We want to thank you for listening to our message. Our hope is that through God's word of truth to build up lives into the kingdom of God. We want to make a difference in all that we do through our words and actions to glorify our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And now let's get ready to go in to the wonderful word of God. Amen. Thank you for tuning in. to Wednesday in the Word as we continue in our series, Battles of the Bible. This is the 46th in this series, December the 14th, 2022, the 20th of Kislev, 5783 of the Hebrew calendar. Thank you for tuning us in tonight. Tonight, we're gonna be in our Bible study in 2 Kings 18, verses 13, 14, 15, and 16, and also in 2 Chronicles 32, verses one through eight. We're gonna be talking about a crisis of faith supported by psychological warfare. A crisis of faith supported by psychological warfare. There's times in your life that you're gonna have to stand tall and hold fast. You may have to dig tunnels for a better defensive position as we've been taught in the military. But I thank God of our battles of the Bible, notice we can focus on a lot of things, but we look and realize that each and every one of us at any given time within any country, government or ruling body, a crisis can arise, a critical situation that has to be handled. And that crisis can be a threat of war or war itself, a broken treaty, terrorist actions, an uprising, natural disasters such as an earthquake, a hurricane, a forest fire, or a flash flood. But on a personal level, every one of us also faces crises in life, critical situations such as serious illnesses, disease, accidents, financial difficulties, loss of a job, divisive relationships, and so many other potential serious problems. But no matter what confronts us, men and women of God, there's wonderful news. There's unlimited sovereign power that's available to carry every one of us through that crisis. The power is the power of God himself, and we're the creation of God's hand. And God loves us. He cares about what happens to us and he makes his power available to us. A power that has the strength to carry us through any crisis. God's unlimited sovereign power is the subject of this scripture and this Bible study that God's power delivered Hezekiah from an invasion by the oppressive Assyrians who were the terror and the scourge of the world during that particular period of history. But when we begin to read of the account, as we highlight some of the verses one through, up until verse 13, verses one through 12, we'll highlight in the sense because the heat of the battle will begin in 2 Kings chapter 18, verse 13, 14 15 and 16 and then in second chronicles chapter 32 verses 1 through 8 and my whole bible study is about the battles of the bible and i'm going to focus on that and so how many of us remember when you were a child that somebody jumped out from a hiding place and they scared the living daylights out of you Hey, you didn't know it then, but that was psychological warfare. And frightening to someone to throw you off balance when they jump out like that, it really throws you off. And it's been around for a long time. And so how did the Assyrians terrify the Israelites? The Assyrians, the ancient enemies of the biblical people of God, were masters of the art of this. Their strategy was four-pronged. They had an advanced warning of their strength and cruelty, and so The army of the Syrians hardly ever lost a battle. Anyone who faced them knew that they had virtually no chance of winning. Their reputation, ferocity, was one of their best weapons. A barrage of contempt, but directed at the citizens of whatever town or city they besieged that town. They hanged, they tortured, they dismembered, they disembodied, they captives, they put them in view of on the city walls. And the people inside the walls of a besieged town knew that decapitation would be a mercy for any prisoner of the Assyrians. Records of all their savage details of victories displayed throughout the years. And so, They have a graphic depiction of soldiers removing the skin of captives at Lachish. They've got an Assyrian wall that shows impelled captives on it. So what was siege warfare? Siege warfare in the Bible meant a fight to the death. The entire population of the besieged town was involved. It meant every man, every woman, child, and animal. No one was exempt. All would starve or surrender. And the attack on the city was governed by a strict rule. Before any hostile action, peace was offered in return for surrender to the besieging army. You were given a last chance to surrender. And so, if that offer was refused, The town's adult male population, all those who survived the attack and siege, they were liable to death. The women and children were condemned to death or slavery. All the town's property, every single thing within the walls of the city, sacred or otherwise, would be confiscated. And so everyone knew that the Assyrians had capable generals, well-trained soldiers, excellent weapons, and at the height of their power, they were virtually invincible on the battlefield. I'ma tell you, if they invaded a country like the little kingdom of Judah with Jerusalem at its center, and the inhabitants were not prepared to surrender, it was marginally safer for the people to hold up in their fortified city and wait out the inevitable siege. This is what the unfortunate people of Lachish tried to do. Their strategy did not work. And so, when we look and realize that war propaganda in ancient world. I remember when I was in Korea, man, and so the Panmunjom and the 38th Parallel. Boy, I'm gonna tell you, when they used propaganda all up and down the lines on the 38th Parallel, you would get these little parachute things that would come down, and it was propaganda. It was to let you know that they were going to use psychological warfare on you, and they were going to do everything that they could to mess with you mentally. And so we