Now let’s see another example of how God intervened for king Hezekiah. And what he did when he got the notice from the Assyrians that they were coming and conquering, and that they had destroyed all the nations coming right on down the line. And they sent a letter to Hezekiah, “Now you surrender or we’re going to do to you like we did to all these other nations and their gods.” So here, 2 Kings 19:1, “And it came to pass, when king Hezekiah heard it [that is, heard the letter read], that he rent his clothes [that means he ripped his clothes], and covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.” And he said in verse 3, “And they said unto him, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth.” Now sometimes you feel like that. So that’s what Hezekiah did. He took it before God.

Let’s come over here to verse 14. “And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD.” Took his troubles right to God – very first thing. He didn’t stop and ask anyone else’s advice. He went right to the Lord. “And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, Thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: Thou hast made heaven and earth. LORD, bow down Thine ear, and hear: open, LORD, Thine eyes, and see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the living God” (vs. 14-16). Then he said, “Of a truth, LORD, he did conquer all of them.”

He says here, verse 19, “Now therefore, O LORD our God, I beseech Thee, save Thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou art the LORD God, even Thou only.” This is a perfect example of how we need to go to God with our problems. You go to God and you state the problems. You don’t accuse Him, but you glorify Him. You don’t complain to Him, but you show what the problem is, and you ask God to fight because you are His. You belong to Him. You are His property. He’s promised to take care of you.

So that’s exactly what happened. He got the message, “I will defend this city for David, My servants sake” (vs. 34, paraphrased). Now verse 35. Here’s what God did. Even greater miracle than what happened there with Jehoshaphat. “And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand [185,000 were slain by the angel]: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.” In other words He spared the king and probably a few of his advisors, but all of his army was dead. “So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh” (vs. 34-36). And of course as he was worshipping in the house of his god, someone came in and assassinated him. Well now, question: did this take care of the enemy? It sure did. Did they have to lift the sword to fight? No, they didn’t, but they trusted in God. Perfect example of what we need to do.

Now let’s come to the New Testament and let’s see some things here that are important for us to understand so that we can realize how then we need to look to God. Now we have to overcome self, we have to overcome the sins in us. And let’s understand what kind of determination that we need to have, and what kind of faith that we need to have. Now let’s come to Hebrews 12 and let’s see what the apostle Paul wrote to the Hebrews telling them what they need to do to overcome and change, and what kind of resolve that they need to have in serving God.

Now after the apostle Paul had listed out many of the things that where God fought for the children of Israel, coming on down through the faith chapter and chapter 11, we come to chapter 12 and Paul writes: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great throng of witnesses,…” That’s what the Old Testament is there for. These are examples that we can look to, to see the examples of right and wrong, and good and evil. The examples of God intervening and fighting our battles for us. These are the examples that we need to look to. So here’s what Paul writes, “…let us lay aside every weight,…” Every problem, every difficulty – set it aside. You see, God does not want us to dwell on the problem. He wants us to dwell on Him and the solution. So you set it aside. “…And the sin that so easily entraps us;…” You repent of that. We’ve already covered how you do that. Confess your sins to God. “…And let us run the race set before us with endurance,…” (Heb. 12:1, FV). That’s what we need to do. We have got to finish the course.

Here’s how to do it, verse 2, “Having our minds fixed on Jesus, the Beginner and Finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that lay ahead of Him endured the cross, although He despised the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” That’s what we need to do. Always have our mind on Christ. Always have our minds on what He did, how He did it, why He did it. And He did it because He loved us. God the Father sent Jesus Christ because He loves the world and loves us, and we are part of the eternal plan of God. So Paul writes, “Now meditate deeply on Him Who endured such great hostility of sinners against Himself…” That’s why we need to study the Gospels. That’s why we need to understand what Jesus did and what He went through. Here’s the reason, “…so that you do not become weary and faint in your minds” (vs. 2-3, FV).

Now there is a proverb which says that if you faint in the day of your adversity, you have very little strength. See, so who is our strength? Christ. Who is our Savior? Christ. Who is our redeemer? Christ. Who is there to fight our battles for us? Christ is. And as we have seen He also has the angels to do His work for him too, doesn’t He? Yes, indeed. See, now this is why.

