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Truths From a Heathen

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• Isaiah 36. The title of this message, and I will also continue this message next week—it'll be two parts—the title of it is "Truths from a Heathen." Truths from a heathen. You know, I've got to thinking, I've read through the book of Isaiah just recently, and as I was working on these messages, this is about the fifth message that I've gotten from this one chapter. And I preached, I thought the king of Assyria was dead. I preached two messages on praying against your enemies, and then these two. You know, you just see scripture and you think, "Boy, I've covered all of that." Seen before. So it just shows you that you can never ever preach it all and you can never ever learn it all. So Isaiah chapter 36, verse 1: "Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the defense cities of Judah and took them. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto king Hezekiah with a great army, and he

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• stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller's field. Then came forth unto him Eliakim, Hilkiah's son, which was over the house, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, Asaph's son, the recorder. And Rabshakeh said unto them, 'Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?'" I want you to look at that question. "What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?"

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• One of the amazing truths of Scripture is the absolute sovereignty of God. He rules over everything and He rules over everyone. He is not just simply king of His people or king of the church. He is king of everything. He's king over all the nations, Christian and heathen alike. In fact, it is the sovereignty of God that causes nations to increase or decrease. It's God's sovereignty that causes them to spring forth or to be destroyed. In fact, in Job 12 and verse 23, the scripture says, "He, that is God, increaseth the nations and destroyeth them. He enlargeth the nations and He straighteneth them." In fact, we're told in scripture that not only God rules over all the nations, but that all nations will ultimately serve Him. Let me just give you several quotes. For instance, Psalm 22, verse 28: "For the kingdom is the Lord's and he is the governor among the nations." So God is the governor among all the nations. Psalm 66 and verse 7.

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• "He ruleth by his power forever. His eyes behold the nations," plural, "let not the rebellious exalt themselves." And then Psalm 72 in verse 11, "Yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him." And then in Psalm 86 in verse 9, "All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name." Then a nation amazing: all nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee and glorify thy name. So God rules over all. He not only rules over the individuals, He rules over nations as well. And here's the interesting thing: men may not acknowledge Him, nations may not acknowledge Him. They, in fact, may deny Him. They may blaspheme Him. They may curse Him, and they may worship false gods, but all that's immaterial. God is still sovereign, and God still rules over them. God is their creator.

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• They are His creatures, and therefore God has the absolute right to dispose of them as He sees fit. And He may use them in any way that He chooses. So the haughtiness and the arrogance and the pride and the rebellion of man does not and cannot stop God from accomplishing His will in their lives. I want you to hold Isaiah 36, but flip in your Bibles, if you would, to Psalm 75.

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• And look, if you would, beginning there with verse 4. Psalm 75, verse 4. Here's the counsel that God gives to the foolish and to the wicked. Psalm 75, verse 4: "I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly, and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn." That is the horn of pride or rebellion or arrogance. He says, "Lift not up your horn on high, speak not with a stiff neck," that is, like you're someone or something. Why? "For promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south, but God is the judge."

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• Notice, "He putteth down one and setteth up another." So God says you better not speak foolishly, you better not speak rebelliously, because I'm the one that puts you up and I'm the one that takes you down. It's kind of like that passage in Daniel 4 in verse 35 where the scripture says that He, God, "doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and in the inhabitants of the earth: none can stay his hand or say unto him, What doest thou?" So God is absolutely sovereign, and the truth of God's sovereignty is evidenced even when the wicked are fighting against Him. For instance, Psalm 76 and verse 10, it's right there, look at it. Psalm 76, verse 10: "Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: and the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain."

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• So how much wickedness is going to be in this world? And the answer is, just enough that it's going to redound to God's honor and God's glory. And what will not redound to God's honor and God's glory? God will restrain. So God controls even the wicked. If you would turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 4, let me show you a good clear illustration of this. Acts 4, verse 27.

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• Now it is true, those Jews and Pharisees in the days of our Lord hated Him, despised Him, and crucified Him. Everyone acknowledges that. Well, look what the Bible says in Acts 4, verse 27: "For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together," watch, "for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done."

