Buenas tardes, estamos en el capítulo 38 de Isaias.
La Biblia dice
Gracias por la Biblia del rey James. Gracias por esta gran iglesia de la iglesia de Dios.
Gracias por nuestro pastor, Dios. Por favor, bendiga a Dios, que preste su palabra a nosotros.
En el nombre de Dios, Amén.
El rey de Asiria, por supuesto, su victoria sobre el rey de Asiria y la mala decisión que hará después.
Ahora, lo interesante de estos dos capítulos aquí es el hecho de que el capítulo 38 es algo de prequel al capítulo 37.
Porque en el capítulo 37, si recuerdas, tienes al rey Hezekiah prestando al Señor que Dios le deliveringía a él y a Jerusalm del asalto de la armada de Asiria.
Por supuesto que él se acaba de responder a esa prayer en un modo miraculoso en el que Dios acaba de matar a 185,000 soldados.
Así que en el capítulo 37, tienes a 185,000 soldados muriendo y luego tienes a Sennacherib, el rey de Asiria, volviendo a casa.
Y luego, por supuesto, sabemos que sus hijos acaban de matar a él y, por supuesto, Dios ejecuta justicia en él.
Y la historia termina ahí, pero en el capítulo 38 volvemos antes de los eventos de esa victoria
y se llaman algunas delas de lo que sucedió durante ese momento.
Y en el capítulo 39 es como un sequel.
El capítulo 38 es como un prequel al capítulo 37.
El capítulo 39 es como un sequel a los eventos que ocurren después del capítulo 37.
Y vamos a ver los dos hoy en la noche debido al hecho de que concluye la historia de Hezekiah.
Así que hoy vamos a ver la enfermedad de Hezekiah, su recuperación, y finalmente su incertidumbre.
Veamos el primer versículo. Vamos a ver la enfermedad de Hezekiah aquí.
Dice "En esos días, Was Hezekiah sick unto death, and Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came unto him and said unto him,
Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live."
Así que, según este verso, tenemos esta historia aquí y lo que dice Isaias Hezekiah es que va a morir
y aparentemente tiene algún tipo de enfermedad, una enfermedad fatal.
Y basado en el 21, parece que tiene que ver con los cojones en su cuerpo.
Y la Biblia no es muy específica en cuanto a qué enfermedad, qué enfermedad tiene,
pero es definitivamente una enfermedad fatal que va a matar a él, que va a destruir a él.
Y la Biblia viene a él diciendo, básicamente, que tienes que asegurar de poner tu casa en orden, que vas a morir.
Y, cuando piensas en la historia, piensas en ti mismo, "mano, eso está molestado", ¿sabes?
Que va a morir, wow. Pero realmente, Dios es realmente gracioso, si piensas en eso,
porque Él está en realidad diciendo que va a morir, y le da una oportunidad de prepararse para poner su casa en orden, ¿sabes?
No tenemos esa luxuría hoy, no sabemos cuándo vamos a morir, no sabemos el día de nuestra muerte,
mientras Isaias está en realidad diciendo a Hezekiah que va a morir, por lo que hay que asegurar que hagas arreglarse,
las promesas para tu familia, apuntar a un sucesor, eso es lo que significa poner tu casa en orden, ¿sabes?
poner las cosas en orden antes de que mueras.
Y la mayoría de nosotros, por supuesto, no será dado una noticia tan generosa,
pero está siendo dado a Hezekiah y cuando piensas sobre esto, cuando actualmente ves el resto del capítulo,
ves que se cura y una parte de la promesa de que se cura es que Dios no va a permitir al ejército de Asirio destruirlo,
posicionando este evento antes de que 185,000 soldados mueran.
Así que piensa sobre esto.
Todavía, Hezekiah está lidiando con la presión de Senecarib y Rapshaki,
¿sabes?, amenazando a destruirlos, las ciudades de defensa se están tomando,
se están atrapando, están haciendo todas las amenazas contra él,
que se van a llevar a captura, se van a beber su propia pizza y comer su propia dama.
Además de eso, también tiene la presión de que se va a morir.
Así que tiene esta presión de afuera, de lidiar con este ejército extranjero,
pero también tiene una enfermedad personal que se está lidiando con él mismo,
que se va a morir personalmente.
Así que esto es mucho que hay que tomar, ¿sabes?
Hay mucho que hacer con Hezekiah aquí.
Veamos el versículo número dos.
Recibe esta noticia y luego le da un placer vivir.
Dice en el versículo 2,
Así que vemos aquí que obviamente no está específicamente diciendo "saveme",
pero base en su respuesta quiere vivir.
Y es por esto que está llorando.
Es por esto que está triste.
Así que si puedes ponerte en sus zapatos,
Isaias viene a él y le dice
"te vas a morir, sete tu casa en orden"
y la primera cosa que hace Hezekiah es que se vuelve a la pared
y luego comienza a pelear.
Se está devastando por esta noticia.
Es una mala noticia sobre una mala noticia.
Es como "hey, el ejército aserrano viene y también vas a morir".
Es una de esas cosas en las que cuando llueva, se muestra.
Una mala noticia después de otra.
Pero aquí está la cosa, es que Hezekiah expresa su humildad, ¿verdad?
El hecho de que se está volviendo a la pared y está preyendo
es, en esencial, demostrando que todavía se dependerá del Señor.
Y, ¿qué hace cuando preye?
No necesariamente dice "saveme, permítame vivir".
Lo que realmente hace es que se recuerde al Señor
de su personal camino con Dios
y el hecho de que ha vivido una vida rica.
Porque le dice,
"Recuerda ahora, oh Señor,
cómo he caminado antes de ti,
en verdad y con un corazón perfecto,
y he hecho eso que es bueno en tu vista".
Eso es lo que preye.
Lo que preye es "recuerda que
he caminado antes de ti en verdad,
he caminado con ti,
he mantenido tus ordenamientos".
Y a un glance, esto puede parecer odd
o incluso orgulloso.
Es como, ¿por qué te estás hablando de eso?
Deberías pedir a Dios de salvarte,
que te diera mercía.
Pero esto nos muestra que Hezekiah es un hombre diario.
¿Por qué? Porque el Bible nos dice,
en Proverbs 3, no tienes que ir ahí,
en la primera versión, dice
"Mi hijo, no olvides la ley,
pero déjate en tu corazón mantener mis ordenamientos".
Otra forma de decir eso es
hacer lo que es bueno en el lado de Dios, ¿verdad?
Y dice "Por la larga de días,
y una vida larga, y paz,
¿se darán a ti?"
Obviamente el Bible nos manda
si quieres vivir una vida larga,
si quieres la larga de días,
paz para ser añadido a ti,
guarda los comandos de Dios.