Now verse 4 becomes very important. And in all the struggles and difficulties that we have gone through, verse 4 is very profound. “You have not yet resisted to the point of losing blood in your struggle against sin.” I’ve never anointed anyone for bleeding because they’ve been fighting against sin. What does this show? This shows the effort and determination and steadfastness that we need to have in serving and loving God and in overcoming. And we do it by fixing our mind on Christ. And don’t get discouraged and don’t get down because God is doing this for a tremendous and wonderful purpose.

Verse 5, “And you have already forgotten the admonition that He addresses to you as to sons: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor grow weary of being reproved by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and He severely disciplines every son whom He receives” (vs. 5-6, FV). That’s why, see. God didn’t call us to have good perfect lives in the flesh. If you want to join a social club, go to a social club. If you want to go to where everything is smooth and nice, I don’t really think you can find any place on the face of the earth today that’s like that, can you? No, and times are getting difficult and harder, and harder to come by aren’t they? So we need to realize that. And God is helping us to develop the character, as we saw just last Sabbath, to have the faith and virtue and character, and eventually come to the point of having the very love of God perfected in us. That’s what God is doing. So yes, there is going to be some correction. Yes, there are going to be some things that change and come along here. Yes indeed, because that’s just the way it’s going to be.

Now let’s look at some other things here – the reason for all the trials. Let’s come here to 1 Peter 5 and let’s see what Peter says about this, and why we go through these things. And he also shows that a great deal of it, yes a great deal of what we go through is because we’re fighting Satan the devil, as well as self, as well as sin, as well as the world. So we’ve got a big battle out there and the way we do it is keep our minds fixed and focused on Jesus Christ, that we know what’s in the Gospels, we know what’s in the Epistles of Paul, we know what’s in the General Epistles, that we live by every Word of God – that’s what’s the important thing for us to realize and understand.

Now let’s come here to 1 Peter 5. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 5. “In the same manner, you younger men be subject to the older men; and all of you be subject to one another, being clothed with humility…” That’s the whole purpose of it. “…Because God sets Himself against the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Be humbled therefore under the mighty hand of God so that He may exalt you in due time; casting all your cares upon Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:5-7, FV). Now here’s a great mistake a lot of people do. They get worried, they get frustrated, they get upset, and they pace back and forth and they wonder what they’re going to do. But they haven’t cast all their cares upon God, see. So rather than worry and fret and stew and wonder - go pray. Lay it all before God. Cast all your cares upon Him because He cares for you. He has called you. He loves you. He wants you in His kingdom. He wants you to succeed and grow and overcome, and He will give you the strength and the power and perform the work for you if you trust in Him and rely upon Him. It’s like it said where we started, “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, and go forward.” Don’t be discouraged, don’t be down, don’t let anything, anything take you away from Christ.

Now here’s the reason for it. Verse 8, “Be sober!” Now that means don’t get involved with the spiritual drunkenness of this world. “Be vigilant!” That’s why we have the Feast of Unleavened Bread come along so that it reminds us every year we need to be vigilant. That means on watch, on guard. “For your adversary the devil is prowling about as a roaring lion, seeking anyone he may devour.” Yes, we’re going to have battles against Satan, and he’s going to come after the people of God. That’s just all part of the situation the way that the reality of it truly is. Now here’s how we fight him, verse 9, “Whom resist, steadfast in the faith,…” Not wavering back and forth, as James said, and be double-minded man and unstable as water. Steadfast in the faith. “…Knowing that the same afflictions are being fulfilled among your brethren who are in the world” (vs. 8-9, FV). And don’t think that any trial you’re going through is some sort of strange thing that has come upon you. Everyone has them. And you have them, so you take them to God.