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• So, what did they do? Just exactly what God determined before to be done. Now, God did not infuse them with wickedness. God did not make them wicked. They were wicked, and they did what they did, not for God's honor and God's glory, not to obey God, but they did what they did out of rebellion to God. But the fact is, God is not the infuser of wickedness, God is not the instigator of wickedness, but God is the controller of it. And He used their wickedness, and He still worked out His perfect will.

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• Now, let me give you several illustrations, because the title of this message is "Truths from the Heathen." And you begin to think, well, there are absolutely no heathen that can speak any truth at all. But that's not true, because in the Bible there were heathens who did indeed speak truth. Now, they may not have intended to speak the truth, they may not have meant to speak the truth, but they did. They may not have even understood the significance of what they said, but they still spoke truth.

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• For instance, Balaam is a false prophet. Was a false prophet, and he's an excellent illustration of what I'm going to show you right now. You remember how Balaam disobeyed God when King Balak, in Numbers chapter 22, sent princes unto him and said, "Come curse me this people," and he said, "I'll make you exceedingly rich." Well, Balaam besought God and God said, "Don't go." Then greater princes came and God says, "You go with them, only if they come to call you." Well, he didn't wait for them to call him.

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• He got up and went with them. And of course God was angry with him and that's when the angel was with the sword in the way there and the ass crushed his foot up against the wall. And when he finally had his eyes opened, he told God, "Look, I'll turn around and go back." "No," said God, "you're going to go. But with this provision, you're going to say exactly what I want you to say and absolutely nothing else."

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• So in Numbers 22, verse 35, here it is. God says, "Go with the men, but only the word that I shall speak unto thee, that thou shalt speak." So Balaam went with the princes of Balak.

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• Now, the interesting thing is this. Balaam was a false prophet, but God used Balaam to give one of the most beautiful prophecies concerning the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you look in Numbers chapter 24—and of course, you know the story how that Balak wanted him to curse Israel, but the fact is he ended up blessing Israel. We're not going to read all the prophecy, but if you will begin looking there with verse 17, Numbers 24 and verse 17, and Balaam says, "I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel"—that would be Christ—"and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion"—that's Christ—"and shall destroy him that remaineth in the city."

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• So here is Balaam, a false prophet, who is speaking words of truth and words concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I hope you remember, it was Balaam who said, "Let me die the death of the righteous." But in order to die the death of the righteous, you must live the life of the righteous. And Balaam certainly was not righteous by any stretch of the imagination. And how did Balaam die?

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• Well, the children of Israel killed him with the sword. In Joshua 13, verse 22, "Balaam also the son of Beor, the soothsayer, did the children of Israel slay with the sword among them that were slain by them." So they killed him. Why? Because he taught Balak—although he could not curse Israel—he taught Balak how to seduce the children of Israel and get them to sin against God so that God himself would curse them. So they killed him with a sword. So here's Balaam, a false prophet, whom God used to speak truth. Now, if you will turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 45, here's another illustration of how God preserved and used a heathen. Notice if you would, Isaiah 45, and let's read the first six verses. Isaiah 45, the first six verses. Cyrus was a Persian.

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• And he was certainly not an Israelite. But yet I want you to see how God raised him up and what God said concerning him. Isaiah 45, verse 1: "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed." Notice, if you would, he calls Cyrus his anointed. "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden." So God said, "I held him up." Now, why did God hold him up? Watch.

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• "...to subdue nations before him." That is, he's going to conquer. "...And I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates"—that would be into Babylon—"and the gates shall not be shut. And I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight. And I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron." Now look what God is going to do for Cyrus. "And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, the God of Israel." Now watch: "For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me." God said, "I named you; you still don't know who I am, but I named you." Then in verse 5: "I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, and thou hast not known me: that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else." Now.

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• What did God do? God used Cyrus. God held him up. God gave him victory after victory. He took on the Babylonian Empire and defeated them. It was Cyrus. Then when he got on the throne, he gave the order for the Judahites to return home and to rebuild the temple. God said, "I've even called you by name, though you have not known me." In Ezra 6 and verse 3, listen carefully: "In the first year of Cyrus the king, the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem.