Y todas las cosas, obviamente,
acidentes suceden y cosas suceden en la vida
que no podemos controlar. Pero al final del día,
las promesas de Dios, si vivimos una vida
que le gusta a Dios, guardando
sus comandos, caminando con Dios,
Dios nos promete que va a
prolongar nuestras vidas y vivir una vida pacífica.
Entonces, obviamente, Hezekiah lo sabe,
que es por eso que le dice "Hey, recuerda
que caminé antes de ti en la verdad.
Hey, recuerda que he hecho eso,
lo cual es bueno en tu lado, he mantenido
tus comandos. Entonces, ¿qué es la condición?
Si he hecho eso, deberías darte una vida
larga. Deberías darte la duración de días.
Deberías permitirme vivir."
Es lo que está imprimiendo ahí.
Y, sabes, David hizo algo así.
No tienes que ir ahí, pero déjame leerte de
el p. 18-20. La Biblia dice
"El Señor me rechazó
según mi justicia, según
la limpia de mis manos, si Él me recompensó.
"Porque he mantenido las maneras
del Señor y no he
disparado mal de mi Dios.
"Porque todos sus judíos estaban antes de mí
y no le pusieron los estatus de mí.
"Yo también estaba antes
de Él. Me mantení
de mi iniquidad. Por lo que el Señor
me recompensó según mi justicia,
según la limpia de mis manos, y su
vista en sus ojos." Y cuando miras la vida de David,
yo digo, él murió de la forma en que
todos nosotros queríamos ir, ¿verdad? Justo
alrededor de nuestra familia, la antigua,
¿sabes? Hacer una lista de hit,
ver si todo el mundo se ha ido y todo, ¿sabes?
Ese fue un muy buen camino de ir, ¿sabes?
Solo comisionando a su hijo
y solo en su cama de muerte,
solo viviendo una vida completa, caminando con Dios.
Y así que esto es muy much
una cosa real, ¿sabes? Si quieres vivir
una vida larga, guarda los comandos de Dios.
Si quieres vivir una vida larga, próspera,
succesful, pacífica,
guarda los comandos del Señor,
caminando con Dios todos los días de tu vida.
Eso es el plan de insurgencia que puedes
establecer en tu vida.
Además, por supuesto, obedecer a tus padres, ¿verdad?
Hay muchas promesas en la palabra de Dios
sobre cómo vivir una vida larga,
y una de ellas es mantener sus comandos.
Y así que Ezekiah la apreza
y él solo dice, como, recuerda esto,
que yo he hecho esto.
No es necesario tener a Dios en cuenta
pero recordarles de esas condiciones.
Y, por supuesto, tenemos el derecho de recordar a Dios,
por supuesto, él ya lo sabe,
de las promesas de Dios, ¿verdad?
Está exorcizando la fe por hacer esto,
está recordando al Señor
que ha vivido una vida rica.
Entonces, ¿qué hace Dios en el retorno?
Se extiende su vida por 15 años.
Ok, mira versos número 4, si lo hicieras.
"Entonces salió la palabra del Señor a Isaias
diciendo, "Ve y diga a Hezekiah,
"Ve y diga al Señor, el Dios de David, tu Padre.
"He oído tu prayer,
"he visto tus lágrimas.
"Pero le daré a tus días
"15 años".
"Y le daré a este ciudad, a ti y a este ciudad,
"de la mano del rey de Asiria,
"y defendé a esta ciudad".
Así que el 6 de veredad es la arma de fumar
para demostrar que este evento se va a realizar
antes de que
los 185,000 soldados se mueran.
Porque dice ahí, "y le daré a este ciudad
"de la mano del rey de Asiria".
Hace eso hacia el final del capítulo 37.
Así que este es un evento
que se va a realizar
durante esa particular hora,
antes de que sea realizado.
Él dice, "y le daré a ti,
"de la mano del rey de Asiria,
"y, encima de eso,
"te salvaré de la Asiria."
Verso 7 dice, "y esto será un silencio
"de ti, del Señor,
"que el Señor hará lo que ha dicho.
"Deja que te traiga de nuevo
"la sombra de los grados,
"que han ido hacia abajo
"en el diálogo del sol,
"ten grados hacia atrás,
"por lo que el sol ha vuelto,
"ten grados por los que se ha ido hacia abajo."
Ahora, esta historia también se repite
en el capítulo 20 del Segundo Reino,
donde hay más detalles, más información
sobre este pequeño discurso
entre Isaias y Hezekiah.
Es decir, cuando el Señor
pregunta a Hezekiah a través de Isaias,
"Hey, ¿qué quieres?
¿Qué maravilla quieres?
¿Quieres el sol, el sol para ir hacia adelante
o hacia abajo?"
Él gasta para que se vaya hacia adelante.
Entonces, obviamente, él está seleccionando
el particular maravilla que debe pasar.
Ahora, la razón por la que es significativa
es porque el Biblio parece ir de su camino
a llamar al Biblio
el sonido de quien?
de Ahás.
Ahora, si recuerdas, hace meses
cuando hablamos, creo que fue en Isaias
el 7, Ahás
Isaias vino a Ahás
y dijo, "El Señor
va a hacer un maravilloso escolto.
Pregunta del Señor lo que va a hacer
para demostrarse fuerte a tu lado."
¿Y qué dice Ahás? Él dice, "Oh, no quiero
atentar al Señor Dios. No voy a
preguntar nada" o lo que sea. Y él dice,
"¿Te vas a atentar a Dios también?" Y yo creo que es por lo que Ahás está
siendo orgulloso. Es como una respuesta hiperspiritual
para dar. Él dice, "Oh, no quiero atentar al Señor Dios."
"¿El Señor Dios no te ha dicho que te va a
preguntar un maravillo, amigo?"
"Hazlo." "Oh, no voy a ser tan
arrogante para pedir a Dios hacer algo."
"¿Qué tal si Él te ordena hacer algo?"
Así que Ahás no exercicó la fe. No tenía
fe en la palabra de Dios. Y Dios endo de todavía
proporcionar un signo a Ahás, ¿de acuerdo?
A pesar de que no lo pidió. Pero aquí tenemos
el contraste a Ahás, porque Hezekiah
está dispuesto a pedir algo, ¿de acuerdo?
Y lo hace en el signo del hijo de Ahás,
como una cosa disrespechada ahí para decir
contra Ahás que va a utilizar su signo
para ejercir la fe en Dios.
Así que el Señor dice, "¿Qué quieres hacer?"
"¿Quieres que las sombras se vayan hacia adelante?"
"¿O quieres que se vayan hacia atrás?"
Y Hezekiah dice, "Yo quiero que se vayan hacia atrás"
"Porque eso es el mejor maravillo"
Para demostrar que Dios va a hacer estas maravillosas cosas supernaturales
Así que esto es un maravilloso maravillo
Y tu sabes, me estaba deslizando mi cabeza pensando en esto
Como se vería?
