Valuable Lessons from King Hezekiah

as you have on the screen we're going to be looking at the character Hezekiah tonight and I would invite all of you to turn to those passages that are listed there and as we will be going back and forth between all of them and that will be helpful if you have your Bible out or the Pew Bible out in front of you and have those chapters at least marked with a finger or a piece of paper so that you can reference each of those as we look at this character in the Bible it's interesting that when you look at the character when you look at the life of this King Hezekiah that it may not sound like a lot but Hezekiah is given about 1% of the chapters that you have in your Bible of course that doesn't sound a lot when we're dealing with a hundred percent but when you think about all of the other Bible characters when you think about all of the other Bible characters that are not even given one percent you think about Adam you think about Noah neither one of them has one percent of the pages in your Bible but King Hezekiah does which indicates to us that there is quite a bit that we should be able to learn from this righteous King as we have been studying through the Old Testament in our Sunday night soldiers of Christ program we've been trying to emphasize an understanding that when Solomon died about the Year 930 BC that the Kingdom of Israel was divided into two the northern kingdom the southern kingdom Northern Kingdom called Israel the southern kingdom called Judah in that Northern Kingdom of Israel there were 19 Kings but not a single one of them was ever a righteous King in that southern kingdom of Judah there were four men four righteous kings Hezekiah was one of those four there were another four that were righteous some of the time but not righteous all of the time and so possibly a total of eight but for men for kings who are the premier leaders and righteous leaders of the southern kingdom Hezekiah is one of them tonight I want us to start a second chronicles chapter 20 28 backup one chapter from what's on the screen because I want you to see what Hezekiah what Hezekiah had to deal with before he ever became King look in second chronicles chapter 28 and I want it I want to read to you about his father I want you to imagine growing up in this kind of a home if you had grown up in the home of King Ahaz what kind of boy what kind of girl would you have grown up to be look in second chronicles chapter 28 Bible says a has was 20 years old when he became king he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem now notice what it says he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord as his father David had done what sort of things today has do he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and he made molded images for the bales instead of encouraging the people of Israel to worship God he created mold and images so that they could worship idols so that they could worship the bales he burned incense verse three in the valley the son of Hinnom and he burned his children in the fire as an offering unto these pagan gods according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel verse 4 he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places where these ight where these idols were on the hills and under every green tree therefore the Lord is God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria I want you to imagine growing up in King Ahaz his home what hope would you have had of doing right this man did not do what was right in the sight of God dropped to the end of the chapter look in second chronicles chapter 28 start in verse 22 now in the time of his distress King Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful to the Lord as if he wasn't bad enough when he started out he got worse verse 23 he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus not to God of heaven he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him here it was his reasoning because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them I will sacrifice to their gods so that they can help me Damascus was the capital city of Syria Syria had defeated them go back to verse 5 God delivered King Ahaz into the hands of king of Syria he says boy if their gods allowed them to defeat meat maybe I'll worship their gods so that their gods can help me like they did them what a wicked King verse 24 a has gathered the articles notice he gathered the articles out of the house of God out of the temple he cut in pieces the articles of the house of God he shut up the doors of the temple of the house of the Lord and he made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem he wasn't interested anybody would be able to go into the temple so he brings everything out of the temple the bars up closes up the doors and he creates all of these other places all of these other idols to be worshipped in every single city of Judah verse 25 he made high places to burn incense to other gods and he provoked to anger the Lord God of our fathers last two verses now the rest of his acts in all of his ways from first to last indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel so a has rested with his father's and they burned him in the city in Jerusalem but they did not bring his body into the tombs of the kings of Israel he was that wicked that they would not even bring his body in with the other kings and so his son hezekiah reigned in his place what kind of King is Hezekiah going to be what kind of hope does Hezekiah have to grow up in one of the most wicked in the homes of one of the most wicked kings of Israel who wanted nothing to do with God and didn't want the people of Israel to have anything to do with God and yet Hezekiah comes to the thrown he comes to the throne chapter xxix tells us when he was 25 years old and there's three things that I want us to see