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• Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundation thereof be strongly laid, the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits." And then when you get to Ezra 6 and verse 14, again God not only used Cyrus, He used Darius, and He also used Artaxerxes, all three of these pagan kings supported and gave toward the building of the temple. So can God use a wicked man?

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• And the answer is yes. Can a wicked man speak truth? Yes, he can. He may not understand it. Let me give you another illustration. Look in your Bibles to John chapter 11. John chapter 11. And notice, if you would please, beginning there with verse 49. John 11, verse 49. Here's a man by the name of Caiaphas. Caiaphas was the high priest. He was a Sadducee who was against Christ. He hated Christ, and he wanted Christ crucified. But look what happens. John 11, verse 49: "And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said to them, 'You know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.'" Now watch. "And this spake he not in himself." He didn't know what he was saying. "But being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad."

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• So Caiaphas did not know what he was uttering. What Caiaphas was saying was basically this: "Let's kill him and get him out of the way, and that way we won't be scattered, and we will maintain the status quo." That's all he was saying. That's all he meant to say, but that's not what he said. God used what he said, and it was indeed a prophecy concerning the atonement and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and how that Jesus Christ was going to gather together in one his people. So Caiaphas was a lost man, but God used

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• him. Now in light of these truths, it should not be unusual for you and I to find in scripture that oftentimes a heathen man will utter something that is very profound and something truthful, although he may not even understand what he's saying. And he certainly does not understand the implications of it. So with that in mind, go back, if you would please, to Isaiah chapter 36, and I want you to look at verse 4. Isaiah 36 and verse 4.

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• Because Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, has sent Rabshakeh to Hezekiah. And look in verse 4: "And Rabshakeh said unto them, Say ye now to Hezekiah, Thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria, What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?" So here's the question: what is your confidence? What is your ground of confidence? In what or in whom do you trust? Now here's what Rabshakeh could not figure out. He could not figure out why Hezekiah was not surrendering. Hezekiah was in no position to fight the Assyrians. Look in verse 5, Rabshakeh says, "I say, sayest thou, but they are but vain words.

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• I have counsel and strength for war. Now on whom dost thou trust that thou rebellest against me?" In other words, he looks at Hezekiah and he says, "You know you can't defeat us. You have no counsel. You're militarily deficient."

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• Now watch, let's go a little bit further. He says not only that, he was so sure that the Assyrians would wipe out Jerusalem. Look what he says in verses 8 and 9.

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• "Now therefore give pledges, I pray thee, to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give thee two thousand horses, if thou be able on thy part to set riders upon them. How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots or for horsemen?"

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• Now he said, "Look, I can prove to you you can't fight against us and win. If you give me some pledges, that is if you give me some folks to hold as hostage to guarantee this, I'll give you 2,000 horses. If you can set riders on them, and if you can come up with 2,000 riders to fight against us, how in the world are they going to turn away the least of my master's captain? You can't win. You might as well give up. You might as well lose."

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• He knew that he was militarily weak. Moreover, if you go back to verse 6, and he's already mentioned it in verse 9, he's proving that outside help is unavailable. He says, "Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him." So he says, "Egypt may be close to you, but if you think Pharaoh is going to come up and help you, you're mistaken. You lean upon him, it's gonna pierce right through your hand. You don't have any outside help. No help is coming. It's just you, and you're here all alone." Now let me show you something. The impact of this question in verse 4 is this: when he asks, "What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?"

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• So, here's what they could not figure out. They could not figure out why Hezekiah was not surrendering. He was militarily weak. He had no outside help. He was really not able to fight against them at all. Moreover, on top of that, go back to verse 1. Look at this. Isaiah 36, verse 1.

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• "Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the defense cities of Judah and took them." How many of the defense cities stood? Not one. Jerusalem's the only thing left. Everything else has been taken, captured, destroyed. And now Jerusalem seemingly is about to be surrounded. And they can't fight and they can't get help. So the question is, what is keeping you encouraged?