Y cuando se ve en internet, la mayoría de las personas que están en internet
Están más enfocadas, están más interesadas en hablar sobre el diólogo
"Pero no era realmente un diólogo de sol"
"Lo que pensábamos era un diólogo de sol"
"Es un paso y esto es lo que usan"
"¿Quién importa?"
"Quiero saber lo que era el diólogo"
"Pero nadie tiene una respuesta a cómo lo sucedió"
"Obviamente sabemos que es una supernatura"
"Es un diólogo, es lo que es un diólogo"
"Defez las leyes de la naturaleza"
"Porque la mano de Dios está involucrada"
"Turning the sundial backwards"
"Es, en definitiva, turning back time a little bit"
"Y, claro, it goes back 10 degrees"
"Yo estaba pensando en mi cabeza"
"¿Cómo esto sucedió?"
"Y desde una perspectiva cosmológica"
"¿Cómo sería que esto sucediera?"
"Y hay un par de respuestas a esto"
"Pero yo no creo en ninguno, excepto uno"
"Alguna gente puede decir"
"Que lo que sucedió fue que Dios cambió el acceso de la Tierra"
"Alguna gente puede decir"
"El Señor causó al sol de la Tierra"
"De cambiar su posición relativa"
"Por lo tanto, causando al sundial volver un poco"
"10 grados"
Probablemente una respuesta extrema sería esto
Bueno, la Tierra está rotando
Y luego solo se paró
Y luego rotó de la misma forma por 10 grados
Y luego volvió a su origen
Y yo no creo que sea el caso
La Tierra, durante una periodo de 24 horas
Va por unos 1000 miles por hora
Y así, para llevarla a un deslizamiento
Es un poco loco
Y por cierto, yo creo que Dios puede hacerlo
Si es así que Dios lo quiera hacer
Yo definitivamente lo creo
Y se puede parar por 10 grados
Y luego llevarla a un deslizamiento
Y por cierto, Dios lo puede hacer
Pero aquí, aquí es mi creencia
Esta es mi teoría
Mi hipótesis, por decirlo así
Y yo no creo que ninguno de los cuerpos celestiales
Lleva nada
Yo no creo que nada suceda con la Tierra
Yo no creo que nada suceda con el sol
Yo creo que Dios hizo el maravilloso con el diálogo del sol
Y con el sol
Sin cambiar los cuerpos celestiales
Ok
Así que creo que causó que ese sol
Se ha ido a las 10 gradas sin cambiar el coro de la tierra
El acceso de la tierra
O el sol o lo que sea
Se ha hecho el maravilloso con el diálogo del sol
Porque el texto no implica que el sol ha hecho nada
O que la tierra ha hecho nada
Solo dice que el sol en el diálogo del sol se ha ido a las 10 gradas
Ok
Ahora, por que creo que el maravilloso se ha hecho con el diálogo del sol?
Obviamente este maravilloso que Dios ha dado a Hezekiah
lo hace a propósito, significa que tiene algo de significación detrás de él
Hay algo de significación espiritual detrás de este maravilloso que tiene que ver con Hezekiah
y eso es que el diálogo del sol representa a Hezekiah
porque si comparte Hezekiah con el diálogo del sol
podemos decir que el shadow del diálogo del sol representa la muerte
más específicamente, el shadow de la muerte
y estamos todos como un sundial, nuestros días son numerados
y tenemos una cantidad específica de tiempo que tenemos aquí en esta tierra
y ese shadow se mueve constantemente, cada día se mueve
cada día tenemos un poco menos del día
la noche se viene cuando nadie puede trabajar, dice la Biblia
vamos a verlo desde la p. 102, el 11 dice
mis días son como un shadow que se desliza
yo estoy deslizado como la grasa, dice la Biblia
la p. 144, el 4 dice
el hombre es como a la vanidad
sus días son como un shadow
que se desliza
y entonces, ¿que se requiere?
se requiere para que las sombras se vuelvan a 10 grados
y ¿que es esa imagen? ¿que se representa simbólicamente?
el hecho de que Hezekiah ha dado 15 años de vida extra
el sol no cambia, la tierra no cambia
la gente sigue viviendo y muriendo
pero solo cambia para el diálogo del sol
así que el marco se ha hecho en el diálogo del sol
como el marco se ha hecho en el diálogo de Hezekiah
donde ha dado 15 años de vida extra
y las personas pueden investigar y decir
"¿qué son esos 10 grados representantes?"
10 grados, base en lo que he visto, son solo 40 minutos
no creo que haya ninguna significativa
creo que solo significa que Dios le ha dado más tiempo
a vivir
eso es muy interesante
no creo que, de nuevo, el cambio de cuerpo celestial
creo que es solo el diálogo del sol
porque Hezekiah representa ese diálogo del sol
y el ombro de la muerte ha sido
removido
10°
15 años, por lo que se dice
para que pueda vivir un poco más
¿de acuerdo?
ahora, ¿qué son algunas principios que podemos aprender de eso?
porque eso es un maravillo notable
es, es, es genial ver eso
¿qué podemos aprender?
bueno, primero de todo
lo que podemos aprender de eso es que la humildad
puede ir a un largo camino
la humildad puede ir a un largo camino
porque, ¿qué si él solo decidió no prayer?
¿qué si él decidió, ok, bueno
creo que ese es el final de mi vida
vivir la vida larga y prospera
esto es como me voy a ir a salir
él hubiera muerto y Dios estaría bien con eso
pero porque él actualmente prayer en humildad
porque tenía contrigencia de corazón y espíritu
eso movió a Dios
a mover esa sombra de muerte
esa sombra de muerte hacia atrás de 10°
y lo que esto debería enseñar a nosotros es que
no importa
cuántas decisiones malas has hecho en tu vida
no importa cuánto sin has cometido
o cuánto de "failure"
que te sientas como tú
al final del día, si expresas humildad hacia Dios
Él puede, ¿sabes?
traer esa sombra de esos errores hacia atrás
donde Él puede causar a ti
para extender tu vida un poco
y resolver algunos de esos problemas
Él puede remover 10° de esas decisiones malas que has hecho
Él no puede remover 50%
o 50° de esa sombra
Él no puede remover 100° de esa sombra
pero 10° es todavía 10°
Ven conmigo, por favor, a la sala 90
la sala 90, presión su lugar ahí en Isaias
pero ¿qué requiere? requiere que estén humildes
y ¿sabes qué?
