Thank you all for being here this evening we're gonna get started with song number 185
My Savior's Love song number 185 this evening and let's all stand together if you are able
Song number one eight five
185 seen on that first verse I
Stand amaze at the presence of Jesus
A sinner can dance on clean oh how marvelous oh
my son shall ever be. Oh how marvelous, oh how wonderful is my Savior's love for me.
For me it was in the garden, he prayed not my will but thine. He had no tears for his
own grief, but sweat drops of blood.
Let's start over service with a word of prayer.
Dear God and my father, we thank you so much
for allowing us to be here in your house this evening, O Lord.
Lord, we do pray to the God that you please just
be with us with God tonight
as we hear the preaching of your word.
Please bless every aspect of our service. Please bless the singing unto you and please bless the
the preacher of God as well tonight. I pray that you please just be with brother Cody,
Lord God. Please fill him with your Holy Spirit and guide him through the scriptures, O Lord.
And I pray that you please also help us in the congregational of God to have an open ears and
open hearts of God to receive your word with gladness now this evening. And I pray that you
please just bless us for being here tonight now. In Jesus' name, amen. You may be seated.
Song number 230, song number 230, song number 230.
We'll see you on that first verse.
Walking in sunlight over the journey,
over the mountains, through the deep veil.
Jesus has set out never forsake thee,
promised divine that never can fail.
Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight,
see his praises Jesus is mine shadows around me shadows above me never can
seal my Savior in mind in him is no darkness ever on walking close to his
When they saw night,
Bloody my soul with glory divine.
Hallelujah, I am rejoicing,
Seeing His praises,
Jesus is mine in the bright sun.
Just some announcements before we sing our next song, which would be song number 136 Master the Tempest is Raging song number 136
We'd like to welcome you to our to our Thursday night service
At 7 p.m. We're going through the book of John so any time and teams are there below happy birthday to everyone
Whose birthday is in September? Continue to pray for the expecting mother. Congratulations to Pastor Mejia for his
For the baby that was born just for some announcements. I have a message coming from Pastor Mejia
It says it has been brought to his attention that people are talking in the mother of mother baby rooms during the preaching
This is a reminder that the mother baby room is still church
Please make sure you respect the rules of the church and not
Distract others who are listening to the preaching by fellowshiping and talking in the mother baby room during the preaching
If someone notifies you that they cannot hear the preaching because you're talking that should be your cue
to cut all communications. If this continues, then I will approach you and end or your husband myself.
Thank you for understanding and God bless.
Obviously, that's a message from Pastor Mejia. Please make sure you respect the rules of the church. Thank you.
All right, some announcements. We have our church anniversary coming up September 14th.
It's gonna be a special there's gonna be a special order of services. It'll be back-to-back services
It'll be 10 30 a.m. For the a.m. Service on the 14th
We're gonna have lunch from one to two evening service will be at 3 p.m. And activities will follow
Tijuana Mission Strip will be Saturday September 27th. We're leaving at the building at 9 15 if you have any questions about that
You can go on to reach out to brother Hernandez home school field trip
We'll be going to Lego Len in San Diego. I think it's in San Diego. Yeah, San Diego
Tuesday October 14th, and we'll have the details at the guest center up in the front ladies per breakfast will be Saturday October 4th
at 10 a.m. that's it for the announcements please silence your phone to not be a disturbance to the
service and brother marcos please come up here song number 136 mastered attempt this is raging
song number 136 master the tempest is raging song number 136
Let's sing it on that first verse.
Master, the tempest is raging, the billows are tossing high.
The sky is or shadowed with blackness, nor shelter or help is nigh.
When each moment so madly is threatening A grave in the angry deep
The winds and no waves shall obey my will Peace be still
Whether the wrath of the storm tossing Or demons or men or whatever
can swallow the ship where lies the master of ocean and earth and skies they all shall
and please turn your bibles to 2 Chronicles 30.
Please turn your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 30 and Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah and
wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come to the house of the Lord at
For the king had taken counsel and his princes and all the congregation in Jerusalem to keep the Passover in the second month
For they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently
Neither had the people gathered themselves together to Jerusalem and the thing pleased the king and all the congregation
So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel from Bersheba
Even to Dan that they should keep they should come to keep the Passover unto the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem
For they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written
So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah,
and according to the commandment of the king, saying,
ye children of Israel, turn again unto the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel,
and he will return to the remnant of you that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria.
And be not like ye, like your fathers, and like your brethren,
which trespass against the Lord God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation as ye see.
Now, be ye not stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the Lord, and enter into a sanctuary which ye hath sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.
For if ye turn again unto the Lord, your brethren and your children shall find compassion before them that lead the captive, so that they shall come again into this land, for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you if ye return unto him.
So the post passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun
But they laughed them to scorn and mocked them
Nevertheless divers of Asher's and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem
Also in Judah the hand of God was was to give them one heart to the commandant of the king and of the princes by the word of the Lord
and there assembled at Jerusalem much people to keep the feast of unleavened bread
in the second month, a very great congregation, and they arose and took all the
altars that were in Jerusalem
and all the altars for incense took they away and cast them into the brook of
Kedron.
Then they killed the Passover on the 14th day of the second month
and the priests and the Levites were ashamed and sanctified themselves
and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of the Lord.
and they stood in their place after their manner, according to the law of Moses, the man of God.
The priests sprinkled the blood which they received of the hand of the Levites.
For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified
Therefore the Levites had the charge of killing of the passovers for everyone that was not clean to sanctify them unto the Lord
For a multitude of the people even many of Ephraim and Manasseh, Isikar and Zibulun had not cleansed themselves
Yet did they eat the Passover otherwise than it was written, but Hezekiah prayed for them saying
the good Lord pardon everyone that prepareeth his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers,
though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary.
And the Lord and the Lord harkened to Hezekiah and healed the people and the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the
Feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness and the Levites and the priests praise the Lord day by day
Singing with loud instruments unto the Lord and Hezekiah spake comfortably unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the Lord
And that they eat throughout the feast seven days offering peace offerings and making confession to the Lord God of their fathers
And the whole assembly took counsel to keep other seven days, and they kept other seven days with gladness.
For Hezekiah, king of Judah, did give to the congregation a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep,
and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep, and a great number of priests sanctified themselves.
And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel,
and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel,
that dwelt in Judah rejoiced. So there was a great joy in Israel for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel
There was not like in Jerusalem
Then the priests the Levites arose and blessed the people and their voice was heard and their prayer came up to his holy dwelling place
Even unto heaven
Let's pray dear heavenly father. Thank you for giving this opportunity to meet together and thank you for your word Lord
I pray the fill brother Cody with your spirit and give us listening ears and allow us to be edified by the preaching Lord
And in Jesus name we pray amen
Amen. All right. Good evening.
First of all, thank you to pastor, of course, for letting me get up here and preach to you all this evening.