about Hezekiah tonight the first thing that we're going to see in second chronicles starting here in chapter 29 is that Hezekiah was a restorer think about what his father did think about what his father did in destroying all of the places where God was to be worshipped in erecting all of these places where idols were to be worshipped imagine any king coming to the throne and wanting the people to serve God Hezekiah had a lot of restoration to do look at 2nd chronicles chapter 29 in verse 3 in the first year and not just in the first year was verse 3 say in the first month of the first year Hezekiah did not waste any time when he came to the throne when he came to the throne he was going to restore the order that there was to be four acceptable worship to God first month of the first year when he came to reign 2nd chronicles 29 verse 3 he opened the doors remember what his father had done he had closed him he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and he repaired them first thing you have to do is you have to get the place of worship ready to be a place of worship he opened the doors and began to repair the doors and then in the next two verses he calls these priests back he calls these men of the tribe of Levi back and he begins to prepare them to sanctify them again in order that they might be ready for their service look in verse 4 where he brought in the priests and the Levites verse 5 he said hear me Levites now sanctify yourselves sanctify the house of the Lord God of Our Fathers and carry out the rubbish from the holy place his father had made it a garbage dump for our fathers of trespass they have done evil in the eyes of the Lord they've forsaken him they've turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord they've turned their backs on our God they also have shut up the doors of the vestibule put out the lamps they have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place of the God of Israel therefore the wrath of our Lord fell upon Judah and Jerusalem and he's given them up to trouble to desolation - jeering as you see with your eyes for indeed because of this our fathers have fallen by the sword and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity we are a distressed and a destroyed people because of what our fathers have done verse 10 it's in my heart to make a covenant with God he's telling the priests and the Levites it's my desire to turn the wrath of God away from us look in verse 15 these priests and Levites they gathered their brethren together they sanctified made holy they cleaned themselves from the from the impurities that they had enveloped themselves in they went according to the commandment of the King and at the words of the Lord they cleanse the house of the Lord notice what they did verse 16 they went into the inner part of the temple to cleanse it they brought out all of the debris that was found in the temple of the Lord to the court of the house of the Lord they brought it out they carry it carried it to the brook kidron now they began to sanctify on the first day of the first month and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the Lord they had been cleaning for eight days and they weren't done yet so they sanctified the house of the Lord in eight days and on the 16th day of the first month they finished first thing that Hezekiah did when he came to the throne was to start restoring things back to the way God had them back to the way God wanted them back to the way it was before his father came along and destroyed it all and in the first month he fixed the temple in the first month he brought the priests of the Levites back in and commissioned them as it were Hira sanctified them before the Lord and they spent the first 16 days of his reign you imagine how much debris there had to be in that temple for it to take 16 days to clean it out Hezekiah was going to restore order to worship restoring the place restoring the priests but not only that look later on in chapter 29 as Hezekiah began to restore the practice of worship in verse 20 and chapter 29 look at verse 20 Hezekiah rose early he gathered the rulers of the city and he went to the temple to the house of the Lord and he brought all of the animals he brought the seven bowls seven Rams seven lambs seven male goats for a sin offering to the kingdom for the sanctuary and for Judah he brought it all he was ready to reinstitute the worship of God in this place he commanded the priests to offer them on the altar verse 23 they brought out even more and they laid their hands on them to offer them the priests killed them in verse 24 just as the King had commanded them look down to verse 29 when they had finished offering the king and all who were present with him bowed down and worshiped how long had it been since they had done that how long had it been not since they had bowed down and worshiped they had been doing that to the idols how long had it been since they bowed down and worshiped before God Almighty can you imagine what that experience must have been like to perhaps have never done that in your life a has reigned for 16 years can you imagine being a teenager who had never known the worship of God and you see people at this temple that was once a garbage dump and now they are worshiping the God of heaven verse 30 King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the Lord with the words of David and they sang with gladness and they bowed their heads and they worshipped when a has came to the throne he wasn't just going to continue things as they had been and as we talked about a hat when we talk about Hezekiah I'm sorry as a king he was not satisfied with merely with reforming the things that were there reforming would have been well let's just leave all of these idols and we'll just change it a bit and we'll kind of redirect that worship a bit wasn't about Reformation