looked, because in the Word of God, past chapters talked about the worship campaign of Hezekiah. But here, this is the war campaign. And so, after all the things that we see in verses 1 through 12, Hezekiah's deliverance of how that he's going, the Assyrians was a terrifying, they were a bothersome nuisance to all of the neighbors in the world, but God's mighty power would deliver his people. Hezekiah's father Ahaz had willingly subjected Judah to Assyria, which meant that they were paying a heavy annual tribute or tax to the domineering nation. And so, the Lord filled Hezekiah with an inner strength, giving him the courage to resist the oppression of the Assyrians. Rebelling against the king of Assyria, refusing to pay the tax, took enormous courage. But God filled Hezekiah's heart with an inner strength, a strength seldom seen in rulers, and as a result, Hezekiah broke the heavy yoke of the Assyrian oppression. Hezekiah went on to make a very unwise decision, rejecting the warning of the Lord through his prophet Isaiah. Hezekiah formed an alliance with Egypt, and together they marched against the Philistines and others who were vassal states of Assyria. And battle after battle, the coalition defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, because This is what took place in 2 Kings 18, verses 7 and 8. It was these two reasons that aroused the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, to invade Judah. The invasion is a picture of a high suspense and drama because we see that the invasion by Assyria took place in the 14th year of Hezekiah's reign, and here we see five major preparations were made for that attack. First, Hezekiah had a military block off and he concealed all the streams, that is the water supply, outside the city in verses 3 and 4 of 2 Kings 18. Boy, I thank God. The second thing that he did is he reinforced the city's fortifications in 2 Kings 18 verse 5. and he repaired the city walls. He built additional towers on the wall. He built a second wall outside the main wall at a tristegic locations, reinforcing the millow, supporting the terraces. And then thirdly, Hezekiah had a substantial number of additional weapons manufactured for the army according to 2 Kings chapter 18. Verse five, let me read that. I've been saying that so much, let's read that, amen. Over in 2 Kings, chapter 18, verse five. And he trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any who were before him. He was a good man of God. He was a good one that did all of these things, amen. But I'm gonna tell you something, when we look and realize that, of the things that it tells us over in 2 Chronicles, that, All of the things that he did to try to prepare them for this battle, amen, is a tremendous blessing. But we look at 2 Chronicles chapter 32. 2 Chronicles chapter 32. 2 Chronicles chapter 32. Turn with me over there very quickly to verse five, as I was telling you. because he manufactured some weapons, amen, that was needed at the proper time. And so I thank God. In 2 Chronicles chapter 32, where Sennacherib, king of Assyria, invades Judah, in verse 5 the Bible tells us, also he strengthened himself and built up all the wall that was broken, raised it up to the towers, another wall without and repaired Millo in the city of David and made darts and shields in abundance. He took all of the possible means to make himself the people of the city strong to withstand the invaders. It goes on, he says in verse six, and he set up captains of war over the people, gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city and spoke comfortably to them. I thank God, every one of us, we begin to realize that no matter what confronts us, There's an unlimited sovereign power that's available to carry us through all of these things, amen. And so we're glad that we see that as all of the things that Hezekiah did. Thirdly, first, he had a military block off and conceal all the streams and the water supply outside the city. He reinforced the city's fortifications. He had a substantial number of additional weapons manufactured for the army and Hezekiah organized the citizens into an army and appointed officers over them. And then fifthly, Hezekiah assembled the people in the square at the city gate and encouraged them in the Lord. He had a good old-fashioned coming to Jesus talk, amen, and the Lord was to be their only hope of deliverance against the cruel Assyrian army. Drawing on the great strength and courage that God had instilled within him, Hezekiah shouted out, for exhortations to repeat. They must be strong and courageous, rejecting any thought of surrendering the city. They must be resolved, determined to stand against the enemy to the last person. They must not fear nor be discouraged by the massive size or might of the well-equipped Assyrian forces. God's people must know this one fact, that they had a greater power than the Assyrians. And the Assyrians had only men, only the arm of flesh, but God's people had the Lord. Hallelujah! Praise God. Listen, as I read this over in 2 Chronicles chapter 32. The Bible tells us in verses 7 and 8, be strong and courageous, be not afraid, nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is within, for there before with us than with, for there be more with us than with them. In other words, every one of us, there may be a crisis of faith that is supported by psychological warfare, but you've got to stand tall and hold fast. You may dig tunnels and build reinforcements and fortifications for a better defense, but God is going to be with you. He gave them the number one pep talk. And I thank God, faith is the number one ingredient for victory. Let all believers know that whatever Satan brings against us, God has more for us than Satan has against us. He goes on in verse eight, with him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles and the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah, king of Judea. Our problem, hey church, is that