It's always a great privilege to be up here.
And so I just pray for the Mahia family, of course, that
Miss Sarah has a full recovery and that the baby is nice and safe and healthy.
So thanks again for allowing me to preach. The top of my sermon this evening is the legacy of King Hezekiah, the legacy of King Hezekiah.
I actually want to go through tonight.
just through the life and story of King Hezekiah
and just go through different aspects of his life,
the good and the bad and just kind of go through it
and take some applications and principles
and be able to apply to our lives.
And obviously we see a great thing that happens
here in 2 Chronicles chapter 30
of him bringing back the Passover
and in fact inviting that northern,
at least the remnant of the northern kingdom of Israel.
to join in to keep the Passover.
And Hezekiah actually did many great things.
He's a very prominent figure in the Bibles.
He actually got three different portions of scripture
that cover his account.
You got this here in Second Chronicles.
You got four chapters here.
You even got a Second Kings as well,
which I'd like you to turn to, Second Kings chapter 18,
which is where we're gonna focus mostly tonight.
And you even have three chapters in Isaiah as well.
covering Hezekiah.
So he's actually a very prominent figure in the Bible,
and I'd like to cover him tonight.
Now who is Hezekiah?
Hezekiah, it says in verse one
of 2 Kings chapter 18, if you're there,
it says, now it came to pass in the third year
of Hosea, son of Elah, king of Israel,
that Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah,
began to reign.
25 years old was he when he began to reign,
and he reigned 20 and nine years in Jerusalem.
His mother's name also was Abbi, the daughter of Zechariah.
And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,
according to all that David, his father did.
And so we see Hezekiah, of course, he's the 13th king of Judah.
Of course, this is way after the northern and southern split of Israel.
And you've got the northern kingdom of Israel, the southern kingdom of Judah.
He's the 13th in line to be the king of Judah, his father was King Ahaz, and if you know anything
about King Ahaz, he was a very wicked king. He did that which was evil in the side of the Lord.
He committed infanticide, had children passed through the fire, he committed idolatry,
and caused others to commit idolatry. And so he's a very wicked king, and yet he begat a son who
did that which was right in the side of the Lord. And I actually do want to argue tonight, we're
going to go through it, that King Hezekiah is actually the greatest of the kings of Judah. And I
specifically the kings of Judah because of course King David wasn't just the
king of Judah he was the king of both you know when the king of bad and split
yet of course so you got King David obviously on top he's peak you know
sometimes after fellowship will want to tier list characters in the Bible and I
do believe the Bible actually backs up the idea that King Hezekiah is the
number one of the kings of Judah we're gonna read that here in a minute but
How does a wicked king like Ahaz end up getting a son like Hezekiah who does that which is right in the side of the Lord?
Well, I believe it's possible and obviously there's an aspect where of course we all have our own free will
And so even if you don't grow up in a Christian household
Even if you don't have godly parents to guide you in the right way
That doesn't mean we don't have our own free will and responsibility to do that which is right in the side of the Lord
But I do believe you had a good influence, and that's with his mother, who is Abba, the daughter of Zechariah.
If you heard in Second Chronicles, it talks about she's Abba, the son of Zechariah.
I guess her friends like to call her Abba or something.
Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah, you could actually find the Zechariah, I believe it's
referring to, is in, you could go ahead and turn there, second chronicle, we'll get back
to 2 Kings 18, you could leave a finger there because we're going to be there for the most
part in this sermon, but 2 Chronicles 20, 24 actually covers who I believe this Zechariah
is referring to.
It says in verse 20 of 2 Chronicles 24,
and the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah,
the son of Jehoida the priest,
which stood above the people and said unto them,
thus saith God, why transgress ye the commandments
of the Lord that ye cannot prosper?
Because ye have forsaken the Lord,
he hath also forsaken you, and they conspired against him,
and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king
in the court of the house of the Lord.
And so I believe this is that same Zechariah
that begat Abijah, and you know Zechariah is the son
of Jehoida the priest, which
He's basically like a pastor's kid, right?
And in fact, he was a martyr as well,
because he was preaching against the wicked king of,
well, he wasn't wicked through and through,
but at Joash, he was basically having people
commit idolatry, and so Zechariah preached against him,
but then he got martyred for preaching against him.
And so you kind of see that lineage there
from Jehoida, Zechariah, Abijah,
and then you see Hezekiah.
So I believe that was the good influence
that Hezekiah had in his life was his mother.
It's a great application to say too that you can't use your spouse, like let's say if
your spouse is an unbeliever or even if they are a believer but they're backslidden or
they're not in church.
It's never an excuse that you can't raise your kids right for the Lord.
You know Abijah was married to a wicked king but yet she still turned out a Hezekiah.
And it says in verse three that he did that which was right in the side of the Lord according to all that David his father did
And it goes through a small list
But obviously I had brother Adam read 2nd Chronicles 30 covering more extensively of the great things that he did
But of course he brought reform to the land which hasn't been seen since the days of Solomon
Which is like years and years prior. I mean you got to think there's 13 kings of you know before that and so
to have like a big reform in the land,
bring it back the Passover,
bring it back the Levites and the priests,
bring it back all these things,
the sacrifices and all that,
and even trying to get the remnants of Israel
to come and participate in that.
I mean, he did really great feats.
And it talks about how he break down the idols,
break down the groves.
You even see in verse four right here,
it says he removed the high places
and break the images and cut down the groves
and break it in pieces, the brazen serpent
that Moses had made.
For unto those days, the children of Israel
did burn incense to it,
That's obviously the Brazen serpent referring back to when Moses had lifted up the serpent
when the children of Israel were getting plagued by fiery serpents and they had to look and
live at the serpent in order to be saved from the fiery serpents of course and actually
pictures Jesus Christ in John chapter 3 as well of course so it would seem to be like
a really great symbol but obviously they turned it into an idolatrous worship and they even
called it some false god named Nahush tan and so he got rid of that, Hezekiah wasn't
Right, or not sacrilegious, he wasn't, what's the word?
He wasn't, what was that, you still wanna see?
He wasn't superstitious about, you know, breaking down the brazen serpent, right?
Thank you, Brother Marcos.
And it says right here in verse 5, he trusted in the Lord God of Israel so that after him
was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him.
And so I believe this is actually proof to show that King Hezekiah, I mean the Bible
itself says that before him there was no one better and after him there's no one better
in reference to the kings of Judah.
And so God reveres Hezekiah very highly and speaks very well of him.
And it says kind of why to it says verse six,
for he claved to the Lord and departed not
from following him, but kept his commandments,
which the Lord commanded Moses and the Lord was with him
and he prospered with us so ever he went forth
and he rebelled against the king of Assyria
and served him not.
He smote the Philistines, even at the Gaza,
and the borders thereof, from the Tower of the Watchmen
to the Fence City.
And so Hezekiah did many great things,
and I just not enough to cover in one sermon unfortunately,
but there's just many great feats that Hezekiah did.