it was about restoration not about changing what was there into something more acceptable but destroying everything that was unacceptable and going all the way back to the way God wanted it look in chapter 30 when for the first time in a long time they came together to celebrate the Passover and notice in chapter 30 and verse 1 that Hezekiah sends a message out not only to Judah but he sends a message out to Israel as well if you remember that before this time the Northern Kingdom of Israel had already fallen they had already been taken captive by Assyria but Assyria had left some remnant of God's people there they had also brought some of the other nations that they had conquered and dumped them there in the nation of Israel when Hezekiah gets ready to reinstitute and to restore the Passover he not only sends a message to all of Judah the southern kingdom he wants to get anybody who's left up in Israel to say guys we haven't forgotten about you we're trying to get it right down here we're trying to go back to the way that God wanted it down here how about you come on down and you worship with us how about you come on down and observe the Passover with us look over in verse 5 where it says they resolved to make a proclamation throughout all israel from Beersheba to dan from the very south to the very north that they should come to keep the Passover the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem since they had not done it for a long time look at it since they had not done it for a long time in the prescribed manner was there a particular way that God wanted to be worshiped was there a particular way that God told them to observe the Passover was there a particular way was there a prescribed manner that God had given to them oh yeh verily all throughout the Old Testament and the King says we haven't done it this way in a long time we need to get back to the way it was and he sends these messengers out to run throughout and they're called runners I believe they're in verse 7 they sent to run throughout all of the land verse 12 the hand of God was on Judah to give them Cygnus of heart to obey the command of the king the leaders at the word of the Lord verse 13 many people a very great assembly came to Jerusalem to observe that feast what would it have been like to go and worship in a way that was perhaps unfamiliar maybe it had some familiarity to it but there were some things that were just different that you had never done before Hezekiah wasn't interested in doing it the way his father had done it or his grandfather anybody before that he wasn't interested in doing it in the popular way as it was being done in that day Hezekiah wanted to go back and to do it the way that God had told them to do it from the very beginning look in verse 16 and here's the key they stood these priests they stood in their place this said chronicles 30 verse 16 they stood in their place according to their custom according to the law of Moses the man of how did they know where to stand how did they know what to sacrifice how did they know what to do as a part of worship they didn't make it up they went back to the law of Moses had got as God had given it to him and they restored the worship that God had patterned for them think about how simple a concept that is Hezekiah how are we going to worship oh I'll tell you how we're going to worship we're going to come back to the pattern that God has given to us we don't know how to worship God in any other way than the way he has shown us in his word we're just going to go back forget all of this other stuff forget what man has been doing forget what my father said let's just go back and do it the way God wanted it folks if that's what God wanted Hezekiah to do and if that's what God wanted Hezekiah to do 2,800 years ago that's what God wants us to do today to not try to worship in a way that is popular to not try to offer some kind of praise to him the way our fathers did or the way our ancestors did or the way that that seems to be working in the religious world today but to simply come back and to simply restore the worship that he has prescribed doesn't matter how long it may have been since it happened there is a prescribed manner for worship that God wants and it's what he expects today may God help us to go back to his word and to use it as our pattern in restoring the order of worship today and restoring the way that God wants to be worshipped today flip over one more chapter in chapter 31 in verse 3 the King appointed a portion of his possessions for the burnt offerings for the morning eat and evening burnt offerings the burnt offerings of the Sabbath's and the new moons and the set feasts as it is written in the of the Lord they did it in order they set it out in order back up into chapter 29 and verse 35 the end of chapter 29 and verse 35 says so the service of the house of the Lord was set in order just like God said may God help us to be restores in the way that Hezekiah was a restorer he not only restored the order of worship he restored the object of worship here were all of these idols that were there throughout the land the land of Judah not only the land of Israel but even the land of Judah where all of these idols look in chapter 31 look in chapter 31 verse 1 when they all when when all of this was finished all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and what did they do they broke the sacred pillars in pieces they cut down the wooden images these idols they threw down the high places and the altars from all Judah Benjamin Ephraim and Manasseh all over until they had utterly destroyed them all they were not going to leave anything any trace of idolatry they did not stop until they had destroyed them all then all the children of Israel returned unto their cities they were not content with merely worshiping God and allowing idolatry to