TEMPTS no one!
So here’s what we KNOW -
God PLANNED for Sennacherib to destroy those cities...
And GOD BROUGHT those things to PASS...
BUT - God DID NOT TEMPT Sennacherib with sin.
How do we rectify that?
I look at it this way...
God wanted to JUDGE ISRAEL...
And so what does He do?
He looks at Sennacherib - WHO DESPISES Israel…SINFULLY...
And God says - OK Israel...
I’ve been MERCIFULLY HOLDING BACK Assyria from ATTACKING YOU...
BUT - NOW I’m going to pull back my RESTRAINING GRACE… and allow them to do what they REALLY WANT TO DO TO YOU.
And so GOD - opens the cage and let’s the LION of ASSYRIA feast on Israel.
THAT was done - IN GOD’s Judgment
if we look to the story of Joseph...
…we find God OPENING the cage of Joseph’s BROTHERS, and allowing them to DO WHAT THEY WANTED to DO...
Which was to SELL Joseph into SLAVERY...
NOW - what does the Bible say about God DOING THAT?
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
And here it is -
The bible tells us that Joseph’s brothers SOLD HIM into slavery.
The Bible ALSO tells us that God SOLD HIM into slavery.
And it’s the INTENT on each side - that we can RECTIFY the problem.
The brother’s INTENDED EVIL against Joseph.
Their MOTIVE was EVIL.
PRIDE was their MOTIVE.
God HATES pride.
But on GOD’S SIDE -
What was HIS MOTIVE?
His motive was - the GOOD of Joseph - and others
It was for GOOD that God DID this!
And SO - who’s ACCOUNTABLE for the GOOD OUTCOME? - - GOD!
Who’s ACCOUNTABLE of the bad parts of it? - - Joseph’s BROTHERS… they’re ACCOUNTABLE for it!
God is ABSOLUTELY SOVEREIGN!
He does AS HE PLEASES! YET - ALL that He does falls under HIS PERFECTION...
ALL He does falls under ONE of HIS ATTRIBUTES!
HIS LOVE
HIS KINDNESS
HIS GRACE
HIS MERCY
OR
HIS HOLINESS
HIS WRATH - which is ALWAYS - JUSTIFIED (how do I know?)
Because He is JUST - and RIGHTEOUS!
KNOW THIS...
SLIDE:
God is justified in all that He does. If He extends mercy, it’s because He is loving and gracious. If He sends judgment, He is just to do so.
But this isn’t all we see about God in our text...
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.
What do we see here?
SLIDE: The God of Israel: The All-Powerful One
The God of Israel
The God of Israel
back to v27
27 “But I know your sitting down and your going out and coming in, and your raging against me.
God KNOWS - OUR heart.
He KNOWS - our motives...
Our thoughts!
He KNOWS…
His WISDOM is unmatched…
there is NOTHING that He does NOT know.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
And listen to this verse - We’ve heard it before - but maybe never like this...
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,
Notice what this DOESN’T SAY!!
Notice - this is a ONE WAY STREET!
Does it say - All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, AND FOR BEING CORRECTED ITSELF?
NO - The Scripture LEARNS NOTHING FROM US.
Notice - …IT - teaches US
IT - reproofs US
IT - CORRECTS US
IT - trains US!
It’s NEVER the other way around!
WHY?
The WISDOM of God!!
AND WITH THAT WISDOM - He WIELDS His power to CONTROL what we do and don’t do -
He tells us - HE MADE Sennacherib GO BACK the way he came!!
Now - Sennacherib was making decisions - and did what he really WANTED to DO - BUT - why did he WANT to do those things?
God tells us.
SUMMARY
In our text today - we’ve seen - GOD on DISPLAY!
SLIDE:
The God of Israel
The Holy, Preeminent One
The All-Authoritative, All-Sovereign One
The All-Powerful One
God is PERFECT - in all His ways
He is ALL-Authoritative - He has authority over ALL FORCES...
Good and Evil
ALL things fall in subjection to Him!
He is SOVEREIGN - He is IN COMPLETE control!
There is NOTHING OUTSIDE of God’s control!
And that should be comforting for us!
We should be THANKFUL that God is in control - AT ALL TIMES!!
And He is ALL - powerful!
His will - WILL be accomplished!
His plan - WILL be accomplished!
And we should be thankful for that!!
Jared is gonna come and close us out with a song - But let’s pray first...
MARK F questions...
Let’s pray!
