Between a Rock & A Hard Place

Today we're going to be looking at 2 Kings chapter 18.

2 Kings 18 · chapter mention

2 Kings 18, 17 through 25 is where we'll begin today.

And the title of my sermon is Between a Rock and a Hard Place.

I'm thankful for Colton and all he does.

I sent him my PowerPoint and said, here it's plain Jane screen.

Make this a little more spiffy here.

He sent me a message back and said,

did you mean to say Between a Rock and a Hard Place?

Oh man, no.

No, between a rock and a hard place.

And we're going to be looking at 2 Kings 18, 17 through 25.

Back in 2009, I was serving Mountain View Baptist Church in Hickory, North Carolina.

And we had a mission team that was getting ready to go on that Saturday to Honduras.

And my wife and my 12-year-old daughter Ashley were set to be on that team.

And I got a call the night before about 9 o'clock and said,

we need to meet at the church, the team that's going.

We need to meet.

We've got a problem.

So we get up there at 10 o'clock.

We're supposed to, the team's going to meet at the church at 3 a.m.

to leave on this trip.

And we're meeting for an emergency meeting at 10 o'clock that night.

They said, Honduras is experiencing a coup.

They've already overthrown the president, run him out of the country.

And the people are rioting, burning, looting, doing crazy stuff.

Do we still want to go?

Well, I was thinking half of our team, which I believe there was 10 or 12 on that team,

half of them were teenagers and their parents weren't going except for my daughter.

And I thought no parent in their right mind is going to let their teenage child go to a

third world country during a coup without them even being with them.

Well, to my surprise, I get up there and they're all like, let's go.

And all the parents are like, let them go.

They're like, the safest place to be is in the center of God's will.

And I sat there and listened to that for a few minutes.

But then I had to speak up and I said, that's not true.

The safest place is not in the center of God's will.

Tell that to Jesus.

Tell that to the disciples.

Tell that to countless Christians today who are being arrested, thrown in jail, even killed.

The safest place is not always in the center of God's will.

The best place to be is in the center of God's will.

But it's not always the safest place.

And they said, you're just scared.

You don't want your wife and daughter to go.

I said, I'm going to let them make that decision.

I'm not going to influence it in any way.

But here's what I know.

If they choose to go, I'm sending them and letting them go.

I'm giving them to God.

And I'm praying for God to use them in whatever manner he sees fit to bring glory to his name.

And if something happens to them while they're on that trip, if they were to be injured or killed,

then I sent them to serve the Lord.

And I trusted that God was using that for his will.

Well, we prayed together as a team.

And then we left and went home.

And Michelle was not certain what she was going to do.

And we went home about midnight.

And we began to pray.

Remember, they've got to be back up at the church at 3 a.m.

And it's midnight.

And we go home to pray, asking God what his will is for them to do.

This morning, we're going to see that King Hezekiah, king of Judah, found himself in a very difficult position.

You see, he was surrounded.

Jerusalem was the southern kingdom.

And King Hezekiah ruled Judah.

Or Jerusalem at that point was the capital.

And Jerusalem was surrounded by the strongest military force in all of the world.

The Assyrians had already come down and conquered the northern kingdom,

which is the 10 out of the 12 tribes of Israel.

They were that mighty and that powerful.

So how could Judah, two of the 12 tribes of Israel,

how could they stand up to the Assyrian army?

What should Ezekiel do?

Would Ezekiel trust in the Lord?

Would he put all of his faith in God and trust that God would see him through and protect them?

Or conventional wisdom would have told him, surrender.

Surrender to the king of Assyria.

They'll be deported, but at least they would live.

And the people of Judah and Benjamin were the two tribes.

At least they would live.

They would be deported, but they would live.

Let's go to the word of God and let's begin seeing this situation in God's word in 2 Kings 18.

And let's see the situation that King Hezekiah is in and find out what he does.

Will he trust God or will he seek conventional wisdom?

Let's read.

The king of Assyria sent his supreme commander, his chief officer, and his field commander

with a large army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem.

