(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Thank you very much. Alright, welcome to Pure Words Baptist Church. It's good to see everybody this evening. Go ahead and find your seats and pull out your hymnals. We'll turn to our first song for the evening. It'll be song number 39. Song number 39, How Beautiful Heaven Must Be. Song number 39. Will you find your place? First, we read of a place that's called heaven. It's made for the pure and the free. These truths in God's word he hath given. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. In heaven no drooping nor pining. No wishing for elsewhere to be. God's light is forever there shining. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. Pure waters of life there are flowing. And all who will drink may be free. Rare jewels of splendor are glowing. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. At last the angels so sweetly are singing. Up there by the beautiful sea. Chords from their gold harps are ringing. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sweet home of the happy and free. Fair haven of rest for the weary. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. How beautiful heaven must be. Sing this one a capella and we'll start there on the first. Jesus what a friend for sinners. Jesus lover of my soul. Friends may fail me. Foes assail me. He my savior makes me whole. Hallelujah what a savior. Hallelujah what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving. He is with me to the end. Jesus what a strength in weakness. Let me hide myself in him. Tempted, tried and sometimes failing. He my strength, my victory wins. Hallelujah what a savior. Hallelujah what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving. He is with me to the end. Jesus what a help in sorrow. While the billows o'er me roll. Even when my heart is breaking. He my comfort helps my soul. Hallelujah what a savior. Hallelujah what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving. He is with me to the end. Jesus what a God and keeper. While the tempest still is high. Storms about me, night o'er takes me. He my pilot hears my cry. Hallelujah what a savior. Hallelujah what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving. He is with me to the end. Jesus I do now receive him. More than all in him I find. He hath granted me forgiveness. I am his and he is mine. Hallelujah what a savior. Hallelujah what a friend. Saving, helping, keeping, loving. He is with me to the end. Amen, great singing. So at this time we'll go ahead and go over the announcements. If you don't have a bulletin from this morning, just go ahead and raise your hand and brother Brandon will bring it around to you. On the top left we have our service times. Beneath this we have our soul winning times with the respective people leading those times and their phone numbers. We have our stats underneath that with the totals for salvation which is 246 up to date. We went out today as kind of a, we went to a rough neighborhood today, but we did get two salvations. So amen to that, it was all worth it. So we'll add two to that total. And for our Bible memory passage we are in Romans chapter number 8. We're in verse number 8. I do one verse per week. So you know it's a little bit longer of a chapter. We're still at the beginning so you can still start if you haven't started yet. And if you could quote the entire chapter word perfect to a non-family member you will receive a special prize there at the end. Here on this next page we do want to ask that you just be in prayer for all the expecting ladies. Just be in prayer for all the ladies and all the babies. That everything goes well with the deliveries. And there's some upcoming events here right around the corner at the end of this month May 20th through the 22nd. We do have that men's conference. It's from a Thursday through a Saturday. It's at River Bend Retreat Center in Glen Rose, Texas. And we do have a sign up sheet on that back counter. So I'll say again if you do plan on going make sure and sign up. Just note all the days that you're going to be attending and write down your email address. That way if there's any follow-on information they could get you that information. So definitely sign up. Remind me of the date Pastor Jones is preaching at... May 16th. May 16th. Pastor Jones from Shield of Faith Baptist Church from Idaho will be preaching at Steadfast Baptist Church. So definitely if you could get up there for that. You know get up there, hear him preach, support him. So that's coming up here soon. And then we do have the dates for the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship. It's in October. Remind me brother. October 16th through the 20th. October 16th through the 20th. So definitely got those dates out there to you nice and early. So write that in your calendar. Definitely a good time of fellowship and preaching. Okay 6 through the 10th. Okay correction. October 6 through the 10th. So write that on your calendars. Definitely a good time of fellowship and preaching. And then just lastly, if you do have any prayer requests, email those into the church at purewordsbaptist.com. And you know we can help each other out with all the prayers that we need. But that is the announcements for the evening. Go ahead and pull out your hymnals. We'll have Brother Brandon come lead us in our next song. Song number 56. When we all get to heaven. Alright on the first. Sing the wondrous love of Jesus. Sing his mercy and his grace. In the mansions bright and blessed. He'll prepare for us a place. When we all get to heaven. Sing the wondrous love of Jesus. When we all get to heaven. What a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus. We'll sing and shout the victory. While we walk the pilgrim pathway. Clouds will overspread the sky. But when the lean days are over. Not a shadow, not a sigh. When we all get to heaven. What a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus. We'll sing and shout