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• What is making you happy? Why is it you're not surrendering? Why is it you're not giving up? So the question then, he asked, "What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?" How can you deny reality? How can you escape this situation? How can you get out of these circumstances? So he could not figure out why he was not surrendering. By the way, this would be a good question to ask in light of all the martyrs who have died. "What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?" Can you imagine that many of those martyrs who were burned at the stake died singing?

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• You remember some time ago I preached a message on the martyrdom of Thomas Hawks. If you've not heard that message I would encourage you to hear it, because Thomas Hawks was to be burned at the stake and all the Christians around him said, "This is awful." He says, "No," he said, "the Lord will sustain me." And they said, "Well, will you give us a sign that it is possible for a Christian to go through the fire and still be upheld?" He said, "Sure, I'll give you a sign." He said, "I'll raise one arm." They tied him to the stake. They lit the fire. And as the fire was consuming his body, he flopped over.

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• All of the people thought he was dead. The flesh was actually falling off his arms. And then all of a sudden, he raised both hands. Yes, it's possible. "What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?" So let me answer the question. Why was Hezekiah holding out? Here's the answer: because God had spoken, and he believed God. The interesting thing is this: look in Isaiah 36 and verse 10. You see, Rabshakeh and Sennacherib are claiming that God had sent them to destroy Jerusalem. And he said, "Am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said unto me, Go up against this land and destroy it." So, Rabshakeh and Sennacherib now are claiming that God sent them just to destroy the land.

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• Now, please, let's put this together. I want you to listen to me. Because what you see right now is an age-old conflict that's coming to play right before our eyes. Here it is. All the different cities have been taken. Jerusalem happens to be helpless. There's no outside help. There's no inside help. They can't fight the king of Assyria. And yet, they're not surrendering. They're maintaining their courage, they're maintaining their position, their confidence. And so, Rabshakeh says, "What confidence is this? Wherein dost thou trust?" In other words, it's vain when you look out here and see the situation you're in. You are hopeless! Give it up! There's a guy that said, "No. I'll not give it up." Why?

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• Because he had already heard from God. God had spoken. Let me show you. When Rabshakeh had sent these words to Hezekiah, Hezekiah sent to Isaiah, the prophet, and said, "Pray for us and the remnant that are left." And if you look in Isaiah 37 and verses 6 and 7—in fact, read verse 5, Isaiah 37, verse 5: "So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. And Isaiah said to them, Thus shall you say to your master, Thus saith the Lord, Be not afraid of the words that thou hast heard, wherewith the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me." Look what God says: "Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land." What did God say? God said, "Don't be afraid." God said, "I'm gonna cause him to hear a rumor. He's gonna leave."

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• That's all there is to it. He is not going to come up against this city. Look in Isaiah 37 and verse 33. God goes further. He says, "Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it." Wow. He's just not going to do that. Now look, if you would, in Isaiah 37 and verse 35. Look what God says: "For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake." Then if you look in Isaiah 38 in verse 6, He says it again: "And I will deliver thee," that is Hezekiah, "and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city." So, here it is. Here's what you and I should look at. If you lived by sight, Hezekiah was in deep, deep trouble.

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• There's no way out of it. He was helpless, and he was hopeless. But he had heard from God, and God said, "I'm going to defend this city. I'm going to defend you. He's not going to cast a bank against this. No. He's not going to do it." So here's the principle. The principle is God is God. He is sovereign. And when He speaks, it's done. That's what He said in Psalm 33 and verse 9: "For He spake and it was done.

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• He commanded it and it stood fast." Do you realize all God has to do is speak? And it's done. Look in Isaiah 46. Turn over there, Isaiah 46, and look at verse 9. Let's read through verse 11. Look what God says, Isaiah 46, verse 9. He says, "Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country.

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• Yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it, I will also do it." What did God say? "My counsel shall stand. I will do all my pleasure. I spoke it, I'll do it. I've purposed it, I'll bring it to pass." I hope you're thinking about that passage in Romans 4 in verse 17 where the Bible says, "Even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were." Because all God has to do is just speak. When God speaks, it is done. He calls those things that are not as though they were.