They came up to Jerusalem and stopped at the aqueduct of the upper pool on the road to the washerman's field.

They called for the king.

And Elakim, son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator, Shebna, the secretary, and Joah, son of Asaph, the recorder, went out to them.

The field commander said to them,

Tell Hezekiah, this is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says.

On what are you basing this confidence of yours?

You say you have the counsel and the might for war, but you speak only empty words.

On whom are you depending that you rebel against me?

Look, I know you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff which pierces the hand of anyone who leans on it,

such as Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who depend on him.

But if you say to me, we are depending on the Lord our God,

isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed,

saying to Judah and Jerusalem,

You must worship before this altar in Jerusalem.

Come now, make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria.

I will give you 2,000 horses if you can put riders on them.

How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master's officials,

even though you are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?

Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord?

The Lord Himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.

Let's go to the Lord in prayer.

Father, we come to you today and we thank you for your word.

Lord, we know that your word is sharper than any double-edged sword

and pierces the depths of our being, pierces the depths of our soul.

And I pray, Lord, today that you would speak to us through your word.

Wherever we are, whatever circumstances we find ourselves up against,

whatever challenges stand before us,

I pray that you speak to us, Lord,

and help us to realize that we are to keep our eyes on you

and trust in you and believe in you.

When the world may say not to trust you,

I pray that we will.

And it's in your holy name we pray. Amen.

As you can see, Hezekiah really found himself between a rock and a hard place.

He had the largest military force in all of the world

that had surrounded Jerusalem and was demanding that he surrender.

If he surrendered to the Assyrians, at least they would live.

And the practice in that day and time is a conquering army would take the people,

they would usually take the most educated, the most skilled, noble families,

the best of the best, and they would take them and deport them

and settle them somewhere else.

One thing it did is it helped from rebellions rising up against them

at a later time and they wouldn't have to keep,

like the Assyrians wouldn't have to keep as large a force there

to constantly squash down rebellions against them.

But it also took those skills, that knowledge, that training,

and it resettled them somewhere else where they could use that to rebuild other places.

Now this is exactly what's happened to the northern kingdom.

The northern kingdom had gotten so far away from God

that they were worshiping fake gods, false gods, idols,

gods of the nations around them.

They had gotten so far away from God that God raised up the Assyrians.

God did that.

He raised up the Assyrians to come in and conquer them

and they led them out of the area and resettled them.

You know, the ten northern tribes of Israel are no more.

We have no idea where they are.

We have no idea what became of them

because what happened is when you resettle them in other places,

they began to intermarry and mix and mingle with the other people groups

and they completely lost their identity.

And so when we think of Israel today and we think of the Jews,

it's the two southern tribes, Judah and Benjamin,

that make up God's people today

because the ten northern tribes vanished off the scene of history.

And in chapter 17, verses 7 and 8,

it tells us because they sinned against God,

because they forgot the covenant that they had made with God

when they entered into the promised land.

They forgot and they began worshiping other gods,

doing other things.

They had gone so far that they even sacrificed children to false gods.

They were throwing their babies in fire as acts of worship of these false gods.

And so God raised up the Assyrians, conquered them, and led them out.

You know, Hezekiah, again, is between a rock and a hard place.

Oftentimes the struggles that we face in life are bigger than we can imagine.

Some of the struggles that we face are challenges or obstacles that we face in life.

They're bigger than us, aren't they?

They're bigger than our ability to overcome and deal with.

However, what we're going to see this morning

is that if we will learn to keep our eyes on God,

no matter what struggle, no matter what challenge,

no matter what obstacle you face today,

if we learn to keep our eyes on God

rather than the situation and circumstances,

we keep our eyes on God

and we continue to live in obedience to Him,

we will learn that God will be with us

in the midst of those struggles,

in the midst of the pain,

in the midst of the sorrows,

and He will use those situations and circumstances

to mold and shape us and help us

to be the people that He wants us to be.

He will see us through

and He will bring us through.

I know everyone in here can probably look back on your life

and you can see challenges that you've faced in life

and they were hard, difficult circumstances.

Probably many tears were shed.