the victory. Let us then be true and faithful. Trusting, serving every day. Just one glimpse of him in glory. Will the toils of life repay. When we all get to heaven. What a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus. We'll sing and shout the victory. Onward to the prize before us. Soon his beauty will behold. Soon that pearly gates will open. We shall tread the streets of gold. When we all get to heaven. What a day of rejoicing that will be. When we all see Jesus. We'll sing and shout the victory. Great singing. Go ahead and pull your Bibles and turn your Bible to Isaiah chapter 38. But just going to come read for us. OK, so in Isaiah 38, verse one, the Bible reads, In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah, the prophet of Amos, came unto him and said, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. And Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed unto the Lord and said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked with forty in truth of a perfect heart, have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David, thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years and I will deliver thee in this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria. And I will defend this city and this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord that the Lord will do this thing that he have spoken. Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees which has gone down in the sundial of Ahaz ten degrees backward. So the sun returned ten degrees by which degrees it was gone down. The writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he had been sick and was recovered of his disease, I said, and the cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the grave. I am deprived of the residue of my years of the living. I shall behold no more man with the inhabitants of the world. Mine age is departed as removed from me as a shepherd's tent. I've cut off like a weaver in my life. He will cut me off with pining sickness from day even tonight. Will thou make an end of me? I reckon till morning that as a lion. So will he break all my bones from day even tonight without making end of me like a crane or a swallow. Sid, I chatter. I did mourn as a dove. Mine eyes fell with looking upward. Oh, Lord, I'm oppressed. Undertake for me. What shall I say? He have both spoken unto me and himself have done it. I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul. Oh, Lord, by these things, men live in all these things is a life of my spirit. So what 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. Thou has cast all my sins behind my back for the grave cannot praise thee. Death cannot celebrate thee. They that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living the living. He shall praise thee as I do this day. The father to children shall make known thy truth. The Lord was ready to save me. Therefore, we will sing my songs to string instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord. For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs and lay for a plaster upon the boil and he shall recover. As a Kyle also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord? Let's open our heads for a quick prayer. Amen. All right. Well, it's good to be back tonight. Thank you all for the hospitality. It's been great spend the day here with you guys. And thank you always to Pastor Shelley for the opportunity to preach. And we're here in Isaiah Chapter 38. You know, this morning sermon, we talked a little bit in Isaiah 36 and 37 about the story with Sennacherib and Rab Shakey. And now we're in the story of Hezekiah. And the title of my sermon is Lessons from the Healing of Hezekiah. Lessons from the Healing of Hezekiah. Just to give you some context of what we're gonna be talking about. Look at verse number one of Isaiah 38. It says, In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, came unto him and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. So God sends a warning through Isaiah the prophet to warn Hezekiah of his impending death. Now, that's pretty intense. Imagine if a man of God just walked up to you and said, Set your house in order. You're about to die. And that sounds really scary. But honestly, this is kind of a blessing. A lot of people die very suddenly. A lot of people don't know. No one knows the day of their death, I guess, besides Hezekiah at this point. And you never know when it's gonna happen. And I'm sure a lot of family members have regrets when loved ones die. You know, there was maybe some loose ends that weren't tied up with relationships. And sometimes you die and, hey, when you die, you have no chance to fix those things. So even though this could be kind of a scary thing for Hezekiah, it kind of is a blessing that God tells him, Hey, set your house in order. I'm sure everyone would have liked to have had that chance. It's already gone on, you know, to be able to set their house in order. And when you think about it spiritually, God has done the same thing for us. God has warned us of our death as well. I'll read for you a verse we all know, Romans 3.23, for all of sin and come short of the glory of God. Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death. So God has given us that same warning, that God has told us, Look, you're gonna die as well because of your sin. We know that our death is impending to us. Look at verse 2 of Isaiah 38. Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall and prayed unto the Lord and said, Remember now, O Lord, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah, saying, Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. And so the first lesson we can learn from the healing of Hezekiah is that God is able to deliver you. God is able to deliver you. And you know what, sometimes it's just such a basic and simple truth that we don't really think about it. And we think about how a lot of the Pentecostal religion today have kind of made us not want to think about this, about how God still heals people today. Because what they do is so much of a fraud, sometimes we go too far of the extreme in the other direction and think that God can't heal people today. But God is still able to deliver people physically today. God is still able to heal people from sickness, to heal people from ailments. He is able to physically deliver us from whatever type of trial or trouble we're going through. And you think about it, what is some of the most horrible, just anxiety-causing things in people's life that people go through? Sickness, disease, having some sort of physical pain, some sort of physical ailment. This is something that truly bothers us. It's something that stuck with us that we want to be delivered from. And we always need to remember that God is able to deliver us from that pain. God is able to deliver us from whatever sickness, whatever disease. Hey, Hezekiah was going to die from this sickness, but God delivered him from it. I'll read for you. Actually, let's go together. James, chapter number 5. Some important verses in James, chapter number 5. Look at verse 13. It says, So this is just as much the Word of God as any other part of the Bible, where if you're sick, if you're afflicted, pray to God. Ask Him to deliver you. And if it's really bad, you could even get the elders of the church to come pray over you and anoint you with oil. And I think Pastor Shelley has done this for people before. And I know that he will continue to do this if they desire it. Why? Because it's biblical. And because God can heal your physical problems. How's it done, though? Through prayer a lot of times. God can still perform miracles even to this day, but how is it done? Through prayer. Go back to Isaiah 38, and keep your place there throughout the sermon. I love these beautiful words in verse number 5. Those are some beautiful words right there. To know that God has heard our prayers. That's exactly what we want. That's what we need. And so we better never give up on praying to God for our needs. We better never give up on going to the Lord for our requests of our physical ailments and sicknesses that we go through. Let's look at some miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ that he did on this earth. Luke chapter number 4. Luke chapter number 4. Just to remind us about the power of our God. Luke chapter number 4. And look at verse number 38. He arose and ministered unto him. A lot of times we just read these stories. Just another Bible story, another Bible story. But you've got to think about how amazing this is that the Lord Jesus Christ can just rebuke a fever. I mean, it's amazing. And God didn't just perform these miracles just so that we can read about them. No, God can still do these miracles today. Now, he's not going to do it by Benny Hinn. He's not going to do it through a fake Pentecostal preacher that's going to come up here and hit you with his coat and slap you in the face or do some sort of stupid dance. No, it's done by prayer. Because God's the one that performs miracles, not man. God gave that ability for man to do miracles for a very short amount of time while the Bible was being written to confirm the words of God. But now that the book is sealed, you know, man doesn't have that power anymore. Man will not have that power. Let's go to Luke chapter 5, verse number 12. Luke 5, 12. And it says, When he was in a certain city, behold, a man full of leprosy, who, seeing Jesus, fell on his face and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And he put forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will, be thou clean. And immediately the leprosy departed from him. And notice, just like how Hezekiah called out to the Lord and asked God, this person also inquired of Jesus Christ. He besought the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a picture of prayer. This person besought Jesus Christ. So what did he do? He healed him physically. Let's look at another great story of someone he healed in Luke chapter 5, verse number 18. And behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy, and they sought means to bring him in. They're looking, they're seeking for Jesus and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said unto them, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. So again, these people are seeking the Lord. They're going to him just like Hezekiah went to the Lord in prayer. And just like how we need to go to the Lord in prayer for our physical needs and ask God to perform that miracle and to heal us. Luke chapter number 8. Let's look at a few more. Luke chapter number 8. And look at verse 49. Luke 8, 49. And so every once in a while, we got to not just look at the bad example of people lying about healing. And just remember that the Lord Jesus Christ is the guy who walked on water. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one that was raising people from the dead. The Lord Jesus Christ is the one who is healing the blind, who is healing the people with leprosy. He was doing all these amazing miracles, and He's the same God today in heaven that listens to our prayers. God listens to our prayers, and He can perform those same miracles on us today, even physically. Now, some people will lie and just say that if you pray that God will heal you physically. And it's not that He will heal you physically. It's that He can heal you physically. He may never. It may be the thorn in the flesh. You may pray to God, and your answer could be like the apostle Paul's answer. Hey, my grace is sufficient for thee. And maybe that's your answer. But the point is, until you know that's your answer, you might as well just keep praying because God can perform that miracle. God can heal you physically. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 38. Look at verse number 9. In verse number 9, we kind of get a glimpse into Hezekiah's heart and his state of mind when he was sick. It says, So you see, Hezekiah is in a lot of emotional turmoil from this sickness. And when someone's going through something like this, they're going to be the same way. They could just be despairing of life. You know, many people, because of an injury or sickness, lose the desire to even live. I mean, people who lose limbs sometimes. That's just like so shocking to them that they don't even want to live anymore. And so we need to make sure that we're also praying for people that are sick, our brothers in Christ that are sick, praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ that have physical ailments, because it could be so devastating on their mental health and on their just sanity, and continue to just pray that God would perform that miracle in their life. Now, the most important healing that God does, though, is not physical. It's spiritual. And really, I think that this is a great picture, this story of Hezekiah getting healed. It's a great picture of salvation. Go to Romans, book of Romans, chapter number seven, Romans seven. You think about how Hezekiah, what was he given? He was really given a death sentence. And we also had the sentence of death in ourselves spiritually. Romans chapter seven, verse nine says, For I was alive without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. So that sin that is in us really is the death sentence for us, that we deserve to go to hell because that we have sinned. And so just like Hezekiah physically was told that he's going to die, we can know the same thing before we're saved, that our sin has given us a death sentence. And what did Hezekiah do? How did Hezekiah get healed? Did he change his life? Did he start going to church? Did he repent of all of his sins? No. What did he do? He called upon the name of the Lord. He just called upon the name of the Lord and God healed him. Romans 10, 13, For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And just like we heard in Isaiah chapter 38, God heard his prayer. And you know that God also hears our prayer when we call out to Him and ask Him for salvation. And any person that puts their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, when we go soul winning and we ask them to call upon the name of the Lord, God hears that prayer and God will heal them. I was saying how God may heal you physically. He can heal you physically. But if you call upon the name of the Lord, the Bible says you shall be saved. Isn't that good news? That hey, no matter how sick and how injured we are spiritually, even though we have the death, the sentence of death in ourselves, when we call upon the name of the Lord in faith, asking Him to save us, He shall save us. It's an amazing gift. Thank God for His gift that He gave us. And just like when Hezekiah called upon the name of the Lord and he performed a miracle when we called upon the name of the Lord for salvation, He performed a miracle through us. Romans 5, 1 says, Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is a miracle. That is a miracle that as wicked and sinful as I am and with all the mistakes that I make and with all the times I don't do that which is right, that I still have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because I called upon His name. That's it. And Hezekiah, he had 15 years added to his life. He was healed from his sickness, not because he did some great thing, not because he just changed his life around. No, he just called upon the name of the Lord and the Lord gave him those 15 years. It's a picture of salvation. And then all you have to do is call upon the name of the Lord. It's not work salvation. It's not change your life around and He'll heal you. It's call upon the name of the Lord. Go back to Isaiah 39. The second lesson we can learn, number one, God is able to deliver you. That's very simple. That's very important even though it is simple. But number two, we should pay as much attention to the Lord in the good times as we do in the bad. We should pay as much attention to the Lord in the good times as we do in the bad. Look at Isaiah 39, verse number one. So what happened? You just read how Hezekiah, his soul was in a lot of turmoil. He was just calling out to the Lord, begging Him to heal him, begging Him to give him more life. He was talking about just what depths he was in in sadness because of the cutting off of his days, because he knew he was going to die. And then someone finds out that the Lord healed him and what is Hezekiah's first response? Let me just show you all this great stuff in my house. Let me just show you all this wonderful stuff that I have. What is it? The silver, the gold, the spices, the precious ointment, and the house of all of his armor, and all that was found in his treasures. And it's like, why is that what he's focusing on? Shouldn't he be like talking about the Lord? Shouldn't he be glorifying God for healing him? But you know what's funny? Oftentimes in church, I've seen this many times, someone will be asking for something, prayer for something. I want a wife. Please pray that I get married. Please pray for this job opportunity. Please pray for this new vehicle. Please pray for my finances. Please pray for my health. And then God will give them that prayer. And then you know what that person will do? Forsake church. Forsake God. No longer continue in prayer. No longer fellowship with the brethren. No longer go soul winning. No longer go to church. As soon as they got what they wanted from God, they're out. And what is Hezekiah doing? Once he got what he wanted. Once he was healed. Is he glorifying the Lord? Is he continuing just thankfulness to the Lord? No, he's worried about his stupid stuff. And this is what happens to many people. The lust of whatever they want corrupts them. And they give up on God because of a stupid car. You don't think people have quit on God because of a car? It happens. People are praying, Lord, please give me this land. God gives them the land. Oh, quit on church. You know, please give me