too often we attempt to defeat the flesh by the flesh. It cannot, it will not be done. Our strength must be the Lord our God. Now I'm telling you, here tonight, each and every one of us, when we look at our invasion tonight, of how that we've got to be strong, amen. that uh... uh... here we see that no nation had ever been delivered from a syria not by any god and no people had ever been saved from the assyrians by any god that the judean god would be powerless against the syrian uh... army but i'm gonna tell you something this uh... as we look and realize of all the things that take place in this battle that god is going to do a great and mighty work and that is one of the things that we've got to remember a man and so when we look back and begin to realize that uh... according to the historical records of sanakariv he captured forty six fortified cities numerous small towns and villages captured over two hundred thousand people Through the siege, he trapped Hezekiah in Jerusalem just like a caged bird. Standing all alone against the mighty Assyrians, Hezekiah was desperate to make peace to prevent the Assyrians from attacking Jerusalem, and he therefore sent an envoy to the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, who was camped at the Judean city, Lachish, which he had just captured. And if the Assyrian king would withdraw, Hezekiah offered to surrender and to pay whatever rapson was demanded for peace. Seeing an opportunity to gain a huge amount of money, Sennacherib demanded 300 talents of silver, 11 tons, and 30 talents of gold, one ton, to meet this enormous demand. Hezekiah emptied the treasuries of the temple and palace 2nd Kings chapter 18 that we read starting with verse 14 that the Bible tells us a man in 2nd Kings 18 in Islamos starting verse 13 now is the 14th year of King Hezekiah did Sennacherib king of Assyria come up against all the fence cities of Judea and and took them, and verse 14, and Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lycus saying, I have offended, return from me that which you put on me will I bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, the temple, and the treasures of the king's house, in verse 16, and at that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. Here we see with this action that all the things that was taking place The Syrian king had deceived Hezekiah. He had no intention of withdrawing his forces because Hezekiah had been a thorn in his side during his rebellious times through the years. And so to teach this Judean king a lesson on subjection, Sennacherib was determined to conquer Jerusalem, strip the city of all of its wealth, reinstate the annual tribute or tax that Hezekiah had stopped paying, and in addition, he was probably planning to replace Hezekiah with an Assyrian governor who would enforce loyalty and allegiance to the Assyrian ruler. Remaining behind at Lachish, while the main army, Sennacherib, sent an envoy with a large number of troops to position a blockade around Jerusalem. With this action, the Assyrian king was launching a propaganda war of intimidation of psychological warfare, threatening and demanding that Hezekiah surrender Jerusalem to the Assyrians. But after setting up the siege around the capital, the three officials sent by Sennacherib approached the city, stopped at the aqueduct of the upper pool. And the location of the canal that was the washerman's field means that the spot was a popular place where some of the city residents washed their clothes. But that spot was within earshot of the city walls for the Assyrian officials called out, summoned Hezekiah to join them in negotiations for the surrender. But instead of joining the negotiations himself, Hezekiah sent three royal officials whose positions would match those of the Assyrian officials. And by this action, Hezekiah was insisted on being treated as an equal to the Assyrian king. Had the king of Assyria himself come for negotiations, Hezekiah had no doubt they would have carried out the negotiations personally, king to king. Standing face to face with the Judean negotiators, the Assyrian commander questioned the tactics of Hezekiah, why he was confident. Claiming that he was the personal spokesman for the great king of Assyria, he questioned three of Hezekiah's actions. He questioned Hezekiah's claim of military strength, alleging that Hezekiah's words were empty and the Judean army was weak. He questioned Hezekiah's dependence upon Egypt, claiming that in an actual war, Egypt would splinter like a reed and cause the defeat of any ally. who was leaning upon it and then continuing to belittle Hezekiah, the Assyrian spokesman, questioned Hezekiah's dependence on the Lord. But I take God that Hezekiah showed a complete faith because Hezekiah had displeased the Lord by destroying the high places and the altars of worship throughout Judah, Jerusalem. He had done some good things. But I'm gonna tell you, Hezekiah realized that his most important thing that he needed to depend on the Lord. Hezekiah should surrender because of all of the weaknesses of Judea's army, ridiculed the fact that Judea had few horses and horsemen, and the commander declared that he would give 2,000 horses to Judah if they could put riders on them. And Hezekiah should surrender because the whole army of Judah could not defend against one officer's regiment of Assyrian troops. Hezekiah should surrender because Judah could not depend upon Egypt. And they should surrender, even the Lord himself was now against Judah. But I'm going to tell you, keep in mind that the northern kingdom of Israel had already fallen to Assyria. The question must have been in the minds of the hearers, could God actually be behind the Assyrian invasion, using the Assyrians as an instrument of his judgment, and when it was time for the Judean officials to speak, they surprisingly request that the Assyrian envoy speak in Arabic and not in Hebrew. In 2 Kings chapter 18, verses 26 and 27, that we see this, and it says in Judah's answer, then said, Elohim, the son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah and Rabbishach, speak, I pray you, to your servants in the Syrian language, for we understand it and talk not with us in the Jews language in the ears of the people who are on the wall, but Rabbishach said unto them, has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words? Has he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall that they may eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you? Then Rabbishach stood and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language and spoke, saying, hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus says the king, let not Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand. Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, the Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. And so it goes on and on. But I'm glad that as we look at this, of all the things we're going to focus on and talk about tonight, three things about this invasion that, first of all, the moment of the invasion, the might of the invasion, and the mobilizing for the invasion. The moment of the invasion in 2 Kings 18, verse 13 that we read gives us some points of reference in regards to the moment of this invasion. It happened in the 14th year of King Hezekiah. Did Sennacherib, king of Assyria, come up against all the cities of Judah and took them? It says this in Isaiah 36.1. And so, one of the trials was a great conflict with Sennacherib. God's power was demonstrated in this trial in a miraculous deliverance from Sennacherib. And so, the other great trial in this 14th year was Hezekiah's great sickness in which he nearly died later on in 2 Kings chapter 28, man. But I'm glad that many of God's saints know about these years in which troubles abound in every area of our lives. Things will go along very smoothly for some time. And then all of a sudden, we're gonna have a 14th year experience. Lord, help us. Man, I believe we had that 14th year experience during the pandemic. and the bottom seems to drop out. And it's not great trouble on just one front, but on many fronts that something begins to happen to your family. It can be troublesome with such things as your health, your job, your family, your finances, all at once. You know what? Job's great trial was like this, for many great troubles came upon him all at once. And when troubles pile up on a person, and the troubles that are afflict wonders where God is and why has God allowed all this to happen. But God has not forsaken neither one of us. Hezekiah was not forsaken by God that 14th year of his reign. Neither was Job forsaken when he went through the siege of troubles. God was very much involved. Working the troubles is the benefit of experiencing these saints. And when God puts his saints through difficult times, it's not to destroy them, but to strengthen their faith in God. And when God loads down his own trial, loads us down, with his own trials it's like adding weight to the weight lifters exercises so that he can grow our faith when we lift the weight of trials and we're able to lift even more weight than we started out with. Praise the mighty name of Jesus because without the added weight we will not grow stronger in our faith. Hezekiah's faith eventually grew stronger because of all of the weight that these trials, in this 14th year, when we are tried with many trials, let us be encouraged by the experiences of Hezekiah and see the opportunity in our trials to strengthen our faith. And so, we see the moment of that rain that Hezekiah went through. And all of a sudden, they went through a revival time because in 2 Chronicles, Chapter 32, verse 1, the Bible says, After these things and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib of Assyria came and entered into Judah, and he camped against the fenced cities and thought to win them for himself. He says, after these things, notice it means after the great revival under Hezekiah, because why? He had a wonderful time. It refers to that which just preceded in scripture was the record of a great revival which came to Judah under Hezekiah's leadership in his religious campaign of all the effects that he did through the years. He says, after these things, I thank God that he began to use the word establishment. But I'm glad because every one of us that we realize that the fact that every one of us, when we go through the difficulties of life, that even though that we go through the times of grief and death and sickness, sometimes it may be approached right after a revival, after a good time, after a victory, because divine blessings are sometimes followed by devilish battles. And we simply prefer to believe that if we have been good, that will always experience reward and not trouble, but it rains on the just and the unjust alike. For Hezekiah to experience an attack by Sennacherib after leading Judah to a great spiritual revival, it doesn't seem right. For his people to experience the hardship of an evil oppressor after they had turned from all of the idols to the true God, it does not seem right. But I'm gonna tell you, We see the surprise about Sennacherib's invasion of Judah following the return to godliness in Judah. And so, here we begin to realize rather we must really look at some factors that goes into. When we consider these factors, the great wickedness of the world and the devil means that they will contest every spiritual victory that we gain in life. You win a victory and the devil's out there contesting it. Ah, you did not win that. You didn't win. Why, man, you can't never win. That's what the devil does best. Why, you didn't win that battle against me. I won that battle. And so the world is a very wicked place, and it has no friend when it comes to righteousness for the church. And so while faithfulness to God delivers us from sin problems, it does not deliver us from the