the son of man must be lifted up

8/11/2019 The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up

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Im sure that we have all done things we were not

supposed to do in life. Lets admit something, there were

probably some things that we did that we didnt get caught

doing, right? Im not going to talk about those things this

morning, because I never know if or when my mother might

decide to listen to the podcast. On the other end of the

spectrum, we also have those things that we have donethose

things we werent supposed to dowhere we were caught.

Thats what I want to talk about today. So, when I was younger,

I grew up with one of those televisions with the knobs. Some of

you might now know what Im talking about, so theres a picture

of the kind of TV Im talking about on the screen. So these

televisions did not have remote controls, but my family had a

remoteme. I HATED went people were trying to find

something to watch. Even when we had cable, it was one of

those crazy sliding switch cable boxes. Then one day, we got a

cable box with a remote control. I was FREE! Then came the

thing that I did which I wasnt supposed to do.

I was playing with silly putty one day and thought to

myself, I wonder what would happen, if I put silly putty on the

remote control. My questions sometimes led me down roads,

like this one, which I later regretted. Maybe if I had seen pictures


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like this, I would have thought again. I took the silly putty and

smash it into the remote control. I was hoping to pull of the

imprint of the remote and the buttons. Instead, when I pulled

the putty off of the remote, some of the buttons came out also.

This was not good. So, I start panicking and trying to figure out

what to do. So, I start pulling buttons out of the putty and start

trying to shove them back into the remote control. Only for my

mom to walk into the room and ask what Im doing. Now was

the moment of decision. Would I do the right thing or would I

try to take matters into my own hands and fix the situation the

best way I knew?

The people of Judah faced a situation where they had to

face the question of whether they would do the right thing or

take matters into their own hands and try to fix the situation the

best way they knew. The people of Judah faced a force so

fierce it seemed that they would fall at the hands of their foes.

The king of Assyria, Sennacherib attacked the cities of Judah

and took them. Now, you have to understand that the Assyrians

were a picture of military might. They had gone up against

peoples and were taking them out left and right. And now this

monster of a military was coming against Judah. The Judahites

were faced with the question of what to do. What do you do


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when you face trouble? Well, the king of Judah, Hezekiah,

sends a message to Sennacharib in an attempt to bargain with

the Assyrians. Maybe, just maybe, they would be able to prevent

this military monster from wiping them out or enslaving them,

as the Assyrians had done to the Israelites in the north. So,

Sennacharib seems like he is willing to bargain. So, he demands

300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold. Well, Hezekiah, is

going to do what he can to save his kingdom, so he empties the

royal treasury. Then he goes a step further. He takes all the

silver in the house of God and even has the doors stripped of

the gold that is on them. He takes all of this and gives it to

Sennacherib, but this payment does not deter the Assyrians

from their plans.

Now what?! The kings house has nothing of value left. The

house of the Lord has been stripped of its silver and gold. What

do you do? Do you approach God? Do you seek the

help of another? What do you do? Admittedly, sometimes,

we feel that we cannot go to God. In the case of Hezekiah, he

had just taken the royal treasury and the treasury of the house

of God and given it to his enemy. I can only imagine the guilt

and shame Hezekiah feels as he understands that the enemy he

thought he had pushed away is still going to attack. So,


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Hezekiah turned to Egypt for help, leading us to the prophecy

we find in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 30 opens saying, Ah,

stubborn children, declares the Lord, who carry out a

plan, but not mine, and who make an all iance, but not

of my Spirit , that they may add sin to sin; who set out

to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction,

to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to

seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt The people of

Judah didnt just fail to seek the Lord; they did the very thing he

told them not to do; they turned to Egypt. In Deuteronomy

17.16 the Lord says, [The king] must not acquire many

horses for himself or cause the people to return to

Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord

has said to you, You shall never return that way

again. If youre like the Judahites and youre not turning to

God when you are in trouble, to what Egypt are your turning

food, sex, greed, drugs, clothing? It is for this reason, the

prophet speaks in Isaiah 31 saying Woe to those who go

down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust

in chariots because they are many and in horsemen

because they are very strong, but do not look to the

Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord And yet he is


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wise and brings disaster; he does not call back his

words, but wil l arise against the house of the

evildoers and against the helpers of those who work

iniquity. The Egyptians are humans, and not God, and

their horses are flesh, and not spir it . When the Lord

stretches out his hand, the helper wil l stumble, and he

who is helped will fal l , and they will al l perish

together. In other words, the prophet is urging people to

depend on Godnot man. We often face the problem that, like

the Judahites, we can see the resources of our Egypttheir

horses and chariots, but we cannot see this God or his armies.

And like the people of Judah, we lean on the arm of flesh

which we can see, instead of on the power of God, which we

cannot always seeand fail. When my mom asked me what I

was doing when I had the remote, I battled through the issue of

whether to lie or tell the truth. So, I did what I thought was best.

I shoved the remote, the putty, and the loose buttons between

the couch cushions, which was not a good move, and I lied. I

have to admit that I dont know if the Lord stretched out his

hand or if it was simply my mom stretching out hers, but I fell

and in that moment I wished I had perished.

The sad thing is that we fail time and time again. You


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would think we would have all learned this by now, but I telling

you today dont wait to run to God as the last resort . I

cant tell you how many times I have heard people say, Weve

done everything we can do, we might as well pray. At least they

finally get to prayer, at the other end of the spectrum, we find

people who might think like I might if I were Hezekiah. I dont

want to approach the God whose house I just robbed of silver

and gold, but God calls to you and he comes to me and says,

Come to me. The prophet even reveals to us the benefits of

turning to God. In Isaiah 33.2, the prophet paints the picture of

repentance where he say, Oh Lord, be gracious to us; we

wait for you. Be our arm every morning, our salvation

in the time of trouble. And the Lord responds, Now I

wil l arise, says the Lord, now I wil l l ift myself up;

now I wil l be exalted. Hear, you who are far off,

what I have done; and you who are near, acknowledge

my might. The Lord had spoken through the mouth of his

prophet. Even when the Lord speaks to you, it doesnt

guarantee that you will not face some kind of tr ial or

circumstance.

The enemy still came against Hezekiah and the people of

Judah. One of the field commanders stood up and called out


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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. There is a lot

going on in this one statement, but I want to point out that the

truth was spoken; Hezekiah was not able to deliver the people

of Judah. But you see, the so-called great king totally got it

wrong when he got the next part of his statement, for he said,

Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by

saying, The Lord will surely deliver us. He began to talk

about the other nations and began to ask, Has any of the

gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand

of the king of Assyria? The Assyrians might have

encountered the gods of Hamath and Arpad. They might have

encountered the god of Sepharvaim. But for him to raise that

question, I know that the Assyrians had not encountered the

one called the Holy One of Israel.

When King Hezekiah and the people of Judah turned to

the Lord for help, God moved. When you go to God, he will

move on your behalf. After Hezekiah prayed, the Lord spoke in

Isaiah 37, beginning at v. 33 saying, Therefore thus says the

LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not

come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come


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before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound

against it . By the way that he cam e, by the sam e he

shall return, and he shall not come into this city,

declares the LORD. For I wil l defend th is city to save

it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant

David. It was on that day that the Lord send his angel into the

camp and struck down 185,000 men of Assyria. When the

people of Judah turned to God, even after their disobedience,

God kept his word..

the son of man must be lifted up

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