this house. Please give me this job. As soon as you get the job, oh, I'm taking Sundays overtime now. And it's like that is the wrong attitude that we should have. We should be just as dependent on God in the good times as we are in the bad. But the reality is most people are only serious about their prayer life when things are going bad. When their child is in the hospital. When their finances are shot. When they've lost everything. When they just had the sentence of death about their health. They get that cancer diagnosis and now they want to start praying to God. Now they want to start getting serious about the Lord. Now they want to go out and preach the gospel. No, why don't you have that same attitude now of being just as dependent as if everything were falling apart right now? Then maybe God wouldn't have to make your life fall apart for Him to keep your heart. If you just continued in prayer and supplication and going to church and preaching the gospel and doing what God wants you to do when things are already good for you, then why would God have to punish you? Why would God have to then take away your house? Why would God then have to take away your spouse? Why would God have to do all these things to you if you're just willingly serving Him and willingly doing what He asked you to do anyways? We'd save ourselves a lot of trouble if we had that type of attitude. I'll read for you Matthew 6 33, it says, And a lot of people, they only want to fulfill this verse until those things are added to them. They're like, okay, seek God first. I'm going to go to church until I get my truck. And it's like God gives them whatever they wanted, and they're no longer wanting to serve and to seek God. But that never ends well. You'll never quit on church and say, yeah, that was a great decision in my life. No, what you're going to face is the fiery indignation of God, is what Hebrews chapter 10 says. Let's go to Romans chapter 7. Romans chapter 7. In Romans 7 verse 5, it says, So just like Hezekiah physically had the sentence of death, and then once God delivered him from that, he just wanted to go back to the beggarly elements of the world and just glorify His gold and His silver and all this stuff. We also were dead wherein we were held, but now we should serve in newness of spirit. God delivered us just like He delivered Hezekiah. It's not any less real of a deliverance that God gave us. It's even better than what God gave Hezekiah. It's spiritual. Not only all the physical times that He delivers us, but spiritually, we should now walk in newness of flesh, newness of spirit. I'm sorry. Go to Job chapter number 2. Job chapter number 2. And we know that Job was a person who was upright. He was righteous. You know, he was the most righteous man around at his time. And when he was going through all of his trials and tribulations, it wasn't for anything wrong that he had done. It was just him being tested by God. But we know that he continued to maintain his integrity. His wife told him to curse God and die, but he maintained his integrity. Look at Job chapter 2, verse 9. Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? Curse God and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord? And shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips. So Job really is the perfect example of someone who trusted in the Lord in the good times and in the bad. In the good times, the Bible talks about how he was praying for his sons and his daughters every single day, just praying for them, that he was upright, that he eschewed evil. And then when all of this calamity came upon him, when he lost his children, when he lost his belongings, when he lost everything, even his wife is telling him to curse God and die, he's like, you're speaking like a fool, wife. You're speaking like a fool. He's like, hey, we're going to receive good at the hand of the Lord and evil. But he didn't sin. He didn't curse God in his heart or with his lips. He continued to depend on God in the good times, just like he did in the bad. That really is our ultimate example of someone that handled that perfectly. Go back to Isaiah chapter 39. Isaiah 39. Isaiah 39. And the third lesson we can learn is that what you glorify above God is in danger of being judged by God. What you glorify above God is in danger of becoming judged by God. Isaiah 39, verse 3. The Bible says, Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men, and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, even from Babylon. Then said he, What have they seen in thine house? And Hezekiah answered, All that is in mine house have they seen. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not showed them. Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah, Hear the word of the Lord of hosts. Behold the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, saith the Lord. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, they shall take away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. So what happens? Hezekiah is healed miraculously. God delivers him. Then he's bragging about his gold and his silver, and he's focused on all of his material goods. And so what does Isaiah say to him? He's like, Look, all of this stuff now, because you glorify this above God, because this is what your heart's desire was on, all of your stuff is going to be carried away captive into Babylon. None of it's even going to be here. You're going to lose that thing that you love so much above God. Not only that, also your sons. And your sons are going to be eunuchs in Babylon. What a horrible punishment would that be? I mean, good night. And so what we learn from this is that what we glorify above God is in danger of being judged by God. And that's scary when you think about some of the things that people glorify above God today, because sometimes it's their own children. Sometimes it's their own spouse. Sometimes it's just their house or whatever they love. That's in danger of being