trials of life, which come from the animosity of wickedness that is in a wicked, cursed world ever since the Garden of Eden became cursed from Adam and Eve, where they chose to step out of the garden of perfection and take on the selfish wickedness of sin. And so, the revival is an assault upon the work of Satan. Satan will not take that sitting down. And when Satan fights back, we better be prepared, because every one of us, both the preparation and the battle will help you to grow stronger in the Lord. And it means that every one of us, as we go through the blessings, that the blessings will more than compensate for any pain of the trials that we're going through. God decrees and He designs our trials in order to bring glory to Himself, and the trial of Sennacherib's invasion into Hezekiah's kingdom of Judah provided an opportunity for God to display His power in a mighty way in the destruction of the Assyrian armor. Army. God ordered it. And so I thank God, Jesus Christ, God manifested in the flesh, went through an extreme suffering in order that we all might have the eternal glory of being a redeemed child of God. And if God suffered for our glory, ought we to complain if we suffer for His glory? I'm going to tell you, we need to be reminded that the practice of God to duly compensate those who suffer in order that he might be glorified, that his compensation will more than repay for any suffering that one has to endure for God's glory. And so we learn an important truth, that trials are to bring more blessings to us. Some blessings are simply not obtainable apart from the trials. And I'm glad that we see the might of that invasion because as they came. The Assyrian was so mighty that after it began attacking the kingdoms of Judah, the only question men would ask was not whether Assyria would conquer Judah, but only how long would it take? Because we see the capture of the cities, that it said in 2 Kings chapter 18 verse 13, it said, against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. Three things about that of Judah's cities that was especially show the might of the Assyrian army is the strategy that they used, amen. The army of Assyrians were not only a mighty army physically, but it was also a mighty army in strategy. Why strategy? Boy, I want to thank God. Good strategy is an important factor in determining the might of an army. And so the strength of the cities taken Boy, I'm going to tell you, of all the walled cities, were the most important cities of a nation. Conquering walled cities obviously required much more might than to conquer unwalled cities. But Assyria conquered these walled cities quite quickly, which so showed their great might as an army. Losing all these walled cities would cause fear among Hezekiah and his people regarding the great might of Assyria. And according to all the ancient records of Assyria, which furnished interesting and valuable historical records, Sennacherib claimed to have taken some 46 cities of Judah. And so, Hezekiah only had Jerusalem and a few other small areas left, and Hezekiah's kingdom had shrunk to a very small space. Assyria's might had really depleted Judah. I'm going to tell you, we begin to realize that Hezekiah's conduct in this conflict with Sennacherib has some bad moments. While he performed nobly most of the time, Scripture does not record a shameful failure in Hezekiah's behavior during this conflict. It occurred at the beginning of the conflict, and during the beginning of the conflict, Hezekiah panicked, calculated to disgracefully dismantle it, but in accordance to the poor performance of a good king, Hezekiah, as he was known as. I'm glad that it shows us that the great men of God in the Bible are also human and that they had human frailties just as you and I do tonight, that we still have to accomplish much in our Christian faith and walk. We must not let our human frailties be used as an excuse or a discouragement in thinking God cannot work through us, amen. And so I'm glad that every one of us that we realize that Hezekiah's We see some things that happen as we look at ourselves. It was Sennacherib that was worn against Lachish, one of the more important cities of Judah, which was located about 25 miles southwest of Jerusalem, that Hezekiah sent a message of Capulation to him. And in that Capulation letter, Hezekiah confessed that he was a sinner in his actions towards Sennacherib. And I thank God. The action Hezekiah was called and sent for in his message was an earlier action of rebelling against Sennacherib. Earlier in Hezekiah's reign, he had rebelled against the king of Assyria and served him not and refused to pay tribute in 2 Kings 18, verse 7. But under the reign of Ahaz, Hezekiah's father, Judah, had come under tribute to Assyria, but it was a great dishonor to God that His people should so surrender themselves to the enemy rather than seek Him to overcome the enemy. And so, we look and we realize that of all the things that goes through a man, has a kind like many people who spend much time and effort appealing to the wrong people when they ought to be appealing to the God of Almighty, the one who can indeed do something about the matter. Sometimes we try to get others to pull strings for us and get us a job or other favorable positions when we need to be getting down on our knees and praying and giving thanks to God. How much better to be honorable and to pray to God about the job. But when we walk in the flesh, as Hezekiah was doing here, we do not pray to God. We walk in faith. However, we send one to God and not to wicked man. And so each and every one of us, Hezekiah's attempt to obtain peace by money, given the Seraquin, pictures the habits of governmental leaders who think every problem can be solved by money. But the action of Hezekiah also pictures the philosophy of peace at any price, even if that price is character. Many people, as well as nations, have done the same thing. In order to keep a