Dios puede hacer mucho con un servidor humilde
con un individuo humildes
pero debo también recordar que el opositor de eso es que
Él no quiere hacer nada con la persona que es orgullosa y orgullosa
quien no está dispuesto a escuchar
quien no está dispuesto a adherer
quien cree que tiene todo empacado
y que no tiene nada que hacer
y que no está dispuesto a preír en la fe
Dios resistió a la propiedad
y le dio gracia a la humildad
No sé de ti, pero quiero que los 10°
sean aplicados a mi vida
Quiero que los 10° sean aplicados a mi vida
Yo tomaré los 10°, en vez de 0
Quiero que el esclavio se devuelva a los 10°
sobre las malas decisiones
que he hecho en mi vida
sobre las malas que he cometido
Quiero que esos 10° se devuelvan hacia atrás
Pero para obtener eso, necesito expresar
un poco de humildad hacia Dios
un poco de remorso, un poco de arrepentimiento
No negue la importancia
de ser un cristiano humilde
No un cristiano orgulloso, arreglante
Y por cierto, Dios no es el único que
resiste al orgullo, nosotros resistimos
a los orgullosos también
La orgullo es un atributo
incumplido de un cristiano
Es repulsivo, ¿verdad? Cuando alguien es orgulloso
y arreglante, no quieres ayudarlos, no quieres estar
alrededor de ellos, pero cuando alguien es
realmente orgulloso, te pide
perdonarlos con humildad, eso es muy
atractivo. Bueno, lo mismo pasa con Dios
si expresamos humildad a Dios
no hay nada que él pueda hacer en nuestras vidas
porque reconoce que él busca a la persona
que tiene un corazón romano
y la Biblia dice que se salva
de un espíritu contrato
ok, así que la principal
que podemos aprender aquí es que la humildad
puede ir a un largo camino
pero no solo eso, esto también nos enseña
escucha esto, que deberíamos
numerar nuestros días, Dios
agrega 15 años a su vida
significado por las sombras de la luna que regresan
y aquí la cosa es que
con Hezekiah
eso es una cosa muy cool
es como, ok tengo 15 años
voy a ponerlos en el calendario, esto es lo que voy a morir
así que ahora que sabe que tiene
15 años, sabe que no puede vivir
sin importancia porque solo tiene 15 años
ahora no sabemos
exactamente cuando vamos a morir, pero el Bible
lo pone en algo de un ballpark
porque miren en el Salto 90, Verso 9
si lo hicieras, dice
"For all our days are passed away in thy wrath
we spend our years as a tale that is told.
The days of our years are
three score years and ten."
Now what is three score years and ten?
It's seventy years. A score is
twenty, three score is sixty,
ten, seventy. So in general
not everyone, some people
surpass this, some people do not
even obtain to this number, but in
general people can live up to seventy
years of age, right? That's what the Bible is telling us.
And then it says, "And if by reason of
strength they be four score years,"
four score meaning eighty years.
So, you know, all things considered,
if you're a healthy person,
your body is strong,
you can live up to, like, eighty years of age.
And some people even surpass
that, of course. But the Bible's kind of giving us
a ballpark of how long people
typically, in general, live,
right? So if you know
that you have seventy to eighty
years of life, that should cause you to number
your days. And in fact, what it goes on to say
in verse eleven, it says, "Who knoweth the power
of thine anger, even according to thy fear,
so is thy wrath." Listen to verse twelve,
"So teach us to number
our days, that we may apply
our hearts unto
wisdom." What does it mean
to number our days? Well, you know,
if I have whatever,
you know, if the Bible says
that I have seventy years, eighty
years, obviously I've already lived
a lot of that, right? You know,
so therefore I could have maybe thirty years
left, maybe forty years left.
That's what it means to number our days.
And you know, if I sit down and think to myself, like, you know,
I'm thirty-nine years old, next year
I'll be forty. If I think to myself, like,
oh man, I might have about forty years
left. You know, that may seem like a lot,
but it also seems like it's not a lot, too.
It's just like, oh man, or I might have thirty
years. Oh wow, that doesn't seem
like a whole lot. Okay, then I need to apply
my heart
unto wisdom, meaning I
can't waste my life because I'm not going
to live that long. You know, some of us are maybe
newcomers to the Christian life, and you might
have even less than 40
years, 30 years, 20, you might
have 20 years. What if you had
20 years? Wouldn't that mean that you need to apply
your heart unto wisdom as well, to make
sure that you're not just wasting
your life away on frivolous things,
on bitterness, on clamor,
on conflict, but rather
serving God
with all your might because your
life is but a vapor. You know, the Bible says the number
of days. Why is it wise for us the number of days?
It's recognizing, you know what?
I'm not going to be here that long.
I need to make sure that I apply whatever decades
I have left in my life to the service
of God. You know, this is why the Bible
tells us in Ephesians chapter 5,
it says, "Wherefore he saith, Awake thou
that sleepest, and arise from the dead,
and Christ shall give thee light," the Bible says.
See then that ye walk circumspectly,
not as fools,
but as wise. Listen to this.
Redeeming the time
because the days are evil. The Bible goes on to
say, "Wherefore be not unwise,
but understanding
what the will of the Lord is."
So how do we redeem the time
as Christians? We have to understand
what the will of the Lord is.
You're like, "Oh man, but I've already wasted a lot of my life.
I've got to save later on in life." Okay, well why don't you
redeem some of that time by understanding
what the will of the Lord is.
You see, I don't want to be a Christian that's trying to figure out
right now what God's will is.
They're just like, "Well, I've got a couple years
to figure out what God's will is." No you don't.
You better know what God's will is.
You better understand what the will of the Lord is
because you may only have about
10, 15, 20 years of life left,
30 years of life left,
and you want to make sure that you fulfill
that will as effectively
and as efficiently as you possibly can.
Walk circumspectly.
You know, redeem the time because the days are evil.
Evil can come upon you at any moment.
And how about this? You know, sometimes
the evil day doesn't necessarily mean
that you're going to die, but how about
that it just makes you incapacitated?
Because an evil day can be that God allows you
to be incapacitated where you're not able,
your body is incapable
of functioning to serve God.
Right? You can't use your members
to serve God. You can't walk,
you can't run, you can't talk.
And what good is it to just live in this life
just not being able to do anything,
especially serve the Lord, you don't know
if that evil day is going to come upon you.
And so what does this teach us? Well, I'm sure
Hesekiah, once he found this out, he's like,
I'm going to be in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
And we'll see later on in his writing
of Lamentation and Praise,
he's like, I'm going to praise God all the days of my life
in the house of the Lord. And what he's saying is like,
I'm going to be in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.
If I got 15 years of life left,
I'm going to make sure I'm going to be in the house of God
all of those days,
because I only got 15 years of life left.
And you know what? You might have 15 years
of life left too. We might even
have less than that. So it's important for us
to redeem the time,
to understand what God's will is,
by reading the Word of God, being in church,
being attentive to the preaching
of God's Word, being attentive
to the reading of God's Word,
because we need to understand what God's will is
because we don't want to waste our time here.