still exist among them they went out and destroyed it go back to 2nd Kings chapter 8 the passage that Viktor read the beginning of our worship this morning 2nd Kings chapter 18 notice what it says in 2nd Kings chapter 18 and verse 4 Hezekiah removed the high places he had the people do that broke down the sacred pillars he cut down the wooden images everything we just saw and in second chronicles chapter 31 is everything most everything that's repeated here in 2nd Kings chapter 18 but notice what he also did he broke in pieces and that's the the image that is on the screen here he broke in pieces this bronze serpent this bronze serpent that Moses had made for until those days the children of instead of the children of Israel burned incense to it for nearly seven hundred years seven hundred years God's people had that they had kept that bronze serpent that Moses had put up on top of that staff in numbers chapter 21 when all of the Israelite when all of Israel's been when they were being bitten by those serpents when God gave them this surf this bronze serpent that whoever looked on it would live well what happened to that bronze serpent after that event in numbers 21 oh they hung on to it and they made an idol out of it and instead of worshiping the God of heaven for seven hundred years they worshiped this idol think about it that means that this thing was around throughout the period of Joshua throughout the period of the judges throughout the reign of Saul and David and Solomon throughout the reigns of every other one of the kings in the divided Kingdom until Hezekiah came along and said this is enough we are going to worship the God of heaven we're not going to worship some icon some image some Idol we are going to worship God come back to 2nd chronicles 31 one more time 2nd chronicles chapter 31 says in those last two verses that Hezekiah did this throughout all of Judah he did what was right noticed three things that he does in verse 20 second chronicles chapter 31 verse 20 he did what was good he did what was right he did what was true before the Lord is God and in every work that he began in the service of the house of God in the law and in the to seek his God he did it with all of his heart and he prospered I want you to think about the responsibilities that we have to be restores to go back and to restore worshiping the object of our worship the God of heaven not some man-made object not some man-made idea to worship God but not in some order that we have made up in the way that he said to worship Him what would be the result if we would do that look in second chronicles chapter 30 second chronicles chapter 30 look in verse 21 children of Israel who were present at Jerusalem they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days and they did it with great gladness look at verse 23 the whole Assembly agreed to keep the feast another seven days can you imagine going to church and you're gonna worship at church not for an hour for seven days that's the feast of unleavened bread that's how long it was to be kept seven days they got to the end of seven days and when the last Amen was said of the closing prayer they said hey who wants to stay another seven days and it was everybody looking down oh no no not me I got stuff I got to do back home they had been there for seven days the whole assembly verse 23 agreed to keep the feast another seven days and notice that they kept it another seven days with misery with groaning with angst no it says they kept it with gladness thank God that we get to worship Him thank God that we get to serve Him if we could do it another seven days let's do it another seven days verse 25 the whole Assembly of Judah rejoiced verse 26 there was great joy how many times does this passage have to say that they were glad and joyful and rejoicing well it has to say it at least four times here there was great joy in Jerusalem for since the time of Soloman that's a long time almost 200 years for since this time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem been a long time isn't it wonderful to just go back and do things the way God says to do isn't it beautiful to go back and to restore the worship in our case the worship that God prescribes in the New Testament Hezekiah was a restorer even quicker than him being a restorer he was a prayer we got to talk faster now Hezekiah was a prayer and we see that at least twice go back to 2nd Kings chapter 18 2nd Kings chapter 18 Assyria remember Assyria had already taken captive and already defeated the Northern Kingdom so Assyria came down against Judah and I believe it's in verse 13 of 2nd Kings chapter 18 where it says that they came to the fortified cities of Judah they came to the strong fortified cities of Judah and they took them if you're strong cities go is that a good sign if you're fortified cities are defeated are you feeling good fortified cities are defeated they're taken and so in 2nd Kings chapter 18 King the king of Assyria he sends messengers to go and to talk to King Hezekiah and to say hey we've already got your strong cities how about you give in and make this easy 2nd Kings chapter 18 verse 9 no let's drop down later than that look at verse 19 here's the message that they sinned say now to Hezekiah 2nd Kings 18 verse 19 say now to Hezekiah thus says the Great King the God of heaven he's the Great King right no not to them they're great King the king of Assyria what confidence is this in which you trust King who you putting your trust in you speak of having plans where your plans you speak of having power for war come on we've just taken your fortified cities you're dead meat they are mere words that you have in whom do you trust that you rebelled against me and he goes on and say don't say Jehovah don't say Jehovah come on don't say that it's Jehovah that you trust look we've already taken a Syria and