judged by God. And so if you really did love your kids and you really did love your wife, you would never put them above God because you're going to make that person the target of God's wrath oftentimes. It would be a horrible thing. Exodus chapter 20. In Exodus chapter 20, verse number 4, the Bible reads, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. By the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. So we learn here that God is a very jealous God. And if you were to make an image, a graven image, an idol and worship that, God is going to judge you and your children and your children's children because he's a jealous God. And so a lot of people today in America aren't exactly carving idols and serving idols, but they've set up idols in their heart. A lot of people today serve the NFL as their God. And you go out soul winning on the worst day of the year to go soul winning, which is Super Bowl Sunday. And you know who wants to talk? No one, because they're worshipping their God, the NFL. And you know what? God is not OK with that. God is not happy when you place anything above him. Hey, what you go do when you skip church, that's an idol right there. What you go do instead of going soul winning, that is an idol in your life. What you put before your Bible reading in the morning, like we talked about on Thursday. Hey, some people wake up in the morning and scroll Facebook. That Facebook can be an idol above God. And so no matter what it is, maybe God, God could judge your phone. You could lose it in the river, like we were talking about earlier, right? I'm just saying, like, no matter how trivial you may think it is, it's not trivial to God. God is a jealous God, and anything you put above him, anything you put above the things that he told you to do, that has now become a target of God's wrath. And if he wanted to, he can now judge that thing. You know, people pray like we talked about. God, please give me this job. And then he gives you the job, and then you forsake God. He can take that job away from you. You know, you pray for a wife, and God gives you that wife, and then that wife causes you to forsake church. He can take that wife away from you. He can take your kids away from you. He could take your possessions away from you. He could take your job away from you. He could take your health away from you. He could take your life away from you. God can take anything from you. Our lives are at the mercy of the Lord at all times. He could take our breath from us at any moment. We could die at any moment. We could lose everything we have at any moment, like Job did. And so never, ever put anything above the Lord. Never skip the things of God for whatever your idol in your heart is, because it will be judged. That's not what we want. Here's a good example that people idolize in America is money. Go to Malachi chapter number three. Malachi chapter number three. This is a big idol in our country. Our country worships money. This is what people live for, is money in the United States. And a lot of people, they love their money so much that they're not willing to follow God's command to tithe. Which is what? Giving ten percent of your income to your local church. And if you decide not to do that because you love money, because you want to use that for anything else, whatever you use that money for is now an idol. And is now something you have put above the Lord. Malachi chapter three, look at verse eight. Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings? And you say, Oh, is it worth it? Can I rob God of tithes and offerings? And can it be worth it? Maybe it's worth it if I get to keep my truck. Maybe it's worth it if I get to make two car payments. Maybe it's worth it to rob God if I can have a bigger house. But look at verse nine. Here's why it's not worth it. Ye are cursed with a curse. For ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Here's why it's never worth it to put something over God, no matter how pretty it might look to your little eyes. Here's why it's never worth it. Because you'll be cursed. Because God will curse you. Whatever you put above Him, God will curse. And so don't ever take that lightly. No matter how small of something it is. You say, I'm just going to skip one church service. Come on. I'm just going to go hunting. I'm skipping church. I'm going hunting. I know I'm in the south. There's not as much hunters down here. You know, up in Idaho and up in Washington. You know, I'm going to skip church this week and go hunting. Okay. Watch out for the bear. Seriously. Watch out for the mountain lion. You think it's a joke, but it's not because it's an idol above God. And, you know, God is merciful and gracious and He is long suffering to us. But you never know when that long suffering and grace and mercy is going to end. And it did end for Hezekiah because all those stuff that he put above the Lord, Isaiah said, it's all getting taken away from you. And your sons as well, by the way, they're going to be eunuchs as well. So his mercy ran out. God did heal him, but his mercy ran out. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Another thing that can be an idol for people is friendships. 