friend, or to avoid an embarrassment, they have compromised their convictions and submitted to the evil practices. But all of these compromisers will learn, as did Hezekiah, that all their compromising will not gain them anything except more trouble in future days. Hezekiah did not gain peace through the compromise here, but only inflicted a necessary loss upon himself. And so, We see that 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold was the size of the tribute, amen. And so it was demanded by Sennacherib of Hezekiah an enormous amount of tribute. And so the tribute money looked promising as an effort for peace, but that was only to seduce the giver into parting with it, for the tribute money did not buy peace. When Sennacherib received the tribute money, he did not quit attacking Judah, and take his Assyrian army and head for home. Rather, Hezekiah's submission and paying the tribute only encouraged Sennacherib to conquer more of Hezekiah's kingdom, especially Jerusalem, and so for submitting to Sennacherib's demand indicated that Hezekiah was too weak to refuse the enormous demand and resist further attack. Boy, I'm gonna tell you, this revelation of weakness only encouraged Sennacherib to conquer more, not quit the war. And so, of all the seduction of the tribute money, the illustration of the seduction of evil, evil promises so much pleasure and satisfaction out there, kids, teenagers, husbands, wives, but once you pay the price and make the commitment to do evil, you will always come out on the short end every time. The promises of evil are a mirage, but the losses from evil are very real and they're very great. And so you better beware. Here Hezekiah got some of the tribute money, shows some very poor stewardship. How shameful that the gold which he had earlier given God's temple, he now takes back to give to Sennacherib. and his actions of raiding the temple to pay the tribute is like an action of those who quit giving their offering to the church when financial stress hits them. These people think that they've got to use their offering to get themselves out of the financial trouble that they got themselves into to begin with, but the poor stewardship of the Lord's money will only increase their trouble as it did with Hezekiah, which they will see uh... shortly because when we stop giving our offering to the lord instead use it to pay our bills we make our bills more important than god just as hezekiah made some sennacherib more important than god by giving sennacherib the gold and the silver from the lord's house and we certainly do not solve any problems by making other things more important than god out there church and so We see the moment of the invasion. We talked about the might of the invasion, but in closing, the mobilizing for the invasion. Because in 2 Chronicles, chapter 32, verses 2 through 8, we learn about the invasion of Sennacherib and his Assyrian army into Judah. Amen. There were seven mobilizing actions that were recorded in the text that we see. And what I talked about earlier, there was the stopping of the water. There was the strengthening of the will, the shoring of the walls, the securing of the ward, supplying of the weapons, selecting of the warriors, and the speech about the war. All of this that I read to you because the Bible says in verses two through four, when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains, which were without the city, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land. A great army can become a very useless army if it goes many days without water. And so Hezekiah stopped up the wells, springs, and the brook in the area of Jerusalem, which could provide water for Sennacherib's army. And the principle in Hezekiah's action is still used today in wars, as an example, in World War II. The Allies bombed such places as power plants, oil refineries, ball bearing manufacturing plants of the Germans, which cut deeply into the Germans' ability to fight the war. One only needs to break one link in a chain to break the holding power of that chain. Stopping the water was a wise strategy by Hezekiah. Satan knows this too. He only employs it in the church, and as an example, rather than coming right out and openly opposing the church, he causes people to reduce or stop their giving altogether. And after a while, the church's ministry is so very limited and ineffective because of the lack of funds. We see the strengthening of the will. In verse 5, he strengthened himself. If Hezekiah is going to lead his nation effectively, he himself must be strong. And from what we looked at in 2 Kings text, Hezekiah needed a great deal of strengthening of his own. He sent a message of disgraceful capulation to Sennacherib, recanting his breaking away from the Assyrian yoke and offering to pay whatever tribute that he could give on behalf of the nation of Judah, amen. And so, scripture says, Amaziah strengthened himself before he went to battle against Edom, in which he had great success. And scripture says, Asa, he took courage and put away the abominable idols out of all the land. Every one of us, when you go to battle, you need to get rid of all of that junk that's in your life. And I'm going to tell you, as a child of the Lord, if you're doing battle every day, you can't have a bunch of junk in your life like it was when you were lost and straddled the fence. We need to strengthen our own faith, and if we want to strengthen the faith of others, we've got to clean out our own doorstep before we clean the doorsteps of others. I'm glad that each and every one of us, as Paul tells us, thou that makest thy boast of the law through breaking the law dishonorest thou God. But he says, thou thou for which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest of man should not steal, doest thou steal? Thou that sayest of men should not commit adultery, doest thou commit adultery? Thou that of whores idols, doest thou commit sacrilege? Thou that