So in second Kings chapter number 20, I want to just point out here in the first just seven verses
We see first of all this great picture
I believe of salvation if you kind of see a few of the elements here that I'll point out
You can see there's this great picture even here of I believe salvation and the first thing I'd point out there in first one
It says in those days was Hezekiah sick unto death and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amos came to him and said unto him
Thus saith the Lord set thine house in order for thou shalt die and shall not live
So right there when I read that I kind of just see you know
The fact that you have a preacher coming and telling somebody some bad news
And really that's what we're doing every time we go out and preach the gospel
Of course, we're out there preaching the good news of the gospel the glad tidings of the gospel
But in that good news, we're also pointing out the fact that hey, you're gonna die one day
We're telling people hey, you need to be prepared to die and you kind of see that here
in this chapter in verse 1
Where you have the man of God coming the prophet Isaiah he's coming to him and he's saying thus saith the Lord
So he's preaching the Word of God to him and he says set thine house in order for thou
Shall die and shall not live and that's the message that we bring when we go out and preach the gospel
that the wages of sin is death, you know and that it is appointed unto man wants to die and
after this the judgment that we go out and we preach that people need to get saved that they need to
Believe on Christ and be saved from you know that eternal destruction in hell
And what's interesting about this is that when you when you kind of think about this God gives fair warning to people
That's what I love about the story
And I think there's some reasons why hezekiah
gets the warning and he gets this miracle that we see take place later when he gets healed miraculously and
He you know, he goes on and lives another 15 years and I'll get to all that
But right out of the gate you see that God is giving him a fair warning isn't he saying hey set your house in order
You're gonna die. It's not like this is a sudden thing where he's just gonna take him out
You know God is giving him in some way some grace
Maybe he's even saying this to him so that he could get a reaction out of him to see how hezekiah might you know
Behave himself, you know when he gets this news
And again, the gospel here is pictured because that's exactly what we do
You know, that's exactly what God has done for the whole world
God has given the world fair warning and I know where to kind of preach this just recently
I'm not going to go on and on about it
But again the Bible tells us that when the Gentiles which have not the law do the things contained in the law
These having not the law or a law unto themselves, you know
God has put it in in heart of every man to know right from wrong
God has given this world fair warning, you know
The the you know, the gospel has gone out into all the ends of the earth people can get saved
People can seek out God and find him, you know
Sinners have been given fair warning. Okay
So again, that's just one element here that I would point out in the beginning where God is saying
Hey set thine house in order, you know, God's giving him a fair warning. You're gonna die
You know things are gonna come to an end for you. You need to get right and notice in verse
Verses two and three it says there
you know he gets this news and it says then he turned his face to the wall and
Prayed unto the Lord saying I beseech thee O Lord
remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with the perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight and
Hezekiah wept sore, you know, and there's a great lesson to learn from this is that you know
Hezekiah had something to remind God about didn't he? He didn't turn to the wall and say I wasted my whole life
Oh, I wish I had done more for God. Oh, I wish that I had you know served you Lord, you know
He said remember everything that I did for you Lord
Remember how I served you how I walked before thee in truth and with the perfect heart and I've done that which is good
And I cite right and we read earlier that Hezekiah, you know, there was no king like him before after he wrote
He works this great revival in Judah, you know, he was a godly king
Obviously, we're seeing some of his faults here tonight in in chapter 20. He's still a man, right?
but at least when this bad news comes when he's getting this warning from God when this message comes to him of
Judgment that he at least has something to kind of go, you know to
Perhaps, you know invoke God's mercy and say well, maybe you'd be merciful to me Lord. Show me some grace here
Let me remind you how I was perfect how I walked in my sight and I did that which is good
You know, the only reason he was able to say that is because he did that
Okay, and if we want to you know be able to have you know, maybe some pull with God
You know if we want to have maybe some bargaining power with God, you know
We we have to actually have done things we can't just go
Well, Lord, I know I'm in this position. I really need your help right now. I've got this bad news, whatever
I really need you to work and show me some mercy and grace, but you know, I haven't been doing anything
You know, I haven't been serving you haven't been doing anything
It's that's probably not gonna get you very far has a chi I had kind of something to fall back on here
didn't he you can say hey remember how I did all these other works for you and
Obviously it worked and again, this is another great picture of the gospel because God is moved by this prayer
Let me point out the fact that has I you know has a chi of prayed as well, you know that he actually prayed to God
Right. That's another picture of the gospel
You know that whosoever believeth in him shall be saved that that it with the you know with the heart
With with the heart of man believeth and with the mouth confession is made into salvation
Okay, I don't want to go off and all that but I point that out as well that there has to be a prayer there
Has to be an asking for salvation right as a chi I had to pray he did that he gets this bad news
Right, he gets the warning he prays and God is moved by his prayer. Okay. So God is moved by prayer and
We could go to Romans 10 and look at all that. We won't take the time to turn you there
I'll just read to you but it says that
That thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou
Shalt be saved. So again, it's this believing and this praying, right?
