FBC Morning Light – March 4, 2022

Well, a good Friday morning to you. Here we are at the end of the first week, well, mostly week of March and looking forward to the first weekend of March on this Lord's Day. We're going to gather together and worship our God at God's house and meeting at 930 for Bible study time, adult Bible study, Sunday school for all ages.

But in our adult Sunday school classes the last several weeks, we've been having a series of lessons entitled Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. Dr. Eric Foreman, who used to teach, retired from teaching anatomy, physiology, biology, I think, I can't remember what all he's been teaching.

But anyway, taught that at community college nearby and he's been teaching this lesson, this series of lessons on the human body and just how fearfully and wonderfully God has made these bodies that we walk around in and journey through life in.

And it's been a great blessing hearing what Dr. Foreman has been teaching. And then in the morning service, I'm preaching through the letter of 1 Peter and that too has been a good letter for us because Peter is really helping us navigate troubled times.

The title of the series for this letter, the exposition of this letter, is Truth for Troubled Times and that really pretty much describes the times in which we live. And so we're kind of going through that letter in Sunday morning service and then we have an afternoon service at one o 'clock after we have lunch together.

So, looking forward to Good Lord's Day this Sunday at church. Hope you can make it and join with us together. But speaking of Truth for Troubled Times and how to manage and navigate those troubled times, it really dovetails very well with our reading today in 2 Chronicles chapters 32 and 33, focusing on chapter 32 especially.

Yesterday in our morning light encouragement from God's Word, we saw the truth in chapter 15, Romans 15 verse 4, that the things that were written in the past, and speaking of the Old Testament scriptures, were written for our instruction, for our learning, that from these things we might have encouragement and hope from God's Word.

So, we see a good example of that here today in 2 Chronicles 32, because Hezekiah, the king of Judah, remember, good king, godly king, the first thing he did when he became the king was reopen the temple and restore it to its glory and the worship and so forth.

He re-inaugurated the annual festivals and especially the Feast of Passover. But now Hezekiah comes to the greatest challenge of his reign as a king. Judah and Jerusalem are threatened by the Assyrians and the question is, what are we going to do in this troubled time?

What are we going to do? We're vastly outnumbered, it seems, by this Assyrian army that is coming against us. We don't have nearly the manpower that the Assyrian army can muster. Who are we to deal with these Assyrians?

After all, they have been conquering everywhere they go. Everyone falls before them. Even the northern tribes of Israel have fallen to the Assyrians and now they're coming after us here in Judah. So, how in the world are we going to put up with that?

How are we going to deal with this? Now, some of the previous kings had made mistakes of going to pagan nations for help, as if we need the help of the pagans in order to deal with this enemy that's come against us.

Hezekiah, by his example, shows a better way. He puts his trust in the God of Israel. He puts his trust in the one true God, and he shows us, therefore, an example to follow. Listen to what he says in verses 7 and 8, and I want you to think about this in light of our current times, the times in which we live, the troubled times, the times of threats, and so forth.

I don't know if you're following some of the things that are going on against people of the Christian faith. You know, if you're a baker, you have to bake wedding cakes for same-sex marriages, or you're a photographer, or you're a media specialist, or whatever.

You don't get the privilege of exercising your faith and saying certain things are wrong. You don't get that privilege. There's a couple of people in Finland, and there's this case that's going on in Finland right now, where a woman, a member of parliament, has been charged with crimes because she wrote a little treatise on God's view of human sexuality and marriage, and that flies afoul of the modern way of thinking.

So, you've got this kind of stuff going on in our world, right? And we as believers in Christ who are endeavoring to follow the principles and precepts of Scripture, the commands of God's Word, and live accordingly, we're finding ourselves squeezed by our culture more and more.

So, how do we handle that? Well, listen to what Hezekiah says. When he is feeling squeezed, and the city of Jerusalem and the Jews in Judah are feeling squeezed by the approaching Assyrian army, here's what he says.

Be Strong and Courageous in Troubled Times

He says, Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him. And I like the way he puts that, because that's exactly what the people would see.

They would look out and see this horde, this multitude of Assyrians coming against them. He says, don't be afraid of this multitude that is with him, for there are more with us than with him. Wait a minute.

They look around and say, what do you mean there are more than with us? We just have this paltry number of soldiers in our, you know, relatively small nation of Judah. What do you mean? Okay, let me explain what I mean.

He goes on to say, With him, that is with Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, is an arm of flesh. But with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. Keep that in mind in these days when it seems like true followers of Christ are becoming less and less of a minority, a smaller and smaller minority, even in this nation that has been so favorable to the spread of Christianity.

True believers in Christ who really hold to the faith are becoming more and more marginalized, and it can make us feel like this multitude is against us and is overwhelming us and will defeat us and destroy us.

No. Be strong and courageous, because with that multitude is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. What that's going to mean for the church and for believers in this country in the short term, I don't know.

I don't know. We wouldn't be the first. We wouldn't be the first people who have been persecuted and suffer greatly for the Christian faith. But what I do know is how the story all ends, and all we have to do is go to the end of the book of the Bible and find that out, how the story ends, that our God, the Lord our God, will help us, will fight our battles, and he will, he will reign victorious.

So let's not forget that in these troubled times. The Lord our God is with his people. We thank you, Father, for that great truth that you, our God, are with your people and you will fight our battles and you in the end will win.

I pray that we would be faithful for whatever, through whatever comes our way, we would be faithful and true to you and trust in you every step of the way. And this we ask in Jesus name and for his sake.

Amen. All right. We'll have a good rest of your Friday, wonderful weekend, and I trust we'll see you on the Lord's Day as we gather together in God's house. Good day.