makest thy boast of the law through breaking the law, dishonoreth thou God? And so, we see that after having a number of the cities in his kingdom captured by Assyria, even though they were fenced cities, according to 2 Chronicles 32, verse 1, he saw to it that the walls that needed repairing were repaired. The language, as it talks about how that he made the walls stronger, a man. And I'm glad many people don't want walls of discipline over their passions either. But if it feels good, do it, is what the philosophy of the world is out there today. But the Bible says, he that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls in Proverbs 25, verse 28. Our day is mostly opposed to such walls because few want walls that keep us from evil. Many churches don't want walls of ecclesiastical separation. Many are busy tearing down the walls of doctrine, tearing down all of the things of our forefathers, and changing the laws, and changing marriage, and changing and wanting to get rid of the commandments of God and keep them off of the courthouse, and trying to have a homogenized religion out there today, which is not God's biblical view. And so, if you want to win any battle against our Assyrian moral and spiritual enemies in America tonight, we must strengthen the moral and spiritual walls of our life. We need to strengthen the American families throughout the country. And so, as we begin to try to secure the wards and the walls, as we look and realize that Hezekiah, his location on the northern wall needed extra strengthening. It was the best way to invade Jerusalem, so he had to strengthen the northern wall of Jerusalem. The other sides of Jerusalem were valleys, but the northern side was a plain, and it made it the most vulnerable side to be attacked, and so it needed extra protection, which explains why Hezekiah repaired Milo and made it more secure. The enemy can attack us at any point, and we need to guard all of the areas of our life, but we especially need to guard those areas. where we are the weakest. For the enemy will concentrate on because he knows that this is where we're the most vulnerable. Don't let your guard down in any area of your life and especially do not let down in your weakest areas. Take extra caution. Everyone does not have the same weakness, and so you may have to take extra caution in some areas of discipline that another person does not need to take extra caution in. But be sure that your mellow spot, your valley area that you've got in your life, in your house, in your family, is strong for the battle, or you'll not suffer. You'll suffer the defeat. And so, the supplying of weapons, that they made darts and shields in abundance, amen. I thank God, the lesson here is that Hezekiah saw to it that his nation was armed with sufficient weapons. It's the duty of national leaders to be sure that the nation is adequately armed to defend itself. Poor leaders fail so much in this area across the country. Maybe you've got managers, city managers, that have not equipped and used everything the way that a good steward should. But I'll tell you, on one occasion, the Bible reports that it came to pass in the day of battle that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan, but with Saul and Jonathan his son was there found. Any nation that wants to win a war had better arm itself well with adequate weapons. Disarmament can lead to defeat. And we've got some in our nation who want us to disarm radically thinking that will help bring peace to the world. But how foolish to disarm that that will only make the nations hostile to us more willing and able to attack us and also more successful in attacking us. Do you hear me, President Biden? You You cannot be weak in your leadership, and the same is true spiritually. We must be well armed if we're going to win battle. In the most important areas of our life, we especially need to be armed in the knowledge of the Word of God in order to defeat the enemy, and Christ defeated Satan in his great temptation scene. Thank God, and I'm glad from the text of the Book of Deuteronomy that Altah inspired every one of us to know the Word better. Praise God, every one of us, as we look, that he sent captains of war over the people. In 2 Chronicles 32, verse 6, a good leader is a good delegator. And I thank God. We must have the help of many others. Some of those other helpers are the captains of war that are appointed by Hezekiah. and our responsibility would be upon the shoulders of those captains. Appointing leaders also emphasizes organization. A good army will be well-organized, aid man, and so a lack of organization leads to waste and ineffectiveness, aid man. And so, to examine Hezekiah's speech to his army about the war, the encouragement that he gave them, aid man, he speak comfortably to them, the Bible says in 2 Chronicles 32, verse 6. And I'm glad that here we see that it came from the heart. Comfortably praise God. We need more people in the church like Hezekiah who are heartfelt men and women of God rather than disheartening people. I'm glad that we have too many discouragers in the church today, and we need more encouragers, praise God. He tells us to be strong and courageous. Be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with us, for there be more with us than with them. And with him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battle. In 2 Chronicles 32, verses 7 and 8, amen. Hezekiah's speech was not an empty full of bag of wind air. It was based on faith in God. He edified the people in their faith with this great speech about the war by telling them that Jehovah Yahweh God was their help and would fight our battle in verse 8. He said with God on our side they would outnumber the great multitude of the Assyrians. Elijah spoke similarly when he was surrounded by the Syrian army some years earlier, and he told his armed servant, they that be with us are more than they that are with them, in 2 Kings 6, verse 