now we are we are threatening terrorizing the rest of Judah don't say your trust is in Judah got down to verse 28 now in verse 28 this is not just a message to Hezekiah they are now speaking to the whole city they're now speaking to the people who are up on the walls they're speaking to anybody in Jerusalem who will hear them and what's the message to the people in Jerusalem look at verse 29 thus says the King not Hezekiah the King the king of Assyria do not let Hezekiah deceive you these messengers from the king of Assyria they start talking to the to the residents in Jerusalem don't let your king deceive you for he shall not be able to deliver you from the king of a serious hand nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord saying Jehovah will surely deliver us this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria they said don't let as a Kyah fool you don't let Hezekiah put your trust in Jehovah verse 31 do not listen to Hezekiah trying to get into their heads trying to get them to turn away from doing what's right trying to get them to not follow what the King says looked at in verse 33 look what they say has any of the gods of the nations hear all these other nations that Assyria had destroyed have any of the other gods of these nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria hey people listen up Assyria has conquered all of these other nations did the gods of those nations stop us did the gods of those nations they put up a front and then he list in verse 34 where the gods of hay moth and Arpad these other nations where are they where the gods of the Seraphim and the henna in the iva where are they what happened to them indeed have they delivered Sumeria from my hand could they stop a serious assault who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem from my hand if these other gods couldn't stop Assyria why do you think your gods any different is this not what is happening in our schools today is this not what's happening the message that's being delivered to our kids today why do you want to believe in the God of the Bible you know there's no such thing as God you don't believe that God made the work you don't really want to follow after what these people are saying why don't you do what everybody else is doing why don't you follow after all of these other nations they gave in to us why don't you give in to us Israel was defeated Judah was surrounded and just so that he gets the point king of Assyria sends this in writing to Hezekiah Hezekiah gets a letter a threatening letter he calls Isaiah not on the phone but he calls Isaiah to his side and he asked that this this prophet in chapter 19 to come to his side and Isaiah tells him in verse 6 don't be afraid and the Bible says in verse 14 of 2nd Kings chapter 19 that Hezekiah took the letter the threatening letter that I'm going to come and wipe you off the face of the earth Hezekiah and he just laid it out before God he went to the house of the Lord and he took that letter and he laid it there and I want to I want you to read with me this beautiful prayer I want you to hear this man's heart 2nd Kings chapter 19 starting in verse 15 Hezekiah prayed and here's what Oh Lord God of Israel the one who dwells between the cherubim you are God and you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth you have made heaven and earth Oh Lord incline your ear in here open your eyes O Lord and see and hear the words of Sennacherib that's the king of Assyria which he has sent to reproach the Living God truly Lord the kings of Assyria they've laid waste to the nation's and that they did they've killed everybody else they've cast their gods of those other nations into the fire for they were not gods but merely the work of men's hands they were wood and stone therefore they destroyed him now therefore O Lord our God I pray save us from his hand that all the kings of the earth may know that you are Jehovah God and you alone he laid it out there have you ever gone before God and just laid it all out you didn't know what else to do take the very thing that is bothering you the most the very thing that has grasped your attention and has you worried beyond measure and just laid it out and said God I what am I going to do god I can't take care of this God I can't handle this one God cast all of your cares upon him for he cares for you God sends the angel of the Lord into the Assyrian camp I love verse 35 of chapter 19 the angel of the Lord killed 185 thousand Assyrians in one night who's in charge is it the gods of these other nations who couldn't stop Assyria Hezekiah lays out his letter and says God please help me and in one night that arm is defeated Sennacherib goes back home and all he's all upset and in the last verse of chapter 19 Sennacherib dies he's put to death does God hear us when we pray does God answer our prayers even if we don't know exactly what we're trying to ask for we just know we need God and Hezekiah said oh lord please help us Hezekiah was a prayer he was a man of Prayer and the second time is when he was about ready to die in 2nd Kings chapter 20 and verse 1 the Bible says that he was sick and near death he was 39 years old how can you be sick and near death when you're 39 years old maria haqq shawl had a heart attack one week ago today I won't tell you how old she is because that would not be very kind of me but she sorted close to 39 of course all of you were saying yeah I'm sort of close I'm sort of close to 39 - if you double that I'm about there he's 39 his father reigned for 16 years he's only been raiding for 14 years if you were 39 and you were told you were sick and near death what would you do you do what Hezekiah did verse 2 what'd he do he rolled over he rolled over in his bed and he faced the wall he doesn't want to look at any people he wants to focus on his God in verse 3 he says