Or spend our time in frivolous matters
that just distract us
from doing the service of God.
You know, they choke the Word,
we become unfruitful,
we are just entangled with the affairs
of this life, and then the night
comes and it's just like it's over with.
You didn't number your days, you didn't apply your heart
into wisdom. I thank God that I got saved
when I was 21, but
folks, I mean, I could die
next year, you know, we just don't know.
And so I need to know,
well I already know, but you know, as a Christian
just in general, what God's will is.
And you know what, if you're a brand new
Christian, you better apply this year
and say, this year I want to
understand what the will of the Lord is.
And let me just give you the basics. Be in
church, read your Bible, win souls to Christ,
forsake not the assembling of ourselves together
as the manner of some is. Love the brethren,
hide, be a blessing
to others, that's the foundational
stuff for the will of the Lord.
Fulfill that, because this might be your last year.
I'm not trying to be fatalistic here, but
isn't it true though? Don't waste your life
on things that just don't matter.
And you know what, this is a good message for you to hear
for the new year, because you might have wasted
your time in 2024,
you might have just spent it on
dumb stuff, frivolous things,
with conflict, anger,
bitterness, just
idleness, laziness,
slothfulness, worldliness.
Well, you know, it's time to kind of lock in,
it's time for you to focus
your attention on the things of God
and recognize, you know, the clock
is ticking, that shadow
is moving, and you know what, as
a Christian, I want to serve God
and keep His commandments so that, so that shadow
can go back about ten degrees or so,
so that I can do more for God. And you don't realize
how precious that is until you go to the Millennial Rain
and you're just like, man, I wasted that.
You know, three score and ten, I wasted
that, four score,
you know. And I wish, like, Christians would
give heed to this message that I'm saying tonight,
because quite frankly, most Christians don't
even care. I'll just be honest. Even
Christians that go to church every once in a while, they don't
really care. They don't really understand the severity of
that message. The fact that, you know,
our life is but a vapor. We are
as the grass that withereth. You're not going
to be here long. And so serving God is a
worthy investment of your life.
Reading the Bible over and over again is a worthy
investment. I hope for 2025 you say, you know what,
I'm going to buckle down on my Bible reading.
I'm going to read it all the way through, once,
twice. You know, hey kids,
start reading your Bibles through this
year. Take the challenge of reading through the New
Testament. I'm going to learn how to pray.
I want to learn how to soul win. I want
to get people saved this year. I want to make
sure that every church service, I want to praise
God. I want to sing the hymns.
I want to redeem the time. Because we're all
sundials here. And you know what?
Here's the thing with Hezekiah.
Yeah, it was great that sundial moved,
that shadow moved ten degrees back.
But eventually the sun went down though.
And eventually he died. Because you know what, Lazarus?
He got his sundial,
you know, he got his shadow, you know,
his shadow went back ten degrees or so.
He was brought back to life. But he died still.
Because you know what? It is appointed for a man
once to die. We're all going to die one day.
And so the reality of death should
cause us to number our days and recognize
And this is especially
applicable to young people.
Because young people, they don't think they're going to die.
They just think they're just going to live for a really long time.
Young people are like, that's why they live so careless
and reckless sometimes.
And they just think, well I'm always going to be here, I've got
10, 15 years and I'll buckle down and get serious
about the things of God. No you don't.
You don't know that. It's important
for you to realize that even though you're
young and you're young in the Lord,
you still need to utilize this time
that God has given to you. And by the way,
bear the yoke in your youth. That's what the Bible
says. Do the bulk of the work
while you're in your youth, while you still have
the energy to do so. And so
it's a great reminder here to
us that we need to make sure
that we take eternity into account,
number our days, redeem the time,
apply our hearts into wisdom, and
wake up every morning and say, "Lord, give me wisdom
for this day. Help me to spend this day
investing in the things of God.
Help me to take my walk with God serious.
Help me to raise my children for the Lord
and the nurturing and admonition of the Lord.
Help me to gain wisdom from the Word of God.
I don't want to waste my brain
and waste this body on trivial
things that just do not matter.
Help me to use it for God's glory."
Look at verse 9. So we see Hezekiah's
sickness, and of course God promises
him that he's going to recover from that.
We see that humility can go a long way.
We need to number our days. So
from here to the end of the chapter,
we see a writing
of Hezekiah. This is something that he
dictated, and it essentially highlights
his lamentation
when he got the news that he was going to die,
and then it also highlights his praise
when he found out that he was going to live. Look at verse 9.
"The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah,
when he had been sick and was recovered
of his sickness, I said in the
cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the
grave, I am deprived of the residue
of my years." So what is he doing? He's
lamenting that his life is cut short. He's
like, "I'm deprived of the residue of
my years." It's like, "Man, I didn't even
get to live a full life." It says in verse 11,
"I said I shall not see the Lord, even
the Lord in the land of the living, I
shall behold man no more with the
inhabitants of the world." So obviously
he's losing hope here and he's
lamenting the fact that he's no longer
going to experience the Lord in the land
of the living. It says, I'm not going to
read the rest of the verses here
where he laments because he's just basically
complaining the entire time.
But look at verse 15, let's look at his
gratitude and praise after his life
is extended. He says, what shall I say?
He hath both spoken unto me
and himself hath done it. I shall go
softly all my years in the
bitterness of my soul. In other words,
he's not going to take life for granted. He's going to
go softly. He's not going to
boast himself. He's going to be humble.
Verse 16, O Lord,
by these things men live, and
in all these things is the life of my spirit,
so wilt thou recover me
and make me to live. Behold, for
peace I had great bitterness,
but thou hast in love to my soul,
delivered it from the pit of corruption,
for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
Now, I love this verse because it reinforces the fact
that Hezekiah is saved. You know, he's saying
there, in love
to my soul, delivered it from the pit of corruption,
he's referring to the fact that he's saved from
hell. I was going to say, well, Hezekiah didn't know
about heaven and hell and didn't know about eternal life.
Of course they did. The gospel is very much
clear. Obviously,
the name of Jesus Christ was
not revealed in those days, but salvation
has always been the same. They understood
what salvation was. They understood about the afterlife.
They understood about hell.
The Old Testament talks about hell, talks about
heaven. And He's saying here that
God delivered Him from the
pit of corruption and He reinforces
that by saying that God has cast all
His sins behind His back.
Referring to the fact that when He got
saved, just like when you got saved,
just like when I got saved, we were
forgiven of past, present, and future sins.
Big sins, small sins,
doesn't matter what sins, we were
completely vindicated
and forgiven of them all.
For salvation, amen. And I love the fact that
He says He cast them behind His back.
Meaning that when God looks at you,
He sees you through the righteousness of Jesus Christ
and not through your sins
and through your righteousness.