Now here’s a promise. And you claim this promise. When you’re going through a trial, ask God to help you understand it, ask God to help you learn the lesson, ask God to help you fully comprehend what is going on so that you can take that and make it part of your live and character of the very lesson that you’re going to learn. And then claim this promise, verse 10, “Now may the God of all grace, Who has called us unto His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, Himself perfect you [so God is perfecting you – individually], establish, strengthen, and settle you.” That’s the purpose of the trials and the difficulties that we go through, so that we can let God fight our battles for us. Then he says, “To Him be the glory and the power into the ages of eternity. Amen” (vs. 10-11, FV). So that’s the way we unleaven our lives in Christ, by Christ in us, by growing, by overcoming, by looking to God to fight our battles for us so that we can realize that we are called unto eternal glory. And keeping our minds fixed and focused on Jesus Christ.

Now let’s look at some other things here which are important for us to realize. Let’s come here to Ephesians 6. Since this talks about fighting against Satan the devil let’s come to Ephesians 6 and let’s see what we need to do – the very spiritual preparation. Let me tell you this. If you’re not praying, if you’re not studying, if you’re not living by every Word of God when a trial comes upon you it’s going to hit you like a blockbuster. And you are not going to know what to do because you’re weak spiritually, you’re weak mentally, you’re weak physically. All of those things go hand in hand. And so when they come, you’re overwhelmed and you get discouraged. Now here’s what we need to do. We need to be strong in the power God.

Ephesians 6:10. Satan is out there after us like a roaring lion, as we saw. And he is clever and slick and has all kinds of devices to try and entrap and even deceive the very elect. So when we have problems and difficulties to come by, do exactly like Moses told the children of Israel – “Hold your peace, stand still, see the salvation of the Lord and go forward.” And the obvious implication is: not backward into Egypt.

Now Ephesians 6:10, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord,…” And that comes with patient study, prayer, walking in every way of God, living your life the way that God wants you to do it. That’s how you’re strong in the Lord “…and in the might of His strength” because He is going to fight for us. “Put on the whole armor of God…” So not only is God going to fight for us but we have our part. “Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil because we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against the world rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual power of wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:10-12, FV). And we see that more so in this age now. There’s just an acceleration of evil everywhere. And that is deliberate, and let’s understand something. Let’s just be frank – we ain’t seen nothing yet because Satan and his forces and troops are out there to destroy every vestige of Christianity that they can through any means that they can. And those are all part of the wiles of the devil, and we’re fighting against those wicked spirits in high places.

Verse 13, “Therefore, take up the whole armor of God so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having worked out all things, to stand.” Just like Moses said, “Stand still and see the salvation of God.” Verse 14, “Stand therefore, having your loins girded about with truth,…” And that is the Word of God, which is true. “…And wearing the breastplate of righteousness, and having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Besides all these, take up the shield of the faith, with which you will have the power to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one;…” (vs. 13-16, FV). Because he’s there just trying to lob them in. Missiles of lust, if we could put it that way. Because, as it says there in chapter 2, he is the prince of the power of the air, he is the one who comes along to tempt and to induce into sin. He is there. If there’s any one thing Satan would like you to do is get discouraged and down and come to the point that you’re going to give up on God because you have a trial that you’re going through. Well now, you can’t let that happen.

Verse 17, “And put on the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God;…” See, so it shows an active, growing, overcoming, praying, trusting in God, focusing on Christ. Verse 18, “…Praying at all times…” That you pray every day, that you pray many times during the day, just like Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, cease not praying. Not only do you pray and put your life in God’s hands every day when the day begins, but during the day you pray and ask God for help, for wisdom, for truth, for understanding, for bringing into captivity every thought unto Christ and casting down vain imaginations that rise up in your mind against God. And that’s how sin so easily besets us. So it is a continuous daily thing that we do - praying at all times. “…With all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and in this very thing being watchful with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints;…” (vs. 17-18, FV). Because brethren, we all need the prayers of everyone. And I know my prayer every day is for all the brethren. For those that need to be healed, those that need to fight their battles, those that need to be raised up, those who are distressed and brokenhearted. Christ came to heal the brokenhearted. Christ came to relieve the distressed. So you turn all of that to Him, you see. He is there. He will help. He will fight. He has promised. It doesn’t depend on your goodness, it doesn’t depend on your righteousness. Oh, you have your part to do, but it depends on Christ because He has promised. And those promises are sure, and those promises are true and good like we’ve already seen and Jesus Christ has promised that He will not ever, never leave us and forsake us. Now that’s something. So we can have the total faith and confidence in what God wants us to do in trusting Him to fight our battles.