God speaks well of him, and so I believe
he's a really great great king.
He gets a lot of bad reps, sometimes are being known
as kind of the baby boomer king,
but you know what, the Bible speaks very well of him,
and I'm gonna get to that as well.
I'm gonna go through the bad stuff of Hezekiah, of course.
And we're actually gonna get to it pretty quickly here,
great king he really is and I think we should kind of see the good aspects as
well of Hezekiah. Now verses 9 through 12 basically it's in
summarization is talking about the the Assyrian captivity of the northern
kingdom of Israel. Basically the northern kingdom of Israel at this time is
just taken over by Assyria and there's a remnant leftover which refers to in
2nd Chronicles 30 but
Basically, Israel's just gone at this point.
And the Assyrian army takes over
by Shalman Ezra, king of Assyria.
And then that was during Hezekiah's fourth year of his reign.
But if you look at verse 13, now, you know, fast forward,
now in the 14th year of King Hezekiah,
did Senechorib, king of Assyria,
come up against all the fenced cities of Judah
and took them.
So you have a new king, Senechorib, coming along,
and they took out Israel.
So now they're going after Judah,
taking out the cities of Judah, right?
And it says in Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria to Lakers saying I've offended return for me that which thou putest on me will I bear.
And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah king of Judah 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold.
And Hezekiah gave all him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king's house.
At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temples of the Lord and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid.
and gave it to the king of Assyria.
So what's happening here is,
Assyria's taken over,
they're taking over certain cities of Judah,
they see the invasion happening,
and what does Hezekiah do?
He kowtows, he backs down and just tries to appease
and pay off the king of Assyria,
and say, ah, Senechrim, whatever you want,
just leave me alone, and I don't wanna fight you.
Just...
take whatever you want and I'll give it to you and just leave me alone at that point.
But you know what? That never works, you know, and Senechorib is a picture of the devil,
and you know the devil wants to, you know, he wants to invade your life, he wants to get you
down, he wants to go to war against you, and it never pays off when you try to pay off the
where you think that, oh, I'm just gonna appease these people,
they're talking about it, I mean, I'm gonna compromise,
I'm just gonna back down, and maybe they'll just leave me alone.
But you know what, the enemies of God are implacable,
they're unmerciful, and so you're never gonna just appease them
and just give them what they want and they're gonna stop.
And you're gonna see that same neck or it doesn't stop either.
So it doesn't help to compromise.
You know, the Bible's cure for this
is not to submit yourselves to the king of Assyria,
to the devil, but it's actually,
the Bible talks about submitting yourselves
therefore unto God, resist the devil,
and he will flee from you.
And so that is the solution we as Christians should have,
is to resist, stand to our ground, don't compromise,
don't back down on what the Bible says,
stick to what you believe, and don't compromise,
and just kowtow to the enemy.
Look at verse 17 it says in the king of Assyria left and never bothered Hezekiah ever again
No, it says he sent Tartan and Rapsaris and Rapsheke from Lekish to King Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem
They went up and came to Jerusalem and when they were come up
They stood they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool
Which is in the highway of the Fullers field and when they had called to the king there came out unto them
Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, which was over the household,
and Shevna, the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph,
the recorder.
So basically, you got these three guys
who are representing Assyria, and then you
got these other three guys who are representing Judah,
or King Hezekiah, right?
And the people of Assyria, they're
ring leaders, kind of this guy called Reb Shekhi.
And it says in verse 19,
And Rapshech he said unto them,
Speak ye now to Hezekiah,
Thou sayeth the great king, the king of Assyria.
What confidence is this wherein thou trustest?
Thou sayest, but they are above vain words.
I have counsel and strength for the war.
Now on whom does thou trust
that thou shouldest rebel against me?
Now behold,
And this is where Rapschakhi starts to gaslight them.
He says, now behold thou trustest upon the staff
of this bruised reed, even upon Egypt,
on which if a man lean, it will go into his hand
and pierce it.
So is Pharaoh king of Egypt unto all that trust him.
So he's just gaslighting them to thinking that they're trusting in Egypt, which they're not and it would be true
You know it does talk about elsewhere in the Bible that eat
You know relying on Egypt is relying upon a root bruised lead that will pierce you right and so it would be true
But the application is not correct
And so they're just trying to pretend like oh you're you're trusting in Egypt
Maybe it's to try to figure out if they actually are maybe it's some kind of war tactic that they're doing
It's not exactly clear and by the way when it's taught who they're talking to specifically it says they stood by you know
Who are in the upper pool in the conduit of the in the highway of the foolers field
I believe it's just kind of like the common folk of the of Judah basically
They're just trying to talk to the common folk just trying to talk to the workers
Basically and trying to gaslight them into seeing what they're all about
But in verse 32 it says, but if you say unto me we trust in the Lord our God
Right, and so it sounds good right now. He's saying oh, oh, yeah
We do trust in God, but then he's gaslighting again is not that he who's high places and whose altars has a kaya
Have taken away and that said to the Judah and Jerusalem each I'll worship before this altar in Jerusalem
And so he's trying to manipulate them to thinking like oh, yeah, oh, but if you do trust in the Lord
Hezekiah is the one that's breaking down the Lord's altars.
But what he's referring to is the altars that were actually,
he was taking down were the false gods, the false idols, right?
But he's trying to attribute that to the Lord God.
Now therefore I pray thee, give pledges to my Lord, the King of Assyria, and I will deliver thee 2,000 horses if that be able on thy part to set riders upon them.
How then will thou turn away the face of one captain, or the least of my master servants, and put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?
Am I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord set to me go up against this land and destroy it.
And so now he's claiming that he's coming in the name of the Lord.
He's like, God sent me to come take over this place.
And so all these manipulation tactics and who Rapsheke reminds me of.
And this is kind of a side story, of course, to King Hezekiah.
But this is part of his story, of course.
But what Rapsheke kind of reminds me of is a politician today.
We got all these politicians who want to claim that they're coming in God's stead, that all these Christians love this guy because he's for God's people, he's coming in the name of the Lord, and he wants to basically help them out, but it's just not the case as we're good to see.
Because in 26, it says,
then Alayakim basically has Akhaya's men.
The son of Hilkiah and Shebna and Joah unto Rapsheke,
speak I pray thee to thy servants in the Syrian language,
for we understand it and talk not with us
in the Jews language,
in the ears of the people that are on the wall.
And so what they're trying to say is like,
look, look, you want to say all these things,
but you don't need to talk to these people.
They're just the common folk.
They don't understand what's going on
with all this invasion and war and stuff.
Just speak to us, we're the leaders.
and just speak to us in your language
because we understand it.
Don't talk in the Jews language
as to try to not to strike fear
in the hearts of the common folk
that are the people sitting on the wall.
