Sermon Tone Analysis

©Copyright April 24, 2022 Rev. Bruce Goettsche

How many times did you have to tell your children to brush their teeth before they finally started to do it on their own?

How many times did you have to tell certain family members to put their clothes into the laundry basket instead of leaving them on the floor?

Some things need to be repeated before they are received.

This is the reason Isaiah has beat the same drumbeat for so many chapters from Isaiah 8-35.

Let me remind you one more time of the context of the passage.

The Assyrian army was coming south and Israel and Syria wanted Judah to join them in fighting the Assyrians.

Judah (under Ahaz) refused.

Isaiah told Ahaz near the upper pool (which we will see again in this chapter) to trust God and they would not have to worry about the Assyrian army because God would fight for them.

Unfortunately, Judah, like most of us, thought they could “handle it”.

They tried to pay Assyria off.

That just left them with less riches.

Assyria kept coming.

Then, Judah decided to make an alliance with Egypt (to their south).

Egypt agreed to the alliance but for self-servings purposes.

Now we turn to the conclusion of the account in Isaiah 36.

This same story (almost verbatim) is in 2 Kings 18 and 2 Chronicles 32.

King Sennacherib attacked Judah and captured the key cities.

In the 6th year of Hezekiah Samaria fell and the people were deported to Assyria.

This was common practice at the time.

The Assyrians deported some of the citizens and imported some of their own.

This was to water down the identity of Israel and make the people easier to control.

This is where the Samaritans came from.

They were despised by the Jews who were part of Judah because they did not see these people as true Jews.

The Assyrians were fighting a battle on two different fronts, so it served in their best interest to try to negotiate a settlement with Judah.

This takes us to Isaiah 36, our text for today.

Sennacherib, the Assyrian leader tried to persuade King Hezekiah and the people of Judah to surrender.

And he is going to do via several different tactics.

I believe Satan is using these same tactics today in our lives.

Let’s look at the first part of this dialogue.

In this first section (36:4-6) Sennacherib (through his chief of staff) made 4 attempts to undermine the resolve of the people of Judah.

4 Then the Assyrian king’s chief of staff told them to give this message to Hezekiah:

“This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident?

5 Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength?

Who are you counting on, that you have rebelled against me? 6 On Egypt?

If you lean on Egypt, it will be like a reed that splinters beneath your weight and pierces your hand.

Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is completely unreliable!

1. Cast Doubt on God’s Word.

The first thing Sennacherib does is challenge the promise that God made.

He asks “do you think MERE words can substitute for military skill and strength?”

This is always the first tactic of the enemy: try to cast doubt on the trustworthiness of God’s promise.

In the Garden of Eden this is what Satan does with Adam and Eve.

In the temptation of Jesus, Satan tried to twist God’s promises to get Jesus to do something foolish.

And this is what Satan and all those who are with Him do today as well.

You will likely face people who will tell you the Bible is antiquated, irrelevant, words that are made up by men.

You will be told the Bible we have today isn’t even the same Bible that was written by the writers . . . it has been changed many times with each new translation and is therefore not reliable.

Back in High School when some friends discovered I was reading a Bible.

They asked, ”Do you really believe that stuff about a flood and a guy being eaten by a whale?”

The attempt was to make the Bible sound ridiculous.

I said I did.

Today I would point out that I believe in Noah, Jonah, Daniel and all the other supernatural things in the Bible because Jesus believed these things.

I would then go on to show that the reason I believe in Jesus is because He came back from the dead.

Yes the Bible is old.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t truth!

The Bible has a different view of the world than our society, but that doesn’t mean it is wrong.

As to the Bible being changed over the years, archaeological discoveries (like the Dead Sea Scrolls) show how carefully they have been translated.

There is an entire scroll of Isaiah 1000 years earlier than anything we had before.

In studying this scroll it showed it was virtually unchanged!

The idea of “changes” over the years is really a plot designed to derail believers.

Of course, what Sennacherib doesn’t understand is the people of Judah were not putting their faith in “mere words,” they were putting their trust in the God who had been faithful continually in their history.

Satan hopes we don’t see that distinction.

Here’s the second attack.

7 “But perhaps you will say to me, ‘We are trusting in the Lord our God!’

But isn’t he the one who was insulted by Hezekiah?

Didn’t Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah and Jerusalem worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem?

Make us Feel Unworthy

Sennacherib is trying to make the people feel unworthy.

He thought because Hezekiah had destroyed the temples of other gods who would be in disfavor with all Gods (including Israel’s).

People are always quick to point out the inconsistencies of our lives as a way of deflecting attention from the message of the gospel in their own life.

And since we are all sensitive to inconsistencies in our lives, we can easily take the bait.

But here is what we affirm.

First, God was pleased Hezekiah destroyed those idols and false places of worship!

Second, we can remind Satan we are not right with God because we are good . . .

but because God is merciful and gracious.

When this kind of attack comes at us, we must point out that the reality of our sin is the very reason Jesus had to die!

In other words, we deal with this attempt to discourage us with a simple, “You are right, I don’t deserve salvation . . .

and neither do you.

But the good news of the gospel is that God has reached out to save us in spite of that fact!”

Try to Intimidate Us

Sennacherib kept the arrows coming.

This was not about making a reasoned argument, this was about trying a number of things in the hope something will stick.

8 “I’ll tell you what!

Strike a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria.

I will give you 2,000 horses if you can find that many men to ride on them! 9 With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master’s troops, even with the help of Egypt’s chariots and charioteers?

Sennacherib mocked the people of Judah.

He offered them 2000 of their “spare” horses because he knew they did not have enough people to ride them.

The argument is clear: “You are too weak to win a war against me.”

His implication is that they are too ignorant to make the smart choice.

Today we will be called ignorant, bigoted, and severely disturbed because of our beliefs.

Professors will mock you and tell you no educated person believes like you do.

(Of course, that is not an argument . . .

just an arrogant insult).

You may be informed that “everyone else” disagrees with you.

Though LAWS may be determined by popular vote, truth is not!

Truth is objective, it is either true or not true.

What others think about it is irrelevant to its validity.

Calling us names should not discourage us from our trust in the Lord.

It is not an argument!

It is an attempt to silence those who disagree with them.

Confuse the Facts