Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes that God will come through for us, even in the face of discouragement and trials, as illustrated by the story of King Hezekiah and the Assyrian siege. He encourages believers to trust in God's promises and not to be swayed by the lies of the enemy, who seeks to instill doubt and fear. By humbling ourselves and calling upon God, we can find strength and assurance that He will deliver us from our struggles. The sermon highlights the importance of maintaining faith and hope in God's ability to intervene and protect us for His name's sake.

Thank you, Lord. Lord, we thank you for your word this morning. God, I ask that you'd speak to us. Oh, God, I thank you for your word. But I don't want to just read words out of this book. But Lord, I ask you to take your word and speak it to our hearts. Lord, by your Holy Spirit, speak your word into our hearts and change us this morning, Lord. Oh, God, cause us to hope in you, because we know we've heard your voice speaking to us, drawing us close to you, encouraging us, Lord. Oh, God, we need you this morning. There's nothing on this earth that'll satisfy us, Lord. There's nothing on this earth that can meet the need of our hearts, Lord. Nothing but you. Lord, we just want to call upon you this morning. Lord, we ask that you would speak to us through your word, that you yourself would communicate your heart to us, Lord. For your name's sake, we pray. I want to read from Isaiah chapter 36, starting there. Now, it came about in the 14th year of King Hezekiah. Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshaketh from Lachias to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a large army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway of the fuller's field. Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joab the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him. And Rabshaketh said to them, say now to Hezekiah, thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, what is this confidence that you have? I say, your counsel and strength for war are only empty words. Now on whom have you--" let me stop right there for a minute. Do you see what's going on? The king of Assyria is coming against Jerusalem, coming against the city of God. He brought a very large army, and he's surrounding the place. It's under siege. And right off the bat, he comes there, and he sends messengers and says, what is this confidence that you have? All your strength for battle is empty words. He's saying, give it up. He's trying to sow discouragement into the hearts of the people. Now whom have you relied that you rebelled against me? Behold, you rely on that staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to all who rely on him. But if you say to me, we trust in the Lord our God, is it not he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away? And has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, you shall worship before this altar? Now therefore, come make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you 2,000 horses if you are able on your part to set riders on them. How then can you repulse one official of the least of my master's servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? And have I now come up without the Lord's approval against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, go up against this land and destroy it. Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, forgive me for murdering these names, speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. And do not speak with us in Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall. But Rabshakeh said, has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words and not to the men who sit on the wall doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you? Then Rabshakeh stood and cried with a loud voice in Judean and said, hear the words of 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. Nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying the Lord will surely deliver us. This city shall not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria. Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, make your peace with me and come out to me and eat each of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink each of the waters of his own cistern until I come and take you away to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Beware, lest Hezekiah mislead you, saying, the Lord will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharavim? And when have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered their land from my hand that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand? I want to stop right there for a minute. I want to go over this. These are the very things that the devil will come and speak to us. Remember, we're in a war and the devil wants to destroy you. He wants to destroy the city of God. He wants to destroy the dwelling place of God. And it's his intent to lay siege. And he comes to us with lie after lie after lie to discourage us. And that's his whole intent, to discourage us. Just like the whole intent of the enemy here was to discourage them and to get them not to trust in the Lord. Behold, you rely on the staff of this crushed reed, even on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will pierce into his hand and pierce it. See, what's happening here, the enemy is saying, you're relying, in this case, on Egypt. You're relying on the strength of the flesh. How often when we are in a struggle, how often when we find ourselves fighting against sin, does the devil come and say, oh, you're just struggling in the flesh. You're not gonna make it. All your strength of the flesh is no match for me. I mean, time and time again, I know that happens to me. The devil will just say, what are you doing? It's all the flesh. There's no hope. You can't do it. That's exactly what the enemy did here. He says, if you rely on the flesh, forget it. That's who