Satan's Sermon

You're gonna love this. I've been saying all week. This

is one of my favorite chapters in Isaiah. Sorta you

might see soon why that could be taken as a joke.

It's pretty dark, but there's still a lot to learn

from Isaiah Chapter thirty six, I think, especially because of

its darkness. In fact, this morning is about anticipating how

the enemy of God's people will come at them with

persuasive words. That's why I've titled Satan's sermons. You're not

gonna hear a sermon from Satan this morning, but you

kind of are. In other words, you're going to see

what Satan's sermons look like. Here's what I mean. In

World War Two, just a few months after the US

had been just surprised and overwhelmed by the Japanese at

Pearl Harbor, the Japanese brought their combined fleet for another

battle at Midway, but this time the US Navy completely

overwhelmed them. In fact, one military historian said, and I'll

quote it here, Midway was the most stunning and decisive

blow in the history of naval warfare. The US completely

routed the Japanese, They fought completely confidently, and one completely decisively.

Why because the US Navy had received a prior transmission

the enemy's attack plans had been transmitted to the US

Navy before the battle. They knew what was coming, and

they knew the enemy's attack plans. It had been transmitted

to them, and Isaiah thirty six is a transmission of

the enemy's attack plan. It's important to understand that, as

we're about to read this, it's more than a report

of just what happened. There's instruction intended here. Like Genesis

three is more than just a report of the serpent

deceiving Eve. There is instruction for the people of God

embedded there, so that they would recognize what snake talk

sounds like. Isaiah thirty six is a transmission to God's

people about how they can expect the enemy to persuade

them to forego their trust in the Lord. So don't

just get caught up in the retelling of this speech.

Realize that it's been intentionally transmitted in order to answer

what are the attack plans that God's enemies use when

they're looking to persuade God's people to forego their trust

in him. Let's read it. Isaiah thirty six in the

fourteenth year of King has A Kia Sanakreub, king of Assyria,

came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and

took them. And the King of Assyria sent the Rabshaka

from Lakish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a great army.

And so, in other words, Assyria, which we've been seeing

throughout Isaiah, Asyria's coming. Now they're in Judah. They've taken

the cities surrounding Jerusalem. And from a nearby city Lakish,

the king of Assyria has sent his spokesperson, the Rabshaka,

to come to Jerusalem to persuade the people of God

to give up their trust in the Lord and just

give up verse three. And there came out to him Eliakim,

the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and

the Sheevnah the secretary, and Joah, the son of Asaf,

the recorder, and the Rabshaka said to them, say to Hezekiah,

thus says the great King, the King of Assyria, on,

what do you rest this trust of yours? He gets

right to the point he knows this is all about trust.

Do you think that mere words are strategy and power

for war? Which is ironic, because he's just trying to

use words to get them to give up. That'd be

quite a strategy, right in whom do you now trust

that you have rebelled against me? Behold, you're trusting in

Egypt that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce

the hand of any man who leans on it. Such

is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who trust in him.

But if you say to me, we trust in the

Lord our God, is not he who's high places and

altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem,

you shall worship before this altar. Come now, make a

wager with my master, the king of Assyria. I will

give you two thousand horses if you're able on your

part to set riders on them. How then can you

repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants.

When you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen. Moreover,

is it without the Lord that I have will come

up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said

to me, go up against this land and destroy it.

Then Eliakim Shvnah and Joah said to the Rabshaka, please

speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it.

Do not speak to us in the language of Judah

within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.

But the Rabshaka said, has my masters sent me to

speak these words to your master and to you, and

not to the men sitting on the wall, who are

doomed with you to eat their own tongue and drink

their own urine. Then the Rabshaka stood and called out

with a loud voice, and the language of Judah hear

the word the great King, the King of Assyria. Thus

says the King. Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for

he will not be able to deliver you. Do not

let Hazekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying

the Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not

be given into the hand of the King of Assyria.

Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the King

of Assyria, make your peace with me. Come out to me.