remember now O Lord I pray how I've walked before you in truth we'll aloia heart and have done what is good in your sight and Hezekiah wept bitterly you gotta answer his prayer notice verse 4 it happened before Isaiah had gone into the middle court that the word of the Lord came to him - Isaiah saying return verse 5 and tell Hezekiah the leader of my people thus says the Lord I have heard your prayer I have seen your tears surely I will hear you brother and sister in Christ those words need to be and graven on our hearts the God of heaven saying to you I have heard your prayer I have seen your tears there's God hear us when we pray we have a guaranteed confidence that he does does God see us when we cry he puts our tears in his bottle verse 6 or the end of verse 5 God answers his prayer but I want you to see that it's conditional Hezekiah you want to get better on the 3rd day what day about the 1st day Lord I don't want to wait till the 3rd day I want to get better today it's conditional you want to get better here's when you do it it's on the 3rd day on the 3rd day you shall go up Lord I'm sick how am I supposed to get out of bed this isn't gonna you're gonna have to make me better right here in bed if you're gonna do it God promises of God or conditional Earth Day on the 3rd day get up and going to the temple and I will add unto your days 15 years you think Hezekiah got his calendar out said ok 15 years today today's the 3rd day of this moto cage let's flip over okay so God you're saying you're saying it now he wrought you're saying I've got until this day right here right God gave him 15 years more to live does God answer our prayers are you a restorer or are you one who's ready to go back and to do it the way God wanted to be done in the first place are you a prayer that when you feel surrounded and threatened by the world and by life and by all of these temptations do you fall down before God and spread it out and say God I don't know where to go but to you when you're sick nigh unto death when you have brethren who are sick and I on the death do you roll over in your bread and pray to God your will be done here's the thing about Hezekiah and I like this because we see this in King David a man after God's own heart did David ever make mistakes Hezekiah made mistakes too he was a restorer he was a prayer but he was also human go back to the book of 2nd chronicles we're gonna wrap this up in the book of 2nd chronicles go back to 2nd chronicles chapter 32 the second chronicles chapter 32 we see that somehow this power this prestige this this wealth had gone to Hezekiah his head and I want you to see these things just very quickly in second chronicles chapter 32 and we are going to jump over to Isaiah chapter 39 so we will be there in just a minute second chronicles chapter 32 verse 24 in those days Hezekiah was sick and near death is what we read in chapter 27 Kings he prayed to the Lord and he spoke to him and he gave him a sign but verse 25 Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor of the Lord his heart this verse says was lifted up God had repaid Hezekiah by giving him 15 more years but Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him for his heart was lifted up therefore wrath was looming over him and over judah this power prestige wealth they went to his head his heart was lifted up before god looked down to verse 27 Hezekiah had very great riches not only was his heart lifted up his house was filled up he had so much he made himself Treasuries for silver for gold for precious stones spices shields for all kinds of desirable items he made storehouses for the harvest of grain for wine and oil stalls for all kinds of livestock and folds for the flocks moreover he provided cities for himself notice notice how gradually this is getting bigger how much does Hezekiah have he had very great riches and honors what did he do in verse 27 he made Treasuries but what happened when his Treasuries got too small verse 28 he made storehouses now I gotta have room for all of this and I put it in storehouses but his storehouses got too small then what did he need he needed in verse 29 entire cities entire cities in order to hold all that he had for himself and the possessions of flocks and herds and abundance for God had given him much property his heart was lifted up his house it was filled up but look in verse 31 this guy's head was messed up verse 31 ambassadors of the princes came from Babylon whom they sent to enquire about the wonder that was in this they'd heard about all this greatness of Hezekiah so when they came when they came from Babylon to see what was happening with Hezekiah God withdrew from him in order to test him that he might know what was in his heart hold your finger in second chronicles go over to Isaiah 39 it's interesting that when you get to the Book of Isaiah that in many places of of these chapters you read almost verbatim what we read in 2nd Kings the second Isaiah chapter 39 these men come from Babylon they had heard that he was sick and that he had recovered chapter 39 verse 1 Isaiah Hezekiah was pleased with them all the great king of Babylon wants to know about me oh isn't that nice I'm gaining popularity so he showed them the house of his Treasuries the silver the gold the spices the precious ointment and all of his armory all that was found among his treasures there was nothing in his house or all of his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them is that a good idea your enemies come to check you out and you say come on in let me show you around let me take you into my Treasuries all with the Treasuries they weren't enough let me take you over here to my storehouses look at all of this hey you see those cities coming into town yeah I had to build those for all my stuff too I want you to spend time here and check everything out and there wasn't a