But as you look back,

you can see the hand of God

in the midst of those struggles and circumstances

being with you.

Sometimes God uses those challenges that we face in life

to develop character within us.

Sometimes God uses those circumstances

to remove sin out of our lives.

Maybe we have sin.

Maybe we have rebellion and stubbornness in our heart.

Maybe unforgiveness of someone in our life.

And God uses situations and circumstances

in our lives to remove that out of us.

Sometimes He's preparing us for future work

that He has for us.

We think about Joseph of the Old Testament.

He went through a great deal,

but God was using that to prepare him

for what He had in store for him.

And sometimes God is just simply testing our faith.

Testing to see if we will stand firm

and stand strong and believe in Him

and obey Him and the things that He's called us to do.

What struggle are you facing today?

What challenges are you up against?

You know, they say that we're all faced,

we're either going into a problem

or a struggle or a storm.

We're in a storm or we're coming out of a storm.

That's pretty much everybody's life, right?

We only spend a short period of time on the mountaintop

before we go back into something.

So what are you facing today?

What are you getting ready to go into?

What are you coming out of?

And let me ask you this.

What struggle have you faced

or you might be getting ready to face

that God cannot handle?

What struggle or challenge or obstacle

can God not handle?

Luke 1.37 says,

For nothing is impossible with God.

Also Romans 8.28 says,

And we know that in all things

God works for the good of those who love Him.

So whatever hardship, difficulty, struggle, pain

that you might be facing,

if we keep our eyes on the Lord

and we stay focused on Him

and we continue to walk in obedience to Him,

then we have to realize that God is working

in the midst of all of that

and He will be with us in the storm.

He may not stop the storm immediately.

He may not remove the pain immediately.

He may leave us there for a time.

But He's working to accomplish His purpose

and His will.

I think of the Apostle Paul.

The Apostle Paul had a very painful thorn in his flesh.

And he prayed three times for God

to remove that thorn.

What was God's answer?

Yeah, but He just said,

No.

My grace is sufficient.

He said, No.

He didn't remove the thorn.

Why?

Because God was using that thorn

for a purpose in Paul's life.

Now we don't know what the thorn was,

but we do know Paul had begun to get prideful,

puffed up,

because God had been using him to do some mighty things.

And God was using that thorn

to kind of humble him a little bit

and bring him back down.

You know, God will work the same way in our lives.

It may not be a thorn like Paul faced.

It may not be pride and humility that you need.

But God will be working in the circumstances

and situations in our lives

to mold and shape and develop us

into the people that he needs us

and wants us to be.

Israel had been led into the promised land by Joshua.

And God had clearly told Israel

through Moses, before Moses died,

and now through Joshua,

he clearly told them,

If you will go into the promised land

and you will honor me, obey me,

stay faithful to me,

then I will bless you.

But if you do not,

you know, if you go back and look at that scripture,

you'll notice that God had about 15 verses

where he says, I will bless you.

But do you realize there's about 50 verses

where he warns them and says,

But if you do not,

I will curse you.

I will fight against you.

He wanted them to clearly know

and clearly understand

that if they forgot the covenant

that he had with them,

if they disobeyed him,

if they walked in sinfulness

or worshiped other gods,

then the one true God

would fight against them

and curse them.

Unfortunately, the northern kingdom

they forgot.

Another generation arose

and they completely forgot

the covenant they had with God

and they had become disobedient.

They began to worship other gods.

They abandoned their faith.

And as I said a minute ago,

they had sunk so low

that they even sacrificed their children

in the fire in worship

to these other gods.

Well, God is a patient God,

slow to anger.

And so he sent the prophets.

He sent prophets to warn them

and tell them,

you know,

to remind them

of the covenant they had

and that they needed

to come back to the Lord.

But the Jews were very stubborn,

hard-headed people

and they didn't listen,

did they?

Many times they killed the prophets

or they abused the prophets

or they just didn't listen

to them at all.

And so God raised up,

God had to raise up the Assyrians

to come in and to conquer

the northern kingdom.