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• So the reality is, God's word cannot fail. You remember that passage in Psalm 138, verse 2, where he said, "Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." So if the word of God ever fails, then God ceases to be God. So, Hezekiah had heard from God. So, let's ask ourselves the same question that Rabshakeh asked Hezekiah: "What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?" Now, here's my question. Do you really, genuinely, truly believe in the sovereign God of heaven and earth, revealed himself in Jesus Christ? Do you really and truly believe His Word? Hang on. Are you willing to live and to die by His Word? What is this confidence wherein thou trustest? Do you think that if you were Hezekiah, or if you were in Hezekiah's stead, looking at that vast Assyrian army, knowing they had already conquered all the cities around you and the countries as well, knowing that you are helpless, that you cannot fight them, knowing that you can't get outside help, do you think that you, like Hezekiah, could stand and remain steadfast, undoubting, and believing that God was going to sovereignly, supernaturally save you and your city?

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• Now, let me show you something. You say, "Well, I'm not in Hezekiah's stead." Well, I understand that. Well, but we have today a corrupt government, an unjust judicial system, a fraudulent economic system, crime and rebellion are on the rise, and society as a whole hates and despises Jesus Christ and His people. And if you live by sight, and if you look around you, you would tend to think, now things are helpless. Things are hopeless.

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• How in the world can we ever get out of this situation? So the question is, do you really believe that all nations shall serve Him? Do you really believe that He's the governor among the nations? Do you really believe that He controls every single individual? Can you trust Him now? Can you believe Him now? Can you trust Him and believe Him if all hell breaks loose? Suppose there is an EMP, electromagnetic pulse attack, and all electricity's gone.

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• And we're back to the dark ages. And by the way, Alice and I stopped at a filling station this morning and posted on every fuel pump and on the door, "Sorry, all of our pumps are down." This is a brand new petrol station. Thankfully, we didn't stop for gas. We just stopped to get a cup of coffee, but they're all down. When you stop and think about when the electricity's off, nothing works. Nothing works.

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• So can we trust Him? Can we trust Him now? Do you realize that He's the only one to hold on to in such a time? His Word is that which will encourage us and sustain us. So let me put it to you like this. Government cannot and will not save us. Gold or wealth cannot and will not save us in and of itself. Here's what Job said, listen to this. In Job 31, verses 24 and 28, he said, "If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence; if I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much; if I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; and my heart

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• had been secretly enticed, or my mouth had kissed my hand: this also were an iniquity to be punished by the Judge: for I should have denied the God that is above." So he said, if I make gold my God, and if I trust in my wealth—and Job was an extremely wealthy man—he said, "I would deny God."

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• Now, there's nothing wrong with silver and gold and with money as long as you're not trusting in it, very obviously. But when it comes to money, money is worthless when it comes to salvation. David said in Psalm 49 in verse 7, "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him." Do you realize someone says, "Well, I can get all the money in the entire universe. All the silver, gold, diamonds, rubies, and I can give it to God." God made it all. He doesn't need it. And if He did need it, all He's got to do is make more. So, when it comes to money, it's useless. When it comes to, really, salvation and things like that, military might cannot save us. Government cannot save us. Money cannot save us. Military might cannot save us. Do you remember what God did to Pharaoh and his army? The children of Israel were absolutely helpless, being pursued by the greatest power on earth at that time, whom God drowned in the Red Sea. So military might is worthless as well. And I want you to look in Psalm 27 very quickly.

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• One of my favorite passages. Look in Psalm 27. This would do well to memorize this passage. Psalm 27, verse 1. David said, "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Now watch! Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. Watch! One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple." It is as though when hosts should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear, though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. What am I going to be confident in?