Now let’s come over here to Ephesians 2 again and let’s see this. Let’s again see what we are operating against. Christ has saved us, reached down and saved us, saved us from our sins in this world. Now Ephesians 2:1, “Now you were dead in trespasses and sins,…” That’s how we were before God. And God reached down and had mercy on every one of us individually. “…In which you walked in times past according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working within the children of disobedience;…” This is what God has saved us from, that’s why we are not to go back into it. “…Among whom also we all once had our conduct in the lusts of our flesh, doing the things willed by the flesh and by the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as the rest of the world. But God, Who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, has made us alive together with Christ. (For you have been saved by grace.)” (Eph. 2:1-5). And that’s through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God.

Now notice what we are to do here. Verse 8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this especially is not of your own selves; it is the gift of God,…” And always remember this: you have nothing you didn’t receive. Everything we have is of God. “Not of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship,…” God is creating Himself in you. We are His workmanship, “…created in Christ Jesus…” Because you see, salvation is creation - creating in us the mind of Christ, the love of God, the character of God, all the fruits of the Holy Spirit of love, and joy, and peace, and longsuffering, and faith, and gentleness, and kindness, and goodness, and meekness, and temperance, against such there is no law. That’s what He is creating in us. And we are “…created in Christ Jesus unto the good works that God ordained beforehand in order that we might walk in them” (vs. 8-10, FV). That is the way of the Lord. That is what He has done for us.

Now let’s come to Romans 8 and let’s understand how we are to look at these things, how we are to look at the world, how we are to look at ourselves, how we are to view the circumstances in which we find ourselves and what God is going to do for us. Now let’s pick it up here in verse 9. We’ll cover a good deal of Romans 8 because this is a profound chapter. Romans 8:9, “However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is indeed dwelling within you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” And that’s the important thing. The Spirit of God. Now as we have seen, if you let that lax and you’re not exercising, then you have to do as Paul said – stir up the Spirit of God that is in you. And that’s what the Feast of Unleavened Bread is all about, as we have seen, to stir up the Spirit of God which is in us, you see.

Now verse 10, “But if Christ be within you, the body is indeed dead because of sin;…” Because you are baptized. All your sins died with Christ and He died for you. And whenever you confess your sins, you put them in the hands of God. They are covered with the blood of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, you see. So you’re not living in sin. “…However, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” Now here is a great and tremendous promise. “Now if the Spirit of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead is dwelling within you, He Who raised Christ from the dead will also quicken your mortal bodies because of His Spirit that dwells within you. So then, brethren, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh;…” We’re not to live in the carnal way of this world, “…because if you’re living according to the flesh, you shall die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you shall live” (vs. 10-13, FV). Just like we saw on the first holy day. We are to put to death the deeds of the flesh. We are to put all of that out, and we are to put in Christ. That’s what he’s talking about here. Now if you do that you shall live, and that means to eternal life.

Here’s the key, verse 14. Never forget this, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” Now let’s understand something very important here. The Spirit of God is not going to force you. The Spirit of God will lead you, but you have to choose to yield to God, and you have to choose to ask God to help you be led of the Spirit of God. “As many as are led of the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Now this is also important for us to understand because Satan, as we have seen, wants to come in and give us a spirit of fear, give us a spirit of doubt, give us a spirit of contention, give us a spirit of argument with God. “Now you have not received a spirit of bondage again unto fear, but you have received the Spirit of sonship, whereby we call out, “Abba, Father” (vs. 14-16, FV). The Spirit itself bears witness conjointly with our own spirit, testifying that we are the children of God.” That’s what it is brethren, see.

Now notice, these next few verses are profound. “Now if we are children, we are also heirs—truly, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—…” Now stop and think for a minute. What did Christ inherit? All things. That means the universe. We are joint heirs with Christ. That means we will own part of whatever God gives us of the universe, and He says, “Here, this is yours, but with Christ.” That is a fantastic and tremendous thing that God has called us to. And I think that we can understand more, and more, and more about God and more, and more about how we need to grow and change and overcome if we keep that right in the forefront of our minds and be led of the Holy Spirit of God.