But obviously that's not what Rabbi Shekhi's MO is
because in verse 27 it says,
but Rabbi Shekhi sent unto them,
hath my master sent me to thy master
and to thee to speak these words?
hath he not sent me to the men which sit on the wall
that they may eat their own dung
and drink their own piss with you?
Oh man, so now you see Rapshecki's true intentions
is that he wants you to eat your own dung
and drink your own piss.
And that's actually the true intentions
of these politicians today.
Whether it's blue or red, Republican or Democrat,
it doesn't really matter.
Their true intentions is that they want you
to eat your own dung and drink your own piss.
But obviously,
He's just speaking to these guys
because he's got a different message
he wants to send to the people on the wall.
Because it says right here, verse 28,
then, Rapshech, he stood and cried with a loud voice
in the Jews language in spake, saying,
hear the word of the Lord of the great king,
the king of Assyria.
Thus say it, the king, let not Hezekiah deceive you,
for he shall not be able to deliver you out of his hand.
Neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord,
saying the Lord will surely deliver us,
and the city shall not be delivered
to the hand of the king of Assyria.
Hearken not to Hezekiah, for thus saith the king of Assyria,
make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me,
and then each ye every man of his own vine,
and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one
the waters of his cistern.
Wow, doesn't that sound great?
All these promises this guy is making to them.
Man, you get to have your own land.
You get to have your own house.
I'm going to lower the economy prices.
You know, I'm going to lower the price of eggs.
You know, everything's going to be great, right?
Verse 32, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and wine,
a land of bread and vineyards, a land of oil, olive, and of honey, that she may live and not die.
And Harkin not unto Hezekiah, for he persuaded you saying the Lord will deliver us.
See the manipulation tactics of a politician, and that's exactly what they do. And I don't care
if it's the Republican or the Democrat, they both want to promise the world to you. They want,
they both want to claim that they're going to make America great. But you know what?
The real intention of the politicians,
they actually want you to eat your own dung
and drink your own piss.
You know, it doesn't matter what they promise to you.
And Rapsheke's a wicked king.
Why would you go with the devil's leaders?
Why would you want to go with the Syria?
When you got King Hezekiah,
you got the man of God with you already.
You know, and they want to take down the man of God.
And you say, well, it's not, you know,
who cares about Rapsheke, his person, who he is.
I'm just about the policies, right?
I just want, I'm voting for the guy
because of the policies that he enacts.
Yeah, Rapsheke had some great policies, right?
It sounds really good.
I get my own vine, my own fig tree, my own water.
But you know what, that's all fake promises.
And we need not to rely as Christians
and try to think that voting in the right guy
is gonna make our land healed, right?
Isn't the Bible say that if us,
which are called by God's name,
if we humble ourselves and seek after God,
then our land will be healed.
Like God will heal our land, right?
That is the solution is that, hey, us as Christians,
we just need to live a life serving God,
soul winning church, reading our Bibles,
trying to disciple others and win other people over.
And that should be our goal in life
and not try to get involved in the political realm
where all they wanna do, whatever side you look at,
is they really just wanna screw you over and make you,
and at the end of the day,
you follow these politicians down the rabbit hole
and you're gonna end up eating your own dung
and drinking your own piss.
That's the truth.
And look at the blasphemy that Rapsheke gives right here at any of the gods in verse 33
have any of the gods of the nations delivered at all his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria
What are the gods of Haymath and of our pad?
Where are the gods of Safar vayim henna and Iva have they delivered some area out of my hand
Who are they among all the gods of the countries that have delivered their country out of my hand at the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand and so
There you go, there's the blasphemy there.
Oh, I thought you were coming to the name of God, Rebschecky.
And you know, unfortunately, a lot of Christians today,
I could tell you right now that Democrats are wicked,
and everyone says amen.
I mean, it's not hard to get behind a pulpit
and say these baby butchering, fag agenda Democrats
are bad people.
I mean, it's not really hard to say that, but oh,
oh, the Republican, though.
Oh, the Republican, who.
Oh, he's got Christian values, right?
Yeah, he's been married three times
and committed adultery on two of his wives, right?
And that hasn't been clear,
I'm talking about Donald Trump, of course, right?
And, you know, a lot of Christian,
unfortunately a lot of Christians today
feel like Donald Trump is like the answer
and the solution to all of America's problems.
And if we can just get the right guy in
and just let him do his thing,
Trump's gonna fix all of our problems for us.
And it's just not the case.
And I think Rapsheky's a perfect example of that.
And, you know, I come to you and say Rapsheky is a Democrat.
out of here.
Oh, but Rapschakie the Republican?
Maybe we got to listen to him.
I don't know.
It's a false left-right paradigm.
There are two birds with wings on the same bird.
Get out of politics.
TAYLOR
I look at verse 36 and this is how you know, obviously you can see in other portions of scripture that you see how strong of a leader King Hezekiah really is.
But verse 36 really exemplifies how much of a strong leader Hezekiah is.
Because in all of what Rapscheki is saying, it says in verse 36,
But the people held their peace and answered him not a word, for the king's commandment was saying, answer them not.
And so Hezekiah didn't even have to be around for the people to just be like hey
Hezekiah told us to just hold our peace not say a word and we're just gonna listen to what the king's commandment is
And that's how we as Christians should be we were shouldn't listen to rap shaggy the Republican or the politician
We need to listen to the king the king's commandments and our king is not Trump. It's not king Trump. It's Christ's king, right?
Listen to the king hold our peace and listen to the king's commandment
And so we go on and obviously Hezekiah's men go and report to him what's been done.
It's really horrible hearing the blasphemy, of course.
And when Hezekiah hears this in chapter 19 verse 1, he's really distraught over what's been said.
And it came to pass, verse 1 of chapter 19, and it came to pass when King Hezekiah heard it,
that he rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the Lord.
So finally, Hezekiah's making the right move this time, you know,
before he wants to pay off the enemy, this time when trouble's a-brewing,
he goes to the house of the Lord, and that should be our instant response
when we're going through trials, when we're going through war in our own
personal lives, we need to go to the house of the Lord to get our answers
and not go to the White House to get our answers.
And he sent a lie came which was over the household of Shemna the scribe and the elders the priests cover with sackcloth to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amos
And so he obviously goes to the man of God too for counsel. So all great things that Hezekiah is doing here
And he's basically going you know as a summary. He's basically going
He's basically going Isaiah saying like oh listen to what they're saying. What are you gonna do about this?
They're speaking this guy speaking blasphemy
And look at verse six, what Isaiah's answer is,
and Isaiah said unto them,
thus shall ye say to your master,
thus saith the Lord,
be thou not afraid of his words,
which thou hast heard,
which with the servants of the king of Assyria
have blasphemed me.
Behold, I will send a blast upon him,
and he shall hear a rumor,
and shall return to his own land,
and I will cause him to fall by the sword
in his own hand, in his own land.