Notice here though in verse 4
God is moved by this prayer, right?
and why is that because I believe has a chi has something to kind of get God's attention to remind him of
You know the fact that he was
serving him prior that he's been living for him that he hasn't just been wasting his time and it says in verse 4 and it
Came to pass before I for Isaiah was gone out in the middle court that the word of Lord came to him saying
Turn again and tell has a chi of the captain of my people thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father
I have heard thy prayer. I've seen thy tears behold
I will I will heal thee and on the third day that shall go up into the house of the Lord
So Isaiah comes and he says hey get your house in order
You're gonna die he leaves and before he can even get out of the court before he's even gone
God, you know, hi
Hezekiah has prayed and God is
Quickly moved by that prayer and turns Isaiah around and says go back and tell him that I'm gonna heal him
Go back and tell him that on the third day. He's gonna come into the house of the Lord that he's gonna rise
So God is quick to grant mercy right again another great picture of
Salvation right God has moved by this prayer and he's quick to grant mercy unto Hezekiah
He said in verse 6 I will deliver thee
You know
The Bible tells us that God is ready to forgive that he is plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon him
you know God is wants to forgive people God wants to
You know show mercy and grace to people but often people don't want to ask for it right and again
I'm applying this to salvation
You know
We're not the type that's gonna you know, make people work for their salvation or prove that they want to get saved
You know if people believe in their heart and they confess with their mouth. God is quick to answer that prayer
You know
We're not gonna have some you know wooden bench up here that like they used to have called the mourners bench
Where you come to church and you sit on that bench?
You know and mourn and you weep and you show everybody how much you really want to get saved and then maybe we'll preach you
The gospel and then maybe we'll let you get so that's not how it works with God
You know God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. God wants people to get saved
Why wouldn't he quickly answer that prayer?
Why I wouldn't just you know
If someone just took the the little bit of faith that they had that faith of the grain of mustard seed and said I'm putting
It all in Jesus, you know, he'll answer that prayer
So it's a great picture of salvation the fact that God gives fair warning, you know
He sends a prophet and brings the warning and then you know
The the the one who was warned prays to the Lord and God quickly answers the prayer and delivers him and heals him. Okay
Miraculously because we're gonna see the miracle
Here, but notice again. God is granting mercy to him to a very humble man
Okay, so obviously that that's the picture of salvation, but you know
God is quick to show mercy to the lost sinner
But you know God is also quick to show mercy to the Christian
You know God wants to extend his mercy and his grace to us as well
but you know sometimes Christians they can get so backslidden so out of sorts with God that they just kind of think that God's not
Gonna, you know that they can't go back like they can't get right with God
Look draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. That's the promise of Scripture
You know, sometimes you wonder why why do some Christians just choose to live a backslidden life?
Why do they just choose to live an unspiritual life? Why do they not want to get the sin out of their life?
Why don't they not want to serve God?
You know, it's sometimes you wonder is it because they think that God's not gonna answer that prayer
No, God is quick to show mercy. God is plenteous in mercy God, you know if we confess our sins
He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now God will answer those prayers
So is it the Christians that are backslidden don't know that or is it that they know that it's just that they're not
Really interested in getting right with God, you know, obviously have to take that on a case-by-case basis
But you know what? Sometimes I think that's what it is. People just have no interest in getting right with God
It's not God's fault. God's ready to forgive God's ready. He's plenty in mercy. He's ready to extend, you know, the olive branch
He's ready to set us back on our feet. He's ready to dust us off and get us back in the fight for God
It's just that we don't want to sometimes
That's why God, you know this this prayer this is being answered unto a humble person
It takes humility, right? Because if you look again at verse 3 it says I beseech thee O Lord
This isn't the prayer of a proud man
Remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and of that which is right
Good night sight and has a kind of wept sore
Right, you know sometimes obviously we have to let our joy be turned into mourning if we want to draw an eye to God
We have to you know, we have to show God that we are genuinely sorry
You know if we're not really sorry for being out of sorts with God, you know, are we really getting right with God?