Now notice, here’s a promise – a promise of suffering. “…If indeed we suffer together with Him, so that we may also be glorified together with Him.” Now the apostle Paul was called to suffer more than any other man except Jesus Christ. And he did suffer. And how did he look upon those sufferings? Well, he came to rejoice in them because he understood the end result. And so likewise with us, you see, we need to rejoice in them because we understand the end result. Not be like the children of Israel at the Red Sea who complained against God and the circumstances they were in because they couldn’t see the outcome. They didn’t have faith in God, though He did a miraculous intervention to extract them from the land of Egypt. No, see, we’re going to be glorified together but we have to suffer, see. “For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.” Now I want you to understand these next verses here to give us some perspective. “For the earnest expectation of the creation itself is awaiting the manifestation of the sons of God;…” How important are the sons of God? How important is God to you? So important that Jesus Christ gave His life for you and for everyone individually because you see the sacrifice of Christ is applied to each of us individually, continually, standing in the grace of God. And the whole creation is waiting. The world is waiting. Have you ever thought of it this way: the world is waiting for you, and you, and you, and me, and all the sons of God down through history. It’s waiting. It’s needing us because we are the solution in God’s set time, of course. “…Because the creation was subjected to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who subjected it in hope,…” And we are part of that hope through Jesus Christ. “…In order that the creation itself might be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that all the creation is groaning together and travailing together until now” (vs. 17-22, FV). You see, waiting for us.

Now let’s come down here to verse 28. Let’s understand something that’s important. Let’s realize this, regardless of your circumstances, regardless of the difficulties, regardless of your physical condition, regardless of whether you are young or whether you are old, whether you are rich or whether you are poor, God loves you and has a purpose for you. And everything in your life is going to work out for good. Now let’s read it, verse 28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,…” That’s why we’ve covered how important the love of God is. “…To those who are called according to His purpose [and you have been] because those whom He did foreknow [and if you have God’s Spirit in you He has foreknown you], He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His own Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” So that’s what our destination is, our predestination. “Now whom He predestinated, these He also called; and whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified” (vs. 28-30, FV). Because you see, God is looking at the finished product in you. He’s not looking at you the way that you are. He’s imputed the righteousness of Christ to you so that you stand before Him blameless and holy, in love. He is looking to you as if you are now glorified. In other words He sees and knows what you will be at the resurrection. Now we’ve received a bit of the glory of God by receiving the Holy Spirit of God. We’ve received a bit of the glory of God by having His Word, which we can know and understand and live by. Absolutely true.

Now verse 31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” There is no trouble, there’s no difficulty, there is no battle, there is nothing that can be against us. Now claim that promise through the blood and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. “He Who did not spare even His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how shall He not also grant us all things together with Him?” Say, “Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you by My Father.” “Who shall bring an accusation against the elect of God?” Well, people can. But that has no standing before God. “God is the one Who justifies. Who is the one that condemns?” See, Satan comes and accuses us day and night before God, but we overcome Him with the blood of Christ, right? Yes, indeed. “It is Christ Who died, but rather, Who is raised again, Who is even now at the right hand of God,…” to fight our battles for us, to give us of His Spirit, to strengthen us, to help us overcome. “…And Who is also making intercession for us. What shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Now think on this. Is there anything that’s going to separate you from the love of God, the love of Christ? See, the reason that we keep the commandments of God and the holy days of God, and the feasts of God is so that we understand this: nothing can separate us from God. “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” (vs. 31-35, FV). None of those things and we’re probably going to face every one of these things in the coming years.

“Accordingly, it is written, “For Your sake we are killed all the day long; we are reckoned as sheep for the slaughter. But in all these things [even if that happens] we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us.” And this is the persuasion we need to come to. This is the attitude that we need. And this is the whole finality of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. “For I am persuaded…” Are you? Are you fully 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 created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vs. 36-39, FV). That’s the meaning of today. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, and go forward with the power and the might and strength of God.

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