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• In God, and in God alone. You know the Bible says in Psalm 33 and verse 16, "There is no king saved by the multitude of an host." One of my favorite verses is Psalm 33 in verse 17: "An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength." So we could say it like this: an F-15 is a vain thing for safety. Or an Abrams tank is a vain thing for safety. Or a bazooka or howitzer is a vain thing for safety. Why? Because none of those things matter if God is against us. If God is against us, military might is absolutely worthless. So, government's not going to save us, money's not going to save us, military might's not going to save us, false gods, multiculturalism, and political correctness is certainly not going to save us. You know what God said in Jeremiah 14, verse 13? He said, "And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh"—that's their false god—"as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence," which were idols. That's Bethel was one of the two places where the golden calf were put. So someone says, "Well, what we need to do is to have a great diversity in this country, and how all these cultures mix together.

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• That's our strength." Are you serious? That's our weakness. That's our destruction. You stop and think. When this country was founded, basically there was one faith. That was the Christian faith. One truth. That was the Bible. And I don't care if you were a Congregationalist, a Presbyterian, a Methodist, an Episcopalian, I don't care what you were, back then, at least you believed the Scripture and you believed in God. And that's why our country did great things in the beginning. And that's why we're falling apart at the seams today, because we have left that. If you do not know the middle passage in the Bible, I will give it to you.

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• It is Psalm 118, verses 8 and 9. And it says this: "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." So what he's saying, man's not going to help you, government's not going to help you. God and God alone. The Bible says in Proverbs 3 in verse 26, "For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken." Wow. It's the Lord that keeps our foot from being taken. Proverbs 14, verse 26: "In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge." One other passage, Psalm 65 in verse 5, the Bible says, "By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea." So God is our confidence wherever we are.

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• Now, what I want to do is this. I want to show you some passages in the New Testament that should not only excite you, but also encourage you to trust in the Lord. So I want you to turn, first of all, to Ephesians chapter 3. Remember this question: "What is the confidence wherein thou trustest?" Look in Ephesians chapter 3, and let's begin reading there with verse 10. Ephesians 3, verse 10. Watch carefully.

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• I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it, but I'm going to point out several things in this passage. Ephesians 3, verse 10. Paul is praying for these Ephesians, and he says this: "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church"—that's us—"the manifold wisdom of God." So all the wisdom of God that is displayed in various ways. Where was this wisdom of God found? "According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord." Now watch, there's wisdom in that eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now watch verse 12: "In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you," he's praying for them, "that

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• he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." Now go back, if you would, to verse 12. Look what he says. He's praying. He said, "In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him." Now notice his confidence. What did the confidence in Jesus Christ enable Paul to do? Not just to minister to these people. Not just to pray for these people.

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• But look in verse 13: "Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you." Paul was persecuted. Paul went through great tribulations and great problems and God sustained him. And then he says in verse 16, "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man." Then he goes on to say, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love."

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• But notice all this comes back not only to the eternal purpose, but confidence in that purpose. God will execute His purpose in Jesus Christ in this world. He is not going to be denied. He's not going to be thwarted or hindered. God will do it. And we have confidence in that. Look in your Bibles to 1 John 2. 1 John 2 and verse 28. 1 John 2, verse 28.

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• Notice if you would, scripture says: "And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming." Wow. Now you want to know what is going to increase your confidence? Abiding in Christ. Abiding in Christ. If we abide in him, we will have confidence. And I usually laugh and tell people, there are a lot of places that may not necessarily be bad, but I don't go into them, and I don't go into them for a reason—not only because Alice won't let me, no, that's a big joke. For instance, like a Hooters restaurant. I've never been in one in my life, don't intend on going in one. But I usually say, if I went into a place like that, probably the Lord would come back and I'd have to explain. So I'd rather just stay out, you know. One time when I took the boys, my grandsons, to Front Sight, I called Alice.

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• We were in Bass Pro, and she said, "Well, do you have a room for tonight?" I said, "Oh yes, we have a room." She said, "Well, where are you staying?" I said, "Well, we're staying at the Hooters Hotel." And she laughed. Of course, she knew better. And I said, "No, we're staying at Motel 6," you know. And so after I hung up, I looked at Daniel and Tripp and I said, "Now, boys, you know, I was teasing Granny."

