The Confidence in Which We Trust (PM)

Scripture Reading:  2 Kings 18:19–22       

Introduction

A.  This is part of a conversation that took place around 720 BC just outside Jerusalem between officers of King Hezekiah and representatives of the king of Assyria.

B.  Rabshakeh advises the Jews to surrender peacefully, and he assures them that they will receive humane treatment if they do.

C.  In the next chapter we read that God sent an angel to the camp of the Assyrians, killing 185,000 men of the Assyrian army and thus putting them to flight.

D.  The Jews were able to put their confidence in Jehovah, even when it appeared that there was no hope left for them. Where is our confidence?

Discussion

I.  The world bestows its confidence in all the wrong places.

A.  The world puts its trust in physical things. (Matthew 6:19; 1 Samuel 17:33; vv 42–44).

B.  The world puts its confidence in numbers. (Exodus 23:2; Matthew 7:13–14).

C.  The world puts confidence in flesh and blood. (Galatians 6:13; Matthew 15:13–14).

D.  Some put great confidence in unstable feelings. (Proverbs 16:25; 10:23).

II.  Where should we place our confidence?

A.  We need to put our confidence in heavenly things, not physical things. (Matthew 6:20; James 5:2–3; 2 Peter 3:10; Colossians 3:2; 2 Timothy 4:8; cf. 1 Peter 1:4–5; 1 Timothy 4:7–8).

B.  Instead of trusting in large numbers, we must learn to put our trust in One. (Ephesians 4:5–6; Romans 3:4, 8:31).

C.  We need to put our confidence in the cross, not the flesh. (Philippians 1:21, 3:3ff; Galatians 1:16, 6:14; Psalms 118:8).

D.  We need to put our confidence in God’s Word, not our feelings. (Psalms 33:8–9; 1 Kings 8:56; 1 Peter 1:24–25).

III.  God’s people often make the mistake of putting their confidence where the world does.

A.  They have put their confidence in physical things instead of heavenly things. (Deuteronomy 28:52; Jeremiah 5:17, 12:5; Isaiah 44:14–17; 2 Kings 6:11–18; Matthew 14:29–31, 16:23).

B.  They have often put their confidence in numbers instead of God. (2 Samuel 24:3; Numbers 13:30–33).

C.  Some have taken their eyes off the cross and put their confidence in flesh. (Galatians 6:13, 2:11–13).

D.  Others have put their confidence in their feelings instead of the Word. (Isaiah 55:8–9).

Conclusion & Invitation

A.  Christians should be the world’s most confident people.

B.  We need to be ready to give a reason of this hope that lies within us (1 Peter 3:15). What confidence is there wherein you trust?