Then each of you will eat of his own vine,

and each of his own fig tree, and each of

you will drink the water of his own cistern, until

I come and take you away to a land like

your own land, a land of grain and wine, a

land of bread and vineyards. Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you

by saying the Lord will deliver us. Has any of

the gods of the nations delivered his land out of

the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the

gods of Heymath and our pad Where are the gods

of Sepherveyum? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered

their lands out of my hand? That the Lord should

deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? But they were silent

and answered him not a word. For the King's command

was do not answer him. Then Eliah Kim, the son

of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah the secretary,

and Joah the son of Asaf the recorder, came to

Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words

of the rab Shaka. This is the word of the Lord.

It's a stunning account. But remember it's not just an account.

There is instruction for us here. This is a transmission

to later generations from Isaiah that later generations might recognize

the attack plans that the enemy uses. Those later generations

include us as Paul says in Romans fifteen, whatever was

written in former days was written for our instruction that

through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures, we

might have hope. So we can fight confidently, we can

win decisively because we see what the enemy's up to.

We won't forego our trust in the Lord because we

see his attack plans. Let's look at these attack plans.

I think in three pieces. I think we can look

at three different plans of attack that the enemy brings.

First one is what we probably commonly think of when

we think of temptation, The second one I don't think

we think about at all very often, and the third

is probably the most powerful. Here's the first attack plan.

The you'll see it here. Advertising counterfeits. Advertising counterfeits. You

should know your enemy means to persuade you to accept

what looks like blessings from God without any faithfulness to

God or relationship with God. Don't fall for it. It's

not what you really want. This is right in the

middle of the Rabshaka's speech. In verse sixteen, he says this, Thus,

has the King of Assyria make your peace with me,

come out to me. Then each one of you will

eat of his own vine, and each one of his

own fig tree, each one of you drink the water

of his own cistern. Is actually language that the Bible

uses about the dividic kingdom. In other words, when the

people of God were living, seeking to live faithfully in

relationship with God, this is how the Bible describes the

land that each lived under his own fig tree and vine.

This is what God actually had for his people. And

so this worldly king is preaching through his messenger, if

you make your peace with me, I'll give you these

kinds of things without any need for a relationship with God.

I will give you the good stuff without covenant, without faithfulness,

without trust in God, without relationship with him. I will

make you to lie down in green pastures and besides

still waters. And then he says in verse seventeen, until

I come and take you away to a land like

your own land, a land with grain and wine, bread

and vineyards. I mean, obviously everybody had heard that when

Assyria conquers you, they're gonna take some of you away.

And the rab Chaka knows that he knows they know,

so he's like, yes, we'll come and we'll lead you

off to what some people call captivity. You'll be our guests.

It'll be great. It's gonna be just like your your

your home. Here, this this, this land that the Lord

has promised you. But it's gonna be just like what

God has for you. Kind of reminds me of Pinocchio

when they drag them off to Pleasure Island. Yeah, am

I the only one? Okay? They turned into donkeys and

on the whole thing. All right, all right, check it out, kids,

check out Pinocchio. You're not gonna want to miss it.

This is what they promise. They promise counterfeits, they advertise

counterfeit blessings. It leads to utter captivity. The enemy's message

is you can have the good stuff outside of relationship

with God. Right. The enemy's message through greed is you

can have abundance by just getting more and keeping more.

You can live a life of abundance completely outside of

God's ways. But God says, generosity is a part of

the abundance that I have for you. It's actually more

blessed to give than to receive. I have way more

actual abundance for you. What I have for you is real,

The enemy says, through the messenger of lust. You can

have satisfaction on your own terms. Porn is ready when

you are. You know. It doesn't expect you to be

kind or patient or loving. But the Lord says, what

I have for you is meant to be a part

of a covenant with love, with lots of self sacrifice,

and with respect. What I have for you is more.

It's real. You want my blessings. You want what I

have promised to you. Whatever it is that I have

promised to you, that's what you actually want. You do

not want the counterfeit. It leads to utter captivity. The

enemy says, through the messenger of sloth. You can serve yourself.