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• I said, "I would never, ever stay in a place like that because I fear the Lord." Tripp said, "Papa, you don't have to fear the Lord. If you stayed in a place like that, you better fear Granny because she'd kill you." Probably right, but he said, "If we abide in him, we'll have confidence." Now look in chapter 3 in verse 21. He said, "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God." What is going to give us confidence in prayer? And the answer is abiding in him, living a holy, godly life. In other words, if our heart condemn us not, that is, we are not aware of known sins and known rebellions in our life. So he said, if we don't have those, then we have confidence toward God in our prayers. Ah, but skip over to 1 John 5 and begin there with verse 12. 1 John 5, verse 12. He says, "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life."

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• Now watch. "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." Are you watching? "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." Now, watch this. If I ask the Father, through Jesus Christ, in faith, to make me more holy, is that according to His will? Well, of course. Well, I have confidence that He heard me. And if He heard me, then I know that He's going to answer that question. If I ask Him to increase my faith, to enable me to honor Him more, if I ask Him to give me courage to stand for His truth, are all these things according to His will? Yes.

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• They're revealed in the Scripture. Then I can confidently say, "I know He heard me, and I know He's going to do that." He may do it incrementally, He may not do it that day, He may do it the next week, or the next month, or the next year, but He's heard me, and He's going to answer.

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• Now, so we can have confidence, because He is the one that answers our prayers, and He is the one that fulfills His word. Now, there's one last passage before I make applications. I want you to look back in your Bibles to the book of Philippians chapter 1. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. Philippians chapter 1, and I want you to look at verse 6. This should excite you, this should encourage you. Look what he says, Philippians 1 and verse 6, we're talking about confidence now. And Philippians 1, verse 6: "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Did you hear that? If God has started a work in you, He will finish it. And He will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. So none of His people are going to be lost. None of His sheep are going to die without Him. Whatever God starts, He finishes. That's why in Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 2, He's called the author and the finisher of our faith.

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• "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." So Rabshakeh says, "Hezekiah, what confidence is this wherein thou trustest?" And Hezekiah could answer, "I've heard from God. I have his word. I trust in him. He said, 'You won't shoot an arrow here. You won't bring a shield here. You won't cast a bank around us.' I believe him."

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• "I may be helpless in myself. The situation may be hopeless looking by sight, but I trust Him. My confidence is in Him." Now two quick applications. The first one is this: like Hezekiah, we may be performing our duties and getting on with our lives and yet face trouble and distress. Do you understand that none of us are immune? Do not care how godly you are, you are not immune to problems. In fact, it was the Apostle Paul who said this: "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." So actually, the more godly you are, the more persecution you're actually going to face. So God may not test

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• us as thoroughly as He tested Job, or Abraham, or Daniel, or Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, or others. But the truth of the matter is, He's going to test us sooner or later. Not that He needs to know—He already knows everything—but He's going to show us, and He's going to show others, what metal we're made of. He'll show us. He will find out whether we can believe Him and His Word even in the most trying circumstances, in the most difficult situations. He will test us to see if we understand 1 Corinthians 10, verse 13.

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• "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." So first of all, God's never going to put more on us than we're able to bear. Secondly, there's always a way of escape. And usually that way of escape is by submission to God and obedience to Him.

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• So you don't have to look for trouble. It'll come. You don't have to look for distress. It'll happen. What you have to do is to make sure that He's your confidence in the time of trouble and distress. The second application is this: we must know who is our confidence. We must know in whom we trust. And we must always be ready to give an answer for the hope that lies within us. 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 15 says, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." So why do we not give in like other people? Why do we not give up?

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• Why are we not discouraged? Why are we not distressed and depressed? Well, let me answer that for you: because of God and because of His Word. We know Him and we know the outcome and we know that He is victorious because He is the Sovereign God of Heaven and Earth. So, what is your confidence in which you trust? It must be the Sovereign God and His Word. Truth from a heathen. We must know who we trust.

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• Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee. We thank you for your word, for your truth, for your graciousness and kindness to us. We do pray for Brother Pat, Lord, that you would help him, help Effie and the family. Pray for Norma, Lord, and each one on the prayer list. We give them into your hands and ask

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T18:44:52Z