Oh, He cast them behind His back.
Psalm 103, you don't have to turn there.
It's one of my favorite chapters, passages.
It tells us in verse 10, "He hath not dealt
with us after our sins, nor rewarded us
according to our iniquities.
For as the heaven is high above the earth,
so great is His mercy towards
them that fear Him." I like this.
As far as the east is from west,
so far hath He removed our
transgressions from us.
Meaning that He's not going to rub
your face and your sin at the judgment
seat of Christ. It's not like you go to heaven
and you're just like, hey, and you're saying, but
what's with all this stuff right here?
What's all these sins you've committed?
He's removed them. East and west never meet.
So as far as east is from west,
that's how far he's removed our sins from us.
And then he goes on to say, like as a
father pityeth his children,
so the Lord pityeth them that fear
him, the Bible says.
And obviously in the New Testament it tells us,
but as many as received him, to them gave him
power to become the sons of God, even
unto them that believe on his
name. 1 John chapter 3 tells us,
behold what manner of love
the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should
call the sons of God. So, he pities us
as his children. And, you know,
this hits home for me because, you know,
I have children, and
when I think about my children, when I look at my
children, you know, I just think to myself, I pity
them, not in a bad way, I just think,
you know, how helpless they are without me. The fears
that they have, the weaknesses they have,
they're small children,
and my wife will often remind
me, like, this is how the Lord
thinks about us sometimes. You know, where
I think it was earlier this week,
my daughter Charity, my wife was
holding my daughter Charity, and my daughter Charity
is like, "Rice! Rice!"
Like, she wanted rice, and there was
rice on her little chair
there, and my wife's trying to put her in there
and she's like, "Rice! Rice!"
And then my wife's like, "If you just open
your eyes, let me put you in the chair. You see,
I already got rice for you right here." And she's
like, fighting, my wife's like, "Rice!
Rice!" And so she, like, forces
her in the chair and she's like throwing a fit, and then
she looks down and she's like, "You know, that's basically
how we act sometimes. We're just
like, "We want this!" And then God's
like carrying us, He's like leading us to something
and we're just fighting Him, we're bucking
it, we're throwing a tantrum, not
knowing how God leads us, will
lead us to that answer to that prayer.
Why? Because He pities us, right?
It says, "He knoweth our frame,
he remembereth that we are
dust." And so the point here
that Hezekiah's making is that
he knows he's forgiven
and obviously this doesn't mean that
as a safe Christian, you can
just sin and nothing will happen to you.
You won't go to hell, but
sin still has consequences on this
earth, right? The Bible tells us
in Hebrews chapter 12 that "whom the Lord
loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth."
Now why does He scourge His children?
Because His children misbehave.
And so when God's children misbehave
via committing sins,
breaking His commandments, you know what God does?
He spanks us. God is for spanking,
amen. He whoops us as children.
And sometimes He hits us hard.
You're like, "How hard?" To the point we die.
You know, He's chastised certain Christians
to the point where they die. He takes them home.
But you're just like, "Who?" "Oh, I don't know, how about Saul?"
Right? He disobeyed God
so severely that
not only that He wanted to destroy
Him, but He allowed His body
to just be completely desecrated,
decapitated. I mean,
you know, severe consequences to sin.
So this is not a...
This is not saying that you can just sin
after salvation, because those
actions still have consequences.
We're talking about when it comes to eternal life.
Because at the end of the day,
even if you have committed
grievous sins after salvation,
and let's say you commit a sin unto death
where you go to heaven after you
die, then you know what? You're
in heaven, because at the end of the day,
your sins in general, past, present, and future
have been completely made null and void.
And thank God for that.
So he's praising him for that. Look at verse 18.
He says, "For the grave cannot praise thee,
death cannot celebrate thee,
they that go down into the pit
cannot hope for thy truth.
The living, the living, he shall praise thee.
As I do this day,
the father to the
children shall make known thy
truth. The Lord was ready to save me.
Therefore, we will sing
my songs to the string instruments all
the days of our life in the house of the Lord."
So, you know, he's spared. He's given
fifteen extra years of life
and he's just like, "You know what?
I'm glad because if I was dead
I couldn't praise God. My dead body can't praise God
in the grave." You can't sing unto the Lord
being a dead person. Obviously, his
spirit in heaven is going to praise him, but
our physical bodies, they're in the
grave. And he's saying there, "But now
that I'm living, I'm going to praise
God. I'm going to sing my songs to the
string instruments all the days of my life."
You know, if you had a near-death experience
this week, you know what you'd do
if God spared your life? You'd be the
loudest singer here in church
on Thursday and Sunday because you're like, "I almost
died. I'm going to sing unto the Lord all
the days of my life."
Because he realizes
the grave cannot praise him.
And it's actually, if you think about it,
it's far more
noble
to praise God while we're living than to
praise God when we're in heaven. Because in heaven
it's just your spirit. Your spirit wants to praise God.
Whereas here, we're praising God
in the presence of our corruptible flesh
that does not want to praise God. So we're constantly
fighting the flesh to do the things that please the Lord.
So it's far more noble
and honorary to do so while you're
living. And so he's like, I'm going to sing
my songs to the string instruments. And he's
even saying like, the father to the children
shall make known thy truth. I mean, he's making everyone praise
God. He's like, we're all just going to praise God
together. Like, well, if I had a situation like
Hezekiah, I'd do that. Well, I mean, you might
though. You might die tomorrow.
You know, the last hymn we sing tonight might be your last
hymn to sing. Ain't that the truth?
Right? You're like, oh, man,
why you gotta be so... I mean, that's the truth,
right? I don't know. So therefore, we
should worship the Lord with all our might
while we have a... You know, every song we sing,
we should sing with our hearts as if it's our last.
And so he is
lamenting regarding the
news that he got, but he's also
writing about his praise and his gratitude
over the fact that God spared him.
Look at verse 21, it says, "For Isaiah had said,
'Let them take a lump of figs and lay it
for a plaster upon the boil,
and he shall recover.' Hezekiah
also had said, 'What is the sign that I shall
go up to the house of the Lord?'"
So we see here the method of healing, and
basically what Isaiah does, or what God
commands Isaiah to do, and Isaiah
commands Hezekiah to do, is to take a cake
of figs, make it into like
paste, and put it on
the boil. So that's what
I would think that maybe
whatever sickness he had, had to do with that
boil, but he's essentially placing
that ointment that's received from
those figs, and
putting it on the boil. Now, I don't
know if figs have any healing property.
I highly doubt it does.
Maybe it might have some sort of
nutritional value, if you
eat it for a certain amount of time, but I don't think
if you're about to die, I'm just saying
don't try this if you're about to die.