You can numb out, You can avoid and withdraw and

get relief. It says, that's not where relief is found.

I promise you that's not where relief is found. Relief

is found in me and my ways. Come to me

all you are, who are weary and heavy laden, and

I will give you rest for your souls. Work heartily

as unto me, But in relationship with me you will

find what I actually have for you. Don't fall for

the counterfeits. What I have for you is real. Your

enemy will always advertise counterfeit blessings. You should know you've

received the transmission. It's a part of his plan of attack.

Be ready to fight confidently and win decisively because you

know you can see it coming. Well. The second attack

plan that I would point out here is something we

I don't think we commonly talk about at all in

terms of the enemy's attack. Maybe we do some here.

It is undercutting leadership, undercutting good decent spiritual leadership. Hezekiah

is a good, decent spiritual leader. He's not the best

that Judah has ever had, but he's good. He's not

the worst, that's for sure. He's a good, decent spiritual leader.

And the enemy comes with a sort of double barrel

attack on that. The first baryl is to just fire

at the leader right, to get the leader to forego

his trust in God. That's how the rab Shaka starts

out on Say to Hezekiah, Say to Hezekiah, on what

do you rest this trust of yours. It's pretty interesting

that although Hezekiah isn't present for this entire chapter. He's

not here. Everybody, the rab Shaka, the lieutenants, the people

on the wall, everybody knows this is all gonna boil

down to will Hezekiah continue to trust the Lord or

won't he on? What do you rest this trust of yours?

Maybe you're trusting in Egypt. He says they're gonna let

you down. He's not wrong. But maybe you're trusting in

the Lord. That's not gonna work. If I give you

two thousand horses, you wouldn't be able to put riders

on them. Hezekiah, this isn't gonna work out for you,

Hezekiah on the One of the barrels of the enemy's

attack plan of undercutting leadership is to come at the

leader and unseat the leader's trust in the Lord. If

you're a dad, he's coming for you. If you're a mom,

he's coming for you. Small group, leeders, elders, if you,

if you disciple and encourage any other Christians, he is

looking to discredit and discourage you. Do not be surprised

when you feel the weight of it. It's part of

his plan. You should know that ahead of time. The

second barrel, though, in undercutting leadership is to undermine the

people's trust in a good leader. Right, That's it's the

other barrel of this attack plan. It's not just at

the leader. It's also at the people unseat their trust there.

If the leader is going to continue to trust God,

then maybe we can get the people to not trust

the leader. The first way he does that is in

verse seven. It's actually really insidious, it's ingenious. He says

it this way. So the rabshaka is talking to other people.

He's like, if you say to me, we trust in

the Lord, our God, is it not he that is

the Lord whose high places and alters Hezekiah has removed,

saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, you shall worship before

this altar. Okay. In other words, the rab shaka is saying,

this whole God thing is just your leader's manipulative control plan.

That's what the rabshaka is saying. He's saying, if you

say you trust the Lord, and there were all these

altars and high places to the Lord all over the country,

and Hezekiah has gone and cut those down and says

you have to worship here at this altar in Jerusalem.

Doesn't that seem manipulative and controlling to you? But of

course Hezekiah did that as a matter of faithfulness. This

was the instruction that the Lord gave. I want my

people to worship at my altar in my temple, thus

seeth the Lord. So when Hezekiah destroyed those altars, he

was doing the right thing by the people. He was

leading the people in faithfulness. But the rab Shaka, he

takes it and turns it, and he says, this whole

religion thing is a manipulation. He's tricky. He goes on fourteen,

Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He'll not be able

to deliver you. He says. In verse fifteen, do not

let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord. In verse sixteen,

do not listen to Hezekiah, listen to us huh. Verse eighteen,

do not let Hezekiah mislead you, saying the Lord will deliver.

And when you get to the end of this chapter,

these two questions hang in the air more than any other.