And so Isaiah just told me I'm gonna I'm gonna send a blast
He's gonna hear a rumor and he does hear a rumor for through verses eight nine and I believe ten as well
But oh verses eight nine and verse ten
You see that now Senecharib, who is Rabbi Shekhi's leader,
Senecharib is actually the king of Assyria.
He's sending now a letter to Hezekiah through some men,
and now he's going to Hezekiah,
and basically gonna tell him the same exact thing
through this letter.
Verse 10,
Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah, king of Judah,
saying, Let not thy God in whom thou trustest
deceive thee, Saint Jerusalem,
shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria
have done to all the lands by destroying them utterly,
and shall thou be delivered?
And again, he's speaking blasphemy of how the gods of the nations deliver and just comparing the Lord just to any other God, right?
Just exactly what Rabbi Sheki was doing.
And then it talks about where's the king goes and Huran,
Hamath, our fad, right?
And verse 14 is when is Hezekiah's response again.
And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand
of the messengers and read it.
And Hezekiah went up into the house of the Lord
and spread it before the Lord.
And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said,
Oh Lord God of Israel, which dwells between the terubim,
thou art God, even thou alone of all the kingdoms
of the earth, thou hast made heaven and earth.
Lord, bow down thine ear and hear open,
which has sent him to
approach the living God.
KATHRYN
And so another great response by Hezekiah.
Again, now he's turning to the Lord.
He's going to the house of the Lord.
And this time, he's taking that letter
and just showing God, like,
look at what they're saying about you, Lord.
Look at the blasphemy.
And we, it should encourage us.
And we're gonna see more of Hezekiah's prayer life,
of course, but Hezekiah had a great prayer life.
That's one of the most positive aspects
that you can see about Hezekiah is his prayer life.
And in everything, even when things were good
and when things were bad, he was a man of prayer.
And let it be a lesson to us
that we should be men and women of prayer.
We need to pray more.
to pray without ceasing and we need to be people
in any aspect of life, whether it's the big wars
or the small internal struggles,
we need to be people of prayer.
And Hezekiah immediately went to the house of the Lord
and we need to pray in precatory prayers too.
You know, let's not forget about that either.
You know, Hezekiah is like, Lord,
look at what they're saying, do something about it.
You know, and we need to be praying
against the enemies of God.
We need, you know, do you go when you see
Blasphemous false prophets on Instagram.
Do you just say like, Lord, just destroy this person
for speaking blasphemies.
You know, we need to do better at just,
whenever we see something like Lord,
just destroy this wicked person
who is just teaching things contrary to what you say.
And so let's have a good prayer life like Hezekiah.
And so he goes on and basically the Lord pronounces judgment up until the summary of it happens in verse 33.
It kind of summarizes anything from verse 14 to 33 of what God basically says.
Look at verse 33, this is God's response in summary.
By the way that he came, talking about Senechorib,
by the way that they came, by the same shall he return,
and shall not come into the city saith the Lord, for I will defend this city to save it from my own sake and from my servant David's sake.
And it came to pass that night that the angel of the Lord
went out and smote in the camp of the Assyrians
on 104 score and 5,000.
And when they arose early in the morning,
behold, they were all dead corpses.
So to Senechorib, king of Assyria departed
and went and returned and dwelt at Nineveh.
And it came to pass as he was worshiping
the house of Nisrach, his god,
that Adramelik and Sherezir, his son,
smote him with the sword and they escaped
into the land of Armenia.
And so God answers Hezekiah's prayer in a mighty way
by not only just sending what I believe is the destroyer, right?
It's a Pollyon or a badden in Revelation,
the same angel who
Exodus who destroyed the firstborn children of whoever didn't have the blood of the lamb on their doorpost, right?
That same destroyer, that same angel is the same one here destroying the Assyrian army.
And so God answered Hezekiah's prayer in a mighty way and don't think that God can't answer your prayer in a mighty way as well.
And obviously Senecharib got assassinated, so that's the end of him.
But you know when you win when you win a lot of times in the Christian life when you win when you win a really strong war
When you when you defeat a really big battle going on in your life something else hits you right afterwards look at chapter 20 and verse 1
This is right after this great this great defeat of the Assyrian army in those days was Hezekiah's sick into death
And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amos came unto him and said unto him thus saith the Lord set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live
So, I mean man, this is a great thing that happened
and now he's pronounced he's gonna die.
And I also want you to keep this in mind too,
this is kind of a side note,
but all these events are taking place,
if you looked back earlier,
it was saying it was Hezekiah's 14th year of his reign
and he started to reign when he was 25 years old.
And so I want you to keep in mind
that that would mean that this is happening
at 39 years old in Hezekiah's life.
I just want you to keep that in mind
for later on that I wanna get to.
He's 39 years old and he's pronounced and he's 39 is young and he's pronounced you're
just going to die.
But look at his response again a great response then he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord saying I beseech the
Oh Lord remember now how I've walked before the in truth and with a perfect heart and I've done that which is good in
Thy sight and Hezekiah wept sore and it came to pass before Isaiah was gone out into the middle court
That the word of the Lord came to him saying turn again until Hezekiah the catcher to my people does say at the Lord the God of David
Thy father I've heard thy prayer and I've seen thy tears behold
I will heal thee on the third day thou shalt go up into the house of the Lord
And I will add unto thy days fifteen years, and I will deliver thee, and this city, out
of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and
for my servant David's sake, and Isaiah said, take a lump of figs, and they took and laid
it on the boil, and he was recovered."
And so again, Hezekiah's prayer answered in a mighty way,
albeit in a very different aspect of his life, of course.
And that's what we need to understand
that our God could answer the prayers of the big battles,
but can also answer the prayers
of our small internal struggles as well.
And we need to be praying in all aspects of our life.
And we need to not just pray for the big things,
but also the small things as well.
And you're going to see that later on too.
It's just Hezekiah's great prayer life,
but Hezekiah,
prayed that God would like allow him to live and God gave him 15 more years to live and that's a great thing I
Mean imagine if you knew you were gonna die today and you prayed into God and God just told you you're good to live 15 more
Years, I think you'd appreciate your life a little bit more
So a great prayer that was answered
And verses eight through eleven, it's talking about the sign that would be given to Hezekiah to where he could go up to the temple of knowing that he's been healed.
And it's basically just this miraculous event where the dial is turned back ten degrees, meaning basically, you know, when the sun starts setting and the shadows start descending, right?
It turns one way. It's like it was turned back ten degrees. So it's like some cosmic miraculous event that took place here.
And in verse 12, it says right here at that time,
a barrow decked Balin, the son of Baladin, king of Babylon,
sent letters and a president to Hezekiah
for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.
So Babylon hears Hezekiah has been sick
and basically sends people and letters
and a president to Hezekiah.
And verse 13.
and Hezekiah harkened unto them and showed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointments,
and all the house of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures, there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion that Hezekiah showed them not.
And this is actually Hezekiah's downfall.