You can't sit there and say oh, I'm sorry God, you know for the sin that's in my life
I'm sorry for not serving you and then just continue going. You're not really sorry
People are really sorry about the way they've been typically stop, you know, they change their behavior
You know if I were to go to my wife and apologize for something I had done or said and then said I'm sorry about
That and then just immediately did the exact same thing again and offended her all over again
Was I ever really sorry to begin with?
You know, it's the same way in any relationship including the Christians relationship with God
Oh, I'm sorry God. Are you really though because you just keep doing the same thing, you know
Whether it's something we are doing or something. We aren't doing unless we're ready to you know, weep sore
Obviously, this isn't something that applies to salvation
Like I said a moment ago
But as the Christian, you know living the Christian life if we're not ready to actually
You know be sorry for the things that we've done, you know, maybe God isn't going to be so quick to forgive
Maybe God when we're genuinely sorry, that's when God is gonna move
That's when God and he quickly wants to do that. That'll happen
It's just that we have to actually mean it and we actually have to be sorry for the things that we've done
Go over to John chapter 15 John chapter number 15 when you get there keep something there
Because here's the thing, you know, we all want our prayers answered quickly, don't we?
We would love to be like Hezekiah here and say man. Look, I mean wouldn't you I mean obviously
Sometimes prayers don't get answered that quickly because God has purposes behind that I understand that
You know, sometimes it'd be great to be able to pray a prayer and have God just that quick
Just be that ready to respond
You know
Maybe not respond the way we want
But at least know that we're being heard of God at least know that our prayers getting through at least know that God is taking
Note of it. Maybe it's not things aren't working out exactly
the way we would have them work out, but at least to have the
The the peace of knowing that there's nothing between my soul and the Savior that when I pray it gets through to God
You have a prayer that that's that that line of communication is kept open
Right because I've been because we've lived like a Hezekiah we've done that which is good and right in his sight
We've walked in his ways and and kept it his word
I mean look at John chapter 15 verse 7 this that's the promise we have in Scripture if ye abide in me and
My words abide in you ye shall ask what you will it shall be done unto you
You know if we abide in him and his words abide in us, you know, we're we're abiding in Christ
We're walking in Christ. We're walking in the commandments. We're keeping God's commandments in our heart where we're living
According to the scripture if we abide in him and his words abide in us
You will ask what you will and it shall be done unto you
Because here's the thing when you're abiding in him and his words are abiding in you
You're gonna know how to pray
You're probably gonna have a better idea how to pray for things
You're not gonna sit there and just pray for just you know, these silly prayers that sometimes people pray, you know
Send me a million dollars, you know
God's gonna that scripture will come to mind thou shalt not covet, you know
We might not pray a prayer like that. We'd probably pray more in line with God's Word
We would pray things that God would agree with and say yes, I will answer that prayer, you know
But that's only gonna happen if you abide in me, right
Notice lastly in verse 7, of course verse 7 going it keeps up in 1st John 15, but go back to 2nd Kings 20
this one always kind of
Every time I read this story this part of story was kind of gets a chuckle on me because it's just so kind of out
Of out of nowhere, right when you're reading it, you know
And it says in verse 6 and I will add unto thee unto thy days
15 years and I will deliver this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria and I will defend this city for mine
own sake and more my servant David's sake and Isaiah said take a lump of figs and
They took it and they took and laid it on the boil and he recovered
So, I don't know if there's any you know
Homeopathic doctors in the house tonight that can answer if that's an actual cure
But you know you read that it's like you don't look at fruit the same way after that
You kind of look at a figure like man, there's there is there more going on here then then I then I realize
I mean, I don't know how much of a miracle it really was but you know, there's obviously are at another application here
There's a greater application that can be made
One again, it's this idea of fruit of fruitfulness, right? He's taking a fruit and putting it on this boil, right?