You got a bullet wound or something, like
get the cake of figs and put it on
me, I heard it worked or something. I don't
think God's telling them to do this because it's just
some secret remedy to help Hezekiah
recover. You say, then why is he doing it?
Because he told him to do it and he should
exercise faith and just do it. So like
when people are like, well I do think figs
have some sort of healing property.
Yeah, but not in this situation. I think God
just kind of gave him like a random thing to do
because Hezekiah needs to trust in
the Lord. Because you know, you could either be like
a cake of figs and I'll put
it on my boil and I'll be fine.
Okay. You know, it's just
kind of like, I don't even know if this is really going to work.
But you know, it takes faith though
to say, well, if the Lord said to make
the lump of figs, make it into paste,
put it on the boil, and I'm going to recover,
that's what I need to do.
Just like when He told the emissary
to go into the river, right?
Any supernatural thing
that He tells you to do, or just things that
just seem out of the ordinary, just do it,
just step out in faith and obey God.
You know, sometimes God's commandments don't make sense.
You need to do it anyways, because it's an
act of, your obedience is an act
of faith, believing that, you know, Lord,
if you said it, then I'm going to believe it.
That's what's going to happen. And he did heal, he did recover.
And so, you know, Hezekiah
is a man of great faith, if you think about it.
And, you know, he's shown himself to be
a man who believes the
Lord. I mean, this is a lot
of faith. And I don't think Hezekiah gets enough credit.
Because if you think about it, this is happening
simultaneously
with Seneca upthreatening him.
So he's got these threats, and then he's got this boil,
he's about to die. And what does he do
each time? He prays.
What does he do when he's faced with threats from the outside
from Seneca? He prays.
What does he do when he's faced with
ailment and death by his sickness?
He prays, is what he does.
Each time, what happens?
God answers his prayer in a miraculous way.
I'll deliver you 185,000 dead.
I'll heal you 15 years of
life, put some cake figs on your boil,
call me in the morning. Recovered.
15 years of life.
I'm sure Hezekiah is just like,
his faith is strong. Stronger than he has for sure.
Now look at chapter 39, if you would.
Now I wish the story would end there, you know?
Kinda wish that Hezekiah just like,
man, that was good, Hezekiah.
You're a man of great faith. But you know,
everyone else in the Bible, people are just
sinners and they just make dumb decisions.
I make dumb decisions,
you make dumb decisions. This is
real life. This is not a movie.
We don't ride off into the sunset
and live happily ever after sometimes.
Sometimes the story just ends badly.
So we saw Hezekiah's sickness,
we saw Hezekiah's recovery, and lastly
we're going to see Hezekiah's carelessness.
Now it is of my opinion
that this particular
the events in this chapter
take place after the
185,000 soldiers have died
because verse 1 seems to indicate
that the king of Babylon
is sending these letters
after he had already recovered
and if you remember in chapter 38
you know he's going to recover
and he's going to not fall prey
to the hand of the Assyrians
according to the promise of God through Isaiah
so look at verse 1, it says
at that time Merodach Baladan
the son of Baladan, king of Babylon
sent letters and a present to Hezekiah
for he had heard that he had been sick and was recovered
now face value and think to yourself
well that's really nice of the king of Babylon
very considerate
it's a sweet thing to do
sweetie pie, that's a nice man
but here's the thing folks
we know the story and this guy has an ulterior motive
you know the bible tells us
a wicked man take the gift out of the bosom
to pervert the ways of judgment
so he sends this gift
by the hand of his men
to bring it to Hezekiah
and look at verse 2
it says and Hezekiah was glad of them
and showed them the house of his precious things
the silver and the gold
and the spices and the precious ointment
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
now why did he do that?
because he's being prideful
when you have
this seeming super power
known as Babylon
that is a greater nation
not practically speaking
where it's a larger nation
more powerful nation
showing some, giving some attention
to this smaller nation
to a weaker nation practically speaking
known as Judah, Jerusalem and of course Hezekiah
Hezekiah feels a little puffed up
so what does he want to do?
he wants to impress
he wants to impress the king of Babylon
he wants to impress these ambassadors that are coming
so that's the only explanation
as to why he's showing him everything
oh look at all my gold, look at all my silver
look at all the spices, the precious ointment
look at all the armor
I mean he's basically trying to impress them, right?
so he makes this really grievous mistake
in inviting the enemies of God
into his house
into his kingdom to essentially
take inventory
of everything that they're going to take in the future
so you know, the king of Babylon
is probably thinking I want to send a gift
to make him think that we're friends
and ultimately he wants what he has
but he ends up getting more than that because Hezekiah
is kind of dumb
and he ends up just showing him
everything that he has in his kingdom
verse 3
and I like what Hezekiah says here
because Hezekiah is a smart guy
he's a wise man
then said he, what have they seen in thy house?
so obviously he knows, he's like
oh really, what did you show them?
basically what he's asking
I got to show them
I got to show them everything
then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, hear the word of the Lord of hosts
oh man, he's about to get it
so immediately the word of the Lord comes to Isaiah
and Isaiah tells him
well, just to let you know
he's going to take it all
and obviously this is fulfilled because we know about the Babylonian captivity
and in fact
what happens to
the children that he begets
he's not referring to his immediate children
he's referring to his future progeny
they end up becoming eunuchs in Babylon
Daniel, when he's taken into captivity
becomes a eunuch, right?
so he's just like, way to go buddy
you just showed them everything that they're going to take from you
you just gave them a reason to come and conquer you
you gave them an incentive
to come and conquer you
now, what is the spiritual application that we can gather from this particular instance right here?
well, you know, Hezekiah
is allowing Babylon
which is just like another picture of the world
like Egypt would be
he's allowing Babylon into his home
you know, and the spiritual application is that
allowing the world and worldly appetites
worldly philosophies
into your household will affect your future generations
we have to be careful
what type of philosophies
entertainment
Babylonian teachings
we allow into our household
because you, Hezekiah
may be able to handle it
it may not bother you in your lifetime
but let me say this, your future generations
might become eunuchs because of it
these Christians out there
who have, you know, tranny sons
and tranny daughters
and they bite into the Babylonian systems
I guarantee you that
family had a father or mother
or grandparent that invited
Babylon into their house long ago
and I'm not just talking about worldly entertainment
just worldly philosophies that come from the world
worldly, you know
Babylonian teachings
and you know, then the future generations
become fags and stuff
because they allowed Babylon into their house
the philosophy of Babylon into their household
we have to be careful and make sure
it's just like, oh, you know, if Babylon
comes to you with the letter, you know
they'll be like, oh, thanks, and then just throw it into
throw it into the fire, hey
can we stick around, see what you got in your house
nope, haven't cleaned up yet, maybe next time
we ain't got much, see you guys
we got a war, dude, we just got over a war
we ain't got much, look at verse 8
now, you know, here's the thing about Hezekiah
and this is the thing that just kind of
just drives me bananas
let me explain to you why, let me just point out the obvious
because over these last couple chapters
Hezekiah's constantly receiving bad news
right? Syria's gonna
destroy Hezekiah praise
Hezekiah you're gonna die Hezekiah praise
Hezekiah Babylon's gonna take all your stuff
and make your kids eunuchs doesn't pray
in fact what does he do? He gives the
self centered boomer response right?
verse 8 then said Hezekiah to Isaiah
good is the word of the Lord where thou hast spoken
what do you mean? Are you Babylonian?