you're, he's accusing Hezekiah and the people of God here of relying on Egypt. They weren't doing it. It's all a lie. And it's the same thing. If we set our hearts to pray and to read the word of God and to ask the Lord to strengthen our faith, the devil will come and say, you're just doing that in the flesh. That's not gonna do you any good. It's a lie. It's a lie. If God puts it in your heart to draw near to Him, to draw near to Him, to receive strength from Him, to receive help from Him, don't be turned aside. But if you say to me, we trust in the Lord, our God, is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and said to Judah and Jerusalem, you shall worship? Do you hear what's going on here? Hezekiah, previous to this, had torn down the high places and the altars that the people had built in disobedience to God. God had told him to worship in Jerusalem, to worship in the temple, but the previous kings had built these high places and these other altars, and Hezekiah had torn them down at the word of God, at the command of God. But the devil comes and says, look what you did. You destroyed God's work. Look what you've done. You've done a bad thing. The devil will come and try and twist things, try and take the very thing that God has done in your life that's good and try and turn it into something evil. He'll try and make you think that you're displeasing God, that you're dishonoring God, and the whole reason all this trouble has come upon you is because you failed God and that you messed up, and now you're doomed to failure and there's nothing you can do about it because He's got the upper hand now. And that's exactly what the guy's name was trying to do here with Hezekiah and the people in Jerusalem. But he continues on. Now, therefore, come make a bargain with my master, the king of Assyria, and I will give you 2,000 horses if you're able to set riders of them. How then can you repulse one official, the least of my master's servants? What he's saying here is, to use common vernacular, I can beat you with one hand tied behind my back. That's what he's saying. He's mocking. He's mocking him saying, you don't got nothing to beat me with. I'll give you horses. If you can even put some, I'll help you. I'll give you some weapons. The horses were, in that day, like the ultimate weapon. I'll give you 2,000 of them and then see if you can beat me. But you still can't. And that's what the devil does to us too. He says, the devil will come and laugh at us and say, man, you're a joke. There's nothing you can do to beat me. Why? He wants to sow discouragement. He wants to sow discouragement in our hearts. Have I now come, this is a good line too. Have I now come up without the Lord's approval against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, go up against this land and destroy it. The Lord said to me, go up against this land and destroy it. Don't believe that lie. The Lord sent me to destroy you. This is the exact tactic the devil uses so many times against sincere Christians that love the Lord. They'll say, you messed up. You've sinned. You've done bad. And now the Lord has sent this circumstance. The Lord has sent this trouble into your life to destroy you because you deserve it. And now the Lord sent me and you are a goner. You are dead. Don't believe it. Don't believe it for a minute. Excuse me. I have somewhat of a cold here, I'm sorry. And it continues on with more and more discouragement. But here's the whole intent of what the Assyrian king and what the devil was doing, wants to do in us. When he comes against us with lie after lie and discouragement after discouragement. You know, he doesn't come when things are good, when everything's going good with this. He comes when we're going through hard times. You know, when things are rough, then the devil comes and says, it's all because you're a sinner. It's all because you've displeased God and now God sent me to destroy you, to teach you a lesson. See, and then he comes to Hezekiah and here's where we start seeing, don't let Hezekiah deceive you, for God will not deliver you. Don't let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord saying the Lord will surely deliver us. See, his whole purpose in trying to discourage us to keep us from trusting the Lord. See, we have a relationship with the Lord and as we trust in him, the devil can't touch us. He can't destroy us. He can't take the city. Remember what Jesus said to Peter, upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The devil doesn't have any weapons big enough or powerful enough to destroy us. What does he do? He just comes to us with lie after lie after lie to try and get us discouraged, to try and keep our eyes off the Lord, to try and keep our eyes off of the hope that he's given us, the hope that he's promised to us. And that's exactly what the king of Assyria was doing here. Do not listen to Hezekiah for thus says the king of Assyria, make peace with me and come out to me and eat each one of his vine and each of his fig tree and drink of the waters of his own cistern until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and of vineyards. See what the devil's doing here? He says, give it up. Don't keep fighting. Look how miserable you are fighting, striving against sin. You're striving and you're striving. You're trying to overcome. You're never gonna do it. Why don't you just give up and relax? Have an easy life. Just go with the flow. Just relax, lay back, drink of your vine, eat of your fig tree. It's so much easier. It's easier not to fight the devil. It's easier not to enter into the battle and call upon the name of the Lord and see the victory. And that's what he's trying to get you to do, give up. Why? He knows he's gone. He knows it's his own downfall if we trust in the Lord and stand firm in him. So he tries to appeal to your flesh that it's easier. It's so much easier just to give up. It's so much easier not to fight. Just relax, rest until I come and take you away