You know Hezekiah as I mentioned before had fruits in his life, you know
If you have some boil if you have some sin if you have some problem in your life
You better have some fruit laying around, you know God, you know, maybe you could put that on there and say God could take care
of things
Maybe that's one way you could apply it
But also, you know what the when I read that I kind of think about the fact that God doesn't just save us to live
a fruitless barren life
You know God heals us that we could bear fruit, you know, he's kind of putting the fruit on the boil, right?
And God's kind of saying hey, you know be a fruitful Christian, you know, we don't want to be these
You know fruitless Christians God wants fruit from your life. He says hey, I'm gonna add 15 years under your life
Right, and here's some fruit to put on the boil to kind of remind you what it is. I want you to do
God wants us to bear fruit in our lives if you would go to Romans chapter number six
You know God doesn't you know, obviously God is quick to forgive us. God is quick to save us
God is quick to answer our prayers
But God doesn't just save us from sin
Just so that we can just do whatever we want and Christians get this in their head
They think that you know once they get saved
It doesn't really matter what they do because they're gonna go to heaven no matter what they can do whatever they want, right?
That's a philosophy that's out there. Whole books have been written about it. God is not mad at you, you know your best life now
But the fact is is that the Bible says you've been bought with the price as with the precious blood of a lamb and you
Are not your own, you know, God tells us Romans 12 to therefore mortify our bodies
Which are on the earth to present our bodies a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service
That's that's a reasonable thing. You know, we've been bought with the price
We're to present our bodies our lives unto God as a sacrifice
Doesn't sound to me like God just like okay, you're saved now now do whatever you want now live however you want
Don't think don't worry about me if you're upsetting me just go on and sin
Just go ahead and just do whatever you want. Make all the decisions you want. Don't consider me and no God wants us to bear
fruitful lives
You know God's healing this boil with this lump of figs
I think they kind of show us like here's what's gonna maybe one give you a you know, a
Bargaining tool, you know to something if you have some fruit, you know, maybe you could show that to God like hezekiah
But also that hey, you know, God wants some fruit in our lives
God doesn't want us to just be these barren Christians. God didn't save us from sin
So that we could just keep living in sin
Look, I get we're all gonna have sin in our lives. No one's gonna reach this state of sinless perfection
We're all gonna you know, but we're not we shouldn't be these people have these presumptuous sins in our lives
We shouldn't be people that just have these habitual sins in our lives. Obviously, we're all gonna make mistakes
We're all still in the flesh. We still have the the old man to deal with we can't escape that
But you know God wants us to you know, at least try at the very least to get sins out of our life and
To not just be living and continue with sin. Look at Romans chapter 6 verse 1. What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound because you remember Romans chapter 15 it ends by saying
Where sin did abound grace did much more abundantly abound, right? So if we do sin grace will abound, you know
That goes against that whole teaching of you know, if you sin you lose your salvation, right?
No, if I sin, there's more grace, you know Christ blood
Atones for all of my sin. It's it atone for all the sins past present and future
Right. It's not like Jesus saved me up up until a certain point and I said you take it from here brother Corbin
No, he saved me completely utterly, right? I'm a new creature in Christ
But you know God doesn't save us from our sins just so we can keep living in sin people get this idea
They get this attitude. They think well, I'm saved. I can't lose it. So it doesn't matter how I live
Well, don't be surprised if you wake up with a boil one day, you know this figurative boil in your life where God's saying
Hey get ready. I'm gonna chase in you. You're gonna die. I'm gonna kill you. I'm gonna punish you, right?
Romans 6 verse 1 what shall we say shall we continue in sin that grace may abound may it never be
I mean God forbid. Sorry. I got confused there for a minute
How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer there in you say look if we're dead to sin
Why would we continue living in sin?
You know what, you know
Well, why would we continue keep doing those things that that were such a an offense to God?
You know, why would we keep going and and living in sins that were taking us to hell
You know sins that Jesus died for why would people do that?