Is that good? He said moreover
for there shall be peace and truth in my
days. That is the most self
centered boomer response a person
can ever give. It's like Hezekiah
you're doing so well. And I'm sure
by the way, if this news would have came and he would have
humbled himself again, if he would have prayed again
the Lord would have performed some
miraculous thing and not allowed
that. Because he's like
he's on a good track record here, right?
He's on a good track where he's
just like bad news pray
bad news pray, bad news
as long as it doesn't happen to me.
I know good is the word of the Lord
but you know it was
judgment. And just because it's not upon
you Hezekiah, just because it's not
happening to you doesn't mean it's not
bad news. You should care about what happens
to your future generation. No as
long as there's peace and truth in my days
what about peace and truth in the days of
your progeny? And you know what's interesting is
just like at the beginning of chapter 38
God tells him you're going to die
set your house in order and then he prays
but here's the thing is just like
he's still not setting his house in order
he's given him 15 extra years
now that he's not set his house in order he just
damns his future generation
he just disorders his house
by causing a future
Babylonian captivity
because now they have an incentive to come
and take them over
and here's the thing folks, that's why it's important for us as Christians
to make sure
that we care about what happens at First Works Baptist
Church now
like I care about, obviously I care about what happens at
First Works Baptist Church now
over the next, let's say Lord gives me 40 years
man that doesn't seem that long, you know if the Lord gives me 40 years
I want to make sure First Works Baptist Church
stays on track doctrinally
in purity, serving the Lord
having a high standard church
with hymns
raising our children
having families
but you know what, I want this thing to continue on
even when I'm gone
I want peace and truth
not only in my days, I want it
in my son's days as well
I hope my son gets married in this
church, a virgin
to a believer, and I hope they have
families, and I hope his kids
I hope there's peace and truth in his days as well
I hope Babylon stays out of here
for future generations to come
and I don't, you know, we shouldn't have this mentality
amongst our churches, just like
as long as there's soul winning in my days
what about in the days of our kids though?
I want my kids to be fiery soul winners
I want my grandkids to be fiery soul winners
I want my great grandkids to be fiery soul winners
and I understand that the common
pattern for churches is that eventually
it goes liberal or whatever
that's true but it doesn't have to happen
I think of like
First Baptist Church, not of Hammond
although Hammond would be a good example
First Baptist Church of Long Beach, right?
First Baptist Church of Long Beach has been around for a hundred years
and I'm not saying it's the most
strict fundamental Baptist Church that exists
because I'm sure
their trajectory has gone a little left
over the last hundred years
a couple degrees, you know?
but in general there's still a fundamental Baptist Church though
and you know for the last hundred years
that says a lot
I want First Works Baptist Church to last
for a hundred years, I want it to last for
two hundred years, you know I want peace and
truth in your kids days too
John Michael I want peace and truth in your kids days
here at our church, you know? Adrian your kid
I want peace and truth in your kids days
he's like what kids? I mean eventually one day
you'll get married and have kids, amen?
don't have this Hezekiah mentality
where it's like we just want to have a successful ministry
in our days, no
I want it to extend far beyond
put me in the grave, I'll be in heaven
but may first words baptist church continue
and may it continue to be a
baptist fundamental church
not some future generations just like
well let's call it a fellowship
let's call it you know sandals
why don't we call it robes
you know let's just
we're not baptist, we're baptist in doctrine
but you know that offends too many people
I don't want that
and so we need to make sure as a church we
don't allow Babylonian teachings
into our home
whereby the next generation comes up and says
hey maybe we can introduce an electric guitar here
can we have purple lights
and smoke too? you know or
you know maybe pants on women is
ok, kinda quiet
oh man maybe you know
and just start permitting all these Babylonian
teachings and you're like
well as long as peace of truth is in my day wrong
you know we need to make sure we preserve
this thing for the future generation and I know there's people
in our church that don't have children but you know
you have spiritual children though and your spiritual
children still deserve to have
peace and truth in their days and you should
train them to also have peace and truth in the days
to follow as well for their future generations
why not? and so you know we want to leave
an inheritance to our children's children but more
more important than a
a financial inheritance
we want to leave a spiritual inheritance as well
not have this Hezekiah mentality
well it sucks for them, at least I'm not a eunuch
terrible, but let me just give you some
closing thoughts here
regarding these two chapters
first and foremost remember we need to number our days
and walk in wisdom
take 2025, maybe you need to sit down with a piece of paper
write out some spiritual goals that you have
and you have
365 days in the coming year
to meet some spiritual goals in your life
and take it from me
the older you get the faster the year goes
I feel like we just
celebrated Christmas
years keep going by and they just go faster
and faster each year
if you're younger you're like yeah this year went by fast
that's not good for you
because the older you get it just flies by
and I used to hear
old people say that
and then I'm realizing like oh that is a thing
so here's my advice to you
through the sermon, walk in wisdom
not only that but you remember this, humility can go a long way
don't waste your time on trivial things
serve God while you're still alive
and live for
future generations in mind
you know, where
just because it doesn't affect you
just because you're not dying
just because it's not affecting your resources
your money, your situation
you don't want nothing to do with it
we should have future generations in mind
realize, like, let's see how far
we can throw this stone
let's see how far this arrow can go
I don't want this arrow to just land right here
I want the arrow of my children to go far
into the future
it may not go as far as I would want it to go
can we at least try though?
and that's it, let's pray
Father we thank you so much for chapter 38 and 39
help us as your people Lord
to be like Hezekiah
in the area of prayer, what a man of great faith
and we've learned so much from him Lord
just taking our problems to the Lord in prayer
having faith that you can deliver us
in supernatural means Lord
and Lord I pray that you
turn that shadow back a couple degrees
for us Lord so we can have more time
to serve you, more time to win souls
to Christ, more time to
just do that which is right inside of the Lord
and turn people to righteousness
but Lord help us to avoid being like Hezekiah
towards his latter end
where he invited Babylon into his home
and ultimately affected the future generations
to follow and help us
to keep future generations
in mind Lord and I pray you
bless us as we go on our way, give us a great
Christmas program on Saturday
and a great service to follow on Sunday
we love you, we thank you, we pray these things in Jesus name
Amen.