I mean, this is the main thing that Hezekiah did, and I'm actually going to show you, go ahead and turn to 2 Chronicles 32.
Because like I said there's three different parts of the Bible that cover the account of Hezekiah and
We find one of those counts in 2nd Chronicles
And it gives more insight to where Hezekiah's downfall really was and it says in verse 24 of 2nd Chronicles 32
In those days Hezekiah was sick unto death and prayed unto the Lord and he spake unto them and gave him a sign
But look at verse 25. This is this is Hezekiah's problem here, but Hezekiah
Rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him
For his heart was lifted up, therefore there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
And so this is the downfall of King Hezekiah right here is that basically he didn't render again the benefit done unto him
Basically, he wasn't that thankful for what God did for him extending his life 15 years
And obviously if you read Isaiah chapter 38 it actually covers what's called, you know Hezekiah song
It's like in my Bible and you know in the top of it
Sometimes it gives a little header of what it is and it talks about Hezekiah song of thanksgiving
But honestly if you read it
Of course, Hezekiah is thankful and he praises the Lord a little bit, but if you really read it, it's a very sad, melancholic, depressing song.
I mean, it's not really...it's no song of Moses, let me tell you that.
And so, I wouldn't say that Hezekiah was that thankful, and in fact, he wasn't rendering again the benefit done unto him.
And we need to make sure that when we get our prayers answered, that we thank God.
And we should, in fact, start all of our prayers
thanking God.
We need to thank God just for the simple things
that God has done for us.
Salvation, the Bible, a church that we go to,
the friendships we've made.
You know, sometimes we lose sight
and we think now that everything's good to go,
I don't need to have a prayer life anymore.
And that's unfortunately how a lot of the times
it is in the Christian life is
when things are going really bad,
that's when people are just praying fervently.
But when things are on the up and up
and everything's all right,
I don't need to render again the benefit done unto me.
So let's be people of prayer and people of thanksgiving unto the Lord and think of for what he's done for me and and for you
And so in his heart was lifted up. So it started at pride, you know
And so Hezekiah had a lot of pride and that's why if you go back to 2nd Kings chapter
2nd Kings chapter 20 go back there and that's why
Hezekiah, that's why Hezekiah was losing my thoughts here.
That's why Hezekiah was one of my thinking of here.
He was lifted up in his heart and that's what caused him to not render again the benefit done unto him
That's what I was trying to say
That's why he wasn't thankful because for some reason he just kind of thought it he was extended 15 years and somehow it's like
He did it of his own doing or something and then he's showing them just all the great things that he's got
Look at all this gold and silver and stuff. You know, he wasn't he wasn't telling the king of Babylon like hey
I was gonna die and God healed me
and gave me 15 more years to live.
That's not what he responded with.
He's just like, oh, look at my cool stuff.
And so he had a, man, that's where I think
Hezekiah's downfall really starts.
And go ahead and we'll continue reading here.
Isaiah basically is like, say like what,
how much did you show him?
And Hezekiah's like, oh, I showed him everything.
That's pretty cool.
And Isaiah's like, everything, everything, you know?
And this is when Isaiah basically pronounces judgment
on Hezekiah right here and says right here in verse 16.
And Isaiah said into Hezekiah,
hear the word of the Lord, behold the days come
that all that is in thine house
and that which thy fathers have laid up
and store unto this day shall be carried into Babylon.
Nothing shall be left sayeth the Lord
and of thy sons that shall issue from thee
which thou shalt be get shall they take away
and they shall be eunuchs in the palace
of the king of Babylon.
This is horrible news.
This is horrible news to basically say,
hey, all that cool stuff you just showed him
is gonna be completely taken away by Babylon.
And not only that, it's gonna take away
your sons that you're gonna be get,
and they're gonna become eunuchs.
I mean, that's horrible news.
And obviously Hezekiah's response is even worse.
Because you think to this horrible news,
he'd wanna pray again, right?
Like, hey, prayer's been working so far.
Maybe I just do that again, right?
But instead in verse 19, then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah,
good, good is the word of the Lord,
which thou hast spoken, and he said,
is it not good if peace and truth be in my days?
What a horrible, wicked response to have.
And this is why we get the, you know,
that's why a lot of the times when you hear preaching
on Hezekiah, he's like known as the baby boomer king.
Because unfortunately, there's a lot of old geezers today
that do not care about the next generation to come.
And they'd rather just live it up
and live some lavish lifestyle and just take, take, take
and never give back to the next generation, right?
A lot of these old people today,
instead of leaving their will to their kids
or their grandchildren, they're just like,
I'm just gonna donate to charity.
Right a wicked attitude to have you know the Bible actually says that a good man leave it than inheritance to his children's children
Not just leaving an inherent. I'm talking of physical inheritance. I mean it's not talking about spiritual
Of course, I'm gonna get to the spiritual
as well. But it's also good for us to leave a physical inheritance. You know, leave what
you have behind, give it to your children. And don't give it up to charity where, you
know, charity is just such a carte blanche statement today. You don't really know where
that money's going, right? You can be going to Planned Parenthood for all you know, right?
Kind of this Hezekiah boomer attitude right because just like how I'm just gonna donate to charity
I don't want my kids to have anything
You know as long as peace and truth are in my days
But you know what we live in a world in the nation today where we got people who are killing their babies in their wombs
You know mallet destroying them
Pulling them limb from limb
and killing their children, but as peace and truth are in my days,
I don't want to take care of a kid. Too much responsibility, I can't handle it.
I want peace and truth in my days. I don't want to spend the money that I'm going to be broke.
I don't want to take care of it. I can't go have fun like I used to.
I can't go live it up anymore. As long as peace and truth are in my days,
I don't care what happens to my kid. Go ahead and kill him. That's the world that we live in today.
Yeah, it is garbage. We live in a society today where they think it's cool
They care so little about their children and the next generation to come. They're just gonna kill it
I don't care as long as I'm living it up peace and truth are in my days
And of course that's an extreme example
But you know what us as Christians could have this bad mentality too
We don't think about how our actions and what we do can affect others because we just kind of want to take take take
And sometimes we don't want to give back
You know I think of just being inconsiderate in general right you know
I know littering is not necessarily
You know a sin or anything like that, but you know what someone's got to pick it up right that's being inconsiderate, right?
Hey, what about blasting loud music in your car or your apartment, right?
You know those people is go
He said, hey, brother, that was really annoying.
Yeah, I know.
Well, I have peace and truth through my head.
As long as I get to enjoy myself,
I don't really care about others, right?
And it's just this cold world we live in today,
where people just aren't considerate of others.
They don't care about others.
And they just rather do whatever they want to do,
and really don't care how other people feel about it.
And that's not how we should be as Christians.
In fact, go ahead and turn to Philippians chapter 2.