How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer there in
Look at verse 12 let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you shall be it and lust thereof
verse 12 set begins with let not
Meaning it sounds to me like it's kind of up to you to make that decision
I mean you still have the flesh
You know as far as I can tell no one in this room's got the glorified body
If you have I'm gonna be sorely disappointed when I get to heaven
Right, but so he's saying hey let not you know
We still have this inward turmoil between the flesh and the spirit between the old man and the new man
That's that's the Christian life
That's why he's saying hey let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lust thereof
Everything the flesh wants I just give it
Everything every impulse that comes I just give it
You know that's not how we're supposed to live the Christian life
That's not how you live a fruitful life verse 13 neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin
Again, he's saying don't yield to it. It sounds like we have an option
It sounds like we have a choice in the Christian life. We could either yield to sin or not
We could either you know
Not let sin reign in our mortal body or we can go ahead and let it reign in our mortal body that we should obey it
unless thereof
Verse 14 for sin shall not have the dominion over you you're not under the law
But under grace what then shall we sin because we are under the law, but under grace god forbid
Know ye not that to whom ye yield your servants yourselves servants to obey his servants
Yourselves servants to obey his servants you are to whom you obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness
You know, whoever you're going to yield your members to is who you're going to serve
You can yield your members to the flesh or you can yield your members to the spirit
You know, but if we live in the spirit, let us also therefore walk in the spirit
And that's what that's the the attitude we ought to have
But again, it makes it real clear here in romans 6 that seems to me like we have a choice in the matter
You know a lot of times the sins that we're involved in we could stop if we wanted and get it right
you know, we could quit quit that sin and
Get right with god humble ourselves be sorry for that sin and change our behavior
The question is do we want to?
Go over to uh, again keep something on don't keep anything in romans
But go over to ephesians chapter number two and we'll look at it. We'll look at a real familiar
Uh passage here, of course
We've probably all quoted this out soul winning verse eight for by grace
He saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of god not of works lest any man should boast, right?
But then we come times. I think we forget about verse 10
Where he says for we are his workmanship created in christ. Jesus unto good works
Which god hath before ordained that we should walk in them
Yeah, we're saved by grace
Not of works and it's all by faith. Amen
But god is also foreordained that that we there are works that we should walk in right
We are his workmanship created unto. Jesus in christ. Jesus unto good works
Which god hath before ordained that we should walk in them and again, there's that word should
Means it's optional
You know, it's optional how you're going to conduct yourself in life
You can live a godly life or not even as a christian. It's none of its automatic
You know, and that's something that we have to keep in mind all the time go back to romans chapter number two romans chapter number two
I mean isn't that an amazing thing about god's grace is that you know god saves us
He's quick to save us
And then he empowers us to the holy spirit
You know, we can live this godly christian life we can have victory over the flesh if we want it
And then even when we mess up even when we make mistakes god is still
Willing, you know grace will continue to abound
God will still forgive us god will still
Restore us to fellowship. God will still answer prayer. God can still use us no matter where we are in life
You know, that's the goodness of god that's how good god is
That's how good god is
I mean, I don't know that i'd be that good
You know, I don't know that I would I certainly don't think I had that that patience amount of patience with people
I mean if I sent my only son to die for the sins of the world
And if everybody didn't just immediately come running to him
I would just you know, probably just send you all to hell
I mean think about how how short we are with one another sometimes think about how
Unforgiving and impatient we are with the people in our lives
But now I think you know over what you know over just like these petty things
Over the little differences
Over just the smallest little things we could get all bent out of shape
And we can harbor grudges and bitterness and anger and resentment for years
because
You know, i'm trying to think of a silly example, but you know, I don't know maybe if I say it someone will actually go hey
That actually happened to me, you know
Right, but now think about what an offense we are to god a holy god a sinful person, uh such as ourselves
You know paul said I know that in me that is in my flesh to dwell with no good thing
You know, we're still walking around with his flesh. We still do things that are an offense to god
Right, but now think about how much god he just forgives. He's merciful. He's gracious. He's patient. I mean, that's the goodness of god
And i'm trying to get us to understand that obviously I can't fully articulate or make the you know
impress upon you how good god really is
but if you would think about that and meditate upon that and
You know recognize that out of the word of god for yourself
You'd realize that the goodness of god does what leads us to repentance?