Today, I look at the United States

of America

and I think about a nation

that was founded and built

upon faith in Jesus Christ,

a land that religious freedom,

but when it was founded,

that meant religious freedom

to worship Jesus Christ.

And yet I look at a nation

that a new generation is arising

that has forgotten much of that.

And it's now become socially unacceptable

to go back and teach

that we were founded

upon faith in Jesus Christ.

You want to know why

the United States of America

is one of the greatest nations

in the world?

It's because we were built

upon faith in Jesus Christ.

And yet now we see a nation

that is drifting further and further

and further away from God.

If you go out west,

do you know what the percentage

of evangelical Christians

live in Washington State?

I can go to Africa

and find nations

that are more Christian

than Washington State

or Oregon.

These 3%,

3% are evangelical Christians

in places like Seattle

and Oregon

and out west

and then up north

it's not a whole lot better.

But you know what really worries me?

What really worries me today

is not the condition

of the lost people

in our country.

What concerns me

is the church.

What really worries me

are those who are children of God

that are allowing the things

of the world

to be adopted into their lives

and living by the world's standards

and yet claiming

to be Christians.

That's what concerns me more.

People often talk about

is God going to destroy

the United States?

Well,

I'm more concerned about

us giving an account to God

as His children

and people of God

and how we live.

Are we being faithful?

Are we being obedient

to the things He's called us

to do in His Word?

Or are we allowing

trends,

you know,

things that go on

in the world

to be adopted

into our lives

and our patterns?

Are we doing

the things God

has called us to do?

That's what we need

to be concerned about

and focused on today

is the church.

And are we being

the church?

Are we going out

into the world

and proclaiming

the gospel

and reaching lost people

with a message

of forgiveness?

Not of hatred

and anger

and judgmental,

but forgiveness

and love.

Which, by the way,

I forgot this

in the announcement time.

Then I aimed to do it again

when I got up here

and I forgot again.

But we had a great week

this week

with Vacation Bible School.

We had a great week

and I wanted to say

thank you to everyone

who participated in that.

If you were here

serving in any capacity,

if you helped decorate

in advance,

if you put a yard sign

out in your yard,

I want to say thank you

because that is

one of the tools

that we can use

to reach,

you know,

a lost world.

We had a lot of children

who came here.

I helped teach

the Bible story

and I was blown away

at some of the knowledge

that a lot of these

children did have.

But we also had children

here that probably

don't ever go to church

anywhere except

for Vacation Bible School.

So I do want to say

thank you to everybody

that helped be a part

of that in any way.

Now during the time

that the northern kingdom

was being conquered

and destroyed

by the Assyrians,

King Hezekiah

ruled the southern kingdom

or Judah.

Now Hezekiah's father

was Ahaz

and he was a very evil king

and he did many things wrong

in the eyes of the Lord.

However,

Hezekiah,

he didn't follow

the example of his father.

He was one of the greatest kings

next to David

that ever ruled over Israel.

He honored God

and he actually went through

and tore down

all the Asher poles

and the places of worship.

He did everything

in his power

to lead Judah

back to being faithful

to the Lord.

And as a result,

God was with him

and he was successful

in everything that he did.

It was his faith

in the Lord

that caused him

to rebel

against Assyria

to begin with

and not pay the tribute

that he was supposed to pay.

So what that did

is the Assyrians

got angry

and they invaded Judah.

And this reminds us

that sometimes

our faith

cost us something.

To have faith

in the Lord

and be obedient

and faithful

is not about

an easy walk

in the park

and everything's

going to be roses

every day.

Sometimes we have

to take a stand

for the Lord

and honor Him

and it will come

at a cost.

It will come

as an expense.

But faith in the Lord

is not always

about God

just making everything

smooth sailing

in our lives.

Sometimes

if you look

in the New Testament

especially

there's a cost to pay.

When Michelle

and Ashley

were thinking

about going

to Honduras

we prayed

and we began praying

and God

just gave them

an overwhelming

sense of peace

to go.

Go to Honduras.

Do not let fear

keep you from going.