Will Hezekiah continue to trust in the Lord? Will he

keep his eyes on God? And will the people keep

their eyes on Hezekiah, the good, decent, spiritual leader. They've

been given so far. At the end of the chapter, right,

it's so far, so good. Hezekiah said, hey, when you

talk to that guy, don't say anything. And they didn't

say anything. They tore them close, went to Hezekiah, but

they didn't say anything. Listen, If the enemy can't take

a leader's eyes off of God, the enemy will look

to unsee people's trust in that leader. He will try

to take away the kids trust in their parents. He'll

try to take away the congregations trust in their elders.

He will try to take away a young Christian's trust

in their mentor. It's a biblical pattern throughout all of scripture.

From the time of Moses, disaster came to the people

when they stopped following the good spiritual leadership that they

were given. Or in the time of the Judges, disaster

came to the people when those leaders took their eyes

on those judges, those leaders took their eyes off of God.

Or amongst the kings, disaster came to the people when

those kings, those leaders took their eyes off of God.

And even in the Church, as Hebrews thirteen says, obey

your leaders and submit to them for their keeping. Watch

over your souls. As those who will give an account,

let him do it with joy and not with groaning.

That wouldn't be of any benefit to you. The enemy

wants to take decent leader's eyes off the Lord and

take people's eyes off of decent leaders. Remember, as you lead,

and most of you are spiritual leaders in some sense

or another. As you lead, real leadership remember comes from God.

Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ, And you say, well,

I don't know that relieves much of the pressure. Who

can say follow me as I follow Christ? That pressure

is real And I don't think the Bible says anything

to get us really off the hook. There, you know,

Hezekiah felt that pressure. The whole nation is looking at him.

Paul felt that pressure. But listen, maybe this helps recognize

that we are called to serve as leaders who trust

the one who saves. In other words, we're not those

who are ultimately responsible to rescue into save. The call

on Hezekiah was to continue to trust the Lord, not

for King Hezekiah to save all the people. God was

going to do the heavy lifting on that. It was

trusting that the leader was called to trust belongs to you.

Rescue belongs to the Lord, just like Jonah said in

the Belly of the Fish, salvation belongs to the Lord.

Or as my mentor Kent Shaw would say, we exert ourselves,

we don't trust ourselves. Leader. Your main aim is not

to know all the answers or to be the one

who makes all the rescues. Your main aim is to

continue to trust the Lord. And as you follow. Most

of us here are spiritual leaders of some sort and

spiritual followers of another sort. And as we follow, whatever

context that's in, we're called to keep our eyes on

good leadership, not as those who are ultimately trusting people,

but as those who are ultimately trusting Christ who works

through his people. All right, we know the enemy's plan

of attack, undercut leadership, advertise counterfeits. Here's the third and

I think probably the most powerful, stoking fear. Stoking fear.

Look how many ways the enemy of God's people tries

to do that in this chapter, for instance, verse eighteen,

Has any of the gods of the nations delivered this

land out of the hand of the king of Assyria?

Where are the gods of Haymath and our pad? Where

are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out

of my hand? Who among all the gods of these

lands has delivered their lands out of my hand? That

the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand. In

other words, this god is powerless to help you. The

Lord is just like any other god that anyone anywhere

has ever worshiped. Those gods couldn't save them. Your God

can't save you. It reminds me of something someone told

me was on display at a college campus. Here a

mock graveyard for gods. I didn't see it. It was just

described to me. It was just like, here's a tombstone

for raw, the sun god of Egypt. Nobody believes or

follows him anymore. He's dead and gone. Here's here's a

tombstone for Zeus, the god of Greek mythology. Nobody worships

him anymore. He's dead and gone. And here here is

a tombstone for your god. Soon no one will believe

in him or follow him anymore. They're all the same.

Sounds kind of reasonable. If if anything anyone anywhere has

ever called a god is a falsehood, if we can

lump all things called gods into one category, made up

and powerless. If that's the case, then what the rabshaka

has to say makes sense, and what that college display

has to say makes sense, and the Bible would say

to that. They almost have that right. Almost the Bible

spends a lot of pages denouncing the falsehood of any

god except for the one true and Living God. The

Bible tells us humanity regularly and consistently makes up falsehoods

and calls them gods. It would be hard to find

something that more loudly says that than the Bible itself.