You know the goodness of god is what should bring us back to god
You know a lot of times people stay at us in because they're afraid of what might happen right
Rightfully, so but hey, here's another here's another uh, you know a way of looking at it
You know, maybe people would get back right with god if they'd realize how good god is, you know
The goodness of god leads us to repentance
That's what it says in romans chapter 2
It says in verse 4 despises thou the riches of his goodness
And forbearance and long-suffering
Not knowing that the goodness of god leadeth thee to repentance
You know god his his goodness is rich his forbearance is long-suffering. We can't even comprehend it
It should bring us back to god. It should cause us to repent and get things out of our lives
It should what cause us to live a fruitful life
It should cause us to want to bear fruit in our lives go to colossians chapter number one colossians chapter number one
I mean, this is kind of what hasakiah had going for him
He could look back and say hey, I lived a fruitful life. I served you
And god said i'm going to answer that prayer i'm going to heal him
Verse three colossians 1 it says we give thanks to god and the father of our lord. Jesus christ praying always for you
Since we heard of your faith in christ jesus and the love which you have to all the saints
For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven
Whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel
Verse nine for this cause we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you
Into desire that may be filled with his knowledge
Excuse me with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding
And that you might walk worthy of the lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work
What was paul's prayer for the people in colossi?
What is it that he wanted them to do to be fruitful in every good work?
And he's saying look since the day we heard of your faith what we do not cease to pray for you
And what was he praying?
That you'd have a nice
Comfortable easy life where you don't have to do anything for god where you can just kind of coast through life
Never having being inconvenienced for the lord. You don't have to go to church. You don't have to read your bible
You don't have to preach a gospel. You don't have to develop any standards in your life
You don't have to get any sin out. This is what we lord. Please just don't put anything on anybody ever
I know you laid down your life. I know you sacrificed yourself for them
Just let us all uh, you know have to be able to just do the bare minimum
And to just just skate by in the christian life and never have to do that's what we earnestly have prayed for you, right?
No, he's saying we would we pray that you would be fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of god
That's paul's desire for the people in in colossi for the colossians that they would
Be fruitful in every good work. That's what god has saved us unto
That is what god has uh, you know foreordained for us
That we should walk in in newness of life and do the works that he's given us to do
And god's given us all works to do
and here's the thing i'm preaching this because
You know some people it just they they sell themselves short. They just think well, I can't do that much for god
You know or they're maybe they're like hezekiah, right? They're kind of told hey
This is it life's over, you know, they're looking at the end of life and think well, what can I do?
I've just got this boil
It's going to take me out
Right. Well, here's the thing if you'd pray
If you'd turn if you'd weep if you'd seek god's face, you know, god would say hey, let's let's put some fruit on that
Let's get some fruit on that boil
You know some people just need to get over their boil in life and just serve god
You know get over your boil and serve the lord
bear some fruit
right
That's what's going to glorify god. That's what jesus said. Here is my father glorified that you bear much fruit
Did you bear a little fruit know that you bear much fruit?
God wants us to bear fruit that's going to glorify god when we bear fruit with our lives
Look at uh, go back to second, uh second kings 20
Beginning in verse eight it says and hezekiah said in isaiah what shall be the sign that the lord will heal me
And then I shall go up into the house of the lord the third day
And isaiah said this is the sign that thou shalt have of the lord
The lord will do the thing which he had spoken shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go back ten degrees
And it's this interesting thing
That he's talking about the sundial, right?
The dial of a has at verse of verse 11, right? So that's how they would tell time back then
So he was saying hey, what do you want?
You want us to to move the the dial the shadow and the dial back or forward 10 degrees, right?
And it's interesting because hezekiah, you know, it's like this it's this theme of time, right?
He's saying hey because he ends and he says you have i'm going to give you 15 more years
And you shall go up to the house of the lord in the third day
Right, i'm going to give you 15 more years. So it's this idea of time
So when he says well, what's the sign that i'm going to go up that i'm going to have 15 more years? What sign?
What does god use?
Right, because that's what he's concerned about right hezekiah saying how do I know I have this time?
How do I know I have these 15 years?
Right, it's it's a question about time and what does god use to show him he uses an instrument that measures time
He says well, let's let's go look at a clock together
And do you want the clock to go backwards or do you want to go forwards?