And so we quickly

went to bed

they got about

an hour of sleep

got back up

got ready to go

to Honduras

and they got on

that plane

and flew to Miami.

When they got

to Miami

there were people

flying from Honduras

other mission teams

coming back

into the country

and they were saying

you can't go.

Do not go.

It's too dangerous.

There's looting

there's burning

there's destruction

people are being killed

do not go.

Well our team

was faced with

a challenge once again

and they got together

the adults

and they discussed it

and they prayed.

Well that time

my daughter Ashley

don't tell us

she's not here today

so don't tell her

I said this.

Again she was only 12

but she was scared

and she started crying

and didn't want to get on.

Michelle just grabbed her arm

got on that plane

and they went.

And you know what?

God protected them.

God kept them safe

and he sent them

to the mountains

where people

had been praying

for years

for God

to send somebody

to them.

And they were able

to also meet

a little girl

that we had been

sponsoring in an orphanage

there.

They were able

to spend time

with her

and meet her

for the very first time.

It was a great experience.

But it could have

cost them.

It could have turned out

very differently.

They went

knowing that they

gave their lives

to the Lord

and asked God

to use their life

in a way

that would bring

honor to him.

Hezekiah sent a message

to the king

of Assyria

stating that he

had sinned against him.

He was sorry

that he had rebelled

against him

and that he would

collect the money

the gold

and the silver

that the king

of Assyria

was demanding

if he would

just withdraw.

And he was

demanding

11 tons

of silver

and 1 ton

of gold.

And so Hezekiah

this is the one

blemish

on King Hezekiah's

account

is that he went

through the land

and he took

the silver and gold

as much as he could find.

He even went

into the temple

and he took

the silver

and the gold

out of the temple

that was

decorating

and designing

the temple

and he gave it

to the king

of Assyria.

But what happened

much like

sometimes when we

play with fire

you're going

to get burned.

You know what?

The king

of Assyria

did.

He took

the gold

and silver

and he did

not withdraw.

He besieged

Jerusalem

and he came

against them

to conquer

them

and defeat

them.

And Hezekiah

found himself

in a time

of crisis

with a fundamental

question

that is just

as fundamental

for us

today.

What do you

believe

about God?

What do you

truly believe

about God?

Is God

worthy

to be trusted?

Can we

really trust

God?

Can He really

fulfill His

promises

to us

today?

If Hezekiah

trusted God

and he

stood up

to Assyria

and God

was not able

to do

what He

said He

would do

then the

people of

Judah

would have

been killed

and destroyed.

They would

have been

wiped out

as bad

as we see

on the news

in Gaza.

They would

have been

mutilated

by the Assyrians

if God

was not able

to do

what He

said.

And so

Hezekiah

being the

man of God

that he

was,

he consulted

the prophet

Isaiah

to know

what he

should do

which is

really good

advice,

really good

example here

of what

King Hezekiah

did.

He went

to a prophet,

he asked

for a prophet

and then in a

minute we'll

see that even

after getting

the word

from the

prophet he

went back

to God

in prayer

seeking God.

But look

at 2 Kings

2 Kings 19:5

19 verses

5 and 7.

Should be

on the...

There we

go.

When King

Hezekiah's

officials came

to Isaiah,

Isaiah said

to them,

Tell your

master this

is what the

Lord says.

Do not be

afraid of

what you

have heard,

those words

with which

the underlings

of the king

of Assyria

have blasphemed

me.

Listen,

when he

hears a

certain report

I will make

him want to

return to

his own

country and

there I will

have him cut

down with

the sword.

God is

saying through

Isaiah the

prophet,

don't worry

about the

Assyrians.

I can handle

them.

I can deal

with them.

They're not

going to

conquer this

city.

And so

Hezekiah,

still a bit

concerned and

worried,

he goes to

the temple

and he

begins to

pray,

wanting to

know for

sure,

is that the

message God

was giving?

And so

once again,

God gives

a message to

Isaiah,

to give to

King

Hezekiah.

And it's

in verses

32-36 of

2 Kings 19.

Therefore,

this is what

the Lord

says concerning

the king of

Assyria.