single thing you didn't show them are there some secrets I hope there are that our American military I'm sure that Gabe knows all of them and they're all classified and you can't tell you what they are but if there's some secrets that our US military has that they're not going to share with the West of the world you under that sometimes don't you all this stuff we're telling world you like man if we're telling them all of that what are we not telling them you know why do they need to know that would it be good for us to invite our enemies in hey you want to see what kind of weapons were developed come over here we'll show you everything we got so good idea to open the doors to your enemies that's exactly what Hezekiah did why did you do that because his heart had been lifted up his house had been filled up and now his head's all messed up they come in they see everything that he has Isaiah comes to the Prophet in verse three what did these men say from where did they come to you all they came to me from a far country I think the name of that country was babbling yeah you're gonna you're gonna know a lot about babbling he said what have they seen in your house so Hezekiah said well they've seen all that's in my house there's nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them then Isaiah said to Hezekiah hear the word of the Lord behold the days are coming when all that is in your house how much did you show them that was in your house Oh everything okay the days are coming that all that's in your house what your fathers have accumulated until this day shall be carried to Babylon what was there that was left that Hezekiah did not show them oh there was nothing left he didn't show him and so Isaiah says nothing that you have collected will be left verse 7 they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you whom you will beget and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon result of all of this is that his house his lineage his heirs were removed you're not going to have an error on the throne because you have allowed your heart to be lifted up in your head to get messed up and all of this wealth and materialism and popularity is that a lesson for us is it possible that we can be a restorer and a preyer and our human side of our life get in the way and mess us up but here's the good part go back to second Chronicles last verse last verse I want us to see although he was human he was just like David look in second chronicles 32 verse 26 then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon Hezekiah during his days what an incredible man Bible says that he did what was right in the side of the Lord have you done what's right in the side of the Lord the Bible says in second Kings 18 that he trusted in the Lord have you trusted in the Lord the Bible says that there was none like him because of his trust the Bible says that he held fast to the Lord have you held fast to the Lord the Bible says that he did not depart from following after the Lord have you departed from following after the Lord the Bible says that he kept God's commandments have you done that if you've done all that then you'll have the same blessing that Victor read from verse 7 the Lord was with him and he prospered wherever he went a lot of things that we can learn from Hezekiah I would invite you to read through these chapters because there's even more there but may God help us to be a restorer and be a prayer and to keep our human side under check knowing that the Bible says we've all sinned and we've all fallen short of the glory of God but may God help us when we sin to have that humble and contrite heart by which we will turn back to him and our soldiers of Christ program there's four questions on Hezekiah what was the king of Judah the name of the king of Judah about the time when the Northern Kingdom fell it was Hezekiah what did he do with that letter that threatening letter that Sennacherib lettis sent him laid it out before the Lord and he prayed who is Hezekiah prophet Isaiah how many years did God add to Hezekiah life 15 you know those four facts you can know part of the story of Hezekiah if you know that he was a restorer and a prayer and a human you can know another part now what about you where you and your walk with the Lord you know Hezekiah he had a father who didn't help him who if he had fathered it followed his father he would have been led astray it's not about following people it's not about following those even whom we would respect it's about following our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ have you done what he says to do in order to be saved do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God if you believe that the Bible says you need to turn away from the sin that's in your life turn away and say I don't want to live that way anymore I want to live for God if you'll repent if you'll do that then tonight you can do what they did in the Bible you can confess the faith that's in your heart and you can be baptized baptized in order that the blood of Jesus might wash away every single one of your sins if you have not been baptized if you're accountable to God if you have sins that are standing between you and God if you have not been baptized you still have all of your sins why would you want to wait why would you want to delay doing what God wants you to do this very night the baptistry is ready you can come and give your life to the Lord be buried in Baptism raised to walk in newness of life without a single sin and live faithfully unto Him we can help you in any way tonight please come this together we stand and sing

Channel: Palm Beach Lakes church of Christ

Views: 31,846

Rating: 4.6999998 out of 5

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Id: 8MnbZj5T-4E

Length: 51min 21sec (3081 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 27 2013