And I think there's a purpose behind that, you know, god is is reassuring him
About the time that he's giving him using this instrument that tells time
To show him that god is in control of time
Right, and this isn't the first time god has done obviously if the dial is moving back god is you know, manipulating the sun
Right
And that's you know, that's that'll keep you up at night
It's like how did he move that back? Did everybody kind of move backwards for a little bit, you know, or
Obviously not right, but god shifted time itself and it's like but time kept going
I mean imagine like you're sitting there looking I know you're some of you're gonna be scratched your head all night
He's looking at this this sundial and the shadows moving backwards 10 degrees like they're going back in time
But yet it's like from his perspective time is moving forward
You know, it just shows you that god is in control of time that god can manipulate time
And keep you winning at the same time. It's weird. I know
But anyway, that's not the point i'm making what i'm trying to say is this is that you know, god is trying to reassure him
Hey, i'm giving you more time to do more works for me. You have 15 years to work
And this isn't the first time he did it we won't go and look at joshua but remember in joshua
Where he caused the sun and the moon to stand still
But what I think god is showing us, you know, is that he's in control of it that when god says hey, you know
You've got time to work you got time to bear fruit. Look. I don't care how old you are
If you're still out there sucking air you still have time to bear fruit in your life
Otherwise, why has god got you here?
You say well i've only got 10 years. Well, you better get busy
I've only got five. Well, you better really get busy. I've only got 20 and let me tell you what
And let me just tell you young people
Because sometimes you you can get real lackadaisical
In in your in your youth and think i've got plenty of time to serve god. I'll get to that later
It's going to go by like that
You're going to wake up one day and you're going to be old just like
somebody who's old
I don't want to name any names. I don't embarrass anyone. It's really not me
Right. I don't know what it's like to be old one of these days. It'll happen, right?
But you think oh i've got all the time in the world it's going to go by fast
We all know the scriptures go to psalms chapter 90 psalms chapter 90
You know psalms 39 verse 4 is what i've thought about over the years lord make me an old mind end
And the measure of my days what it is that I may know how frail I am behold that's made my days as an hand breath
And that every man in his best state is all together vanity
Oh, no, i'm young i've got decades in front of me
There might be people that are twice your age they're going to live longer than you
Because you don't know what's going to be on tomorrow
I mean, that's how life works
You could get cut down in your 20s. You could get cut down in your 30s
You know and that old guy that old lady that you think is just you know, you know, you're not going to live longer than you
But that old guy that old lady that you think is just you know
They're just got one foot on a banana peel and one in the grave any day now, you know
They could outlive you they could go on another 20 years and you'll be gone
That's how you know because every man in his best state is all together vanity make me no measure my end and what how frail I am
You're not bulletproof
You know, you're not six feet. We might be six feet tall, but you're not bulletproof even if you are six feet tall
right
Look at verse 10 in psalm 90 the days of our years are three score and ten
And if by reason of strength they be four score years
Seventy and if by reason of strength, you know, you took care of yourself
You aged well, you might get 80. That's all we're promised. Obviously still people live beyond that
You know, the cap is 120 as far as I know
But it's very rare
There's that lady in Tucson that lived almost she lived over 100 years and she credited
To going to Taco Bell every Tuesday
I'm not suggesting that okay
But hey, you know if you want to live a long life, you know
Get right with God serve the Lord give God a reason to keep you around
What if you're like Hezekiah 15 years? That's all you got. You got 15 years
What are you gonna do with it? Because here's the thing Hezekiah got he got busy
He got busy
You know if you if you look at verse 20 keep something there in psalms, but look at verse 20 in second Kings 20
It says in the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his might how he made a pool
You know you go read the parallel passage in second chronicles
It sounds like he made the pool afterwards like he did a lot of works after this
after the boil was healed after the
15 years was given unto him. He does a lot more work. He didn't just go. Well, let me just
You know, let me just swing in a hammock and just take my knees over my on my borrowed time
He's like man I get 15 years to work
Let me get after it and he got after it and he made a pool and a conduit and brought water into the city
So he's benefiting other people right? He's bringing water in the city
You know, that's the best thing you could do with your time
But whatever time you have whether you're young whether you old
None of us knows what's gonna be on the mower the best way you could use your time is to bear fruit for God
And you know bring the water of life to other people
You know, he brings physical water into the city, you know, we have
You know an everlasting well and us springing up onto eternal life
That we could go and and and share with other people
Are we doing that we should be?