Let's not have this Hezekiah attitude of just not caring about the next generation
Philippians chapter 2 says in verse 3 let nothing be done through strife or vane glory
But in lowliness of mind remember Hezekiah was lifted up in his heart
We need to have lowliness of mind let each esteem other
Better than themselves look not every man on his own things
But every man also on the things of others and so we need to be as Christians looking not not focusing on ourselves
Not just worry about ourselves and how the world just affects us
But we need to care about how we can affect others and let's esteem other people more than ourselves
And in fact, this is perfectly exemplified because in verse five it says let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus
You know Jesus is the the ultimate expression of self-sacrificial love that we need to adopt right if we call ourselves Christians
Why don't we have that same attitude where we need to care about others?
We need to uplift others and not just worry about ourselves all the time
You know, I think it was an open ultimate expression when Jesus died for us on the cross and it was whipped and beaten and mocked and spit on and
Crucified and he did all that not for his own sake, but for us. So can we be a little bit more considerate of others?
Go back to 2nd Kings chapter 20 2nd Kings chapter 20
And unfortunately, this is kind of the Mar on Hezekiah's reputation
And I talked about the title of my sermon being the legacy of King Ezekiah.
And funny enough, the legacy actually has two different definitions.
We think of the second definition most of the time where it's the long lasting, it says
right here, I pulled it up, the long lasting impact of particular events, actions, etc.
that took place in the past or of a person's life.
But actually the number one definition of legacy is an amount of money or property left
to someone in a will.
And so, unfortunately, Hezekiah didn't really care to leave an inheritance for the next generation.
And it shows, because look at verse 1 of chapter 21 of 2 Kings.
You see a son, Manasseh.
Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign and reign 50 and 5 years in Jerusalem.
And his mother's name was Hepsiva.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord after the abominations of the heathen
whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.
And so unfortunately this attitude Hezekiah had probably led to a son being a wicked king and that's unfortunate
It's really sad that that's the legacy that he left for his son is to turn out turn out a menace now
I do want to give a little bit of grace towards Hezekiah
Because I believe when this is pronounced when Hezekiah says good is it not good that truth piece and truth be in my days
I believe that this happens before Hezekiah actually has any children
And the reason why I think that is because of a nasty it says he was 12 years old when he began to rain
But when Hezekiah was gonna die. He was extended 15 more years of life, right?
This is happening when he's given 15 more years, and so it was still three years
After this point where he actually had any children
So I don't believe he's looking at his son and just like I don't care what happens to him, right?
He's not he's not looking at physical children yet
But you know should actually be a good application to us who for instance people who are either single or don't have any or are married
And don't have any children yet. It should be
Something us where we should think of hey even if you don't have any children yet
You still need to be thinking about the next generation
You know they still think about how you're gonna leave an impact in this world
how you're gonna leave a legacy in this world even if you don't have any kids at
this time because Hezekiah wasn't thinking about that at that time and it
was still wrong so
Regardless if you have kids or not,
think about and pray about the next generation to come.
And you know, let me just park this for a second too.
It annoys me, it frustrates me so much
when I hear these older folk talk about,
oh, this Gen Z, they're all just gay and soft
and it's just their fault and all that,
which is true to a certain extent, of course.
It is true, you got a bunch of blue they-thems now
growing up today, but...
It's so much so where they just seem like you think that they just turn out gay by osmosis
You think they just turned out soft and blue-haired by osmosis. No, you raise that blue hair little they them
You're the one that did it. Maybe if you weren't so soft and effeminate, maybe you would have turned out a little faggot, huh?
But y'all we had peace and truth through my days on I just I just want to you know coddle my son
I don't I don't want to reproof on him and he could just do whatever right
That's the attitude people have with their kids today. Ah, oh, no Billy's perfect
Sorry, brother bill. I just thought of a name off the top you know
But we have this attitude today where we just want to put the responsibility on someone else and we never want to take
Responsibility for our own actions, so I just thought I'd mention that too as part of this whole peace and truth being my day's idea
But unfortunately
Manasseh is the result of not caring and
Even worse than that because at least Manasseh at the end of his life
It seems to insinuate that he actually got saved at the end of his life
But the Manasseh son Amon who took over he was a wicked king through and through and there's just no redemptive qualities about Amon
Unfortunately, and you can read about that all yourself, but both these guys
committed infanticide again, just like Ahaz, they committed idolatry, they're really wicked
kings, just evil kings, and people will say Manasseh and Ammon are some of the worst kings
of Judah just in the entire Bible.
That's right from Hezekiah, and so unfortunately Hezekiah kind of marred his legacy, and you
see the results of that from his child and his grandchild, and it's really sad, it's
But I do want to kind of balance this out and kind of leave this more on a positive note because again
I titled the sermon the legacy of King Hezekiah and I believe Hezekiah actually left a good legacy
I'm gonna explain what I what I think
First of all of course
He has a chai left a great legacy because we could read about him, we could read about
all the great things that he did, his reform to the land, we could read about his prayer
life that he had, and obviously glean from that and apply to our own lives.
But I actually believe, and I'm going to give kind of a theory that I have, and you don't
have to believe this theory.
I think it's pretty, I think I could back it up with scripture and just biblical principles,
but even if you don't believe this theory, I believe the application will still apply.
second kings and after Manasseh and Ammon we see Josiah take over and Josiah was
a righteous king I mean he was a great king
And in fact he was such a great king even at eight years old when he began to reign
He's like tearing down altars and tearing down idols and stuff
And he doesn't really know what he's doing because if you read the story, we don't know
I don't have time to go through it
But if you read the story of Josiah, he was such a great king that
He ended up turning really towards the Lord in a mighty way once
He discovered the book of the law from his priest Hill Chia, right?
And so he discovered this book of the law and it basically
Some people say it's Deuteronomy, some people say the book of the law is like the entire Old Testament or just all scripture that was given up to this point.
I don't really know what the case is, it doesn't really give explanation too well.
I would lean to believe that it's all five books of Moses because if you read the story, he reads the book of the law and he's just like,
we're doing evil, we're just doing so wrong, we're like...
you know we're not doing right in the side of the Lord we need to get things
right and I just can't imagine how Deuteronomy is just like the book that
you know I didn't know Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers you know didn't give me
enough I need a Deuteronomy to really know so I don't know what I think on
that I just think it's most likely the entire five books of Moses
but he finds this book of the law and he's like we need to get things right and that's when he
brings reform and he brings back the the Passover and the religious practices the the the priests
and the Levites and he does this great work in his own life as well and I believe my theory is
that the book of the law that Hilkiah the priest found that Josiah saw was Hezekiah's copy and
I'll explain to you I got three reasons why I believe that number one
But in turn to Proverbs 25, Proverbs 25.
And just a little crash course of Proverbs.