to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. He's promising you something good too, huh? But what is it? What's he really saying here? Between the lines, he's saying, we're gonna come take you captive. We're gonna let you rest for a while, but we're gonna come take you away to another land. You're gonna be slaves. But he says it with such nice words, it sounds appealing. And that's exactly what the devil does to us. Don't keep fighting. Don't keep striving against sin. Don't keep trying to overcome. Don't get your eyes on this, I'm gonna be like Jesus type stuff. Relax where you are. You know, the status quo, you know, you're safe. Chill out for a while. Don't keep fighting against sin. But what did Jesus say? He who commits sin is a slave of sin. If you just say, well, I'm gonna coast. I'm gonna give up. I'm just gonna rest. I'm just gonna, you know, settle for the sins of my life. You know, I've done pretty good. Don't give in because just like the enemy said here, he's gonna come and take you away. Beware, lest Hezekiah mislead you, saying the Lord will deliver us. Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the King of Assyria? And he gives a bunch of examples here. What he's saying is, look around you. Everybody's sinning, right? Nobody's been delivered. Everybody's captive. How often do you see people falling and failing? I mean, looking years back, the preachers, there are, you know, several prominent preachers, you know, that fell into sin and brought disgrace. What a heyday. This is exactly the type of thing the devil uses, or other people maybe that we've known and looked up to, and we see them struggle and fall, and we say, and the devil will come and say, look, that person fell. What hope do you think you have of standing? Give it up now. But I tell you, it's a big lie. He'll try every tactic he can. And he'll try every avenue we can to try and discourage you. But that's not the voice of our father. It's the voice of the devil coming to discourage us. I love the response here. But they were silenced and answered him not a word. For the king's commandment was, do not answer him. Let me read a scripture in Psalm 38. Psalm 38, 13. But I, like a deaf man, do not hear. I am like a dumb man who does not open his mouth. Yes, I am like a man who does not hear and whose mouth are no arguments. For I hope in thee, O Lord, thou will answer, O Lord my God. That's the first step to victory over this whole attack of the enemy. Don't enter into conversation with the devil. Don't even go there. Don't try and answer every accusation. Don't listen to his arguments about how you've displeased God and how you've sinned. Because half the things he said to you were true. You know, Hezekiah did tear down the altars, right? He twists it. He'll try and get you confused. And if you listen to him, he'll probably succeed right from the very beginning. The devil came and talked to Adam, excuse me, to Eve. She listened, she talked to them for a while, and then she fell. Don't enter into the conversation. He's a lot smarter than you and I, but do what it says here. I was silent. I was like a man who does not hear and in whose mouth are no arguments. We don't have to win an argument with the devil. We don't have to come up with a logical argument why he's wrong and why we're right. We don't even have to answer him back. Just get this attitude of the psalmist here. For I hope in thee, O Lord, thou will answer, O Lord, my God. There's the answer. Let God answer. Let God's word answer all those lies. He's got an answer for everything. The devil comes and says, you're unworthy. You've sinned. The Lord sent me to destroy you. You're getting what you deserve. Give it up, there's no hope. You're bound in sin. You've sinned in the past. You're gonna sin in the future and there's no hope of being delivered. He says, don't let anyone talk you into trusting the Lord. Give it up now, relax. What does God say? For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed into the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. In whom he also predestined, these he also called. In whom he called, these he also justified. In whom he justified, these he also glorified. What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is he who died. Yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Just as it is written, for thy sake, we are being put to death all day long. We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered. Then all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers 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. That should be one we all memorize. And when the devil comes to get us, tries to discourage us and tries to say, I've got the upper hand on you. When he brings condemnation, who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus has justified me. If God is for us, who can be against us? Who's gonna bring a charge? God is the one who's justified us. All that we need's in him. Everything that we need to stand, to overcome, it's in Jesus Christ. He won the victory already. These things I have spoken to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world. Do you see it? We're on the winning side, guys. The victory's already been won in Christ. Let me get back to Isaiah 50, 36, excuse me. No, 37 we're at. Anyway, the messengers came back and brought word to Hezekiah of all these things the king of Assyria had said. The first thing they did was they kept silent. They didn't start arguing or trying to bring an answer back. But like the psalmist, we need to do the same thing. Don't try and give the devil an answer back. Trust in the Lord, wait on the Lord, and let God answer. Let God speak a word into your heart. Let God speak something from his word to your heart to encourage you and show you that you can stand in him. Anyway, the messengers brought word to Hezekiah. It says, when Hezekiah heard that he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of Israel, the house of the Lord, the