Look at psalms 90 verse 12, so teach us to number our days that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom
Teach us to number our days
You know, why why would I bring up the fact that life's short because the Bible says we're to be taught to number our days
You know a wise person
Would consider the fact that they only have so much time on this earth and they would think about how they're going to spend it
What decisions are going to make and not just kind of drift through life and just see how things turn out?
You know because you could get to the end your life and and not having the show for God
Not be like has a kayak has a kayak, you know, he's getting he's coming into the end of his life
He's like well remember everything I did for you Lord and he gets another 15 years God. Yeah, you gave God a reason to keep him around
Teach us to number our days. You know, it's not enough to just go
Oh for if by reason escape strength four score and ten you get a number
Know that we should number our days why that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom
Apply our hearts unto serving God apply our hearts unto, you know bearing fruit in our lives
Hezekiah that's what he did, you know, he made use of his borrowed time go to 2nd Corinthians chapter number 5
2nd Corinthians chapter number 5. We'll wrap it up there
You know number your days you don't know how much time you have
You know, there might not be someone to come along to put a lump of figs on whatever it is
You might not get 15 years
You know, we don't know
But I know this if we're serving God, you know, if we're giving God a reason to keep us around
Maybe we'll we'll get that extra 15 years. Maybe we'll get what more life on this earth than we otherwise wouldn't have
But you know if we're just living for the flesh
If we're just living for sin
if we're just being lazy and idle and just getting into sin and just indulging the flesh if we're not
You know mortifying our members if we're not, you know, if we're if we're sinning and just you know, we're we're not uh, you know, uh
Yielding our members under the spirit as it said in roman six if we're not
You know crucifying the flesh if we're not bringing our body in this objection. God might just say you don't deserve any more time
You've had more than enough time. I'm just going to take you home now
Because what's the point? You know, we're just taking up space at that point
You might even end up being a bad testimony
Look at second corinthians chapter number five verse 10 for you must all appear before the judgment seat of christ
That everyone may receive the things done in his body whether according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad
We're all getting him to count for the things that we've done in our body whether they were good or bad
Verse nine back it up there
Wherefore we labor
That whether present or absent we may be accepted of him say why should I labor? Why are you always preaching about?
Living for god and and and laboring for the lord and crucifying the flesh. Why am I always beating this drum?
Because you're going to give an account
Why should I do that? Why should I number my days and apply my heart onto wisdom?
So that you can be accepted of him
You know not accepted of me not accepted of anybody else accepted of him
So, you know
Obviously our souls are going to be accepted in the day of salvation, you know, we're saved god is quick to save us
God wants to save and when we're present with the lord, we're going to be washed in the blood of christ
You know, we're going to have a new body all of that
But in order to have our works be accepted of god on that day they have to align with him now
You have to align your life with god now while you're still alive
In order to be accepted of him. I mean, isn't that what paul's saying in second corinthians?
First nine wherefore we labor
He's saying hey, we're living this way. We're living this strict christian life if you want to call it that
We're walking a straight and narrow we're straight laced we're goody two shoes
We don't go here. We don't go there. We don't watch that. We don't drink this
We're laboring we go to church. We read our bibles. We memorize scripture. We go soul-witting
We care about the things of god we labor
That whether present or absent we may be accepted of him
He's saying the reason why we're doing what we're doing is so we can be accepted of him
I mean, that's what he's saying
Your life must align with god now if you want to be accepted of him in that day
You know or it's or it's not going to happen
I mean
That's why he says in verse 10 for we must all appear before the judgment seat of christ that everyone receive the things done
In his body whether they be according to that he hath done whether they be good or bad
So that we may not be ashamed before him at his coming
You know
So that's the lesson we can learn from hezekiah hezekiah gets borrowed time
You know, and I believe part of that was because he was a fruitful individual leading up to that wasn't perfect
But you know, he led a revival. He did a lot of great works for god. He brought the people of god back
to the lord
And as a result of that, you know god, you know, he brought that to god's attention said remember everything i've done and god gave him
more time
And then after he got the 15 years he used it to continue to serve god
You know, and obviously there's some other things here we could look at
We ran out of time, but that's the lesson. I want us to learn from second king's chapter number 20
one you don't know how much time you have
Use it to serve god and he just might give you more
You know, but whether you get more or not
You know, we're all going to give account for what we did with the time that we have. Let's go ahead and pray