But the Bible also says that just because it's common

for mankind to put his trust in what is false,

doesn't mean that there isn't someone who is true. Don't

be surprised when the enemy tries to jumble the categories.

Don't be surprised when the enemy tries to take who

is true and push him into the category of what

is false? Who tries to take who can save and

push him into the category of what is powerless. That's

the enemy's plan, because then any right fear you would

have of the Lord dissipates, and he can use other

fears to his advance. If the enemy then can't stoke

fear through that philosophy, he'll try to stoke fear through theology.

Here's what I mean. Verse ten. The rab Shack also says,

is it without the Lord that I have come up against?

This land to destroy it. The Lord said to me,

go up against this land and destroy it. In other words,

even though some part in his speech he's like the

Lord is powerless, at this point he's saying, the Lord

is powerful enough to give me these instructions. He'll throw

anything against the wall and just see what sticks. He's

using the sovereignty of God as a fear tactic against

God's people. Again, sounds kind of reasonable, right, if God

is in control of everything, how come I'm in this situation.

But the sovereignty of God is not a reason to

distrust him. The sovereignty of God is a reason to

intrust yourself to him. Because the same word that tells

us God is in control beyond your understanding also tells

you that God is wise beyond your understanding, and tells

you that God loves his own beyond your understanding. And

He's proven it on the Cross, where He's sovereignly and

wisely and lovingly laid down his life to redeem a

people for his own. So you can anticipate, you should

see it coming when the enemy tries to unseat your

trust in the God of the Cross by talking about

his sovereignty. Just count on it. He's going to leave

out and he talk out his wisdom and his love.

You should see that coming. And now, if the enemy

can't stoke fear through philosophy or theology, he'll try catastrophe.

You see that in everybody's favorite verse verse twelve. Has

not my master sent me to speak these words to

your master and to you, and not to the men

sitting on the wall who are doomed with you to

eat their own dungue and drink their own urine. Captures

the imagination, doesn't it. The enemy loves to capture your

imagination with catastrophes just around the corner. It's such a

common plan of attack. I've heard turn people turned the

word catastrophe into a verb, right, catastrophizing. The enemy would

persuade you to catastrophize, to lead you to a place

of panic and impatience and distrust in the living God,

distrust in his ways, distrust in his timing. Expect it.

Just go ahead and expect it. And the word for

you in that place of fear is this from Isaiah

chapter eight. Do not fear what they fear, and do

not dread what other people dread. Let the Lord your

God be holy, Let him be your fear, let him

be your dread. I would persuade you this morning to

fear nothing but the Lord himself. Fearing other things will

confuse the trust and fear that he deserves. Like Jesus said,

do not fear those who can kill the body. Fear

the one who can throw both body and soul into hell. Yes,

fear him. That's what Christ said. Fear of the Lord

is the beginning of wisdom. It is the fundamental understanding

of where your trust really belongs, the fundamental understanding of

who can really save you from those things which are

truly to be feared. I would persuade you this morning

that the thing worth truly fearing is to lose sight

of the One True God. That is the thing that

would truly scare me to lose sight of Christ, That

I would that I would not feel the warmth of

his love through his word, that I would lose sight

of his mercy, that I would shame aim him with

my unfaithfulness, that I would betray his people through ungodliness,

that I would fall out of sweet conversation with Him

in prayer. That's scary, these things that your enemy tries

to scare you with tries to get you to catastrophize.

They're not scary. I would much rather be overrun by

a thousand enemies than lose sight of my trust in

the one who died for me, fear nothing but him

and losing sight of him. That's what your enemy is

actually aiming at, that you would lose sight of him.

You know what his attack plans are. He's going to

advertise counterfeits, he's gonna undercut leadership, he's gonna stoke fear

all to get you to forego trust in the Lord.

But you have received this transmission. You know what his

plans are, So fight confidently. I pray you win decisively

and keep trusting the Lord. Would you stand with me

and pray all over this place