He will not

enter this

city or

shoot an

arrow here.

He will not

come before

it was

shield or

build a

siege ramp

against it.

By the way

he came,

he will

return.

He will not

enter this

city,

declares the

Lord.

I will

defend this

city and

save it

for my

sake and

for the

sake of

David my

servant.

That night

the angel

of the Lord

went out

and put to

death

185,000

in the

Assyrian

camp.

When the

people got

up the

next morning

there were

all the

dead bodies.

So Sennacherib,

king of

Assyria,

broke camp

and withdrew.

He returned

to Nineveh

and he

stayed there.

God was

showing that

he can

handle just

about anything.

He can

handle anything.

You've got

the largest

military in

all the world

at that time

surrounding you

and he sent

an angel,

one angel,

that went

through the

camp and

he destroyed

or killed

185,000

Assyrian

soldiers.

And so

the king

of Assyria

withdrew

and he

went back

to Nineveh.

God showed

king Hezekiah

that his

faith in

him

was real.

That he

it was

worthy

to put his

faith

in God.

That he

put his

faith and

trust

that God

would defend

them and

God did

just that.

No one

has ever

lived

without having

problems or

crisis to

arise in

our life.

We see

throughout

the scriptures

faithful servants

such as

Hezekiah

facing great

challenges.

You know

it can be

hard to

understand

sometimes

why God

allows us

to go

through

difficulties

and hardships

and we

pray and we

ask for

God to

solve the

problems,

to deal

with situations

and circumstances

and he

doesn't always

do it when

we want.

And it's

hard for us

to understand

and sometimes

we get angry

at God or

we get mad

at God and

we wonder

where are

you God?

Why are you

not solving

this problem

for me?

But if we'll

learn a lesson

here today that

God is more

than able and

he works in

situations, he

works in

circumstances of

our lives,

maybe not the

way we want

him to,

maybe not as

quickly as we

want him to,

but he works

in his

timetable and

in a manner

that he brings

about his

purpose and

his will in

our lives.

Everyone faces

problems at

some time or

another, but

how each

person responds

to those

problems or

those challenges

is what makes

the difference.

Do we respond

in faith or

do we respond

in fear and

doubt?

King Hezekiah

faced what

the world

described as

a hopeless

situation.

He was

surrounded by

a superior

army, one

that had

already destroyed

many lands

and ten of

the twelve

tribes of

Israel, but

Hezekiah trusted

in the Lord

and the Lord

delivered him

in a manner

that only God

could do.

It's my hope

and my prayer

today that we

will take a

lesson from

King Hezekiah

and we will

realize that

whatever challenge

you're up against

today, whatever

obstacles stand in

your way, whatever

struggles you're

enduring, don't

focus on them.

Focus on the

Lord.

Stay focused

on Him and

He will more

than be willing

to handle those

situations and

circumstances and

resolve them in a

manner that empowers

us, builds us

strength, gives us

character and helps

us to maybe serve

Him in a greater

capacity in the

future.

And most of us

can look back and

we can see where

God has worked in

times past.

let those experiences

encourage us

today to stay

faithful and

obedient and

trust in the

Lord.

Today I don't

know what

challenges you're

up against.

I don't know what

circumstances that

you're fighting.

I don't know what

painful things are

going on in your

life.

But I hope that

you will hold

tightly to God to

work in your life,

build your faith,

build your strength

and know that God

is able.

Let's go to the

Lord in prayer.

Father we thank

you for this word

today.

We thank you for

your word.

And I pray Lord that

you speak to each of

our hearts.

We're all facing

different things.

We're all facing

different circumstances.

We all have

different painful

experiences in our

lives that we've

gone through.

But I pray Lord that

we keep our eyes on

you.

and we trust in

you Lord.

And that we will

know that you are

working to help us

to get through those

situations and

circumstances and

be stronger to have

greater faith and to

be a people that you

will use to bring

glory and honor to

your name.

And it's in Jesus

name that we pray.

Amen.

We're going to stand

and have a time of

invitation.

If there's anything

that you want to

do,