first thing he did was he tore his clothes. He humbled himself. This was the king of Israel. He wasn't in a situation, he wasn't haughty. He didn't say, hey, no problem, we got it all licked here. We're the people of God. He realized they were surrounded, and if God didn't intervene, they would be destroyed. So he humbled himself. And the second thing he does, the same thing we ought to do. He entered into the house of the Lord. Humble yourself. Go to the presence of God. Go to the presence of God in humility and say, God, here's what the enemy's saying. He's trying to discourage me, and I feel like it's working. I'm getting discouraged. I feel like I'm gonna be overwhelmed if you don't do something. But God, you promised. You promised that I wouldn't be overcome. You promised that you've overcome the world and to trust in you. This is what Hezekiah's doing. He goes into the house of the Lord. He humbles himself. And he sends to Isaiah the prophet. They say to him, thus says Hezekiah, this day is a day of distress, rebuke, and rejection, for the children have come to birth and there is no strength to deliver. See, he calls on the name of the Lord and says, God, you're doing something. This is the same thing we should do. Lord, I know you're doing something in my life. Lord, you're wanting to bring something forth. You're wanting to bring me up higher. But God, I don't think there's any strength. I think I'm gonna die before it happens. Help. See, this is what Isaiah's saying, saying, you know, we're right at the point where you're doing something, Lord, but I don't have enough strength. There's no strength to deliver. We can't do this. Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to reproach the living God and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. See, this is the very thing that Isaiah was hoping for. He said, God's gonna hear the word of the enemy. God heard what he said. When the devil comes to discourage you and accuse you, God hears. We need to go to God and say, God, you heard what the devil said. You heard how he's tried to discourage me. You heard how he's tried to make me feel like dirt and like there was no hope for me. But God, you've heard it. Answer him back, Lord. Lord, you answer. I can't answer. I'm speechless. He told me I'm a sinner, and I know he's right. But Lord, you can answer him back because you're my justifier. You're the one that stands pure, clean, holy. You're the one with all the authority in heaven and earth. And Isaiah said, I'm skipping a couple verses up. Isaiah said to them, thus you shall say to your master, thus says the Lord, do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. And just one side note here. The whole reason the devil's attacking you and I, he doesn't care about us. Who's the war raging against? Against the Lord and his Christ. He's trying to destroy the testimony of Jesus Christ that's coming forth in your life. If God wasn't doing something, if this testimony wasn't coming forth, the devil wouldn't mess with you. He doesn't care. You and I are nothing apart from Christ, but because we've got this treasure on earth and vessels. Because God is doing something. Because he's causing this treasure to come forth. He's causing a testimony to be made on the earth. The devil's angry and he wants to stomp it out. And that's why this whole thing is he's blaspheming God. He wants to destroy the testimony of Christ coming forth. So God says, do not be afraid because of the words that you've heard by which the king of Assyria has blasphemed me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that you will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land. Here's the promise of God that they were gonna be delivered from this enemy, that this siege would end and that king would be killed back in his own land. Then Rapshachar returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libna, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. And when he heard them say concerning, what are these names? Terhaka, king of Cush, he has come out to fight against you. Then he sent messengers to Hezekiah. Let me just say what's happening here. Seems like they're drawing away just like God said, right? But what happens? The enemy never just gives up on the first. I mean, look what happened when Moses went to Pharaoh and says, let my people go. What happened? It got worse, right? It got worse before it got better. They said, make bricks with no straw. The same thing's happening here. Hezekiah went to the Lord and he prayed and God said, don't be afraid. I've got it under control. I'm gonna send him back to his own land and he's gonna be killed. What happens? The next day, I don't know if it was the next day, but the next couple of verses at any rate, the guy writes a letter back to Hezekiah and says, thus you shall say to Hezekiah, king of Judah, do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. See what's happening? The devil knows he's licked. God's spoken. His only hope left is to say, don't believe what God said. Don't trust in him. Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be spared that the gods of those nations, which my father have destroyed, deliver them, even Gozan and Haran and Rizbif and all the other ones I'm not gonna read? All these lands were destroyed and the devil's gonna remind you of that. He's saying, don't trust in God, give it up. Once again, Hezekiah comes with the right response again. He takes the letter from the hand of the messengers and he reads it. And he goes to the house of the Lord. He takes that letter. He says, God, see this? I'm not gonna read what he really said, but that's essentially what he's doing. He says, God, look at what they've written. He went to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, thou art God, thou alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, and thou hast made heaven and earth. First thing that we need to do when the devil comes again and again and again and