Proverbs is actually split up into three different sections,
sorry, five different sections.
because in chapter one it starts out by saying the Proverbs of Solomon and if you read chapters 1
through 9 it's actually very cohesive you know other parts of Proverbs it's all broken up but
chapters 1 through 9 is actually very much in line it has like a clear thought through it all
and then you get to chapter 10 and then it says the Proverbs of Solomon the king you know the
son of David right and then you got new Proverbs and then you look at Proverbs 25 this is a new
also Proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah, King of Judah, copied out.
And so you see there that very clearly, and this section goes from Proverbs 25 to 29,
and then obviously the next two portions of Proverbs is chapter 30, which is King Auger,
and then you got 31, which is King Lemuel.
In five different sections, but in this section is actually what Hezekiah's men copied out
And so what's preserved here is actually Hezekiah's men's copies of scripture, and I believe that
It's not there by accident. Go ahead and turn back to 2nd Kings 22
I don't believe it's there by accident, but it's there to kind of show us LA
There's something from Hezekiah kind of survived
and the second reason I think is just logically speaking you have King Hezekiah a righteous king
and then you have two wicked kings in between Manasseh and Ammon and then you got Josiah
I mean you're and and and let me also say to you in Deuteronomy let me just turn there really quick Deuteronomy 17
in of verse 18
It actually says about kings when they take over for Israel.
It says, it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom that he shall write
him a copy of this law in a book out of all, out of that which is before the priests of
the Levites.
And so it was actually commanded of kings to have their own copy of the book of the law.
And so obviously a righteous king like Hezekiah is going to have his own copy, a righteous king like Josiah would have a copy if he didn't have to find it, but do you really think that Manasseh and Ammon, who are the most wicked kings of Judah, actually followed that commandment to keep a copy?
I would lean not to believe so. And then the last reason that I have is that Hezekiah and Josiah are extremely similar people if you read their stories.
2 Kings 22 turn to 2 Kings 23
2 Kings 23
Let me see here or is it in 2 Kings 22
Now it says here in
2 Kings 22 I lost my notes here
Well, it says about Josiah that there was no one that turned more to God than King Josiah basically.
I couldn't find the verse for you right now, but there is a verse in the Bible that talks about King Josiah.
There's no one that turned to the Lord as before him or after him.
It's actually very similar to Hezekiah.
Where it says that he trusts in the Lord of God of Israel so that after him was done like him among all the kings of Judah
Oh, it's yeah, it is chapter 23 and verse 25 chapter 23 and verse 25 there
Sorry about that look there in verse 25 and like and talking about Josiah and like unto him
Was there no king before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart with all his soul with all his might?
According to all the law Moses neither after him arose there any like him
So you see very similar descriptions of Josiah and Hezekiah right and I don't believe there's that about mistake
And in fact a lot of scoffers of the Bible will often say like oh see this is a
discrepancy this is
An error in the Bible because it says two kings are the best but what I think is saying
about King Josiah as there's no king before him or after him that turned to
the Lord like him because obviously once he found the book of the law that's
when he started to get things right but you see very similar parallels they
both brought reform to the land they both broke down the idols and
groves that their wicked king father had erected back up and so you see very
similar parallels to Hezekiah and Josiah now you might not believe that
theory I think it's pretty
substantial that you could kind of get that theory from the Bible but even if
you don't believe that the the practical application I'm going to give you still
stands because Hezekiah is known for being someone who doesn't care about the
next generation which is true he didn't but he was a great king he was a great
man of God he did that which was right in the side of the Lord and you know what
I think God still used him in a great way to leave a good legacy in his life
regardless of him falling short and it should be a good encouragement to us
that even though we might fall short we could still leave a good legacy a good
inheritance for the future generations to come and let's think about that more
that we can actually leave an impact in this world we can leave a legacy a good
legacy in this world I think of someone in our church who did like Ancestry.com
found out that their great great great whatever great grandmother
was a fundamental Baptist who you to basically grew up and died at like eighty
or ninety years old in a fundamental Baptist church
you know and that's a great encouragement that's like that would that would give me
great faith to know that they like someone of my ancestors was like a
fundamental Baptist and you know think of like with
Hezekiah and Josiah you know Josiah probably heard about
the great things that his great grandfather Hezekiah did and we could
us. That person had to find their great-great-great grandmother through ancestry, but think of
the age of the internet which we live in today. You never know the impact that you could actually
leave for future generations to come, and we should be more mindful of that. What great
impact we could leave in this world and in the lives of others. That's just food for
thought there, but the principle still stands that we could leave a good legacy. That's
the legacy of Hezekiah. He left a bad legacy and he left a good legacy.
You could leave a bad legacy in your life. You could get out of church.
You could go live in the world. You could just stop serving God.
But you're going to end up with manasses and ammons that follow after you.
Or you could leave an impact on the Josiahs of this world.
Because even if you fall short, hey, there might be a Josiah that looks up to you in the future.
And so let's try to leave a good legacy in our life leave a good inheritance for future generations to come
And so and another thing that I just might mention on that same thing and also showing that Hezekiah and Josiah
Are just eerily similar stories Josiah died died on the battlefield when he was 39 years old
Hezekiah at 39 years old was extended 15 more years of life
So you never really know if you're gonna be a Josiah who dies early or Hezekiah that gets more time to serve God
And let's not waste time to try to figure out if I do want to serve God or not
Do I want to leave a legacy?
Do I want to leave a mark in this world and let's just do it now because you don't know if you give 15 more years
Or if you die out in the battlefield today, and so
That's about it King Hezekiah is a great King
And I think it's great to hear all these different things,
even the good and the bad and the ugly of all these kings
to show the real people and people we could apply
to our own lives.
And so that's about it.
That's about our heads and word of prayer.
Dear Lord God, just thank you for...
Let us be your safely lord and your house lord
Just thank you for all the great men that you have written about in your word lord
And just thank you for king has a kind his story lord and just pray that we could apply certain things of his life and apply to our
Lives as well lord help us to pray more help us to stay out of politics lord and
Help us to leave a legacy for future generations to come and help us to care more about the future
Generations lord and so I pray this all in Jesus name amen
Song number four hundred and thirty seven song number four hundred and thirty seven
Battle hymn of the Republic song number three hundred and forty seven our four hundred thirty seven. I'm sorry
Four hundred and thirty seven
Son of 437, you see it on that first verse.
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
He is trampling out the vintage where the great son of God is born.
He hath loosed the fateful fighting of his terrible swiftest sword.
This truth is marching on.
His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the washfires of the hundred-circuit camps.
They have trailed in Him and altered in the evening dew and damps.
I can read His righteous sentence by the tip, wearing less.
His day is marching on.
Glory, glory, hallelujah.
marching on. He has sounded for the trumpet that shall never sound retreat. He is sifting
out the hearts of men before his judgment seemed. Oh, be strict, my soul, to answer him.
Be too early and fleek, my God is marching on.
Christ was born across the sea, with a glory in his puzzle, but a time as he died, a figment
holy that has died to men make grief, the flood is marching on.
Wonderful singing you are dismissed