16. And then he prayed that God would open the servant's eyes to behold the great host of God's army that surrounded the city where Elisha and his servant were staying. Boy, I thank God. we see the armor of flesh of 2 Chronicles chapter 32 verse 8 that appears to the human eye to outnumber God's people but the eye of faith sees God's host and they are much greater in number and power than man's host and so in verse 8 the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah and I'm glad that his speech was good it gave the people support for hope that How often people put great trust in the words of the rulers and politicians in spite of the fact that the words of these people, unlike the words of Hezekiah, are not trustworthy. Oh, God help us when we vote for somebody. We must be careful whose words we rest upon. When judging the merit of any speech or promise or philosophy, compare it to the sure word of God, which we can always trust. Praise the mighty name of Jesus. And so Hezekiah, after his unusual lapse of faith, when Sennacherib started to invade the land, came back to greatly trusting God and conducted himself nobly in the midst of this prolonged conflict with Assyria. His actions and his words evidence that his faith in Jehovah God was strong. Praise the name. Hezekiah's faith will be tried severely. But I thank God, every one of us, when we go through mental warfare, how to overcome that trauma, how to overcome those things in our life, amen. Many of us, as we go through life, that we begin to realize that God wants to do a great and mighty thing in all of our lives, amen. And so, as we look and realize that God will bless us tremendously if we'll just trust Him. in all the areas. If we trust the Lord in all that we do, cry out to Him for deliverance, nothing will ever be able to conquer or defeat us. The Lord will empower us to stand up and walk through any trial or temptation, no matter how terrifying and how subductive. Amen. who shall separate us from the love of Christ. Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, nay, and all these things, we're more than conquerors through him that loved us, for I'm persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Boy, I thank God, that's Romans chapter eight. Paul said, he said that there hath no temptation taken you, but such is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted, but that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it. Boy, I thank God each and every one of us when we go through life. That we've got the greatest blessings when we trust in the Lord and what he wants to do in all of our lives each and every day. That we've got to just take him at his word and trust him, amen. And so I'm glad that each and every one of us when we go through the many trials, the battles, amen. Hezekiah stood fast for the Lord. He stood fast against a brutal and murderous enemy. And the enemy was the superpower of that day with a far superior military force sweeping all across much of the known world. The Assyrians had already conquered and subjected nation after nation under their rule. The conquest had even included the Northern Kingdom of Israel and all the cities of Judah except Jerusalem itself. The Assyrians were standing at the gates of Jerusalem, threatening to totally destroy the capital, exile all of its citizens, scatter them all over the world, but even with an enemy at the gate threatening utter destruction, Hezekiah held fast to his faith in the Lord and stood strongly against the enemies of God and of his people. What a living example for us. No matter how terrible the trial or temptation, pressure or distress, threat or ridicule, persecution or abuse, no matter what may confront us, we've got to stand fast for the Lord. Standing up, standing tall, being a real man or woman for the Lord is one of the great needs of our day. And we're not to be weaklings. Our knees are not to buckle. Our courage is not to collapse. Our hearts are not to shrink back. Praise God. And so, every one of us, when we look and realize psychological warfare and how that we're able to defeat this, amen, I'm glad that the enemy tells you lies that sap your strength, snatch your faith, leave your feelings helpless. The worst part is you believe the devil and all of his demons from hell. You got to discern between your thoughts and the enemies. Raise the shield of faith to overcome the attacks. Regain a sound mind. Faith isn't a sword. Listen, faith is a shield. And the purpose of psychological warfare is to get you to drop your shield and to walk away from Jesus. But I'm going to tell you something. You've got to learn the most important lesson as a man and woman, as an ambassador of Christ, never be defeated by that attack again. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. And so as we close out in prayer, Philippians chapter four is our prayer that we leave with the crisis of faith supported by psychological warfare that you got to stand tall, hold fast, maybe dig tunnels for better defense, reinforce the walls that are around where the valleys are the weakest points around your, uh, fortress, your castle, your home, your marriage, your finances, your workplace, your Christian faith and walk, praise God. Lord, we know you're near. And Lord, we know that in every situation, through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, that we present our requests to you. The peace of God that transcends all understanding, that you guard our hearts, our minds with Jesus Christ, through all of our brothers and sisters of our churches, Whatever is true, whatever's noble, and whatever's right, whatever is pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy, Lord, I pray that whatever we've learned or received or heard from you, may we put it into practice that the God of peace will be with all of those that listen to the mighty word of God tonight, a crisis of faith supported by psychological warfare in Jesus' mighty name.