doesn't seem to give up, fix our eyes on the Lord. Fix our eyes on Jesus. Fix the eyes upon God and who He is. That's what Isaiah is doing here. O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, thou art God, thou alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth. We need perspective. It's so easy to lose perspective when the devil comes again and again and again against us with discouragement and saying, you're never gonna be delivered. You're never gonna be set free. You're stuck with this sin the rest of your life. You may as well give it up now. And it's so easy to listen and say, uh-huh, yeah, uh-huh. Maybe you're right. But what we need to do is don't give it an ear and get our eyes on the Lord. Look at who He is. He's the God that reigns over heaven and the earth. He's the one who speaks and no one can say what hast thou done. He's the one that created it all. He's the one that sent Jesus to die on the cross and raised him from the dead on the third day for our justification. He's the one who did it all. So let's get our eyes on him. Let's look at our eyes upon him. So Hezekiah brings the letter to the temple, lays it out before the Lord and said, Lord, you're the one that's enthroned on high. Incline thine ear, O Lord, and hear. Open thine eyes, O Lord, and see. And listen to all the words of Sennacherib. Excuse me. Who sent them to reproach the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries in their lands and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were not gods, but the work of man's hands. See, he's got such a perspective here now. He got his eyes on the Lord and he realized it is true. The guy destroyed all those other lands. But why? They weren't serving the one true God. He was. He wouldn't expect the other gods to deliver him. Truly, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries in their lands and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were not gods, but the work of man's hands. Wood and stone, and they have destroyed them. And now, O Lord, our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou alone, Lord, our God. Once again, Hezekiah is entering in to the purpose of God. God wants to raise up a testimony on the earth. And Hezekiah is seeing now, he's beheld the Lord. He's heard the attacks of the enemy. And he's seeing this whole thing taking shape. That the enemy is trying to discourage and destroy and tear down the testimony. Isaiah says, Lord, you're the God that reigns over all. Don't let him do it, Lord. Destroy him, Lord. Deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou alone, Lord, our God. Hezekiah is getting a passion for God, getting a passion for his purposes, getting a passion for his testimony being brought forth upon the earth. And that's the same thing we need to do. Let's realize when discouragement comes, don't give in to it. Don't listen to the words of the devil. Don't listen to it for a moment. Don't listen when he says, you failed God, and now you're going to get destroyed. It's not true. Let me just read a couple of scriptures. First Corinthians, chapter 6. Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. He's saying, man, you guys got a really sordid past here. And such were some of you, but, and that's the beautiful thing about the scriptures, there's always a but, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. And don't ever forget that. When the devil brings up your past and the sins, just like what Colette was saying today, how there's nothing you've done that the grace of God doesn't cover. There's nothing that you could have done that his blood and his forgiveness and his grace doesn't cover. Remember, you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the spirit of our God. Remember, the word of God, let God answer the devil back. Let his word answer every attack of the enemy and every word of discouragement, because they're all lies. Even when the devil speaks something that's factual, I don't want to say it's true, that's factual, it's a lie. Because he's taking it and using it to deceive. He's using it to twist and to get you discouraged and turn away from God, and it's a lie. Paul says in Philippians, where is it? Is that right? Oh, well. Beginning of Philippians, Philippians 1, 6, I think it is. I am confident this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. First Thessalonians 5, verse 23, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely. And may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he who calls you, and he also will bring it to pass. See what he's saying there? May the God of peace sanctify you entirely. May your spirit, soul, and body be preserved complete and without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he who called you, who will also bring it to pass. He's going to bring it to pass in your life and mine. He's the one that's working, perfecting us. He's the one whose grace is working in us to bring us. And we can have confidence in him. Don't let the devil discourage you into giving up. There's great hope that we have. Galatians 6, 9, it's a familiar scripture to all of us. Do not be weary in well-doing, for in due season you shall reap if you faint not. Once again, the devil comes to discourage. He comes to turn you aside and says, don't trust in the Lord. Give up. Don't faint. Don't faint. You're going to reap. You're going to reap every benefit that God says. There's going to be a harvest of righteousness in your life. Just hang on. Keep trusting in the Lord, believing in his word. His word cannot fail. It cannot fail. This is the king of Assyria. Actually, I should go back and just finish that one little piece there. Remember, the Lord said he was going to go back to his own land and be killed with a sword. And he was going to be finished. And right after that, he sends another message saying, don't trust in the Lord. And Hezekiah goes and lays the letter before the Lord. I'm not going to read the whole thing that the Lord said in response. But down in chapter 37, verse 33. Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come to the city, nor shoot an arrow there. Neither shall he come before it with a shield, nor throw up a mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return. And he shall not come to the city, declares the Lord. For I will defend the city to save it for my own name's sake, for my own sake, and for my servant David's sake. And once again, God is committed to defending you and I against every attack of the enemy for his name's sake. He wants a testimony in this earth. He doesn't want us to be discouraged. He doesn't want us to turn aside. He doesn't want us to give up. He's committed to us for his testimony, for his name's sake. Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when men arose, excuse me, early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. And it came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nishrak, his god, that Adramelech and Sherazer, his sons, killed him with the sword. The very thing that God pronounced against him, even though he wrote a letter after it said, don't believe God, don't trust in him, it happened. In the same way, the devil's going to tell us, don't trust in the Lord. Yeah, he said he's going to perfect the work that he's begun in you. He said, the gates of hell shall not prevail against my church. He said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Sure, maybe he said, excuse me, that you're washed, you're cleansed, you're sanctified by the blood of Christ. But don't believe it. See, that's what the devil wants to say. Don't believe any of the stuff God says. But what ultimately is going to happen? God's word shall not fail. His promise to us will not fail. We can trust in him. We can call upon the name of the Lord and know that he'll be there for us. Remember the scripture in Hebrews 13.5. I read it last week. Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have. For he himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you. Don't ever forget the treasure that we have. He will never desert us and never forsake us. He that spared not his son, but delivered him out for us all, how shall not he freely with us give us all things? Same thing in Romans 8. Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? Whatever we're going through. You know, life is a struggle. Real life is a struggle. Jesus said, in the world you shall have tribulation. But be not afraid. I have overcome the world. Every struggle, every tribulation that comes our way, there's two things that can happen. The devil will come and try and sow discouragement. And try and make us feel like it's God punishing us, or that we're unworthy and we can't overcome. We can recognize it as the hand of God. We can recognize that he's saying, trust in me. Call upon my name and you shall see. Like he said in Jeremiah, call upon me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which thou knowest not. The things that the devil wants to destroy us with are the very things that God is going to show his power. The very things that Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, was coming against to show that he was going to destroy the people of God, that he was going to destroy their habitation, is the very thing at the end where God says, I'm going to destroy him to glorify my name. So let's keep that hope. Realize when the devil comes against you, this is an opportunity to see God bring victory in our lives, to glorify his name. Let's go like Hezekiah and tear our clothes, not tear our clothes literally, but humble ourselves before God in that hour. Say, Lord, the enemy's coming against me. I feel weak. I don't have the power to deliver. But Lord, you do. And when I call upon your name, thank you, Lord, that you've promised to never leave me, never desert me. Lord, I need you now. And we'll see God's hand. We'll see his hand in that very hour deliver us. We'll see his hand come to our aid for his name's sake, that he'll have a testimony on this earth, that he'll have a testimony of his love and his power poured out into a people. Lord, I just pray that you would give us all this confidence. No matter what comes our way, no matter what struggles, Lord, give us a trust in you that we won't listen to the words of discouragement, that we won't listen, Lord, to the lies of the enemy, but, Lord, that we'll know that you have forgiven us by your grace. These things aren't coming upon us, Lord, because you're angry with us because of sin, but rather, Lord, you want to show your power. You want to show your ability to deliver us. You want to show us, Lord, that you're able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond what we can ask or think. Lord, we ask that you give us this hope planted firmly in our hearts. Enable us to call upon you in the hour of trouble, knowing that you're there for us, and that you'll never leave us. You'll never forsake us. For thy name's sake. Oh, God, for thy name's sake. We love you, Lord. Lord, I just want to pray, too, because, Lord, you know all of us here. You know our situation. Lord, you know which ones of us are going through struggles now and which ones are going to go through struggles next week and the week after. Lord, we're so prone to hear words of discouragement, to believe them, Lord. God, I pray that you yourself would speak to our hearts, that you yourself, Lord, would speak to us your word, that you would answer back the enemy, Lord. Lord, we don't have the wisdom. Lord, we're so easily deceived. But, God, you're greater. You're so much greater. All our hope is in you. Lord, like that song we sang earlier, all that we adore is in you. And, Lord, we just want to confess our trust and our hope is in you today. Our hope is in you to bring us into your presence, blameless and spotless. Our hope is in you, Lord, to perfect the work that you've begun in us, Lord, for thy name's sake. Oh, God, do it for thy name's sake, we pray. Amen. Amen.