1 Corinthians chapter 5. Look at verse 11. It says, And so Pastor Shelley has taught on this many times, the subject of church discipline in the Bible, where if a brother in Christ is committing one of these sins in 1 Corinthians 5, they've been confronted with it. They're not repenting of it. They're to be cast out of the church because a little leavened, leavened at the whole lump. We can't have just one fornicator in here because it'll leaven everyone. We can't have just one drunkard in here because it'll leaven everyone. But sometimes what happens is someone will get kicked out of church and then people in the church are still being friends with that person. They're still wanting to go hang out with them at a coffee shop or still go soul winning with them outside of the church's soul winning times. No. If someone is kicked out of church, if someone is being disciplined by the church, that means that they're being disciplined by God. And when you want to go out and hold to that friendship after Pastor Shelley's kicked them out, after God has executed his judgment on that person, now that's an idol in your heart because it's something that you're putting above God's commandment. Say, no, you know what? I don't care what God says. I'm going to befriend with brother so-and-so anyways, even though he's a drunk, even though he's a fornicator, even though he's an extortioner. You know what? God will judge you for that. God will judge you for that. And the last thing that we can learn from Hezekiah's healing, I'll give you guys a little bit of a shorter sermon tonight. Isaiah chapter 39, the last thing that we can learn in verse number 6, Isaiah 39, it says, Behold, the days come that all that is in thine house and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, saith the Lord, and of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt be yet, shall they take away. And they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. Now look at Hezekiah's reaction. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, Good is the word of the Lord which thou has spoken. He said, Moreover, for there shall be peace and truth in my days. And the last lesson we can learn from the healing of Hezekiah is don't be selfish. Don't be selfish. You see, Hezekiah was healed from all of his sickness. God delivered him. But guess what? When when he went and was idolatrous, when he put things above God and he found out his kids were going to be eunuchs and taken into Babylon, he said, You know what? Good is the word of the Lord as long as there's peace and truth in my days. All I care about is myself. I don't care about the next generation. All I care about is my self. Now Romans, I'm going to read for you a couple of verses. Romans 4 5 says, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justified the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. This is another reason, by the way, why this is a good picture of salvation, because even though Hezekiah did something wicked here, he wasn't valuing the Lord. He was valuing his stuff. He didn't care about his kids being judged. He was still healed. He didn't he didn't lose his healing. Right. Just like how we can't lose our salvation. But to him that worketh not, we don't have to do any works to be saved. Thank God that salvation is free. Thank God we can never lose it. But that doesn't mean that we should be selfish and just not care about the next generation just because we're saved. Just because we can't lose our salvation just because we're eternally sealed does not mean that we should not live godly lives for the next generation. Here's why. Because our sons can turn out like Hezekiah's sons. Go to 2 Chronicles. 2 Chronicles chapter 33 and we're going to get a peek at what Hezekiah's son turned out to be like. 2 Chronicles 33. This is what happens when all you care about is the peace and truth in your days and you don't care about the next generation. Hezekiah 33 verse 1. It says, Manasseh was 12 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. But he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down and he reared up altars for Balaam and made groves and worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served them. So his son is literally serving devils, literally worshipping devils. Verse 4. Also he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be forever. And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he caused his children to pass through the fire, like we were talking about this morning, sacrificing his children in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Also he observed times and used enchantments and used witchcraft and dealt with a familiar spirit and with wizards. He wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name forever. So this is King Hezekiah, who was a good king, who was saved. This is his son. His son is worshipping devils. His son is sacrificing children, you know, in the valley of the son of Hinnom. His son is worshipping devils. His son is using witchcraft. I mean, he's playing witches and warlocks, whatever those stupid games are. I mean, his son is messed up. Now later on, I believe that Manasseh actually got saved, and his son actually was saved. So that's good. But who wants this for their son, even if they're saved? No, no one wants their son to turn out like this. But why did his son turn out like this? Because Hezekiah didn't care about the next generation. Because when he heard the curse upon the next generation, he just was like, well, as long as there's peace and truth in my days. And, you know, I think the reason why our country is so messed up today, why we knock door after door after door of people that just don't care, they don't even care about eternity. They don't even care if they're going to heaven and hell. It's because the previous generation didn't care about them. Because normal people care about that kind of stuff. But they don't care. They don't care about God. They don't care about the truth. They don't care about working hard. They don't care about anything because the previous generation has failed them. I bet you anything, if we could hop in a time machine and go soul winning 50 years ago in Houston, Texas, there'd be a lot of people where you knock on their door and they're saved. I bet you all across the state and all across this country, there was way, way more safe people than there are today. But guess what? The last generation just didn't care. And so people now, I mean, Baptist churches, they're just they're thriving big time in America, right? I mean, every corner you see, you see a mega Baptist church, don't you? No, you don't. What you see thriving is false prophets in America. What you see thriving is Joel Osteen in Houston, not Pastor Shelley. Now, obviously, spiritually, Pastor Shelley is demolishing all these false prophets and every church in this area, in my opinion. But physically, is that the case? No. Too bad it's not. It's too bad that Pure Words Baptist Church isn't running hundreds if not thousands of people right now. Because I tell you what, Pastor Shelley's preaching should be able to do that. But guess what? People don't care because of the Hezekiahs that have raised this generation. The Hezekiahs have raised this generation to think that sodomy is good, not just to tolerate it. Not just to put up with it, but to actually teach that it is good. That only comes from a generation that's been raised by Hezekiahs that don't care. As long as there's peace and truth in their days, as long as their 401k is padded, as long as they have their nice cars and their nice house, what do we need church for? What do we need teaching our kids the Bible for? What do we need singing praises to God and extolling the name of the Lord for? What do we need that in our family for when we have all of our idols? But here's the problem. They were cursed with a curse. That's the problem. And now our whole country is cursed as a result of the Hezekiah generation. I'll read for you Romans 12 one says, I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. You know, the Bible actually teaches self-sacrifice and the Bible says that to sacrifice our own bodies is completely reasonable. Yet today it's hard for people to sacrifice a few hours to go to church. It's even harder to get people to sacrifice a few hours to read their Bible throughout the week. And it's even harder than that to get people to sacrifice a few hours to go soul winning every week. But the Bible says we should be willing to present our bodies a living sacrifice to the Lord. What is Hezekiah willing to do for the next generation? Nothing. Who cares about the next generation is his mentality. You know, I'm thankful that the Lord Jesus Christ wasn't like Hezekiah because you know what? There there could have been peace and truth in the Lord Jesus Christ's day. He never sinned. He never messed up. Go to Philippians chapter number two. He didn't have to come down in in the form of in the likeness of sinful flesh and die for us. You know, he was rich. He was sinless. He is God. He didn't have to come down and save us. Philippians chapter two, verse four. Look, not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. I like how the Bible says let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. You know that the mind that Jesus had was that of humility and was that of serving other people. That is what Jesus Christ cared about, not about serving himself. Jesus Christ did not have to die on the cross for our sins. He did that of his own will because he cared about us, because he was not like Hezekiah. He did not say, just let there be truth, peace and truth in my days. No, he died for us. I'll read for you. 2 Corinthians 8, 9 says, For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might become rich. You think about how amazing that is, because most people, they pray for riches. And once they get rich, they forsake caring about other people. They forsake caring about God, whereas God was rich and he forsook his riches to become poor for us. And you know what? That's the attitude that we should have for the next generation, is not just care about whatever we want to do in this life, not just care about whatever we want to live in this life, whatever we want to just do for our family. No, rather, we should care what God wants for our family. Why? For the next generation that's coming, so that we don't destroy the next generation, so that we don't raise a menassy generation, which when we look around us, it kind of looks like that sometimes. Rather, actually have the mind that was in Christ Jesus, where when he was rich, he became poor for us. So in review here, number one, God is able to deliver you. God is able to deliver you physically, and God is able to deliver you spiritually. Number two, we should pay as much attention to the Lord in the good times as we do in the bad. Pray when things are going good to the Lord, just like you would pray if you had just gotten a cancer diagnosis. Always put the Lord first. Number three, what you glorify above God is in danger of becoming the object of his wrath. It doesn't matter how big or small or seemingly trivial it is in your life, whatever you put above the Lord, that could be the object of God's wrath. And number four, don't be selfish. Care about the next generation. Care about the next generation of this church. Keep serving the Lord, if not for yourself, for your children, and for the next generation that's coming in this church, because we are the light of the world. We are the salt of the earth, and if we don't continue to preserve this nation, then it's going to look like a manasseh generation everywhere we go. And with that, let's have a word of prayer. Lord, thank you so much for this day, and thank you for this story of Hezekiah being healed and the spiritual and physical lessons that we can learn from it. I pray that above all, Lord, that we would always put you first in everything, Lord, and that we would just extol your name, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, go ahead and turn to your last song, song number 129, Rock of Ages. Song number 129, Rock of Ages. On the first... Rock of ages, clap for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed be a sin, the double cure. Stay from wrath and make me pure. Could my tears forever flow? Could my zeal, no anger, know these four sins could not atone? Thou must save in thou alone in my hand no price I bring. Simply to the cross I cling while I draw this fleeting breath. When my eyes shall close in death, when I rise to worlds unknown, and behold, beyond thy throne, Rock of ages, clap for me. Let me hide myself in thee. Great singing, y'all. Have a good night.